The four brothers climbed out of Casey and April's van, along with Alopex, and Yuuki, and Casey showed them where he took them. It was an abandoned run down mill filled with buildings that were halfway done being built. "Is it perfect or what? Used to take the train out here after school to raise some-" Casey stopped. "Uh, you know, to get away from it all!"
"I didn't know that there were any places like this left in the boroughs. Room to move, shadows everywhere to hide in." Donnie said.
"It's like a ninja playground!" Mikey grinned.
"What do you think, Leo?" Casey asked.
"We're losing daylight, let's get training." Leo replied and walked away from the group, hopping over the fence.
"Yes, sir, mister sunshine, sir." Raph deadpanned. The rest of the group easily and gracefully hopped over the fence, and they heard a thud and saw that Casey had fell as he tried to jump over the fence. He grumbled and stood up, brushing himself off.
"What's this screwy game called again?" Casey asked.
"It's called stealth hunter. Yours truly is the stealth master! I get a ten second head start and then you guys start hunting." Mikey explained, excitedly.
"We have to capture the flag ninja style. He'll be wearing a bandanna that we have to take from him. So far, none of us has been able to protect the bandanna for longer than 15 minutes." Donnie finished.
"But then, none of you is Michelangelo, Battle Nexus Champion!" Mikey shouted. "And he who moves like the shadow!"
"Hey, shadow, think fast!" Raph shouted and he whipped Mikey in the arm with the bandanna.
"Ow!" Mikey quickly grabbed the banana from Raph. "One, two, three, go!" and he quickly sped off, leaving the others.
"Hey!" Raph shouted.
"Clock's ticking, guys! Catch me if you can!" Mikey shouted and laughed.
"Anybody else want to leave the Battle Nexus Champion here to play by himself?" Raph smirked.
"And miss the chance to tag Mikey? You gotta be kidding." Casey said.
The group walked further into the complex as they searched through the buildings to look for Mikey but still haven't caught or spotted him yet.
"Man, this place is even bigger than I thought!" Raph shouted.
"Plenty of places for a ninja turtle to hide!" Donnie said.
"Oh, let's split up and find that chowder head." Raph said. "And Casey, don't get lost. Cause I ain't looking for you too!" Everyone went their separate ways to look for Mikey. Raph kicked opened a door and slowly walked in. However, he wasn't alone. Something lurked in the shadows watching Raph's every move as he searched the building looking for Mikey.
"Gotcha!" Raph shouted. He quickly turned around only to grab thin air behind him. He could've sworn he sensed someone was behind him. "Keep messing around, Mikey, and I might start playing rough!" Raph growled.
Casey kicked opened the door as he walked into another building. Mikey gulped as he hid beside the door in the shadows. He saw Casey walk into the room. "Come out, come out, wherever you are?" Casey said.
Mikey giggled to himself and quietly tip toed away. "You don't know the power of the dark side, Casey Jones." Mikey replied then the floorboards creaked underneath him. Casey stopped in his tracks and turned around.
"Hey!" Casey shouted.
"Eep!" Mikey squeaked and quickly ran.
"Hey, I saw that!" Casey shouted, chasing after him. Mikey quickly flipped onto the next level of the building and saw Casey running out the door. "I know that was you, Mikey! Michelangelo! Weasley turtle..."
From another building, Leo heard Casey shouting outside and looked out the window. Leo narrowed his eyes and quickly grabbed the hilts of his swords when he saw someone else, watching Casey in another building. Leo ran through the window and crashed into the other building, but the mysterious person was gone. Donnie, Yuuki quickly ran over to him when they heard the noise.
"Easy on the windows, Leo. It's just an exercise." Donnie told him.
"I thought I saw something. Something that wasn't Michelangelo. It was just right here." Leo answered.
"You saw something?-" Yuuki wondered as well. She knew that Leo had been tense lately but he wasn't crazy to be making stuff up.
"Wow, Mikey, that is the worst hiding place ever." The group heard Raph's voice outside. They quickly ran out and saw Casey with Raph. In front of them was a pile of rubble. It was shaking.
"That is just sad." Casey replied.
"And unsanitary." Donnie said.
"Game over, Mikey. Come on out." Raph kicked the pile of rubble. Swarms of rats rushed out and everyone quickly moved out of the way. "Rats?!"
"I think we've found your ghost, Leo." Donnie replied.
"Maybe." Leo murmured.
Mikey hopped into another building as he ran. "Okay, so they're getting closer. A little too close! No problemo, the record's just 15 minutes and it's already been.." He pulled out his shell cell to look at the timer. "Three in a half? Aw, man!" Then something shot past the turtle and Mikey immediately stopped in his tracks.
"Leo? Raph?" Mikey questioned. "You know, I'm supposed to be the stealth guy here, right? Right!?" He looked around nervously. Mikey pulled out his nunchucks. "Anybody there? Ali?" Mikey felt a sharp hit to the back of his head and his vision went completely dark.
Mikey groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He tried to move his arms and legs only to find out he was tied down to a board. In front of him, Mikey saw a man completely covered in bandages. He smirked as he stared Mikey down with a twisted grin on his face.
"Who the shell are you?" Mikey questioned. The strange man laughed. Mikey nervously laughed along with him.
"No, seriously, dude." Mikey said.
The man didn't answer him and walked away, leaving Mikey in the room alone.
"Um, mister psycho guy?-!" Mikey screamed. Countless of hungry rats started to swarm the room and began to rush towards him.
Outside, the others were looking for Mikey, still unable to find him.
"Anything?!" Raph called out.
"Nothing!" Donnie answered.
"I almost had him!" Casey shouted.
"I looked everywhere, guys. But couldn't find him." Yuuki said.
"It isn't like Mikey to be this good at stealth hunter. We usually find him in the first two minutes." Raph said.
"You don't think he's got himself into some sort of trouble, do you?" Yuuki asked, worried. Alopex frowned as well.
"Wanna bet he cheated? He's probably back in the Battle Shell playing videogames, right now!" Casey said.
"It isn't right!" Leo snapped.
"Relax, Master Leo, Casey's just joking." Raph said. Leo shook his head.
"Not that. We're being followed." Leo explained. Then everyone saw something dart across from them.
"Mikey?" Casey called out. An evil laugh bellowed out.
"That sound like Mikey to you?" Raph asked him.
"That ain't Mikey." Alopex replied.
Then everyone saw a man covered in bandages jump down in front of them. The three brothers, Casey, Yuuki and Alopex pulled out their weapons. The man ran away and Leo immediately chased after him.
"Don't let him go!" Leo shouted. The others quickly followed behind him, chasing after the person.
"Focus, Mikey. Block out the rats. The scary, hungry, turtle eating-" Mikey screamed. Some rats began to jump down on him from above. Mikey was able to free his legs as he snapped the ropes. He ran and rats rained down on top of him landing on the board.
"You wanna go for a ride, huh? Everybody off the Mikey train!"
Mikey slammed the board into the wall, freeing himself. "Ha! Mikey, one. Rats-"
More rats jumped down on top of him. Mikey let out a girlish shriek. "All over me! Get off of me!"
He screamed frantically as he tried to brush and shove the rats off of him and ran as they chased after him.
The group were still following after the strange mysterious figure as he led them across the abandoned buildings. "He's baiting us!" Raph growled.
"Like rats in a maze." Donnie shouted.
"Yeah, well, I ain't no lab rat!" Raph shouted. "Get back here!"
The man stopped at the edge of the building and leaped off from the building. Everyone watched completely stunned at what they had saw.
"Whoa. Should he be able to do that?" Casey asked.
"By all human measures, no." Donnie replied.
"Not making me feel any better, bro." Raph said. The group slowly walked over to the edge and jumped down to see a large stone tower in front of them but the man had disappeared as well. "We've lost him!"
"He definitely wants us to follow him, probably leading us into a trap." Yuuki replied.
"Get them off of me! Get them off of me!" Mikey cried out. He busted through the trapdoors, startling everyone.
"Mikey!" Donnie shouted in relief and ran over to Mikey. Alopex ran over to him as well. She saw some bite and scratch marks on the turtle's skin.
"What happened!?"
"Rats!" Mikey shouted. "Lots of them! And there was this strange guy as well who knocked me out!"
"Hey Leo, we've found-" Raph grinned relieved to see Mikey as well and turned his head seeing Leo run into the stone tower. "Aw, shell."
"Leo!" Yuuki shouted and quickly ran after him.
"Come on!" Raph shouted. The others quickly followed running after the two, inside the stone tower. The doors slammed shut behind them. Up above they saw the man, standing on top of the tower, looking down at them with a twisted smirk.
"Not him again!" Mikey exclaimed.
"Again?" Donnie asked.
"That's the freak wad who tied me up and tried to feed me to the rats!" Mikey explained. The rat king laughed, and a few rats began to crawl towards the group.
"They're only rats. How bad can this be?" Casey asked.
"Uh, Casey." Mikey pointed. On the ground were piles of bones. More and more rats began to pile into the tower through the cracks.
"Yikes!"
"Let's try the door!" Raph shouted. He and Mikey tried to push them open but they wouldn't budge.
"No good!" Mikey shouted.
"Get away from the walls now!" Leo shouted. Everyone backed away as the rats started to inch closer and closer.
"Easy rodents, nice rodents, have I mentioned that my sensei's a rat? Master Splinter? Any relatives here with us, today?" Mikey asked, smiling, nervously. He knocked at few away with his nunchucks as the jumped out at him. Two rats jumped at Raph, who caught them with his sais.
"Ugly little suckers, ain't ya?" Raph murmured.
"There must be hundreds." Donnie said. Yuuki swatted a few with her tessen as they started to swarm towards her.
"They just keep coming!"
"We'll never take them all out at this rate!" Donnie shouted.
"We don't need to. Just show them that we're one meal that's not worth the trouble!" Leo shouted. Everyone started to swat at the rats with their weapons and the rats started to back off.
"Turtle is off the menu!" Raph shouted and kicked a rat away and it ran off with the others.
"No!" The man shouted angrily from above. He jumped down and landed in front of the group. Leo charged at the rat king but he caught Leo's wrists as he tried slash at him with his katanas. He flipped Leo over his shoulders, slamming him to the ground then stood on Leo's hands.
"Goongala!" Casey shouted. He charged and tried to swing at the man with his bat. The rat king dodged and kicked at Raph from behind then flipped over Casey. Leo got up and tried to sweep kick at the rat king. The man jumped away from him and landed on the wall then launched himself at Leo, kicking him away. Casey tried to attack at him again only for the man to jump on top of Casey and landed on the wall again.
"What's the deal with this freak?!" Casey shouted.
"I don't know, but his fighting style. It looks familiar." Yuuki said.
"I feel like I've seen these move before too!" Leo said. The rat king jumped down and kicked Yuuki away then knocked Leo down and flipped Mikey as he grabbed his nunchucks. Donnie tried swing at him with his staff only to be smacked from behind. Alopex tried to slash at him with her sword but the rat king caught it with his bare hands and he knocked Alopex's sword away and kicked her. Leo groaned and turned his head to see the rats starting to crawl through the cracks again. "The rats are coming back in!"
Raph saw a large crack in the wall made by Mikey when he had been slammed into it.
"Then it's time we've busted out!" Raph shouted. He charged at Mikey and Mikey quickly moved out of the way and Raph ran through the wall, creating an exit. Everyone quickly ran out of the tower, escaping.
"Nice going, bro. I've always said that you were thick as a brick!" Mikey joked, rubbing Raph's head. Raph growled and smacked his hand away.
"What happened to ugly?" Raph asked. Everyone heard the man growl at them from the tower above and saw him jumped down, landing on the roof of another building.
"Got to admit the dude has some sweet moves." Mikey replied.
"I've had enough of this madness!" Leo growled. He chucked at few ninja stars at the man. The rat king deflected all of them and one star landed near Mikey's feet. Mikey yelped and jumped back. The rat king laughed evilly only for the edge to give away and crumble down with him. He crashed through the roof and floors of the building. Everyone cringed when they heard his body hit the ground hard. Leo turned and started to walk away. "It's over. Let's get out of here."
Suddenly, the wall exploded beside the rest of the group, knocking them out. Leo quickly turned back to see the rat king stepping back out back on his feet again. Leo pulled out his swords, bracing himself. The rat king had a ninja star lodged in his shoulder and he pulled it out and stared at it. Leo saw he had a strange look in eyes. Now distracted, Leo quickly charged at him with his swords and began slashing and kicking at him. The rat king still didn't fight back, still having a dazed expression on his face.
"What's wrong with you?!" Leo shouted as he kicked and punched and slashed at the man with his swords, repeatedly. The rat king finally snapped out of his trance and hit Leo on the back of his shell, making Leo stumble a little. Then he grabbed a plank of wood as weapon and threw it at Leo as he tried to jump at him. Leo was knocked down and the rat king quickly hopped away as he tried to escape. Leo quickly chased after him. Everyone groaned as they began to wake and stood up.
"Look!" Donnie called out. Yuuki's eyes widened when she saw Leo jumping into a window of a building with the rat king, following after him.
"Come on!" Raph shouted. Everyone quickly chased after them, but Alopex stopped. Her ears perked up when she heard a small noise behind her. She turned towards the tower and stared at it. It seemed okay, but what was that noise she heard? Mikey noticed that she had stopped and ran back over to her.
"Is something wrong?" He asked her. Alopex shook her head.
"Must have been my imagination. Let's go!" She quickly ran and Mikey followed behind her, following after the others and ran inside to see Leo and the rat king, clashing against each other.
"Leo!" Yuuki shouted.
"Stay back! He's mine!" Leo growled. He began to fight against the man on his own. The rat king laughed as he dodged Leo's attack and jumped over him.
"That guy's cracked, bros. We can't leave Leo alone with him." Mikey said.
"We don't know the limits of his strengths and skills. Even with the seven of us." Donnie pointed out.
"If Leo gets in trouble, I'm the first one in there." Raph said. Everyone saw that Leo's strikes were giving more ferocity and vicious in strength. Yuuki frowned in concern as Raph held them back. "But right now, it looks to me that Leo got more than one monster to work out of his system."
"Enough of this cat and mouse chase!" Leo shouted. He charged at the rat king and he jumped over Leo landing behind him. The rat king ran at Leo slamming his fists down. Leo quickly dodged out of the way and tossed his sword at the rat king. He caught it. Leo charged at him again with his other sword and punched the rat king in the face. The rat king dropped Leo's sword and Leo quickly snatched it back and he kicked the rat king in the air, knocking him down. Mikey and Raph cheered. The rat king got back up and glared at Leo and the others.
Alopex ears perked up again and her eyes widened, hearing the same noise from before.
"Do you hear something?" Alopex asked.
"No, what is it?" Mikey asked, looking at her.
"Guys, get outta the way!" Leo shouted. Everyone quickly looked up to the windows above them to see the stone tower, coming down on top of them. They quickly jumped out of the way as it crashed through the roof and into the building. Leo charged at the rat king pushing him out of the way of the tower.
"Look out!"
Everyone coughed as they stood up, the dust started to clear.
"Leo!" Mike called out.
"Mikey, watch your step." Donnie quickly grabbed his shoulder as he stopped him. Mikey's eyes widened and so the others to see a large gaping hole in the floor that was flooding with rats.
"Whoa, it's rat central!" Mikey cried out. Yuuki looked across the room to see Leo and the rat king, still clashing against each other.
"Leo, come on, please! Let's just get out of here!" Yuuki pleaded to him. Leo kicked the rat king away from him and stopped in his tracks. He glanced over at her then back to the man. Leo sheathed his swords and leaped across the gap landing with the others. The rat king growled as he stood up and he jumped over the gap, the floor gave away underneath him. The rat king landed on top of Leo, making Leo stumble backwards, falling into the hole.
"Gotcha!" Raph quickly caught Leo, just as he fell, while Yuuki grabbed Leo by his other hand. "Leo, hang on!"
The others helped them pull Leo up and Leo elbowed the man, knocking him into the hole with the rats. The rats began to swarm on top of him.
"Ew." Mikey cringed.
Everyone left the building and hopped over the fence and started to head back to the van. Mikey noticed that he still had the bandanna on his arm.
"Hey! I still got the bandanna on! It's been like what, like 45 minutes easy. I am the stealthiest, heavyweight, most ninjaesque ninja turtle of all time! Wahoo!" He grinned, cheering. Raph slapped Mikey with it. "Ow!"
They climbed into the van and drove away.
"They fled my power. But I will haunt their nightmares for many days to come. I am the monster they will never escape. Everything fears me." The rat king said, revealed to be uneaten by the rats. A rat skittered over to him and crawled onto his hand, obeying him as it stared back at the rat king with glowing red eyes. "Everything except, the rats."