Chapter Thirty-Two: The Proposal

Monday afternoon

Leo sighed and sheathed his katana. Even if we're safe down here, I'd rather be up there. It wasn't very sporting of the Gamer to put Don and all of us through all this without giving us a chance to put him through some "levels" of his own. Leo stifled another sigh. Even katas hadn't helped him feel more settled after the Gamer's disappearance. Don and Raph were still healing, and a mistreated girl slept on their couch. After lunch, Casey had pulled Leo aside to awkwardly ask how much longer he should wait before going back to his own apartment. Is The Gamer really gone? How long will be jumping at shadows? "Mikey and I will escort you over tonight," Leo had finally said. "Right after you get us some groceries. I know April usually picks out stuff and you just push the cart, but we're running out of food fast, especially with guests."

Footsteps approached the dojo, and Leo turned in time to see Taevon lift a fist to knock on the doorframe.

"Oh—hello," Taevon said, shuffling his feet. "May I speak with you?" His accent sounded a bit British.

What's he nervous about? He doesn't seem like a nervous person. "What's up? Is Casey finally getting on your nerves? Or Mikey?"

Taevon chuckled. "No, no, not at all." He took a step or two forward. "I merely have an idea for you… turtles. Of course Casey would be involved too. But I wanted to secure your permission to present this proposal to you before speaking to you all, since you seem to be the leader and…"

"What's your idea, Taevon?" Is this some crazy mission he wants us to do for him? What on earth could he want us to do?

The young man cleared his throat. "Well, you see…" His accent had switched to New Englander. "I want to help Saja, the poor girl, and you want to beat this Gamer villain, I hear, and I thought perhaps we could help each other."

Leo narrowed his eyes. "How? The Gamer vanished."

Taevon shrugged and spread his arms wide. "Not to a time traveler, he didn't."

Whoa… He can take us back to the night before last, when the Gamer was still there? Well, Don's not quite ready, and Raph will need another full day at least. But what's involved in helping Saja? Is there a way to help her? Well, I guess if some piece of technology was involved in her punishment, then if there's a way to reverse it, Don can figure it out.

Leo looked back at Taevon. "If my brothers and I go to your homeworld and Don looks at this Technology, how much danger will we be in? What security is there? Are there guards, and how well trained are they? What sort of weapons do they have?"

Taevon held up his hands. "Whoa, there, partner," he drawled in what was now a Western accent. "The Jior are a peaceful people. No one is trained in any kind of fighting, nor do we have any kind of weapons. There's no security—the only technology of any kind there is that one horrible machine. The elders won't want you there—no non-Jior ever visit the Jior homeworld—but Casey says you usually do things like this at night, which seems wise."

So if we do run into trouble, they're pacifists. "Okay, but what about-"

"Hang on," Taevon said, now in no accent at all. "You, as leader of the turtles, sound interested in this idea. May I suggest we present this idea to all of them at once? The purple one especially may have some valuable questions and input. Casey can join us if he's willing, but I'd rather avoid Saeyaja waking and hearing this, in case you are unwilling or unable to help her."

I don't like being interrupted, but I suppose you're right. Leo thought for a moment, then came to a decision. I know Don likes Saja, and we certainly owe her for rescuing Raph… especially if that leads us to a chance to see the Gamer again. "If Raph is awake and alert… then you get Casey and bring him back here, and I'll get my brothers."

Taevon nodded. "On it."

Raph was, and in five minutes, three turtles and one human in various stages of mild annoyance, confusion, and curiosity joined the meeting. Raph eyed the bench, then flopped on the floor and leaned his back against the wall. Mikey stood and twanged the paddleball he had with him, because why wouldn't he have a paddleball? Don took the bench. With arms crossed, Leo stood at an angle where he could see through the doorway just in case Saja woke. Casey leaned against the wall next to Raph, and Taevon found a stool and pulled it over to Leo's left.

"So, what's up, Fearless?" Raph growled, his eyes at half-mast.

Well, at least Raph is more likely to fall asleep than blow up in this discussion—that's variety.

Leo gestured toward Taevon. "Casey's friend here has an idea on how we can both beat up the Gamer for beating us up, and help Saja too."

Don's eyes sparked. "Time travel?"

Leo grinned to himself. Leave it to Don to have already figured out the solution.

"That's part of it," Taevon said, surprise tinting his American accent. "But-"

"But you're the only one who can really time travel," Don said. "Casey could, but he's used up his power, and Saja told me she can only travel between places, not times."

"Saeyaja has merely to learn, and Casey has merely to eat."

"More berries?" Casey groaned, but no one paid any attention to him. Stop complaining about healthy food, Jones. If you were left to your own devices in the food department, your body would stage a rebellion within a month.

"Even so, that only yields three time travelers, and Saja said she could only take one passenger, so that would leave one of us turtles behind."

Leo hid a smirk. Getting a little more input from 'the purple one' than you counted on, Taevon?

Taevon shook his head and smiled. "Do not worry, clever one. I suspect there is one more traveler among us."

What? Who?

Casey whipped his head around to gawk at the various contenders for this title. Don frowned, but before he could speak, Mikey's hand shot up in the air. "Ooh! Is it me? Is it me? Am I the traveler?"

Leo rolled his eyes, but a fond smile crept onto his face. You wish, Mikey.

"Sorry, Mikey, he's talkin' about me." Raph sighed. How are you the traveler, Raph? "But I dunno how useful I'd be, even if I knew what I was doin', 'cause th' dart that hit me sent me straight to the Deutsu—it didn't make me able ta travel."

"Because it was a much, much weaker dosage than the dart that hit Casey," Don added.

"On the contrary." Taevon rubbed at his chin and spoke in a British accent. "I suspect Raphael helped Saeyaja get them both back to this destination, given how little strength she has, her lack of experience in having a passenger, and her having only traveled to your home once before. Besides, based on how Jior traveling works, it seems to me that the dart that hit you, Raphael, did not send you directly to that world, but rather gave you the ability to travel there—and only there—even if you don't recall doing so."

Shell.

Everyone blinked and absorbed this for a minute. "Huh," Raph finally said. "So I traveled once, maybe even twice, an' didn't know it?"

"I think so, yes." Taevon nodded.

"Huh?" said Casey.

"Whoa, dude!" Mikey's paddleball paused.

Don was silent, but Leo could see his brain whirring at hyperspeed to calculate all that this revelation meant.

Raph shook off his shock and frowned. "But didn't that use it up? Whatever… power I had?"

Taevon shifted his stance. "Yes, but the ability lies latent within you. If I am correct, if you feast on the berries that every Jior eats, your power will increase enough for a few travels."

"Latent?" Raph growled.

"Hidden," Don said. "Sleeping."

So Raph traveled to a different world… and can in theory travel again? Leo shook his head. Man, this has been a crazy week for us. And that's saying something.

"Hang on a second." Don raised a finger. "How strong are these berries? Casey said he ate a bunch, so wouldn't Raph need to eat an unreasonable amount? Is there a concentrated form available?"

"I had to eat an unreasonable amount," Casey grumbled to himself.

Taevon frowned. "You've got a point… but I'll see what I can do when I go to grab the berries. Sometimes the women make juice from them."

We're getting a bit off track here. Leo crossed his arms."Okay, so we're reasonably sure we can get us all to the Jior homeworld. We go at night, sneak to this Technology, and Don figures out to how reverse Saja's punishment-"

Don chuckled nervously. "Uh, hopefully."

"If anyone can figure out the weird alien techno stuff, it's you, Donnie!" Mikey whacked his paddleball extra hard for emphasis.

Leo ignored this interjection. "-While the rest of us stand guard. The machine won't have any sort of guards or security, but if the Council gets wind of it, they won't like us messing with it." He looked to Taevon. "Anything else we need to know?"

Taevon thought for a moment. "There might be a locked door…"

Raph shrugged. "As long as we're not goin' tonight, not a problem."

"So when do I get to introduce the Gamer to Mr. Nunchaku?" Mikey asked suddenly, taking out said weapon and spinning it in his free hand. Remarkably, he managed to keep the paddleball and the nunchaku going for several seconds before the rubber ball hit him in the face. "Ow!"

Good thing it was the toy and not the dangerous weapon… although it wouldn't be the first time.

Taevon grinned. "The night before last."

"Huh? Oh, right… time travel." Mikey chuckled to himself, and, thankfully, put away his weapon.

"An' this time," Raph put in, "we're goin' in pairs or somethin', so that stupid Gamer doesn't try ta make Don rescue all of us again."

That's exactly what I was going to say. "For once, I agree with Raph. We'll team up. I don't think he'll try anything, but no need to make it easy for the Gamer if he gets any ideas."

Don nodded. "I was going to suggest that too, Leo. I've done enough rescuing to last me a while."

Casey raised a hand slightly. "Uh, am I goin' with you guys? You know I'm not so good at the sneakin.'"

"You'll probably be too tired, Casey," Don said, looking to Taevon. "Right? Teleporting with a passenger is exhausting, even for you in your normal, healthy state, so won't he be sleeping?"

Taevon was already nodding. "Yes, most likely. Oh- speaking of that, we'll need a safe place to teleport in so that the teleporters can sleep. You turtles will just be passengers, so you should be fine."

Raph looked up. "Uh… but you just said I'm a traveler. I can't sleep through meetin' th' creep who sent me to la-la land and messed wi' my family."

The Jior scrunched his face. "I think… well, there will be three travelers, and three passengers—your brothers—and then you, the seventh. I suspect you will be just…" he shrugged his shoulders broadly. "Teleporting yourself."

Don raised an eyebrow. "So… he'll be a bit tired, but he'll be able to ignore it for a few hours?"

"I can't promise anything, because obviously all I know is from myself and other Jior… but I think so."

Leo nodded. "Good. So Taevon, Saja, and Casey will be teleporters, and they'll have to sleep, while us three passengers—and one… self-teleporter—go to the Gamer's headquarters."

"I guess I'll be missing all de fun," Casey said, nudging Raph's shoulder. "Give da Gamer a hit for me."

"Gotcha." Raph's eyes narrowed.

Taevon rubbed at his chin and opened his mouth, but the scientist of the group beat him to it. "It's not just about getting him back," Don said suddenly. "We also have to find and confiscate or destroy his dimension-traveling technology. I'd hate to leave that in his hands for him to mess with later and start sending random New Yorkers to other worlds, or give the technology to the Shredder."

"Don's got a point," Leo said. "When we go in, we have two goals. Mikey, Raph, keep your eyes peeled for anything techy if Don hasn't seen it yet. Don, you'll have to show us the dart later in case there's any filled ones lying around." Come to think of it, I hope the Gamer didn't have the clever idea to give his guards dart guns filled with that stuff.

Raph snorted. "The Gamer sure is dumb to mess with that stuff. If he pricked his finger by mistake-poof, suddenly he's between the Othila and the Da'an, or the Triceratons, or whatever."

"Yeah!" agreed Mikey. "Or little green aliens who try to experiment on him because he's a human! Or—" he gasped, covering his mouth with his hands, paddleball dangling—"turtle aliens! Man, I wish we could meet 'em!"

I've dealt with it since we could talk, and yet, somehow, the speed and intensity of Mikey's imagination continues to astonish me. "Maybe someday, Mikey," Leo said. "For now—what did you want to say, Taevon? You were just about to say something."

Taevon blinked once or twice, then recovered with a grateful look in Leo's direction. "The safe place where we time travel in—it can't be here. Your past selves would see you."

Casey and Mikey looked as blank as printer paper, but Don was nodding. "So we cannot be seen by our past selves. Got it. Well, we just have to avoid the Lair, then—that's where we've been for the last three days."

Leo pointed his chin toward Casey. "I guess it's your apartment then, Casey."

Casey groaned. "Fine. But I'll just warn you now, it's a mess. I hafta clean it before April gets back, but, you know, someone wouldn't let me go home."

"It can't be worse than Mikey's room," Raph put in with a grin.

"Mikey and I will help you pick up tonight when you help us with the groceries. You can grab some fresh clothes and anything else you need. We'll guard." Definitely did not think I'd be offering to help Casey pick up his mess when I first met him. He's a nutcase… but he's been a good friend, especially to Raph.

"Gross, Casey's mess." Mikey stuck out his tongue. "But yay, going outside!" He raised both arms over his head. "But groan, boring watch duty." He drooped his shoulders and arms like a disappointed noodle.

Leo shook his head.

A touch of nervousness crossed Don's face at the idea of his brothers going aboveground, while jealousy ghosted across Raph's. Casey looked both relieved and annoyed.

Taevon cleared his throat. "So you agree to help me help Saeyaja?"

Four turtles nodded, other thoughts forgotten in this solemn committal. Yes, Taevon. We owe Saja.

"And you want me to time-travel you to the night before last so that you can see the Gamer once again?"

Four turtles nodded, a glimmer of anger in their eyes. Yes, Taevon. I think it's more of a need than a want, actually.

Mikey nodded knowingly. "So… when are we going?"

Leo shifted his stance and stared into the future. Or rather, the past. "Once everyone is fully healed."

"I can't wait," growled Raph, a hint of his usual passion showing through.

"Me either," Don said, narrowing his eyes.