Chapter 4-Bear Attack!

Present time (Donnie's side)…

"Mikey! Mikey, where are you!?"

"Answer if you can hear us, Mikey!"

Donnie and April walked around the dense forest whilst calling out for Mikey to come out and show himself, but to no avail. After another few minutes of searching, they stopped for a breather and Donnie let out a sad but frustrated sigh.

"Don't worry, Donnie; we'll find him…!" April soothed her smart friend whilst placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Even though he appreciated April's support, Donnie just couldn't stop feeling angry at not only his older brothers, but also at himself for allowing yesterday's events to happen. He expressed this anger in front of April by punching a nearby tree, causing it to shake slightly and some of its leaves to fall off, before speaking in a rage.

"Some brother I am…! I just stood there and let Leo and Raph shoot Mikey down with all those cruel words they said to him! None of this is Mikey's fault!"

"Hey, don't be so hard yourself…Once we find Mikey, we'll talked to him and let him know that everything will be alright again, ok?" April soothed his smart turtle friend.

"…Y-Yeah…" Donnie answered with a sigh after calming himself down.

"Good! Now, let's-"

Grrrr…

April suddenly stopped speaking when she heard a growl coming from the bushes in front of her and Donnie.

"Err…W-What was that…?" She questioned as she looked around nervously.

Before Donnie could answer, he and April watched as the bushes begun to rustle.

Then, suddenly…

RROOOAAARR!

Something huge and black appeared out from the bushes with a mighty roar!

"A black bear!" Donnie identified the creature when it got into a defence pose and showed his sharp teeth whilst growling.

The bear himself was large and measured over 10 feet tall if he stood up, and his thick black fur was bristled and shining in the sunlight. Suddenly, he charged towards the duo with his fangs showing.

"Watch out! Whoa!" Donnie shouted as he grabbed April, pushed her out of the away, and then dived the other way just in time as the bear tried to claw and bite them.

The bear growled at Donnie before he looked at April, who was trying to slowly move away from the large creature but didn't see where she was going and she tripped over a long and thick tree root and fell backwards onto the grass-covered ground with a grunt.

Seeing this setback as a chance to attack, the black bear roared and charged towards her. Donnie watched on in horror whilst trying to run after him.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" April screamed as she huddled in front of a large tree when she saw the bear running towards her.

/

Meanwhile, on Mikey's side…

After waking up from a rough night of sleeping outside alone for the first time, Mikey was now sitting on top of the large rock that he had slept against and started eating a packet of crisps for his breakfast, which wasn't ideal for morning food.

"I'd do anything for a cooked breakfast right about now…" Mikey moaned with a sad sigh before he put another couple of crisps into his mouth.

Then…

'Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!'

A loud feminine scream echoed throughout the forest, making him jump and almost fall off the rock.

"Huh? Was that…April? What's she doing out here!?" Mikey thought aloud when he heard and recognised the scream. He then begun to realise that, judging by how high and loud it was, the human female was in serious danger.

"She must be in trouble!"

After saying that, Mikey got up from his place on the rock, put his cloak's hood up, and grabbed his bag as he headed towards the source of the scream.

When he got close to a clearing, he hid behind a tree and looked on in surprise after he spotted April and his immediate older Donnie there, but then he saw a black bear about to attack April, who was huddled in a corner of the clearing and had her arms raised in front of her in a defence position.

"NO! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Mikey shouted in anger as he charged towards the huge creature.

/

Donnie's side…

Donnie watched in horror as the black bear charged towards April, who was crouched down with her arms in front of her face. He knew that, even if he ran towards them, he wouldn't make it in time to stop the bear from attacking her.

But then…

"NO! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Everyone, including the black bear, froze after they heard a loud but familiar voice coming from their right side. As they turned to look, a large hooded figure jumped out and tackled the large creature away from April with all his strength.

This had caused the hood of his cloak to fall and reveal his face, surprising April and Donnie when they looked at him and recognised his face.

"Mikey!?" Donnie gasped with wide eyes.

"Hey…" Mikey said shyly after he straightened and turned his head halfway to look at the duo.

"Bro! It's you!" "You're ok!" Donnie and April said with smiles of relief.

"What are you guys doing here!?" Mikey questioned firmly.

"Looking for you!" April answered evenly with tears developing in her eyes as she ran over to Mikey and gave him a hug, which the young turtle hesitantly accepted.

"Explanations later! Look; he's coming back!" Donnie pointed out warningly, making the hug a short-lived one.

Mikey and April looked behind them and realised that Donnie was right; the big bear was slowly moving towards them whilst looking at them with angry black eyes.

"Get ready to run…" Mikey whispered as he readied himself to make a run for it.

Just then, the bear roared and charged towards the trio once again!

"GO!" Mikey shouted before he, Donnie, and April made a dash for it through the forest.

The trio ran with all their might before they came to another clearing. They stopped for a moment to catch their breaths, but their break didn't last long as the black bear jumped out and continued to run towards them. Mikey was behind Donnie and April and he turned around just in time to see the large creature about to attack the duo, causing his eyes to widen.

"NOO!" Mikey shouted as he ran, got in front of his brother and female friend, and pushed them out of the way just as the bear's attack made contact with flesh.

"Aaarrgh!" He yelled out in pain as the bear's claws slashed him hard on his plastron and right arm, and his teeth then sank into the turtle's skin between his neck and shoulder on his left side.

"MIKEY!" Donnie and April screamed out in horror as they watched Mikey get attacked badly by the large bear.

Not wanting to give up on himself or his loved ones just yet, Mikey gathered up all his strength and kicked the bear hard enough for him to let go of the young turtle before he used his good arm and fist to hit him with an uppercut punch, making the large creature back away in a daze.

Then, Mikey suddenly collapsed on the ground with blood heavily pouring out of his deeper wounds.

Seeing this happen made Donnie's own blood boil with rage; he knew that Mikey had been through enough hardships after the fight with Shredder and Leo treating him cruelly, but being attacked by a bear after risking his own life to save him and April just took the biscuit, making the smart turtle lose it completely.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU BEAST!"

Donnie yelled at the top of his lungs as he ran up to the bear and whacked him hard on the head with his bo staff. The bear stumbled back a few steps in a daze before he shook his head and looked back at Donnie with an annoyed look.

"GO AWAY!" Donnie then shouted with a fierce look whilst waving and banging his bo staff to try and scare the bear away.

Knowing that there was no point in fighting against the human-like turtle, the bear turned away and ran off deep into the forest. Donnie watched the bear go whilst breathing heavily to calm himself down from his angry outburst.

"Donnie! Get over here, quick!" April's terrified voice made Donnie turn back around and run towards where she was with Mikey.

When he reached April, he saw her with tears in her eyes whilst doing her best to help Mikey by trying to stem the bleeding on his most severe wound, which was near his neck, but it was still pouring out from in between her fingers.

Donnie immediately knelt down and took over since his hands were bigger than April's, and then spoke to his little brother to get him to respond.

"Mikey!? Can you hear me!?"

"D-Don…Ngh…" Mikey croaked out his brother's name before he winced and grunted in pain.

"Don't move, Mikey; I think that bear's nicked an artery…" Donnie immediately said as he grabbed Mikey's cloak and used part of it as a gauze to apply pressure on the wound. He then turned his head to look at April as he spoke in an urgent tone.

"April, go back to the farmhouse and get me some back-up and medical supplies! Hurry!"

Despite feeling a bit shaken up still, April nodded and made a dash through the forest to head back to the farmhouse. After seeing her off, Donnie refocused his attention back to his badly wounded brother.

"Stay with me, Mikey! I won't let you leave us again, you hear me!?" He said in a steady but desperate tone as he continued to keep pressure on the bleeding wound.

Mikey struggled to keep himself awake because he was still slowly losing blood from his other wounds, but he managed to slightly tilt his head towards Donnie and say something to him as tears developed in his eyes.

"…L-Leave m-me…"

"No, Mikey, I won't do that! You're my brother!" Donnie countered firmly.

"N-No, m'not…M'useless…" Mikey said weakly whilst shaking his head slightly, before his tears fell down his face.

"Don't say that! Please, don't believe in what Leo and Raph told you yesterday! You saved our lives earlier!" Donnie snapped in desperation and determination.

Mikey didn't respond to that as he didn't know what to believe anymore. Even though his immediate older brother didn't scold him as bad as Leo and Raph did yesterday, he had a feeling that Donnie might still be on their side deep down.

"Mikey!? Keep talking to me!" Donnie said frantically when he noticed that Mikey wasn't talking back to him.

"S-Still h're, d-dude…" Mikey slurred sleepily.

"You're going to be ok, bro, just keep holding on and don't fall asleep!" Donnie said reassuringly as he continued to put pressure on the wound before he looked over at the entry way of the forest where April ran through to get help.

'Come on, April…! Hurry…!' He begged in his mind as he waited for April's return.

/

April's side…

"HELP! GUYS!" April screamed out as soon as she reached the farmhouse.

"April? What is it?" Casey questioned worriedly after he quickly got out of the farmhouse when he heard April's frantic voice.

"Where's Donnie!?" Raph then asked from behind after he noticed that Donnie wasn't with her.

"T-The woods…B-Bear attack…M-Mikey's-"

"Wha-Ya found Mikey!?" Raph questioned in surprise, cutting off a breathless April.

"Y-Yeah, but…he's hurt bad! Donnie's with him!" The red-haired woman answered after finally catching her breath.

"WHAT!?" Raph and Casey shouted in unison with wide eyes.

"Just grab the First Aid kit and come with me! Hurry, there's no time to lose!" April snapped because she knew that there was no time for standing around and asking dozens of questions at once.

"On it!" Raph and Casey replied in unison again before the red-banded turtle ran with April whilst Casey went back inside the farmhouse to get the First Aid kit and a stretcher, notify Master Splinter about what happened, and went out again to catch up with the duo.

Master Splinter walked out of the farmhouse and watched with tears developing in his eyes as the trio ran into the forest to go to Mikey's aid.

'Michelangelo…Please be alright…' He prayed in thought with a furry hand, which was holding Mikey's mask, covering his chest as he remained on the porch to wait for their safe return.

/

Donnie's side…

It had now been over 5 minutes since April left to get help, and Donnie was starting to worry even more about Mikey's condition; the youngest turtle was still slowly losing more blood despite the increased pressure on the neck wound, which had yet to be properly cleaned out and stitched, and his breathing was becoming more laboured as time went by.

Another issue was that it had started to rain shortly after April left, which worried Donnie because there was a chance that the wet and cold weather might cause Mikey's body temperature to drop and cause him to develop an ailment that could compromise his recovery.

"Donnie!" "Bro!"

The familiar voices of his red-banded brother and female human friend suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts and made him look over at the forest entrance again to see Raph and April rushing towards him and Mikey before Casey caught up with them from behind a moment later.

"Guys! Over here, hurry!" The purple-banded turtle shouted as he waved them over to him and Mikey, making them run towards him straight away.

"Oh, man…" Casey said, frozen in shock as soon as he saw Mikey's condition.

"Oh, shell…Mikey!" Raph then said in horror as soon as he too saw the state that Mikey was in, to a point where he was close to having a panic attack.

"Keep it together, you two! We need to stabilise him and get him back to the farmhouse for treatment!" Donnie said firmly.

"R-Right!" Both Raph and Casey said with a nod after snapping out of their shock before they got closer to lend him and April a hand.

After being given the First Aid kit by Casey, Donnie and April went straight to work with bandaging the most severe wounds on Mikey's neck and shoulder first by applying thick gauze on top of them and wrapping bandages to tightly secure them, and then they moved on to temporarily covering the slash wounds on his plastron and right arm.

"That'll have to do for now…But we need to carry him back carefully or the bleeding will worsen!" Donnie said after wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"I've brought a foldable stretcher too!" Casey announced as he revealed the stretcher on his back.

"Great! Let's get him on it!" Donnie said with relief before he and the others got to work with moving Mikey onto the stretcher.

Once he was on the stretcher, Donnie covered Mikey with the cloak to keep him warm since blood loss can cause the young turtle's temperature to drop, before he allowed Raph and Casey to each grab an end of the stretcher and carefully lift him up from the ground.

"Everyone ready? Let's go!" Donnie said before he and the others made a dash for the farmhouse, all hoping and praying that Mikey would hold on until he got the medical attention he needed.