Soulbound (TMNT '16) ❪✓❫

Sooty Paws

Griz shook her head.

Since all wildlife is gone, Griz and Raph questioned why they heard a very faint chirp behind them. A small tree survived the fire and held a bald eagle on its branch.

The eagle chirps again, staring at the turtle and bear. It knew they needed help, so the eagle thrusts his wings and glides through the smoke past their heads.

"It's Running River," Raph said jogging in the direction where the eagle left. The bear followed as she sniffed the ground, making her breathing sound heavy. The eagle cried one last time before vanishing out of sight.

Raph watched where he stepped on the trail and found a pile of ash with black stripes standing out. This must be the tiger he knows very well. The courageous white tiger with emerald eyes. He fell to his knees and brushed the burned wood off, it showed the big white cat talking a dangerous cat nap. Raphael wipes the dirt from Kri's pink nose to help her breathe. She growled when she opened up her green eyes and lifts her head off the wet ground.

"Kri." Raph sounded happy. "Are you okay?" He asked giving her space. Griz came close by. 

She didn't say anything. The white tiger covered up in soot stood up and shakes off the dry dust. "I'm okay," Kri replied rubbing up against his shoulder. "My lungs sort of burn."

"You need water." Griz said. "But we need to find Donnie first."

"Don?" Kri sneezed. "I think he's over there." She turned to the path.

The only turtle standing rushes down the path and fading into the smoke. He saw Donnie laying on his shell. His glasses were covered in dirt, he lightly coughed when Raph touched his brother. "Hey, Don?" Raphael said. "Wake up. Come on. We made it through the fire." The turtle in red told him, Donnie managed to show off his hazel eyes and inhale a breath of air. He sat up looking at his older brother and hears two animals coming up behind him.

Griz was through the roof when she found he was still around. Her paws wrapped around his shell and gave him a big bear hug from behind. Donnie laughed weakly and touched both of the sooty paws. "Hello again." He whispers taking a deep breath and letting it out. "Where's Leo and the others? Did you find them?" The nerd removed his glasses to clean them off.

"No. We just woke up here." Kri says sitting like a lady. Tall and not affected by the action from last night.

Donnie rubbed his eyes and he too sees the ground is wet. "The falcon from last night. Did it do this?"

"Riki?" Griz's head tilted. "She may have done...some weird things but she can't provide this much water." She stopped thinking of the barn owl too. "Our animal companions turned into the elements. Isn't that impossible?"

Donnie shrugged. "Running River probably sent them. Do you know if they were actual creatures?"

"We don't know. All I know is that they saved us." Kri said.

****

"Donnie, Raph!" Mikey shouted on the trail.

Hawk howls and Shado chirps to call out to the bear and white tiger. The four of them came in contact with the tree that fell to separate them last night. It was much smaller and owned a dark color to the bark. Leo jumped over with Mikey mimicking his movements, Shado and Hawk trot behind to search for the missing animals and mutant turtles.

The king cheetah chirps again and the wolf cried to the sky. In response, a low roar and a much stronger one called out ahead of them. The wolf and cheetah push through Mikey and Leo to meet up with the two other animals and have a small reunion. The turtles in a blue and orange mask laugh when Raph and Donnie showed up and didn't hesitate to get in their group hug.

"You're alive." Leo chuckled patting their shells and smiling wide.

"We are." Don said as he felt his watch buzz. He looks at his device and sees it is a text from April. She and Casey were supposed to get food days ago but then they chickened out because of the animals they saw in the forest. They have the garbage truck and are back home in New York.

"You gotta be kidding." Donnie rolled his eyes.

"What?" Mikey said.

"Casey and April are back home. How do we get back when we leave?"

"Can't they drive back?"

"They're scared of the quads. We'll find a way back."

Raph sighed. "So they basically ditched us?" He scoffed and was laughing to himself for how ridiculous it sounded. Casey and April leave the turtle brothers alone? That doesn't sound like them. "This doesn't sound like them. Did you just get this text, Don?"

"Yeah, I did." He said looking at the time the message was sent. "It was... Sent the day they left to go to town. That was days ago. I never got a notification."

"I think someone is messing with us." Shado said. "Your friends are loyal, right?"

"Of course they are." Leo replied. "Why haven't they returned yet?"

"We should know the answers to this." Griz said. "The venomous snake."