Chapter 18: Complete Commitment.

A spray of blood splattered on the floor as Shere Khan cut across Leonardo's face. The cheetah hissed inwardly as the sharp burning pain spread across his face. It took him a few moments to realise that he was still alive. The cut had been a tease; the tiger could have killed him if he had wanted to. Shere Khan was fascinated with Leo's unusual fighting style and wanted to see how angry Leonardo could become. He got his answer.

Enraged, Leonardo suddenly sprung up, and, with an upward slash, he cut across Shere Khan's face just like the tiger had done to him. There was silence. The only noise was Leonardo's angered breath as he watched the tiger. Shere Khan's paw raised slowly to his face, touching where he was struck. He then looked at his blood on his fingers. The tiger growled and signaled his troops to attack the offender. It was time for Michelangelo to make his move.

Michelangelo had been standing unnoticed in the shadows for nearly the whole time. The wind flapped at his orange bandanna tails. He looked up at the sky. He knew it was going to rain shortly, and that when it does, it will be in their favour. Only Leonardo and him were currently free to fight, and his youngest brother was already exhausted. First of all, he needed to help Raphael and Donatello.

He rushed over to Raphael's captor and knocked him out cold with a nunchuck. Raphael swiftly reclaimed his weapons from the fallen soldier while Michael helped to free Donatello. All three quickly came to Leo's aide and started to fight. The sky groaned as lightening whipped across. The rain began to fall. This was what Michael had been waiting for. The downpour masked all of Michael's whispered commands and hid all of the cheetah's tracks, as they disappeared like ghosts into the heavy mist that was quickly created from the rebounded water and the cool atmosphere. "Where are they? Where'd they go?" Shere Khan roared into the nothingness where his enemies once stood.

The cheetahs swiftly ran through the mansion's main entrance, and continued to run through the village. But Leonardo stopped soon after and turned to look back from where he came. His brothers noticed this and stopped running as well.

"You're going back for her aren't you?" Donatello asked quietly as the rain seemed to ease up a bit.

"I have to. I can't leave her like this."

"But you're too tired to fight. If any of the guards find you then-"

"Michael, let him go. He knows what he's doing," Raphael interrupted.

Leonardo looked to his roommate and gave a small smile. "Thanks Raph," he said softly.

"Yeah, well, I'm not helping you deal with Saringai when you get back," Raph responded, arms crossed. Leo gave another smile and a nod before he headed back to Shere Khan's fortress.

Rachel was cleaning Venus' wound when Leonardo made it to her room. When Rachel saw him, she smiled and left the room, leaving them alone. Leo quickly took Rachel's place, wiping the dried blood away from Venus, who at the time was lying face down on her bed. "You came back," Venus admired.

"I had to… I wanted to thank you for what you did. You know, jumping in front of the whip. Why did you do that?"

"I couldn't bare to look at you like that; utterly defenseless. I didn't want Shere Khan to have the pleasure of hurting you that way," Venus answered softly.

There was a brief silence. Venus sat up and inspected Leonardo's facial injury. She removed his blood stained bandanna to see it more clearly. The cut started above Leo's right eye, then went down across the bridge of his nose before finishing underneath his left eye. "How bad is it?" Leo asked.

"It doesn't look too deep, but it looks like it'll leave a scar. At least it's stopped bleeding," Venus informed. She noticed a few other smaller cuts on Leo's shoulders and arms, and quickly patched them up using the bandages that was in the first aid kit on her bed. Leo didn't hesitate to return the favour, but couldn't fix up much of her wound as her tank top still covered most of it.

"Um… you're going to have to um…" Leo didn't know how to word this. "Uh… take you're, well… top… off," Leo stuttered. Venus couldn't help but smile at Leo's innocent request. She felt safe with Leo and trusted him with all of her life. She loved him, and he loved her. She wanted to give him the most important thing a person could give another. Herself. The tank top wasn't the only thing she took off...

*****

Venus smiled when she found that Leo was still with her at dawn, sleeping peacefully beside her. She shifted a little, causing Leonardo to stir from his sleep. "Good morning," Venus whispered. Leo smiled.

"Morning," he greeted before he gently kissed Venus on the cheek. He looked at the rays of the rising sun that glittered through the balcony curtain. "I should be going," Leo said softly, thinking of his worrying brothers.

"Don't go. It's not morning just yet," Venus childishly complained. Leo grinned.

"Yes it is," Leo played along.

"No it's not. I wouldn't consider this morning just yet."

"Alright. I'll stay here a little longer, just for you," he said softly, then kissed her on the lips. "Will you come back home with me?"

"You know I can't," Venus said sadly.

"Marry me then, so then you'll truly be with me wherever I go," Leo proposed. Venus couldn't help but smile.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Venus answered excitedly, licking him on the cheek; a cheetah's way of showing affection. She went thoughtful for a moment. "Leo? What's your surname?"

Leo thought for a while. "Don't know. But I'll probably use Saringai's. But I don't know his either. I'll find out for you."

"I'd like that," Venus said. She sighed and rested her head on Leo's chest.

*****

"So Leonardo is dating Venus?! How come I'm always the last one to find out about these things?" Saringai asked his brother, Raifu. The two leopards were talking in Saringai's room. Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello were out hunting, so the two leopards decided that now was a good time to have a secret chat.

Raifu shrugged at Saringai's question. "I don't know. But it's the news of the town."

Saringai sighed. "Wait a second. Doesn't the 'Book of Mutants' say that the Venus never falls in love with one of the boys before she joins the group?" Saringai asked, thinking this whole incident through. Once again Raifu responded with a shrug. Saringai quickly dashed towards the aging books and began to swiftly flick through its contents. He stopped on a page and read it. "It does say that. Look, it says here that 'The Venus never falls in love with another member of the State Mutants until she has joined the group'. But… if what you are saying about Leonardo and Venus is true then…"

"Destiny has altered," Raifu finished his brother's sentence. Saringai thought about this.

"Shere Khan is the first State Enemy to read this book, and by doing so has tried to disrupt the destiny of Venus. Because of that, Venus' destiny to join the group has had to alter, and is trying to do that through Leonardo," Saringai thought out loud.

"You don't think that this is particularly a good thing, do you?" Raifu questioned.

"No, not really. I'm afraid of what might happen to Venus. She's still in the hands of the enemy. And then there's Leonardo. He hasn't practiced in ages. I'm afraid of what might become of him in the long run," Saringai said, a worried tone in his voice. Raifu placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"I'm sure it'll turn out alright. Where is Leonardo anyway?"

"He phoned earlier and said that he's going to be a little while longer in Ikhaya Labantu," Saringai said.

"You're letting him do that?" Raifu said, a little surprised, especially after he had heard about Leo's fight last night.

"At least he phoned," Saringai said with a small smile. There was a brief silence between the two leopards. "Deep down, you wanted to train the boys, didn't you?" Saringai asked. Raifu looked down at the ground, a bit saddened.

"You know that I couldn't have done it. I wouldn't have the guts to send them out into battle, to any place where they could get hurt. We both knew that I'd get too attached to them," Raifu said softly. Saringai nodded slowly, remembering the conversation they had so long ago.

*****

Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello were scouting around the mountain tops of Lesotho hoping to find some of the fleet footed rheboks that occupied the area. The keen eyes of Michelangelo saw a certain striped animal. "Guys, um, would you excuse me for a moment? I've got to go do something," Michelangelo said uncertainly.

"What? And leave me here with the non-violent, peace-loving hunter! Where are you going?" Raphael questioned. Donatello frowned at his description.

"I'm uh, going to the bathroom," Michael lied, gesturing to a nearby tree. Raphael rolled his eyes and slowly walked away, hauling Donatello with him. Michael sighed and made his way towards the mysterious Kuthixo who was standing silently amongst the bushes nearby.

The zebra nodded his head in greeting and so did Michael. The cheetah did not expect Kuthixo to be around during the late morning. There was something different about the zebra today. Kuthixo turned to his side and gestured for the cheetah to climb on. Curiously, Michael did what he was told and mounted the zebra. Kuthixo neighed and bucked and kicked, testing to see if Michael was worthy. The cheetah barely managed to stay on, holding onto Kuthixo's short mane.

A sly smile came across the zebra's mouth. Without warning, Kuthixo took off like a flash, galloping at full speed. Michael suddenly became scared and wondered what had gotten into Kuthixo. With great effort, Michael managed to pull himself up into a more controlled position. Although cheetahs could run faster, Michael was surprised at how fast Kuthixo could run over the sharp and uneven rocks. Michelangelo then looked at what was up ahead and cringed.

Michael clung for dear life when Kuthixo jumped over the rather small but deep gorge. Both the animals made it to the other side safely. Exhilarated, Michael forgot his fears and caught himself up with the moment, whooping with joy and excitement. He relished the way the wind whistled past, the way his bandanna tails flapped in the breeze. This was the first time Michelangelo could actually enjoy traveling at this speed, as he didn't have to worry about exhaustion or injury.

Soon after, Kuthixo slowed down to a trot before stopping completely. The zebra admired Michael's riding abilities. Kuthixo had been looking for a partner. He did enjoy being wild, but sometimes he found it fairly lonely and wanted someone to experience the feeling of freedom with. He wanted someone who would treat him as an equal, not someone who would boast about how they managed to 'tame' a zebra. When Kuthixo had caught his breath, he turned around and started to head towards his new partner's home.

*****

"Do the locals still like me?" Shere Khan asked Zareb.

"No. Not after what you did last night. And I don't think they will like you ever again!" Zareb reported.

"Why not?"

"Are you kidding? Last night the locals saw you enjoying yourself while you brutally attacked a cub!"

"Leonardo's not a cub!" Shere Khan yelled angrily. He touched his scarred face. The cut Leonardo had given him went from the top of his left eye, and ended underneath his right eye. He growled inwardly as he felt it.

"He's still young though. The locals thought that you had put aside your difference and problems with the State Mutants, but obviously not. When they saw the fight last night, they felt sympathetic towards the cheetahs. You will never get them to like you Shere Khan," Zareb argued. Shere Khan growled. Vasha who was in the room the whole time, smiled to herself.

"Get out," Shere Khan ordered Zareb sharply. Zareb did what he was told and exited the room.

"Well, it looks like you failed after all. I guess you should have listened to me and saved yourself the time. You know that I've won the bet," Vasha said smugly.

"Venus can still be on our side," Shere Khan murmured.

"I don't think kissing the enemy is a sign that she's on our side, Shere Khan."

"Just wait a while! After what happened last night, she might be scared of seeing him again," Shere Khan suggested. Vasha almost laughed.

"Oh you've got to be kidding. How blind are you?" Vasha smirked, not believing what she was hearing.

"Just wait a while will you!" Shere Khan roared.

"Fine," Vasha said angrily and crossed her arms. "But only if you agree to follow my plan next," Vasha blackmailed.

"What is your plan?"

"To bring back Prima Noctra."

"Are you crazy?! That was the reason the locals rebelled and fought against us in the first place!" Shere Khan yelled. Around three years ago, the mutant tigers and lions introduced Prima Noctra (First Night) to Ikhaya Labantu, whereby a member of Shere Khan's army had the right to bed a female local citizen on her wedding night. Back then, Shere Khan's army thought that if the locals didn't join them, then they'll breed them out, hoping to create their own society. Obviously this didn't go down too well with the locals, so they turned to the State Mutants for help.

"So what? We can't get the locals to like us. They already hate us anyway, so why don't we just breed them out? We'll take away their offspring and raise them ourselves, so then in time, everyone in Ikhaya Labantu will be in our army! Think of the possibilities! We could get out of Lesotho and take over South Africa with an army of that size!" Vasha argued.

"Vasha, what you're suggesting is completely immoral! Carnivores and herbivores together? It's just sick! It's just not natural!"

"Shere Khan, look at us! We're mutants! Nothing is natural! We are already freaks of nature! There's no such thing of being more mutant than what we already are! If the locals have offspring, then they'll be mutants, the same as the offspring of a local and a member of our army. They'll still be mutants either way, just if you do it my way, then they'll become our mutants," Vasha explained evilly. "Are you with me?" Vasha asked.

"No! It's wrong!"

"Well, I guess I'll be killing Venus then!" Vasha sighed and began to head for the door.

"Wait… Alright you win," Shere Khan sighed. "Introduce Prima Noctra," the tiger said sadly. Vasha smiled to herself and left the room.

*****

Leonardo carefully looked around his whereabouts before entering Zareb's hut. He found the lion/leopard sitting at his desk. Zareb looked up and smiled at his surprise visitor. "Hi Leo. Wasn't expecting you to visit me. What brings you here?" Zareb asked the cheetah kindly.

"I, uh, want to marry Venus. I was told that this was the place to come. You are the person who arranges all the marriages in Ikhaya Labantu, aren't you?" Leonardo asked nervously.

"I am," Zareb answered simply and watched as Leo visibly relaxed. "Um, I don't mean to pry, but aren't you a little young to be getting married?"

"I, I know that I haven't been going out with Venus for all that long, and I know that I'm really young to be doing this, but I love her. I know that she's the one for me," Leo explained. Zareb nodded in understanding. He knew that the couple shouldn't be married for reasons they hadn't been told about yet, but it really wasn't any of his business.

"Fair enough. Now because you're underage, you're going to have to get permission from Saringai, and because Venus is a servant, you're also going to have to get permission from her master, Shere Khan…" Zareb explained while watching Leo's face change from nervousness to sheer horror "… Which I'm guessing from your facial expression that you haven't gotten anyone's permission yet," Zareb continued. Leo's face fell and wondered how he was going to tell Venus that they couldn't get married.

"Then again… there's always a secret marriage, where you don't have to get anyone's permission…" Zareb hinted helpfully. Leo's face instantly brightened.

"When?"

"I can get you married tonight if you want. But the sooner the better, especially with Prima Noctra being introduced. Hopefully Prima Noctra won't be enforced until tomorrow," Zareb informed.

"Prima Noctra?" Leo questioned.

"Don't worry. If the marriage is a secret then Venus shouldn't be affected," Zareb said, not really answering Leo's question.

"Then I'll get married tonight. Where should we meet?"

"Meet back here, at my hut. Then I'll take you both someplace secluded outside Ikhaya Labantu."

"One problem. Venus isn't allowed to leave Shere Khan's mansion by herself," Leo said worriedly.

"Don't worry. I'm sure Rachel will think of something. I can tell Venus and Rachel the details for you."

"Thanks," Leo said. He then remembered something. "By the way, do you happen to know Saringai's surname?"

"Don't you know? It's Croft," Zareb said. Leo smiled and thanked Zareb again for what he was doing for him.

Galileo had been standing just out of view outside Zareb's doorway, overhearing the intriguing conversation. The black bandanna cheetah snarled when he heard of Leo's proposal of marriage to Venus. When the conversation seemed to have ended, Galileo stealthily sneaked away.

*****

It was around lunch time when Leonardo finally made it back home. He was surprised to only find Saringai and Michael waiting for him. The leopard rushed to him when Leo walked into the dining room, inspecting the scar on his student's face. Leo could tell that Saringai was relieved.

"I'm sorry that I did what I did, Master. I, I'm sorry that I let my guard down in front of Shere Khan," Leo said softly.

"Leo, I'm not ashamed of you. From what I've heard about last night and your fight against Shere Khan, you've made me proud. Remember that surviving is not losing. You fought long and hard and you managed to strike Shere Khan back," Saringai said in approval.

A few moments later, Raphael and Donatello came into the dining room. "Did you catch anything?" Saringai asked.

"No. We didn't because I was the only one doing all the chasing!" Raphael said, obvious from his tone that he was frustrated. The cheetah in red glared at Donatello, then turned to glare at Michelangelo.

"It doesn't matter. There's always next time. Now, everyone sit at the table and tell me about last night. I haven't heard what has happened in full detail yet," Saringai gently commanded.

The four cheetahs explained to their Master about how well guarded the fortress was, and Raphael and Donatello told the leopard about how they were caught. When Leonardo was describing the fight he had with Shere Khan in detail, Saringai stopped him.

"So Shere Khan held out his hand and managed to blast you with some powerful force?" Saringai asked with a worried expression.

"Yes. The force he used threw me a good couple of meters away. How could he do that Master?" Leonardo asked.

"He must have used Shinobi magic," Saringai said more to himself than to anyone else. "Leo, how good is Venus at her Shinobi magic?"

"Um, she's just started to learn it," Leo said uncertainly, shocked that his master knew whom he was dating.

'Damn! Shere Khan is always one step ahead of us! He knew that Venus could destroy him with Shinobi magic, so he's tried to counteract that by learning it first!' Saringai thought to himself.

"Master, what's wrong?" Michael asked.

"This isn't good. Shere Khan used a chi blast which is a fairly high level technique. I didn't see this coming. Because Shere Khan is learning how to be a Shinobi, I'm afraid that it will make him all the more difficult to defeat," Saringai said sadly.

"Well, what if we get our own magic powers?" Michale suggested.

"I don't think it's possible. No State Mutant has ever had any 'magic' powers before, apart from Shinobi magic," Saringai informed while pacing around the room.

"Well, let's break the rules then. It's not like Shere Khan's really following them," Raphael said ignorantly. Saringai stopped pacing and stood thoughtfully.

"You're right. But the only problem with this plan is, how exactly are we going to get non-Shinobi magic powers in the first place?" The leopard raised a good point. The cheetahs dropped their heads in sadness. A rather long silence filled the room.

"Hey Don? What was the name of that book you were talking about when we went into Shere Khan's fortress to steal the 'Book of Mutants' back? I just remembered that I had promised you that I would tear it to shreds," Raphael said out of the blue with a bored expression on his face. Donatello thought about what his older brother had said.

"Raph, you're a genius!" Donatello called out. He bolted to his room and came back a few moments later with the book, 'Thirteen Dimensions' in his hands. "It is possible to get magic powers through the weak links of one of the different dimensions that is connected to earth!" Donatello said excitedly.

"Woah, slow down science boy! What are you taking about?" Michael said.

"Please explain, Donatello," Saringai encouraged.

"Ok. A dimension is basically another world, but it is a world that we can't see. Now, the planet Earth is said to have thirteen of these dimensions, or 'invisible worlds' as you might say, all of which are connected to Earth in some way. Now here's the difficult part. Each of these dimensions has a barrier, which is kind of like the perimeter or limit to the world. The barrier is what stops a dimension from blending into another. Do you understand so far?" Donatello asked.

"No," Raphael said simply, still looking bored. Donatello continued explaining, ignoring Raphael.

"Now, these barriers are in the shape of an oval, and it surrounds the earth. Because the earth rotates and the oval barrier does not, this means that the barrier is at it's weakest twice a day, that is if you stay in the one spot. The weakest part being the place that is closest to the earth," Donatello explained. The cheetah grabbed a piece of paper and drew a diagram, which consisted of an oval with a circle inside; the circle being the earth and the oval being the barriers of the different dimensions. Donatello's brothers could see that the middle of the oval was considerably closer to the circle/earth.

"One of these dimensions is said to have Pokemon," Donatello continued.

"Poke-what?" Michael exclaimed.

"Sounds lame," Raphael said, still bored. He took out one of his sai and started twirling it around, something that made Donatello nervous.

"Ok, um, think of it this way. Imagine that every animal on earth was given a special type of power. Like, some animals were given the power of fire, while others were given the power of water. Now in this certain dimension, animals with these powers are called Pokemon. Now I've done quite a bit of research on this and I've found that these creatures have powers because of their DNA structure. Their DNA is said to be quite different because their DNA coding can cope with sudden changes in genetics, and can also cope with the stress their certain powers put on their bodies. After doing various blood samples taken from myself, I've discovered that, theoretically, because we are mutants, we are also quite open to sudden changes in DNA and can probably cope with these powers."

"What are you saying? That we can nick powers from these Pokemon creature things?" Leonardo asked, a bit confused.

"Yes. My theory is that because we have a similar DNA structure to a Pokemon, information or data from the Pokemon dimension should jump, or cross into our dimension through the weak parts of the barrier, thus hopefully we should get some powers because genetically we are considered as Pokemon in this other dimension," Donatello concluded.

"Very good Donatello," Saringai voiced, understanding the whole thing. "But remember that this is simply just a theory. Pokemon haven't been proven that they exist, the same with other dimensions. You are taking all this theoretical information from one book, which could have been written by anyone. Also, if what you are saying is true, then shouldn't we have already gained some powers? I think we should be focusing more on our ninjitsu. I'm sorry to say that we shouldn't really rely on this tactic," Saringai said. Donatello nodded his head sadly, knowing what his master had said was right.

"It's a good idea for a cartoon though," Michael suggested, trying to get Donatello to lighten up. His younger twin smiled weakly.

*****

"I now pronounce you man and wife," Zareb announced. "You may now kiss the bride."

Leo and Venus smiled at each other before going in for the kiss. The newly wed couple stood outside Ikhaya Labantu, hopefully avoiding the prying eyes of the public. The moon began to shine through the cloudy sky. Because it was a secret wedding, there was no ring, but Leo promised Venus that he'd give her one some day, when there was peace in land.

"I think I'm going to cry!" Rachel said, when the couple kissed. Rachel was asked by Venus to be the bride's maid. The jackal held onto Raphael's arm as she got out a tissue. Raphael rolled his eyes at the couple in front of him. After Leo forced him to promise that he wouldn't tell anyone, Raphael was dragged along to his little brother's wedding. He didn't mind really. Raphael always wanted to be the 'best man'.

Galileo stood in the shadows and snarled at the newly wedded couple. 'You'll be mine Venus, don't you worry. As for you, Leonardo, you are going down,' Galileo thought to himself as he slowly crept away in the darkness of the night.

Author's Note: Wow, it's been AGES since I've updated! I haven't forgotten about this story, this is actually the first available time I've been able to write this because I've been so busy (thankfully I'm in my school holidays now!). Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait… it probably wasn't. Next chapter will most likely be rated R.

I've been thinking up this story for about five years (this is what happens when you don't write down story when you first think of it. It gets bigger and bigger, so big that fanfiction.net will probably pull it down). I was in primary school back then and that's kinda why Pokemon is in this (cuz Pokemon was actually cool back then! Thankfully I discovered the Ninja Turtles before it was too late!). Pokemon will be in the story quite a lot (I can't cut it out, cuz it's too important to the story as a whole) but I promise that there will be no 'I choose you Pikachu' or 'I love you Pikachu cuz you always win, and cuz you're so adorably cute even though you can only say one word!'. I'm going to try and take Pokemon with a more sophisticated approach, using the actual concept of Pokemon, rather than the story line. I also don't think at this point that I will be using Ash, Brock and Misty at all. Hopefully with that said, you'll keep reading this story… even though it contains Pokemon!