TMNT - FITG: Chapter Three

When Raphael next came to, he was relieved to have the familiar feeling of an oxygen mask on his face. The soft, steady flow of the oxygen on his face was calming, as well as extremely helpful. Karai must have saved him. She wouldn't let anything bad happen to him, right? She was his friend after all.

But aside from the oxygen mask and a comfortable bed beneath him, nothing was much better. His lungs were burning, his body aching. His breathing was shorted and very painful. However long he had spent off the oxygen and on someone's shoulders had not done him any good what so ever. The area around where Moshin had cut into him was not doing well. With every breath he could feel the wound moving. Why hadn't he felt like this before? Surely they'd have him on painkillers or something...

Someone placed a wet cloth on his forehead. Karai? Slowly his eyes slid open, but not to the familiar white room. This one was dark, and cluttered with medical equipment. Where was he?

Suddenly his eyes fell on the only person in the room apart from himself. It was one of the turtles! This one currently had his back to Raphael. It seemed to be interested in something on the other side of the room. Raphael noticed this turtle wore a purple bandana. It moved to nearby equipment, thankfully not turning back towards the bed. It used crutches to walk around, one foot off the floor.
It was hurt. This was a good thing. Raphael had no intention in staying with these things. They had taken him from his friend and for what purpose? They hadn't even given him a say in the matter. He couldn't just let these things have him. If they wanted him, they'd have to fight for him.

Carefully, Raphael pushed himself up, suppressing a groan as he did. This was the first time he had actually sat up and it only brought a dizzy wave upon him. The feeling just made him want to lie back down. The pain in his body increased with the small movement. Regardless of how bad this was making Raphael feel, he knew he had to press on if he had hopes of getting out of here and back to Karai.

Moving the blanket off him, he carefully swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He paused there, preparing himself for the effort to come. Hesitantly, he removed the mask and placed it on the bed. It might make breathing harder, but he needed to get out of here. As Raphael shifted his weight and started to stand, the bed creaked.

Raphael looked up at the turtle to see it looking at him, Raphael's eyes widened and his whole body tensed, slight fear making itself known. He was caught before he even got to the door. Suddenly he felt very trapped, even if it was just a very simple gaze. The turtle turned to him, using the crutches as support. It looked... relieved? "Raph, you have no ide-" It trailed off in mid sentence, as if noticing how much Raphael did not want to be here right now. "What's wrong?"

Then like that, Raphael got up and bolted for the door. Walking would have been an interesting experience, trying to remember how it was done. So running, was far more eventful then Raphael would have liked. With every step he stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. This wasn't helped when the injured turtle somehow managed to move faster than Raphael, grabbing hold of his arm. "Raph!" He practically shouted at him.

Raphael fully panicked at this point, turning back round to the turtle and punching it right in the face, as hard as he possibly could. The hit itself wasn't very hard, Raphael wasn't up to it, but it was enough to throw the turtle off balance.
As the turtle fell to the ground, Raphael turned to run again. He threw the door open as a hand wrapped itself around his ankle, causing him to fall. He cried out as he hit the ground. Raphael looked back to the see the turtle who was now frowning at him was speaking to him. But the adrenaline in Raphael's system was making his heartbeat faster and faster, and that was all he could hear.

Raphael lashed out with his other foot, hitting the turtle square in the jaw. The turtle cried out, but refused to let go. So Raphael continued to lash out with his foot until it finally let go. It was calling out for help as Raphael struggled to his feet.

Wildly, he looked around. He needed to get out of here!! Suddenly a large sliding door caught his attention. He didn't have time for a second guess if the turtle was calling for the others. So Raphael took his chances with it.

When he reached it, he threw it open and ran out. It led to... a sewer?! Raphael found he didn't have time to be disgusted with his surroundings, he had to get going. He took off, running as fast as his legs would allow. Turning down random turns in hope of making himself impossible to track. Though after a short time he was forced to stop. Weakly, he fell to his knees gasping for breath. One hand was on the ground, supporting him and the other was clenched against his aching chest. He couldn't breathe. Soon a coughing fit took hold, forcing him to cough up a hell of a lot of muck.

Uhh... that tasted foul. Unfortunately, he looked at the mess. Green muck... that was meant to mean something. Raphael was sure of it. Though the fact that there was blood there too was even more alarming then the missing meaning. Shit... What was wrong with him?

Now that that was off his chest, he felt a little better; breathing came a little bit easier. He was so tired, but he knew he couldn't stop here. He had to keep going. He had to find Karai. Slowly, he got up and continued to walk, unable to run for the moment.

Nearby Raphael noticed something. A manhole cover. If he was in the sewer, he obviously needed to go up to escape the turtles territory, right?

Slowly, Raphael walked over to the ladder that led to the cover, placing his hands on the rails. Something didn't feel right, but he couldn't explain what it was exactly. Like this wasn't something he should be doing right now. But what else was he meant to do? Let the freaks find him? No thanks.

So without a second thought he started to climb the ladder, taking his time with his steps as his legs were not as steady as he would have liked. Then suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps nearly. Raphael hurried his climb, pushing the cover out of the way when he reached the top. It took him a moment, but he managed it. Once out of the sewer, he quickly moved the cover back.