Chapter Five: Introducing the Othila

A prod in the plastron woke Raph, but it took two or three to persuade him to pull his heavy eyelids open. First Raph saw only the powerful beams and harsh shadows of high noon.

A male voice asked a question in a fast, tonal language that used all the sounds Japanese didn't.

Raph grunted and opened his eyes further. Before him stood a bipedal, six-foot brown dog, wearing an outfit that looked like it belonged in one of Don's sci-fi movies. He even wore some sort of minimal mask: a clear tube that went to his nose. The turtle blinked. Am I in a cartoon land, or what?

The dog, the one who had spoken, repeated its—his?-question, and while he didn't seem particularly menacing, he emphasized it with another prod of his carved, flattened stick.

Raph swatted the stick aside. "Hey, dog, I can't understand you. Donnie's the one who could who could pick up your language in ten minutes. I only speak English and Japanese."

The dog stuck his stick into his belt and stepped back. Raph stood, crossed his arms, and looked over the dog's two companions, both bipedal and intelligent. The first was a four-and-a-half foot tall white cat with pale gray markings who seemed to be female. The second—Raph started, clasped his hands together, and bowed from the waist. "A, shitsurei, Miyamoto Usagi-San," he apologized in Japanese, making his rough voice smoother than normal. "I didn't see you there. So I landed in your country, eh? Too bad it's me an' not Leo... Um, Usagi-San? Usagi? It's me, Raph. Hamato Raphael?"

The white rabbit was staring at him as if he had four heads. He turned and barked a question in the not-Japanese, and the dog shrugged.

"Shell. You're not Usagi at all. Well, you sure look enough like him." Raph resumed leaning against the tree while the trio jabbered to each other. The forest's lulling effect remained, and Raph might have started nodding again—despite a healthy eight hours at least—if he hadn't noticed what the dog's carved, flattened stick was—a sheathed katana.

Shell! And I'm supposed to notice these things immediately! In a blink, Raph had ducked around the great tree, only to find a semicircle of more humanoid animals, all armed, blocking any possible escape route. They all had tubes to their noses too.

Growling, Raph checked the tree, but he already knew the nearest branches loomed far overhead. The sai came out. "What is with this place?"

An otter stepped forward. "Da'an?" she asked. When Raphael didn't answer, she looked surprised. "Othila?"

Raphael shook his head. "I don't know what you're sayin.'"

The dog and his friends came around the tree and announced something. "Jior," they suggested with a shrug, pointing at Raph.

"No."

The animals unsheathed various weapons, and, with gestures neither friendly nor unfriendly, indicated that the turtle was to come with them.

Keeping his guard up, Raph saw no choice but to obey and watch for an opportunity to escape. "Okay, okay. I'll go wi' ya. Jus' quit pokin' me."

After a brief journey in which Raph's eyelids kept slipping shut—his captors' prodding helped keep him awake-they came to the edge of the forest, and to a building of seamless black glass.

"Whoa," mumbled Raph, waking up for a moment. "That don't fit wi' th' rest of it."

The animals ignored him as the dog stepped forward to a patch of wall that looked the same as the rest of it, and after a second, a door swung inward.

Everyone paraded into the brightly lit interior.

The air smelled fresher somehow, and maybe air-conditioned; Raphael took great gulps of it and his head cleared.

Sai out, he turned on the dog. "Okay, game's up, dog. Tell me why-"

The dog spun, katana out, and two or three animals grabbed Raph's arms at this threat to their leader.

Ninja instincts kicked in.

More animals, jabbering and shouting, rushed to help, until the female cat sprayed slightly purple gas from what looked like an air freshener in Raph's face.

Irresistible sleep came over Raph.

"G'night, bros, I'm turnin' in early," he groaned, sagging to the floor in the many arms of his captors.

When Raph woke up a moment later, he lay on the padded floor of a metal cage. Staring in at him, fingering his sai, stood a three-foot tall, gray-and-cream rodent with tiny ears, folds of extra fur at his sides, and huge, adorable eyes.

"Hey." Raph sat up. "That's mine."

The rodent—perhaps a flying squirrel? April would, no doubt, proclaim it very cute—glanced at the item in question.

"Urusem?"

"Yeah, Mousey, like I tried ta tell yer friends, I don't speak yer language. That's Donnie's department. An' what th' shell is goin' on wi' th' air in the forest? Where is this place, anyway? I gotta get back to my bros—hey, where're ya goin'? I'm not done talkin' ta you!"

Curiosity sparking in his dark eyes, the flying squirrel had hurried toward a wall of computer stuff that Raph noticed for the first time. Wow. His scientist brother would have a ball in here. Animals worked at the computers, including a couple Raph recognized from their journey here. Three-sided screens, covered with the strange blue characters of their language, bent toward the users, whose hands—paws? —rested on blue half-circles that seemed to be some sort of keyboard. Others around the big, open room sparred and practiced with katanas, bows, yari, and even a bo or two. Open doors and doorways led to rooms of more busy animals.

The flying squirrel returned, a suspicious bundle of wires in his hands and a smile on his face. He set the pile on the floor alongside Raph's sai and placed a tiny paw on his chest. "Yisu," he said clearly. "Yisu."

"Bless ya," said Raph, crossing his arms.

The squirrel beamed and gave a funny salute. "Garmentu, Bresya." He smiled even bigger, raising a claw to point to him. "Bresya."

Raph rolled his eyes, then uncrossed his arms. "No, mousey, that's not my name." He patted his plastron. "Raphael. Raph. Hamato Raphael."

After a slight pause, the squirrel repeated his salute. "Garmentu, Raphel."

Raph copied the salute sloppily. "Garmentu an' whatever, Yisu."

Yisu beamed at being called by his name and bent to pick up the wires.

The turtle took a step back. "You're not hookin' me up ta that stuff."

The squirrel started talking and gesturing, and Raph stared. He could swear the critter was trying to explain something just like Don. It definitely involved the device, and he definitely wanted to put it on Raph; he seemed to say that it had something to do with talking. When he finished, he looked hopefully, eagerly up at Raph.

Taking his stand in the center of the cage, Raph crossed his arms again. "No way, Mousey."

The squirrel frowned and repeated part of his speech, only this time Raph detected a threat.

He didn't move from his stance, unimpressed.

Yisu waited a moment, then shook his head sadly and marched over to the wall of computers.

Raph tensed. "Hey, what're ya doin?'"

With a whirr, a smaller cage dropped down around Raph, along with silver tubes around his head.

"Hey, what is this? Let me out!"

The tubes began to issue a purplish gas, and even a ninja cannot hold his breath forever. Raph slept again, exchanging fury for calm, pleasant darkness.

In a moment, he reluctantly woke to discover he again lay on the floor of the larger cage with the squirrel staring at him. This time, however, cables bound behind his hands behind his shell and wires looped around his neck and down to his belt, where a device was clipped.

Fury recovered in the clean air, Raph bounced to his feet and got as near as his enemy as he could within one-point-two seconds. The squirrel took a step back as the turtle expressed his feelings with a loud growl; other animals in the room paused to look at him.

"What did you hook me up ta, ya freak of a scientist? Are ya goin' ta experiment on me too? Is Stockman yer boss? Is Bishop? Wait 'til I get my hands on him! Wait 'til I get my hands on you! I'll-"

At this point, the turtle realized two things: his voice was being amplified in another language, and the entire room was staring at him with alarm and drawn weapons. Growling, Raph stamped to the relative safety of the center of his cage.

Now they've hooked me up to some weird tech and they're prob'ly reading my thoughts. Well, I'll give 'em somethin' to read.

"Brother," said the squirrel, startling Raph out of his rant. "We are all Deutsu here—we are all products of the humans, and have no need to experiment on each other-"

"Wait a second!" Raph leaned forward. "Since when did you speak English, Mousey?"

Yisu twitched his nose in irritation. "I tried to explain this to you, Raphel."

"Raphael."

"Raphael, then. The forgnathu is translating your language into mine, and mine into yours, and it will not hurt you in the least. When you refused to put it on voluntarily, I was forced to use alemnea again, and then have you bound so that you could not remove the forgnathu." Yisu crossed his arms, adopting the posture Raph would have if he could.

"An' that's another thing!" Raph stomped his foot. "What's with th' air in the forest? Are ya tryin' ta make all the birds go ta sleep? An' what's that stuff ya kept sprayin' in my face? I hate sleeping from drugs!"

Yisu stared at him. "Where are you from?"

Raph snorted. "Where do ya think?"

"Raphel, we are at war. The alemnea in the forest protects this, one of our headquarters."

"War, huh? What's yer war about?"

Shaking his head, Yisu clasped his tiny hands behind his back. "Unfortunately, we have a major disagreement with our brother Deutsu—animals like ourselves—as well as the humans. The Da'an happen to hold the wrong side, and we Othila must right them for the good of all."

The turtle rolled his eyes. "Sure. An' what's yer 'disagreement?'"

Yisu shifted his weight. "Well, you need to understand a little background-" High-pitched chirping issued from Yisu's clothing, and he pulled out what looked like a pager or a small cell phone, read its message, and put it away. "I'll have to leave in twelve elmez, at which point I'll give you some more alemnea, since there isn't anyone to spare to keep watch over you." He raised his voice to speak over Raph's angry sputters. "I'll also have to give you some if there's a raid. You may want to lie down beforehand so that you don't hit your head more than necessary—even on that soft floor I had them put in.

"Anyway, our history. Several generations ago, the humans were messing with things they shouldn't, as usual—a chemical compound with strange properties—and, condensing many events and fascinating science-" Raph rolled his eyes. If we weren't enemies, this guy and Don would get along famously. "The humans created us, the Deutsu. We were just animals, but this chemical transformed us into what we are now—Deutsu, with minds and wills of our own.

"Now, in our culture, names are very important. If you name something or someone, it belongs to you. Is it thus in your culture?"

At this question, Raph woke from a different kind of stupor. "Uh... not really. My father, uh, named me, an' he's my father, but he doesn't own me. I'm my own turtle. I'm his son, not his slave."

Yisu nodded. "Here, humans name their children, but when children become adults, they rename themselves."

The red-masked ninja furrowed his brow. "So, parents own kids until they grow up, and then kids own themselves?"

Yisu nodded.
"Whoa. Ya got things all backwards. Nobody should own anybody. Where I come from, they fought a war over it, an' the good guys won. Now everybody's got equal rights—well, 'cept giant mutant turtles." Raph shook himself. "Shell. I sound like Donnie." And yes, Master Splinter, I do know some American history.

"And who is Donnie?"

"Somebody smart," Raph said, guardedly.

"I see," Yisu said. "Well, that is not how we do it here. In fact, I can see it is good we took you, because though you say you are a foreigner and perhaps you truly are, you are an enemy—you would side with the Da'an." He narrowed his beady rodent eyes.

Raph shrugged. "Do yer worst. I'm not changin' my mind on th' whole slavery thing."

The squirrel raised his eyebrows. "Well, you are trapped. I see no need to revise your view if you are a foreigner." He tilted his head in thought; then his gaze wandered far away. "The rest can be summed up briefly."
Oh, goody. Raph rolled his eyes again. I wish I had my shell cell to play games on while I wait for Evil Mouse Brainiac to quit talking.

"Since the humans created us Deutsu, they named us, and succeeding generations. But in recent years, our brother Deutsu, the Da'an, began to say that Deutsu should name themselves. We Othila, however, love and respect the humans, and want them to continue to name us."

"Yer view is all screwed up. Ye're sayin' ya like bein' owned by the humans? Do they make ya do stuff?"

Yisu looked miffed, but answered, "They do request services occasionally, but it is our honor and duty to help them."

"Why? Ya have brains—can't you see yer a slave?"

The squirrel's small face darkened. "We are not slaves, Raphel."

"It's Raphael, and yes, you are!" The turtle took a step closer and was vaguely proud of himself for only raising his voice a little.

Yisu raised his, and stamped his tiny foot, bringing him closer to the cage. "No, we're not!"

This civil conversation rapidly degraded into a shouting match, climaxing with both parties right up to the bars and Yisu bouncing his little fist off Raph's plastron. The turtle laughed, leaning against the bars, until Yisu touched a device on his belt and set the bars to shock his captive.

While Raph was still voicing his emotions regarding the matter, an alarm sounded. Deutsu jumped into action, those unarmed sprinting toward racks of katanas and other weapons, and those armed escorting several scientists into an inner room, while others faced the outside door. Yisu, before soldiers ushered him away, ran to the computers, and the tubes of alemnea lowered.

Raph did his best to get away, but even the device strapped to him began smoking the hated gas, and he slipped into a deep, happy sleep.