Chapter 10

It was only Donnie's yell that gave Leo any sort of warning. Thanks to that, Dogpound missed his mark. Leo jumped aside, katana slicing protectively towards the gigantic hand headed for him. He hit the dog's bony fingers, but all his katana did was sink a few inches deep and stick. Leo's eyes went wide with horror as Dogpound wrenched his hand away, taking the sword with him. He snarled, towering over the ape and the terrapins, eyes narrowed. All of the smaller mutants below him hesitated and took a few paces back, hoping to get out of range.

"It's about time I found you, turtles." Dogpound snarled, glaring down at them with flaring eyes. He looked down at the katana in his hand, and then a second later, the sword was flung towards Leo's head. The turtle ducked, his hand snapping out to snatch his sword out of the air. To his surprise, and everyone else's, Dogpound burst out in a loud, harsh laugh, his eyes flaming with a foreseeable victory.

"Still not fast enough!"

Leo heard Mikey give a loud cry of shock behind him. The cry turned into one of pain as Leo whipped around, his blue eyes dilating as Mikey's arm was twisted painfully behind his shell. It barely took Donnie a second to lunge at Fishface to make him let go, as did Leo. The room very suddenly turned into a large battlefield as the two turtles lunged to help their little brother, Rockwell leapt at Dogpound and about twenty more Foot soldiers dropped down from the rafters, all armed and ready for battle.

Fishface had to let go of Mikey very quickly to be able to block Leo's katana coming for his face. At the same time, Donnie dragged Mikey back out of the way. Leo trusted his genius brother to take care of himself and their little brother, just a little preoccupied with the mutant fish in front of him.

"So, turtle." Fishface hissed, pulling out his butterfly knives. "Ready to take that last breath I promised?"

Leo ducked, his right leg swinging out for balance and then he pushed off, mask whipping behind him as he propelled himself up to the enemy's water tank thing. Fishface had to scoot to the side very quickly to avoid getting his oxygen supply sliced open. Leo landed in a crouch, the long shining blade extended behind him as he drew the other. A slight smirk crossed over his face as he met the aquatic eyes, a smirk of confidence that was usually on his hotheaded brother's face. But of course, Raphael wasn't there to give it to the fish, so someone had to.

"Ready to go back to Shredder's fish bowl?"

That seemed to get on Xever's nerves quite easily. He gave a colossal hiss and lunged at Leo again, jaw snapping. The blue-clad turtle leaped into the air, planting his foot on the scaly creature's forehead and back flipped away. He was determined to keep the fish in front of him. It was the only way he could make sure Fishface stayed away from his brothers, and the only way he could be sure that he was able to avoid whatever attack came at him. He would not lose anyone else tonight.

But before he'd even touched the ground, the giant bony hand belonging to Dogpound slashed him out of the air. A yelp ripped out of the turtle's mouth as he slammed into the wall, shell first. The impact jarred his brain a little, but as soon as he slid down to the ground, Leo was on his feet again, panting. The two huge mutants in front of him barked with laughter that just oozed mockery.

"Leo! Duck!"

He looked up in utter surprise, but did as told at the same time. Two large green objects went shooting over his head and landed in front of Leo in a large purple cloud of smoke. Donnie and Mikey stepped apart, letting Leo edge between them. Dogpound and Fishface didn't seem to be the least bit fazed, approaching the three with obvious intent to cause some serious pain.

They didn't get the chance.

"BOOYAKASHA!"

There was nothing like seeing April shoot out of nowhere, hands loaded with Mouser parts and explosives, eyes filled with hatred and whipping out grenades at the Foot Clan mutants blocking the path. Donnie stared at her in utter awe and amazement and something that could have been love, while Mikey grinned and caught her as she landed, giving her a bone crushing hug.

"You used my battle yell!"

The moment was shattered as Leo suddenly lunged out, snatching April's arm and shoving her behind them, towards the crates. He wasn't hesitant in forcing his brothers after her, then turned to follow with obvious caution in his eyes.

"MOVE!"

The explosives landed at the Foot henchmen's feet, the pinging of preparation a swift warning of what was to follow seconds later. Loud yells of warning, shock and fear came from the canine and the fish as they scrambled to get away and out of the blast zone. Leo was already in action. He hauled their human friend up onto his shell, bouncing up onto a stack of crates and into the rafters.

"Hold onto those Mousers, April!" he warned her, hearing the beeps increase in volume and speed. April nodded, clinging to his shoulders and the parts to the robots were held in her hands.

"No problem."

Donnie and Mikey weren't far behind him, only a few feet away. Leo could hear their breaths as they kept pace, the scattered cries of the ninjas below, the angry bellow of Dogpound and only when the cries had muffled did it feel like they were a safe distance away. Seconds later, he proved himself wrong as a blast of heat and light nearly knocked him off his perch in the rafters. His grip on April tightened to keep her there, crouching to brace himself on the shaking frame. Leo grit his teeth and his eyes shut, feeling the unnatural wind course around him.

"AH!"

Leo's eyes shot wide at Donnie's shriek. He whirled around, to April's squeaked protest, horror flooding his system as the end of Donnie's purple mask vanished over the side of the rafter. Before he could even react, Mikey's kusarigama chain shot past Leo's face and Donnie's yell cut off into a very abrupt grunt that held a slightly pained edge to it. Mikey clung to the rafter by one hand, the other tight around the end of his nunchuck. He looked really annoyed, but there was the usual humor in his eyes.

"Geez, Donnie." Mikey grinned, lights shining in his eyes. "How many times am I gonna have to catch you like this?"

Donnie swayed a little, the chain wrapped tight around his torso, just beneath his shoulders. Once the initial shock of falling had passed, he sighed, watching the flaming crates below and hung his head in defeat and embarrassment.

"Just pull me up, Mikey."

Hey guys!

Finally I'm back on here, and with some news. Since I can't post a journal entry or something, I'll just edit the bottom of this chapter.

So, I'm in college now (surprise) and my schedule has calmed down ALOT. And, god willing, my muse has returned! I've been thinking of continuing this story for a while now, and I've come to a decision.

I'm going to rewrite it.

I will still leave the old version here for you guys to come back and look through while I catch up, but there will be some plot changes and character changes to better suit the story and catch up with the show. For now, keep an eye out for the new version, and be sure to follow it to get a better story and a better reading!

Thanks for being here, guys. Love you all!

~Jeli