Disclaimer: Don't own anything, blah blah blah….I do have a TMNT poster now though. That's mine. You can't have it, get your own!
A/N: Guess what! Three more chapters and then the epilogue, and this story is all done. If you wanna know what else I have up my sleeve fanfiction-wise, check out my profile….I posted a bunch of summaries to stories I have started to work on. Don't know which one I'm gonna do first though….well, let me shut up so you can get to the story. Ah, oh yeah. This one chapter is rated PG-13. Just a warning.
SHOUT-OUTS:
The REAL Cheese Monkey: So, is there a fake Cheese Monkey around here somewhere, since you're the real one? And yeah….if he can't see them, they can't see him! Or so says Douglas Adams and the Bug Bladder Beast of Traal.
Lunar-Ninja: Indeed, he is! He's a ninja though, so I'm sure he'll be okay. On the other hand….he's Mikey. Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?
Chibi Rose Angel: Heh, considering this king's track record, he'd probably have Mikey beheaded for saying such…whaddya call it? Treason, there we go. Thanks for always reviewing, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy all the way down to my little toes.
Ninja Neo: 'Tis true, I have never seen the third movie. I've heard mixed reviews about that one, and seen pictures. Maybe one day I'll get the courage to rent it. As for Mikey…you'll just have to read on and find out, won't ya?
Somellamafreak: Dunno what to tell ya, maybe someone has your password? And nobody seems to like Coen….that's good, you're not supposed to like him. My job as a writer is safe! (Even though I don't have a job as a writer).
Pacphys: Funny you should mention Spiderman, that's exactly what I was thinking of as I wrote that. Guess you caught onto it, huh? Good for you! Thank you for always reviewing as well. Don't worry about being late – I'm almost always late! (looks around shiftily) We'll just say we were fashionably late, okay?
I woke up very slowly. The first thing to pass through my mind was how much falling-asleep-being-knocked-unconscious-waking-up-again I'd been doing since I came into this time. I sat up slowly, considering I had the headache to end all headaches. Wherever I was, it was dark and dusty. And wet. My sensitive hearing picked up the sound of water – at least, I hoped it was water – dripping onto stone.
While I waited for my eyes to adjust, I tried to remember how I had gotten here in the first place. I had fallen out of the tree…but then what? I supposed I had fallen harder than I thought, given the fact I seemed to have lost consciousness almost minutes after falling out of the tree.
My eyes finally started to adjust, and I looked around at my surroundings. I was in a dark cell, most likely in a dungeon somewhere. There were three walls, made of gray rock. Where the fourth wall should have been, there was a large opening with bars across it. There was a wooden bench, supposedly to serve as a bed. For some reason, I was sitting on the floor next to it. I had probably fallen off.
I listened as hard as I could for a few minutes, but heard no one. Standing, I made my way over to the barred opening to look out. Upon taking in the room outside my cell, I realized I wasn't in a dungeon after all. Instead, I was in what looked like a cave that someone had turned into living quarters. I was looking out into a main circular room made out of the same gray rock that walled my cell. If I stretched my neck a little, I could see a tunnel leading elsewhere in the cave. My cell jutted out a little bit into the main circle, and I could see my nunchucks lying on a heavy wooden table.
Across from me on the opposite wall, there was a semi-circle of stone, about three feet tall, with a bucket hanging over it. A well. I made a mental note to myself to remember that was there – it could become useful if I escaped.
While I was still gawking at the refurbished cave, none other than Coen appeared. He smirked a little as he noticed I was awake, and pressing my face against the bars, trying to see everything. Hey, he might've been a slimeball, but he had pretty cool taste concerning cave decoration!
"It seems I have underestimated you, Michelangelo." He said with his cool smile that never reached his eyes. "I had hoped, that once you knew the whole story, you would join my army. Unfortunately, that is impossible."
"Why?" I asked, "Don't you think I at least deserve to know the whole story so I can make my own decision?"
Coen considered me for a moment, his level eyes sliding over my face. I did my best to look as sincere as possible. He snorted, then began talking. "I cannot hope for you to join my army now, as you are loyal to the king. Yes, I know you have been brought here entirely by mistake – you are from a different time. That changes nothing. Do not think that I have not noticed you skulking around, 'accidentally' appearing wherever I am. You have been spying for him."
Well, he was half right. I had been spying on him, but it was of my own volition, not because the king had ordered me to. I watched him as he began to pace. I noticed his right eye had started to twitch, and I could barely stop myself from laughing. Mostly because Shredder does that too, when he's really ticked off. I turned my attention back to Coen, and dared a question. "So how did you get an army? I thought the people who live around here were loyal to Henry too."
Coen stopped pacing and turned to face me. "Ah," he said, with the air of someone who has just solved world hunger, "That is my biggest accomplishment."
I kept a look of blank interest on my face, but inside I was grinning smugly. Bad guys always wanted to tell you how they were doing things. They would tell you everything, just because they wanted someone to know about it, be proud of them, even if it was their worst enemy.
"See this?" Coen said, holding up a very old and beaten brown book. It had some sort of marking on it, but I couldn't make it out in the dim light of the cave. "This," he continued, "Is the secret to my success?"
"A diet that works?"
Coen scowled at me. I wondered if he even knew what a diet was. "No. This book was left to me by my great-grandfather. I recently discovered it in the depths of one of our homes. Do you know what is in this book?"
"No, but I bet you're gonna tell me." Of course he would tell me. Bad guys can never shut up!
He scowled again, but continued nevertheless. "This is an ancient book of spells. Inside these pages describe how to conquer enemies, how to create armies, even-" he flipped to a random page and pointed to it, "how to become immortal."
"So…how did you get the people to join you?" I reiterated, wanting him to get to the point.
"I will show you." Coen turned away from me, and made his way over to the wall across from me – the one with the well. He reached into the well and pushed in a loose stone. Suddenly there was a scraping noise, and the well began to turn, leaving a gaping hole. Coen lit a torch inside the chamber that had just opened up, and the room was flooded with light. It took all my willpower not to recoil at what I saw.
Inside the chamber, the walls were lined with cages similar to mine. However, there were not turtles in these cages. The things that resided in the cells could only be described as monsters. They were all different, but the one in the cell closest to me was almost horrific.
It had an elongated human-like head, but that was where the similarities to humans ended. It's body looked as though someone had pumped an iguana full of air, and it had stubby arms like a Tyrannosaurous Rex. It had powerful legs, that ended in two razor sharp claws. The entire thing was a gray-blue color.
"Do you like him?" Coen sneered, noticing my shell shocked look of pure horror. "All of these monsters," he gestured to the monster zoo, "Were common children. They wandered into my moor…so, I made use of them."
"You turned them into these monsters?" I asked, disgusted.
"Yes," Coen said. "With the help of the book, of course."
The blue-gray monster I had been looking at turned and locked eyes with me. It looked as though it was fighting with itself. Suddenly it opened it's mouth. "He…hel…help…" I blinked, but before my mind could register what had happened, Coen hit the stone again, and the monster's cell was once more concealed by solid rock.
"Is that where we are?" I asked him, "In the moor?"
"Under it, actually." Coen said, his voice taking on a bored tone.
"What about the people who live in the palace?" I demanded. "How will you get them to follow you? Turn them into monsters too?"
"No." Coen said patiently, "I could not do that. Someone would notice they were missing. No…in fact, I found a rather useful potion in this book of mine. They are drugged; I put it in the wine. Once I am in power, the drug will wear off, but there will be nothing they can do by then!"
"Why isn't the king poisoned?"
"Because," Coen said, becoming impatient now, "I did not want him to be. I want him to know very clearly who it is driving the sword through his abdomen when I kill him."
Coen strode over to the heavy table and picked up the book. "I have enjoyed our chat Michelangelo, but I must go prepare myself to take over. The way the king's window faces, he will not be able to see me and my army approaching until we are right on top of him!" Coen gave a short laugh. "I will strike at midnight. It is supposed to be a full moon…perfect for magic."
"What about them?" I asked, pointing to where the monsters were being held. "Will they change back too?" Coen snorted. "I do not think so. Now, I really must go. I trust you will be nice to your guests." Coen gestured to someone beyond my eyesight, and James and George strolled into view, each taking a seat at the table to keep an eye on me.
"So long, Michelangelo." Coen said with his world famous sneer. "I will see you when I am in power." And he was gone, leaving me with two idiots, and my thoughts.
