19: Mikey

RUE DE LA MORTE

I feel so exposed without Leo here to protect me. Donnie is leading us down a stone road. He's staring at a knife like it's a map. In front of me is Raphael. Every few minutes he reaches back and rubs his shoulders.

I jog up to his side and slap his shell," Hey man, are you okay?"

He throws his hands in the air, yelling, "Will you stop asking that! I'm Fine!"

"I don't think so, man," Casey says, eyeing Raph, "You look like death warmed over."

"Well, I did just have half my blood sucked out of my body. Thanks for the concern."

"Raphael, what did you do to your shoulders?" Master Splinter asks.

Raph stops rubbing his shoulders and looks angrily at our father, "What do you care?! You didn't care about Leo, so why would you care about me!?"

Shredder chuckles. He doesn't get a word out before Splinter backhands him, nearly knocking his helmet off.

"Guys, stop it," April growls. "Donnie's right. I'm sick of you guys arguing. How are we going to get home if we can't share a similarity?"

That shuts everyone up. Finally, I say, "Donnie, what are you holding?"

Donnie doesn't take his eyes off the dagger. "I'm holding Raph's blade."

Raph looks at Donnie with confusion, "What?"

Donnie opens his mouth to speak when a big group of people run by us. They are chanting "Kill the King!" and "Long live the Hamatos!"

"What the...?" Casey mutters.

April catches one of the runners by the elbow. It is a blond girl dressed in blue. She has a bandana on that resembles Leo's. On her shirt, it says KEEP CALM AND BE A HAMATO REBEL!

"Excuse me," April says quickly, "Where is everyone going?"

"To the Nightmare Kings castle." The girl says. She has a British accent.

"Why?"

The girl raises a gun and yells, "Hamato Leonardo has given the call. It is time to rise up. LONG LIVE THE HAMATOS!"

With that she runs off with another group that past us. "Leonardo has given the call." April says, watching her go, "What does that mean?"

"The call," Donnie says, "Corin told me the rebellion will start when either Leo or Raph send out a call. Only the rebels will hear it and march to them. Leo has given his call." Donnie turns so he's facing Old Jack, "Which means he's taking the Nightmare King on…"

"Indeed he is!"

We jump and turn to see a blond man running toward us. Behind him is more people and in the sky there are thousands of-

"Suides!" Splinter gasps. We jump again when there's cracks behind us. A whole clan of vampires run by, with Amun and Sadie in the lead. A Suide swoops down and drops Be'Joke next to the man. The two grin at each other.

"It's been a long time, old friend," Be'Joke says.

Blondie nods, "Too long, brother."

They envelope each other in a hug, then turn to us. "Better suit up, kids and guardians. We are in for the fight of our, and your, lives." Blondie says. He creates a ball of fire in his hand and Be'Joke exposes a dagger and a sword. The two run off, side by side, steps in sync as if their twins.

"I can't believe it," Donnie gasps, "This is actually happening."

"SAKI!" We turn down the path we came and see Shen running toward us. She's wearing jeans and a white blouse. She stops when she reaches Shredder. Father is agape, staring in shock at Shen.

Shredder nods, "Hello, Shen. You're joining the battle?"

"Yes. My allegiance to the Hamatos is true. I wish to help them any way I can."

Shredder nods and gestures to Splinter," This is my…compatriot, Yoshi. Yoshi, Shen."

"Conichiwa," Shen replies. Splinter just waves, still in shock.

"I must go. "Shen says, "The battle will start soon. Leonardo has sung his call. I must fight with him."

"Sung..?" Raph whispers," The lullaby…"

Shen takes out something from her belt. It is a small silver trinket. But then a long purple blaze shoots out of it and remains.

"Is that," Casey says, pointing, "a lightsaber?"

Shen doesn't give an answer as she runs off to join the crowd at the gates of Old Jack which I'm assuming is the Nightmare Kings castle.

"Well, we can't just sit here," Raph growls running toward the crowd, "Let's go help Leo."

"But…but Raph-"Donnie gets cut off.

"I'm not going to let him die, Donnie. And I know you aren't either. Now come on!"

Donnie lets that sink in, then we take off after Raph.

We ran to a corner, where a sign looms over us. Donnie cries "STOP!" We do. Up ahead, Raph pauses.

"Rue De La Morte." Donnie reads from the sign, "Do you know what that means?"

"Morte is rude," I laugh. Donnie glares at me.

April answers his question. "It means 'The Street of the Dead'."

"Guys," Casey gulps, "Are we really going to do this?"

"YOU'RE ALL COWARDS!" Raph howls. We all look at him in surprise, "He's our brother, our friend, your son and your greatest enemy. Yes, he's unbearable, suicidal and a liar, but he's family. It's our fault for making him this way. If we join him now, Leo will know we love him and support him. But if you guys won't come with me, so be it. But I'm fixing my relationship with Leo, while I still got the chance."

With that Raph takes off, running faster than ever before. I look at Donnie. He sighs and looks at his dagger. "Okay…let's go."

We bolt down the street of death as fast as we can. I glance at the dagger that Donnie's been watching. I can see Raph's name. At the base of the knife, I can see silver cracks creeping up the blade. I wonder what that means.

Hmm..?

No one's P.O.V.

Aro jumps as there is a loud shriek and tons of birds fly through the window. They all clump together on the floor. Out of them comes his father, howling in pain.

"Sire, "He cries.

"Where's Alec?!" He howls, holding his side, "Where is that useless Shimera?!"

"My lord, "Alec pops out of his pool.

"Heal me, "the King hisses.

"What?"

"HEAL ME, YOU FOOL!"

Alec gallops to the Kings side. He unravels his stingers. The King removes his hand from his bloody side where a long sword wound lies. The stingers enter him and the King winces.

"Father, what happened?" Aro asks.

The King glares and hisses through the boiling pain, "Hamato Leonardo! His friend died for him and he attacked me. He's strong for a shattered soul."

"And it looks like he's getting even stronger. Look!" Alec neighs.

After taking Alec's stingers from the King, the King stands and limps over to the tinted windows. Aro, Alec and the King stand and watch as floods of people, Suides and vampires flood the gates.

"I thought vampires-"Starts Alec but the King stops him.

"They're immune to red light, they can come out if they want."

"He's released the call," Aro gasps, "We're under attack!"

"He or Raphael did. But no matter. Once those two are dead they'll lose their rebellious spunk and we can kill them. Leave those two Hamato's to me. Kill the rest of them."

With a flick of his wrist, the Nightmare King takes out the whip and walks from the room. Alec goes to his pool, filling his stingers with poison. Aro takes another look out the window. Below, he sees a pure white face, a purple coat, and a flash of blond hair.

A smile creeps onto Aro's face as he whispers," I knew you two couldn't resist."

Aro turns to the door, extracting his sword and marching to meet his greatest enemies, Corin and Be'Joke.

Little did any of them know that right below their feet, a jailbreak was occurring and preparing for war.