Ancient Prophecy.
Chapter Fourteen:
Despite the fact Donatello had ordered Yuri not to practice until her head completely cleared itself Yuri worked with her sword as if it were a slow and intricate dance. One kata would give way to another and as she progressed her movements became faster and the sword became nothing but a blur to the untrained eye. Splinter stood to the side of the doorway to the dojo, not for the first time, admiring the girl's skill. She was still a child and yet she could match his eldest with a blade, although he still could best her hand to hand and that is why she was increasingly found joining in with the turtle's daily training. He also knew that Raphael joined her out in the city and had the impression she was helping him in some way and was sure she was giving him instruction in her own form of fighting which seemed a mixture of various forms found on earth. Currently the family were restricted underground once they had found out what the spell inflicted on Yuri was capable of and were hoping that the various protective barriers raised by Elyssa, Rose and Serena would hold until they could break the connection with Yuri's mind so that Hex could not use Yuri to spy on them and attack them all while they slept. As it stood it was likely the foot now knew of the barriers and had Yuri's memories to help find their way to the layer so it was only a matter of time before they would have to flee their third home. He looked up just in time to see Yuri abruptly stop and hold her head as if to stop the room spinning.
"You must rest child," he said revealing his presence, "Serena tells me that you are lucky that your mind is still intact from what Hex has done."
"I don't have time to rest Master," she replied respectfully, "they must know how to get here and it's all my fault." She clenched her fists at her side feeling the bindings of her sword's hilt dig into her hand. "I have to be ready to put this right."
"There is a place we can retreat to once Hex can no longer invade your mind," he reassured careful not to mention any hint of where the farmhouse was or who it belonged to, "we will be safe there and Rose tells me that due to it's location the protection spells will be far stronger there."
"It shouldn't be an issue in the first place I should have been strong enough to fight it off, after all my mother taught me as a child about controlling my mind and I let Hex sift through my memories like a kid's story book." She glanced to her right in the direction of Shadow crying and heard a faint "I'll get her." From Mikey then put her sword away in defeat.
"You are young and Hex is very powerful," the old rat placed a paw on her elbow, "no one blames you child. What has happened is not your fault."
"I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to this family because of me." She told him quietly not meeting his eyes.
"Whatever happens this family will pull together as it always has and find a way to survive. Do not worry yourself Sayuri for it will get you nowhere. Raphael is watching a movie with Casey; perhaps you would like to join them." With another sigh she walked off in the direction of the televisions and he gave her a knowing smile.
"When do you think she'll peg that she's a part of this family too?" Serena asked dropping the spell that had been hiding her.
"Soon enough I hope, Raphael cares very deeply for her even though he has yet to realise it."
"She seems to have opened up more compared to when she first started staying here," Renie crossed her arms, "I saw her feeding little Shadow yesterday when Mikey had fallen asleep during babysitting duties, she was singing to her amazingly." Serena almost laughed at the surprised look from the ninja master, "it wasn't very loud but she's actually got a very pretty voice, sounded like she might have had lessons at some point."
"Perhaps."
Xxx
"You are working for me!" Tatsu bellowed and knocked a table over, "I demand that you tell me what I wish to know!"
"Unfortunately Master," Hex stressed the word master trying to hold her patience, "with all of the spells erected your foot ninja will never get near the place no matter how good the directions gleaned from Yuri are."
"Then I suggest you work on breaking those spells, I wish to have the turtles beg for mercy at my feet!" The newest leader of the foot steamed and paced around the room missing the roll of Hex's eyes, "And why are there children in the foot holding cells?!"
"One of those children is essential in the casting of one of my more elaborate spells," she explained not bothering to hide the bored tone in her voice, "I have other plans for the girl."
"Do I get an explanation of these plans?" he asked furiously and drew a katana.
"That is mine and Zuko's business." She studied her finger nails completely unimpressed.
"You both work for me!" He growled and charged at her intending to give her something to remember her place but he stopped in mid air when she waved her hand. The woman's eyes flashed black and she grinned.
"Oh I was hoping you'd give me an excuse you pathetic little mortal!" she chuckled, "Do you really think you can control me or my lover? I mean do you seriously believe you could hurt me with a simple sword, I have more power than your little mind could possibly comprehend and this is the last time you ever speak to me like I'm your slave!" This time her eyes glowed red and Tatsu began to scream as his body suddenly burst into flames, a few seconds later all that was left was ashes.
"Hexanna?" Zuko entered and eyed the pile of ash on the floor raising an eyebrow and grinning.
"I hate it when you call me that," she pouted, "besides he was getting on my nerves!"
"The foot are useful Hex." He shook his head but wasn't mad.
"Who says the foot have to know? It won't be long now and we'll no longer need any of them when we have the dark one and her army and soon this world will be ours!"
"She will open the gateways to our own world and chaos will reign!" Zuko took her hand and kissed it.
"Mmn! I can't wait." She grinned and leaned in for a kiss. "Oh I found something in your dear little sister's memories, it seems she has suspicions that at least one of those turtles is one of Mab's chosen."
"Is that so?" the swordsman mused; "Now that is interesting. But is it possible?"
"I was unaware that it was but there is still magic here so I suppose Mab would be able to do such a thing, but this does mean that we will have to be careful."
"How so?"
"The prophecy states that her chosen will lead an army against the dark one, while it doesn't state which side will win there is the possibility that the turtles could sway the balance. They have beaten incredible odds before considering that they don't even know magic." Hex waved her hand and an image of the demon shredder appeared before them, "Using weapons known as the fangs of the dragon, the turtles gathered together not only the so called Justice Force, but also the Purple dragons and that Bishop character along with his soldiers. How they managed to persuade such people to work together I have no idea. Either way they led the way to victory and mastered chi magic."
"Chi magic is nothing like true magic though?"
"No but it does mean that they have the potential to wield both magic and magical weapons. If that is allowed to happen then we may meet more resistance than originally expected. I highly doubt that it will cause too many problems at present but if they're allowed to learn the old ways or they're allowed to find weapons to counter the dark one's forces then things will get very hard very quickly."
"They're nothing but children." He growled.
"Now perhaps; but they will grow, and with two powerful witches on their side it won't take long for them to realise what they are capable of." The dark witch shrugged.
Xxx
Elyssa bit her lip as she quietly slipped into Don's lab to find him working on a gadget on his desk. She stifled a giggle and tiptoed over to him.
"Mikey I'm a little too busy right now to be dealing with any of your video game dilemmas." He nearly jumped out of his shell when two hands that were definitely not Mikey's covered his eyes and there was a feminine giggle.
"Guess again brainiac." Elyssa took a step back and grinned widely.
"Elyssa!" Before he could stop himself Don was already up and grabbing her in a huge bear hug.
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder I see." She raised an eyebrow and nearly laughed at his deep blush. "Missed you too sweetie." She bit her lip for a moment before making up her mind and giving him a peck on his beak making him flush even more.
"Um. . . I um. . ." he stuttered absent mindedly reaching for the spot she had kisses not really sure it had actually happened or if he had fallen asleep at his desk again.
"So what you working on?" She changed the subject to allow his heart to go back to a normal pace, along with her own of course.
"Right now I'm building a scanner that can give us a more detailed picture of Renie and Leo's baby than a regular one can." Don said turning back to it and frowning, "But I can't figure out how to get the detail without endangering the baby or Serena."
"Want me to help?" The blonde asked.
"Maybe later I need a break. When'd you get back anyway?" Don asked as he popped his shoulders.
"This morning," she shrugged, "Grandma's still in LA but I got a little restless so I came back to the big apple first."
"Anyone told you what's been happening the last few days?" She gave him a look which obviously meant no one had and expected him to tell her. "Well Hex managed to cast a spell on Yuri, Serena said something about a memory purge. . ."
"Oh, they're nasty." She winced.
"Yeah we noticed," he replied grimly, "anyway, when Yuri woke up and her mind rebooted she told us that Hex and Zuko know where we are now, which means it won't be long before we have to move again," he indicated to a load of boxes in the corner, "Serena's working on removing Hex's connection from Yuri's mind then we'll move. But we can't risk mentioning where until it's done or Hex will know where that is too. I think Splinter's spoken to your grandma about it somehow though, but that's why I didn't get hold of you."
"Wow you guys certainly been having more fun than I have." She shook her head, "I swear I was going to go nuts if I had to listen to one more animated explanation of why a stone had a hole carved in it, my dad really needs to get some friends that aren't archaeologists." She rested on the edge of the table and groaned.
"That bad huh?" He chuckled.
"I love my parents I really do, I even like history but even I don't get excited about rocks with holes in them, I mean we already know how people used to grind grain in those days why get excited about finding ancient proof of that when there's loads of it already found?" She blinked then looked at Don who was grinning, "Sorry I'm rambling again aren't I?"
"Yep, hey maybe you ought to find Serena and see if you can't help her with Yuri's problem." He stood up and stretched again.
"Trying to get rid of me?"
"What? No!"
"Relax Don I'm joking." She laughed.
"Oh, good. But seriously the sooner we move the better. Yuri's obsessing over that fact that she might be responsible for getting us hurt and is on a serious guilt trip for us having to move in the first place."
"I swear you worry more than Leo does." She told him and leaned over to give him another kiss this time on his cheek, "It's really cute." He blushed again and was very sorry to see her leave. "Renie!" She called trying to find her fellow witch.
"I'm over here." Serena called back and Lysie found the girl sitting on one of the sofa's with a huge book on her lap and a bowl of chocolates beside her.
"Got enough chocolate?" Lysie teased.
"If I'm going to get fat I'm going to do it right." The other shrugged.
"Okay, Don filled me in on what's been happening with Yuri any ideas?" Elyssa picked up a discarded book on the coffee table and began leafing through it.
"Well I thought maybe a protection spell but this is a little out of my league," Renie let out a frustrated groan, "I can cope with all sorts of attack spells, summoning spells or even location spells but spells that deal with the mind are so much more complex!"
"With that I can agree, fortunately Grandma Rose is an expert in all forms of spells and made sure that we covered a little about mind purges," Elyssa noticed the shocked look Serena gave her and rolled her eyes, "Don't ask. I find it better to just accept that my grandma knows an obscene amount about all things magical, even stuff that's been lost for millennia. I tried to figure it out once and got a headache trying. Just think of her as a less furry, magical version of Splinter."
"Right, so do you know anything that might help? Or should we wait for Rose?" Serena closed the book in her lap.
"A protection spell won't work," Lysie explained, "Hex is already in there, I don't think there is a spell that can get rid of Hex. Does she still have headaches or episodes?"
"Occasionally, why?"
"Well it means that Hex is still checking every once in a while, possibly to see if any of the guys have let slip where you're planning to go when you have broken the link. With Hex already in there then Sayuri's going to have to play a hand in getting rid of her. She'll need help though." Elyssa snapped her fingers and one of her own books appeared in her right hand and she placed the book she'd been looking at back onto the coffee table. "There is a spell I can use to get within her mind, it may take the both of us but we should be able to help Yuri get Hex out and keep her out. Knowing Yuri she'll only need a little help, it must be killing her to have someone invade her mind and not be able to fight it off."
"Well let's just say she's doing a very good impression of Leonardo right now."
"Who's doing an impression of me?" Leo popped his head around the corner from the kitchen.
"Were you eavesdropping Leo?" Elyssa asked incredulously.
"No I just heard my name." He replied with a straight face.
"Yes well anyway, we were talking about Yuri." His girlfriend filled him in.
"She still won't tell us when her birthday is," he rubbed the back of his neck, "at this rate I'm sure she's going to just disappear one night and we won't see her again."
"What happens on her birthday?" he frowned at Elyssa's question but figured that maybe Don had forgotten to mention after everything that had happened since the young witch had gone off searching for the rest of the tomes. He sighed and sat down on the arm of the chair.
"Zuko told her he had a birthday present for her; she's convinced that she'll be responsible for someone else's death so won't tell us when it is so she can sneak out without us stopping her." His hand stroked Serena's hair as he spoke.
"Great, well if what I'm planning works we might be able to reverse the spell and find out what Hex and Zuko have planned then work from there." The blonde fiddled with her hair as she mentally went over what they would need when Raphael entered looking worried.
"You guys seen Yuri?" He asked looking around the large expanse, "She said something was wrong and just walked off."
"How long ago was that?" Leo asked.
"A half hour maybe, we were watching a movie and Casey and me thought she'd just gone ta check something."
"What time is it?" Serena enquired with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that wasn't a growing child.
"Quarter past five." Elyssa replied looking at her cell. "You don't think . . ." The blonde witch was cut short by a powerful burst of energy coming from somewhere in the city it took all she had not to grab her head from the horrible feeling she got as it hit , when she looked up Serena was leaning on Leo for support.
"Did you feel that?" Renie asked momentarily ignoring the boys' worried looks.
"Yuri was right about one thing," Lysie replied and snapped her fingers magically changing her clothes from street clothes to her fighting gear, "something is most definitely wrong." She turned to Leo, "go tell Splinter that we have to do what he and grandma discussed now, we can't wait any longer. I'll see if I can find Yuri."
"Wait!" Leo stopped her before she could use her powers to disappear, "What's going on?"
"Nothing good! I'll explain later just do everything Splinter says and do not come after us no matter what happens understand?" She knew Leo wouldn't take orders so lightly but she had little time to argue and teleported out of the layer before he could do so.
"Did Leo just get ordered about?" Raph asked blinking then showing a small smile.
"Shut up Raph." He grumped and went to find Splinter to see what this was all about.
"My son, get your brothers to pack some essentials we are leaving immediately."
"But sensei, where are we going?" Raph asked from behind his brother.
"I will tell you on the way," he looked to Leonardo again, "tell Donatello that we will need to make sure Sayuri is asleep for the journey."
"We don't know where she is master." Raph cut in before Leo said anything.
"We think she may have gone to foot headquarters," Leo informed placing a hand on Raph's shoulder hoping it would calm him down, "Ellysa said to leave it to her but I'm not sure that's a good idea. What if one of them gets hurt or Hex summons more of those demons."
"I doubt that you could do much about the demons, however if Tatsu has ordered the foot to attack Sayuri then she will not be able handle such odds alone." Splinter replied rubbing his chin in thought.
"If Hex is there then Ellysa will have her hands full fighting her let alone any demons she may have raised." Serena pointed out looking almost as worried as Raph for their friends.
"Leonardo, you, Donatello and Michelangelo will go to find Ellysa and Sayuri, be careful and try to avoid any fights with Zuko and Hex and. . ."
"Master I wanna help." Raph felt like a child asking permission and was really wishing Leo wasn't there giving him a pitying look.
"No Raphael, you are not ready and have yet to resume training." The old rat said sternly earning a glare.
"But sensei Yuri's been helping me I can fight, please let me help her!" he demanded.
"You have been training without my permission?!" Raph realised his mistake the moment he'd finished his sentence and instantly regretted it. "Gather any essentials Raphael and give April and Casey any help they might need. They know what is going to happen and have been taking certain things to our destination for the past few weeks to make this easier. Leonardo, make sure you and your brothers are careful." Splinter glanced back at Raphael, "we will discuss this once our family is safe from this threat." Raph clenched his fists and resisted the urge to growl.
"Yes sensei." Leo bowed and led Serena out of the room. Raphael glared at his father for a few more minutes before going to his room.
Woo another chappy, I'm getting there! Wow this one's a lot longer than I thought it would be! Ah well I hope you're enjoying it. Angel xxx