Chapter 18
The Choice
Screams of agony echoed through out the dojo as a pair of ninja failed to avoid the dragon's attack and were burned alive by his fire-breath. The floor of the dojo was coloured red by the blood of numerous dead ninja, the remains of their bodies spread out over the floor. The walls were covered by splattered blood and scorch-marks, and all of the training equipment had been destroyed.
Cutting down a few of the remaining ninja with his sword, Tyroth slashed the throat of another one with his claws. His hands, wing talons and even his face were stained by the blood of the enemies he had slain in battle. Now, only a handful remained.
Punching a ninja that tried to flank the dragon, the punch hit him in the face so hard that his neck snapped. Two other attempted to attack the dragon from behind, but Tyroth knew where his foes were and quickly turned around to face them, parrying their blades with his own.
The red glow around Tyroth's wings intensified, and swiping them at the ninja, the concentrated mana solidified and formed a shell around the wings with razor sharp edges. The mana wing-blades cut straight through the ninja's blades and left them with deep cuts on their chests, even leaving gashes on their ribcages.
Not giving them any chance to do anything, Tyroth finished them off by jabbing his talons into their throats. With those two dead, Tyroth counted three ninja remaining. Seeing that one of them was heading for the doors, the dragon growled in annoyance, he did not want any enemy reinforcements, not when he was so close. Channelling mana into his sword, it glowed red for a short while before erupting into flames. With a grunt, he threw the flaming sword at the ninja and impaled him, the sharp, burning blade piercing his torso.
As the ninja fell to the ground, Tyroth turned is attention to the last two ninja. Though he was unarmed, he wasn't any less dangerous. Charging at the ninja, the dragon ignited the mana around his right hand and, catching the hand of one of the ninja as he tried to attack, Tyroth skewered him, using his burning hand as a spear, going straight through the man's chest.
Quickly pulling out his arm from the corpse, the dragon had to take a step back to avoid a slash from the final ninja. He still received a cut on his left arm, but it healed swiftly. Tyroth grabbed the ninja by his shoulder and waist, and lifted the man over his head, then he slammed the ninja down against his knee, breaking the ninja's back with a horrifying crunch. Dropping the broken ninja, Tyroth walked over and retrieved his sword while looking at the battlefield. There hadn't been a battle there, it was a slaughter. Tyroth could have let them run, but he wanted to be sure that his family could get out safely, and he had a lot of pent up frustration.
Leaving the dojo, the dragon continued his search.
Meanwhile, Arashi was in his throne room, receiving reports from the ninja that returned after being sent out to investigate the explosion. According to the reports, a meteor had struck the building, but that didn't make any sense. They should have been able to identify such a threat early, with the equipment used for the search for Ch'rell's prison and all. Further more, there were some ninja that had found the bodies of their comrades, not killed by the impact, but in battle, there were even a few ninja that seemed to have disappeared.
"We must be under attack, there's no other explanation, but by who?" Arashi thought out aloud.
"I have the answer to that, master." someone said, catching Arashi's attention. The leader of the Foot turned his gaze to the entrance and saw Arden.
"William."
"It is the turtles and their lizard whore."
"Why am I not surprised. How did they manage to get in?"
"I don't know, master, but I do know how to find them." Arden said with a smirk and snapped his fingers. A group of Foot ninja entered the throne room, carrying the limp bodies of Raphael and Monalisa, both mutants cursing at the ninja. They grunted in pain when they were dropped at Arashi's feet.
"I'm gonna kill you for that!" Raphael snarled at the ninja.
"So you come bearing gifts, William. I'm impressed. How were you able to subdue them?"
"With my new Head-on-a-stick gas, right now they are as helpless as a fish in the dessert."
"How I have longed for this moment, one of the turtles at my mercy. It would be so easy to end your miserable existence here and now."
"Try if you dare, asshole! I won't hesitate to turn you into Swiss cheese when I get the chance!" Raphael snapped.
"Feisty as ever, but, if you insist..." Arashi drew his katana and held it against the turtle's throat. Monalisa's eyes widened in fear.
"Master, as much as it would please me to finally be rid of one of these freaks, at the moment they are both to more use to us alive. The dead make poor hostages." said Arden.
Arashi thought about it for a while, sheathing his blade shortly after.
"I see your point, doctor. Are you certain that they are incapable of resisting?"
Pulling out a tanto, Arden walked over to Monalisa and placed the blade against her cheek. Monalisa winced and closed her eyes, suppressing a yelp of pain, when Arden cut her cheek, but she didn't move.
"Leave her alone, you sadistic cunt!" Raphael yelled with a murderous look in his eyes.
"Quite sure, my master."
"Excellent. Now we just have to lure the rest of the turtles here, if we only-" Arashi was cut off when some of the ninja's walkie-talkies came to life. At first, there was only static, but it quickly changed to chatter from numerous ninja trying to find out what had happened.
"We got communications again, my lord." said one of the ninja. Arashi thought for a moment.
"Get me on the loudspeakers. I got a message for our guests."
Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Splinter and Sephie were heading down yet another hallway. They were puzzled by that the blast doors had been opened again, Hoping that it was Raphael and Monalisa's work, they pressed on.
Suddenly the loudspeaker started and Arashi's voice was heard. Obviously, the jammer had run out of power, which was bad news, but it was Arashi's message that was the most worrying.
"Hear me, turtles, I know that you have infiltrated my base and for that I must congratulate, it is no small feat."
"We're busted." said Michelangelo.
"But this ends now." Arashi continued. "I have two of you in my custody right now, and if you value their lives, make your way to the throne room and maybe you will be able to save them. And just so you know that I'm not bluffing..."
The mutants could hear someone getting kicked and grunt in pain.
"No! Don't hurt him!" they could hear Monalisa yell.
"My children, no!" Splinter cried out, his face, and those of the others, pale with worry.
"As you could hear, I am not bluffing. You got half an hour, then one of them dies. Remember, thirty minutes." The speakers then went silent.
"Shit, this isn't good." said Leonardo.
"We have to save them, we can't leave Mona and Raph with those pricks!" said Sephie.
"I don't see that we got any other choice." said Donatello. "We should be able to reach the throne room in twenty minutes, if we go now."
"But, what about Tyroth's family?" asked Michelangelo.
"As much as I hate it, we have to abandon that part of the plan."
"You can't be serious! We're just gonna leave them?!" Sephie interjected.
"We're not leaving them, Sephie, but we don't have the time to save them right now, let alone get them to safety, and we definitively can't bring them with us when we go to rescue Raph and Mona. For now, they are safer where they are." said Leonardo.
"And don't forget, Tyroth's still around here." said Michelangelo.
"Michelangelo is correct. I have all faith in that he will be able to rescue his family on his own now that he is here." said Splinter.
Sephie looked at the turtles and rat, her gaze moving from one face to the next, and sighed.
"Okay, let's hurry and be done with this nightmare." she said. But as the mutants made their way to the throne room, Sephie couldn't help but wonder how her lover would react, if he had even heard what Arashi had said.
"That damned motherfucker!" Tyroth roared, standing over what remained of a patrol of ninja and pressing the only survivor against the wall. While the ninja struggled and squirmed to loosen the dragon' grip, he saw that the mutant's eyes shone red and his body was also covered in a red glow, froth forming in his mouth as he started to shake.
Setting his eyes on the ninja, Tyroth reared his right fist, the red light intensifying greatly around it. Panicking, the ninja pleaded for his life, but seeing the savage fury in the dragon's glowing eyes, he knew that it was as good as pointless.
With a roar, Tyroth drove his fist into the ninja's head, crushing it and the wall behind it.
Slowly pulling his fist out of the hole in the wall, blood dripping from it, he forced himself to calm down, taking several deep breaths while the glow faded. He needed to think clearly.
"Calm down… I got to calm down..." he said to himself. "Arashi has got Mona and someone else, one of the turtles, most likely Raph, the grunt sounded familiar. They need help, but so does Jennie, Mom and Dad. What should I do?"
Tyroth thought hard about what to do, about who to save, he wanted to rush to his friends' aid, but he was there to save his family, they all were. He soon come to the conclusion that he couldn't save them all, he had to choose.
"I'm sorry..."
Raph and Mona are safe, but only for the moment, as Arashi and Arden are feeling greedy and wants to snag all the mutants.
Meanwhile, Tyroth has made a decision, but who will he save?