A Million Miles Apart
A/N: Alright, this chapter is the last before we finally land on Filione! And I have seen ideas on how to make it a great place with great characters. Can't wait to get there! But for now, let's travel through a wormhole with the gang! YAY!
I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and please review, favorite and follow!
Chapter 31, A Leap Into The Unknown
I limped out of the training dojo, gripping my arm in pain, my whole body sore from training and hitting the floor so many times. I was sure my shoulders and elbows would be black and blue after crushing them to catch my fall so many times; but whatever- nothing I couldn't handle. I guess you could say it had become a bit of a routine for me to always get my shell whipped in training every day. But, at the very least, today I had managed to stay on my feet most of the time and I had also managed to get a good hit on Traximus a few times, too. I couldn't help but feel good about myself for that, since that was the best I've done in training since we started doing this together. But, still, I had to admit that I was doing far less better here than I had done back home with Master Splinter and my brothers, and I was probably the black sheep of the family as far being a ninja goes. I had seen how Splinter looked at me when I failed at what my brothers did with ease. Like he was ashamed of me for being less athletic, gifted or as dedicated as my brothers. Like I was a failed ninja and child to him.
I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts and walked out of the dining and entertainment room, toward the shower room. The main room was empty, but when I entered the shower room I passed Mona Lisa as she left with a towel around her shoulders, her hair wet and clinging to her face and shoulders. When she saw me, her eyes widened and she immediately looked away from me, as if ashamed to look at me. Nothing new. Only this time she didn't look as disgusted or disinterested, just scared or ashamed. I looked after her as she walked towards the dining room, then shrugged it off and went to take a shower myself. I grabbed a bar of soap from one of the shelves and stepped into the shower booth, turning on the warm water and feeling my body relax as it washed over me. This was one of the best things on the entire ship, along with the food-replicator, the dojo and the huge beds. Being able to stand in a clean shower, with steaming hot water and dozens of bars of soap- a turtle could get used to that.
Once I felt clean and the sweat and soreness was gone- well, maybe not gone, but I at least felt less sore- I got out and dried myself quickly, placing the towel around my shoulders and walking out into the control room. The Professor was standing over at the computers, overlooking our distance and how far we had left to go. I approached him and wiped some water from my face with the back of my hand so I wouldn't wet the computers and destroy them.
"How far do we have left, Professor?" He looked up and smiled his robot smile at me. Despite his being a robot, he seemed to be a very emotional person. I guess that made sense, as he was a human before.
"Not far. We'll go through our first wormhole in about thirty minutes." Oh, that sentence alone made butterflies start to bounce around in my stomach, and I couldn't decide whether I should squeal in excitement or throw up because of my nervousness. I decided to do neither and act a bit more professional. I was on an important mission; I had to be more like an adult than a kid.
"Okay, that's good. Then I have time to get some lunch before we go through. Good job, Professor." I turned and stepped into the dining-slash-entertainment room, leaving the towel to dry on the railing in the control room that separated the shower and the dining rooms from the control room.
Starlee and Jhanna were already eating lunch when I came in, and seemed to be involved in some sort of conversation, but I couldn't hear what. They were talking quietly, and their voices were hushed, but I didn't really care. I didn't feel the need to know everything that was talked about on board this ship, and there were things going on here that didn't concern me.
I made myself a pizza, a small bowl of salad and glass of Coke and was about to sit down at the couch and eat alone, but before I could- "Hey, Donnie!" I looked up and saw Jhanna smile at me while Starlee waved me over. "Come over here- sit with us!" I was thrown off for possibly the umpteenth time since I got onboard. My brothers usually let me eat alone in my lab and had stopped trying to get me to eat with them by the time we were ten- and the few times I did eat with them, they acted like I wasn't there. I suppose that was partially my own fault, since I had chosen to stay in my lab for so long that they had given up on trying to reason with me and had gotten used to me not being there with them to eat, but still. It kinda hurts when your family acts like you're invisible.
I smiled at the girls, took my food and sat down at their table, feeling awkward and out of place as I did. Jhanna smiled kindly and took a bite out of her food- some kind of meat dish with some sort of potato-slash-mushroom-looking things.
"Hey. How long before we reach Filione?" I took a bite of my pizza and tried to act casual, as if it wasn't entirely new for me to eat with people because they wanted me to and talked to me like we were really close friends even though we weren't that close yet.
"Uh, about twenty-five minutes. No need to stress yet." She nodded and sipped some of her milk. Her whale milk. Sorry, I still can't get over the fact that people drink milk from freaking whales- even if they aren't like the whales on my planet. Starlee ate a similar dish as her sister, only the 'potatoshrooms' were replaced with what looked like grilled carrot sticks- only they were dark purple, like red onions. She also had something that looked like cucumber chips, only a tad more turquoise than green. She nibbled on one of those carrot sticks and seemed to be in deep thought. Jhanna looked up at me again and swallowed some of her meat.
"So, how's your training going? Making any progress?" My smile faded into a small grimace and I shook my head with a frown on my face as I sipped on my Coke.
"No... Not today." I growled and rested my forehead against the inside of my wrist. "I just don't know what I'm doing wrong! I want to train, I want to become better at fighting and I want to be able to take care of myself! So why am I doing so terribly with Traximus? I was never this bad on Earth with Master Splinter, and I'm seen as the worst fighter in my family!" Starlee looked up for her food, wide-eyed and horrified.
"Your father said you were the worst fighter out of all of your brothers?! I thought you said he was the best father you could ask for!" I quickly shook my head and swallowed some pizza, grabbing another slice once the first was gone.
"Oh, no, no, no! He's never actually said that! It's just always been a fact. My brothers are more dedicated, stronger or more gifted than I am, so I've always been seen as the one who's the weakest. Everybody knows it. It's kind of an unspoken agreement." Jhanna looked up at me and placed her arm around my shoulders, giving me an encouraging smile.
"Well, whatever it is holding you back in training, I'm sure you'll be able to get over it soon. I've seen you fight in the holo-room and against other aliens in that prison and on D'hoonib. You are a fighter- you just have to bring all of it out." I smiled at her.
"Thanks, Jhanna. Glad to hear someone actually believes I can fight for myself." Her smile widened and she removed her arm from my shoulders. Then, of course, we sat in an awkward silence for a while, eating our food and sitting in our own thoughts, waiting for someone to start a conversation. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't think of anything good to say. But after a while, Jhanna looked up from her food again.
"What do you think Filione is like? Do you think it's peaceful like Mona says it is, or more hostile? I mean, she remembers a planet she lived on when she was younger. Things might have changed." I nodded and put a piece of chopped tomato in my mouth and swallowed.
"I don't know. It's possible, but if it's anything like D'hoonib or the Triceraton prison, then I hope Mona will be able to help us make the inhabitants understand that we're not their enemies. Besides, I wouldn't mind landing on a planet with creatures that aren't out to kill me." Jhanna nodded.
"Yeah, me too. I'm getting a bit tired of making enemies. I've been making enemies my whole life, and it would be nice to see if I could go somewhere and not start a war with the people who live there." I smiled. It seemed like Jhanna had managed to take my words to heart when I said that she could choose who she wanted to be. Maybe she was trying to start over- at least in a small sense. In her own way, of course. Starlee pulled from her thoughts and swallowed the rest of her carrot-onion stick.
"Hey, now, stop talking like that. Mona Lisa says that it's a peaceful and easy-going planet, where they just go about their business and don't bother anyone outside of its orbit. I'm sure that much hasn't changed over the last few years. I mean, she's still fairly young. She can't be much older than you, Jhanna. She can't have been in prison for that long, right?" When none of us answered her, her smile faded and she looked unsure. "Right?" I bit my lip and tried to think up a good response without sounding like I was insulting Mona Lisa behind her back. She may be rude and her uncaring attitude was a bit grating, but that didn't give us reason to be rude behind her back. But, before I could come up with a good response, I heard the door sliding open.
"Nine years." We all turned towards the door that led to the bedrooms, and there was Mona Lisa, leaning her back against the doorframe with her arms folded over her chest. "I was in that prison for nine years." I almost felt bad for talking about these sorts of things without her knowing. Starlee bit her lip and a blush started to cover her cheeks; Jhanna looked away from us and down at the floor, trying to hide behind her disheveled bangs.
Mona walked up to us and placed her hands on the table, looking over at us. "And let me just make one thing clear: you can not like me all you want and talk about me behind my back all you want. I don't really care. But if you are going to talk smack about my planet or my people, do it to my face! 'Cause I am not gonna stand here and be around people who talk badly about a people that they've never met and have no right to judge." Jhanna looked up at her, the ashamed look in her eyes gone, and smirked teasingly at her. She seemed to have no trouble brushing off rude comments and less-than-nice lectures. Kinda like somebody else I know.
"Wow, for somebody who lives on such a peaceful and tranquil planet, you sure are good at being hostile and rude to people for no good reason. Or, are you? You look pretty insecure to me. But, by all means, if you're so mad at us for talking bad about your people, do you wanna fight me? If you're so mad at us, why not take it to the training room?" She nodded her head towards the holo-dojo with a smirk. "You've survived the Execution Battles for all these years- you must be a really good fighter, right?" Mona's angry eyes vanished and she suddenly looked more scared and insecure. She moved away from the table and looked away from us, rubbing her arm, her bangs falling into her eyes. She suddenly didn't look so cocky and ready to fight like she had just seconds ago, and looked more like... well, kinda like me when I was a kid. Unsure, scared, nervous to pick fights with people and choosing to stick to the background instead of trying to stand out and make a name for myself. Okay, it wasn't an exact copy of me, or anything, but it was so close that it was kind of scary. I almost started to feel sorry for her and opened my mouth to apologize to her.
But, once again, before I could say anything, an alarm started to go off throughout the ship, waking everybody out their thoughts. I took a look at the time. Five minutes before we reached the wormhole! Traximus came through the doors of the holo-dojo with a startled look on his face.
"What's going on?" I stood up, forgetting about the left over food in front of me, and looked at the others seriously.
"That's the alarm. Five minutes before we reach the wormhole! C'mon!" I ran toward the control room with the others right on my tail. Starlee and I ran up to the Professor and looked over the computers, noting that we were close to the wormhole.
"Status, Professor." He looked up at us and his gaze was serious.
"I've increased the speed a little bit and the calculations show we're almost there now. We'll get pulled into the wormhole's gravitational pull in T-minus one minute." I nodded and looked out the window. Of course I couldn't see anything, since we were moving so quickly, but I knew it was out there. And in only a few minutes, we would be diving right into it.
The Professor pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and out of the floor, four pod-like seats appeared and Jhanna and Mona Lisa had to jump away from where they were standing to make room. The four white pods, made out the same metal as the ship, were shaped like round balls. They were like a mix of a normal couch with backrest and seats made of red velvet, looking fairly comfortable, and a computer desk with a control panel on the front, similar to the main computers, only smaller. Probably so everybody could have an eye on what was going on around us.
"Alright, then, everybody has to take a seat while we go through the wormhole, since standing up can be very dangerous. One of us will have to stay at the main computers to make sure we stay on the right course through out the entire ride. One small mistake and we could all be destroyed due to the gravitational pulls inside the hole. It could crush us." Starlee, The Professor and I looked at each other, silently debating who should be that 'someone'. Jhanna, Traximus and Mona Lisa were out of the picture. None of the girls showed any interest in learning how to fly the ship, and Traximus was too big for the seats at the front. And to have him stand up could be too dangerous, even for a big, strong and tough alien like him.
Starlee tapped her chin with her finger and hummed to herself while thinking and looked up at us.
"Shouldn't somebody who has a lot of experience with flying ships drive through the wormhole? I mean, I know both Donnie and I have a good way with technology; but you've been in space for a longer time than us, so should you drive, Professor?" The Professor shook his head lightly and showed us the keyboards.
"It's really not that hard. All you really have to do is press this button," he pointed to a big yellow button beside the keyboard on the upper right side, "and that's it. The ship's computers will do the rest automatically. So as far as I know, anyone can do it." I looked down at the button. It seemed so simple. One push of a button, and we would be safe. But miss the cue, and we would get destroyed inside that wormhole in a matter of seconds. No pressure, right? I shuddered at the thought and looked up again, only to see that both Starlee and the Professor looked at me, Starlee smiling a small smile with innocent eyes and the Professor trying to mimic her. I started to feel a little uncomfortable and took a small step back. I turned around to look at Jhanna, and saw that she, Mona Lisa and Traximus also were looking at me like that. My cheeks started to feel warm and I knew I was blushing because of how uncomfortable I felt.
"Uh, why are you all looking at me like that?" Starlee turned to me and brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"Well... you have been more glued to the computers and determined to learn about the ship's technology than I've been. So, you know, maybe you should drive?" Wait, what? They wanted me to drive? Through a wormhole? Where- if one mistake was made- we would all die? Oh no, no, no, no. No way! I shook my head slowly, but as the words sank in more, I shook it more forcefully.
"No. No, no, no, no, I can't! I mean, I can't drive the ship through a wormhole! I'm not ready for that yet. This is my first time on a space ship- no, strike that, it's my first time in space! And I'm still new to this sort of technology- I can't do it! Professor, you're the smartest one here- and an adult! Shouldn't you drive?" The Professor took a surprised step back when I pointed at him, and he actually looked a little nervous when he heard how frantic I sounded.
"But, Donnie, you're the Captain on this ship! You're the leader." I turned to look at Jhanna, who was standing next to one of the pods with one hand on her hip. Her body language said she was confident and cocky, but her facial expression said she was mostly confused. I shook my head again and waved my hands in a 'no, no, no' kind of way.
"Uh, now, now, that was never official! I never said I was a leader or a captain! I've never been a leader- I've never led anyone in my life! I'm a follower, that's always been enough for me. I'm..." I sighed and let my arms fall to my sides, my head falling forward. "I'm, just not ready for this." No one said a thing. And I finally felt like all the stress that had been piling on me during our time on the ship made sense. These guys had seen me step up and take charge back at the prison, and just put me into the position of leader because of it. A position that I wasn't at all comfortable with. I was put in the spotlight and had everyone's eyes on me, and I just couldn't take it. And, on top of that, they expected me to know what to do, what to say and what the best thing to do was. Something I, out of all the people in the room, probably knew the least about.
I sighed heavily and sat down on the white metal seat in front of the main computers and buried my face in my hands. Oh, Leo, where are you? I need you! You're the leader- the big brother who always knows best. You always know what to do in a rough situation- you're a natural leader. Why are you never around when I really, really need you? I removed my hands from my face and let my elbows rest on my knees, gripping my hands.
"Leo's my leader. He'd know what to do. I don't." I hoped that no one would hear my mumbling, but no, of course not.
"Who's Leo?" I looked up at Mona Lisa's question, and even though she still sounded sarcastic and disinterested, something in her voice was a little different. As if she actually cared a little. The others also looked at me, except for Jhanna. Since I already told her about my brothers and their names, she already knew who Leo was. But she didn't say anything, leaving it to me to decide if I should tell the others or not. And I was thankful for that. I took another breath, looked away from my friends (and Mona) and decided to say it.
"My big brother." I said it very curtly, with an almost angry tone in my voice. Almost. Only enough for them to understand that I didn't want to talk about this right now. Besides, we didn't have the time. The Professor looked down at the computers again, gasped and turned back to us.
"We'll enter the wormhole in just a little more than a minute! Hurry, take your seats! I will drive us through." He didn't have to tell anyone twice. Everyone hurried over to the pods and sat down, two by two in three of the four pods, except for Traximus, who was too big to share with anyone and got one of the pods all for himself. And he barely fit as it was anyway. Mona Lisa and Starlee sat with each other in one of the pods and Jhanna and I in another. The Professor stood in the very front of the ship, eyes locked on the window and the space in front of us, ready to take us through the wormhole and to a different part of the galaxy. He turned to look at us over his shoulder.
"I just want to remind everyone that the ride will be a little shaky. And I do mean shaky. So I advise you to stay where you are until the ship is out of the wormhole and the shaking stops. Oh, and don't forget to buckle up." We all looked down at our seats for anything to buckle up with, but nothing was there, and Mona Lisa was quick to point that out.
"There aren't any seat belts in these things!" The Fugitoid only laughed at us and waved dismissively at us, as if he wasn't taking what she said seriously.
"Oh, it's only a figure of speech, my dear! Now, hang on!" Suddenly I didn't feel as excited as I had been earlier about going into the wormhole, and was starting to wish we had taken the long way instead. I stood up and reached out a hand towards the Professor.
"W-wait! Maybe we shouldn't-" I didn't get any further before the whole ship started to shake. And when I say shake, I don't mean 'shake' like a bumpy ride on the streets of New York or like anything like that. Oh, no, it was way worse than that. It was so much worse than those worm-quakes that happened back in New York, almost three months ago. I lost balance and instinctively tried to take a step back, but instead tripped and fell back down on my seat, hitting my head on the back of the backrest and squawking in pain, but I quickly forgot about it as the shaking got worse. The lights in the entire ship flickered and turned themselves off, leaving only the orange light on the walls on. The doors to the other rooms closed themselves, as if they were programmed to do that when going through a wormhole or something similar.
I braced my hands against the metal in front of me and tried to press myself against the back of the pod. I tried not to shake along with the ship and to sit still, but that was practically impossible. Beside me, Jhanna had placed her hands against the pod to keep herself from slamming her forehead onto the keyboard or the metal that it was made of and she attempted to avoid bumping into anything as the shaking intensified. Mona Lisa and Starlee were doing something very similar and tried to keep themselves from getting hurt. Only Traximus and the Professor seemed unfazed by the shaking, as Traximus barely moved in the crammed pod he was sitting in. And the Professor seemed to have no problem standing up straight without falling or slamming into anything. He reached out his robotic hand towards the button, and due to the gravitational acceleration, he struggled to reach it. He stumbled and almost fell, like, three times before he stretched his arm out; making in longer and he finally managed to press it.
The moment that he hit the button, the ship suddenly increased in speed and I felt myself being pressed against the backrest due to the speed and the acceleration. I couldn't move a muscle, nor could I speak or make any sounds whatsoever, not even a scream, and my eyes were glued on the window in the front of the ship, unable to look anywhere else. A million thoughts and memories flashed before my eyes in seconds, as the wormhole outside the window flashed with all the colors of the rainbow as we flew through it, at a million miles per hour. My body started to feel more and more stiff due to the acceleration and the speed pressing me up against the pod and I almost started to think that it would turn itself inside out. I felt nauseous, my head started to spin like a merry-go-round at top speed and I suddenly had a hard time breathing. And as the ship flew faster and faster, I started to feel more and more overwhelmed by what was going on around me, until it was all too much to handle, and I finally passed out.
A/N: Ooh, the wormhole scene was so fun to write! And I look forward to show you Filione, and all that it has to offer! But for the next chapter, I'm gonna give you something different first. Back on Earth, that is.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review, favorite and follow! G'night everybody!