Chapter 30-The Ritual
The older brothers slammed the door open and entered the throne room, where they immediately saw Mikey being restrained by two hooded worshippers. They also noticed that their little brother's face had been painted with the cult's insignia in blood.
"Mikey!" The three older brothers called out before they made a move towards him.
"No, bros! Stop! Don't come any closer!" Mikey warned suddenly, stopping them in their tracks.
"Are you hurt!?" Leo asked in concern.
"WATCH OUT!" Mikey cried out another warning.
But it was too late; by the time they looked up, a large robed creature landed on top of the trio, pinning them down to the ground and making them grunt in pain.
"Guys! No! Don't hurt them! Please!" Mikey begged tearfully.
"Please, do continue…" Ramón ordered whilst sitting on his throne in a relaxed position.
"No! Please, let me and my brothers go!" Mikey begged again as he struggled to get out of the worshippers' grip.
"Do not resist, brother…for it will only worsen your suffering even more…" Ramón told Mikey in a calm but eery tone.
"He's not your brother! Let him go! Ngh!" Leo shouted before being held down more by the monster.
Just then, another worshipper walked towards Mikey whilst holding a large goblet full of strange black-coloured liquid. The youngest turtle continued to plead and struggle, but the worshippers were too strong and one of them gripped his mouth so hard that it forcibly made his mouth open wide.
Seconds after doing so, the worshipper holding the goblet poured the liquid into Mikey's mouth, making him gag and cough.
"Grr, ya sick-Argh!" Raph shouted before he was pinned to the floor again.
The worshippers released Mikey as he continued to cough and gag before he grunted and yelled in pain as black-coloured veins appeared and spread throughout his whole body.
"This is farewell, turtle men…" Ramón said in Spanish.
Shortly after hearing that, the three older brothers felt the monster get off of them before being grabbed and thrown into the deep abyss in front of them.
"Waaaaaaaaah!" They cried as they fell and disappeared into the darkness.
"NOOOOO!" Mikey screamed in horror as he witnessed this.
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The cave…
The three turtle brothers continued to fall for another minute before Leo noticed a long chain in front of him.
"Bros, hurry! Grab the chain!" He commanded before he reached out and grabbed the chain.
Raph and Donnie followed his lead and grabbed the chain just as they were all getting closer to the ground.
Soon, the trio slowly came to a stop as their grip on the chain tightened. As soon as they had stopped altogether, they looked around and saw dozens of tall and sharp stalagmites directly below them, and they were horrified to see impaled bodies on some of them.
Once they had found a safe enough spot to stand on, the brothers slowly slid down the chain and landed on the ground.
"Is everyone alright?" Leo asked after catching his breath.
"Y-Yeah, just a bit shaken…We're lucky to have not been impaled…" Donnie answered shakily as he worked to calm his trembling body and rapid heartbeat down.
"Well, I'll be alright once we've saved Mikey…! Those sickos are gonna get what's comin' to 'em after what they just did ta our lil' brother!" Raph told them angrily whilst cracking his knuckles.
"What the shell did they make him drink, anyway…? It looked like that black water we saw earlier…" Leo questioned whilst wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"I don't know, but whatever it was, it's made the plaga inside Mikey grow stronger at a quicker rate…I think they're trying to accelerate the parasite's growth in order to make Mikey become one of them a lot sooner than they originally planned…!" Donnie theorised in a worried tone.
"Dat ain't gonna happen! None on our watch…!" Raph refused firmly.
"Right! Let's get out of this cave and save Mikey!" Leo replied in determination.
Raph and Donnie nodded in agreement before they started their walk through the cave. Leo remained behind for a moment to look up at the hole from where he and his two younger brothers fell from.
"Hang in there, Mikey. We're coming for you…" He said reassuringly before he walked away to catch up with Raph and Donnie.