Flights Of Fancy

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Chapter Eight: Crossroads

Shanza stood with her horn lowered near Mike's throat, her body tensed, an ear flicked ever so slightly. She had been hard pressed to stop her charge and not injure Mike, when her target had been Raphael. ' If he is your brother why does he seek to harm me?' She demanded.

" Raph wasn't trying to hurt you Shanza, he was trying to protect you from those" Mike gestured at the toshe who were stalking around growling slightly, with hair bristling " things!" Mike concluded.

The pack snarled at the insinuation Mike had put into that one word. Raph knowing a bit from his own experience with the pack leaned forward to whisper into Mike's ear " They aren't things Mike."

Shanza seemed to scowl a bit though it was almost impossible for an equine to do so, she did give enough of a feeling that it was her expression, 'Then was he trying to harm the toshe?'

Mike considered that question " It isn't like Raph to miss what he aims at" he admitted, " so I would guess that he wasn't trying to hurt anyone."

Shanza pawed the ground sensing the truth in his words, she turned her head to stare into Raph's dark intent eyes, noting his stance and easily detecting his emotions. She considered her options before rolling one eye a bit so it fell on the leader of the pack, she silently directed a thought towards just him and waited patiently for the response.

The old grey toshe gave a low growl, followed by an ominous whine and a very subtle wag of his tail.

Mike shifted toying nervously with his chucks, at the moment they were at a stalemate but he had a feeling the fighting might resume at any given moment. " Please Shanza Raph, really didn't mean any harm and they" Mike scowled as he glowered at the pack " I thought they were like, your enemies because the others sure wanted to kill you."

Shanza snorted and nuzzled Mike's shoulder a bit affectionately before turning her attention back to Raphael 'What have you to say for your self?'

Raph for the first time felt the wave of the gentle soft words within his head, he had thought that Mike was just talking and not really being understood by the animal he called Shanza, Raph was so surprised by this turn of events he simply forgot any smart alec comments and responded simply " I didn't want the toshe here hurting my brother. So I just tossed my weapon to distract everyone involved."

Shanza let out a large puff of air as she turned away from Raph ' Do you not understand the toshe? If not then we have a misunderstanding here.'

" Understand them, why the hell should I understand their growls and snarls they don't exactly pop thoughts into my head the way you do" Raph snapped in irritation.

' Then perhaps I better explain.'

" Well somebody better and since the toshe don't speak our language, you best be spillin' it" Raph declared quickly.

Shanza stomped one hind leg and gave Raph a sharp glare ' Consider your self lucky that both the pack and your brother seeks to protect you.' Shanza admonished him, ' Or you would be in serious trouble right now!'

Raph snorted in contempt and rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms over his plastron " Yeah I wouldn't want any of that right about now." He turned to Mike " that beast you found deserves to be et' Mike, she acts more perfect and holier then thou then Leo does, and I didn't think that was possible."

Mike shrugged " Shanza saved my life Raph, she is a good fighter and a friend who might have need of our help." He stated casually, " Besides I hate to say it but I think I would trust her sooner then I would these, creatures." He gestured to the toshe.

Mike glanced over to Shanza and noted that the grey toshe was once again drawing close to the unicorn but Shanza bowed her head allowing, him to lick her muzzle.

' Lobo's pack and I have helped each other before. The only time his pack has ever hunted to kill a unicorn was if the unicorn was already badly hurt. Lobo is wise enough to know hunting an uninjured unicorn could only mean death to his family.' Shanza explained, 'Allow me to use my magic so that their thoughts are more clear to you as you have problems understanding them.'

" Magic, sure right" Raph scoffed, " thoughts clear, what could they be thinking that I would want to understand?"

" RAPH!" Mike protested quickly.

" He is a bit slow but I think he can learn given time, and proper training that is." The old grey toshe remarked as he stepped forward. " Allow me to introduce my pack."

Raph's jaw dropped in shock his eyes growing large " It talks!" he sputtered.

Shanza laughed a bit 'My magic only makes it seem like he talks much as some of the other creatures can talk on Necron. This way you will better understand each other. Lobo seems to think you have some promise at any rate.'

Lobo gave a short sharp bark that came out sounding clearly like the words " Attention please" then waited until Mike and Raph were both listening before continuing " I am Lobo, this here" he pointed with his muzzle towards the smaller white female " Is my sister Trina, her mate was killed and I have helped care for her pups. Sheatarean is the all white male. Trabajak…"

" Call me Traba" the black and white toshe said quickly interrupting Lobo " I happen to be Lobo's son."

" You won't catch me admitting to it though" Lobo muttered in response before going on " the two grey pups are Noharn and Nomac" Lobo sat by each in turn as he said their names, " And the last pup is Dawny."

" Hi" Dawny the red pup said shyly and gave a small wag of his tail.

" Wow you guys have a Donny too" Mike grinned.

" It is short my full name is Dahawnty meaning the morning of red death." Dawny stated.

Mike shuddered at the translation " I think I like just Dawny better." He mumbled.

Raph grinned; he personally kind of liked that translation.

Mike sighed as he walked over to Shanza " I don't get it Shanza, I mean you are a herbivore, and the toshe they ought to be interested in eating you for dinner because they eat meat. I mean even if they do know you could kill a few of them …It just doesn't make sense."

Lobo gave a wolfish grin " Actually we toshe will eat some fruit and vegetation, it is just we prefer red fresh meat." He licked his lips as if anticipating such a meal.

Shanza looked at the two turtles, she had sensed Raph's natural aggressive emotions and she had a feeling he was a fighter, vicious and cunning. She did not understand it, any more then she could fully fathom why the toshe had an almost similar nature. Still she knew that it was possible to be friends and some times a meat eater could be a powerful ally.

Meanwhile Mike, Raph's brother seemed nothing like him, she could relate to Mike much easier.

As she considered this though she felt a ripple along her skin that traveled from her shoulder down to her haunches. There was something about the appearance of these two turtles and the disappearance of her son of that she was sure. Her instincts told her that it was far more then mere coincidence.

A slight soft nicker escaped her lips 'Perhaps I best let both of you know a bit about Necron's past.' Shanza stated as she looked at the two ninja brothers.

" What about your son though?" Mike wondered.

Raph scowled and smacked Mike on the arm " If she wants to give us some background on this place let her, after all we need all the information we can get if we are going find Leo and Don."

Shanza tossed her head a bit ' My son can wait it is, I think far more important that you know this now. Come sit down make yourself comfortable. Unicorn mares are the story tellers the colts and stallions do the great deeds but sometimes things change.' Shanza began, ' Watch carefully while I tell the story of my past and watch the story unfold.'

The turtles came to rest nearby while the toshe pack laid down on the hard ground in a circle and waited. A sharp cold wind suddenly blew and Shanza's horn started to glow, suddenly images appeared in the center of the circle.

Shanza's Story:

Long ago when our world was new, the dark forces and the light forces fought separately. They were simple battles, minor clashes and the evil ones could not gain their desires.' Shanza paused a bit, ' The dark ones sought to control all of Necron, and because our world is magical it often borders on other worlds during those times beings from either world can travel to another space. So the evil beings knew if they could gain control and power of Necron they could also damage the worlds Necron borders.'

The image shifted showing many beings of both the dark and light as they fought here or there. Then it switched to something far more sinister.

' It took many years before the dark forces decided to band together to use their combined powers to destroy the light forces once and for all. The unicorns are the most powerful of the light forces. So the dark ones decided to rid Necron of all unicorns and thus gain their deed.'

The images showed unicorns being hunted by dragons and griffins, the griffins slaughtered the unicorns but, the dragons worked at herding the corns to a well guarded place.

' The dark ones wanted to steal some of the unicorns magic and they had a spell that could achieve that, thus by stealing the magic and turning it to evil, they could be even more powerful then they were all ready. Only problem is for the magic to work the unicorns had to give up all hope.'

The image turned to a grassy field and a small herd of unicorn and someone dressed all in white and a cape pulled up and around them so it was quite impossible to see who the being might be.

' A corn stallion opted to allow one of Necron's greatest sorceress to perform a spell on his and his mate new born foal. She was disguised and sent away to one of the border world so the magicians and evil beings of Necron would not find or know about her.'

Mike sighed a bit as he watched the story unfold.

' Years past and with the passing of time many unicorns began to lose faith as more and more were captured, and they didn't even hold out much hope for the one member of their kind who was not even a unicorn at that time.'

Raph pulled out a sai growing bored with this story. He had been hoping to hear something of importance not a fairy tale.

' Lobo's pack sought out the last unicorn and guided her to the sorceress so she could once again be a unicorn, but the problem was the dark ones knew of her return to Necron and they knew if they could catch or kill her then they would achieve their goal.'

Mike glanced up at Shanza " You were the unicorn" he said, " that is how you became friends with Lobo's pack."

' Yes they helped protect me, fought with me, went through many dangers until I alone was forced to face the last danger alone.'

The image showed battles that the pack and Shanza had faced, then it shifted to show a giant dragon in some subterranean lair.

' I was forced to face Tilamat, the mother of all dragons. Dragons are the unicorns most powerful enemies and she was extremely cunning. I almost lost the battle more than once, and in the end I am still not sure how I defeated her. I killed her and she killed me.'

Raph gave Shanza a sceptical look " Come again? If she killed you what are you doing alive here, and now?"

' When I killed Tilamat the unicorns gained such hope and courage they could no longer be held back and they burst free as they passed me they returned me to life using their magic, but they could not relieve me of the scars on my body that would forever testify of my battle with a dragon.' Shanza finished.

" That is a great bit of history but what has that to do with us." Raph demanded sharply.

" Wait the dark forces are at it again, this time using your son and if they achieve what they want Necron and other worlds may be in danger." Mike replied quickly.

'Yes Mike, Our world and others hang in the balance.' Shanza confessed.

" That is real nice only it has nothing to do with us" Raph insisted firmly, " we can just find our brothers and get the heck out of here."

Shanza looked at him 'You think so? What world do you call home Raphael?'

" Earth, which I am sure is a long way from here." Raph retorted smugly.

Traba gave a barking laugh " Not as far as you think, Earth is one of the worlds that Necron is known to border. In fact that is where Shanza grew up."

Raph gulped at that news " He's kidding right?"

Shanza shook here head ' I'm afraid not. I grew up in a small mountain town called Hope, my foster parents owned a small farm that way and my name was Kaitlin then.'

" Why did you feel you had to tell us all this now?" Raph grouched.

'What is that old Earth saying, those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it. I am not trying to force you to stay, it is not my way after all. I'm just saying that it is far better for you to know what has happened before.' Shanza explained sadly 'So you would know what you might expect when you return home to your world.'

" Sure our choice" Raph grumped, " she just has to guilt trip us into staying and offering her a hand."

'You seek your brothers perhaps all it will take is a little help on your part while you search, either way I feel we have come to a crossroads. You either travel and help us while we help you, or you seek your own path. I doubt you would want to follow us to our next destination.'

Raph scowled knowing he was being put on the spot and not liking it one bit, he looked at Mike.

" Come on Raph what else are we supposed to do?"

Raph knew that he had to get his priorities straight and right now that meant finding his missing brothers " Forget it Mike. It doesn't matter let's go."

" Raph didn't you hear what Shanza said?" Mike demanded.

Lobo looked like he was about to protest Raph's decision as well but Shanza shook her head warning him to let it go, so he gave a low whine instead.

" Yeah I heard, what ever happens doesn't really concern us."

" What about when it comes to Earth?" Mike protested, sometimes Raph seemed to focus on just the matters at hand and not to the consequences of actions when dealing with just a small piece of the puzzle instead of the whole thing.

" If and when it does, then we worry about it. Don't buy into trouble that might not happen." Raph informed Mike, " Now lets go."

Mike glanced between Shanza and Raph, he wanted to stay and help the unicorn. But he didn't know if he should stay with her now that he was with Raph, after all maybe Raph was right, and the others needed them. Mike always had problems with decisions of this nature.

Shanza bobbed her head 'Go on Mike go with him he might need you, and perhaps there is time for you to convince him to turn back yet.' She encouraged sensing his turmoil.

Mike nodded understanding " Sorry Shanza." He said before going after Raph who was all ready heading deep into the woods.

TBC