Chapter Six: Taevon
Casey Jones knew he was dreaming the same thing over and over, but he couldn't seem to shake it.
"Dunno who these guys are," Raph growled as he dodged a kick and tapped his opponent on the head with the hilt of his sai, "but they're eager for a beating."
Casey guffawed, just missed a punch to the jaw, and swung his hockey stick. "Yeah," he said. "They're lining up to get ice cream, but instead of ice cream, it's my fist." He raised said weapon to demonstrate.
Raph spared him one sideways glance. "Ya better leave the metaphors an' such ta me, Case."
The silent foes continued to swarm the pair, leaving less time for chatter. A buzzing noise barely registered in Casey's busy mind, but Raph groaned. "Aw, c'mon, who's callin' now?" He rolled behind a rooftop shed and fished out his shell cell as Casey covered him.
"Yo!" Raph shouted into the phone. "What's up; we're kinda busy here. We- gotta- lotta- heads ta bash in- whoa!"
"Hey, sorry, man!" Casey called from his own fight; a goon had slipped past his guard. He tried to focus on yelling his customary battlecry into his enemies' faces as he defeated them, but fresh foes immediately replaced those he downed, and soon simply fighting was all he could do.
A slight pause gave him a chance to notice suspicious activity involving shiny implements on the far side of the roof. "Who are dese guys?!" he yelled.
Barely visible darts and tiny metal stars zipped toward him; he leaped out of the way, joining Raph behind the shed. "Hey, no fair! Dey got darts an' little spiky metal things!"
"Shuriken," said Raph.
"Whatever—ow!" Casey pouted at his right arm for a second, where one of the stars had grazed him.
Don's tiny voice shouted from the phone on the rooftop. "Raph! Casey!"
A dart whistled past Casey's nose; he backed up further. "Yo!"
"Retreat! Get away from them! Don't let them catch you!"
Casey punched a black-masked face that had appeared around the side of the shed. At this movement, his hockey bag slid down, so Casey discarded it on the rooftop, up against the shed, so it wouldn't hinder him.
Behind him, he heard Raph say, "Ya know somethin' we don't, Don?"
Casey grunted as he took a hit to the jaw; the goons had taken advantage of his brief distraction. He swung and punched, but three more foes teamed up and, seizing his arms, succeeded in dragging him half out from behind cover. He tried to call for Raph, but he didn't have enough air. Then a sharp pain jabbed in his left shoulder. His weapon slipped from his fingers. For a brief moment, he felt like his body was expanding rapidly—that he had to do something, to get away, to go somewhere, before he exploded-and then the dream started over again.
"Hullo, mate," said a friendly male voice. "C'mon, open your eyes, it's lovely here." A short laugh came suddenly. "Oops, I was speaking their tongue. Gresh pradu, talu'ae, edah?"
"Huh?" Casey still felt like he was floating, but he forced open his eyes.
Before him stood a young man, or maybe even a teen, with wavy brown hair, bronze skin, strange navy clothes, and a welcoming smile. "Hullo, friend." He offered a hand.
Uhhh… Casey took it, and the stranger pulled him to his feet. He stood about the same height as Casey.
Around them stretched almost-blackness, a bit glittery and swirly in places and dotted with something like stars but definitely not stars, because they couldn't be stars, and in front of them hung the earth. But instead of seeing the whole earth, it was as if a magnifying glass loomed between them and the planet, and through this, Casey saw what looked like a movie that Don would watch—some ancient people in their ancient city, going about their day.
"Whoa," Casey gasped, stumbling backwards. Instead of falling, he floated backwards and up.
The stranger gave him a strange look, reached up, and pulled Casey back down by the forearm. "You all right, mate? Wait—blue eyes—are you human?"
"Where am I? Who're you? What's up with dis big earth thing? Are we in space?" And what's with those weird clothes? Dark blue pants and shirt—but not like a t-shirt. Like an outfit from one of Don or Leo's movies with knights and peasants and stuff.
The stranger rolled his eyes, which, Casey would notice later with great astonishment, were golden. "Definitely human. How'd you get here, pal?" Casey was vaguely aware that his accent had switched from British to American.
Casey, however, was still busy freaking out. "I was fighting goons with Raph, and Don called and said, 'Get outta there,' and then I tink somethin' hit me-"
"Relax!" The stranger grabbed his shoulder; Casey yelped. He jerked his hand back, and Casey plucked out a tiny dart. "What's that? It was in me!"
The stranger took it and regarded it. "Well," he said finally, confusion crossing his face, "it looks like somebody figured out how to make you humans able to dimension-travel and didn't tell you their plan. Great Parvoss, that should be impossible..." His eyes narrowed, and then he shook his head, muttering something to himself.
Casey was still busy freaking out. "What're you talkin' about? Dimension-travel? What's that? How do I get back?"
The stranger fished out a bit of cloth from a leather satchel at his side that Casey hadn't noticed before, wrapped the dart in it, and dropped it in. That done, he spread his hands. "Well. Welcome to your first bit of world traveling." His voice had slid into vaguely British again, or maybe Australian. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Taevon Yue'lah."
Casey stared at him. "What d'ya mean, dimension travelin'?"
Taevon sighed. "Look, those people you were fighting used you as a human dartboard—as a guinea pig. I think that's the right phrase. Anyway, they somehow got ahold of the stuff that makes Jior able to world-travel, and they experimented their new knowledge on you. As far as I know, you're the first human to travel between worlds like us Jior. Congratulations, I suppose."
He gestured around, and now Casey noticed more magnifying glass-doorways to older and newer versions of the same ancient city, and something like a path made of light connecting them all. "I'm not a human—I'm a Jior. World traveling—teleporting—is what we do. Humans aren't capable of that normally. The stuff that was in that dart-" he jabbed a finger toward Casey's shoulder and then at his bag- "made you able to teleport."
He paused to let Casey absorb all this.
"So… dose goons sent me here wi' that dart," Casey mused.
"Indirectly, yes."
"Then how do I get back? Raph needs my help—he can't fight all dose guys alone!"
Taevon waved his hands. "Whoa, calm down there, pardner." Now his accent sounded like the Old West, mixed with a bit of South. "I happen ta specialize in not jus' teleportin', but time travel. We can actually send ya'll back ta right when ya'll left—but there's actually no rush. 'Cause it's time travel. Besides, it might be per-" He interrupted himself. "We'll get you back down there in no time," he said in plain American, grinning. "I'll show you the ropes of world traveling—or at least of time traveling. That's my preference, personally." He stuck out his right hand again. "What's your name, amigo?"
"Dis is so crazy," Casey muttered, but he shook the stranger's hand. "Casey Jones."
Taevon beamed. "So glad to meet you, Casey! I've never had a traveling companion before!" He finally released Casey's hand from his enthusiastic shaking and turned, spreading his arm toward the many doorways. "So, where do you want to go first? I'm sure you want to stick with your home world to start with?"
"Uh…"
"Ancient China? Greece? Ooh—how about watch the Roman Emperor Caligula for a bit? The man was insane—it's hilarious!" He balled a hand into a fist, clenched his face into anger, and spoke furious words in some other language before dropping the acting and slapping his knee, laughing. "So funny, right? Gnarly!"
"Uh, what? What did ya say?" Casey's eyebrows came together in confusion.
Disappointment clouded Taevon's handsome face. "Oh… you didn't catch the reference? Oh! You don't speak Latin, do you?"
"What's Latin?"
"Ah. I suppose I should've started with this question. It did take me some time to pick up your world's main languages. What languages do you speak?"
"Uh… th' guys tried ta teach me some Japanese words, but that's it."
"Oh." Taevon drooped a bit. "Well, that rules out all other times except the last couple hundred years—and most places except the West." He straightened his shoulders. "Well, there's still plenty of fun places to observe within those parameters. How about the Wild West?"
"I jus' really need ta' get back ta my time, to Raph," Casey said, shifting his feet on the less-than-solid light path.
Taevon clapped him on the shoulder. "Casey Jones, we've all the time in the world. We can see all kinds of history and fabulous, far off places you've never been. And then, when you've tired of that, we'll get you back home—right back to when you left. Or close enough." Taevon's grin stretched from ear to ear.
Casey kicked at the path. I guess he's not gonna let me go straight back to Raph—he really wants me to see stuff. If it really is time travel, I guess it won't hurt anything to visit a few cool places first. "Fine. But only a few places."
"Radical!" Taevon's excitement suddenly reminded Casey of Mikey. "Where do you want to go first?"
Don would love this. Or Leo, to go see Japan. Or April. Even Mikey & Raph, but not me.
"Uh… cowboys an' Indians." I used to watch tv shows about that when I was a kid. I liked those shows.
"Marvelous! Now, let me tell you how to use your new ability."