A/N
Calling all muses... I repeat, calling all muses...
This is getting harder than I thought it would be. Man, I have to work out a schedule or something, cause it's taking me too long to update. I'll try to do better, but I just didn't want to post another short chapter. They're just getting progressively worse, aren't they... Anyhow, my apologies to those of you who were waiting for me to update this story. I'm a jackass, I know.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaton stood atop an enourmous oak tree and watched mankind's downfall. In one glorious instant, the work of ages was undone. It was as simple as that. As he stoicly forced himself to bear witness, a part of him died along with that part of history. 'So many people...'
"Gaton." Urib had found him. Of course. Urib was always there, or so it seemed. Gaton's brow creased as it occurred to him that maybe Urib wasn't as trustworthy as he made himself out to be. Gaton pushed the thought aside. He had analysed Urib as a threat a long time ago and come to the conclusion that Urib wouldn't betray him, and even if he did, would accomplish little. There was no need to worry further.
"Yes, Urib."
"What are we gonna do now?"
"Survive."
"How? Are we just going to abandon the people who survived?"
"Those who are strong will find they're way to us. Those who aren't will not."
"Gaton."
"Yes, Urib."
"That's one hell of a heartless thing to say."
Gaton looked at Urib. "No it isn't. It's merely a fact. Do you know why this is neccessary?"
"No, Gaton. I'm not sure I want to."
"You're lieing to me. You know why because you had the dream too. It's alright though. I understand why you can't just come out and say it. Did you know that a man once wrote a book without using the letter E? I wonder how he managed that."
"You'll never know."
"True. Where are the others?"
"Everyone's scattered. I left the Turtles and their friends back at the forest. They'll figure out what comes next."
"Excellent. Send out the signal. The survivors will come, but only the strong will reach us."
"If you say so, Gaton. If you say so." Urib's sad voice lingered in Gaton's ears.
'I wish I could mourn with you, but it was either this or a slow tortured death of not just the people but the planet as well...' Gaton argued with himself, tried to see things happen differently. Eventually he decided that it wasn't worth the pain. What was done was done and one could only look to make the best of it.
Still, he wondered what kind of world this would shape up to be.
Thinking back, he would regret wondering that.
***********************
"Dude. I am dying. Can't we rest?"
"Be strong, Mikey." April encouraged him.
"Yeah, and don't be so loud or Raph and Casey will start again." Don said, looking up from where he was crouched by a tree.
"You ladies hanging in back there?" Casey called. The group was spread over about fifty feet, but that wasn't enough room for his and Rapheal's egos. Their 'survival of the fittest' rants and going on about how 'this is what a slack training regimine does for you' was being to wear a bit thinly on the remaining turtles' nerves. Well, Leo was talking with Master Splinter- completely oblivious to the verbal abuse floating back and forth around them and Don was collecting samples from every damn bush he walked past, muttering weird formulas to himself and making wild exclamations every now and then. So that meant that the only person being offended by Casey and Raph was Mike, which meant that they probably were honestly concerned about him, but playing like they weren't. April sighed. Not even an in depth analysis of the turtles would make them any easier to read.
"Yes, we're fine, but when are we going to take a break? Unlike you guys, I don't work out any more than I have to to maintain my ideal weight." She said for Mike's sake.
"We'll look ahead and find a place." Raph said and he and Casey took off. Well, thought April. Now we know why they were asking if we needed a break every five minutes. They're tired too...
"Does this mean we get a break?"
"In a little while, Mike. Just hang in there."
"Hey, the little things running in the trees are squirrels, right?" Don resurfaced from the world of... well, botany.
"Yeah." Mike answered, he had been watching them for the longest now, since they were the only things other than them that was moving.
"You remember seeing any in the city?"
"Yep. All the time. There was this guy on the corner who would feed-"
"Yeah, but weren't they much..."
"smaller?" Mike finished, realization dawning on him. "And dude, aren't there like... things in the forest? Lions and tigers and bears..."
"Maybe bears, but lions and tigers are a distinct improbability in this region. It rains too much."
"Yeah, but wolves. And... stuff."
"Wolves tend to avoid human contact."
"Dude. We're turtles."
"Which is why they'll definitely avoid us."
"Oh. Okay."
"Besides, we're ninja. We can defend ourselves against a few animals, I just thought it was strange the way animals seem to be bigger here."
"It's unnatural."
"Mikey, stop it."
"But I'm bored. Dude. I'm hungry too." Mike was distracted by Casey and Rapheal returning.
"There's a camp up ahead. Not many people, but we may want to avoid them."
"Oh great, again? How many people could have survived that?" Michealangelo asked, all semblance of weariness gone.
"I think we should see if they need some help." Donatello said unexpectedly. When everyone glared at him, he raised his hands defensively. "I mean, consider the average American... they're not as, well, outdoorsy as they like to think."
"You want to go help them. Fine. Be my guest. Just keep walking straight." Rapheal said in a flat tone.
"Yeah, and when they stone you, be a dear and die someplace close to the trees so we can collect your carcass easily." Casey added.
"Oh ye of little faith." Donatello said bravely in the face of his brothers' smirks.
"Uh, Don, let's be rational. You are... unique. And in times like these, well, people will be looking for someone to blame." April took Don's arm and led him off to the side a little. "And well, we are out in the country. People... well, turtles...ah..."
"You're afraid that they'll take one look at me and say, Hey! Turtle soup! right? Relax. If they try to come after me, my turtle sense will tingle. Honestly, Master Splinter taught us well. If they pose a threat, I'll scram before anyone gets hurt."
"Don..." April trailed off as Donatello jumped into a tree and sped towards the camp.
"We better not let him make any more friends," Casey said morosely as he stared after Don. "Only God knows what trouble they'll get us into." He and Raph gave a pair of dramatic sighs and followed Don.
"I hope they don't get into trouble." April said to Splinter.
"Dude, I hope we don't get into trouble." Mike said as he watched a handful of silent shadows slinking throught the bushes. "Seriously, they need to hurry this up."
~~~~~~~~~
Donatello knew that Casey and Rapheal would follow him, probably just in case things did get out of hand. Don paused right before he reached the clearing. He situated himslef so that he could see the camp without being seen, thankful for the cover that the trees gave him, and for the fact that he blended right in. He counted about fifteen people, three small children, a baby, five teenagers and six adults. They didn't look dangerous to him, they looked like they had been camping. Donatello kept watching as one of the teenagers, a male, casually rubbed his arm and said something to another teen. She looked around frantically and he gave abemused smirk before reaching underneath a bush and pulling a toddler out with a flourish like a magician. The girl immediately set to berating the child and the boy turned his attention to where the adults and other teens were huddled, probably trying to decide what to do next.
Donatello hesitated.
"You're not going out there now are you?" Casey said softly.
"Now that I think about it, I should wait til dark, when I can get one of them to the side."
"The blonde guy, there." Raph pointed. "He seems like he's got a level head, and the others listen to him."
"That's what I was thinking, too. Who goes camping with a baby?" Don wondered out loud. That question was bothering him to no end.
"Not a clue." Casey said. "But now that we've decided to come back later, we really need to find some supplies."
"Okay. I guess the first thing would be to look for some berries that look recognizable."
"As in, if you haven't seen it on the Food Network, it's not safe... got it. And, uh, there's a stream not far from here. If we can find a way to catch some fish, we'll be good to go."
"What about a fire?"
"That's a job for you and Leo. We'll catch the food. You cook it."
Donatello sighed. "Fine."
"Excellent. Let's go."
~~~~~~~~~~
Mike, Leo and Splinter were watching the bushes cautiously, fully expecting a pack of rabid wolves to jump out and attack them. Instead, Don, Raph and Casey dropped from the trees, startling whatever was in the shadows into retreating further into the darkness.
"Dudes, you are so just in time. We were about to be dog chow!" Mike gave a sigh of relief and pointed to the bushes behind them.
Donatello turned around and peered into the bushes. "There's nothing there."
"We saw it, things moving around in the shadows."
"Mike," Don said with the air of someone who was continuously amazed at the sheer amount of stupidity in the world. "Do you feel that?"
"Feel what?" Mike breathed, lowering himself into a crouch and glanced around nervously.
"The wind."
"Oh. Yeah?"
"You were looking at the shadows that the bushes and trees cast, Mikey. When the wind blew, they moved. The shadows moved too, Mikey..."
"Oh. I totally knew that." Mikey said with a shrug as Splinter, Leonardo and April turned around to stare him down.
"Give him a break, we're city boys, we'll make lots more mistakes before this is over." Casey said in Mike's defense.
"Will it be over?"
"Of course."
"Okay. So, where are the campers?"
"We thought we'd go back later." Raph answered.
Donatello noticed that that was the second time he had said 'we,' but didn't say anything about it. Instead he suggested that they find food and, if possible, something to start a fire.
Leo nodded briskly and began delagating tasks. No one was to go anywhere alone or without telling at least one person where they were going. By nightfall, they had a shelter built and a pretty decent supply of wood.
Unfortunately, Mikey's attempts to create a fire with only two sticks of wood weren't going too well.
"Are you sure you're doin' it right, Mikey? Why isn't anything happening?" Raph was wuickly losing his patience.
"I dunno. It always works on TV."
"I can't believe you really thought it would work. 'It always works on TV.' Ha."
"Technically speaking, it should work. The friction from the sticks should heat up enough to start a small flame." Donatello shivered and inched a little closer to Master Splinter.
"So make more friction, Mike. It can't be that hard if Don can explain it so we understand."
"Dude, back up off me. This is harder than it looks." Mike threw the sticks down. "The Friction-Maker must be broken."
"The what?"
"You know. The thing that makes friction."
"Mikey."
"Shhhh. Maybe if we're quiet, the fire faries will come out and OWWWWW!! DUDE, THAT SO TOTALLY HURT!!!!"
"That was the point." Raph said as he dropped the sticks back on the pile and stalked away, leaving Mike to rub the pair of stick shaped bruises on his head.
"Isn't there another way to light a fire?" April asked.
There was an ominous rumble and a bright flash of light.
"Ask and ye shall recieve." Michaelangelo smiled widely. "I told ya the faries would come. Hurry up Raph. Let's get some fire while it's hot."
"Uh. Do the words 'Forest Fire' mean anything to you, bro?"
"Huh?" Mike looked back at the fire which was spreading at a phenomenal rate. "Man, they are good."
"Let's get out of here. NOW." Leo helped Master Splinter to his feet while the others beat a path upwind of the fire.
"Wait!" Don cried suddenly and half turned back towards the fire. "Those people, they're still back there!"
"Let's worry about our people now. Once we find a safe place we can worry about other people." The roar of fire was so loud that they were practically screaming at each other. The heat was enough to shake even Donatello out of the lethargy brought on by the cold, but placed them in a type of danger just as deadly. When Donatello hesitated, eyes still turned towards the human camp, Leo grabbed his arm and roughly pushed him towards the others, who had stopped when they noticed the three missing. "You'll forget it now, whether I have to carry you kicking and screaming the whole way." A tree fell in the background, sending a shower of sparks over them. Leo let go of Splinter and squared off against Don. "Move it. It's your fault we're out here in the first place, your friend who destroyed our entire city and now you want to drag us all to our deaths. It's not enough that we're homeless in dead winter. We have to run through a forest fire to save a bunch of humans who are probably perfectly safe wherever the Hell they are. Now isn't the time for you to run off and make more friends."
Donatello stood staring at his brother for a full minute in shock.
"My sons." Master Splinter's voice could barely be heard. "My sons, this is not a battle to be waged now. Let us leave this place. There is no more that we can do." Another tree fell, closer this time, and Don turned without a word. Splinter sighed deeply, thankful that the moment had passed without him losing a son. Until it occured to him that maybe he had.
Calling all muses... I repeat, calling all muses...
This is getting harder than I thought it would be. Man, I have to work out a schedule or something, cause it's taking me too long to update. I'll try to do better, but I just didn't want to post another short chapter. They're just getting progressively worse, aren't they... Anyhow, my apologies to those of you who were waiting for me to update this story. I'm a jackass, I know.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaton stood atop an enourmous oak tree and watched mankind's downfall. In one glorious instant, the work of ages was undone. It was as simple as that. As he stoicly forced himself to bear witness, a part of him died along with that part of history. 'So many people...'
"Gaton." Urib had found him. Of course. Urib was always there, or so it seemed. Gaton's brow creased as it occurred to him that maybe Urib wasn't as trustworthy as he made himself out to be. Gaton pushed the thought aside. He had analysed Urib as a threat a long time ago and come to the conclusion that Urib wouldn't betray him, and even if he did, would accomplish little. There was no need to worry further.
"Yes, Urib."
"What are we gonna do now?"
"Survive."
"How? Are we just going to abandon the people who survived?"
"Those who are strong will find they're way to us. Those who aren't will not."
"Gaton."
"Yes, Urib."
"That's one hell of a heartless thing to say."
Gaton looked at Urib. "No it isn't. It's merely a fact. Do you know why this is neccessary?"
"No, Gaton. I'm not sure I want to."
"You're lieing to me. You know why because you had the dream too. It's alright though. I understand why you can't just come out and say it. Did you know that a man once wrote a book without using the letter E? I wonder how he managed that."
"You'll never know."
"True. Where are the others?"
"Everyone's scattered. I left the Turtles and their friends back at the forest. They'll figure out what comes next."
"Excellent. Send out the signal. The survivors will come, but only the strong will reach us."
"If you say so, Gaton. If you say so." Urib's sad voice lingered in Gaton's ears.
'I wish I could mourn with you, but it was either this or a slow tortured death of not just the people but the planet as well...' Gaton argued with himself, tried to see things happen differently. Eventually he decided that it wasn't worth the pain. What was done was done and one could only look to make the best of it.
Still, he wondered what kind of world this would shape up to be.
Thinking back, he would regret wondering that.
***********************
"Dude. I am dying. Can't we rest?"
"Be strong, Mikey." April encouraged him.
"Yeah, and don't be so loud or Raph and Casey will start again." Don said, looking up from where he was crouched by a tree.
"You ladies hanging in back there?" Casey called. The group was spread over about fifty feet, but that wasn't enough room for his and Rapheal's egos. Their 'survival of the fittest' rants and going on about how 'this is what a slack training regimine does for you' was being to wear a bit thinly on the remaining turtles' nerves. Well, Leo was talking with Master Splinter- completely oblivious to the verbal abuse floating back and forth around them and Don was collecting samples from every damn bush he walked past, muttering weird formulas to himself and making wild exclamations every now and then. So that meant that the only person being offended by Casey and Raph was Mike, which meant that they probably were honestly concerned about him, but playing like they weren't. April sighed. Not even an in depth analysis of the turtles would make them any easier to read.
"Yes, we're fine, but when are we going to take a break? Unlike you guys, I don't work out any more than I have to to maintain my ideal weight." She said for Mike's sake.
"We'll look ahead and find a place." Raph said and he and Casey took off. Well, thought April. Now we know why they were asking if we needed a break every five minutes. They're tired too...
"Does this mean we get a break?"
"In a little while, Mike. Just hang in there."
"Hey, the little things running in the trees are squirrels, right?" Don resurfaced from the world of... well, botany.
"Yeah." Mike answered, he had been watching them for the longest now, since they were the only things other than them that was moving.
"You remember seeing any in the city?"
"Yep. All the time. There was this guy on the corner who would feed-"
"Yeah, but weren't they much..."
"smaller?" Mike finished, realization dawning on him. "And dude, aren't there like... things in the forest? Lions and tigers and bears..."
"Maybe bears, but lions and tigers are a distinct improbability in this region. It rains too much."
"Yeah, but wolves. And... stuff."
"Wolves tend to avoid human contact."
"Dude. We're turtles."
"Which is why they'll definitely avoid us."
"Oh. Okay."
"Besides, we're ninja. We can defend ourselves against a few animals, I just thought it was strange the way animals seem to be bigger here."
"It's unnatural."
"Mikey, stop it."
"But I'm bored. Dude. I'm hungry too." Mike was distracted by Casey and Rapheal returning.
"There's a camp up ahead. Not many people, but we may want to avoid them."
"Oh great, again? How many people could have survived that?" Michealangelo asked, all semblance of weariness gone.
"I think we should see if they need some help." Donatello said unexpectedly. When everyone glared at him, he raised his hands defensively. "I mean, consider the average American... they're not as, well, outdoorsy as they like to think."
"You want to go help them. Fine. Be my guest. Just keep walking straight." Rapheal said in a flat tone.
"Yeah, and when they stone you, be a dear and die someplace close to the trees so we can collect your carcass easily." Casey added.
"Oh ye of little faith." Donatello said bravely in the face of his brothers' smirks.
"Uh, Don, let's be rational. You are... unique. And in times like these, well, people will be looking for someone to blame." April took Don's arm and led him off to the side a little. "And well, we are out in the country. People... well, turtles...ah..."
"You're afraid that they'll take one look at me and say, Hey! Turtle soup! right? Relax. If they try to come after me, my turtle sense will tingle. Honestly, Master Splinter taught us well. If they pose a threat, I'll scram before anyone gets hurt."
"Don..." April trailed off as Donatello jumped into a tree and sped towards the camp.
"We better not let him make any more friends," Casey said morosely as he stared after Don. "Only God knows what trouble they'll get us into." He and Raph gave a pair of dramatic sighs and followed Don.
"I hope they don't get into trouble." April said to Splinter.
"Dude, I hope we don't get into trouble." Mike said as he watched a handful of silent shadows slinking throught the bushes. "Seriously, they need to hurry this up."
~~~~~~~~~
Donatello knew that Casey and Rapheal would follow him, probably just in case things did get out of hand. Don paused right before he reached the clearing. He situated himslef so that he could see the camp without being seen, thankful for the cover that the trees gave him, and for the fact that he blended right in. He counted about fifteen people, three small children, a baby, five teenagers and six adults. They didn't look dangerous to him, they looked like they had been camping. Donatello kept watching as one of the teenagers, a male, casually rubbed his arm and said something to another teen. She looked around frantically and he gave abemused smirk before reaching underneath a bush and pulling a toddler out with a flourish like a magician. The girl immediately set to berating the child and the boy turned his attention to where the adults and other teens were huddled, probably trying to decide what to do next.
Donatello hesitated.
"You're not going out there now are you?" Casey said softly.
"Now that I think about it, I should wait til dark, when I can get one of them to the side."
"The blonde guy, there." Raph pointed. "He seems like he's got a level head, and the others listen to him."
"That's what I was thinking, too. Who goes camping with a baby?" Don wondered out loud. That question was bothering him to no end.
"Not a clue." Casey said. "But now that we've decided to come back later, we really need to find some supplies."
"Okay. I guess the first thing would be to look for some berries that look recognizable."
"As in, if you haven't seen it on the Food Network, it's not safe... got it. And, uh, there's a stream not far from here. If we can find a way to catch some fish, we'll be good to go."
"What about a fire?"
"That's a job for you and Leo. We'll catch the food. You cook it."
Donatello sighed. "Fine."
"Excellent. Let's go."
~~~~~~~~~~
Mike, Leo and Splinter were watching the bushes cautiously, fully expecting a pack of rabid wolves to jump out and attack them. Instead, Don, Raph and Casey dropped from the trees, startling whatever was in the shadows into retreating further into the darkness.
"Dudes, you are so just in time. We were about to be dog chow!" Mike gave a sigh of relief and pointed to the bushes behind them.
Donatello turned around and peered into the bushes. "There's nothing there."
"We saw it, things moving around in the shadows."
"Mike," Don said with the air of someone who was continuously amazed at the sheer amount of stupidity in the world. "Do you feel that?"
"Feel what?" Mike breathed, lowering himself into a crouch and glanced around nervously.
"The wind."
"Oh. Yeah?"
"You were looking at the shadows that the bushes and trees cast, Mikey. When the wind blew, they moved. The shadows moved too, Mikey..."
"Oh. I totally knew that." Mikey said with a shrug as Splinter, Leonardo and April turned around to stare him down.
"Give him a break, we're city boys, we'll make lots more mistakes before this is over." Casey said in Mike's defense.
"Will it be over?"
"Of course."
"Okay. So, where are the campers?"
"We thought we'd go back later." Raph answered.
Donatello noticed that that was the second time he had said 'we,' but didn't say anything about it. Instead he suggested that they find food and, if possible, something to start a fire.
Leo nodded briskly and began delagating tasks. No one was to go anywhere alone or without telling at least one person where they were going. By nightfall, they had a shelter built and a pretty decent supply of wood.
Unfortunately, Mikey's attempts to create a fire with only two sticks of wood weren't going too well.
"Are you sure you're doin' it right, Mikey? Why isn't anything happening?" Raph was wuickly losing his patience.
"I dunno. It always works on TV."
"I can't believe you really thought it would work. 'It always works on TV.' Ha."
"Technically speaking, it should work. The friction from the sticks should heat up enough to start a small flame." Donatello shivered and inched a little closer to Master Splinter.
"So make more friction, Mike. It can't be that hard if Don can explain it so we understand."
"Dude, back up off me. This is harder than it looks." Mike threw the sticks down. "The Friction-Maker must be broken."
"The what?"
"You know. The thing that makes friction."
"Mikey."
"Shhhh. Maybe if we're quiet, the fire faries will come out and OWWWWW!! DUDE, THAT SO TOTALLY HURT!!!!"
"That was the point." Raph said as he dropped the sticks back on the pile and stalked away, leaving Mike to rub the pair of stick shaped bruises on his head.
"Isn't there another way to light a fire?" April asked.
There was an ominous rumble and a bright flash of light.
"Ask and ye shall recieve." Michaelangelo smiled widely. "I told ya the faries would come. Hurry up Raph. Let's get some fire while it's hot."
"Uh. Do the words 'Forest Fire' mean anything to you, bro?"
"Huh?" Mike looked back at the fire which was spreading at a phenomenal rate. "Man, they are good."
"Let's get out of here. NOW." Leo helped Master Splinter to his feet while the others beat a path upwind of the fire.
"Wait!" Don cried suddenly and half turned back towards the fire. "Those people, they're still back there!"
"Let's worry about our people now. Once we find a safe place we can worry about other people." The roar of fire was so loud that they were practically screaming at each other. The heat was enough to shake even Donatello out of the lethargy brought on by the cold, but placed them in a type of danger just as deadly. When Donatello hesitated, eyes still turned towards the human camp, Leo grabbed his arm and roughly pushed him towards the others, who had stopped when they noticed the three missing. "You'll forget it now, whether I have to carry you kicking and screaming the whole way." A tree fell in the background, sending a shower of sparks over them. Leo let go of Splinter and squared off against Don. "Move it. It's your fault we're out here in the first place, your friend who destroyed our entire city and now you want to drag us all to our deaths. It's not enough that we're homeless in dead winter. We have to run through a forest fire to save a bunch of humans who are probably perfectly safe wherever the Hell they are. Now isn't the time for you to run off and make more friends."
Donatello stood staring at his brother for a full minute in shock.
"My sons." Master Splinter's voice could barely be heard. "My sons, this is not a battle to be waged now. Let us leave this place. There is no more that we can do." Another tree fell, closer this time, and Don turned without a word. Splinter sighed deeply, thankful that the moment had passed without him losing a son. Until it occured to him that maybe he had.