Chapter Twelve
In the middle of the woods on the other side of the river, Pandora had no idea her family were on the other side, nor did she know that Hatchet and Mitch were tracking her.
She sat there for a long time with the Green Man cubs as they nuzzled her and snuggled with her.
The two parents walked around them and grunted at each other, and Pandora wondered what they were doing.
As she watched, she remembered Donatello telling her, as well as Tyroth the Dragon in Mutopia when they had lessons that all animals had their own languages.
She was aware that Tyroth had his own dragon language, as well as his native Swedish which he was teaching to his kids Freya and Loki.
"That must be it!" she thought "They can talk to each other! In their own tongue! Very much how I know English, they speak Green Man…like Mitch speaks dog!"
She watched them for a bit as she continued to stroke the cubs as well as lean against Jade.
"I wonder what they're speaking about?" She thought.
Her question was soon answered when the Mother Green Man came over to Jade and nuzzled her.
Jade nuzzled her back, then the mother began to make a few grunts and nod her head as well as gesture towards Pandora.
Jade was silent then began to whine a little, but the mother grunted again.
The other cubs also whined and the one that had been laying over Pandora's legs began to rub its head against Pandora's lap.
It soon dawned on the hybrid what they were speaking of.
The parents had been discussing her, (Pandora) and how she didn't belong with them and had to go back to her own kind, and Jade and her siblings would have to say goodbye to her.
Jade whined a little more and started to nuzzle Pandora again.
Pandora felt tears come to her own eyes as she remembered how she felt when Kemeko and Michelangelo had reminded her that Jade couldn't stay with them and they couldn't take her back to New York, and now Jade was being told the same thing about Pandora by her parents, yet Jade was reluctant.
Pandora leaned against Jade as the cub rubbed against her.
"Your mama's right Jade!" Pandora agreed "I can't stay here, I need to be with my parents, grandpa, Aunt, Uncles, and my cousin Kemeko, but I'll never forget you! I promise!" she hugged Jade around the neck and nuzzled her.
The parents also came over and nuzzled Pandora then the father grunted, and the cubs stood up, Jade helping Pandora to stand up again because of her injured leg.
"Will you take me home?" Pandora asked, "I live on the other side of the river!" she pointed towards the river and the parents looked that way before grunting at each other.
Pandora wondered if they understood her and what she wanted, then she saw Jade lower herself and Pandora climbed onto her back.
No sooner did she do so when the father Green Man stood up straight then he looked to the side to see some birds flying over the clearing and cawing loudly as if in distress!
Pandora's stomach lurched.
She wondered if it was her family, or worst-case scenario, Hatchet and Mitch were on their trail!
The father growled as he watched and moved so his back was against his family and Pandora and the mother moved close to him shielding the cubs.
Pandora looked over and what she saw made her heart sink and she started to panic.
"Good tracking boy! I knew we'd catch up to them!"
Out of the shade of trees, Mitch and Hatchet appeared!
"Oh no!" Pandora breathed "Oh shit no!"
"You thought you could escape alien!?" Hatchet shouted as he started to walk over "I got you now!"
"No!" Pandora cried "Please! We mean no harm! Just leave us alone!"
"Oh, you think I'm gonna just let you walk away?" Hatchet asked as he held up his gun and Mitch began to snarl "You're not of this world and you're gonna make me rich!"
Pandora glared.
"You want to hurt an innocent family? Just for a mound of dollars?" she asked, "Where is your heart at?"
Hatchet said nothing but he glared and pulled back the flintlock of his gun.
Pandora looked at the Green Men and she tapped Jade's side.
"Run!" she shouted "RUN!"
At once, the Green Men roared, reared up and began to run out of the clearing and into the woods!
"Mitch! Sick 'em!" Hatchet shouted and at once the dog began to run behind the Green men.
The mother at the front and the father at the rear of the cubs and Pandora, they ran through the forest with Mitch hot on their heels.
Pandora clung hard onto Jade's fur and held on tight with her knees despite the pain she felt in her wounded leg.
"You can run but you can't hide!" Hatchet shouted as he ran after them, if not a little further behind due to not being as fast.
"Don't lose them Mitch!"
On the other side of the river, the Turtles, Monalisa, April, Casey and Kemeko were still mourning Pandora thinking she had drowned in the river, yet Splinter kept sniffing the air until he suddenly picked up Pandora's scent again.
"Wait a minute!" he said then turned to Leonardo who was standing nearest to him.
"Leonardo!" he got his older son's attention and the blue masked turtle turned to him.
"What is it sensei?" he sniffed, wiping his eyes then as he observed the rat's face, he noticed he had found something, and a small ray of hope lit up in him.
"I found Pandora's scent!" Splinter clarified "I just picked it up again! And it's close!"
As he said that, the others looked up and Monalisa and Raphael looked up from sobbing and comforting each other.
"Master?" Monalisa cried "You found something?!"
"My baby?" Raphael asked desperately "She's alive!?"
Michelangelo, Donatello, Kemeko, April and Casey also heard and they looked around.
"Where? Where!?" Michelangelo asked desperately.
Splinter sniffed the air again, then his ears pricked up as he heard noises on the other side of the river.
At the same time, the ninjas heard the same sounds having done the training to listen to the tiniest sounds despite every other noise around them.
Raphael then saw the trees on the other side rustle then his eyes widened as he saw six Green Men galloping out of the woods, yet what shocked him more was that he saw Pandora riding on one of the cubs' back!
"There she is!" Raphael shouted.
"Pandora!?" Monalisa cried in alarm.
"Oh boy!" Casey cried "I knew I wasn't imagining it!"
Kemeko and Michelangelo cried out and at once they began to run along the bank trying to catch up with the Green Men and Pandora on the other side.
"Pandora! Pandora!" Kemeko shouted.
"Geisha! Little Geisha!" Michelangelo screamed waving his arms.
At once the others ran after them and saw Pandora on the other side.
"Pandora!" Raphael shouted, both in fear but also anger realising what was going on.
"Pandora!" Monalisa also shouted then her eyes widened as she saw Mitch following the terrified Green Men.
"Oh no!" she yelled "It's Hatchet's Dog!"
"Oh crap!" Casey cried.
"He must have tracked them and Pandora down!" Donatello said.
"No shit Sherlock!" Raphael barked at his purple masked brother.
"We gotta get over to her!" Monalisa cried.
"How?!" April asked.
"I don't know, but we have to hurry!" Monalisa yelled back.
"We can't swim in the river!" Leonardo yelled "No matter how good swimmer we are!"
"He's right!" Donatello agreed "The currents will drag us under!"
"I'm willing to risk it to save my baby girl!" Raphael roared as he ran faster.
"Don't be a fool!" Splinter shouted.
Raphael was about to answer back when Kemeko pointed out to the river.
"Look!" she shouted, "A Tree Trunk!"
The others also looked, and they saw a large fallen tree truck was in the water and across the river blocked by a large stone sticking out, providing some sort of a bridge.
Leonardo grinned and turned to his daughter.
"Lotus! You're a genius!" he praised then turned to the others "Follow my lead!"
He then grabbed Kemeko's hand and the two of them leapt expertly on the trunk, Splinter and Monalisa followed him.
Donatello scooped April in his arms and leapt over and Michelangelo and Raphael took Casey's arms and leapt onto the log.
They soon made it to the other side, and at the same time, Pandora and the Green Men galloped over to where they had leapt over.
Upon seeing her parents, Aunt, Uncles, Grandfather and cousin, Pandora was shocked.
"Mum! Dad!"
The Green Men also saw them and skidded to a stop in alarm seeing them, in fact they stopped so suddenly that Pandora lost her grip and fell off Jade's back!
The Parents growled at the mutants and humans who stood their ground, yet they looked at Pandora as she rolled over after falling off and wanted to go over, yet they didn't want to put her in danger by aggravating the Green Men who reared up and roared!
Pandora quickly rolled out of the way before she was accidently stamped on and held up her arms.
"Stop! Stop!" she cried "it's alright! They won't hurt you! They're my family!"
Jade also joined in with the grunts and stood over Pandora to protect her.
Raphael and Monalisa stared in shock and bewilderment.
"So, this was what was going on?!" Leonardo cried.
"I can't believe my eyes!" Monalisa exclaimed.
"Pandora!" Raphael shouted as he looked at his daughter "What the shell is going on here!?"
Splinter raised his paws and was about to speak when his eyes widened, and he suddenly saw Mitch appear barking and howling and Hatchet not far behind!
"Now I gotcha!" he shouted cocking his gun.
Pandora gasped in horror and the other mutants and April, Casey and Kemeko went pale as they saw Hatchet appear…..
So the Turtles, Mona, Splinter, April, Casey and Kemeko have found Pandora and the Green Men! Yet Hatchet and Mitch have caught up with them! Oh no!
We end on a cliffhanger! What will be the outcome of this? Well stayed tuned to find out readers!