Ancient Legacy
Chapter 9
Donnie walked out of his room, haven just woken up and wanting to check on Mikey. As he walked over to the med-room, something slightly moist fell on top of his head. Picking up whatever object that hit him, he saw that it was a banana-peel. He was quite puzzled to how a banana-peel could fall on him inside the lair.
"Oops. Sorry, Donnie." said a voice from above. Donnie looked up and saw Sephie standing upside down in the roof, holding a pen and a magazine.
"Sephie? What are you doing up there?" Donnie asked.
"Well, I could say that I'm just hanging around, but I'm actually trying to solve this crossword-puzzle. Do you know another eight-letter word for turtle, with two 'R' between the beginning and middle?"
"Two 'R', hmm. Try 'terrapin'."
"Terrapin, huh? Let's see... Yeah, that's the one. Thanks."
"No problem. If you don't mind me asking, why are you up in the ceiling?"
"I simply like being upside down every once in a while, it gives a new perspective. And it's very rarely as crowded as the floor can be."
"Okay... and the banana-peel?"
"I wanted something to eat, so I took a banana. Then I accidentally dropped the peel, I thought that I had a better grip on it with my tail than I had. Could you back away, just a little, I'm coming down."
She dropped down from the ceiling, turning in the air and landing face to face with the purple-masked turtle as effortlessly as if she had only jumped from the lowest step of a staircase.
"Like being upside-down, huh?"
"I like climbing on any surface, it gives a sense of zero gravity, or something... It's awesome either way, I love this body. 'sigh' But I would gladly trade it to be able to be together with my family again." The last part was said with a rather sad tone.
"I don't blame you, but speaking of families, how's Mikey doing?"
"He's fine, as far as I can tell. He's at least looking healthier than he did yesterday. But you might wanna check him for yourself, just the same."
"That's actually what I was going to do, when I was interrupted by falling peels. Anyway, where's Tyroth? Haven't seen or heard him yet."
Sephie handed Donnie the note Tyroth left, it was quicker than telling Donnie herself.
"He went topside? I sure hope he's careful, but I suppose he knows how to take care of himself."
"That he does, but it doesn't make me any less worried about him."
Roughly half an hour later, everyone in the lair was up and about, even Mikey, if a bit wobbly. He was still weak but recovering nicely. They all sat in the kitchen, eating breakfast, when Tyroth returned.
"About time you showed up." said Raph "We were almost starting to get worried."
"I had a few questions that needed to be straightened out, some time high up helps." Tyroth responded.
"So, how did it go? Any answers?" asked Sephie.
"Not even one." Tyroth said as he sat down by the table. "Only more questions, courtesy of what I ran into topside." This caught the attention of everyone at the table, and they weren't exactly pleased when Tyroth told them that there was another demon running around.
"I tried to talk peacefully with him, but as soon as I gave away that I knew of demons, he attacked me."
"Then we can assume that trying to reason with them is out of the question." said Leo.
"Suits me just fine." said Raph, and Casey nodded in agreement.
"The thing that bothers me the most about that meeting, however, is that he said something about dragons being extinct."
"Dragons extinct?" said April "Wouldn't that mean that there were dragons once?"
"That's what I think as well. And not only that, but it seems like the demons, or at least this one, fears dragons for some reason. And I can't shake the feeling that I know more about this whole mess than I should. It's like having amnesia, but different somehow. I can't make heads or tails out of any of this, and it's giving me a headache."
"Tell us more of the actual attack, maybe we can figure this out together." said Leo.
"It wasn't much of an attack, he just jabbed me in the chest with his claws. Apparently he thought that something he called the 'taint' would kill me."
"Taint? Did he mean the same poison that Mikey was infected with?" asked Mona.
"I believe so, yes, and from the sound of the guy, it seems that it is common among them. Not to mention that it sounded like it's supposed to kill instantaneously."
"But, it didn't kill me. Right? Or am I a ghost?!" asked Mikey rather nervous. Raph whacked his younger brother over the back of his head, not as hard as he usually does, but still hard enough for it to hurt a little.
"Nope, too solid to be a ghost." said Raph.
"Whew. Thanks, I think." said Mikey rubbing the back of his head.
"Mikey's got a point, though." said Sephie "We know why Tyroth survived it, but not why Mikey survived. No offense Mikey."
"No problem."
"The only reason that I can think of is that we might be slightly resistant because we're mutants." said Donnie. "So it's almost logical to assume that, had we been human, we'd be dead as soon as the poison enters or bloodstream."
"Then, we were very lucky during the battle last night, in more ways than one, especially you Casey." said Leo.
"No kidding. I really dodged a bullet that time."
"Speaking of blood and poison, wasn't there some something you wanted to check with my blood, Donnie?" asked Sephie.
"I'd almost forgotten about that. Once we're done here, we'll get to that."
"What are you up to now, Donnie?" asked Raph.
"You'll see." Donnie answered.
"Um... do we even know what these things want?" Mona asked.
"From what I'm able to make out, I doubt that they're friendly." said Tyroth.
"What do you think about this, master? You've been quiet so far." said Leo.
"Much about these creatures remain unknown to us." Splinter started. "And I fear that we have to fight them eventually, but without the proper knowledge, that would be disastrous. We must find more information about them."
"So... how do we do that?" asked Casey.
"If I only could get out more from my mind, maybe I'd know how to deal with them." said Tyroth. "I just know that I know that, but it keeps eluding me."
"There might be a way to help you." said Splinter, gaining everyone's attention. "Through an advanced form of meditation, it is possible that I could enter your mind and help you find the answers that you seek."
"It's worth a try, at least." said Tyroth.
"Then meet me in my room, and we will start. As for you, my students, considering the task ahead of us and the fact that Michelangelo has not recovered enough yet, todays training session will have to be postponed."
"Understood master." said Leo. "We should use the time to do some research, there might be something about the demons in the lore of old."
"Well, it sure beats sitting on our shells while we wait." said Raph.
"I think we can help too." said April "I've got loads of old stuff in my antics shop, some of it might be magical, it wouldn't be the first time."
"Checking everything in the shop is gonna take quite some time." Mona remarked.
"I've planned to take a proper inventory of it anyways, might as well do so now. Besides, Casey's helping me."
"I am?" Casey asked, but quickly corrected himself when he met April's now stern gaze. "I mean, of course I am."
"If you guys check the books and antics, I'm gonna check my video-games. There are demons in some of them." said Mikey.
"That's probably the most stupid idea you've ever..."
"That's actually a good idea, Mikey." said Leo, cutting Raph of.
"It is!?" both Raph and Mikey said, very confused.
"Leo's right." said Donnie. "Even though game-developers most likely have taken many liberties when making the demons in the games, they're probably based on something more solid, like old myths and stories. The odds of finding anything useful is about the same as with any book we have. If nothing else, they might give us something to go on."
With their night planned, the gang split up and started their projects.
April and Casey headed back home for some long hours of cataloging.
Donnie returned to his lab and began examining Sephie's blood sample.
Leo, Raph and Sephie took it upon themselves to go through the older books they had in search of useful information, they also used a laptop to search the Internet as well.
Mikey had mixed emotions about playing video-games at the moment. One part of him wanted to play instead of training, or anything else boring, but another part was disturbed about Leo letting him play, something that has never happened before under such circumstances. Regardless, he did play, a lot. Mona was with him and made sure that he didn't get too sidetracked, while keeping notes on interesting things about the demons in the games.
Splinter was preparing some incenses in his room when Tyroth entered.
"Are you ready?" the old rat asked. Tyroth simply nodded in response.
"Then let us begin."
Things are starting to heat up a bit, and we're not even halfway through the story yet. At least I hope not, would be rather underwhelming if I can't make at least another fifteen chapters. Here's to hoping that I manage to pull that of. :)
