Chapter Twenty-Nine: Taevon Meets the Turtles
Sunday, early afternoon
Raph reluctantly woke up. He pried open his eyes and gave them a moment to focus on the clock: 1:32 p.m. Well, I guess I should show the guys I'm alive, he thought as he forced his body upright and off the hammock. His stomach took the momentous opportunity to rumble. And maybe eat something. And drink something.
Downstairs, Don sat at his desk, staring with threatening brow at some whirring machine. Casey, now wearing a wrinkled, slightly musty black hoodie doubtless forgotten here some time ago, lingered behind him. Clattering from the kitchen signaled Mikey's whereabouts, while Leo sat reading—probably some Japanese history or poetry—in Master Splinter's chair. The two guests still slept, though the man, Taevon, stirred as Raph shuffled past.
The kitchen seems further away than usual, Raph grumbled to himself, and settled for the easier goal of seeing what Don and Casey were up to.
"Grab me that chair, would ya, Casey?"
Good thing Don keeps his old office chairs around. I don't want to stand.
Casey shoved it over, and Raph fell gratefully onto it. Casey's face crinkled as he stared at his slumped friend. "You okay, Raph?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just gimme a couple a' days, an' I'll be back ta normal." Raph waved a hand dismissively, then covered a yawn. "Man. Did you guys have lunch yet?"
"Nah. Mikey just went in there a little while ago, and wouldn't let me in, even though we just finished playing an arcade game in his room. Are you hungry? He'd let me grab a snack for you, I think."
I must've really been out of it, to sleep through those two playing a game. "I can wait. Can ya grab me some water, though?"
"Uh… sure, bro."
As Casey trooped off, a machine halted its whir abruptly and beeped. Raph, leaning his head against the headrest, followed Don's movements with his eyes as he swiveled to check on the results. "Whoa," Don said. He glanced at Raph. "I guess that explains why Casey could time-travel, whereas you just ended up directly in a strange land."
Raph raised an eyebrow ridge. That's really all the encouragement Don needs to keep talking about whatever discovery. Actually, he'd prob'ly tell me even if I wasn't listening.
"The dart that hit you had a potent mix of unstable elements and even some elements Earth doesn't have. No idea how the Gamer got those, come to think of it. But it sent you to another place, whereas Casey ended up in a time-travel lobby, kind of, because-" he pointed to data on his screen, which could've been in the language of the Deutsu for all it clarified matters for Raph- "his dart was incredibly more concentrated. It was a full-blown party of intriguing but dangerous elements."
Whoa. "So if Casey's dart was like a party, mine was like a…?"
Don shrugged. "Like a stray balloon."
Aware that Leo had abandoned his dusty book and had come over at some point in Don's explanation, Raph rubbed at his chin and absorbed all this for a moment. "So," he said finally, "So, if I had gotten hit with Casey's dart, I woulda been hopping all over time, and he woulda been sent to the Othila and the Da'an?"
"Yep. Although, sounds like Casey needed a bit of help to figure out how to travel."
"Well, it's a good thing it was how it was, 'cause the Othila, an' especially the Da'an, don't have a high regard for humans. Well, the Othila claim ta respect their makers, but I dunno what they'd think of a stranger, an' a knucklehead like Casey at that."
Casey chose this moment to return with the water. "You guys talkin' 'bout me?"
Raph took the glass. "Thanks, bro. Don says the dart that hit ya was crazy powerful compared ta the one that hit me, an' we were talkin' about what woulda happened if th' opposite darts had hit us." He started to gulp the water.
"Sounds like the animals where Raph went might not have liked you," Leo said.
Casey nodded. "Yeah, an' Raph mighta beat up Taevon instead of letting him drag you all over—but he's not a bad guy, really, just lonely."
Stirring noises from behind him caught Raph's ear, and he knew Leo and Don heard it too: one of the humans was waking up. All three ninjas ignored Casey prattling on about something and heard more shuffling, and then a gasp. Raph immediately ruled out Saja. It's the man. Casey's guide. The time traveler. Taevon.
"Maken dru gewena!" Came an unfamiliar male voice, in an unfamiliar tongue.
"Don't let him hurt Saja," Don whispered, rising. "We should've separated them before he woke up!"
Raph set down his glass. Don, his eyes fixed on Leo behind Raph, gave him a hand up.
"Casey, you get in front of him and try to keep him calm."
Casey, who had trailed off talking a moment ago, nodded and took off.
"Don, you get on his right, between him and the girl. I'll get on his left. Raph, you come up behind him."
Heh, easiest job, since he's unlikely to come over the back of the chair… but right now, I'll take it.
In about a second and a half, Leo and Don were in their positions; Raph followed as quickly as he could.
Casey already stood before Taevon, his hands out. "Whoa, whoa, man, chill! She's cool! She helped get my bro Raph back from some whacky place!"
Taevon's head whipped back and forth between Don and Leo, who both had weapons out. From his gasping, he was practically hyperventilating. "Who are these beings, Casey? Why do they have weapons? Am I not allowed to be here? You told me I'd be okay here!" He pressed himself into the back of the chair, clearly unaware of a third ninja behind him. "This is why I usually stay invisible to people!" He added with a moan.
A touch of confusion wrinkled Casey's features. "Dese guys are my friends—the ones I told you about. Y'know? I told you I had ta get back ta my buddy Raph like, a hundred times? He's th'one behind you-" Taevon's head twisted at an awkward angle; Raph got a glimpse of slightly panicky golden eyes- "and dat's Leo, th' leader, an' that's Don, th' smart one."
A few garbled syllables exited Taevon's mouth before he finally managed to sputter, "You didn't tell me they were… what are they? Turtles! I've been observing this planet for years, and its only intelligent locals are human!" Surprise.
Raph was vaguely aware that Saja, hidden behind Don, shifted and mumbled in her sleep. She's really out of it, to sleep through all this.
Casey shrugged. "Guess I didn't think of it. Dey're mutants. But chill, man, dey won't hurt you if you don't hurt da girl. You freaked out, so dey freaked out. I learned a long time ago—don't freak out around ninjas if you don't want dem to get all ninja-y."
Raph rolled his eyes. That's one way to put it, but yeah, when we're on a night run, don't start screaming just 'cause you saw a logo for your favorite hockey team.
"Hurt the girl?" Taevon chuckled nervously. "No, no, no, I wouldn't hurt her. Jior do not hurt others, especially other Jior."
Raph saw Don smirk. Brainiac just got confirmation of a theory, I think.
Leo relaxed his stance a bit and even sheathed his katana; Don and Raph followed his lead. Casey backed up a step too.
"No, no, Jior simply send law-breaking Jior to ze Council, who punishes ze worst law-breakers with The Technology." Taevon had been speaking all in a rush; now he shuddered. "And she's one of them. Well, they thought so, anyway," he added.
Raph frowned. Does he have a French accent now? Man, I wish all this would hurry up so I could sit down. Or lie down.
"But your people seem really peaceful," Casey put in. "You must not get any really bad criminals or anything." Raph felt a twinge of jealousy that his friend had spent so much time with this stranger.
At that moment, Mikey came creeping out from the kitchen, wearing a faded blue apron and clutching a forgotten oven mitt. Raph waved a hand to simultaneously signal It's okay and Be quiet. Mikey nodded, though his face remained pinched with concern, and stood a few feet away, to the left of the couch and Don.
Taevon shook his head. "Mostly, no, just minor things: lying, stealing, negligence, and so on. And then once in a great while someone disrespects the elders or even breaks a High Law. Only once in a generation does a true criminal arrive, by your planet's standards. The most recent was over ten years ago, when I was still a youth. A man named Pahliak grew bored of observing normal events, so he started observing wars—something most Jior avoid—then he apparently grew bored of that, so he joined them." His voice had slid back into an American accent.
"Fighting for one's country as a soldier, or even as a mercenary, is usually an honorable thing," Leo said, frowning. Yeah, if we were human, Leo would definitely make a good soldier.
"Yes, of course, I know that, blue one. Even Jior recognize that war is sometimes necessary. But these were not honorable wars. And even if they were, Pahliak aligned himself with the wrong side." He closed his eyes and shuddered again. "I was too young to be present at the trial, but they say he openly admitted to doing horrible things."
He opened his eyes and let out a slow breath. "The Council found him guilty, of course, and punished him with The Technology. Unfortunately, it melted his brain a little, but made his body even bigger and stronger than it was before. So the elders used spongestone to remove his ability to teleport, and then Elder Nafti himself transported him into exile on a prison world. No people for him to hurt or be rescued by, just savage plants and animals." Taevon shrugged tense shoulders. "It's not really fair to group Saja with the likes of Pahliak."
Wow. That's a lot to absorb. Sounds like that guy was real bad news. A war criminal. I bet he and the Shredder would get along just great.
"What law did Saja break?" Don asked, leaning on his bo, his eyes curious rather than surprised.
"Wait, is she th' one who got turned into a human and exiled that you mentioned at the berry bushes?" Casey asked in the same moment.
Taevon stared at Don for several awkward seconds before swiveling back to Casey. "Yes, she's the one. That's why I was so very shocked to see her—I haven't seen her since she was publicly shamed and punished over two years ago… and here she is, almost within arm's reach, right after I broke many more High Laws than she did."
Shell, she's practically still a kid now, and this was two years ago? If he had any more energy, Raph would be shouting or hitting something on his rescuer's behalf. As it was, his blood pressure was rising, but he edged around the chair to perch on the armrest of the couch. Don sidled right to accommodate him.
Taevon mused in silence for a moment before glancing over Raph and looking at Don. "As for what law she broke… well, you must understand that Jior are observers. We travel between worlds and watch the locals—but Jior never, never, never interfere. No matter what. We watch, we learn, we observe only. Obviously, parents try to shield their children from the worst of events, but after Jior turn twelve years old, they are allowed to travel alone sometimes, and more as they age and mature. This girl here—Saeyaja—was on one of her first solo travels, and she came across a bully. So…" he shrugged. "She stepped in. In the end, Elder Nafti and the rest of the Council charged her with breaking a High Law, and they punished her with… The Technology." Wow, he could not sound more scared of whatever this tech is. Man, I'm starting to think the fourteen-year-old girl is braver than this full-grown man.
"What is this technology? What does it do?" Don said.
Nope, not surprised by that question. Not at all.
"I have no idea, friend." The human seemed more relaxed now, and his accent had switched to British at some point. "I just know it's huge, and only the Council are to touch it. The Technology itself decides the punishment—it's different every time. In her case, it turned her into a human. And then the Council exiled her, of course. I'd never seen Elder Nafti so furious," he added under his breath. "Poor thing. I'm cut off from my people, but that's mostly by choice. She was cut off by force, and all for correcting a bully." He paused to scratch his chin. "As a human, she must be visible all the time… If I was visible to local beings when I traveled to a new place and they saw me arrive, well, I've no idea how that would go."
Raph glanced down at Saja. Wow. Who knew she'd been through so much? He fingered a sai. I think if me and this elder guy ever crossed paths, it wouldn't go so great for him.
"Not good!" Casey put in, nodding emphatically.
"This explains so much," Don murmured. He looked at Leo. "I wish I could see this Technology… for more than one reason," he added quickly.
Leo crossed his arms. "I don't think there's any way we're getting to that place so you can poke at it, Don. It's not like any of us can teleport like they can, except Casey, who's used up his ability. But at least now we have confirmation that Saja's not a threat and especially not a threat sent from the Gamer."
"An' that Taevon's not gonna hurt you or anybody," Casey added.
"And that," Leo said, but his eyes flicked to his brothers; Raph and the others nodded ever so slightly. Yep, I'm sure gonna keep my sais handy and keep an eye on him. Not that I can do much of anything right now.
"Well, food's ready, and Casey said that Raph said he was hungry, so…" Mikey chipped in, his tone uncertain.
Raph smirked when Taevon started and twisted to look at the owner of the new voice. Welcome to the Lair, where everyone but you and Casey are ninjas.
"If Taevon is anything like Saja, he's pretty hungry right now, and still tired too," Don said. "Besides, we should stop talking right next to Saja—even if she's tired enough to sleep through gorillas experimenting with percussion."
Leo nodded as Casey pulled Taevon upright. "Let's eat, and then everybody who needs to can go back to sleep. We can't do anything for Saja, especially with the Gamer still at large."
Mikey led the way to the kitchen; Don inched behind him—clearly trying to hide his soreness—and Casey pulled along a recovering Taevon.
Raph glanced down to his right at his comatose rescuer before Leo helped him off his perch and kept pace with him as he shuffled toward his goal: available, just in case, but not insisting on helping, thankfully. I wonder if there's a way to help Saja after we beat up the Gamer.
His eyes closed for half a second. Leo took his elbow. Whoa. After we beat up the Gamer, after we recover. The red-masked turtle growled inwardly. Man, I hate waiting. And the Gamer. And I'm not too happy with this Council who punished a girl who was just righting a wrong, either.