Vao= Guardian
Chapter 13
Leo, Raph, and Mikey decided to take Casey to Tandaya. He looked up at it, just as impressed as they were when they first saw her. Standing above the other trees, green vines swaying in the breeze. "So this is their goddess, huh?"
"Yep, that's her." Raph answered.
While he was impressed with the overall size of the tree. He still wasn't convinced about the whole goddess thing. Which was fair. "You don't seem convinced that she's real." Leo shrugged. "Don't worry we didn't believe it either."
"It's true though. She's got a mind of her own and everything." Mikey said.
Casey looked back up at the tree and shrugged. "I don't get it. It doesn't do anything. It's just a big, fat tree."
Before anyone could say anything else, one of the vines suddenly wrapped around Casey's ankles and hoisted him up into the air. "Whoa!" All of the sports equipment fell out of his bag as he was hung upside down. "H-hey, what's going on?"
His three turtle friends turned to look up at him as he dangled helplessly from the vines holding him hostage. They couldn't help it, they had to laugh. "This isn't funny. Get me down from here, guys."
"The only way down from there is to apologize." Leo said.
"What?" Tandaya began to shake him up and down.
"Just apologize Case." Raph said.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry tree... lady."
Tandaya released him and he fell to the ground with a thud. He sat up and rubbed his head while his friends continued to laugh at him. Through his laughs, Raph managed to offer a hand to him so he could help him up. "You should know never to call a woman fat. Goddess or not." Leo told him.
"R-right." he stuttered as he backed away. "I believe now."
"Come on. Let's get going. We've got work to do."
The turtles and Casey started to make their way away from Tandaya. Before they were out of reach, Tandaya gave Casey a parting gift of a whip to the back of the head by one of her vines. "Ow! Okay, I get it! No more name calling!" he exclaimed, annoyed. Leo, Raph, and Mikey continued to laugh as they ran off.
Don was woken up again by Fuina as she landed next to him and started lightly pecking at his arm. The sun was starting to rise again by that point. They would have to get moving soon. Don untied the note from Fuina's leg and read it to himself. Beloose was asking him to meet at the palace of Azbani Territory. He has to speak to the king and queen when he gets there to see what he can do to stop this problem at its source. "Well, that's good. It would be much easier to get this done if I had help." he looked over to April. She was still sleeping. She wouldn't be asleep much longer once the sun rose though. That heat would wake her right up. "I should probably get us something to eat." he stood up. Testing his stability, he found that he was well enough to move on his own. "I'll be right back, Luna."
By the time April woke up, there was already a small fire going and Don was roasting a few star shaped, red and black fruits. The sweet smell made her stomach growl. "Look who's awake." Don said. "You ready for breakfast?" April's stomach answered for her as it growled again and Don snickered. "I'll take that as a yes. Hope you like hailons." he removed the fruit from the fire to let them cool for a few seconds.
"I don't know what that is."
Don held out the fruit to her. "Try one."
April took one. It was soft and warm, but her mind wasn't really focused on that. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Don nodded. "Yep, good as new. You did good, April." he reassured her. He took a piece of fruit and bit into it.
April sighed, relieved. She took a bite out of the fruit. It was sweet and really juicy with a hint of spice behind it. It was enough to soothe her growling stomach. After a few minutes of munching on fruit, they decided to go on their way. Don snuffed out the fire with some dirt to make sure it was completely out. "Okay, let's go."
As they continued to make their way through Lullin Territory, Don noticed that April was strangely quiet. He didn't want to bother her right now. She was probably still freaked out about him being poisoned. And what he said to her last night probably didn't help. He had to admit he did feel a little guilty about how it came out.
He figured she would speak up when she felt she was ready though. The silence between them wasn't really awkward like it had been, but it wasn't really comfortable either. There was something bothering her, and she just didn't want to voice it.
After a while, Don thought that maybe he should be the one to say something. "Are you okay?" it was Don's turn to ask. "You've been quieter than usual." April stayed silent, continuing to walk alongside Luna, who was still making sure to keep the two them separated. "Look, I know things have been weird between us, but I don't want it to be that way. Whatever it is, I'm willing to listen, but you actually have to tell me what's wrong."
It took a moment for her to speak up. "...I'm sorry." was all she said as she took a deep breath.
It was safe to say that Don wasn't expecting to hear that. He was actually a little bit shocked. "What are you apologizing for?" she remained silent after that, not wanting to say anymore and Don sighed. "Alright, we'll talk later."
The day seemed to go by quickly for Don and April as the sun began setting. April hadn't said anything since the last time Don had snapped at her. On one hand Don was kind of happy with the fact that she wasn't talking about how he should be coming back to New York, but on the other hand, he knew something was wrong and wanted to do something to help her. Before he could think of anything to say to her. They heard a cry for help. "Get down!" Don ordered.
Luna and April hid near some trees while Don found a boulder to hide behind. Just then, a man, wrapped in a gray cloak, ran by with some Avoa chasing after him. The Avoa were brown and green, four legged mammals with egg-shaped heads, two narrow dark eyes, large ears, no visible nose, and an indented jaw. They have short necks, and their shoulders are spike-tipped. Their whole body is covered in armor plating, except for their tails which is covered in more spikes.
While a lot of animals can get hostile when you get near them, the Avoa were very mild mannered. They never got angry about anything really. It would take a lot to have them chase someone down. Don knew this and suspected this person may have done something, whether it was inadvertantly or not, he didn't know. But, for now, he knew he had to do something. "Luna!" he called out.
Luna popped out of hiding and ran to go help the guy in need. She was much faster than the Avoa so she was easily able to pass and stop in front them. She let out a loud roar, scaring the Avoa and making them retreat in the other direction. Don and April caught up to her just as the person that was being chased approached them, out of breath from running.
"Grahatai... grahatai, Vao." the man panted. Sweat ran down his dark red skin as he tried to catch his breath. His dark eyes looked tired and his shoulder length, royal purple hair stuck to his sweaty skin. "I did not expect to be suddenly chased by them."
"Yeah, sure, no problem. Why were they after you? Avoa are pretty harmless unless you harm them." he said skeptically.
The man scratched the back of his head nervously. "Yes, well. In my attempt to find something to eat, I seem to have tripped over one and ended up hurting one of their younglings."
Avoa weren't exactly the smallest creatures around. Even the young cubs were about two feet (61 cm) tall on all fours, so how did he not see a whole group of them. Don nodded, keeping his skepticism off his face. He wished he could use his goddess sight to make sure that this guy was telling the truth, but he didn't have that in this territory, so he had to go with his gut. "Okay. What's your name?" he asked.
"I am Watamu."
"Well, Watamu, why are you all the way out here? It's not typical of villagers to be out this far."
"I am going to Azbani Territory. To Arazue's cave. I thought I would try my hand at the faster route, rather than the longer one. It seems like I was not fully prepared."
Don looked Watamu up and down. He wasn't carrying any weapons on him. No bow and arrows, not even a knife by the looks of it. "Yeah, it definitely doesn't look like you're prepared for anything. Do you have medicine... or anything to make medicine if you need it? A weapon to protect yourself? Anything?"
Watamu shook his head. "I have a knife with me." he said as he pulled away one side of his cloak to reveal a knife strapped to his pant leg. "And I decided to collect the items I need for medicine as I go." he explained.
Don simply shrugged. "Well, alright then. Try to be more careful okay." he said to him before turning back to April and Luna. "Let's go."
"Alright, thank you again." he said as he watched them leave. As soon as they were far enough away, Watamu's nice smile dropped to a glare as he watched them walk away. He slipped a piece of parchment out of the pouch on his waist and found a stick to write with. He wrote out a note stating information about the vao's location. How much longer it was going to take for him to get there and that he would attempt to take care of him before he gets there. He mentioned that they should hurry what they're doing, just in case. He then rolled it up and placed it in one of the mouths of the shayda that had landed next to him. "Bring this to the group in Myazima Swamp. Quickly. Avoid that vao at all costs."
The two headed bird took off into the sky, heading toward its destination.
