Chapter 25: A New Identity.
Donatello drooped his head in grief as Saringai's once life-filled body was lowered into the grave. After the locals were victorious, a search was organised for the whereabouts of Shere Khan, Saringai and Michael. The daylight had faded fast, and they wouldn't have found the leopard's body if not for the help of the excellent tracker, Kuthixo. It was late at night when Michael was found, sulking under a tree ages away from the battlefield and his master's body. When questioned, the cheetah simply stated that Shere Khan had drowned, not wanting his family to learn that the enemy mastermind was still alive, thanks to him letting the tiger go.
Michael was ashamed with himself, as he didn't kill Shere Khan when he had the chance. The cheetah knew that he couldn't blame himself entirely for the death of Saringai, but the tiger's words still burned into his brain. Shere Khan was so convincing when he said it; Michael simply couldn't put it past him that some of the events and actions that he did, led to Saringai drowning. Those hours when he was alone, Michael came up with thousands of 'what if' scenarios. What if he could swim? What if he didn't tackle Shere Khan? What if he had struggled harder in Shere Khan's grasp? Naturally, in Michelangelo's mind all of the scenarios leaded to Saringai being alive. After realising that, he truly blamed himself.
Michelangelo barely spoke a word until the funeral. A large piece of land was allocated just outside Ikhaya Labantu as a cemetery for the heroes that were lost on both sides of the war. The loss of Saringai effected all of the citizens and everyone made sure that they attended the funeral.
It was a quiet affair. Michael was a wreck. His bandanna was stained with the constant tears that he shed, but Raphael was there beside him, being the strong one to support the others. The red-wearing cheetah didn't shed any tears, but his sorrow was shown through his mournful silence. Donatello's body shook with grief as his mind tried to accept the horrible news. The others knew how close Don was to Saringai and how hard he was coping with the news. The cheetah let out a sob, and by doing so caused a sharp pain to flow from his bandaged up chest and rib cage. Worried, Leo gave him a light hug and offered a shoulder to cry on, which was already stained with Venus' tears of grief.
Venus stood in silence, wiping the moisture from her eyes. A tap on the forearm made her recognise an unwelcome face. "Haven't seen you in a while," Galileo said, his sly smile creeping across his face. Before she could reply, he grabbed onto her arm.
"I was kind of hoping that I wouldn't see you, not after yesterday," Venus said coolly, shaking him off her arm. He grabbed her again despite her action.
"You know I don't care about this little tiff between the locals and Shere Khan," Galileo started, holding her arm tighter.
"Well why don't you leave? We're honouring the people who lost their lives yesterday, including my Master," Venus snapped at him; the words bringing tears to her eyes along with the memories of Saringai.
"Yes, I'm so sorry," Galileo said, his voice showing his apathy. He changed his grip and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Don't worry. I'll be your new Master. Shere Khan told me how you'd be a good wife, especially in the bedroom," Galileo whispered in her ear. Her emotions exploded into a saddened anger when she tried to pull him off herself. Leo, finally realising the commotion, intervened.
"You must be Leo," Galileo assumed with disgust. Leonardo pulled out a katana, causing the other male cheetah to back down. "I'll see you later Venus," he called before departing. Both Venus and Leo sighed in relief.
"Are you alright?" Leo asked, reaching out for comfort. Venus turned away from him and nodded, allowing a shudder of remembrance of the rape to flow through her body. Leo gave her a hug and continued to watch the funeral's processions.
Raifu and Zareb sorrowfully spoke words of thanks before the locals sang the national anthem in harmony. When the procession was over, the crowd started to disperse back from where they came from. The cheetahs stayed by Saringai's grave along with a few others. "So what now?" Raphael worked up the courage to ask Michelangelo. Michael looked up to him with swollen red eyes only to be lost for words.
Leonardo reached into his backpack filled with things they had gathered quickly from their home before the war. His hands weakly pulled out the old and tattered 'Book of Mutants'. All of the cheetahs looked at the object, knowing what Saringai would like them to do.
Raifu also looked at the book, then sighed and sat down beside the grave. "Will you come with us?" Raphael asked, breaking the awful and saddened silence. The leopard shook his head.
"This is your mission, not mine. You are the State Mutants of Lesotho. I'm not. I belong here," Raifu said bluntly, trying his hardest not to cry in front of them. He would love to spend time with his sons, but he knew he had to let them go. It was their job, as he had said. His heart was bursting with the need to tell them the whole truth that he was their father, and Saringai was Venus'; yet he didn't as it would be too painful for Venus to realise that she had unknowingly lost her father, and the boys would grow too attached and would not leave Lesotho. Yet again, Raifu kept his mouth and heart shut. A small tear trailed down his face; a tear containing pain, loss and regret.
*****
Michael pondered silently on one of the slopes of the many mountains of Lesotho. The strong breeze whipped through his bandanna tails as he gave Kuthixo a gentle pat on the nose. "Don't blame yourself," the zebra advised him, knowing what Michael was undoubtedly thinking about. An approaching familiar figure made both animals turn around.
Donatello sat down beside Michelangelo. They remained silent for a few seconds. "So, when do you think we should leave Lesotho for Japan?" Donatello finally asked.
"As soon as possible. I'd leave today if I wanted to," Michael said, staring directly ahead while his fingers twiddled with a stick.
"We can't. We have to wait till next year. The book says that State Mutants have to travel around the world every four years. Only three years have past since we have been given the book," Donatello explained.
"So? We'll leave early," Michelangelo replied simply, yet with a slight cheeky tone. There was a rather long silence between the two.
"It's going to take a little while to plan everything. You know, like how we're going to walk around in public and such," Donatello analysed. Michael didn't say anything for a while.
"I just want to leave," Michael said simply, eyes on the grass-covered earth. Donatello looked at him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders for comfort.
"Everything's going to be okay. I know that if we stick together, we can get past this," Donatello said softly. Kuthixo joined in the gentle embrace by playfully nibbling on Michael's ear causing the cheetah to smile for the first time since Saringai's death.
*****
Somewhere in China…
Chung I stared intently at the glass mirror. His eyes focused strongly on the unnatural rippling on the reflective surface. Mei Pieh Chi, Chung I's apprentice and adopted daughter stood worriedly close by. "Master. What is it about this mirror that interests you so? You haven't left this room for days!" Mei Pieh Chi, the female mutant turtle asked. She clutched nervously on the brown cloak that she was wearing. "Have you stopped talking to me?" She questioned after the Shaman didn't answer. Chung I looked at her in surprise.
"No, no. I haven't stopped talking to you," Chung I said to her in an apologetic tone. He returned his gaze to the mirror. "Hundreds of years ago, a great evil was trapped inside this glass prison. Shinobi Shamans such as myself have guarded it for centuries, but now I fear that this tremendous evil power has arisen once again," Chung I said grimly.
Both the female turtle and the Shaman jumped in fright when a fierce humanoid dragon face protruded from the mirror. His facial features were unknown as his face seemed to be as though he was still part of the reflective surface of the mirror. The dragon gave a low rumbling growl before allowing the mirror to return to normal. Mei and Chung I released the breath they were holding. "I'm afraid that this is just the beginning," the human said to his apprentice.
*****
Honshu, Japan. A few hours later…
Beads of sweat dripped down Venus' scaly forehead. She had just woken up from a bad dream… no, a premonition. The female dragon had envisioned everything; the death of Chung I and the release of the first, and the worst State Enemies into New York City.
With shaking hands, she pulled down her blankets and stumbled out of bed, with her reptilian tail following close behind. The dragon hurriedly ran to the others' bedroom and flicked on the light in order to quickly gain their attention. The four male dragons groaned and covered their eyes for a while before listening to what she had to say.
"I had a premonition," she started. "The first State Enemies have been set free. I'm afraid the guardian of the glass prison has been destroyed," Venus said solemnly. The four male dragons looked at her with great worry.
"But this is a premonition, right? He can still be-"
"It's too late for that. Dragon Lord is now running amuck in New York City," Venus informed them. An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
"Are the New York State Mutants capable of handling such a threat?" Donatello questioned.
"They should be, especially now with The Venus joining them from China. The good thing is that Dragon Lord isn't used to the present day world. He's been trapped in that prison for years, and it will thankfully take him some time to adjust to all of the new advancements in humanity," Venus summarised. Leonardo nodded in agreement. Raphael gave a light growl in frustration, disliking the news he was being told.
"Those State Mutants won't be able to hold Dragon Lord off for long. They're going to need help," Raphael murmured.
"Where's the 'Book of Mutants' being currently held?" Michelangelo asked, glancing around the room at his fire-breathing dragon clan.
"Lesotho, I think. But those State Mutants shouldn't be visiting us until next year," Leonardo said thoughtfully.
"Incorrect. If my meditation was correct, they're coming early," Venus said calmly. The dragons looked around at each other.
"The New York State Mutants must be told the truth about their existence. We have to get the Lesotho State Mutants to visit them when the time is right. I think we all know that our ninjitsu skills can no longer match the power of Dragon Lord. We have time to blame for that," Venus said softly, announcing the enormity of it all. The dragons had aged considerably since the days when Dragon Lord and his army were first a threat, hundreds of years ago. Yet when the evil humanoid dragon and his followers spent centuries in the glass prison, they didn't age a bit, unlike the first State Mutants.
"Let's just hope that the Second Renaissance is coming soon," Donatello said what everyone else was thinking.
*****
Lesotho, one week later…
"We've finally completed them," Donatello announced with Venus standing by his side. The two cheetahs approached the others, holding a number of strange and similar objects in their paws. They had been working on the things for weeks, and their effort showed through their heavily dark and swollen eyelids from lack of sleep. Michael inspected the objects he was presented with. The male cheetah stared at the human skin toned lycra unitard, complete with a rubber human mask including hair. Michael looked at it skeptically.
"I hate to say it, but I don't think these costumes are going to fool any humans," Michael responded bluntly.
"Yes they will. I coated them with a special type of chi magic, so that when you wear this disguise, the chi will tap into your own, and onlookers will see you, how you yourself want to be seen as a human. But the chi energy coating will have to be renewed every six months though," Venus explained. Michael looked at her blankly and shrugged.
"I totally don't get it, but as long as I look like a human in this getup, I don't care," Michelangelo said before childishly grabbing an outfit to try on. He unzipped the unitard and struggled in, wincing at the lack of space for his tail. Leo and Raph gasped when Michael had finished dressing himself. He looked like a human. His lifelike short black hair rustled with the breeze as his amber eyes observed the expressions of his family. He was quite attractive, but Venus had made it so that he wouldn't be as attractive as Raph or Leo, for her own entertainment. Leonardo and Raphael's mouths were agape while Don and Venus smiled at their combined invention. Astonished at the illusion, Leonardo touched Michael, only to find that his skin felt like that of a human; what he thought a human would feel like at any rate.
"Now, Leo, you get the blonde-haired outfit, while you Raph get the brown. Don and Michael get the similar costumes cause their identical twins," Venus instructed. Raphael stared at the remaining four disguises.
"Can I be Black?" Raph grunted, referring to skin tone. Donatello raised an eye ridge at this.
"No, cause we all have to look the same, otherwise no one will believe that we're all related," Don explained.
"But I always pictured myself as being Black. It's gonna be stupid; having an African accent yet we're White," Raphael complained.
"There are such things as White Africans you know," Leo informed him.
"You have to find something wrong with everything, don't you?" Don sighed while throwing Raph's costume towards him, ending the argument.
"That's my job," Raph said smugly before snarling at the difficulty in fitting his tail into the unitard.
"So you're finally leaving," Zareb said as he approached the outside area underneath the tree where the cheetahs had occupied most of their lives. Kuthixo followed him close behind, his head lowered in slight sadness to see them leave. The cheetahs looked to each other.
"I guess we are. We have the costumes, and we're already packed," Leo sighed.
"It'll probably take two days to walk to Maseru," Donatello analysed. Zareb nodded, realising that he might as well say goodbye now.
"It'll be hard to see you guys go. The locals will really miss you. I know I will. But it's something that must be done, so just make sure that you have fun for me, okay," Zareb said with slight sadness. They all nodded. "Good luck," Zareb wished. Kuthixo came forward and allowed Michael to pat his muzzle. The cheetah cheekily mounted the zebra one last time, leaning forward from his position on the back in order to hug Kuthixo around the neck.
"I'm gonna miss you," Michael whispered. A small tear rolled down his face. He knew he was never going to be composed at good-byes. Kuthixo playfully shook his neck, tickling Michael's face while doing so. The cheetah giggled before slipping off his back, sniffling his tears away while doing so. Zareb and Kuthixo stood beside each other in order to look at the State Mutants one last time.
"Goodbye."
*****
Maseru, Lesotho
Don jumped out of the way just in time before a car collided with him. The five disguised mutants stood huddled together, trying to dodge and understand their surroundings. To them, the human capital city of Lesotho was the busiest place on Earth. They were strangers to this world, and frankly, it scared them. Michael frantically looked around before hurriedly pushing his back up against a wall in order to avoid contact with another human.
The streets were quite open, with a few native plants growing either in the middle of the concrete island, or over on the side of the road. Ibis and other endemic birds nested at the top of the plants, observing the human jungle below them. Run-down shops and other facilities lined the streets, giving only a welcoming feeling to locals of the area. Raphael stared into a restaurant's shop window, hungrily smelling the enticing fumes. "How are we gonna eat? We have no friggen money!" Raph growled, matching the sounds coming from his stomach.
"We'll wait for nightfall. My laptop should be the answer to all of our problems," Donatello boasted.
*****
Two furry hands attached alligator clips to some wires, allowing the security alarm to shut down. Donatello then switched on his flashlight and moved over to the one of the computers so he could hook up his laptop. The rest of his family followed. After a few short moments of typing and clicking, Donatello cracked his knuckles in a 'too easy' attitude.
"I've hacked into the system. Gees, I really thought that the bank's computer files would have been harder to get into," Donatello commented before hacking further into the system. Being satisfied with his findings, he stood up and walked over to the bank's main safe and punched in the combination. The cheetahs moved in and started to collect some of the money.
"I never thought I would ever rob a bank," Leo murmured as he grabbed a handful of notes. They needed to grab a fair amount to cover the costs of money conversions in more developed countries. Though, they didn't need to pay for much, as Don had a plan for overseas plane flights.
After successfully snatching enough money for the time being, the cheetahs stealthily exited the bank and sneaked into a nearby travel agency using the same methods practiced previously. Don scanned through the lists of plane flights, trying to find a flight to go to Japan. He stopped scrolling when he found one. "Hey, there's a direct plane flight to Japan from Johannesburg, South Africa. There are plenty of available seats. It leaves in three days," Donatello informed the others. "I'll book us on. Okay, so what do you want as a human name?"
"What do you mean? Just use our normal names," Raphael responded without thinking. Donatello wrenched his sight from the screen in order to stare at him.
"So, you really want to be called Raphael Croft? It'll be fine for Italy, but it's a bit weird for any other place around the world," Don explained further.
"Call me Michael Croft," Michelangelo said as he watched Donatello write in the names for the plane seat bookings, and also their new identity.
"Leo Croft's fine for me," Leonardo followed up. Don typed in the fake Ids, before adding in his new name; Daniel. Leo, Michael and Daniel turned to look at Venus and Raph.
"I don't wanna be called Venus," she said softly, thinking of all of the horrible things that had happened to her in the past. She still didn't have her memory, and only called herself Venus because it was written on the mysterious clothing and bag that she had possession of. Venus felt as though the name was associated with Lesotho and her forgotten past. She wanted to move on. Her thoughts were broken when Daniel asked her why. "Well… I want to change it because of that stupid and rude poem Michael made up about my name!" Venus said, covering up the truth, even though a fraction of what she said was true… she hated having her name rhyme with a body part. "Call me Lara," she said finally.
Daniel typed in the name. "Where have I heard that name before?" Daniel wondered.
"Well, if she's calling herself Lara, I'm gonna change my name to Rex," Raphael said.
"I'm so not going to call you that," Leo scoffed.
"Sounds like a dog," Michael added jokingly. Raphael growled.
"Fine, Ramses then," Raphael suggested grumpily. The others gave him a 'I'm-not-calling you-that-either' look.
"We'll just call you Rafe," Daniel said and typed it in. Michael, Leo and Lara agreed.
"What kind of name is that?! You're not calling me that!" Rafe complained as Daniel packed up his laptop. The other three followed suit, slowly getting out of the building.
"Yeah we are, Rafe," Michael said cheekily with a grin, before slapping a high-five with Daniel. Rafe growled once again, knowing that they were just trying to get under his skin. They were doing a good job of it.
"How come I always get stuck with the crap name?" Rafe muttered to a grinning Leo.
*****
Michael looked back at the awesome and majestic mountain peaks which made up his home for most of his young life. He was finally going to leave it all behind. A few more meters ahead was the country's boarder, where their fake pass ports and ID that Daniel made would be looked at. The cheetah sighed. He knew that Shere Khan was still out there… somewhere. Michael couldn't help but feel guilty about leaving, but yet he was too scared to stay. Deep down, he wanted to run away from his problems in Lesotho, as he knew that he couldn't wash the fear and guilt about his Master's death away from his soul.
After a couple of minutes of pass port checking, the five cheetahs had arrived in South Africa. The land ahead of them was new and foreign to them, but they knew that they could make the journey to Japan if they stayed together as a team.
A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews. Part Two will be done sometime in the not so distant future, I just want to write another fic before I start on it. Part Two will most likely be called The Second Renaissance, so keep an eye out for it. If you didn't understand the section in China, then that may be because of the TMNT:TNM references. I have written a detailed explanation of the show on my webpage. I have also uploaded some of the character profiles on my webpage, and there'll more to come. I don't expect you to understand all of the stuff mentioned by the dragons in Japan just yet. If you were wondering about the name changes for the cheetahs, that's so you won't get confused as much later on when they meet the dragons and turtles in Part 2. R&R! Oh yes, and the final standings are;
hexAdecimal: 15 points
Splinter: 10 points
Raphaella: 5 points
Ricepaper: 10 points