Ch.5: Forgiveness and Fears
"Ugh, what happened?" Raphael thought, as his mind reawoke in darkness.
That flash that had swallowed him, what did it do? Where was he? He could feel his body outside his mind, lying on something flat, feeling weary and worn.
"Raphael! Raphael!" suddenly called out a familiar voice.
"No, it can't be," thought the red-masked turtle, thinking he had misheard.
But as his eyes opened up and slowly began focus, Raphael quickly realized that his ears weren't playing tricks on him, and gasped as he thought it might really be his eyes.
But the figure stood before him as clear as day, unhurt and undamaged by the horror he had given her in her life before. Barely he could make out the words to speak, and the figure smiled at his trouble.
"It's good to see you too," she said.
And that's when Raphael finally managed to get out the name.
"Karai,"
Raphael couldn't believe it. How could she be here? Karai was dead.
"I killed her," he thought " Am I dead now too?"
Quick to pick up on her brother's confusion, Karai quickly informed Raphael that no, he was not dead. Some mystic being called the Lady Daimyo had brought him here, along with two aliens who were promptly locked up inside of another room.
They were in some sort of medical chamber right now, so that Raphael could recover from the spell that brought him here.
All of this information didn't help to drain away Raphael's confusion any less. Who was this Lady Daimyo? Where was he? And if he was still alive, did that mean Karai was still…
Raph asked the horrible question out loud to his sister who softly replied that she was still deceased.
"I'm sorry," Raphael said, guilt tripping into his tone.
"It wasn't your fault Raphael" said Karai " it was 'His'! If I get a second chance, I'll make sure he is promptly destroyed, once and for all!"
"How?" Raph asked.
Before Karai could answer, someone else walked in. It was Shinigami.
"Oh, he's awake is he?" said Shinigami once she noticed Raphael. " Hi. I'm an old friend of Karai's from Japan. Name's Shinigami."
"Uh, nice to meet you" said Raphael "Karai, what am I doing here?"
"I don't know" said Karai the Lady Daimyo just said that we couldn't afford to lose you. I don't know why she brought the other two though."
"Dregg," thought Raph viciously in his mind, then looked up glaring as he said…
"I want to see the prisoners,"
Later, Shinigami, Raph, and Karai had exited the medical chamber and now stood before two prison cells divided by a wall, with a shark in one, and an over-sized bug in the other.
"You!" said Dregg, once he noticed the two girls and Raph standing outside " Let me out of this prison this istant! Don't you know who I am?"
"No I don't" said Karai, glaring at Dregg " Should I care?"
Dregg growled at that statement while Armaggon just laughed, the shark was pleased with the bug's discomfort even if he was a little miffed himself. Before Dregg could even retort to Armaggon's laugh though, the voice of the Lady Daimyo suddenly slipped in.
"To think, these two used to make great friends."
"Lady Daimyo," said Shinigami, bowing as the mystic figure walked in.
The Lady Daimyo dismissed the greeting and instead focused her attention on the prisoners in the cells.
"You know that I can't set you free Dregg" she said, looking towards the bug " You caused to much pain and harm, even to Armaggon who used to be a partner in your schemes. You shall stay until I decide to release you, not a moment before."
"Grr, you witch!" growled " Just wait until I…"
The Lady Daimyo just ignored him and turned to focus her gaze on Raphael.
"It is good to see you awake Raphael" said the Lady Daimyo " For a moment I feared that the Fire Child would be lost. You are still on the edge of the abyss, but we can't afford to lose any hope right now."
"What are you talking about?" asked Raph.
"The crisis on Earth had grown worse" said the Lady Daimyo " Shredder has made his move. The Oni is unleashed."
"Oni? What do you mean?" asked Karai.
"There is no time to explain" said the Lady Daimyo " Come. We will see if you are worthy of that second chance."
