Chapter 5

Mikey's POV

"I'm Princess Giovanna Marcosse. Again, I ask, who are you?" She spoke again. A princess? I've always wanted to meet a princess. Just like Rapunzel she could get locked away in a tower, and I would save her. Or, I could kill a dragon to save her! My brothers and I have fought dragons in the past, we WERE dragons briefly as well. Either way, I will rescue her and she can knight me!

"What?" Looking up I saw the princess glaring at me, a protective gleam in her eye. "I do not need rescuing, and to insinuate that I would is absolutely preposterous. AND you have yet to tell me who you are." She was definitely mad.

I felt a smack across the back of my head, "way to go peabrain" Donnie said with a disappointing look upon his face. "I apologize for my brother's lack of respect. I'm Donatello, this dork beside me who cannot keep his thoughts to himself is Michelangelo. In the red bandanna is my brother Raphael, and in the blue bandanna is our brother, leader and sensei Leonardo."

We all waved as we were introduced by Don. "I believe that we are from a different dimension. We walked through a cave and arrived here just behind us through the tall grass. We do not mean any harm." Don spoke with a gentle tone in his voice, trying to rectify the situation I made for us. I must have spoken what I was thinking out loud, instead of saying it in my mind.

"You came through the cave?" Giovanna's tone changed from anger to awe. "Girls come out, these four are not our enemies. Three other turtles slowly rose out of the tall grass surrounding us. Each sporting braided bandanna's of their own. One yellow, one pink and one a light purple. "Allow me to introduce my team" Giovanna spoke proudly. "The shinobi with the pink bandanna is Elizabeth, the one with a yellow bandanna is Katerina, and the one with the lilac bandanna is Lavinia."

"It is an honour and a pleasure to meet you all." Leo spoke formally, bowing before the team of shinobi standing before us.

"You have already met my younger brother Vincenzo." Giovanna spoke, turning slightly towards her brother. "Vinny, go make sure that Soph, Addi and Vikki get home safe please. My team will be escorting our guests to the castle. I will be sending someone to check on you, so no fooling around today."

"Hai Gio. Okay, be safe." Vinny responded before leaping out of sight. "Please follow my team. We must head to the castle before night falls." My brothers and I followed as Giovanna's team led. Giovanna staying behind. As usual, Leo placed himself to be in the best position of defense. Raph followed suit by stepping ahead of myself and Don.

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Raph's POV

I walked slightly in front of Don and Mikey. The female turtles spread out around us, Elizabeth in front of me. Lavinia to Donnie's left, and Katerina to Mikey's right. Giovanna at the back, Leo walking side by side with her, ensuring our safety as always.

I could sense Leo's unease and the duty to protect, radiating from his body language. I personally did not feel that same unease. In fact, I felt safe and welcomed by these turtles. They were clearly trained in ninjutsu, as they had been introduced as shinobi. If they wanted to hurt us, they would have done so already. I could understand with all that we have been through, Leo not letting his guard down for any reason.

Mike's outburst about wanting to rescue a princess and be knighted almost got us into trouble earlier. He's lucky Don was able to salvage that mess. Giovanna looked as though she was about to kick turtle shell. Something about the look she had in her eye reminded me of Leo, and the cold, dark look that makes fear radiate through an enemy's body. However, Leo has that look mastered to the point where he strikes that fear right into your heart. He can be pretty vicious when he wants to be, especially when it comes to protecting his family.

It's an unusual feeling to be around other turtles that look like us. Officially we are still four of a kind, as we were mutated by accident, but from what I have seen, I'd assume these turtles were born in this world.

"Welcome to Terraria, Turtle City of Saurian." Elizabeth announced from in front of me. As we entered the city, a familiar feeling washed over my body. There were small turtles playing on the roads. Mothers and fathers watching the young or feeding the hatchlings. Many shops were run by adult turtles. The city may not be as advanced in technology, and they may not have cars, but it does give off a homely atmosphere. Not one person batted an eye as my brothers and I walked through the city. It's normal for them. They don't understand the fear that my brothers and I have, of having to be cautious and watching our backs consistently. Keeping our very existence a secret.

Even though we could walk around in the open at the farmhouse we still had to remain vigilant. We've had many close encounters over the years, between people hunting for bigfoot in the woods, or just neighbours sneaking around. Feeling a grin form on my face at the thought of being able to walk around with no fear in this world, brought a joy over me that I have never experienced before.

Don touching my shoulder as we stopped moving, snapped me back to reality. I sighed, that is just wishful thinking. Regaining my composure, I noticed we were now face to face with bright silver palace gates. An emerald turtle shell emblem on the gate, with brown colours outline the ridges of the shell's patterns. Standing on each side of the gate were two green turtles in silver ninja-yoroi, with an emerald emblem on the back.