Chapter 23: Laurel

April was bothered by the initiative fact in regards to what the Elder warned her about Leo, she was unsure if he was referring to the Elder Blood in him, but it was also clear that it seemed like he wasn't which somewhat worried her.

April jolted to realization when her wrist was suddenly grabbed and she was yanked back and forced to stop from proceeding towards the stairs to leave this forsaken place, she glanced worriedly and noticed it was Leo who stopped her and had an arm in front of her where both him and Jogo had become defensive and she realized why.

All three of them had suddenly become surrounded by just about all the men in this entire large area of the building, and all of them giving perverted looks directly at April and Jogo whilst others giving Leo a nasty one due to the fact he was being protective.

April hid behind Leo more, she didn't like this, in fact she hated it and it was frightening her as it was bringing back bad memories from the last time she was forced to visit a bar party when younger. "We were just about to leave." Leo growled trying to persuade them, Leo wanted to refrain from any combat for a while due to his broken bones still, but this clearly was restricting him if it got out of hand, which seemed to be leading that way.

The stranglers here were clearly perverted and sexual, "Oh, but we don't want you to leave, that's a nice girl you got there, hand her over and we'll let you go." A man mentioned with a smirk on his face, the other men followed his direction and also put smirks on their faces, "And that Felynx of yours, she'll fetch a good price." Another added.

Leo unsurengly peered over his shoulder at April, he was for sure not making any deal with these bastards, family was far more important than anything, April and Jogo were clearly family as he only showed them no signs of a confirmed deal, only becoming more protective. "Jogo." Leo remarked seriously as he took a slight step to the side, Jogo immediately knew what he wanted and she transformed into her large winged wolf form, letting out a menacing growl as she flicked her tail angrily.

All the men only laughed and backed away slightly, it became ugly quickly, April and Leo were hoping Jogo would scare them enough to let them leave, but it only provoked them to wanting to capture them more. One of the men charged up at Leo to try and take him down so they could get to April, Leo immediately reacted as he deflected the man's attempted grab and tripped him onto his knees before knocking him out, this angered all the others.

April backed up a bit to give the two space, the fact that these men brought bad memories made her want to stay out of it despite she was capable of defending herself, All the men rushed in instantly and this only made Leo and Jogo become more defensive as they easily fought and knocked out the men one by one despite being outnumbered.

April was left astonished as it ended honestly quickly, Jogo backed up closer to April as she growled angrily and was being protective, Leo had the last man pinned up against a pillar, "Broken bones, no weapons, an entire room full of strangler perverts, all taken out this easily… we should've just done this in the first place!" April growled angrily, she was frustrated at how easy it was for Leo and Jogo both, the women in the area only watched frighteningly as they stayed out of it as well.

April angrily turned to look at Leo, "Damnit Leo! Now we're not even!" Leo glanced at her as he dropped the pinned man, he thought for a moment on what she meant on being even and instantly realized what she was getting at now that he actually took thought into it, "Sorry…" Leo remarked innocently.

April glanced around at all the men on the ground, "I thought these guys knew how to take a Den Na' Vor, they can't even take down a single person…" She remarked unceasingly, Leo walked over as he glanced around as well, "Marwin said it was a weak one, plus, it happened ages ago." Leo stated as he raised an unsureningly eye at her, "Yeah but you would think they would be… better than this if it's a cult religious thing passed through for generations. They were all just regular ol' drunk people…" April added.

"Even a religious culture can die out." Leo stated seriously as he turned and walked towards the stairs, Jogo turned and faced April as she gave a small purr and placed her head against April's arm, April smiled and petted Jogo and thanked her as they both followed behind Leo quickly.

After they reached back into the hall, Leo had stopped and peered at April as she approached with Jogo following along. She only looked up at him confusingly, "Wanna be even?" Leo questioned her, he was serious, but he also seemed upset and she could clearly see that with him, but she nodded at him only still to be confused. "Then, put your power to the test." Leo added as he pointed ahead of him, April instantly knew what he meant now, he wanted her to break the chains on Marol, April was already unsure about this, "I don't even know where to begin in even using it Leo…"

Leo only continued as he faced his back at her, clearly telling her she had to learn somehow and this was the start. Once they reached where Marol was, April had approached her, Marol was curled up sadly against the wall in the shadows, she looked lonely and depressed.

Marol immediately perked her head at the sound of April approaching and turned to look at her frighteningly, Marol instantly calmed down after she realized and noticed it was them again as April had her hands up showing she had no intention of harming her as she slowly approached. Leo and Jogo stood behind her somewhat aways with his arms crossed and leaning a bit while Jogo sat next to him still in her wolf form.

April had placed a hand on Marol's snout and then her head, giving her some affection that she so loved apparently that Leo had given her when they first arrived here. Now April understood, the pain these creatures seemed to feel that Leo clearly was understanding right off the bat, the suffering, and most of all, loneliness.

Dragons were rare now in this Dimension, only a few remained, and as April remembered, not all of them were bad like everyone saw them to be. Marol must've been imprisoned here for a long time, beaten and tortured to the strangler's bidding, but also keeping her alive only to suffer.

April placed her hand on the chains, they were large and magical chains, the only thing that could break these were something far more powerful, and Leo already thought ahead in regards to that, the LynBlade would've done the job but he didn't have it as he was stripped of his weapons before entering.

April closed her eyes as she tried to focus on the thought of breaking the chains, but it only resulted into a longing of nothing happening which annoyed her as she continued to let out annoyed sighs, "Leo, I can't. Nothing is happening."

Leo only was giving her a somewhat stern look, "You're not putting pure thought into it." In short, he was telling her she wasn't trying hard enough, this only angered her a bit as she glared at him, "Yes I am."

"You're clearly not trying hard enough." Leo stated seriously, April stood up angrily, "Yes I am!" "No you're not." Leo added, this made April snap as it seemed he clearly ignored what she remarked secondly, "You try doing crap with your mind!"

Leo only smirked at her, "They broke, didn't they…" April questioned only to not receive an answer, she turned around and glanced down at the chains, they broke completely and fell off Marols neck. Leo was purposely angering her to put more thought into wanting to break the chains, and it clearly worked as he took advantage of her anger, he must've thought of the previous times she had suddenly used it where she had a empty and clear mind with only one thought at the top of her head, and the way with how quickly Leo could instantly think of ideas and plans surprised her to no extent even more now.

"Now we're even." Leo remarked with a small smile, "And another rule added to my book, don't anger the Kine." Leo added sarcastically, April's smile turned into an instant frown, "Leeeooo…." April growled lowly, despite knowing the fact that a Kine in dragon terminology meant nothing towards english's in regards to it meaning a cow honestly meant nothing to her as she still took it as an offense.

Leo only smirked, she knew he was toying with her but it still angered her again, Leo only waved her off with a small chuckle as he ran towards the entrance knowing she would angrily chase him which she did, "Get back here and say that to my face again! I dare you!" April growled as she pursued him.

Jogo only stood in the same spot as the two ran down the hall towards the entrance they arrived at in order to leave as well, she turned to face Marol who was completely frozen and shocked, only to be staring at the broken chains at her feet. Marol turned her head and looked at Jogo who only gave a subtle smile and wagged her tail happily, showing Marol that she was free now.

April grabbed onto Leo as he suddenly stopped in front of the entrance and was about to pull on his cheeks annoyingly though she stopped immediately realizing something was wrong, he clearly didn't bother to counter or dodge her even though he could easily and he only stared at the entrance, April moved her gaze from him to the entrance, they were still sealed in.

The door was completely closed still, "I thought the door reopened to let people who entered, leave after visiting the main room." April questioned confusingly, "Yeah, well, clearly doesn't seem to be the case. It could've been wrong, or the strangler's sealed up the place after what we did back there in the main room." Leo remarked seriously as he glanced around at the door trying to think, only something large and strong could break through, and there was the fact it was also blocked with a magical barrier.

They were completely trapped unless there was some other exit they didn't know about, Jogo and Marol walked up behind them, both Leo and April heard strange sounds coming from behind them and they both glanced to see what it was.

Each step Marol took, Laurel grew from the ground with beautiful magical effects and dust motes. She had magical power that was most likely blocked by the chains that April had broken, she had also grown in size and seemed much better. Those chains clearly were weakening her, draining and blocking her power, preventing her from escaping.

She was a dragon of course, powerful magical power was to be expected from a dragon. April came to realization, she was a sweetheart, she must've never put up a fight against the strangler's when they captured her.

Marol had a very happy look on her face as she glanced down at April and Leo and walked passed them, approaching the sealed door. "Also a rule in my book, remind me to never do a serious hand to hand combat with you…" April remarked as she patted Leo's shoulder somewhat frighteningly, Leo was somewhat confused but understood her at the same time after what he did back in the main room, he honestly forgot how much more skilled he was in hand to hand combat than his weapons usually, he could literally beat all three of his brothers together, including competing against Splinter himself, but when it came to weapons, he somewhat struggled.

Both Leo and April jumped at the sudden loud crash, Marol had slammed herself into the door and literally broke it down with ease, including the magical barrier that was on the outside. The other's had been sitting outside the entire time waiting on them, it was almost dark, so they've clearly been in the building for some time now.

All the others that sat outside immediately jumped frighteningly at the sudden break through and crash, "What the hell have you two been through!?" Raph shouted frighteningly as both Leo and April walked out and were followed by Marol and Jogo, "Is that a dragon!? Woah!" Mikey shouted excitedly as him and Casey were amazed.

"Yeah well, she's a sweetheart, don't worry." April remarked as she glanced up at Marol happily, "Wow, I've only seen one other dragon my whole life I've been here, they've gone almost extinct." Arna stated surprisingly as she stared at Marol who lowered her head down next to April.

"Seems our next lead is in Annenberg City with a girl named Jenna, ring a bell?" April stated as she petted Marol and glanced at Arna hoping for a positive answer. Arna folded her fingers to her chin as she thought, "The name sounds familiar, but I've heard she's an amazing researcher and tracker with the recent teleportation arrivals, she probably already knows about all of you."

"All I know is that she likes to hang around the large ongoing festival that is always active in Annenberg City, every night and has been for years. Her general and exact location, I do not know. Annenberg from here is several miles away, it would take days to get there on foot." Arna stated sadly, wishing she knew more. April only moved her gaze from Arna to Marol, "Can you give us a ride to Annenberg?"

"What!? Ride that dragon!? No way!" Raph shouted angrily as he swept his hand to the side a few times and shook his head, "Is big bad Raph scared of riding a dragon?" Casey laughed, Raph only growled angrily and looked away, declining the fact of riding a dragon.

April wanted to, not just because it seemed fun or a good idea, but it would also be fastest to get to Annenberg, and she was worried about pushing Leo with his broken ribs to walk several days. Everyone already knew this and agreed, including Marol who allowed it as she lowered herself to show she did, everyone but Raph and Leo climbed onto Marol, Leo chose to ride on Jogo instead as she offered to for him.

April patted Marol and smirked, Marol ran at Raph which spooked him as she flew up and grabbed him with her hands as she did, "If you think we're leaving you alone Raph to walk for several days, think again, remember what I said back in Leeri?" April remarked as she shouted down at him, "Yeah… I remember…" Raph remarked sadly as he gave up with his stubbornness, he hated riding animals due to honestly being frightened of them, especially when they were twice his size, though the one thing he didn't forget on what April said was the fact they only had each other now.

Jogo and Leo followed behind quickly and flew up beside them, Leo was smirking at Raph, "Don't you dare give me that look!" Raph growled angrily as he crossed his arms unamused. "Seems you're enjoying the pleasant ride." Leo remarked sarcastically, "I wouldn't say Pleasant." Raph growled.

Leo only chuckled lightly as he and Jogo flew ahead easily, Marol still was recovering, so she wasn't as fast. But the fact she allowed it and was free to fly again made her happy as she had a large and peaceful smile on her face as she soared through the sky, she was clearly extremely grateful to them for freeing her from such loneliness.

After a long while of flying through the sky, it took only several hours to reach Annenberg City, Marol didn't fly directly near the City so she wouldn't be sighted from the citizens and have several people panic and send out some kind of special forces to capture her again. She landed close to the City in the trees where Leo and Jogo had already landed at and was waiting, Leo was pretty much loving and petting Jogo but stopped as soon as the others arrived and landed directly near him and Jogo.

Everyone jumped and climbed off Marol as she lowered herself to let them get off easily, April was in front of her and petted her gently as she was thanking her for the ride and that this was goodbye, she needed to be free and they couldn't have another along with them, too many mouths to feed as is.

They all were at the outskirts of the City, it would only take several minutes to walk to the City, Leo walked over next to April and also gave affection to Marol and gave her a farewell before she turned and flew off in the opposite direction.