Ooooooh my gosh I was scared! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to post this chapter cause it wasn't letting me! For two days! YOUR CHRISTMAS PRESENT WAS RUINED! *deep calm breath* But, luckily, here we are; the BEGINNING of a much anticipated saga that is...the Apocalypse! Despite this unexpected delay to the already delay I hope you guys had an awesome Christmas and got cool stuff! So? What are we waiting for? ON WITH THE STORY!
The world has changed.
It's a never-ending wasteland that forgives none and challenges all showing no trace of mercy to the weak.
Mutants thrive in this world while humans; humans no longer exist.
"Get behind me!" A frantic voice screamed pushing two people behind them.
A siren sounded around them almost drowning out their voice.
Suddenly, cold.
"Wake up. Wake up!"
A cloaked figure sat up with a gasp and looked around. "Huh?" They whispered before glancing to the side where their companion sat on the driver's seat.
"Ye were talkin' n' your sleep again..same dream?" They asked softly.
"Y-Yeah." They placed their hand to their head, looking down. With a sigh they shook their head and sat up straight. "How much farther til the next stop?"
Pulling down a map from the overhead they scanned over it before snapping it back in place. "At least a hundred miles. Next stop is Merchant Town." Returning their eyes to the never ending road before them a small smile crossed their face. "We'll make it. We stocked up plenty a week ago."
"It helps that we don't need to eat anymore." They pulled their knees up to their chest and stared out the window. "Though I can't say I don't miss it."
"Hmm..remember Pizza? Mikey's favorite?"
"Boy, do I. And all the crazy toppings he would add on it." A chuckle escaped their lips before they bit their lip. "Mikey..guys."
"Kara, thay're still alive. We will find them." Dragan narrowed her eyes determined to believe her own words.
"I know one who isn't." Kara gripped her knees before sitting up on her knees and turned around to check their passenger who was resting under a pile of blankets. "Think she'll make it?"
"Hmm, well, we hae plenty o' water so if she starts tae dehydrate we can help her wi that but the weather is what's really buggin' her. With the constant heat an nothing alive for miles I'm not surprised it's messin' wi her."
"I hate seeing her like this. She was always so strong and powerful and yet.." Kara looked down unable to finish her sentence.
"The world has changed. Those are the rules now." Dragan said with a soft sigh, keeping her eyes ahead.
Kara turned her head in front of her. "We've reached the entrance to the Savage Desert."
"Merchant Town is just beyond the desert. We should make it within a day or two."
"Clans of Outlaws run rampant in these parts. We should step on the gas."
With a nod, Dragan pressed her foot down on the gas and they sped off into the desert. It was only a matter of time before they would meet unfriendlies.
Hours later a soft noise heard in the back caused both girls to turn around and see the pile of blankets moving.
Kara hopped over the seat and bent down next to them, moving the blankets aside til an icy blue eye opened up, staring at her.
"How long was I out this time?" Brilliance slowly sat up from the pile of blankets, in her Drago form, and held her head tiredly.
"Three days." Kara gently said as she grabbed a container of water and held it up to her. Brilliance leaned forward and opened her mouth, Kara feeding her the water. "We've entered the Savage Desert. We're not too far from the next town." She set the container down and rummaged through their stuff and pulled out a granola bar and handed it to her.
"Thanks. There's some good news at least." Brilliance smiled at her while unwrapping the food and took a bite.
When nightfall came they decided to make camp, hiding their ride behind some boulders. At night the temperature dropped drastically but it didn't bother either of them none. In fact, Brilliance lavished in the cold.
Both girls could hear Brilliance giggle as she flew around in the sky.
At least someone is enjoying themselves." Dragan smiled as they sat around the fire.
"Its the only time she feels better." Kara smiled as well and suddenly stood to her feet. "I'm gonna walk around the area, make sure we're alone."
"Don't wander too far." Dragan called out while Kara walked away.
The coast was clear which brought some relief to her. For as long as she could remember they've been constantly on the run avoiding mutants expect when going to trading posts or towns. She stopped walking and stared up at the broken moon her eyes filled with sadness. "How did it all go so wrong.."
"Stay back, Kara! Don't come any closer!"
A horrified scream filled the room.
Kara squeezed her eyes shut not wanting to remember and she pressed her hands to her forehead. "Stop it.." She blinked when she heard a commotion and ran towards it.
Below the sand dunes she could see a vehicle and a group of mutants having a tussle. She bent down to one knee, making sure to keep herself hidden and closed her eyes. Placing both hands on the ground she was able to see the silhouettes of Honey Badgers and a bulky unknown.
"Honey Badger Ravagers again..typical. Doesn't look like the other guy isn't doing too good." She went to stand up when another unknown popped out of the vehicle like a jack-in-a-box and began to assist the large unknown. "Strange...he..he looks familiar.."
When they began to climb into their vehicle Kara turned and ran back to camp.
"Time to kick some badger butt!" Donnie shouted, climbing into the turret seat and began firing at the Badger gang. He turned his head to the side to see a Badger riding up the side aiming a rocket at him. "Zoinks! Really, really big rocket launcher!"
When it was fired Donnie turned the turret and fired a few shots, causing it to explode before impact but the force of the explosion shook their vehicle. Raph grunted and took a sharp turn driving through a narrow path.
Donnie continued to fire the turret and he aimed upwards at one that jumped a ledge and went to fire but blinked when something flew too fast for him to catch what it was; leaving no trace of the badger himself but an empty motorcycle that dropped to the ground. "Huh?" He voiced his confusion but he wasn't able to ponder the thought too long for another one was coming at him from above. He went to aim but once again, they were gone in a flash, this time he could hear a small giggle. He scratched the side of his head wondering what was going on when one of the badgers managed to get a hit on their ride. "Ah!" He exclaimed and went back to firing.
"Well, I was saving this for a rainy day." He could hear Raph say through their communicator knowing what he was holding in his hand.
"Newsflash, Raph. It hasn't rained in eight hundred and forty-two days, seven hours, and thirty-two minutes. Translation: USE IT!"
"It was an expression, Donnie.."
Donnie watched the bomb fly out of the vehicle and land right in the middle of the badger's circle, the explosion large enough to take all them out. With that as a distraction they were able to flee from the Ravagers, the leader yelling out his frustrations. "Woo-hoo! Kiss the Honey Badger Ravagers good-bye." Donnie leaned back, relaxing in his seat as they drove off.
Brilliance returned to the girls as they were driving to try and catch up to the unknowns. She landed on the roof and jumped down through the manhole, closing the hatch after landing. "They escaped the Ravagers. If we don't speed up we'll lose them."
"Can you follow them in the air?"
"Of course but dawn will soon be upon us. I won't last long being exposed to the sun too long."
Kara gritted her teeth and clenched her fingers around her seat belt.
"This seems important tae ya..why? We've alwyes kept tae ourselves."
"Something is telling me to follow them. This feeling is pushing me to go after and help them. I-I can't explain it."
Dragan stared at her a moment but smiled. "Good enough for me. Just like old times." She stepped on the gas.
"Monitoring scans indicate we're heading through the Impossible Wasteland. This area is said to be riddled with quicksand and dangerous desert monsters."
"That's where I was going." The Meerkat thief said.
"Through the wasteland?" Donnie asked in surprise.
"I'm looking for someone." Was all the Meerkat said.
"So you got a name beside car thief?" Raph glanced over at her then turned his eyes back to the road while Donnie spoke to the girl.
"How did you end up in the Wasteland all alone?"
"It's a long story."
"Don't you have a village or a tribe or something?"
"My family was destroyed a long time ago. They're gone."
"Us too. We had two brothers and friends. None of them made it through the M bomb." Raph's voice was dull but his eyes showed the sadness that he so desperately tried to hide.
"I am Mira of the Wild Meerkat Clan. How did you end up out here with that thing?" Mira asked trying to keep them distracted while she began to loosen herself from the restraints.
"That thing? I'm a person well, a turtle. Ok, a turtle mind and a robot body, but I-"
"He used to be like me, then the Mutagen Explosion went off." Raph cut Donnie short knowing he could, or would, ramble on for hours.
"My body was destroyed, but I was cybernetically wired to Metalhead Mark Two, a robot I designed, so I transferred my consciousness into this machine."
"Ok, ok. I have no idea what you're saying, but it's cool. Why are you on the road? Where are you two drongos going?"
"Nowhere. We hunt, look for food, fuel, weapons, and try to stay alive. That's about it."
"There's more to life than scavenging. I'm a believer. Oasis is out there. I know the Green Paradise is real."
"Ha! Oasis? Dream on, kid."
"You're wrong. Oasis is real, and I'm gonna find it." Mira narrowed her eyes and turned her head, staring out the window. No one was going to take her hope away from her. No one.
"The trail is still steamin' hot." Dragan said with a grin. She blinked when she notice the tracks had done a u-turn but she ignored them when they went right back to normal.
"They're getting close to the Impossible Wasteland. What are they doing?" Kara muttered to herself.
"Could just be movin' forward. Just like us."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Kara glanced out the window and noticed the sun was setting. "Think we should wake Brilliance up?"
"Not yet, she needs tae save her strength. We may hae a battle on our hands..." She slowed to a stop off to the side and climbed out of the vehicle staring down at the Ravagers surrounding the vehicle they were following. She grew curious when the leader of the Ravagers began speaking through a make shift mega phone, telling the guy in the car to surrender and hand over the keys. Her eyes widened when she heard the unknown inside the vehicle and then ran inside their car and looked at Kara. "Your intuition was right...It's Raph."
"Raph.." Kara whispered his name as though it was the first time to ever hear that name. A large smile crept on her face and she clenched her fist her smile turning into a grin.
Using the smoke from the engine as a smoke screen, Raph slammed on the gas, running over two vehicles before making his escape. Some of the Ravagers managed to catch up him on their bikes and began throwing make shift bombs fused with mutagen at them, the bombs creating small explosions with a powerful punch that rocked their vehicle. With a grunt, Raph made a sharp turn.
"We're going off road? Are you crazy?"
"Crazy wins the Wasteland, Don."
The Honey Badger Ravagers continued their assault on their ride. Donnie jumped up from his seat and climbed to the roof to the turret. Another jumper went to throw the explosives at him but Donnie was quicker, shooting him down and causing the bomb to explode on him instead.
The leader of the Ravagers, Rex, signaled his men to the left unaware that the ones in the back were simultaneously taken down by an unknown force, the same giggle from before going unheard through the explosions.
While Donnie was taking care of the Ravagers on the left, the leader, Rex, drove to the other side and changed his mechanical arm to a saw. "Ha! Your metal butt's mine now, robot!" He reached his saw hand to one of the wheels but Mira, who had freed herself and hid under the vehicle, used her whip, electric sparks flying around it, and snapped it at Rex's ride causing him to lose control for a moment.
"Going somewhere?" Using the opportunity she created, she jumped out of hiding and threw her weapon at him. He ducked his head down as the weapon flew past him and once Mira's feet touched his ride, she jumped up, catching her weapon, and attacked him.
Rex caught her weapon and glared at her only to gasp when he saw what was on her arm. "It's you, the girl marked with the map!"
Donnie shot at Rex's ride when he saw Mira in trouble. When he lost control, Mira jumped off his ride and glanced around another one heading her way and commandeered it, throwing the driver off it and sped up to catch up with the others.
Raph rammed one of the Ravagers but he growled feeling like there was no end to them. He lifted his head when he heard a train horn and used his goggles to see behind him, his eyes widening at the huge vehicle coming up behind them.
Donnie turned and fired at it but his bullets had no effect on them.
Rex aimed the bazooka he had in his hands and went to fire but blinked when he heard a sudden voice.
"CANONBAAAAAAALLLL!"
Suddenly, it felt like a massive force had made impact with their vehicle, causing it swerve and eventually fall on it's side.
"What was that?!" Rex shouted in anger as he pulled himself up. His eye widened when he saw a metal woman standing in the middle of the crater sized hole that now decorated his vehicle.
"Sorry, lad, can't hae ye hurtin' ma friend." Despite hearing shouts behind her she kept her eyes on the one in front of her. Two Ravagers raised their weapons to attack from behind but when they made contact it did nothing to her; the sound of metal against metal ringing through their ears. She turned around, looking unamused, and punched one in the face before grabbing the other and threw him into the one in front of her. She laughed when more began to fire at her but due to her whole body being completely metal, she felt no effect, and charged right at them. She held her arms at her side as they shifted into swords and with a battle cry, began her attack.
"You got this, Brilliance?" Kara asked, poking her head through the hatch.
"Go get them, Kara." Brilliance smiled at her, giving her a nod.
Kara nodded in return and stood on the roof of the van. The wind was strong and it eventually pulled away her hood, revealing her skin was rough and green with lines going down her face and tiny dots everywhere, her eye was completely blue with one single black dot to indicate the pupil. Her hair, now green as well, clung to her head, her bangs covering her right eye as usual. Kara removed the cloak and dropped it inside the van showing her body was the same as her face with the lines and dots on her. She clenched her hands while closing her eyes and puffed her cheeks til her body expanded like a sponge in water, needles poking out from the tiny holes on her body. 'Ready Brilliance!" Her voice was more gruff than before and she readied herself as the van drove towards the Ravagers and joined Dragan in the fighting.
With each smack or punch Kara gave to the Ravagers, her needles would stick into their skin causing them to whimper or cry out in pain before Dragan knocked them out. When the fighting was done, both of them were picked up.
"Who are those people?" Donnie asked, landing next to Raph seeing as they were helping them.
"I don't know, Donnie, but keep your guard up just in case. You never know what could happen here." He blinked when Mira was on one side of the vehicle and the van pulled up on the other side.
"Huh, that looks familiar." Donnie noted the shape of the van was similar to the Party Wagon but it looked like it had some work done to it, work similar to the Shellraiser.
When the window lowered and something caught their attention Donnie let out an audible gasp. "Raph! That's Brilliance!"
"Who?"
"She's a friend of ours. Pull over."
"If she's friendly she won't mind following us til we're at a safe distance." Raph turned to her and gestured his hand for her to follow them. Brilliance agreed, nodding her head, and obliged.
Once the Ravagers were far behind them, Raph stopped the vehicle, Mira abandoning the bike and went to assist Donnie with the repairs to their vehicle.
"Stay alert guys. I'll go talk to her." Raph stood in front of the two.
"I'm telling you, Raph, she's a good guy." Donnie tried to explain but Raph ignored him and walked towards their vehicle.
Brilliance was the first to step out.
"Wow, you've really grown, Raphael. Guess I can't call you little one anymore, huh?" She smiled at him but blinked when she noticed how tense he was. "Relax, Raphael, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a friend."
"How do I know that? It's not the first time I've been betrayed."
"Maybe they can put your mind at ease." Brilliance turned towards the door to the van and the first one to walk out was Dragan. She stood about an inch shorter than Raph, her body not only have matured over the years but was completely made of metal including her hair and clothes. She stood with her hands to her hips a wide smile on her face.
"D-Dragan?" Raph's eyes widened as images of Dragan hanging out, fighting along side them flashed through his mind.
Her smile softened and she walked towards Raph and placed her hands up to his face. "Ye are real. Good..long time no see, ol' friend." Before she could say another word he put his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.
"This can't be real. You..You're alive?" He whispered thinking all of his human friends were destroyed by the blast.
"What's not real is that beard o' yours, wooow." She said with a grin while pulling at it playfully. Yeah, buddy, I'm here." She whispered reassuringly. "It's not just Brilliance an I though." She moved out of the hug and turned around, Kara walking out next, her body returning to it's normal shape. She was still shorter than Dragan but her body had aged into that of an adult's as well. She walked up to them, her needles retracting and she stared up at him. "Ra-"
With a laugh he felt like he hadn't done in years, he pulled them both into a hug. "I can't believe you're still alive! But how?"
"Whose alive, Raph?"
Kara's eyes widened hearing an all too familiar voice and she let go of Raph, going around him to see Metalhead's newest body. "Wha.."
"K-Kara?" Donnie whispered, his voiced filled with awe.
She wasn't dreaming, it really was his voice.
Both of them took slow steps towards the other til both of them stopped right in front of each other.
Kara slowly reached her hand up touched his face. "D-Donnie..is that really you?"
Brilliance, Dragan, and Kara rummaged through the rubble of the place they once called their second home. Brilliance was off to the side while the two girls worked together. Brilliance found something due to her reaction and Kara looked over at her.
"What did you find?" She asked, going towards her unable to see her expression.
"Stay back, Kara! Don't come any closer!" Brilliance shouted, turning around to stop her, her eyes wide in horror and panic.
It was too late. Kara could see Donnie's mangled body under the rubble. He was almost unrecognizable if it wasn't for his mouth hanging open revealing the gap between his two front teeth.
Dragan ran up to them and her eyes fell upon Donnie as well and she covered her mouth in horror.
Kara grabbed the side of her head and let out a scream. Brilliance immediately embraced her to hide her from the scene but the damage had already been done. Kara screamed and cried into her.
Donnie gently stroked her bangs aside with a finger and saw her purple eye. "Kara, you're alive and mutated. Kara.."
"And you're a robot but I don't care. You're alive and oh god you're alive!" She jumped into his arms, tears streaming down her face.
He whispered her name over and over again as he held her tight, fearing he would never see her again.
She didn't want him to stop calling her. She didn't want to stop hearing his voice, the voice she thought was long gone.
Brilliance and the others watched the two love birds and couldn't help but smile.
The reunion now done and over with Dragan helped Mira and Donnie repair their rig.
"I noticed you upgraded the Party Wagon, Dragan."
"It helps that ma parents did things like this for a livin'. Who knew it would come in handy." At the mention of her parents Dragan began to grow silent and she lowered her head.
Figuring he hit a touchy subject he decided to change it.
"I'm glad you were so..persistent, Mira, you've helped us a lot."
"Yeah, you're a survivor. I like that." Raph and Kara walked around the corner, Raph having cut his beard off with Kara's help and rubbed the now naked skin. "Not bad with a blade either. Reminds me of old Leo."
Brilliance walked up to Raph and Mira, offering them water and food, knowing they needed it more than them.
"Thank you." Mira took the water and took a long swig before letting out a sigh. "There's a mystic out there somewhere in the Wasteland. He knows secrets. They say he's a turtle, like you. Some call him the Holy Chalupa." Mira glanced at them all and saw everyone's ears perk up and their eyes widen.
Dragan, Brilliance, and Kara all looked at each other and smiled bright at the thought of seeing more of their friends again.
"Michelangelo?" Raph whispered in disbelief.
To be continued til the next chapter~~ I hope you guys loved it! I know I did writing it hehe.
To Mariah: Yes, I'm going to continue writing til the last episode. I'm pretty sure you and everyone else who likes this would be pretty ticked off if I suddenly stopped now.
To Natalie: No, I don't think I'll be doing the movies. Think I'm going to stick with this and another possible TMNT idea which..I will not tell.
You all know the routine! Rate/Comment! All feedback is much appreciated. See ya!