Chapter Fifteen: The Battles Begin

                                                    Chapter 15: The Battles Begin

              The group from HQ soon landed in the center dimension, in a rather deserted plain.
               As soon as the ship landed, everyone got out and began looking around.
              "So, this is the center dimension." said Lavia as she looked around.
              "It looks like just some desert." said Fay.
              "Well, that's what this region is, mostly desert. But the medallion is here. We just have to find this body of water that is near it." said Max.
              "A body of water? In the desert? Dang we got a lot of travelin' ta do." said Cori.
              Max took out his handheld tracker, and pointed it in different directions. "I think we should head west. There's a strange energy pull coming from that direction." he said.
              "Okay, let's get going then." said Rita.
              Just then, Cori felt kind of weird as she looked around. "Guys, I don't think we're alone anymore." she said.
              "What do you mean?" asked Mikey.
              "I mean, we're not along anymore." said Cori.
              "There's no one else out here but us." said Rita.
              Suddenly . . .
              "BOOM!!!" a large laser ray hit their ship, blowing it to bits.
              The group was in shock.
              "Oh, my, gosh." said Rita.
               Shelly began shaking. "We're gonna die, we're gonna die . . . " she muttered in a high-pitched voice.
              "Ready your lasers, and get ready to fight." said Cori.
              "Fight?" asked Max sheepishly.
              "Uh oh, we forgot. Max can't fight." said Cori.
               "And he called me dead weight." said Leo looking accusively at Max.
              Raph gave Max his laser. "Use this wisely. It ain't no toy." said Raph.
              Max just took the laser and looked at it for a moment. He created it, but he'd never used it for anything but testing before.
              "I think I see something approaching from the distance." said Lavia.
                Coming at them was a line of thousands of Tirus' warriors, all geared up with armor and gleaming weapons.
               "Oh crap." said Raph and Cori together.
              Max began shaking. He took a quick look around. "We have to run. There are too many of them." he said.
             "I gotta admit, Max is right." said Cori. Then she gave the area they were in the once over. "Fight through the army, and try to run to the mountains. We can make it if we try. These rocks around here won't provide anything more than a temporary hiding place. We have to get to the mountains." she said.
            "Agreed." said everyone else.
            Ahead of the entire army were Tirus and Razor. They stopped a few feet away from the group.
            Everything was silent as the desert wind blew sand around them.
            "So we meet, face to face . . . for the last time." said Tirus, then he drew a long, spiked sword from his belt. "Attack!!" he yelled.
            The warriors drew their weapons and bellowed out growls of aggression.
            Razor drew his sword.
            The Turtles, Lavia, Fay, and Max prepared their weapons.
            Tirus' army charged into the group without hesitation.
             Max's nervousness caused him to fire his laser at every chance he got, as he backed up, and went towards the rocks to hide.
            A laser ray just missed Fay.
           "Max! Watch it!" she exclaimed as she glanced back at him.
           Lavia got into a brutal entanglement with two beast warriors. She fired lasers at their necks, killing them on contact.
           Cori was surrounded by warriors, who seemed to be getting the best of her.
           Max hid behind a rock, shaking uncontrollably. "Oh gosh, I'm gonna have a heart attack, I know it, I just know it." he said shakily.
           Raph was laserless, and fought the beast warriors with his fists, and occasionally with his sai. It was a very tough fight as he was outnumbered 6 to 1.
          "Ah!" shrieked Venus as a warrior slashed her upper arm.
          "Give up! You'll never win!" said Tirus.
          "Never!" said Donatello in a strained voice as he was trying to push one of the other beast warriors away with his bo staff.
          Just then, Max felt like something was poking him from underneath of where he was hiding. He looked down, and the ground opened up, taking him under. He yelled as he went down.
         Rita glanced over towards the rock just in time to see Max's hand disappear beneath it. She gasped.
         "Guys! The ground just swallowed Max!" she exclaimed in disbelief.
         "What?! That's crazy!" said Lavia, then she was attacked head on by 4 more beast warriors.
         Suddenly, something from one spot underground exploded underneath some beast warriors, killing the beasts in an instant.
        "What the . . . " said Raph.
       More explosions came, and it became like a mine field for the beast warriors as they were blown up.
        Tirus looked puzzled. "What's going on here?"
       Lavia beat down one of the beast warriors, but another came at her in a lightning attack, and shoved her so hard that she flew in the air, and was slammed against a rock, knocking her unconcious.
       "Lavia!" exclaimed Cori.
       Lavia's body slid down the rock, and laid still at the bottom of it.
       Another explosion destroyed more of Tirus' army.
       He sighed heavily with a deep, angry growl. "Retreat! Retreat now!" he shouted.
       The beast warriors looked towards him, and ran to follow him, and Razor.
       The group watched as the army left and disappeared over the horizon. Everyone was breathing hard, tired, and above all, in pain.
       Donatello went over to Lavia.
       The others came over as well.
         "Is she gonna be okay?" asked Fay.
        Donatello felt for Lavia's pulse. "Well, she's alive. But she needs medical help. Where'd Max go?" asked Donny as he looked around.
        "Like I screamed out earlier, the ground swallowed him up." said Rita.
       "That's like, weird." said Shelley.
        "Yeah, but what's even weirder is that whatever was underground, sure did do a job on those warriors. They ran like never before." said Raph.
       "Maybe whoever's down there is on our side." said Mikey.
       "Maybe. But why'd they take Max?" asked Rita.
       "Who knows?" said Donatello.
        "Come on, we better start doing some walking. Maybe Max'll turn up." said Leo.
       "I hope so, because this does not tickle." said Venus as she lightly touched the wound on her arm.
       "Ouch." said Mikey when he looked at it.
       "You have no idea." said Venus, glancing back at him.
       Raph picked Lavia up, and the group began walking.

       A little while into their journey, the ground felt very soft.
       "Uh oh." said Rita.
       "What?" asked Shelley.
       "I think we're about to go down." said Rita.
       "Uh oh." said the others.
       Suddenly, the ground opened beneath all of them, and they were pulled underground.
       Underground, it was dark, but cool.
       "Now what?" asked Mikey.
       Then chattering noises could be heard around them.
        "Who, who's there?" asked Rita nervously.
        The chattering noises stopped, and the group began getting pushed by furry hands.
       "Eep! Who are these guys?" asked Shelley.
       "Let's just go along with them. Maybe they'll bring us to Max." said Leo.
       "Yeah, like, in their dining room." said Shelley.

        The furry-handed creatures pushed them along until light was seen up ahead, and voices were heard.
        The group stepped out into a room filled with people, very dirty people who seemed to have resided there all of their lives.
        "Wow." said Venus.
        "Thank you." said Donatello as he turned around. He was shocked to see strange mole people with pitch black eyes standing near him.
        The others turned around to see them too, and they were all stunned stiff.
         "Thank you." said a man with a British accent towards the mole people.
         The mole people chattered a bit, nodded, then left back to the dark corridors.
         The group turned around to face the man with the British accent.
         "Well hello there. I hope the mole people didn't give you too much of a scare. They're no harm really." said the man.
         "Oh, no, that's ok." said Leo.
         "Ah very good. We have your friend down here with us. The mole people sensed intense fear in him, so they brought hm down as they also heard the beast warriors." said the man.
        "You all know about the beast warriors?" asked Fay.
        "Why of course, they're the reason that we're all down here." said the man. "Oh, but excuse my manners, my name is Mr. Charleston."
        "Oh, pleased to meet you." said Rita.
        "Its good to meet you all as well. Come, I see you have an emergency to attend to." said Mr. Charleston as he saw Raph holding Lavia.
         "Yeah, and an injury." said Leo as he showed Venus' arm.
         "Come come." said Mr. Charleston, and he led them throughout the underground complex.
         "Wow, this place sure is huge." said Donatello.
        "Yes, the mole people dig out new tunnels for us and such all the time. We pay them heartily with food and medical attention, so we have good relations with them. They're naturally peaceful and kind, so we have never had a problem with them." explained Mr. Charleston.
        "That's good to know." said Cori.
        "Indeed." said Mr. Charleston.
        "What was up with those bomb thingies earlier?" asked Raph.
        "Oh, well we have a couple of bomb experts that create some bombs just in case of intrusion. In your case, we figured you all could use some help." said Mr. Charleston.
         "We sure appreciate it." said Mikey.
        "I'm glad." said Mr. Charleston.
         He led them to a room with beds in it, and the group saw Max attending to a person's broken leg.
        "That should heal within the next year." said Max.
        The person nodded and sighed.
        "Hey Max." said Cori.
        Max looked up. "Oh, I'm glad to see you made it down here. It's very nice." he said.
        "I see." said Cori as she glanced around.
        Then Raph put Lavia down on a bed.
       "Oh my! What happened to Lavia?" asked Max as he rushed over to her.
       "One of them beast warriors slammed her against a rock." said Cori.
       "Ouch." said Max. Then he looked her over, and sighed. "Well, she's gonna be fine. Let's just leave her here to rest a while."
       "Okay. And for your next task." said Venus as she showed Max her cut.
       "Ooo, we better take care of that before infection sets in." said Max. So he began to take care of her cut over at a table with first aid equiptment on it.
       The others were led out of the room by a few ladies. They were led into a room with old chairs and rock seats.
       "Here, you must rest." said one lady.
       "Thank you." said Leo.
       Then two other ladies handed out cups of water to each of them.
       "Thank you." said Rita.
       "You're welcome." the ladies said while smiling, then they left the room.
       "So exactly how long do ya think we'll be stayin' down here?" asked Cori after sipping some water.
       "Until Lavia gets better at least." said Donny.
       "How long will that take?" asked Leonardo.
       "It all depends on how she is. If its not major, she could be fine within a few days. If its major, we're looking at weeks, possibly even months." said Rita.
       "That could seriously set back our plans." said Fay.
       "And give Tirus more time to find that medallion." said Mikey.
       "Think we'll have to make the journey without her?" asked Shelly.
       "We won't have to." said Max as he entered the room with Venus.
       They sat down on a couple of boulders.
       "What do you mean 'we won't have to'?" asked Cori.
       "Well, I was overhearing part of your conversation, and can tell you right now that Lavia is gonna be fine." said Max.
       "That's great!" said Rita.
       "How can you like, tell? Is she awake yet?" asked Shelly.
       "Well, she didn't wake up, but I feel no cracks on her skull, and no suggestion of internal bleeding, and she's breathing fine without aid. Her heart is beating a bit slower than normal, but its still beating. The hit was a shock to her system I think, that's about all." said Max.
         "When will she wake up?" asked Mikey.
        "Another few hours. She'll be ready to go in a couple of days." said Max.
       "So we're here for now. I sure hope that Tirus dude doesn't find the medallion before we do." said Cori.
       "Don't we all." said Venus.
       The group stayed overnight, sleeping on woven blankets on the floor.

      The next morning, as Cori began waking up, she heard clicking noises, like someone was sucking their teeth.
      "Tisk tisk tisk." said the person.
      Cori rolled over and looked sleepily at the person. Her eyes then grew wider and she sat up. "Lavia! You're awake!"
       "Of course. What, you think I'm gonna stay down forever? Never that." smiled Lavia.
      Cori smiled back. Then she heard loud snoring, and looked over to the side.
      Raph was laying there, snoring very loudly.
      "Oh gosh." said Cori. She then hit him in the head.
      Raph's last snore was reduced to nothing more than a snort as he jolted awake. "What, what happened?" he asked as he sat up quickly.
      Lavia giggled.
      "Hey, you're awake." said Raph.
      Lavia nodded slightly.
      Raph rubbed his head. "Hey, who hit me?"
      "One guess." said Cori with a smirk.
      Raph looked over at her for a moment. "You're gonna get yours for doin' that." he said with a smirk of his own.
      Lavia cleared her throat. "Um, excuse me, there are children in the room."
      Raph and Cori looked away from each other.
      Raph got up and stretched, as did Cori.
      "Ah, you're up." said a woman who came into the room. "A few of your friends are already at the breakfast table. You may come when you're ready."
      "Thanks." said Cori.
      Lavia looked back at the floor, noticing that only Mikey and Shelley were there.
      Shelley soon woke up, and stretched. She looked over towards Mikey, who was drooling on his blanket. She sighed. "He's so cute when he's asleep."
       Lavia and Cori gave each other that, "I don't think so." look.
      "Come on, wake the drooling baby up and let's go to the breakfast table." said Lavia.
      "Okay." said Shelley. "Oh yeah! Glad to see ya up Lavia."
      "Thanks." smiled Lavia. Then she left to the breakfast table with Raph and Cori.
      "Mikey." Shelley said softly as she shook him.
      Mikey twitched a bit, then slowly opened his eyes. "Huh?" he asked sleepily.
      "We gotta get up and like, eat breakfast now." said Shelley.
      "Food?" asked Mikey.
      "Yeah, food." said Shelley.
      It didn't take long for Mikey to get up after that.
      At the breakfast table reserved only for the group from HQ, they had somewhat hard bread rolls with butter, and tea.
      Max sat at the table looking over a notebook of his, shaking his head. Then he set it down on the table and sighed deeply. "This is gonna be tough."
      "Tell me about it." said Rita. "Our supplies are non-existant, and we don't even know what direction to head in for the medallion."
       "Well, the people here are lending us supplies. And they said if we need any help, to find soft ground and whistle for the mole people." said Max.
       "But only in urgent circumstances, they're trying to survive too. They can't give us all of their supplies." said Fay.
      "True." sighed Max.
      "We'll make it, I know we will." said Lavia.
      "We have to. I'm not giving up until we destroy Tirus' life like he destroyed ours." said Fay.
      "No doubt." said Lavia.
      "We still don't know in which direction to proceed for the medallion." said Rita.
      "I can detect strange energies; we were proceeding in the correct direction when we met up with the mole people." said Venus.
      "So that's it, we've got the direction we need to go in, and supplies." said Raph.
      "Basically, but being that our ships were destroyed, we're gonna have to travel on foot, but be very careful." said Rita.
      Fay looked over at Lavia after sipping some water.
     Lavia was staring straight ahead into space, with a blank expression on her face. She sat perfectly still, as if she were half-concious.
     "Hey everyone, look at Lavia." said Fay.
      The others turned their heads and looked at Lavia.
      "What's like, the matter with her?" asked Shelley.
      "Lavia? Lavia?" called Max.
      Lavia sat there motionless for a moment before twitching, and looking back at everyone. "Hm?" she asked.
      "Are you ok?" asked Cori.
     "Sure, why?" asked Lavia.
     "Hmm." mumbled Max.
     "You were starin' into space like you were thinkin' about somethin." said Raph.
     "I was?" asked Lavia, a confused expression forming on her face.
     "But you feel ok?" asked Max.
     "Yeah." said Lavia.
     "Well, if you do. I'll just keep a close eye on you." said Max.
     "So exactly when are we leaving?" asked Rita.
     "Tomorrow morning sounds good." said Max. "By then we'll have enough rest and supplies."
     "That means I gotta sharpen my sai tonight." said Raph.
     "I think we all better pay special attention to our weapons." said Max. "I'm still fixing the lasers. The power should be ready to go just as soon as I finish doing some tweaking."
      "I didn't think there was any electrical power around here." said Donny.
     "As long as you know how to properly harness the energy from sparks created by rubbing metal together, you can do a lot." said Max.
      "Interesting." Donny said to himself.
      The group spent the day working on getting ready for their journey the next morning.

     The next morning, everone was up getting ready to go. Max handed out lasers to those who needed them, and each group member took a sack of supplies and food that they'd need.
      "Thank you for everything, we really appreciate it." said Rita.
      "Anytime." said Mr. Charleston. "Oh, and before I forget. If you ever need us desperately, use this whistle to summon the mole people to soft ground, and they'll bring you down here with us." he said as he handed Max the whistle.
       "Thank you." said Max.
        "We thank you as well, for taking care of the many sick persons here." said Mr. Charleston.
         Max nodded and smiled. "Anytime."
        "Bye sir, it was a pleasure meeting you." said Rita.
        "The pleasure was all mine, ma'am." said Mr. Charleston.
        Rita smiled.
        The mole people were heard chattering in the darkness of the tunnel behind them.
         The HQ group went over to the tunnel and let the mole people lead them to the surface.
        "Thanks guys." said Shelley after reaching the surface with the others.
        The mole people chattered a two-syallable word for a second, then left.

         The group looked around.
         "Come on, we were travelling this way." said Venus.
         So everyone continued on the journey.

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