Chapter 25-Deadly Maze
Not long after they had left the room, Leo suddenly asked Mikey something that had been bothering him since the search for the youngest turtle.
"Hey, Mikey? How did you manage to get past all the infected worshippers and parasitic monsters earlier?"
"Huh? What are you talking about, Leo?" Mikey questioned in confusion.
"Oh, come on, Mikey! Surely, ya must've encountered some creepy parasites jumpin' on people and possessin' 'em before encounterin' a huge troll…!" Raph pressed, desperate for his youngest brother to believe him.
"Err…No, Raph, I haven't…I just kept running from one room to another until I stopped in that last room cos it felt safe…" Mikey explained in a dismissive tone.
"Then, why did we encounter them?" Leo questioned.
"Hold on…I think Mikey didn't encounter any enemies earlier because this 'Lord Saddler' wants him alive for his evil plans…" Donnie theorised in realisation after a thought popped into his head.
"And I'm guessin' they didn't come out until we came along…!" Raph added in anger.
"Exactly…These people know we're here to take Mikey back, so they planned these ambushes to try and get rid of us in order to make sure that their plan succeeds…" Donnie concluded in agreement.
"Well, we're not going to let their plan succeed; we're taking Mikey home as soon as we get rid of these parasites inside me and him, and we'll even take down this evil cult too…!" Leo said with fierce determination.
"Yeah!" His younger brothers cheered.
"Now, let's keep moving and get out of this place!" Leo replied firmly.
"Right!" His younger brothers cheered again before they followed Leo as he walked along a stone path.
It wasn't long until they came across the stairway leading into a large castle garden, which contained a maze structured by tall walls made of greenery.
"Woah…this is a pretty big maze…!" Mikey breathed in awe.
"Yeah…If we're not careful, we could get lost in it quite easily…" Donnie agreed nervously.
"You're right, Donnie…Everyone, stay close together; we might not be alone once we enter the maze, so we can't afford to split ourselves up…" Leo commanded in a serious tone.
"Got it!" His three younger brothers replied in unison before they all began making their way inside the maze.
After taking a few turns that led to dead ends, the turtle brothers eventually reached a larger set of stairs leading to a gate, but they soon discovered that it was locked. They then saw a small tower nearby, and Leo had volunteered to climb up to the top to check it out.
"What do you see, Leo?" Donnie questioned.
"A switch of some sort…!" Leo answered before deciding to pull the switch down to see what it does.
Shortly after doing so, the once rolled up flag on top of the tower lowered itself before one of the flags above the gate lowered itself too.
"Hey, dudes, look at the flags!" Mikey alerted as he pointed at the now fully visible flags on both the tower and the gate.
"They've been lowered…Looks like this is our only way to open the exit out of here…" Donnie concluded in thought.
"Ok, then let's go find the other switches…" Leo replied after climbing back down.
But, suddenly…
Grrrr…!
The turtle brothers paused when they heard growling on the left side of the maze.
"Did you hear that?" Donnie asked quietly.
"Stay here, I'll scout ahead…" Leo told his brothers before he walked slowly towards the direction of where the noise was coming from.
Then, two big and black forms zoomed past Leo and landed behind him and his brothers, who all turned around quickly to see two large dogs snarling at them.
"Oh, shell…! Guard dogs!" Mikey cried out in terror.
"I knew it…Get ready!" Leo said as he readied his weapon.
Raph and Donnie followed Leo's lead whilst Mikey stayed behind them. The first dog pounced towards Leo again, but the blue-banded turtle managed to dodge it and fire at bullet in its side, stunning it but not killing it. The second dog then pounced towards Raph who also dodged to one side and used his shotgun to land a hit on its chest, but the second dog survived that as well.
Suddenly, the dog duo began to convulse with a growl and long scorpion-like tails protruded out of their backs.
"What da-!? Now they're scorpion dogs!" Raph shouted in shock.
"Watch out for their stingers!" Donnie warned as he readied and aimed his handgun at one of the scorpion dogs.
The first mutant dog whipped his tail towards Donnie, who was able to dodge before shooting at it and its companion a few times to stun them. Taking advantage of this, Raph took out a hand grenade and pulled the ring off it.
"Fire in da hole!" Raph shouted before he threw the grenade at the dog duo.
The turtle brothers quickly ran for cover just before the grenade exploded, instantly killing the dogs in the process. Once they knew that the atmosphere had cleared and become silent, Leo, Raph, and Donnie took this moment to catch their breaths and check on each other.
However, when they looked a second time, they noticed that one of their members was missing.
"Where's Mikey!?" Donnie questioned in a panic.
"He must've accidentally taken a different path through the maze after the grenade went off…Let's go find him!" Leo speculated before he and his brothers started their search for Mikey.
Meanwhile, Mikey ran for another minute before he stopped when he realised that not only were the dogs gone, but his older brothers were not with him.
"Oh, shell…Bros…? Bros, where are you!?" The orange-banded turtle called out, but not too loudly since he did not want to attract any unwanted attention.
However…
Grrrr…
The unmistakable sound of growling was heard within a few feet away from Mikey, who immediately became scared.
"Uh, oh…T-That definitely doesn't sound like my bros…" He said fearfully.
Mikey was right, because a moment after hearing the growl, he screamed when two more mutant dogs jumped out of the bush walls and landed in front of him whilst looking at him with snarling faces.
"N-Nice doggies…nice doggies…!" Mikey said nervously as he slowly took a couple of steps back and carefully took out one of his flash grenades from his belt at the same time.
Then, Mikey slowly pulled the pin out and quickly threw the grenade at the mutant dogs. He started running just seconds before the grenade went off with a bright white flash, blinding and stunning the creatures in the process.
The older turtle brothers immediately heard and saw the grenade go off a few metres from their position.
"Mikey!" "We're over here!" He heard his older brothers calling him over to their location.
"Bros!" Mikey called back as he rushed towards them the moment he saw them. However, he didn't come alone; the two mutant dogs from earlier had come around from their blindness and were chasing him close from behind.
"Get down!" Raph shouted as he aimed his shotgun at the mutant dogs behind his little brother.
Mikey ducked just before Raph pulled the trigger. Seconds later, the mutant dogs were laid motionless on the ground.
"You ok, Mikey?" Donnie asked in concern whilst he hurried over to his little brother and placed his hands on his shoulders.
"Y-Yeah…I really thought I was dog food back there…" Mikey answered shakily whilst turning his head from the dead dogs to his immediate older brother.
"Let's all stay close from here on out; there might be more of these things lurking around here…" Leo commanded.
Staying slightly closer to each other this time, the turtle brothers continued walking through the maze to find the next switch.
When they had reached another tower near a fountain, however, the turtle brothers jumped and aimed their weapons when they heard more mutant dogs, but they relaxed slightly as soon as they had discovered that the creatures were caged behind a barred outdoor kennel.
"Ok…They're locked inside…Let's move slowly and carefully past them…" Leo commanded quietly and calmly whilst he and his brothers slowly walked past the kennel, which contained the glaring and growling mutant dogs.
Raph had other ideas, though. He pointed his shotgun at the door and fired at the barred door, causing it to open and collapse with the dogs running out of it within seconds.
"Raph…! Why did you let them out!?" Leo scolded as he readied his gun.
"It's easier dis way! Besides, they were gonna get out on their own eventually…!" Raph bit back defensively before he shot down one of the escaped dogs.
After letting out a groan, Leo and Donnie took out their own guns and shot down the remaining two dogs that were about to pounce towards the group.
"Next time, Raph, don't do something stupid like that again without my say so…!" Leo advised in a scolding tone after a moment of silence.
"Alright, alright…! Whatever…" Raph replied with an annoyed groan.
"Let's just carry on with finding the rest of the switches, ok guys?" Donnie told his older brothers firmly to keep an argument from breaking out.
Leo and Raph were stunned by the interruption for a moment before they calmed themselves down and approached the second tower. The turtle who climbed it was Donnie, who had reached the top and pulled the switch down. Seconds later, another flag was lowered on both the tower and the gate.
"Ok, two down, one to go…" Donnie mumbled before he climbed back down to meet his brothers at the bottom.
It had taken the turtle brothers another 5 minutes to find the last tower, which was on the other side of the large gate, and the older turtles allowed Mikey to climb up and pull the switch this time. Once that was done, the third and final flags were lowered.
"Alright! All the flags are down!" Mikey cheered.
"Great, now we can finally get out of this maze…" Leo sighed in relief.
Suddenly, the turtle brothers heard a clang followed by voices from a distance, which could only mean one thing.
"Dudes, I think we've got more company…!" Mikey alerted his brothers anxiously.
"Quick! Head for the gate!" Leo commanded before he and his brothers left the last tower and started heading towards the gate's location.
Just as they were almost at their destination, a trio of infected worshippers sprung out of hiding and grabbed Mikey, who instantly screamed upon contact.
"Bros, help!" He shouted fearfully as he struggled to get free from the worshippers' grasp.
"Mikey!" "Hold on!" His older brothers cried out whilst rushing towards him with their weapons readied.
"Get away from my bro!" Raph shouted fiercely before stabbing one of the worshippers in the neck, making him release Mikey's right arm.
Donnie stabbed the worshipper grabbing Mikey's left arm in the back before Leo finished them both off with a bullet to the head.
"Are you hurt, Mikey?" Donnie asked worriedly.
"N-No, I'm fine…Thanks…" Mikey answered shakily, brushing the dirt off himself.
"Let's get back to the gate before more of them come!" Leo pressed before he and his brothers hurried towards the gate, which they saw was fully open as they had expected.
They ran through the gate before facing a large door, and then they slammed through the door before quickly closing it shut. After waiting a full minute behind the door in silence for any incoming enemies, the turtle brothers heard nothing.
"Ok…I think they're gone…" Donnie said, breaking the silence.
"Phew…" "Dat was close…" Mikey and Raph replied in relief, collapsing against the door or wall.
"Yeah, but we're still not out of the woods, yet…We need to keep going…" Leo reminded.
With everyone in agreement with Leo's words, the younger brothers followed the blue-banded turtle towards some stairs that may lead them to more unknown surprises.