Chapter 11 – Finally Safe
Ugh. I felt punch-drunk. Every time we caused another Yasha sound-wave explosion, we would be knocked off our feet without fail.
Raph stopped landing on me.
I'd stopped counting how many Yasha we'd killed. Luckily, each explosion seemed to injure the entire population more and more, they eventually stopped even writhing too much. We'd just be able to take them from where they were lying on the ground, and kill them. I'd long stopped being grossed out by the fact that they turn into slimy piles of goo when they die.
Raph reached down to pick up another unfortunate victim.
"Wait, Raph!" I panted, feeling my head pound, and my legs wobble.
Raph looked at me, and I could see the same weariness in his eyes.
"Why don't we just wait for a while?"
He dropped the Yasha he'd picked up, and nodded. "Sure. Why not?"
We sat down on the ground, breathing heavily, keeping half an eye on the Yasha just in case they began to recover any time soon. All was silent. Almost peaceful.
Raph shifted a little, surveying the landscape. The ground was littered with Yasha, because of the many explosions we'd caused; all the Yasha were too injured to remain air born.
"Somethin'…somethin' ain't right." Raph said, more to himself than me.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "What do you mean?"
Raph shook his head back and forth, still looking around. "I mean, somethin' ain't right. We shoulda been sent back by now."
I looked around, still not understanding what he meant. "Why?"
Raph leaned back on his arms. "I mean, we're only here until all the Yasha get here, right?"
"Right…" I said, not knowing where he was headed with this.
"So then, if we're still here, more Yasha shoulda been coming into this… uh… this plane, I guess the Baku called it. They'd be flyin' around up there." He waved his left arm around at the dark sky.
Understanding finally dawned in my head. "Oh… 'cause they wouldn'ta been here during the explosions…"
"Right." Raph said.
We stayed in silence for a second or two. The Yasha still twitched on the ground, recovery coming very slowly.
"Well… now what?" I asked.
Raph stood, jerking my arm up with him. "Hey you!" He yelled to no one in particular. "Baku! They're all here now! Let us go home!'
No response.
"Damn you, let us go!" He growled at the sky.
Still nothing.
"Raph," I said, still sitting on the ground. "Maybe there are still more out there…"
Raph looked down at me. "If there were more out there, they'd be coming in here."
I tugged my arm, and Raph sat back down, an angry and worried expression playing on his face.
"Don't worry bro, we'll get outta here."
"I hope so Mikey. I hope so."
It was working! Donatello had managed to figure out a way to move the sphere in whichever direction he wanted by pushing a few buttons, without having to shut off the field. Leonardo was resting, having been bandaged up by Donatello, feeling too weak to stand and help Donatello out, or anyone at the moment for that matter. Donatello had also bandaged Sense's wounds: the two deep gashes along his side and his left shoulder. Donatello himself had avoided getting scratched up, but he suspected that the reason for that was only because Leonardo had been wounded first. He had no doubt that he would have fared no better than Leo, and probably even worse, had he been in Leo's place. All their ears rang from the prolonged exposure to the explosions, and the shreiking that the Yasha made.
"I'm done sensei! It works!" Donatello called over from the control panel.
"Excellent, my son." Splinter spoke from where he was kneeling on the floor.
Donatello hopped over the panel, regretting this action as soon as he landed, feeling the many deep-tissue bruises that covered his sore body more acutely than ever. He knew it was going to take him a while to heal.
"Sensei, what exactly is it that we are going to do?" Leonardo asked from where he leaned against the wall.
Splinter felt hope well within his heart. "We are going to bring your brothers home, Leonardo."
Donatello knelt next to his sensei. "By creating that link again, right?"
"Precisely, my son."
"Then we'll move the sphere of Yasha through the portal, and get Raph and Mikey." Donatello began to work out the puzzle out loud.
"Correct."
"The sphere…" Leonardo said with a puzzled tone in his voice.
Splinter and Donatello looked over to the trapped Yasha, and saw that the explosions had ceased within the sphere. The Yasha had fallen to the bottom of the blue, shimmering globe, hardly moving. Only a twitch here and there alerted the three mutants to the fact that they were still living.
It was an enigma. The random explosions had been a constant for the last twenty minutes, continuing while Donatello bandaged Splinter and Leo, and continuing while Splinter instructed Donatello to manipulate the projector controls of the sphere, and while Donatello worked. The fact that they stopped was a great mystery.
Yet, Splinter felt that this was unimportant. Only bringing his sons back mattered to him. "We must begin," he told his sons, closing his eyes, and working on bringing himself into a deep state of meditation.
Leonardo merely closed his eyes, not having the energy to assume a proper meditative position. Donatello closed his eyes as well, urging his constantly on-the-go brain to clear.
"Raph, can you feel that?" I asked. I couldn't describe the feeling… almost as though someone were probing in the back of my mind with a cold finger.
"Uh… no."
I rubbed the back of my head with my hand.
It wouldn't go away!
"You sure you can't feel that?"
Raph was silent for a second, then he lifted his hand to rub the back of his head too.
"What is that?" He asked.
I shrugged.
The Yasha still hadn't been able to recover from the explosions that we'd caused. It had been a good five minutes since the last time we killed one of them. I wondered how long it would take. Hopefully a long time. I seriously didn't want to get back to exploding myself up. My headache was bad enough as it was.
It tickled a little. Rubbing the back of my head, I almost laughed at the feeling.
Raph looked more annoyed than anything, but I could tell that it tickled him a little too.
Raph's eyes opened wide.
"What?" I asked, thinking he'd seen the Yasha get on the move again.
"It's… It's them, Mike."
"Them who?" I asked, still feeling very confused.
Then I felt it too, a very familiar feeling wash over me. It was my brothers and Splinter! It was my family!
Closing my eyes, I expressed the thought, Oh, guys, you have no idea how glad I am that you're there!
A feeling of joy, love, relief, and strength flowed back into me. I could feel it coming from Raph too. Apparently my family was happy that I was here too.
A sound brought my attention back to where I was. I opened my eyes to see that portal again, a shimmering round light, through which, I could see Donnie, Leo, and Splinter.
Leo looked worse for the wear, not even in a meditative position, and covered in bandages. Master Splinter had a few bandages on him as well. And Donnie looked pretty banged up. They all did.
"What the shell happened, guys?" I asked.
They opened their eyes swiftly, as thought they'd been startled a bit by my voice. Don stood, his grin almost swallowing his whole face. I stood too, as did Raph. Master Splinter was standing as well, tears shining in his eyes. Leonardo remained where he was, but he was looking me over with a fierce look. I'd seen him use that look once before, and that was when we'd just gotten Donnie back, after he'd been mutated by bishop. I knew he was glad to see Raph and me. I looked them over for a bit, feeling Raph by my side doing the same thing. I looked back to my grinning brother.
"You'd better be careful, Donnie." I told him. "Your face might just stick like that."
I heard him laugh, the echoing sound making it seem as though he were at the end of a very long tunnel.
"My sons, you must come through the portal." Master Splinter said, urgency in his tone.
I nodded, and looked at Raph.
"Ladies first." He said, with a grin on his face.
I could have bopped him one, but I knew I'd probably get bopped back, so I just rolled my eyes.
I moved to the portal and tried to stick my arm through it. Just like last time, something kept me from moving through. A white flash and a sub-bass sound happened every time I tried to go through it and something kept me from moving forward.
"Guys, I can't!" I said, feeling my hope diminish.
Raph interrupted. "Let me try."
Again, when he tried to stick his arm through the portal, his whole arm met with some sort of resistance, and the flashy-sub-bassy thing happened again.
Vibrations rattled my chest again.
I felt my eyes widen.
"Oh oh…" I swiftly turned around, jerking Raph along with me, to see that the Yasha laying on the ground were beginning to rise again, and from the way their eyes glared at Raph and me, I could tell that they weren't happy. At all.
"My sons!" Splinter's echoing voice came through the portal.
Raph and I turned to look at him.
"The Yasha entered into our world through the portal before, and we must return them now." He motioned behind him to a blue sphere full of Yasha.
"Man, they must have quite a story to tell…" Raph said, with a whistle.
No kidding! I mean, what was that sphere thing?
It moved closer to the portal. I kept an eye on the recovering Yasha as well, but I couldn't help but stare as the blue shimmering sphere thingy filled with Yasha moved closer and closer to the portal.
Since when did my world jump to Star Trek time?
Raph pulled me out of the way as the thing came through the portal, the sphere not re-appearing as it came through to our side. It shoved all the Yasha through.
The noise level began to heighten, and the Yasha that had been inside the sphere shook violently, their arms flailing every direction.
"Get ready, Mike." Raph said, putting up his fists once again.
"Right." I said wearily, getting into the defensive once again. I could really feel the drain on my energy. "Get ready to get blown up all over the place again."
All went dark.
I tried to cry out, but I couldn't. I didn't even feel Raph connected to me anymore. Slowly, I felt panic begin to take over, I couldn't feel myself moving or breathing. I could only think.
A whispery voice floated to me in my mind. It said, "Your lives have been rendered in return for your services. Many thanks. We are forever in your debt."
A white light flashed before my eyes, blinding me, and I was falling.
I landed on my shell, and heard a thud right next to my right ear.
"Raph? Mikey?" It was Leo. He didn't sound distant. He sounded like he was right there!
I groaned, rubbing my eyes, and then looked around.
First, I saw a crumbling stone ceiling with chunks of debris falling from it. Then I saw three faces that I hadn't seen in who knows how long (at least not without a portal in between.) They were smiling at me.
I felt Leo grab me up, putting a protective arm around my chest, and squeezing. He didn't squeeze very tight, but tight enough for me to feel a little squished. I could see Raph getting a similar treatment from Don; only it looked as though Don were squeezing the wind right out of him.
"Donnie…" he gasped, trying to get air.
Don merely squeezed harder.
I looked up at Master Splinter.
He stood, his face beaming with relief. I could see tears in his eyes, and the look only a father that had both his sons returned to him could have. In seconds, my eyes were brimming with tears as well. It was all over.
"I'm home, dad."
He didn't say a word. He grabbed me up into his arms, and held me tight, as though he would never let go.
For the first time in a long time, I felt safe.
