This is a joint-effort among writers who are keen in developing supporting/minor characters in their own interpretations. And while this is an interpretive work, all involved have done their absolute best to keep their characters as canon as possible.
The following events in this story are portrayed chronologically two weeks after Turtles Forever.
Katmandu is a canon character from the Archie-verse. He is half man and half tiger; a massive beast, nearly seven feet tall, with rippling muscles. He carries four arms on his torso like the Hindu deity Shiva. He has large teeth and claws and is most often found in his metal adornments: golden tunic, neck brace, and steeple hat.
Nano is a canon character from the 2k3 cartoon series. He is a sentient robot made up of billions of microscopic machines that are capable of self-replication and manipulating mechanical parts. Here, he is depicted as being mature than he was in his previous incarnations and is a full-fledged member of the Justice Force.
Please refer to our profile page to learn more about the story plot and the other characters involved.
Thanks much for your support and I hope you'd enjoy the story as much as we enjoy writing it!
Scene 1: The Crystal Palace
While alone in this spiritual refuge with only the good memories of the past to support him, it didn't feel like so long ago since he held a dear friend, his teacher, Charlie Llama, in his massive arms to feel that last breath as it escaped and faded away into yet another reincarnation.
He looked about the simple structure and felt a certain amount of nostalgia settling back in.
"I miss you, Old Friend," his voice whispered within the slightly vacant monastery. The very air as he breathed, felt inviting beyond anything he had known before. It smelled like home.
Katmandu was home.
Sighing, he slid his right leg up and rested his foot against his thigh. His two upper arms bent themselves over his head and met in the middle, palms pressed against one another while the remaining limbs below the first pair bent themselves and held their thumb tips to their finger tips.
He then closed his eyes to fall back into meditation.
For a moment, it was only the wind through the chimes which spoke back to him. Then his ears flickered and he could hear something, some other presence, obscuring the crystal clarity of the monastery. At first he believed that it was perhaps the Monkey Monks which served the Charlie Llama before his passing but Katmandu had known better. They now catered to the whims of the reincarnation of Charlie, a small child, and would not be back at the Crystal Palace until the baby had his moment of enlightenment and accepted his re-birthed destiny.
Katmandu should have been alone in this place.
This other presence, however, was unavoidable. He had sensed something strange, unlike anything else that had been allowed entry to the sacred meditation area. Lowering his four arms, he grabbed his club and slowly made his way through the shadows.
"Who enters this sacred place?" Katmandu growled in his native language, his blue eyes glaring deeply at the one who had gained entry.
The sound of laser weapons on standby mode beeped softly in the background as the visitor stood poised with two glowing eyes staring in the direction of Katmandu's voice in the dark.
"I apologise for my sudden intrusion," the visitor spoke in Nepali in an obvious, mechanical tone. "This is the first and only monastery I have seen since I arrived here. But I have not come to cause any trouble. I only wish to seek answers—from the Dalai Lama himself."
Katmandu couldn't believe his eyes. The visitor was definitely something that stuck out in the placid settings of Nepal and the Crystal Palace. And the fact it was metallic and unnatural-looking could attribute to the sense of not belonging yet he was not sure. Something else seemed amiss.
The four-armed tiger merely cocked his head to the side as he naively stepped forward into the light, further brandishing the metallic creature's large and puzzling body structure. He crossed his lower arms over his abdomen and frowned.
"I am sorry to inform you that the Charlie Llama as you seek is no longer in the form he was in," he sighed, a deep crease forming over his eyes at the thought. While Katmandu was a large creature, it was clear to see that the simple statement touched something deep within. "He passed from this incarnation into his next. The new Charlie Llama is...incapable of leading anyone to any answers in his current state. And as the sworn protector of his mortal vessel, I cannot even tell you where the child is."
Katmandu narrowed his eyes. "I also hope you realise how suspicious it is to me that you would be asking such a question, especially when Whirling Dervishes and other assassins have been so numerous in Nepal as of late."
"I was met with no such threat," answered the robot, his green optics growing brighter as they scanned over the large tiger-man. "My sources have told me that the Dalai Lama has returned to Nepal—"
Katmandu emitted a throaty, heartfelt laugh. "I believe your sources were mistaken in calling Charlie this..."Dalai Lama". His name is Charlie, I would know. I was with him in his last days."
The robot tilted his head in confusion. "I do not understand this."
Placing the hands of his upper limbs on his hips, Katmandu shook his head with a smirk. He looked suddenly kinder and happier, with rounded features more softened and a certain excited gleam in his blue eyes like a curious kitten. For some reason, the green-eyed robot had reminded him of a child's soul; of the turtle-friends he had encountered on his last journey to the Crystal Palace.
"In Buddhism we believe that a soul is carried from one mortal vessel to the next, that death is merely the passage way to a new life and new opportunities. When one is very good and receives good karma in life, their next life is closer to Nirvana: or heaven. Likewise, bad karma leads to a new life that is farther from Nirvana. The Charlie Llama is the reincarnation of the Buddha who has forsaken Nirvana in order to teach the rest of us how to attain it."
Smiling to himself, Katmandu thought back to the benevolent spiritual leader. "Charlie was...is a good soul. He is a knowledgeable and patient father and the best of friends. When he has returned to a position where he is aware of his former lives, I hope you and I both shall have the pleasure of knowing him. I wish fervently for that day."
If only the tiger knew the many "deaths" he had been through to attain his own sense of belonging in a world unappreciative of sentient machines like him.
Despite the confusion, the very mention of this revered teacher named, "Charlie Llama" had certainly piqued the robot's interest.
"What is your name?" Katmandu asked, while wondering why the strange, metallic creature was so fluent in Nepali. "Have you come from the city?"
The robot was silent for a moment, before answering, "Nano."
He then broke his gaze from Katmandu to look around the monastery. "I have come from a place much farther from here. The people in my city have suffered too long under an unbearable heat spell. There is only one person who could help us find a place of refuge. And the Lama I seek knows where it is."
Pressing the palm of his mechanical hand against the aging wall of the monastery, Nano began to realise that perhaps, the other Nepal he was looking for was gone. Perhaps the nanites, while still in the process of recuperation from the intense heat wave in New York, were conjuring up visions of false hope to compensate for his struggles, replacing a world he had lost with something familiar. But this place, this alternate world of Nepal, with its people and the four-armed tiger who had spoken so highly of a teacher named "Charlie Llama" seemed so surreal to him.
Nano feared this was a mirage he could not escape from.
If there was no Lama to seek answers from, how was he to find the way to a place untouched by Mother Nature's wrath?
"We're too late," he said, before turning to look in the direction of the monastery's entrance where a series of mini-cyclones were racing towards them.
"It is the Whirling Dervishes!" Katmandu roared, his voice of a man becoming inexplicably woven with the bellow of a beast. "They caused the early ascension of my closest friend and now they are here to destroy the last standing testament to the Llama's teachings! I will not stand for this!"
Katmandu ran past Nano, forgetting he even existed, and grabbed from the corner a sword and another club, leaving only one of his four limbs free to catch the spinning blades of the mystic murderers. He then made his way back through the hall, passing Nano and looking over his shoulder only for a moment to look into the robot's eyes.
"Creature, if you would assist me against my most bitter enemies—the enemies of this most sacred place—then you shall have my immortal thanks and, in my eyes, be my blood brother," he stated before taking out through the doorway.