How did Raphael end up in the Andes Mountains? How did Fishface and Slash end up taking in the five year old mutant?
10 Years Ago
South America
"Shut up!" a Foot Ninja snarled. A few feet away, a small mutant turtle sat crouched in a cage too small for him to stand in. For the first few hours on the plane, the turtle had been hiding in his shell. That had caused some concern among the ninjas but he'd come out about an hour ago and would not stop crying causing all the ninjas to wish that he'd just go back.
"No!" Raph screamed. "I want my dad! And my brothers!"
Raph began calling their names much to the annoyance of the guarding ninjas. The nearest drew a throwing star and jabbed it into the cage. Raph yelped at the cut and started crying harder. A thin stream of blood trickled down his leg.
"Leo?!" he sobbed. "Mikey?! Donnie?! Sensei?!"
"They're not coming to help you." the ninja who cut him said. "Now shut up!"
"No!" If anything, being told not to do something just made Raph want to not do it more. He began kicking at the cage with his unhurt leg. "Let me out! I want my Splinter!"
Another ninja glanced out the plane's window then at the door. "Hey, can't we just toss it out? The boss said to dispose of it but he didn't say where."
A ninja that sat further away from Raph than the others looked at him. "I was looking forward to dropping that thing into one of the volcanoes around here. I hear there's one called Cotopaxi. That one sounds pretty good."
"I really don't want to listen to him until we find it." another ninja said. "Watching him fall into the ocean will be just as fun as watching him fall into a volcano."
"True." the far ninja said. "Open the door."
Two ninjas darted over to the door and opened it. A strong gust of air began sucking some of the loose objects out.
Raph whimpered and shrunk back in his cage as the far ninja neared. "Get away!"
Sensing that the child would put up a fight if let out, the ninja picked up the entire cage and brought it over to the door. He stuck both his arms out holding the cage and stood there for a bit, enjoying watching Raph struggle.
"No!" Raph cried as he looked down to the water below. It was far. He understood why Leo was scared of heights. He didn't want to fall that far. "Don't drop me!"
"There's land about a mile to the East." the ninja piloting the plane said. "Do you want me to steer it over?"
"No." the ninja holding Raph said. "It will satisfy me to know that it had the slow death of drowning."
The ninja released his grip on the cage and leaving Raph to pummel screaming and crying to his death.
Xever Montes was a simple man. That was a lie, he was not simple at all. Thieves tended not to be simple. But, he had simple pleasures. Swiping a wallet, the smile of a beautiful woman, finding a good knife at a shop.
That was the old Xever. The Xever before he got mutated. He couldn't do those things anymore. At first, it bothered him but he was soon able to find new pleasures. Like swimming, the thrill of a hunt, or finding something shiny to show his land friend, Slash.
That was really all he could do. He couldn't leave the water. A frustration but one he had learned to live with. As a fish, he could appreciate the water in a way that he couldn't as a human and as a mutant, he could appreciate the water in a way that normal fish couldn't.
Fishface floated lazily on his back paddling with his arms in a slow backstroke. This was the closest he could be to being fully out of the water. A good part of his body was above the surface, he just had to remember to keep his gills beneath the water.
The sun felt good against his belly and it was nice to just float without a care in the world. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the shore about a mile away. He could see his friend Slash moving around doing something but Xever didn't really care what. They weren't meeting up until later.
Overhead, he saw a plane flying by. At first, he ignored it then realized that he should probably hide in case any humans came out of it.
"Ah merda." he hissed as he flipped back over. His sun warmed scales hit the cold water. Not the best feeling. He kept his face out of the water though, watching for the plane to pass.
To his surprise, things started falling out of the plane. He had to duck underwater to avoid being hit by some of the debris. It wasn't large but from that height, it could probably knock him out if he not nailed in the head.
"Crazy humans." Xever muttered. "Don't they have better things to do?"
He was about to dive down and search the droppings for anything useful when he heard a voice. He looked up and saw an object larger than the others falling towards him. And from it, he heard the terrified scream of a child.
"Que diabos?! What is wrong with those humans?" Xever snarled. He looked up and tired to pinpoint where the object would fall. "Hang on, kiddo. Xever's gotcha."
As the object hit the water, Xever dived down. He grabbed it firmly in both hands before it reached the bottom. Not wasting time to look over it, he thrashed his tail madly as he tried to get to the surface.
He pushed the object out of he water and tried to keep it up but it was hard to balance. To his horror, he realized he was holding a cage and in it was a possibly dead mutant turtle.
"Slash, Slash!" Xever swam without his usual cunning towards the shore where the massive mutant was smashing stones.
"Hey there, friend." Slash greeted. "Didn't think I'd see you until sundown. What's up?"
"Look what I found!" Xever was breathing hard. He dragged the cage onto land and pulled himself up as far as he could go. He hated lying on land. He felt like a fish out of water which he was, he just didn't like to be reminded of that fact. But right now he didn't really care.
""Woah." Slash said. "What is that?"
"It's a kid, idiot." Xever told him. "A turtle. A mutant turtle."
"What's he doing in a cage?" Slash asked.
"I don't know! Just get him out so I can check if he's breathing!" Xever snapped. Slash didn't make a comeback. He grabbed a large rock and smashed it into the cage. "Careful, don't hurt him!"
"Since when do you care so much?" Slash teased as he tossed aside the rock and opted for tearing the bars off with his hands.
"Oh shut up!" Xever retorted. Slash ripped the bars off the cage and moved the unmoving turtle towards Xever not caring that he was standing ankle deep in the water.
Xever tilted the turtle so that water gushed out of his mouth. It was really awkward to hold him like that due to not having legs and all but it did the trick. The turtle began coughing.
"There, there." Xever told him. "Get some oxygen into that little body of yours."
He set the turtle back down and began looking over him.
With a large gasp, the turtle's eyes opened and he sat up. Immediately, his gaze fell on Xever.
"How are you doing- hey!" Xever yelped as the turtle kicked him in the face. "What was that for?"
"Get away from me you Fishface!" the turtle said. Slash started laughing. The smaller turtle whipped around at the sound. His eyes widened in shock at the sight of such a large turtle.
"Ha, Fishface." Slash laughed. "Good one."
"The name's Xever." Fishface frowned.
"I'm Slash." Slash greeted. The young turtle's gaze flicked between the two of them, not knowing how to react. Still sitting, he tried to back away from them.
"You're- you're mutants?" the turtle questioned. "Like me?"
"Seems that way." Fishface shrugged.
"I thought we were the only mutants…" the turtle whispered.
"Nah." Xever shook his head. "There are plenty of us. Don't seem 'em much but they're there. Now what's this we stuff? You got a family?"
The young turtle suddenly burst into tears. Slash and Fishface exchanged a look. Neither were experienced with children, neither knew what to do.
"Hey, hey, hey." Xever soothed. He extended his arms to he held himself up at the turtle's height. It was not at all graceful, it was a strange sight really but Xever didn't really care at the moment. "You're alright now."
Slash leaned over the two of them and put a hand on the turtle's shoulder. "Now can you tell us how a young turtle such as yourself ended up in the Andes?"
All he got for an answer was a series of wails, sobs, and sniffles that may or may not have been words.
"Okay, let's start simple." Slash stated. "What's your name?"
"R-Raphael." the turtle sobbed. "M-my brothers call me Raph."
"Okay, Raph, where'd you come from?" Slash asked softly.
"The sewer." Raph said.
"The sewer?" Fishface questioned. Raph nodded. "Where?"
"I don't know!" Raph wailed.
"How did you get here?" Slash asked.
Raph sniffed and more tears rolled down his face. Shifting his weight onto one arm, Fishface reached over to wipe them away. Raph's crying was getting messy.
"The bad man attacked Master Splinter." Raph sniffled. "The mean people grabbed me an' Leo an' Donnie an' Mikey."
"Who are they?" Slash asked. Xever dropped back down onto his belly. His arms were tired from holding himself up. "Leo, Donnie, and Mikey?"
"M-my brothers." Raph cried.
"And who's Master Splinter?"
"My d-dad."
"What happened to them?"
Raph started bawling again. "I don't know!"
Slash patted Raph on the shell again and Xever put a hand on his leg. He noticed a long cut on it. He guessed the people in the plane weren't the kindest kidnappers.
"Hang in there kiddo." Xever said as Raph cried. "Slash and I will take good care of you until your family comes."
"We will?" Slash asked quietly.
"We can't just leave him!" Xever hissed under his breath. "Besides, he's young, he'll forget about them."
"How old are you Raph?" Slash asked a bit louder so he could hear.
"Five." Raph answered.
"I heard once that memories don't start forming until you're five." Fishface said quietly to Slash. "I think we're good."
"You do a lot of things because you heard it once." Slash sighed.
"That's why I keep you around." Xever smirked then turned his attention back to Raph. "Slash and I will look out for you."
"What if the bad man comes back?" Raph asked quietly.
"We'll protect you from the bad man." Fishface said. "See? Look how big Slash is! He can beat anyone! And see these big teeth? No one can get out of my bite."
Raph laughed a bit. Slash scooped him up into his arms. "Come on. I'll take you to where I live. You must be tired."
Raph nodded. "What about Fishface?"
"I can't go on land." Fishface told him. "I don't have legs. See?"
Raph nodded and his eyes began to droop in exhaustion. Slash nodded a goodbye to Fishface and began heading more inland towards the mountains.
"Fishface." Slash chuckled quietly.
"Don't call me that!" Fishface yelled.
Author's Note: Raph is five. He's allowed to cry.
Casey won't join the South America group until later. Before Raph showed up, there wasn't really a group. Fishface and Slash jut did their own things and occasionally talked to each other. They really only became a family when Raph showed up.
Can you guys think of any other plot holes in Four Corners of the Earth? Remember, none of the characters on the groups were ever a part of the Foot so everything happened differently.