Turtles in Space (The Arena)
By: AndiKaneUnderwood
The alien creature knocked Don back. The genius fell on his chest and laid there completely still. Mistake 1. The other aliens tried to keep Raph from his twin brother, but the ginger teen knocked them all down and ran over to the fallen brunette. Mistake 2. "I got your back, Don!" He yelled, pulling up his brother's fallen weapon and jumping in front of the younger brunette.
The teen slowly sat up and shook his head to clear it of the cobwebs as Mikey joined Raph in defending Don.
The whip snapped with a sharp movement of Gruel's arm. "Stop. Gladiators do not defend each other! In the Games the weak deserve no mercy!"
Mikey and Leo stared at him like he was insane. Gruel had just called Donatello, the bravest and smartest and kindest and most loyal of the Hamato Clan weak. Mistake 3.
The whip was caught by the trident in Raph's hands. Electricity played across the shaft and spread over Raph's body, but being a fire elemental, Raph wasn't harmed. "Wrong Horn-Head. We look after our own." Raph snapped, a flick of his wrist wrenching the whip from Gruel's hand.
Don stood and took the weapon his brother dropped as another alien charged at them. "Thanks guys, this one's all mine." He ran to meet the gladiator and with the agility of a panther had the gladiator on his knees with his own wrist wraps pinning the aliens arms to his sides.
Gruel, so angry he was practically spewing smoke from his the nose, called practice time over and sent the gladiators and Ninjas to their "rooms". "Rooms" as it was, where just little cells separated by wooden stalls mounted on the floor and walls. Hay, caked with dirt and what was hoped not to be blood, was thrown into one corner and was barely big enough for one human let alone four.
Leo and Mikey wordlessly gave the makeshift bed to Raph and Don, the genius protesting against it and only accepting when his three brothers agreed to rotate out every 30 minutes.
His ginger haired teenage twin laid next to him on the hay and pulled Don down next to him, putting an arm around the genius' shoulders as the brunette settled in as best he could. Raph rubbed Don arm with the hand around his shoulders and played with his hair with the other, speaking softly to try and relax him, eventually coaxing enough tension out of Donny's shoulders, that had been there since they'd been blasted to space, to lull the brunette Earth Elemental to sleep. Even if only for a handful of minutes.
About 5 minutes later, Leo broke the silence that had fallen upon them. "You know, I really think this place could be nice. If it was run right." He spoke in a low voice so he didn't wake his sleeping brother (which would effectively upset Don, anger Raph, and probably get him killed since Raph was the only one who could get by with waking Don up after the genius had a late night in the lab, on patrol, or just a bad day and was conked out in Raph's room, on the couch, or the cot mainly used to tend to the injuries, it tended to vary depending on the situation) and the gladiators didn't over hear them.
"I know how you feel. I get the vibe the place could be an opera house or a cinema or something." Mikey added.
"Even if the Prime Leader did step down or die or whatever, I doubt people would be able to come here and have a good time. What they're doing here is wrong, just wrong. It's like giving Splinter up to the Shred Head, it don feel right." Raph snapped softly, rubbing Don's arm when the younger twin shuddered with the cold wind blowing through the dungeon. He glowed a soft, warm red that provided enough heat to keep all of them warm in the freezing dungeon.
"I know." Leo replied, sitting on the floor in the lotus position on the floor at the edge of the hay. "You guys can keep the hay, I'm gonna meditate a while. Mikey?"
Mikey nodded, joining Leo on the floor. Raph smiled, mentally thanking them for letting Don sleep. He adjusted his position slightly on the hay and tucked Donny under his chin. Amber eyes closed and Raph drifted off to sleep.