After whispering a word of encouragement to himself, Gaton swung the tire iron at the intruder's head.
"Figures." He muttered as the stranger caught the slim rod of metal and ripped it from his hands.
"I didn't know you were awake." The stranger said as he stepped away from the bed. "I take it your magic hasn't returned yet."
"Who wants to know?" Gaton asked cautiously.
"Don't tell me you don't recognize me."
"Okay, I won't."
A flame appeared in the fireplace and illuminated the sorry wooden cabin. "It's me, Urib..."
"Huh?" Gaton stared at the intruder's face in the flickering light. It definitely looked like Urib, but why would he be sneaking around in the middle of the night? As long as Gaton couldn't use his magic, he was at the stranger's mercy anyway.
"Why do you have all your stuff scattered around? I nearly killed myself trying to find my way around."
"I have it like this so people who break in will make lots of noise and alert me to their presence." Actually, he was just messy, but there was no reason to let the stranger know that.
"Clever, except a theif would bring their own light. I was expecting something to light up when I came in. Do you have any flint? I thought there would be some on the desk, but I couldn't find any."
"Why would you need flint?" Gaton asked, still suspicious.
"To start a fire. You know I don't use magic unless I have to."
"Yep, you are definitely Urib. Ugh. You must be the only mage who would work all night for something you could get in a second with your magic." Gaton walked to the fireplace and tossed two logs inside. "So, start thinking. What's wrong with me?"
"Hmmm. Should I start with the way you dress or your sense of humor?"
"It can't be worse than yours."
Urib smiled. "It'sprobably just taking you a while to recover from that vortex. I was helpless for a few days afterwards too. Next time we're near one of those, we'll have to remember that it's a bad idea to try to use our magic while it's being sucked away."
"Good point. So I'm pretty much worthless until this wears off?"
"I could say that you've always been worthless, but that wouldn't be nice of me."
"You're in rare form today. What have you been up to?"
"Counting survivors. There's well over three million left."
"For now."
"True. The weather's getting bad and soon the food's going to run out. I've calculated that at least half of them will die from exposure within the first few months."
"Uh huh. Good news?"
"Well," Urib thought about it for a moment. "A lot of the contamination has been removed, as well as the pollution. I took the liberty of removing as much of the radioactive materials from the open as possible, but a few patches are still lying around. Oh, your friend, Donatello, is still alive. The bad news is that he's had a falling out with his brothers and is pretty much ignoring them now. Not good considering where they are, but it could be worse."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I suppose time and a bit of compromise could patch things up between them. Until that happens though, the group isn't going to get much done in the way of travelling. There seemed to have been a power struggle involving Donatello and Leonardo."
"Leonardo? I don't recall meeting him, but oh well. Who won?"
"No one and that's the trouble. The leadership is being pulled in too many directions."
"They'll handle it. How are the mages doing?"
"They're mad as Hell, but they aren't going to do anything. They think you still have full control of your powers."
"Good. I hope they return before everyone figures out that I'm running dry. That would be very bad."
"It might completely ruin everything. I'm sure there are tons of mages out there who would take this as an opportunity to enslave the humans who remain."
"True enough." Gaton stared blankly into the fire for a moment. "I'm too tired to plot. You can have the couch if you want it."
"Thanks."
"Tomorrow... something important will happen tomorrow." Gaton muttered. "I just can't think of what."
"Don't worry. It'll work itself out, Gaton."
"Of course. It always does, doesn't it?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donatello glanced at his brothers, all huddled around the fire. They just didn't understand... Come to think of it, neither did he, but at least he was trying. Raphael looked up and their eyes locked for about a second. Donatello gave a semi shrug and turned his eyes back on the ants. He thought about those humans back in the charred remains of the woods and wondered what would have happened if he had just gone out and introduced himself to them. The truth was that even though he had wanted to help them, he was afraid. Aside from April and Casey (and maybe Shredder) Donatello had no experience with humans. Gaton only looked human and Don made it a point to never chat any longer with the pizza guy than he had to. Besides the all-too-clear vibes that he remembered getting from April when the turtles first found her in the sewers, there was a sort of primal fear in Donatello that said that humans were bad. Even before his first brush with humans, a voice in the back of his head had told him that they were dangerous creatures that were best left alone. Donatello sighed. 'The problem is, my head says one thing and my heart says another. Why can't they all just get along?'
Don gave that last thought a moment of contemplation and then grinned. 'I think I know what Mikey's problem is; he can't keep thoughts like that to himself.'
Across the fire, Raphael watched his brothers. Leonardo was using a rock to scratch words on a big stone near their makeshift campsite. 'Probably planning what to do next. I wish him luck.' Michelangelo was fast asleep, or at least doing an admirable job pretending. And Donatello...
Don was smiling vaguely to himself and looked as though he were about to start laughing. Maybe that was a good sign, Raph thought. Maybe Don would start acting like Don again. But it was no use. As suddenly as the smile had appeared, it was gone and Donatello was as unreadable as before.
Raphael gave the fire a ferocious jab since Splinter would have had his head if he did the same to Don and Leo. Even though they deserved it for acting so stupid. Don was smart enough that he could manipulate Leo to do what he wanted- Raph knew because he had gone to Donatello more than once and convinced him to trick Leo into seeing things Raph's way. So why the big fight? The easy answer was Gaton, but the problem had started before Gaton showed up. Gaton was just the catalyst who set things off. If he hadn't shown up things would have ended up just as bad, though they'd probably be comfortable in their sewer instead of running around outside. Raph poked the fire again. In his mind, he saw things the way they should have been and how they would end up. It wasn't a pretty sight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matthew stood there and watched them. One smiled for a second and then went back to thinking whatever was going on in its mind. Another glared around periodically and jabbed a knife into the fire. The third of the turtle-looking people-things was scribbling words onto a rock as though there were no tomorrow. Matt looked for the fourth and grinned. The fourth one was dead asleep and managing to look so comfortable on that hard ground that Matt wondered if these turtle-men weren't part cat as well. There was a girl who was whispering something to a guy who looked like he ate nails for breakfast and the giant rat was leaning against a big rock. Matthew took a deep breath and prepared to step into the open when a loud scream sent him scrambling for a hiding place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mikey! Mikey! Wake up you idiot!!"
Michelangelo sat up and gasped for breath.
"It was just a nightmare, Mikey. It's alright. We're here."
Part of Mikey tried to figure out who was talking. One of his brothers, that was for sure. "So?" He whispered more to himself than anyone. "What good is that?"
"Mikey? Wanna talk about it?" That was April speaking. Mike shook his head. Some dreams weren't meant to be told.
After a few deep breaths and assurances from Mikey that he was alright, everyone settled back down. Mike huddled close to the fire and watched them all go back to their former positions. Something occurred to him.
They all came when he was in trouble. All of them.
Even Don and Leo.
Mike sat by the fire and let that sink in.
What was it that Master Splinter once told them? The weakness in one brings out the strength in all?
Michelangelo glanced at Don. He was still messing around with those ants, but there was something else about the way he was just laying there. Don was watching Mikey.
Suddenly, the whole plan came together in Mikey's mind with horrible simplicity. The weakness in one...
From the shadows, Matt watched the whole thing, aware that something was wrong with the dynamics of the group in front of him, but not sure what was off.
"Is this a good idea?" He asked himself aloud for the first time. He took one last calming breath and stepped into the open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elliot sighed for the thousandth time and tried cracking his knuckles. It hurt. A lot. He wondered how Shamal could do it so easily. He also wondered how Johnathan could just ignore it. Besides sounding painful, the cracking knuckle thing made Shamal look like one of those people you read about in the PETA news-flyers who abused puppies and drowned kittens. Or maybe the other way around. In fact, the more time that Elliot spent with Shamal, the more he realized that he really preferred Johnathan in all his tattooed, yet still strangely feminine glory.
Elliot snuck a glance at Johnathan. He was listening to Benjamin recount how the camper fell on top of Elliot the day before. It was strange, Elliot thought, that someone who looked as freakish as Johnathan would be so good with kids and swear up and down that they hated people younger than twelve. And on the other hand was Shamal- who looked as normal as you could ask for- and not only did kids hate him, but he killed defenseless little kittens.
"It's not right, I tell you. It's just not right!" He shouted and then glowered at everyone. Except Johnathan, who must surely spend his free time saving little animals, besides volunteering at hospitals. Wonderful boy, that Johnathan, even though he looked... different.
"Daddy? Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked Elliot.
"Of course, dear. I'm fine." Elliot smiled at his daughter (brilliant girl, finding such excellent husband material in such an unlikely place). He then smiled at Johnathan. This trip wasn't so bad, he decided. Now if only that boy would get back...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Um. Hi." Matthew just stood there, waiting for one of them to say something, knowing that he lost about two hundred cool points from the start.
"Er... yeah. Hi."
Matthew grinned. Okay, so if he was two hundred in the hole, so were they. "Is there room for one more?"
"Always, dude." Matthew walked up to the fire. He told himself not to stare, but he really couldn't help it.
He had gotten a pretty good look at the turtles from his hiding place, in fact he had barely noticed the other three people at the fire. He kind of wished he'd paid a bit more attention before. The girl was stunning. She had red hair and green eyes and looked like she was permanently attached to the dark haired guy at her side.
"Well, this is a change. Usually people stare at you guys, not us." The guy said.
With a certain degree of sadness, Matthew realized that he was one of those bully types. Too bad. Bullies were especially touchy about their girls.
"So, where'd you come from?" One of the turtles asked. Matthew reluctantly turned his eyes from the girl to the one who spoke, although he had a bit of difficulty telling one from another. He stared for a second, trying to tell them apart. The one closest to the fire laughed. "Dude, sorry. I'm Michelangelo. To your left is Donatello and the one with the rock is Leonardo. And that-" Michelangelo pointed to the turtle with the knives. "is Raphael. Over here we have the lovely Ms. April and Raph's partner in crime-"
"That's crime bustin' to you." The guy said.
"Yeah, as if we believe that." Michelangelo countered and then dived to the side as the still unnamed man threw a rock at him.
"The name's Casey. And this is Master Splinter. So, now that that's done. Who are you?"
"My name is Matthew Sparks."
"Yeah, great and all. But who are you? One of the Foot? Or someone else sent to hit us while we're weak?" Raph said and glared at Matt.
"Uh... what? Am I a foot?" Matt looked at his shoes. Somehow he gathered that that was not what the dangerous looking turtle meant.
"He's one of the humans from the campsite we found." Donatello said. "Which means that the others might be alive too."
"Well, yeah, we're all alive. Kind of lost, kind of scared, but alive."
Donatello looked as though he wanted to say something, but he paused and glanced at the one named Leonardo.
"So where are they?" Leonardo asked.
"Knowing them, they've gone and wandered somewhere. But they should be close."
"How close?"
"You know that big pile of rocks towards the east?"
"That's where they are?"
"Yeah."
"Alright. Stay here. Mikey, stay here and don't do anything stupid." Leo warned.
Mikey just grinned. He had no intention of doing anything stupid. Not really anyway.
As soon as his brothers had left with Casey, Michelangelo turned to Matt. "So... have you ever seen "Revenge of the Potato Spuds from Hell?"
Matt blinked. "Are you serious? That's got to be my favorite movie."
April and Splinter looked at each other, more than a little nervous.
"You don't think they're being serious, do you?" April asked Splinter. He didn't say a word. "Oh, dear."
April decided that it was better to just let Mikey and Matt bond. Raph and Leo would keep them from doing anything... extreme.
"And then the part where they went woooooooooooshoooooooooooshBOOM!"
"Yes! I loved that part and after the first Spuds get into their spaceships..."
"Oooooh. That was awesome, I almost wet my pants..."
"And I loved the end where the little spuds were crawling through the portal."
"Did you see the sequel?"
"Did I?! It was soooooooo coooooool."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Figures." He muttered as the stranger caught the slim rod of metal and ripped it from his hands.
"I didn't know you were awake." The stranger said as he stepped away from the bed. "I take it your magic hasn't returned yet."
"Who wants to know?" Gaton asked cautiously.
"Don't tell me you don't recognize me."
"Okay, I won't."
A flame appeared in the fireplace and illuminated the sorry wooden cabin. "It's me, Urib..."
"Huh?" Gaton stared at the intruder's face in the flickering light. It definitely looked like Urib, but why would he be sneaking around in the middle of the night? As long as Gaton couldn't use his magic, he was at the stranger's mercy anyway.
"Why do you have all your stuff scattered around? I nearly killed myself trying to find my way around."
"I have it like this so people who break in will make lots of noise and alert me to their presence." Actually, he was just messy, but there was no reason to let the stranger know that.
"Clever, except a theif would bring their own light. I was expecting something to light up when I came in. Do you have any flint? I thought there would be some on the desk, but I couldn't find any."
"Why would you need flint?" Gaton asked, still suspicious.
"To start a fire. You know I don't use magic unless I have to."
"Yep, you are definitely Urib. Ugh. You must be the only mage who would work all night for something you could get in a second with your magic." Gaton walked to the fireplace and tossed two logs inside. "So, start thinking. What's wrong with me?"
"Hmmm. Should I start with the way you dress or your sense of humor?"
"It can't be worse than yours."
Urib smiled. "It'sprobably just taking you a while to recover from that vortex. I was helpless for a few days afterwards too. Next time we're near one of those, we'll have to remember that it's a bad idea to try to use our magic while it's being sucked away."
"Good point. So I'm pretty much worthless until this wears off?"
"I could say that you've always been worthless, but that wouldn't be nice of me."
"You're in rare form today. What have you been up to?"
"Counting survivors. There's well over three million left."
"For now."
"True. The weather's getting bad and soon the food's going to run out. I've calculated that at least half of them will die from exposure within the first few months."
"Uh huh. Good news?"
"Well," Urib thought about it for a moment. "A lot of the contamination has been removed, as well as the pollution. I took the liberty of removing as much of the radioactive materials from the open as possible, but a few patches are still lying around. Oh, your friend, Donatello, is still alive. The bad news is that he's had a falling out with his brothers and is pretty much ignoring them now. Not good considering where they are, but it could be worse."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I suppose time and a bit of compromise could patch things up between them. Until that happens though, the group isn't going to get much done in the way of travelling. There seemed to have been a power struggle involving Donatello and Leonardo."
"Leonardo? I don't recall meeting him, but oh well. Who won?"
"No one and that's the trouble. The leadership is being pulled in too many directions."
"They'll handle it. How are the mages doing?"
"They're mad as Hell, but they aren't going to do anything. They think you still have full control of your powers."
"Good. I hope they return before everyone figures out that I'm running dry. That would be very bad."
"It might completely ruin everything. I'm sure there are tons of mages out there who would take this as an opportunity to enslave the humans who remain."
"True enough." Gaton stared blankly into the fire for a moment. "I'm too tired to plot. You can have the couch if you want it."
"Thanks."
"Tomorrow... something important will happen tomorrow." Gaton muttered. "I just can't think of what."
"Don't worry. It'll work itself out, Gaton."
"Of course. It always does, doesn't it?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donatello glanced at his brothers, all huddled around the fire. They just didn't understand... Come to think of it, neither did he, but at least he was trying. Raphael looked up and their eyes locked for about a second. Donatello gave a semi shrug and turned his eyes back on the ants. He thought about those humans back in the charred remains of the woods and wondered what would have happened if he had just gone out and introduced himself to them. The truth was that even though he had wanted to help them, he was afraid. Aside from April and Casey (and maybe Shredder) Donatello had no experience with humans. Gaton only looked human and Don made it a point to never chat any longer with the pizza guy than he had to. Besides the all-too-clear vibes that he remembered getting from April when the turtles first found her in the sewers, there was a sort of primal fear in Donatello that said that humans were bad. Even before his first brush with humans, a voice in the back of his head had told him that they were dangerous creatures that were best left alone. Donatello sighed. 'The problem is, my head says one thing and my heart says another. Why can't they all just get along?'
Don gave that last thought a moment of contemplation and then grinned. 'I think I know what Mikey's problem is; he can't keep thoughts like that to himself.'
Across the fire, Raphael watched his brothers. Leonardo was using a rock to scratch words on a big stone near their makeshift campsite. 'Probably planning what to do next. I wish him luck.' Michelangelo was fast asleep, or at least doing an admirable job pretending. And Donatello...
Don was smiling vaguely to himself and looked as though he were about to start laughing. Maybe that was a good sign, Raph thought. Maybe Don would start acting like Don again. But it was no use. As suddenly as the smile had appeared, it was gone and Donatello was as unreadable as before.
Raphael gave the fire a ferocious jab since Splinter would have had his head if he did the same to Don and Leo. Even though they deserved it for acting so stupid. Don was smart enough that he could manipulate Leo to do what he wanted- Raph knew because he had gone to Donatello more than once and convinced him to trick Leo into seeing things Raph's way. So why the big fight? The easy answer was Gaton, but the problem had started before Gaton showed up. Gaton was just the catalyst who set things off. If he hadn't shown up things would have ended up just as bad, though they'd probably be comfortable in their sewer instead of running around outside. Raph poked the fire again. In his mind, he saw things the way they should have been and how they would end up. It wasn't a pretty sight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matthew stood there and watched them. One smiled for a second and then went back to thinking whatever was going on in its mind. Another glared around periodically and jabbed a knife into the fire. The third of the turtle-looking people-things was scribbling words onto a rock as though there were no tomorrow. Matt looked for the fourth and grinned. The fourth one was dead asleep and managing to look so comfortable on that hard ground that Matt wondered if these turtle-men weren't part cat as well. There was a girl who was whispering something to a guy who looked like he ate nails for breakfast and the giant rat was leaning against a big rock. Matthew took a deep breath and prepared to step into the open when a loud scream sent him scrambling for a hiding place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mikey! Mikey! Wake up you idiot!!"
Michelangelo sat up and gasped for breath.
"It was just a nightmare, Mikey. It's alright. We're here."
Part of Mikey tried to figure out who was talking. One of his brothers, that was for sure. "So?" He whispered more to himself than anyone. "What good is that?"
"Mikey? Wanna talk about it?" That was April speaking. Mike shook his head. Some dreams weren't meant to be told.
After a few deep breaths and assurances from Mikey that he was alright, everyone settled back down. Mike huddled close to the fire and watched them all go back to their former positions. Something occurred to him.
They all came when he was in trouble. All of them.
Even Don and Leo.
Mike sat by the fire and let that sink in.
What was it that Master Splinter once told them? The weakness in one brings out the strength in all?
Michelangelo glanced at Don. He was still messing around with those ants, but there was something else about the way he was just laying there. Don was watching Mikey.
Suddenly, the whole plan came together in Mikey's mind with horrible simplicity. The weakness in one...
From the shadows, Matt watched the whole thing, aware that something was wrong with the dynamics of the group in front of him, but not sure what was off.
"Is this a good idea?" He asked himself aloud for the first time. He took one last calming breath and stepped into the open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elliot sighed for the thousandth time and tried cracking his knuckles. It hurt. A lot. He wondered how Shamal could do it so easily. He also wondered how Johnathan could just ignore it. Besides sounding painful, the cracking knuckle thing made Shamal look like one of those people you read about in the PETA news-flyers who abused puppies and drowned kittens. Or maybe the other way around. In fact, the more time that Elliot spent with Shamal, the more he realized that he really preferred Johnathan in all his tattooed, yet still strangely feminine glory.
Elliot snuck a glance at Johnathan. He was listening to Benjamin recount how the camper fell on top of Elliot the day before. It was strange, Elliot thought, that someone who looked as freakish as Johnathan would be so good with kids and swear up and down that they hated people younger than twelve. And on the other hand was Shamal- who looked as normal as you could ask for- and not only did kids hate him, but he killed defenseless little kittens.
"It's not right, I tell you. It's just not right!" He shouted and then glowered at everyone. Except Johnathan, who must surely spend his free time saving little animals, besides volunteering at hospitals. Wonderful boy, that Johnathan, even though he looked... different.
"Daddy? Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked Elliot.
"Of course, dear. I'm fine." Elliot smiled at his daughter (brilliant girl, finding such excellent husband material in such an unlikely place). He then smiled at Johnathan. This trip wasn't so bad, he decided. Now if only that boy would get back...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Um. Hi." Matthew just stood there, waiting for one of them to say something, knowing that he lost about two hundred cool points from the start.
"Er... yeah. Hi."
Matthew grinned. Okay, so if he was two hundred in the hole, so were they. "Is there room for one more?"
"Always, dude." Matthew walked up to the fire. He told himself not to stare, but he really couldn't help it.
He had gotten a pretty good look at the turtles from his hiding place, in fact he had barely noticed the other three people at the fire. He kind of wished he'd paid a bit more attention before. The girl was stunning. She had red hair and green eyes and looked like she was permanently attached to the dark haired guy at her side.
"Well, this is a change. Usually people stare at you guys, not us." The guy said.
With a certain degree of sadness, Matthew realized that he was one of those bully types. Too bad. Bullies were especially touchy about their girls.
"So, where'd you come from?" One of the turtles asked. Matthew reluctantly turned his eyes from the girl to the one who spoke, although he had a bit of difficulty telling one from another. He stared for a second, trying to tell them apart. The one closest to the fire laughed. "Dude, sorry. I'm Michelangelo. To your left is Donatello and the one with the rock is Leonardo. And that-" Michelangelo pointed to the turtle with the knives. "is Raphael. Over here we have the lovely Ms. April and Raph's partner in crime-"
"That's crime bustin' to you." The guy said.
"Yeah, as if we believe that." Michelangelo countered and then dived to the side as the still unnamed man threw a rock at him.
"The name's Casey. And this is Master Splinter. So, now that that's done. Who are you?"
"My name is Matthew Sparks."
"Yeah, great and all. But who are you? One of the Foot? Or someone else sent to hit us while we're weak?" Raph said and glared at Matt.
"Uh... what? Am I a foot?" Matt looked at his shoes. Somehow he gathered that that was not what the dangerous looking turtle meant.
"He's one of the humans from the campsite we found." Donatello said. "Which means that the others might be alive too."
"Well, yeah, we're all alive. Kind of lost, kind of scared, but alive."
Donatello looked as though he wanted to say something, but he paused and glanced at the one named Leonardo.
"So where are they?" Leonardo asked.
"Knowing them, they've gone and wandered somewhere. But they should be close."
"How close?"
"You know that big pile of rocks towards the east?"
"That's where they are?"
"Yeah."
"Alright. Stay here. Mikey, stay here and don't do anything stupid." Leo warned.
Mikey just grinned. He had no intention of doing anything stupid. Not really anyway.
As soon as his brothers had left with Casey, Michelangelo turned to Matt. "So... have you ever seen "Revenge of the Potato Spuds from Hell?"
Matt blinked. "Are you serious? That's got to be my favorite movie."
April and Splinter looked at each other, more than a little nervous.
"You don't think they're being serious, do you?" April asked Splinter. He didn't say a word. "Oh, dear."
April decided that it was better to just let Mikey and Matt bond. Raph and Leo would keep them from doing anything... extreme.
"And then the part where they went woooooooooooshoooooooooooshBOOM!"
"Yes! I loved that part and after the first Spuds get into their spaceships..."
"Oooooh. That was awesome, I almost wet my pants..."
"And I loved the end where the little spuds were crawling through the portal."
"Did you see the sequel?"
"Did I?! It was soooooooo coooooool."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~