Christopher V - Saga of the Next Generation By: Red Turtle
Epilog:
When I come back home from my first semester of college, I find Katlin lying on the cozy floor of our living room, drawing bright and happy pictures that reflect her bright and happy state of mind, much improved with the now continuous presence of our parents who no longer have to spend time away from us searching for their arch enemy. Mom demonstrates her mastery in ballet classes, something she and Dad took up after Saber-Khan's defeat, sort of a mid-life crisis. Saber Khan's mounted head hangs over the fireplace, a permanent monument to the power of three generations of ninjas coming together.
The living room is so warm and inviting I just have to sit down. A bad idea though, as it immediately ruins the image and I find myself sitting in sewer water.
"You okay, Christopher?" my past-uncle Mike inquires, helping me back up.
"Yeah, just stumbled", I reply.
Once I find my footing, I try to return to my dream of the future. I can't help it, this is already in the bag and I'm already envisioning how to spend the rest of the day. I suppose we will have to return everyone to their original place, but first at least we shall have dinner. All of the little uns shall have a chance to meet their Grandfather, oh, he will love Rowdie, I know. Anna and Marie shall be held by their Dad for the only time in their lives, and he'll impart some good morals on Chicken and Pie. Katlin will have two Daddies, which should keep her happy for a bit. JB and Mickey will probably be awkward around this sober incarnation of their Dad, and by the time they warm up to him he'll have to go. But it will be a good experience in their lives. It will be a great experience for all of us.
"Chris", one of the twins whispers in my ear.
"What?" I reply, annoyed at the present reality. I'm especially annoyed at Donatello and William for not being as confident as I am; in fact they look very distressed. This isn't that hard, its like boom, we get Julian and Romea and those other cousins, boom we get back to that time with Saber Khan, and boom, we destroy him and his little base, and boom, we get on with out lives. I would think they more than anyone would be a little excited to see this almost over.
"Chris", Donatello moves in and puts an arm around me, a gesture that didn't indicate deep friendship but a move to better be able to whisper in my ear, "didn't you notice how Romea and Julian were acting? Didn't you notice our Nepalese cousins?"
I had seen Romea and Julian start to cry, but I didn't want to remember it. I don't like to see others in pain.
"Look, they're lost and they probably got beaten up pretty bad, but when we get to them, and when they see all our parents and Grandfather with us, they'll realize that we're going to win, and they won't be upset anymore", I assured him.
Donatello's hand squeezed my shoulder a little, not painfully but uncomfortable.
"Did they cry at my fathers funeral?" he asked.
That took me by surprise. I had to think about it. Romea, Romea defiantly cried the day we found out, although she kept to her room and didn't want anyone to know (Me and Julian were the only ones she allowed to console her). By the funeral she had gained her composure. Julian I'm not sure, I would think he did privately. Neither of them were much for expressing emotions publicly, I'm not sure why but they always had an attitude about them that they were tough or something.
"Well, they did cry at some point", I said falteringly, wondering where this was going. Donatello has a way of drawing you into conversation and springing a profound point on you, and if he did that here it would probably be to destroy my plan for happiness.
"Did our cousins from Nepal come to the funeral?" he asked.
"No", I replied. They definitely had not.
"Then why are they here now, and why are Romea and Julian crying?" he asked, in his QED manner, but not as enthusiastically.
"I don't know. It probably has something to do with Saber Khan. They'll tell us when we get there." I replied.
"Be prepared for what we're going to find out", he warned sadly, and left my side to seek his twins comfort. William was upfront leading the way to the homing signal.
After that chilling discussion I found it impossible to place myself in a happy future, but I did manage to get that song from before stuck in my head:
My name is Superman, I'm here to rescue you,
I am Superman, goddamn it, and I'm going to rescue everybody.
This is the mindset I'm in when at last we reach the rooftop of the building our cousins are hiding on. We had to go in a creative way, I hadn't fully realized how complicated things were back in the 2000s, with not being able to just walk or drive where you wanted to go. After pinpointing the location we had to climb up a building several blocks away and maneuver carefully over the rooftops, avoiding windows and skylights that mean nothing in my lifetime, but here are almost certain death.
Julian and Romea come out from a staircase enclave and stare at the glory of our past fathers and Grandfather. Julian looks alright (aside from the indications that he was crying hard), but Romea has a cloth strip on her head, and a fair amount of blood all over her. The other two cousins cautiously creep out, one has only one wing, the other partially wrapped in cloth and the other has a series of cuts across the chest, probably from Saber Khan rather than a ninja weapon.
Okay, this is going to be harder than I originally thought.
"It is an honor to meet you, my grandchildren, and I only regret that it is under these dire circumstances", Grandfather Splinter greets them, bowing low.
Surprisingly, Romea and Julian return the bow, with a flitting glimpse at their Dad here, and then looking to the ground. Mike's children stare in shock.
"You...if you're a rat then how did you...you're a rat?" one of them sputters.
"Yes. I am you're grandfather in every respect but biology", he answered.
"Oh", he replied, still looking shocked.
"Please excuse us", the other one said, "Its just that, well, we never thought we were related to a rat. We eat rats."
"You didn't know about Master Splinter?" my past-dad gasps, as if this is unthinkable. Which it would be, had they grown up in our house around all of us, Grandfather Splinter was as basic as reading and math.
"Our lives are all very different, more than you can imagine", the one continued, "I'm Catholicism. I'm Michelangelo's daughter, and he is Michelangelo's son, Judaism."
"Are you birds?" past-uncle Mike asks in amazement.
"Yes. We are descended from the Kiticha people of Nepal."
"Wow", Mike replies.
"And are you my children?" past-uncle Raphael asks, obviously seeing some resemblance in Julian, who is his clone, after all.
At this Julian and Romea both look away.
"Yeah, kinda", Julian mutters.
"This is Julian and Romea", I introduce after a moment of awkward silence, "And they're trained as ninja's too, nothing like you guys or our parents back home, of course, but with all of us we'll be able to-"
"Ain't no all of us", Julian interrupts, very quietly.
"-Well, not here, we got to get back home first, and then we can-"
"Ain't no all of us anywhere", Julian interrupts again.
Well, that doesn't make any sense. Maybe he doesn't realize that we're just in a little time warp, and we can get back to the others.
"Listen, Christopher, all of you..." Romea starts to say.
"Yes", my past-Dad presses her after a moment, "We're listening. We're here to help."
"Oh", she moans, taking a shaky breathe, "I'm sorry, this is just-I don't know how to handle this".
I thought she was going to regain her composure, but instead she looked over at past-uncle Don and then curled up in a ball on the floor. I sat down beside her and tried to hold her, because she is like a sister to me and I can't stand to see her in pain.
"In our original time, your enemies have killed all of our family. We had seeked revenge on them, in the fight we were thrown back here."
"What?" I asked, since I obviously didn't hear something right.
"Your family is dead, Chris. Your parents, Julian and Romea's parents, all you're brothers and sisters. They killed our mother and our brother too. If we are to defeat this enemy, it will only be with those we have here."
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss...
A thud snaps me out of the trance I had entered. It is past-uncle Mike, now on his knees, his eyes closed, it almost looks like he's praying, although I never knew any of us to be particularly religious. Donatello and William have embraced each other, and allowed their past-father to sort of join them in their circle. The others all look similarly stricken, feeling our anguish even though they don't actually know any of us. Grandfather takes a deep sigh.
"Can you tell us more about this enemy, so that we can find a way to defeat him? How was he able to overcome all of you?"
I can't believe I'm sitting here with Romea in my arms, listening to my long-dead grandfather discuss ninja revenge strategy with two cousins I never even met before. And, if this is true, than what's left for us back there anyway? What's the point of killing Saber Khan if not for all of them?
"We don't know how it was done", Catholicism continues, "We...found them."
"And there's more. He has an army of mutant tigers too. He has an army of humans and an army of tigers." Julian ventured.
"And he has a lot of technology. Doing this to us was quite...impressive", Judaism added.
"But there is one thing we have that he will never have", Grandfather Splinter told us.
"What's that?" I choked, having lost my ability to talk normally.
"We have honor", Grandfather told me, with a resolute pound of his staff on the ground.
To be continued yet...
Epilog:
When I come back home from my first semester of college, I find Katlin lying on the cozy floor of our living room, drawing bright and happy pictures that reflect her bright and happy state of mind, much improved with the now continuous presence of our parents who no longer have to spend time away from us searching for their arch enemy. Mom demonstrates her mastery in ballet classes, something she and Dad took up after Saber-Khan's defeat, sort of a mid-life crisis. Saber Khan's mounted head hangs over the fireplace, a permanent monument to the power of three generations of ninjas coming together.
The living room is so warm and inviting I just have to sit down. A bad idea though, as it immediately ruins the image and I find myself sitting in sewer water.
"You okay, Christopher?" my past-uncle Mike inquires, helping me back up.
"Yeah, just stumbled", I reply.
Once I find my footing, I try to return to my dream of the future. I can't help it, this is already in the bag and I'm already envisioning how to spend the rest of the day. I suppose we will have to return everyone to their original place, but first at least we shall have dinner. All of the little uns shall have a chance to meet their Grandfather, oh, he will love Rowdie, I know. Anna and Marie shall be held by their Dad for the only time in their lives, and he'll impart some good morals on Chicken and Pie. Katlin will have two Daddies, which should keep her happy for a bit. JB and Mickey will probably be awkward around this sober incarnation of their Dad, and by the time they warm up to him he'll have to go. But it will be a good experience in their lives. It will be a great experience for all of us.
"Chris", one of the twins whispers in my ear.
"What?" I reply, annoyed at the present reality. I'm especially annoyed at Donatello and William for not being as confident as I am; in fact they look very distressed. This isn't that hard, its like boom, we get Julian and Romea and those other cousins, boom we get back to that time with Saber Khan, and boom, we destroy him and his little base, and boom, we get on with out lives. I would think they more than anyone would be a little excited to see this almost over.
"Chris", Donatello moves in and puts an arm around me, a gesture that didn't indicate deep friendship but a move to better be able to whisper in my ear, "didn't you notice how Romea and Julian were acting? Didn't you notice our Nepalese cousins?"
I had seen Romea and Julian start to cry, but I didn't want to remember it. I don't like to see others in pain.
"Look, they're lost and they probably got beaten up pretty bad, but when we get to them, and when they see all our parents and Grandfather with us, they'll realize that we're going to win, and they won't be upset anymore", I assured him.
Donatello's hand squeezed my shoulder a little, not painfully but uncomfortable.
"Did they cry at my fathers funeral?" he asked.
That took me by surprise. I had to think about it. Romea, Romea defiantly cried the day we found out, although she kept to her room and didn't want anyone to know (Me and Julian were the only ones she allowed to console her). By the funeral she had gained her composure. Julian I'm not sure, I would think he did privately. Neither of them were much for expressing emotions publicly, I'm not sure why but they always had an attitude about them that they were tough or something.
"Well, they did cry at some point", I said falteringly, wondering where this was going. Donatello has a way of drawing you into conversation and springing a profound point on you, and if he did that here it would probably be to destroy my plan for happiness.
"Did our cousins from Nepal come to the funeral?" he asked.
"No", I replied. They definitely had not.
"Then why are they here now, and why are Romea and Julian crying?" he asked, in his QED manner, but not as enthusiastically.
"I don't know. It probably has something to do with Saber Khan. They'll tell us when we get there." I replied.
"Be prepared for what we're going to find out", he warned sadly, and left my side to seek his twins comfort. William was upfront leading the way to the homing signal.
After that chilling discussion I found it impossible to place myself in a happy future, but I did manage to get that song from before stuck in my head:
My name is Superman, I'm here to rescue you,
I am Superman, goddamn it, and I'm going to rescue everybody.
This is the mindset I'm in when at last we reach the rooftop of the building our cousins are hiding on. We had to go in a creative way, I hadn't fully realized how complicated things were back in the 2000s, with not being able to just walk or drive where you wanted to go. After pinpointing the location we had to climb up a building several blocks away and maneuver carefully over the rooftops, avoiding windows and skylights that mean nothing in my lifetime, but here are almost certain death.
Julian and Romea come out from a staircase enclave and stare at the glory of our past fathers and Grandfather. Julian looks alright (aside from the indications that he was crying hard), but Romea has a cloth strip on her head, and a fair amount of blood all over her. The other two cousins cautiously creep out, one has only one wing, the other partially wrapped in cloth and the other has a series of cuts across the chest, probably from Saber Khan rather than a ninja weapon.
Okay, this is going to be harder than I originally thought.
"It is an honor to meet you, my grandchildren, and I only regret that it is under these dire circumstances", Grandfather Splinter greets them, bowing low.
Surprisingly, Romea and Julian return the bow, with a flitting glimpse at their Dad here, and then looking to the ground. Mike's children stare in shock.
"You...if you're a rat then how did you...you're a rat?" one of them sputters.
"Yes. I am you're grandfather in every respect but biology", he answered.
"Oh", he replied, still looking shocked.
"Please excuse us", the other one said, "Its just that, well, we never thought we were related to a rat. We eat rats."
"You didn't know about Master Splinter?" my past-dad gasps, as if this is unthinkable. Which it would be, had they grown up in our house around all of us, Grandfather Splinter was as basic as reading and math.
"Our lives are all very different, more than you can imagine", the one continued, "I'm Catholicism. I'm Michelangelo's daughter, and he is Michelangelo's son, Judaism."
"Are you birds?" past-uncle Mike asks in amazement.
"Yes. We are descended from the Kiticha people of Nepal."
"Wow", Mike replies.
"And are you my children?" past-uncle Raphael asks, obviously seeing some resemblance in Julian, who is his clone, after all.
At this Julian and Romea both look away.
"Yeah, kinda", Julian mutters.
"This is Julian and Romea", I introduce after a moment of awkward silence, "And they're trained as ninja's too, nothing like you guys or our parents back home, of course, but with all of us we'll be able to-"
"Ain't no all of us", Julian interrupts, very quietly.
"-Well, not here, we got to get back home first, and then we can-"
"Ain't no all of us anywhere", Julian interrupts again.
Well, that doesn't make any sense. Maybe he doesn't realize that we're just in a little time warp, and we can get back to the others.
"Listen, Christopher, all of you..." Romea starts to say.
"Yes", my past-Dad presses her after a moment, "We're listening. We're here to help."
"Oh", she moans, taking a shaky breathe, "I'm sorry, this is just-I don't know how to handle this".
I thought she was going to regain her composure, but instead she looked over at past-uncle Don and then curled up in a ball on the floor. I sat down beside her and tried to hold her, because she is like a sister to me and I can't stand to see her in pain.
"In our original time, your enemies have killed all of our family. We had seeked revenge on them, in the fight we were thrown back here."
"What?" I asked, since I obviously didn't hear something right.
"Your family is dead, Chris. Your parents, Julian and Romea's parents, all you're brothers and sisters. They killed our mother and our brother too. If we are to defeat this enemy, it will only be with those we have here."
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss...
A thud snaps me out of the trance I had entered. It is past-uncle Mike, now on his knees, his eyes closed, it almost looks like he's praying, although I never knew any of us to be particularly religious. Donatello and William have embraced each other, and allowed their past-father to sort of join them in their circle. The others all look similarly stricken, feeling our anguish even though they don't actually know any of us. Grandfather takes a deep sigh.
"Can you tell us more about this enemy, so that we can find a way to defeat him? How was he able to overcome all of you?"
I can't believe I'm sitting here with Romea in my arms, listening to my long-dead grandfather discuss ninja revenge strategy with two cousins I never even met before. And, if this is true, than what's left for us back there anyway? What's the point of killing Saber Khan if not for all of them?
"We don't know how it was done", Catholicism continues, "We...found them."
"And there's more. He has an army of mutant tigers too. He has an army of humans and an army of tigers." Julian ventured.
"And he has a lot of technology. Doing this to us was quite...impressive", Judaism added.
"But there is one thing we have that he will never have", Grandfather Splinter told us.
"What's that?" I choked, having lost my ability to talk normally.
"We have honor", Grandfather told me, with a resolute pound of his staff on the ground.
To be continued yet...