*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
*Special Note: The incredible pieces of artwork for this chapter were created by my amazingly talented friends, Ashlyn_Chew_123 (drawing on the left side) and CorolineThePheonix (drawing on the right side). They are both extraordinarily talented artists. Thank you both so very much! 💜
*Author's Notes: Chapter 14 of 'Lost in the Fight' is here and this one is a bit of a roller coaster ride. (O.O)
Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read, vote on, and comment on 'LITF.' Your kindness and support really does mean a lot to me. It's nice to know that people are enjoying my story.
As always, please continue to read/vote on/comment on this story if you like it. I would love the feedback. Thank you so much for reading. ;) CJ
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Chapter 14 – Too Much to Bear
Uncharacteristically throwing caution to the wind, Leonardo sprinted towards the chained figure dangling in the back of the warehouse, unable to remove his eyes from the gruesome scene that he was rapidly approaching. He felt his blood run cold as he skidded to a halt not far from where his red-banded brother stood petrified. Rough and tough Raph was at a complete loss as to what to do, too afraid to take another step. He just helplessly stared straight ahead, tears brimming in his eyes while his entire body shook with both uninhibited rage and anguish.
"Donnie." The word had come out of Leo's mouth in a tremulous whisper. The immense sorrow that he was feeling as he exhaled his brother's name was woefully obvious.
It was all too much to take in.
Their genius brother was hanging motionlessly from heavy chains strung up to the rafters of the ceiling. His head was lolled forward against his bloodied plastron. If not for the audible hitch in Donnie's ghastly breathing, Leo would have sworn that his brother was dead. Other than the shallow rise and fall of his chest, Donatello was completely lifeless, drooping limply from the shackles suspending him a foot or so above the floor.
Leonardo nearly retched at the sight of his brother's heinous injuries and it took every fiber of his being to stop himself from throwing his arms around Donnie and breaking down right there and then. The leader felt like his legs were about to give out from underneath him, but he somehow found the strength needed to remain standing and reasonably level-headed, although he had no idea where this resilience had come from. He was just thankful that it was there when he needed it the most. It was vital that he keep himself calm and collected for his grievously injured brother's sake, because his other brothers were already falling apart. Raph seemed to be in some kind of a trance or coma and Leo could hear Mikey whimpering and blubbering behind him. This told the oldest turtle that he was the only one of them still somewhat rational, and even that could have been called into question at this point.
Swallowing a sharp intake of breath, Leo forced himself to ignore the fact that his composure was currently hanging on by a wing and a prayer. He had to stay strong for Donnie. If he didn't, they would surely lose him. The oldest brother then remembered the words that his father had spoken to him not long after the awful fight that had led to all of this . . .
"Leonardo, as leader, you cannot let your emotions control you. You have accepted the responsibility of leading your brothers, and with that responsibility, comes a great deal of obligation and burden. Above all else, you must stay strong and be the beacon that navigates your brothers to safety. They need you to keep balance at all times and it is critical that you remain calm and steady when faced with danger and hardship. If you cannot keep your feelings in check, you will not be able to protect your brothers."
The words rang painfully true and provided Leonardo with the inspiration that he needed to keep going. Now was not the time to fall apart. Now was the time to be that beacon.
Despite his inner turmoil, Leonardo managed to keep his outward appearance eerily calm as he took charge of the situation, exuding the confidence that they had come to expect from him.
"Raph, find something to stand on so we can get him down."
When his hotheaded brother failed to immediately follow his command, Leo barked out Raph's name, hoping to snap him out of whatever stupor he was in. Several long moments passed before Raph was able to fully register what Leo had said. The red-masked turtle then nodded his head in understanding and started searching for anything that would be sturdy enough to use as a makeshift step stool.
"Mikey . . . " Leo's tone noticeably softened as he addressed his youngest sibling. He peered over his shoulder at his baby brother, who was trying bravely to hold back his sobs while he awaited his oldest brother's instructions. "I need you to get the first aid kit out of Donnie's duffle bag."
Nodding his head in understanding just like Raph had, Mikey quickly started to dig around inside of the duffle bag that he had been lugging around on his back. A few sniffling noises could still be heard as he rummaged through the bag's contents.
Leo was about to start assessing Donnie's wounds when Raph rolled a metal barrel towards them. The two oldest brothers exchanged brief glances before tipping the barrel upright and sliding it forward so that it was standing in front of their injured brother.
Peering up at the thick, iron chains suspending Donatello, Leo decided against trying to slice through them with his katana blades. With the terrible condition that his brother was in, the leader in blue felt that it would be best to lower Donnie down as gently as possible. Leo sheathed his katanas and climbed up onto the lid of the barrel, keeping his fingers crossed that the corroded container was still solid enough to sustain him. Once he was on top of the barrel, he motioned for Raph to hand him a sai. Without a moment's hesitation, the red-banded turtle gave his older brother one of his pronged daggers, and then, moved towards Donnie, readying himself to support his unconscious brother's weight once Leo freed him from the chains.
"Be careful of his leg, Raph. I think it may be broken," Leo cautioned while he began to use the longest point of his brother's weapon to work on picking the locks that were holding their genius brother up.
The temperamental turtle took one look at Donnie's leg and unleashed a torrent of profanity the likes of which made Mikey's eyes almost triple in size.
Though Leo did not approve of his short-fused brother's vulgar language, the oldest turtle completely understood the sentiment behind it. He, too, was having a tough time holding back his anger. He fiercely tightened his grasp around the tsuka of Raph's sai as he stared at the deep gashes and raw red marks around his brainy brother's wrists. Donnie's hands and arms were bleeding near the shackles, where the unforgiving metal had torn open his flesh. It made Leo's own skin crawl. Then, he noticed the visible bumps and contusions on the back of his younger brother's scalp. It looked as though someone had repeatedly banged Donatello's head against something. This instantly turned Leo's anger into panic, for he knew that his younger brother was already battling with two previous concussions. What if this additional trauma to his brother's brain had caused permanent damage? What if this –
Leo shook his head from side to side, refusing to allow himself to complete the rest of his morbid thought. He knew that he needed to concentrate on helping Donnie, but the more that he glimpsed down at his injured brother, the more distracted he became by the appalling condition that his quietest sibling was in. As the leader in blue looked at the countless wounds marring his second youngest brother's body, his hands started to shake even worse than they already were, which was definitely not going to help the situation any. He wouldn't be able to pick the locks if he couldn't calm down.
Keeping his eyes fixed on the manacles around Donnie's wrists rather than on Donnie himself, Leonardo drew in a deep breath in an attempt to steady himself.
Focus, Leonardo. One crisis at a time . . .
Still using the tip of his hotheaded brother's sai as a lock pick, Leo was soon able to remove the first shackle, even with his hands shaking like a leaf. After looking down to make sure that Raph had a good hold on their unresponsive brother, the blue-masked turtle moved onto the next shackle and started to fiddle with the lock, waiting for the telltale click.
When the second manacle opened, Leo quickly wrapped his arms around Donnie's upper body in a soft but unyielding grip, almost greedily pulling his brother's flaccid form against him. Though Leo did not doubt his immediate younger brother's strength or ability to hold Donnie up, the oldest turtle still felt an irresistible need to help Raphael support their unconscious brother's weight. Perhaps a part of Leo was afraid that if he let Donatello go at this point, he might lose him . . .
When the youngest turtle saw that Donnie was now free from the chains, he instantly jumped up to help Raph so that his oldest brother could get down from the barrel that he was still standing on.
"We got him, Leo," Mikey said as he moved beside his hurt brother and carefully took a hold of him. When Leo hesitated to relinquish his grasp, the youngest turtle gave his blue-banded brother a look that promised he would take real good care of Donnie.
There was still reluctance in Leo's eyes, but he released his grip on his genius brother and watched with bated breath as Mikey and Raph cautiously lowered Donnie down to the ground.
The uninjured turtles then knelt down beside their fallen brother and three pairs of eyes shimmered with tears. Now that Donnie was in a horizontal position, his brothers were finally able to get a good view of the extent of his injuries and the horrendous sight was far more than they could bear. Mikey let out a strangled sounding sob while Leo and Raph fought tooth and nail to keep their emotions in check.
"Donnie . . . " The word got caught in Leo's throat and came out as nothing more than a ragged murmur. He leaned over Donatello's abused body and began to lightly tap the cheek that appeared to be less beaten. The injuries to his genius brother's face alone were enough to make acid rise up from Leonardo's knotted stomach, but he gulped the bitter liquid back down.
Donnie's one eye was almost swollen shut, hideously blackened and purpled. There was a nasty cut underneath the puffed-up eye and several more along his jawline and neck. His mouth and beak still showed some redness and swelling where Leo had struck him earlier in the evening, but they paled in comparison to the injury to his eye, not that that brought Leo even the slightest bit of comfort.
"Open your eyes, Donnie. Please," Leonardo pleaded with a cracking voice as he delicately traced his fingers down the less injured side of his brother's face. The oldest turtle stopped his hand's downward momentum when it reached the bruise that he had made, and then, ever so softly circled the damaged skin with his fingertips. The remorse and self-loathing that Leo was feeling inside was beyond measure.
Donnie remained unresponsive to Leonardo's touch, seemingly oblivious to all three of his brothers' presence. This was something that hadn't gone unobserved by his siblings. They were well aware of how badly hurt their genius brother was and the fact that he had not moved even an inch since they had found him made them all feel as though their insides were being ripped apart.
"Who did this to you, Donnie?" Leo sighed while he started to examine the worst of his brother's injuries.
There were five meaty gouges on each side of Donnie's chest where it looked as though something had dug its claws deep into his plastron and penetrated the soft tissue below his scutes. Blood was slowly seeping from the ten nasty-looking holes.
Then, there was his leg. Guessing by the unnatural angle that it had been dangling at, it was badly broken. His lower leg was severely bruised and swollen and it looked as if the skin was slightly tented. Leo reached down and carefully moved the leg so that the bone causing the tenting didn't break through the skin, knowing that a compound fracture would increase the risk of infection. He grimaced as he shifted the leg, just hoping that Donnie couldn't feel it. Leo couldn't stand the thought of his wounded brother suddenly waking up screaming because he had aggravated his leg injury. On the other hand, it scared the oldest turtle half to death that Donnie was not responding to the pain at all. His leg was visibly broken. He should have shown some kind of reaction to Leo repositioning it, but he hadn't even twitched a muscle.
Resting a shaky hand on Donnie's lower plastron, Leo tried to steady himself again as his gaze fell upon his little brother's upper arm.
As bad as Donatello's fractured leg was, it was nowhere near as bad as the injury to his shoulder. Just above the slice from Raph's sai, there was a grotesque stab wound, presumably made by Donnie's bloodied naginata blade that had been left behind at the junkyard for them to find. Upon further inspection of the grave injury, Leo discovered that the weapon had gone straight through, piercing a hole in Donnie's carapace. It looked like someone had tried to cauterize the wound on both sides, hence the burnt flesh smell that Leo had detected upon entering the warehouse, but the cauterization procedure had not stopped the bleeding. Well, maybe it had at one point, but the wound was presently torn wide open. That was most likely because whoever or whatever had done all of this to Donnie had heartlessly strung him up by his arms, forcing them to support all of his weight, thus further injuring him. The blood was flowing freely from the gaping hole in his shoulder. So much so that it had formed a significant puddle of blood on the ground below where Donnie had been hanging and it was already starting to pool beneath the spot that they had laid him down.
Seeing the many wounds covering Donnie's body was absolutely devastating, but that wasn't the only thing that mortified Leo. Every breath that his purple-clad brother took sounded as if it was a grueling struggle just to take in air, which made Leo's own breathing difficult. The oldest turtle nervously cupped a hand over his genius brother's forehead that was beaded with sweat. Just as the leader had suspected, the skin was blistering hot to the touch despite the frigid temperatures of the night. As if the surplus of injuries weren't bad enough, his brother was raging with fever.
"He's burning up," Leo gasped just a little louder than the wheezing sound of his injured brother's labored breathing.
"Wh – What do we do, Leo?" There was an innocent, childlike expression on Mikey's face as he had posed the question that made Leonardo's heart wrench and the leader had to pause for breath before answering.
"Mikey, can you try to find something to splint Donnie's leg while Raph and I treat his shoulder?" The oldest turtle asked gently, purposely giving his little brother a job that required him to leave their genius brother's side. It was the only way that Leonardo could think of to protect Mikey from being further traumatized by what had happened to Donnie other than asking him to actually leave the warehouse. Knowing that his orange-masked brother had always been the most emotional out of all of them, Leo was growing more and more concerned about his baby brother's well-being. Even in the darkness of the warehouse, the leader could see how very pale his youngest brother had gone. He had also not failed to notice that his normally highly talkative and rambunctious sibling was unusually quiet and still as he stared down at Donnie's unconscious form. That was because Mikey was far too vulnerable to handle seeing injuries of this severity. In all actuality, Leo was shocked that his oftentimes over-sensitive brother hadn't totally lost it yet, since he himself was struggling to keep it together.
When Leo looked over at Mikey, his little brother vigorously nodded his head up and down in acceptance of the task just given to him. Although a part of the youngest turtle didn't want to leave Donnie's side for even a second, there was another part of him that wasn't sure just how much longer he could take seeing his closest brother in such awful shape. At least, not without having an epic meltdown . . . When Leo gave him the perfect excuse to walk away for a moment, Mikey was thankful for the chance to take a little breather.
"Don't worry, D. We're gonna patch you up good as new." While he patted one of the few uninjured portions of his big brother's plastron, Mikey curved his mouth up into a small smile, but the smile soon turned back down into the frown that better suited his mood.
Just as the youngest brother was about to stand up to commence his search, the sound of something moving on the catwalks above them could be heard. The three conscious turtles' heads instantaneously snapped up to see something prowling along the elevated metal walkways.
Something big . . .
Really, really big . . .
Hovering over Donnie protectively, Raph gaped up at the towering figure that had just risen from the depths of the shadows concealing the walkways overhead. The turtle in red blinked his eyes over and over again, hoping that they were deceiving him.
No such luck. What he saw remained the same no matter how many times he batted his eyelids together.
"Sweet mother of mutation," Raph gasped out, still staring up at the creature in disbelief. "Uh, does everyone else see a giant bear wearing cutoff jeans?" It felt a little awkward posing such a ridiculous-sounding question, but Raph really had to know if he was going out of his shell.
"Yeah, we see it, too." There was a hint of frustration in Leonardo's response. He, too, had been suspicious of his vision and had been trying to convince himself that the darkness and the stress were making him see things that didn't exist.
Again, no such luck.
Without taking their eyes off of the large beast above them, the three uninjured brothers instinctively reached for their weapons as they rose to their feet, taking a defensive stance in front of Donnie.
The daunting creature climbed up and over the railing of the catwalk, and then, jumped down to the floor below, making a resounding thud upon impact, but the ten-foot drop to the cement didn't appear to affect the creature in the least. Once he stuck the landing perfectly, the furry beast reared up on its titanic hind legs and let out a deafening roar that rattled the entire building. The shock wave produced by the thunderous sound made the brothers wonder if the rickety structure was going to come collapsing down on top of them.
Mikey backed away, whimpering slightly, seeing that the creature was now only about thirty feet in front of them and closing.
"Oh man, this is gonna scar me for life!" The youngest turtle's flickering blue eyes went wide with fear as he promptly shrunk behind his hotheaded brother's carapace.
"Not if you don't get hit by it. Just don't get anywhere near those claws and you'll be okay," Leo advised in a calm, soothing voice, trying to settle down his clearly worked up baby brother. Out of the corner of his eye, Leo could see that Raph was worked up as well, but not by fear like Mikey had been. Instead, Raph was teeming with fury and his temper was about to explode into a mushroom cloud of rage. Leonardo then glanced down at his second youngest brother's chest and felt reasonably confident in assuming that this creep was the one responsible for the ugly claw marks on Donnie's battered plastron. This assumption certainly did not endear the oldest turtle to the massive bear standing before them. All of a sudden, Leo had a newfound appreciation for Raph's hostile disposition.
In the meantime, Mikey was starting to freak out.
"Dude, that's not the kind of scar I was talking about! What I meant is that this is totally gonna give me nightmares for the rest of my life! I don't know how I'm ever gonna be able to sleep with my teddy bear again!" As Mikey practically shrieked out the words, he pressed his hands against the sides of his face in distress while his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, as if someone had just informed him that the end of the world was upon them. It was the same look that he had gotten when his brothers had told him that Harry Potter wasn't real.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Raph grunted snidely over his shoulder.
Mikey gazed up at Raph, slack-jawed with incredulity.
"Yeah, it's a bad thing, bro! It's only like the worst thing that's ever happened!" Mikey wailed, but an infuriated glare from Raph made him rethink and regret his statement. "Well, other than Donnie getting hurt really, really bad. That . . . that's probably way worse." Guilt washed over Mikey's features as he looked down at his still out cold brother.
Raphael shook his head in disgust several times before turning his attention forward once again, seeing no point in wasting any more of his pent-up anger on his baby brother. Not when the creature standing in front of them was most likely the one who had hurt Donnie.
"Are you the monster who did this to my brother?" Arrogantly twirling his sais in a blatant intimidation tactic, Raph positioned himself into a fighting stance, just itching to launch an attack. The storm that he had been caging up inside of him was about to come raining down. His body tensed and he narrowed his hate-filled green eyes on the enormous bear. If looks could kill, the hairy beast would have instantly burst into flames and been reduced to a pile of ashes.
"Turtle fought back." The creature's low, ominous voice sent shivers up and down the three turtles' spines. It sounded like something straight from a horror movie.
Out of both apprehension and resentment, Raph and Leo tightened their grips on their weapons. Mikey just stood there dumbfounded, scratching the back of his head.
"It . . . it can t – talk," Mikey stammered, clearly confused.
"Of course it can talk, you idiot! It's probably one of Shredder's mutants!" Raph seethed, annoyed by his youngest brother's lack of common sense. Sometimes he wondered how Mikey remembered to breathe.
Hearing an audible sigh from behind him, Raph glanced back at his little brother just long enough to see a look of utter disappointment fall upon his face.
"Don't tell me you actually thought it was a real bear!"
Mikey hesitated for a second or two before spitting out an unconvincing, "No."
Tensing up even more than he already was, Raph did a mental facepalm rather than slapping Mikey in the side of the head like he so wanted to. He then turned and scowled at his baby brother.
"Mikey! It's wearing shorts!" To emphasize his point, the temperamental turtle cast his arm in the general direction of where the half-clothed mutant bear was standing, not even bothering to look at the enemy as he gestured at him. The red-clad turtle's eyes remained locked on Mikey. If Raph would have taken the time to look at his adversary, like he should have, he would have seen that the mutated grizzly was still edging closer to them and he looked to be getting exceedingly impatient with their antics.
Grizzgore wasn't the only one whose patience was unraveling.
"Uh, guys . . . " The oldest brother muttered and now it was his turn to flick a hand towards the creature. "Giant, angry, mutant bear? Remember?" There were no words to describe the irritation that Leonardo was feeling over his brothers' inability to see the seriousness of the situation. The leader in blue actually considered apologizing to their enemy for his two brothers' moronic behavior, and he might have, if not for the atrocious things that the monster had done to Donnie.
The mutated bear suddenly let loose another ear-splitting roar that made him the center of attention once again. The beast took several substantial steps forward, closing the gap between them to within about twenty feet. The bear's nostrils flared and he bore his huge mouthful of sharp teeth. He then started to repeatedly grunt deep in his throat, which they assumed was a sign that he was to preparing to strike, like a bull readying to charge.
Although he really didn't want to, Leo had no choice but to move Donnie. Even though he had read that a person should play dead or remain as still as possible when confronted by a bear, Leo was pretty sure that that theory didn't apply here. Either way, he wasn't about to leave his injured brother lying there on the floor to be potentially trampled or mauled to death by the gargantuan mutant. Trying to be as careful of his brother's injuries as possible, Leo partially lifted Donnie up. He then bent down and slung Donnie's body over one shoulder. The genius turtle's arms were draped limply over Leo's carapace and his broken leg dangled at a disturbing angle against Leo's plastron, right where the leader could see it.
The sight of the fractured limb triggered a sharp, stabbing pain in Leo's chest.
"Sorry, Donnie."
With his wounded brother now in tow, Leonardo moved into formation behind Raph and Mikey, who were ready to do everything they could to protect their oldest brother from any incoming attacks. Leo's reaction time would be significantly slowed by Donnie's weight and his ability to wield his swords would be greatly impaired.
"We got this, Leo. You take care of Donnie. Raph and I will take care of Shreddy Bear here," Mikey declared, spinning his nunchuks a few times just for show.
For a moment, both Raph and Leo stared at Mikey in astonishment.
"Did you seriously just call that thing Shreddy Bear?" Raph hissed.
"Well, I was thinking Bear Claw, but then, I was like, no, 'cause that was way too close to Tiger Claw, so then, I thought Teddy kind of sounds like Shred – "
"Stop! Just stop! We got it!" Raph held up a hand to stop his baby brother from rambling on anymore. He didn't have the time or the tolerance to hear Mikey's long-drawn-out explanation for arguably the stupidest name ever.
"Grizzgore kill turtle's brothers," the mutant bear rasped brusquely, staring at them with hollow eyes.
"Grizzgore?" Mikey scrunched up his face like he had just eaten something incredibly sour. Apparently, having heard the actual name of the mutant had left a bad taste in his mouth.
"At this point, I don't give a shell what anybody calls it, because all I see is dead meat! I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to my brother!" Raph shouted with blind rage, pointing a sai at the enemy, just trying to egg the big bear on to fight.
Grizzgore growled in response to Raph's threat, dropping down to all fours and pinning his ears back. The mutant bear then lowered its shoulders and charged, snarling insanely as it rushed at them. A three against one fight obviously didn't deter him from attacking.
The turtles deftly scrambled out of the way of the oversized bear's incoming assault. As Grizzgore skidded to a halt and spun around to launch another attack, Raph swiftly took advantage of the overhead chains that had been used to restrain Donnie. He leapt up and grabbed hold of them, using them to swing feet-first into Grizzgore's chest and knock the bear down to the ground.
With the bear temporarily floored, Leo seized the opportunity to use a few well-placed barrels to scale up to the catwalk where he gently laid his unconscious brother down onto the metal walkway. The oldest turtle figured that his genius brother would be safe from the fight if he was up above it. Donnie let out a low moan in protest over all of the movement and Leo's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. The sound of his brother's voice, even if it was just a moan of pain, was music to his ears. He couldn't stop a smile of relief from spreading across the entire width of his face.
"It's okay, Donnie. We're gonna get you out of here," Leonardo said softly, placing a hand on Donnie's forehead and petting him affectionately for a moment. He just hoped that his little brother could hear him as he added, "I have to go help Raph and Mikey for a little while, but I'll be back soon. I promise."
Donnie was still again, which made Leo feel slightly better about leaving his injured brother unattended on an elevated platform. The less that his brother moved, the less likely that he would inadvertently roll off of the walkway and break something else.
"I'm so sorry, Donnie. I'm so sorry for everything," Leo whispered before leaving his brother's side to rejoin the fight.
What the turtle in blue didn't know was that there was another mutant lingering in the shadows, still veiled from their view, and Leo had just played right into his plan.
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Mikey let out a high-pitched squeal as he managed to narrowly avoid getting slashed across the abdomen by the mutant grizzly's razor-sharp claws, proving once again that he was the fastest of the turtles. Mikey then agilely fled out of Grizzgore's range to regroup while the bear prepared to take another charge at them.
The fight had been going on for a good ten minutes now and the youngest brother was happy for the moment to catch his breath.
Shaking off the shock of nearly being gutted for the fourth time that night, Mikey looked over at his brothers and exclaimed, "I'm okay, dudes! But that one 'bearly' missed me. Get it?"
Ignoring his baby brother's juvenile comment, Raph instead focused his concentration on the livid bear trying to mangle them. The grizzly had already gotten one decent hit in when he had grazed his claws over the left side of the hotheaded turtle's chest. Luckily, the tough scutes of Raphael's plastron had served their purpose and the wound wasn't all that deep. The second oldest brother glanced over at the marks on his chest and saw that they were hardly even bleeding. Unfortunately, taking his eyes off of the enemy for even a brief moment was not a good move.
"Raph, look out!" Leo howled from the other side of the warehouse.
The mutant bear had his sights set on the red-clad turtle again and stampeded towards him. Raph turned at the last minute to take a shoulder to the carapace. The crack to the shell knocked him flat on his plastron, dazing him for a few seconds, but he regained his senses just in time to roll out of the way of a bone-crushing stomp from one of Grizzgore's back paws.
Putting his finely honed ninja skills to work, Raphael positioned himself into a low squat, and then, swept out his leg in an attempt to knock the bigger mutant's feet out from underneath him. Unfortunately, Grizzgore was nimble enough to catch his fall before he went completely down to the ground. Within seconds, he was upright once again, but in that short period of time, the turtle in red had sprung to his feet and already backed out of the bear's attack zone.
"That was a little too close for comfort," Raph groaned, gingerly rubbing a hand over his aching plastron. He was definitely going to feel that one in the morning.
"Yeah, that's 'fur' sure. After getting your shell waxed like that, you're gonna need some time to get your 'bearings' back." The teasing remarks from the youngest turtle immediately earned him a death glare from his ill-tempered older brother.
"Mikey, so help me, if I hear one more bad bear pun out of you, I'm gonna – " Raph started, but the turtle who referred to himself as 'Dr. Prankenstein' just couldn't resist the urge and he cut his brother off with yet another unwelcome wisecrack.
"Strangle me with your 'bear' hands?" Mikey doubled over in laughter at the funny that he had just made, foolishly letting his guard down in the process.
Grizzgore was quick to capitalize on the convenient distraction. He lunged towards the smallest turtle and slammed a powerful front paw into the terrapin's chest. The orange-clad ninja let out a yelp as he was flung haplessly into a concrete wall. Surprisingly, the decrepit wall stood up to the fierce collision. Mikey, however, did not. He collapsed into a motionless heap right below the spot that he had been hurtled into, just underneath the catwalk along the wall opposite of where Donnie was lying.
"Mikey!" Leo hollered, instantly flying to his youngest brother's side and kneeling down beside him.
"Mikey!" Erupted from a now very irate Raph. The furious turtle dashed over to Mikey and Leo and planted himself in front of his brothers. He kept his sais at ready while he sneered at Grizzgore, nonverbally daring him to make a move. If the bear wanted to go after his brothers, he would have to go through Hamato Raphael first.
For the time being, the grizzly kept his distance, but his dark, feral eyes stayed glued on Raph the whole time.
Holding his breath for a moment, Leo carefully rolled Mikey over onto his back, terrified of what he would see. Much to the oldest turtle's relief, the only visible injury on his youngest brother was a big, red welt in the middle of his upper plastron. Thankfully, Grizzgore had not gotten him with his claws. Leonardo reached down and grabbed Mikey's wrist, checking his pulse and found that it was strong. The orange-banded turtle's eyelids then began to flutter and he started to moan while looked up at Leo with a baffled expression.
"He's okay, Raph," Leo said with obvious celebration in his voice. He continued to check his brother over, but from what he could tell, Mikey was relatively unharmed. He had just gotten his shell rung.
With that said, Raph finally went out of his skull. He released an earth-quaking roar and barreled straight into the mutant grizzly, weapons first, knocking the bear down to the ground with a heavy thump. A sai was driven deep into each of Grizzgore's shoulders and the bear let out a painful wail.
"You hurt my little brothers! No one hurts my little brothers!" Raph screamed in a voice that was far more psychotic and demonic than Leo had ever heard from his hotheaded brother. No, it was not unusual for Raph to yell or lose control of his temper, both at home and in battle. He was on the warpath far more than he was off of it, but this . . . This was light years beyond one of Raph's normal blown gasket episodes. The turtle in red had gone completely berserk, and frankly, it scared the heck out of Leo. He looked over at his most volatile brother and shuddered at his crazed behavior. As Raph relentlessly pounded his fists into the much larger mutant below him, the oldest turtle could see the incensed fire blazing in his angry brother's eyes. With every vicious blow that Raph delivered, Leo could hear the hatred pouring out of his brother in the form of guttural grunts and growls. It was as if his immediate younger brother was possessed by pure vengeance.
There was a side of Leonardo that felt obligated to stop the savagery his brother was dishing out, but there was another side of him that could not forget what had detonated this violent outburst to begin with. The mental image of his brutally beaten shy and docile little brother reminded Leo that Grizzgore hadn't shown Donnie an ounce of mercy, not even when he was already injured and weakened by illness.
With a heavy heart, Leonardo looked over at the platform on the other side of the warehouse where he had placed Donatello.
Suddenly, the oldest turtle was filled with unspeakable dread.
"D – Donnie?" Leo choked out as he pushed himself up to his feet and stared at the catwalk directly across from them.
The empty catwalk directly across from them . . .
This time, Leo did not choke on his words and there was no mistaking the panic in his normally calm voice as he cried out, "Where's Donnie?"
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To be continued . . .
*Author's Notes: Oh no! Donnie's gone! Will the brothers be able to find him before it's too late? /(*o*)\
Thank you very much for reading. If you are enjoying 'Lost in the Fight,' please take a moment to vote and/or comment on the story. Thanks, again. ;) CJ