A Million Miles Apart
A/N: Okay, fun story! My Wi-Fi has been making things extra complicated this week, since our Wi-Fi at home refused to work for a few days. Thus, I could only write this in school, during breaks and after school was done for the day. Yay, that didn't cause in inconvenience at all. Especially since it meant I couldn't do any schoolwork at home and had to do it here.
So, yeah, anyone who's seen or read Pet Sematary will see references to the infamous burial ground that brought the dead back to life (Spoiler, in case ya didn't know), even the sound of the loon, which if you haven't heard a loon cry than you'd be surprised how haunting it can sound. And yes, I based the whole planet and the Wendigo on that concept and the planet of the Aeons from the series. Only, I have another idea on what the Aeons are gonna be in this story.
But either way, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and please review, favorite and follow!
Chapter 37, Stories around the Fire
I drummed my fingers on the armrest of my throne, feeling my impatience rising within as I waited for Mozar to show up. We had been flying towards Filione for quite some time now, and it was starting to take too long for my liking. If we were to grab that first piece of The Heart of Darkness before that bratty terrapin, his annoying little friends and that treacherous Traximus did, we had to get there sooner rather than later.
The doors opened and Mozar scurried in, bowed before me and hit his clenched fist over his heart in respect before he looked up at me again. I could see that his fists were clenched as he straightened up again, like he always did when we were alone.
"Prime Leader Zanramon, I'm sorry for leaving you waiting for so long, but we have new information about the terrapin and his little friends." I raised my eyebrow at him, intertwined my fingers and rested my chin on them.
"Oh? Does it have anything to do with the Heart of Darkness?" Mozar took a deep breath, his fists clenched tighter and he looked down for a second before meeting my eyes again.
"Yes. Our scientists have scanned the entire planet and haven't found any sign of black matter. It's not there. It seems they are only landing there for a short amount of time. A 'pit stop', if you will, Prime Leader." What? So we have travelled this far for nothing? My hands landed on the throne's armrests and I dug my claws into the metal to try and contain my anger, taking a deep breath.
"So you are telling me that we have travelled this far for nothing?! You have wasted my time travelling to a planet that is completely useless to me?!" Mozar winced as I raised my voice, but I could still tell that he was annoyed. He bowed his head, acknowledging my fury, before daring to raise his gaze once more.
"Not entirely. Our ship's computers say that the piece is on a planet only a few days away from here. The planet of Zerij." I winced and couldn't contain the gasp of terror that came at the mere mention of that planet. Out of all the places, why did it have to be on Zerij? Why, oh WHY couldn't it have been on any other planet? A planet without murderous, undead inhabitants, the smell of death drowning out the entire atmosphere, and a demon creeping through the woods? I shuddered in my seat and gulped, looking up at my Commander.
"A-are you sure, Mozar? Or is this just a guess, like with Filione?" Mozar nodded and something in his eyes hinted that he enjoyed seeing me scared. I narrowed my eyes at him and tried to regain my composure, sitting up straight with all of the pride that being Prime Leader could elicit. "Very well, then. Set the coordinates for," I gulped, "Z-Zerij. And gather up the best warriors you can find among our troops to go on the search mission to look for the piece. We must find it before those brats do." Mozar repeated his gesture of respect.
"Of course, Prime Leader. And what of the freaks on Filione? Do you wish to simply ignore them, sir?" He tried to sound as though he was simply curious, but I could hear the underlying message in his question- Aren't you going to take control? Are you so stupid that you won't take care of one meager threat against threat against Triceraton victory? I growled, but then an idea popped into my head, and a smirk spread over my face.
"Hm, I think not. Mozar, send a few smaller ships to Filione. Don't do anything too drastic, just tell them to give those Salamandarians a good scare. I doubt they will be too happy about their new little friends bringing Triceratons to their planet." Mozar bowed and left the room. I stood and went to my window, gazing down on the green and blue planet outside.
"You seem to like causing problems, you little troublemaker. Well, I hope you're ready for a real fight." My eyes narrowed and I clasped my hands behind my back, smirking down at the green forests.
"The Triceraton way."
The sun had almost set now, and it had gotten much darker and chillier by the time every Salamandarian in the village had gathered around- and lit- the huge bonfire. After the Chief had told me that dinner would be ready soon, I had run back to the tree where the others were waiting and called them down. Now we were all gathered on blankets and carpets around the roaring fire, waiting for the soup to be served. Starlee and I sat on one blanket together, on one side of the Chief and Mona Lisa, with Jhanna and the Professor on the Chief's other side. Traximus was so big that he had a blanket all to himself- not that any of the Salamandarians would sit anywhere near him, anyway.
The large medieval pot was lowered from the fire and placed in front of Mona Lisa. She lazily stirred the soup with a big wooden spoon before she started to ration the warm liquid into small wooden bowls, passing them around to everyone. They were given to the Chief and Starlee, who passed then them to the Salamandarians next to them, who then passed them to the people next to them, and so on and so forth until everyone had a bowl full of soup. While they were being passed around, a young female walked around with a basket full of small, round loaves of bread. I looked down into my bowl. It looked pretty close to vegetable broth, only filled with different kinds of colourful vegetables that I had never seen before, and I immediately felt put off by it. I had always been picky with food, and I had heard the stories a hundred times from Master Splinter about how difficult it was to get me to eat anything back when we were kids. So this would be a challenge. And the loaf of bread didn't look that much better. But I supposed I would be able to survive on bread until the next day, when we were scheduled to leave.
Still, it felt disrespectful to not even taste it, and when I looked over at the others, who ate with good appetite, I almost felt their judgmental gazes on me even though no one seemed to be looking at me. I looked over at Jhanna, who still had yet to taste, too. She gazed up at me, shrugged and met my eyes, and I could almost hear what she was thinking.
'I'll eat it if you do.' She said with her stare, and I looked down into my bowl again. I took a deep breath, raised the bowl to my lips and sipped on it. I had my eyes shut before I tasted, but the second the soup came into contact with my tongue, my eyes flew open. I lowered the bowl slightly and licked my lips and around the inside of my mouth to get a good grip on the taste.
"Wow... Chief, this is amazing!" And it really was. The soup was heavenly and the vegetables were better than any of their counterparts on Earth. There was more of a fruity tang to them than anything vegetable-like. Like pears, bananas, apples and pineapple. But only a little. They still had their own unique taste to them that kept me aware of the fact that these were vegetables and not fruit. Chief Patowan smiled widely at me and nodded in gratitude. Jhanna's eyes widened and suddenly she was in a hurry to taste, too. When she lowered the bowl from her lips, she had a wide, rare smile on her face.
"Agreed. This is really delicious." I took the loaf of bread, dipped it in the soup and took a huge bite. The bread itself was good, but not quite as good as the soup- my guess was because I wasn't used to eating bread without butter on it and it felt a little drier without it. I also assumed that all of this tasted so good because everything that was in this soup, and the bread, was homemade or grown in healthy earth with love and care. I turned to Starlee and saw that both she and Traximus were eating with just as much gusto as everyone else. Only the Professor didn't eat anything, and for obvious reasons.
We all sat and ate for some time without anyone saying a word, but when I had finished my bowl of soup and put it down in front of me, Chief Patowan looked up from his own bowl and smiled at me.
"Would you like some more, Donatello?" I felt a little torn. I always felt greedy whenever I tried to ask for more food (whenever there was more food) back home, so now, when someone else was asking me, I almost said 'no' out of reflex. But I still felt hungry, since I didn't finish my lunch earlier, so I fought against the reflex and held out my bowl for Starlee to pass on to the Chief and Mona.
"Yes, please." While Mona Lisa refilled my bowl, Jhanna gazed up from her food and at the old lizard.
"Chief Patowan, I don't mean to be rude or to offend, but may I ask why you are being so nice to us? I mean, how do you know that we are not your enemy?" The Chief paused, handed the bowl over to Starlee so she could give it to me, and sighed.
"Because you have a Triceraton along with you and treat him like a friend. Not many people these days would let a Triceraton sit so close to them during dinner- let alone have one alongside them on a mission. Triceratons are being sneered at, feared or despised throughout the galaxy, so the fact that you have one as your friend and have faith that he is your friend and will not harm you is a reassuring sign." He sipped on his soup. "And there's the fact that you are standing up to Zanramon by trying to get the pieces of the Heart of Darkness before he does. That takes a whole lot of courage, not to mention heart." Mona Lisa suddenly looked away, ashamed, and nibbled on her bread. After hearing some more about how she was orphaned taken captive when she was just a child, I had started to feel more sympathetic toward her. But I'd still like to know what was going on inside her head right now.
Starlee, who had been uncharacteristically quiet all evening, except for complimenting the food very quickly, tore her eyes from the fire, where they had glued for most of the dinner, and put the bowl down in her lap.
"Oh, yeah? Well then why did you attack us? I mean, if you were scared of Traximus, I can understand that, but why attack us? And call us Federation scum? What did the Federation ever do to you? We've done you no wrong." I suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable and tried to hide my face in my bowl. Traximus looked away and the Professor fingered a little on the grass around him. But Jhanna looked somewhat amused and as if she was thinking, 'well, this oughta be good'. Mona Lisa rolled her eyes and pinched the space between her eyebrows while shaking her head slightly, and the chief looked completely thrown off by what Starlee had just said.
"Child, do you really have no idea?" She shook her head and looked just as wide-eyed and naive as she had when she and I had talked to each other about ourselves during breakfast earlier today. Mona looked up from her hand and at Starlee with a very done facial expression.
"So you mean to tell me that you have no idea how the Federation landed on D'hoonib without permission, killed the real rulers and took over the planet as their own? Or how they've declared war on everyone on said planet, just to keep the power? Or how they're one of the most brutal and evil species in the galaxy? 'Cause that's some pretty basic info about them." The Chief smacked Mona hard on the arm and stared her down with anger in his eyes. She immediately shrunk back in shame, like a dog being told off by their stern master. Starlee's eyes filled with horror and her body froze up entirely. She started to shake her head in denial, then her face scrunched up in anger.
"No. No, no, that's not true! You're lying!" The Chief opened his mouth to calm her, but Jhanna seemed to have had enough of Starlee being kept in the dark or not believing what she knew was true. She put her bowl down so quickly and slammed it so hard on the ground that soup almost flew out onto the carpet she was sitting on.
"Wake up, Starlee!" All eyes were now on Jhanna, but she didn't care and just stared her little sister straight in the eyes with anger and annoyance. "I've been telling you these things for years. I've told you how our father tried to use us for his own gain and not for the good of anyone else. I've tried to tell you this for years, but you refused to believe or listen to me. And now these guys are telling you the exact same thing, and you're still not listening? Grow up!"
At first Starlee didn't say anything. She just looked down at her boots and tried to process what Jhanna had said before she looked up at her older sister again. "B-but... Dad said-"
Jhanna was quick to interrupt. "Dad lied to you. He kept you in the dark to make sure you wouldn't rebel, like I did. Don't you get it? He only used your smarts and computer skills for himself. He doesn't really care about our people or anyone other than himself." Starlee's eyes suddenly seemed hollow and she looked down at the blanket. I put my hand on her back and tried to console her, but she didn't acknowledge me. Chief Patowan stroked his beard before gently brushing Starlee's hand.
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, my child. But what your sister says is unfortunately true. The Federation's biggest goal for a long time has been to overthrow the Triceratons, and thus they have tried to take over several planets, just as the Triceratons have done. They have declared war on several different races and their homeworlds, and many look at the Federation in a similar way to how they would the Triceratons. And now you come to our planet with the Federation symbol on your uniform." Starlee looked down at her t-shirt and the symbol on her brown vest- a planet with a four-point star over it- and lowered her head in shame. Judging by how she was slightly trembling, I could only assume that she was crying. At least a little. I rubbed my hand over her back and put the bowl of soup back in her hand so she would start eating again and think of something else for a while.
The silence that followed was so thick and awkward that you could practically feel it wrapping around you like a thick blanket of discomfort. Jhanna grabbed her bowl and started eating again, and even Starlee had started to sip a little on the soup, but she was clearly not feeling well right now. And if Jhanna saw that Starlee had a few tears falling down her cheeks, she either didn't think much of it or didn't care. No one said anything for what felt like hours, but after a while I remembered what we all had agreed on earlier; to get as much info as we could out of these guys about the Black Hole Generator. So I cleared my throat and looked back at Patowan.
"So, uh, Chief? You wouldn't happen to know anything about the planet Zerij, would you? We think that's where the first piece of the Black Hole Generator is." Everything froze. What little talking had been going on during the evening silenced, everyone stopped eating, and the Chief almost choked on his bread when he heard the word 'Zerij'. Seriously, what was with these guys? How would I know what to say without sending them into a panic attack or something?
Fortunately the Chief recovered a lot quicker this time, and for a second he appeared very sad. Like he was about to cry as well. Then he took a deep breath and looked up at me. "Yes. Unfortunately, I do know quite a bit about Zerij. But I warn you, it's not a very pleasant story." The Professor looked at the older man.
"We're sorry if we're reopening old wounds, but we could really use all information we can find. So if you know anything about the planet that we should know, it would be most beneficial." We all watched the old leader, who sighed again and looked up at us.
"Very well, I will tell you. But I will tell you right now that it's not a story for the faint of heart. If it becomes too much for you, you may tell me to stop at any moment." He made himself comfortable on his blanket, sat up on his knees, put his soup bowl away and started to tell us his story.
"Filione was not always our homeworld. A long time ago, the ancient Salamandarians lived on Zerij in a very similar way to how we do here. But that all changed about a thousand years ago. After the war with the Triceratons against the Kraang, the Intergalactic Allegiance took the fragments of the Heart of Darkness and hid them in the most dangerous and well-hidden places in the galaxy. They took one of pieces to Zerij and asked the inhabitants to keep and protect the piece, and to make sure no one ever found it again. The inhabitants agreed, and the piece was placed in the deepest cave in the planet's underground cave system. They kept it there for years without anything happening or anyone coming to look for it." He took another deep, shaky breath.
"What they did not know was that there was another worldly presence on their planet- and he was very interested in the new item. You see, Zerij was like Filione; no technology had ever been allowed there until then. And the strange power it radiated interested this creature. And somehow, it absorbed it. And the darkness he absorbed changed him." Every eye in the crowd was glued on the Chief, except for those of the oldest ones, as they seemed to try and squelch old, horrible memories. Parents covered their kids' ears or told them to go back home to get something or go to bed. It seemed like this was a story many here had already heard before. Starlee- who, while they still were wet and slightly red, had her eyes locked on Patowan- seemed to have forgotten about her tears. Jhanna rested her chin on her loosely clenched fist, her feet pressed against each other and her knees slightly elevated, with her elbow on the inside of one of her thighs. She was listening as intensely as everybody else.
"The inhabitants started to notice how the planet began to change. The forest started to wilt and die, the flowers and grass dried up and died and the ground turned dry and nothing was able to grow. But although they noticed this, they chose not to care. The new piece of technology had inspired them to allow more technology on their planet, and they started to travel to other planets to find more. The Salamandarians, whose job was to take care of the woodlands and the animals, started to ignore their responsibilities, since now food could be found much more easily through technology, and the other inhabitants started to build up a more advanced civilization in their villages. No one cared that the woods, the rivers, and the animals all suffered and wilted away. But then, It showed up." It? What the heck was an It? He said it with such disgust, yet so much fear that I wasn't sure what to make of it.
"It? What 'It'? What happened?" Starlee asked and wiped her hand over her eyes, the reason why they were wet to begin with long forgotten, but was instantly shushed by Jhanna, who almost glared at her for interrupting. The Chief looked at Starlee for a second before shuddering and continuing.
"It appeared. The Wendigo." The Wendigo. I don't know what it was, but that word made my blood freeze and a cold shudder go throughout my body. And from the looks of it, even the woods seemed to fear it. A cold, strong wind blew through the village, a loud noise that I can only assume was a bird (it sounded scarily close to a loon) cried out hauntingly in the distance and suddenly the air was filled with a stench. A stench I shouldn't be able to identify. Rotting, moldy flesh, dried up bodies, blood, ground turned sour, the smell of death itself. I shuddered again and creeped a little closer to the fire.
"The Wendigo was a complete mystery. Some say he was a demon that had awoken from an eternal slumber when the forest started to die and had risen up to get revenge on the entire planet. Others say he had come with the Heart of Darkness, and was connected to the horrible device in some way. But I believe that he was an Aeon fallen from Grace. An Aeon stripped of his power and banished to our planet as a punishment." Aeons, now what the heck were they? Some kind of beings people around here pray to? But seeing how he was so deep into telling this other story, I decided to ask a little later.
"How this creature came to our planet, and how it got its horrible powers, no one knows. But we can all agree on that when he started to show up, things took a horrible turn for the worst. His presence killed whatever life was still on our planet, the ground he walked on turned sour and there was little to no food left. He used his horrible powers to not only torture the living, but to give the ground evil powers, so whenever someone died and got buried, they would come back to life due to the sour and possessed ground, if only to keep playing with and torturing them. So even in death there was no way of escaping him. But that was not the worst- the worst was what he did to the people who died. When they came back to the world of the living, they would be nothing but shells of their former selves. He possessed them with his own spirit, turning them evil, murderous and- in some cases- even cannibalistic. They would go home to their families and friends and spread the evil spirit onto them, either by killing them or passing the spirit on by biting them. Some were even eaten by their own friends or family. The Wendigo would even attack those who walked into the woods and possess them, so there was no escape from the monster." I sat completely still, my entire body frozen with horror, fear, disgust and shock. This story... how could all this actually have happened? Starlee's jaw hung open and her eyes were filled with horror, and Jhanna had her eyes glued on Patowan. And if I am gonna be completely honest with you guys, I started to question whether going to Zerij was such a good idea.
"More people died with every passing day, and only a few of the planet's inhabitants, including a handful of Salamandarians, managed to flee before they were infected. I don't know what happened to the other species that lived on Zerij, but we found Filione. We landed there and decided to live like we had used to. But this time we destroyed our spaceships and any technology we had with us and vowed to never let what happened to Zerij happen ever again. And we did, and we have lived peacefully for many centuries without any technology or help from other planets, except for the money they pay us for our cures, balms and food." 'Until the Triceratons attacked, that is', I thought to myself, but I didn't say that. Instead I looked into the fire for a second before looking back at Patowan.
"So you've forbidden technology because of what happened on Zerij? I mean, are you afraid of becoming corrupted like your ancestors?" He nodded and I pressed my lips together, trying to choose my next words carefully. But Patowan was quicker.
"Yes. We saw how our world fell apart due to the technology placed in our planet's keep, and we never want the same thing to happen again. Thus, we're trying to use as little technology as possible, except for the ships we came here in, and that we fly to different places to sell our produce." I drew a deep breath and stared into the fire. Seeing how I was a guy who adored technology and couldn't possibly live without anything to tinker with or computers to work with, it was a little weird to listen to somebody talk about it like this. I could understand why they felt the way they did, and I'm not saying their fears were unfounded or anything. But even after hearing all this, I still couldn't help but feel conflicted emotions about their fears and beliefs. Emotions that went against what I had been taught over the year we had spent fighting the Kraang and Shredder.
Now, I am not gonna sit here and talk like I'm the all-knowing expert when it comes to everything based on technology. I'm not- I know I still have a lot to learn about the subject. But I know enough to say with my hand on my heart that a piece of technology cannot destroy an entire planet. It can be used to corrupt an entire planet, but the tech itself cannot destroy anything, unless it's being used to do so. Technology is nothing but a tool to be used. It's not the gun's fault that people are shot, it's the fault of the people that use it to do so. Or, um... something like that.
"You shouldn't fear technology just because of a bad experience. I mean, I'm not saying that your fears are unfounded or anything, but technology is created for destruction, not to destroy. People can use technology for evil, but tech itself can't actually destroy anything. And if you've lived here for a thousand years without having the urge to make things easier with tech, that means you have self control. So it should be fine, right?" Patowan didn't look at me, he just looked down at the ground and sighed heavily.
"I'd like to believe you, son. But after seeing what happened to my home, I'm just not too open to the idea. And besides, we are all happy with our lives right now. Isn't that right, Mona Lisa?" He turned to look at his granddaughter with a forced smile, and Mona returned an equally forced smile and a nod.
"Uh, yes. Of course we are, Grandfather. Why wouldn't we be?" But when Patowan looked away, she turned her head and looked down at the ground and her face showed anything but happiness. I didn't really have an answer to that, and couldn't come up with a response that wouldn't sound disrespectful, so I just stared into the fire.
After a while, Jhanna cleared her throat, drew her knees to her chest and placed her hands on the ground on either side of herself to keep balance.
"But what happened on Zerij after you guys left? Are there anyone living there now? And what about the Wendigo- is that freak still there?" Patowan sighed and lowered his head, shaking it in despair.
"I don't know. But that is highly likely. Most demons are incapable of dying, and if the planet is still anything like it was a thousand years ago, then it's still a horrible planet of death, pain and suffering, even without the beast." He looked up again. "As for any inhabitants, I don't know. Some many had already become victims of the Wendigo's evil that if there are still people there that are still alive and not possessed by the monster then it would be nothing short of a miracle." He took a deep breath and tried to smile, but it still looked too forced and unnatural. "It just goes to show you that desire leads to obsession, and obsession leads to consumption of both the mind and the soul." Out of instinct- or whatever- I started to think of the Shredder, and nodded to show I agreed. I mean, who could argue with that after hearing about him? I snorted to myself and picked up my bowl.
"Tell me about it." I tried to eat the last of my soup, but suddenly, after all the talk of death and evil spirits and the scent of rotten flesh that was still in the air, the soup wasn't quite as appetizing as it had been earlier in the evening. I put the bowl down in front me again, moving closer to the fire to get rid of the chill that still wouldn't go away after mere mentioning of the Wendigo.
The silence that followed after the story was finished was nothing short of uncomfortable. Jhanna picked up her bowl again and drank the last of her soup, picked up the vegetables she hadn't eaten with the soup and put them in her mouth. Starlee was playing a little with the grass in front of her, her hair covering most of her face. Traximus tried to look stoic, but I could tell he was distraught by the story he had just heard. The Professor bleeped a little, and looked from one of us to the other, trying to think of something good to say. But the Chief beat him to it when he looked up at Starlee and Jhanna.
"And what about you, girls? What is your story?" Jhanna looked up from the bowl and Starlee from the grass. Jhanna just shrugged her shoulders and looked down at her lap.
"Not much to tell, really. My father pretty much kicked me out of the family and let me grow up without help from anyone. Our mother left pretty early 'cause she disagreed so much with what our father did. I grew up on the streets most of the time, taught myself how to fight and my education is pretty limited. I tried to escape D'hoonib for years, but only managed to get away when The Professor, Donnie and I were captured by Mozar and his troops. That's pretty much it." Patowan nodded, though he looked a little disappointed that she hadn't had more to tell him. And when he looked over at Starlee, and saw she wasn't in a storytelling mood, he looked back at Jhanna. She leaned in closer to him and whispered in his ear.
"She's pretty much never left our home, let alone our planet. This is the first month she's had outside the palace. She never knew what kind of man our father was. She's super smart, but naive. She doesn't understand much of the world." Jhanna had tried to whisper, but she wasn't very quiet, and both Starlee and I heard her. Starlee glared daggers at her sister, but didn't say anything. She bit down on her bread and looked away from her. I looked between the two girls and felt torn on who to 'agree' with. My heart told me to sympathize with Starlee, but I knew Jhanna better than her and knew how she thought and acted. But I didn't want to pick sides, either, so...
"Donatello?" I jumped and looked at the Chief.
"Huh?" He smiled and both he and Jhanna looked at me, and I got the feeling that he had called my name at least twice before he got my attention.
"What about you, Donatello? Do you have a story to tell us?" A story? About myself, or what? I had to stop and think for a second. What kind of story could I tell these people? I guess I could tell the story of our origin, but then they would have questions about... I sighed. Why not? It's not like they would go to Earth and attack them.
"Well, I guess I know this one story. And this is a true story, that I was told many times when I was a kid." Mona Lisa rolled her eyes, sat up straight after sitting with a hunched back for a while after her grandfather's scolding, and now looked rather bored.
"Wait, this isn't gonna be one of those, 'this happened to my great-grandfather and his friends a long time ago' stories, or something like that, right?" I glared at her, sat up cross-legged, resting my elbows on my knees.
"No. This happened to my father." That made her lose her bored, disinterested snark. She suddenly looked more reverent and nodded at me to keep going. "A few years ago, in the land called Japan on my home planet, two men grew up as brothers; Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki. They were as close as two brothers could get, and were rivals in all things, as brothers are." I now had everyone's attention on me, which felt a little weird, so I kept my eyes locked on the fire, which had started to shrink down. But I could still see, in the corner of my eye, that Jhanna was looking at me with wide eyes. Jhanna and I had grown to become really good friends, yet she knew so little about me and my life back on Earth. Though to be fair, I knew very little about her, too, like what her childhood had been like or how she had learned how to fight, and things like that. Starlee, who had already heard the story, didn't look quite as interested, but she still had her eyes on me and a small smile on her face.
"What the brothers didn't know was that they both came from different families. For centuries, two ninja clans, the Hamato clan and the Foot clan, had been at war with each other. And after one fight, Yoshi's father- Hamato Yuuta- found Saki as a baby and decided to take him in, despite the fact that he was the son of the enemy." Patowan smiled and stroke his beard, and for a second I didn't see him, but Master Splinter. I sighed heavily and tried to hold back my tears.
"Hm, a noble man indeed. And he raised this boy as his child?" I nodded and wiped both my hands over my face to make it look like I was tired instead of wiping away any trace of tears.
"Yeah, he did. He raised him as his own son, and for years, Saki lived blissfully unaware of his true heritage. But that all changed when both Yoshi and Saki met Tang Shen, a young beautiful woman who both men fell for. She grew to like both of them, but eventually fell in love with Yoshi. The two of them married and had a daughter together. Life for Yoshi could not have been better." I could see Jhanna smile lightly and Starlee also smiled when I said that, even though she already knew what eventually happened to Shen and Miwa. Well, not so much what happened to Miwa, but still, she had already heard this story. The Professor smiled his happy robot smile, but Traximus looked more interested in knowing what was gonna happen next.
"I take it that happiness didn't last, did it?" I looked up at him for a second and then shook my head.
"No, it didn't. Saki did not take the rejection very well, and his jealousy of Yoshi eventually turned into hatred when he one day learned of his true identity and where he came from. He directed his anger and hatred towards Yoshi, since he was convinced that Yoshi had stolen his love from him. And one night, he struck. And in all that commotion, a blow that was meant for Yoshi struck Tang Shen and killed her." A gasp was heard throughout the crowd of Salamandarians- and others- and Starlee covered her mouth with her hand. She hadn't heard this part of the story, and she was clearly shocked to hear this. Even Jhanna looked appalled, and she seemed like a girl that was incredibly hard to scare.
"What happened next...?" Starlee asked softly, removing her hand from her mouth. I sighed and leaned back a little, placing my hands in the grass behind me to support myself.
"Well, Saki was so full of hate and lust for vengeance that he didn't see himself as responsible for anything bad that had happened, despite the fact that Yoshi had done him no wrong. He blamed Yoshi for the death of Tang Shen, lit fire to their home and left Yoshi to his fate. And in the midst of all that chaos, Saki stole away Yoshi's baby daughter and raised her as his own child, raising her to believe that Yoshi had killed her mother and filling her with hatred for the man he knew was her real father." Salamandarians let out upset murmurs and turned to each other, and I heard them ask themselves how a man could be so horrible. Jhanna's eyes widened in anger; she clenched her fists, which shook in fury.
"What a monster... How could he be so... so," She tried to find the right word, but when she realized she couldn't find a good enough word she just screamed in anger and hit her fists against the ground, startling the Professor, who started to pat her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.
"Calm down, Jhanna. Take a breath and calm yourself." She was breathing heavily and showed no signs of wanting to calm down, but she pressed her lips together to keep herself from saying something bad and stared down at the ground. Traximus peered down at me.
"What happened to Yoshi?" I stretched out my legs, that had become sore from me sitting cross-legged for so long, and kept my eyes on the fire in front of me.
"He fled the country so that Saki wouldn't be able to find out that he was still alive. He fled to another country, across the planet, to a big city called New York. There he was determined to try and start over with a new life. One day, he walked into a pet store and bought for pet turtles-" I caught myself too late and looked up at the lizards around the fire. Was it wrong to say that lizards and reptiles could be bought as pets on Earth? They did look a little suspicious at what I had just said. I smiled sheepishly at them and shrugged.
"Eh, heh, on my planet, humans are the dominant species. They look kinda like them," I pointed at Starlee and Jhanna, "only a little different. The, uh, 'animals' on my planet are seen as just animals. And the reptiles on my planet aren't like you or me. They're not sentient, intelligent or able of the things we are. It's not the same as what the Triceratons are doing to other races." I lifted my fingers to do air quotes on the word 'animals' and tried to make myself understood, but now they just looked more confused than anything else.
"Uh, nevermind. Anyway, as Yoshi walked home with his pets, he ran into a strange man that he decided to follow, sensing that something was wrong with him. He saw two identical men in an alley, dealing with a canister with a glowing substance in it. But then, when he accidentally stepped on a rat, they saw Yoshi and tried to attack him. While he tried to defend himself, the canister hit him and his turtles, and it mutated him into a half-human, half-rat mutant and the turtles mutated into humanoid turtles. Yoshi took pity on the babies and decided to take care of them as his own sons, and he did. He raised my brothers and I in the arts of Ninjutsu and self-defense, and loved us as his own flesh and blood." Everybody stared at me. Jhanna's anger had drained out of her and she looked at me with awe.
"You're... a Kraang experiment?" I glared slightly at her. Here I had just told a very personal story about my father and his life, and THAT was her first question once it was over? However, I'd never really considered it in that phrasing before… anyone else, upon hearing the story, simply got stuck on the fact that there was a real explanation for why we, mutant turtles, existed. Nobody really cared that we were basically made by that mutagen. It was odd to think that basically, we were Kraang experiments, even if it was through an accident. I rolled my eyes and drew my legs close to me, away from the fire.
"Uh, I'm the byproduct of the Kraang's mutagen, yes. They had been on our planet for thousands of years and no one knew of them at that point. In fact, a lot of people don't know about them right now." I thought for a second. "Or at least, so I assume. It's been a few months." I whispered the last part and wrapped my arms around my legs. Then another voice was heard from the crowd.
"There are on Kraang on your planet?" Samu called out from his seat on the other side of the fire and a few feet away from Jhanna and the Professor. I nodded and started to finger the wrappings around my feet.
"Yeah. They've been staying on our planet for thousands of years, trying to mutate our world to fit their needs and not those of the native inhabitants, humans. Exactly why, I'm not sure, but I think it's because they want to hide from the Triceratons. In fact, that's the reason why the Triceratons are looking for the Black Hole Generator pieces; to go to my planet and destroy the Kraang. But, anyway, my brothers and I have spent the last year trying to stop them from taking over our world and get them to leave Earth." Or, almost a year and a half for them. I had spent the last three months on a different planet, in prison, on a spaceship and on this planet. I looked down at the ground, but then back up again when I felt Starlee's hand on my arm. She smiled comfortingly at me and I placed my hand over hers, trying to tell her I was fine through my smile. Mona brushed some hair that had fallen from her ponytail out of her eyes.
"You have brothers?" Her voice was so soft it was mostly a whisper, and I almost didn't hear her; it cracked a little at the word 'brothers'. She sounded genuinely surprised and almost compassionate. As if she now had a reason to feel sorry for me. I nodded and tried to seem like I didn't care, though my emotions were stirring up a storm inside my chest, heart and head.
"Uh, yeah. I have three brothers: Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo. Leo and Raph are my older brothers, and Mikey's the youngest. I mean, we don't actually have any facts that prove this, but it's always been kind of an unspoken agreement between us and-" I realized I was about to start rambling again and quickly shut my mouth and averted my eyes.
"Oh. I... I didn't think you had a family. I mean, you've never really talked about them." Mona twirled her hair around her finger, looking a tad less defensive now than she ever had during our time together on the ship. That was welcomed, but why did she have ask me about the guys I didn't want to think about?
"No, I've had so much to think about lately that I guess I didn't have time to think of them." I tried to sound nonchalant, but inside, my emotions were running all over the place. Still, I put a smile on my face and looked at the others around me. Patowan smiled at me and stroked his beard.
"How interesting. And you and your brothers have been on many adventures?" My smile got wider and I sat up straighter, drawing my legs into the lotus position.
"Well, yeah, sure. We've been through quite a bit." A certain memory entered my brain and a light chuckle escaped my lips. "I remember when we sneaked out of our home while we were grounded and ended up creating a supervillain because of it." Sure, it hadn't been very fun when it happened, but now, looking back on it, there was enough irony in it to laugh at the memory of it. Starlee smiled fondly at me, but Jhanna just raised a confused eyebrow before she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. Mona had tilted her head to the side, but she looked more curious than she did confused. Patowan smiled at me.
"Hm, and you defeated him?" I nodded with a smile. He stroked his beard more and looked at me with interested and curious eyes.
"Tell me, are your brothers like you?" Oh, no. Why couldn't I ever keep my mouth shut? Why did I mention my brothers when I knew I didn't want to talk about them, and knew at least one person would ask me about them? I guess this is what you get when you tell the story of your father's past. I sighed and leaned a back a little, resting my weight on my hands.
"Well, that defines what you mean by 'like me'. Leo is the oldest; he's disciplined, strong, caring, a bit overprotective and cautious at times, but that just shows that he cares. He's the kind of brother that would rush straight into a burning building or blow himself up if it meant we would all be safe. He's always trying to be there for us and the ones that need him. He can be a bit annoying at times, as he can be a teacher's pet and, without fail, a perfectionist."
"Raph is hotheaded, irrational, impatient, stubborn, violent, reckless, thoughtless, crude, unpleasant, moody and a lot of other things I could list, but that would take all night. He has a rough side. A really, really rough side. Not even as much a 'side' as a 'constant behavioral pattern'. But deep inside his cold, cruel and unpleasant heart, he does care. Even if he doesn't show that often. He's nothing short of a pure warrior and immensely loyal and he'd do anything to protect us. Even though he has moments of being a bit of a bully."
"And Mikey is, well, the best thing I can say is that he's Mikey. He's... well, he's dancing to his own set of pipes. He's random, wild, crazy, and highly optimistic. I've started to think he lives in his own little world, seeing how he doesn't seem to see things the way the rest of us do. He's also pretty simple-minded and has trouble focusing, but he's by no means stupid. He's just got a unique way of thinking. Really, the fact that we are the same species and same kind of mutants are the only things we have in common. We are all so very different from each other. And that's not even counting in our relationships with April and Casey." I said the last part more to myself, but Starlee and Traximus still heard me, because of course they did.
"Who are April and Casey?" I immediately blushed and looked down at the ground, trying to hide my red cheeks. My heart started beating little crazy and I almost thought it would jump straight through my chest.
"Uh, A-April's a- a girl we h-happen to know. W-we saved her from the K-Kraang when we went into the city for the first time. That's how we found out about the Kraang in the first place." I both commended myself for not stuttering in that last part and criticized myself for stuttering in the first place. I saw how both Traximus and Jhanna got sly smirks on their faces and I could tell that they could see and hear that I had feelings for April. Like it was my fault. I glared over at both of them, folded my arms over my chest and pouted. Very childishly might I add.
"Shut up!" Jhanna raised her hands in a defensive manner, but kept her stupid smirk. Clearly she had more of a Raph-Mikey-hybrid side than she let on. And she clearly enjoyed this more than I liked.
"I didn't say anything." I glared at her. Starlee, on the other hand, clasped her hands together and held them right under her chin, in the sort of 'aww' manner I had seen April and even Mikey do a few times. And sometimes the others, but it was mostly to mock or tease someone. Or, in Leo's case, whenever something awesome happened on Space Heroes.
"Aw, that's adorable! You like her, don't you? You know, like her like her." I grumbled and turned away from her, still pouting and with my arms over my chest. Starlee, Jhanna, Traximus, the Professor, Patowan and even Mona Lisa laughed at me, and I felt my blush spread all over my face and down my neck a little. Jhanna rested her hand on her chin and asked me slyly,
"And this Casey person? Is that a girl, too?" I was so thrown off by her question that I almost started to laugh. Casey, a girl? The thought alone made me want to smile. But because I had been so dead-set on being mad at them, I didn't quite find the humor in it at the moment. I just looked over at Jhanna and lost most of my glare.
"No, he's Raph's best friend. He's pretty much a copy of Raph, only cockier and more annoying. We only met him a few months ago. He and I didn't grow that close as friends, but he's okay. I guess." I didn't want to say anything about my rivalry with Casey over April to these guys. It just sounded so petty compared to the other things we had talked about this evening. But they all seemed satisfied with the little info they got from me, and Traximus looked up at the sky. The stars were out now, and two moons shone down on us; one that was really close to and another one that seemed to be on the other side of the forest.
"It's getting late, my friends. We should probably get back to the tree-house. We are getting up early tomorrow." I almost expected myself to protest, as I was still curious about these guys and their planet, but seeing as how we had been sitting there for hours and talked about so much, I really felt myself getting more and more tired. So instead I stood, stretched out my tired muscles and thanked Chief Patowan for dinner before we all started to head back to our lodgings. But in the moonlight I could see that Starlee suddenly seemed troubled. Her eyes that, just moments ago, had been sparkling and full of happiness, were now so dejected- a look I recognized all too well. It was the same look I got whenever Leo didn't want to listen to me, when Raph insulted me and Mikey ruined an experiment that had taken a lot of time to prepare. A look of feeling like you were being used, condescended to or not being taken seriously.
I looked between her and Jhanna, and then decided to tell Jhanna that she probably should talk to her sister. I knew that she probably needed a shoulder to lean on right now.
A/N: Wow, I'm just imagining how long this chapter would have been if I had put this together with last chapter. I mean, 5808 + 9313 words? That would be about 19 pages! Wow, my beta would have killed me if I sent her that. And it probably would have been way too long for me to write, her to beta-read and for all the information I'm giving you to sink in properly.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review, favorite and follow! G'night everyone!