AUTHOR'S NOTES
Hey guys! I'm back! Sorry about this. I took a personal break from writing to deal with personal stuff and also needed to get a new laptop. It's good to be back into writing and I hope you enjoy the new chapter! So without further ado, on with the story!
The sun was setting, giving off a beautiful orange glow. On a makeshift raft, Casey was pushing it down the river with Danny and the Turtles, April, Sam, Tucker and Jazz.
SAM: I love nature. It's beauty, it's balance and perfection. It's full of wonderful surprises.
APRIL: Nature reminds me of what I learned in school about the scientist, Charles Darwin. Darwin believed in the survival of the fittest. He explained how life on Earth could be defined, simply as the struggle for existence.
An eagle looked down at the river below from above and saw a fin, believing it to be a fish and immediately swooping down to catch it for its dinner. However, the fin disappeared and instead, apir of green scaly hands grabbed onto the eagle's talons.
The eagle screeched in fright as it struggled to get out of the mysterious underwater creature's grip. Finally, it escaped and immediately flew off away from the danger.
SAM: Although it seems that the struggle for existence, is never that simple.
SONS OF THE SILENT AGE
Danny, the Turtles, Sam, April, Jazz and Tucker were all standing on a bridge over the river below Docked on the river was a makeshift raft with all their camping gear on, ready to go. Since Danny, the Turtles and Master Splinter were almost fully recovered from their injuries inflicted on them by the Shredder and Plasmius, they were going to head back to New York soon.
But before they would, they decided to have one last camping trip. Casey swung down from where he was hanging on the bridge and said as he landed next to Leo, "What are we still hanging around here for? The sun's about to set. Let's raft down the river like we said we would, and get this camping trip in gear."
He knelt down beside Leo and asked, "Yo Leo! What do you say? What's going down bro?"
Leo simply said emotionless, "Down. The river, I suppose."
"Okay….." Casey said, confused by the way Leo answered.
Donnie and Mikey were already on the raft as the orange-masked wearing ninja turtle called out, "Ladies and gentlemen, halfas and teenage mutant ninja turtles! This is the first and final boarding call for the U.S.S Turtlerific! The most happening party cruise raft this side of…uh…Casey's grandma's farmhouse! Tickets please!"
Raph smirked and said, "Oh I got your ticket…"
He then shouted as he jumped off the bridge, "RIGHT HERE! HA HA!"
He cannonballed into the river and splashed Mikey, causing the turtle to fall backwards on the raft. Everyone except Leo, laughed at what happened which didn't go unnoticed by Danny.
The full moon shone down on the river as Casey pushed the raft with the stick. April smiled at the sight and said, "The river is so perfect. Flowing just as it had for tens thousands of years. Ancient, mysterious and alive."
"Nature is full of so much wonder and surprises." Sam added, agreeing with April. "I remember coming out here all the time with mum, dad and grandma when I was a kid."
"Yeah, but no offence April, but the way you described nature….was almost a little spooky." Mikey commented.
They suddenly heard a noise, and April asked a little spooked, "What was that?"
Suddenly, an owl swooped right by before heading back into the sky, taking them all by surprise.
"Relax. It's just a barn owl. Nothing to fear." Casey re-assured his girlfriend.
April smiled and said to Donnie and Jazz, "Sometimes Casey can be so cool. Like now; focused and grown up, mature even."
Casey suddenly let out a belch, making the three of them look at him with slight disgust. Jazz and Donnie then said, "You were saying?"
As they continued down the river, Danny kept looking at Leo who was sitting at the back of the raft in silence. He hadn't said a single word or even smiled since the beginning of this trip. Ever since their final fight with the Shredder and Plasmius, Leo had changed. He seemed moody, angry and different which caused for concern.
He decided to share his concerns with Jazz, Tucker and Sam. He said quietly, "Guys, I'm really starting to worry about Leo. Have you guys noticed the change in his behaviour lately? Ever since we got back to Earth?"
"Now that you mentioned it dude, yeah." Tucker answered. "Did something happen on that ship?"
"Other than us nearly getting killed by Shredder and Plasmius or nearly blown up? That's all I could think of." Danny answered.
"Have you tried asking him what's wrong?" Sam asked.
Danny nodded and then said, "He keeps brushing it off. Saying he's fine. But he's not fine."
"Maybe once we set up camp, I could try and talk to him?" Jazz suggested.
Danny nodded in agreement, hoping his sister would be able to find out what was troubling his older brother.
April woke up from her quick powernap and noticed up ahead was nuclear power plant and said, "Oh my! I didn't know we lived so close to one of these."
"I saw it on the local news, they're closing this place down." Casey said as they floated by.
Inside, workers were going around the plant doing clean-ups and final checks before the final shut-down. Sam then commented, "Glad to see that someone has finally come their senses. This place is an environmental nightmare."
"Ah yes! Nuclear power plants. Once heralded as the future of energy, but they've become the Purple Dragons of energy production. Hard to clean after and even harder to get rid of." Donnie said as he looked at the plant. "But it looks like those cooling towers are already rigged for demolition. So, this is one nuclear power plant that no-one has to worry about anymore."
They were all unaware that under the water, something was swimming near them. A green scaled fin surfaced from the river, before diving back down under.
Leo continued to stare down at the water as Casey asked, "Hey Leo, help me out up here brp? Up ahead on the left. Is that the turn to Oxbow Lake that Master Splinter told us about?"
Leo merely glanced at the turn coming up and answered, "Yeah. That should be the way to Norwatakagi."
The green fin appeared again and then dived back down into the water as Mikey asked confused, "Nor-whata-whata?"
"Norwatakagi." Donnie corrected. "That's what the Native Americans that used to live here called the lake. It means; lake of the lost tribe."
More green fins kept submerging then diving back into the water. Underneath them, several dark figures could be seen swimming and the moonlight revealed, green scaly webbed hands with sharp claws.
Later on, they had set up their tents and sat around a campfire, laughing and having a good time. Well, everyone except Leo who stood away from the group and just continued to look out at the lake.
"Here's a good joke. How come Utroms are always so lonely?" Tucker joked. "Because they got no body!"
Everyone laughed at that joke. And then Danny offered as he pulled out a bag of marshmallows from his bag, "Anyone hungry? I got stuff to make smores."
Jazz then looked at the Leo and decided that it was the right time to go and try and talk to him. She stood up and walked up standing beside him. She then asked, "Leo, is everything okay? Are you okay for that matter? I know something has been bothering you and Danny's worried too."
"Yeah…I don't know. Well maybe I do." Leo began to answer, his eyes furrowing with slight anger as his fists curled up tightly. "I guess I can't just stop thinking about the last time we face the Shredder and Plasmius. That the only way we could've defeated them, was by blowing ourselves up! I couldn't protect my brothers, my master and now I feel like such a failure and no matter how much I try to rationalise it or justify it, it always comes down to the fact that I wasn't good enough!"
He looked back out to the lake and suddenly saw something emerging up from the river, "Jazz, look!"
She looked and her eyes widened as she saw what Leo was looking out. Emerging from the lake, appeared to be some kind of female, green-scaled fish creature with fins on her head and under her forearms. All over her body in different areas, were dark marks.
She stood fully up in the water and began walking towards them, coming onto the land. Jazz called out to the others, "Um….guys? We have company."
They stood up from their spots and stood ready, just in case she attacked. The fish-woman continued to walk towards them, but then collapsed right before them.
Sam and April ran right over to the fish woman and April was the first to speak, "She's hurt bad."
"Mikey, quick! In my backpack, get my first aid kit and my tech tab." Donnie instructed.
Mikey immediately ran towards the tent, heading for Donnie's bag. Sam and April turned the fish woman over onto her back as Danny asked, "What is she? Some kind of fish?"
Sam checked her pulse and then said, "Well, she doesn't have gills. Her pulse is faint, like there's not one at all."
April checked her air and said, "She's not breathing."
Mikey returned with the first aid kit and tech tab. Donnie used the machine to immediately scan the fish woman and said, "According to my tech tab, these markings are burns. Radiation burns. She's been exposed to a massive dose of radiation."
"Sam, give me a hand. I'll make sure her throats clear and begin CPR." April instructed.
Mikey then noticed several more fish people emerging from the water, only these ones were clearly male and they were making their way towards them, growling and snarling.
"Umm guys? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are more fish people coming and they are not looking happy!" Mikey warned.
"It must look like we're hurting her. Keep them away and give us more time." April said as Casey had taken over compressions, while Sam kept her hands on the fish woman's neck, feeling for any sign of a pulse.
Danny changed into his ghost form and stood ready with his brothers. Leo had made the first move. He pulled out his katana and leapt forward, swinging it at one of the fish men for a strike, only for the water creature to jump back. Leo charged again, but the fish man got on his back and flipped Leo right into the river.
"LEO!" Raph shouted and charged right at the fish man and pulled him into the water.
Donnie and Mikey were suddenly overpowered and grabbed by the fish men, who had begun dragging them into the river and taking them underwater.
Danny kicked and punched at the fish men, but the fish men had proven to be quite strong. He then noticed what was happening and during his distraction, two fish men suddenly tackled Danny and dragged him into the water.
"They got the guys!" Casey shouted.
A couple of minutes went by and Casey stopped giving the fish woman compressions and said, "It's no use April! She's not responding and what about the guys? Those fish dudes dragged them under the water and they ain't coming up!"
Sam and April suddenly groaned and began to look at the fish woman as if they were in some kind of trance.
"April? Sam? Are you guys listening?" Tucker asked, waving his hand in front of their faces, but it didn't phase them at all.
"What's going on?" Casey asked, worried about his girlfriend in particular and also worried about Danny and the Turtles.
"Are they under some sort of trance?" Jazz asked, also worried.
Suddenly Sam and April began speaking at the same time, "We..we are the last five…"
It turns out, the fish woman had connected to Sam and April telepathically and began to share her story with them.
FLASHBACK
"The last of a once proud race. We began as slaves in the lost city of Y'Lynthias."
A fish man in shackles, bent down in fear as an Y'Lynthian was about to use a whip on him. Suddenly, other fish men and women roared in anger and charged at their cruel masters, finally fighting back after so many years of enslavement.
"But we would suffer at the hands of the cruel Y'Lynthians for only so long. There was revolt! Revolution! I was but a child back then. There was so much confusion and chaos!"
A small female fish child in chains walked around and then huddled against a wall in fear at all the violence and chaos happening around her. Her mother then found her and picked her up. She then watched along with the rest of her people who were in the water as the island sunk beneath the water.
"I remember watching Y'Lyntias sinking beneath the waves and my mother telling me that were finally free! Our tribe swam the seven seas, searching far and wide for a place to call our own. The currents lead us to a new unspoiled land, where we could live in peace. Where we could spawn and raise our young. Where we would no-one's slave ever again."
The fish people swam, until they finally emerged from the ocean to a brand-new land. They made their home at the river and had lived their lives peacefully for so long. The fish child grew into the fish woman who April, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Casey, Danny and the Turtles would eventually meet.
The fish woman smiled at her reflection in the river, until she and her people had seen smoke coming from the woods.
"We had found our new home, but we are a long-lived people and time moves ever onward. Soon the unspoiled land the seas had led us to, was not so fresh anymore."
The fish woman watched from the bushes as Native Americans had settled on the land and then over time, more humans began settling and building on the land. Time had moved on and now, modern society had taken over the place the fish people had called home for so long.
"Not so unspoiled. Faster than we could ever really believe. There was nowhere else left for us to go."
The fish woman returned and found their home cluttered with rubbish and the river began to become polluted.
"We moved closer to the river, but it did no good. My people had begun to feel sick."
The woman went to the river and dived in, swimming towards to a small number of eggs that were under the water.
"The responsibility fell to me to tend to the few remaining eggs. Our last generation, our last hope. They cling to life, but just barely."
The fish woman tended to the eggs and then returned to the surface and suddenly, held herself in pain.
"I do all that I can, but I fear that it is not enough. I am only one! And I am so tired…"
A green substance began flowing down the river as the woman fell unconscious. The source of the green substance was coming from the nuclear power plant, showing that it was radioactive waste.
Jazz, Tucker and Casey were really beginning to get worried as San and April were still in a trance.. Jazz then asked, "April, Sam, are you two okay?"
"What is going on?" Tucker asked.
"I don't know, but we gotta do something here!" Casey said, slightly panicking.
Meanwhile, Danny and the Turtles continued to fight against the fish people under the water, which was proving to be rather difficult. A fish man punched Raph right in the chest and sent him crashing into the underwater rocks.
The fish man then charged, but Raph grabbed the fish man by his arms and slammed right into the ground. Raph swam and saw Leo fighting against his opponent with his sword. The fish man turned and grabbed a tyre and threw it, but Leo sliced it in half with his blade.
The fish man growled and threw one of the pieces at Leo. Raph grabbed the fish man he had taken out and threw him towards the fish man fighting against Leo and knocked him away. Leo and Raph then swam where Donnie was.
A fish man had tied him to the river floor and began to choke him to drown him, but Raph punched him away. Leo then set Donnie free by cutting away the seaweed.
A fishman held onto to Danny tightly, until Danny's eyes glowed blue and suddenly, the fish man was frozen over in a thick case of ice.
Danny broke free as the frozen fish man floated away in his icy prison.
Sam and April continued to remain in a trance. The fish woman suddenly moved and held Sam's hand and then placed her other hand onto April's face. The girls suddenly found themselves seeing a new vision…
Radioactive waste continued to fall into the river, this time flowing more freely and faster. The eggs in the river began to crack, indicating they were hatching. Suddenly a whole wave of radioactive waste washed down the river as the eggs finally hatched and the fish babies emerged.
The wall broke and the radioactive waste slammed into the water. The babies were hit with the waste full on and because of the amount of radiation, they were dying.
The fish woman then suddenly collapsed, and April and Sam had finally broken out of the trance. Casey then asked, "Are you two okay? You went all freaky on us?"
"My mind is spinning. She showed us so much, it's hard to take in." April said, still in shock.
"One things for sure, there was a whole reason she had shown us." Sam added, also in slight shock by what she had seen.
Danny and the Turtles were making their way back towards the surface, when they found their path blocked by several fish men.
April tried once again to do CPR, but Sam did another pulse check and there none. She felt the fish woman's chest and felt no heartbeat. She gently grabbed April's hands and stopped her from doing compressions.
They all looked at Sam, who shook her head and then looked down in sadness. The fish woman they had tried so hard to save, was dead. April looked down in sadness and allowed Casey to comfort her by placing his hand on her shoulder.
The fish men were about to fight, but then stopped as it seemed they sensed something. All the fish men then began making their way to the surface. The fish men emerged and made their way back onto land.
Danny and the Turtles emerged also and quickly headed back to the land. Jazz, Sam, Tucker, April and Casey all stood back as the fish men walked up to them. One of the fish men then closed the fish woman's eyes and all four of them picked her up and began carrying her back to the river.
They all watched as the fish men laid her body in the water and allowed her to float away, before she fell the water where her body would be at peace forever more.
Sam and April then realised something. Sam was the first to speak, "Wait a minute! Her burns! Her burns had come from the nuclear power plant. She was trying to save her eggs!"
"What eggs Sam?" Jazz asked.
"Her eggs. Her babies. The nuclear power plant is leaking radioactive fuel, right near where the fish woman had laid her last eggs. Don't ask us how we know, but we know! And we've got to try and save them." April said with urgency.
"She must've shown us that vision, in hopes that would help her." Sam added.
They had rowed the raft back at the nuclear power plant. Mikey then voiced out his concerns about their mission, "I don't know guys. We've been to some nasty places, being ninja turtles and halfas and all, but this place really gives me the creeps."
They looked around the area. Raph then asked the girls, "What do you think girls? Is this it?"
"I can't tell. Some of this area looks familiar from the vision." April answered as she and Sam looked around. "But it's hard to be sure."
"I definitely recognise some of this." Sam answered.
Donnie looked down at his tech tab and informed them, "According to my readings, the workers have safely contained and cleaned up the area inside and immediately around the nuclear reactor."
"I'm gonna take a wild guess here; there's also some bad news?" Danny asked.
Donnie gestured to the damaged land beyond the plant and answered, "Unfortunately yes. It looks like they completely neglected to clean up anything beyond the plant itself."
Jazz then noticed the water and the nuclear waste flowing into it and pointed out, "Guys, this water is completely contaminated with radioactive waste."
She pointed out to the small tower and added, "The nuclear rod cooling pool is leaking into the creek."
Donnie noticed the dike (a long wall or embankment built to prevent flooding from the sea) and added, "It's worse. That dike over there? It's about to burst."
Hearing and seeing that, made both Sam and April gasp as they started to remember the vision. The vision of the dike breaking, all the nuclear radiation flowing into the river and the babies hatching, swimming right into it.
"The river! That's where the fish woman had laid her eggs!" Sam exclaimed.
April added, "We must do something to save those eggs. If the eggs hatch and swim through that leaking radiation, they'll all perish, and her sacrifice will be in vain."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Raph said, twirling his sais in his hands, ready for some action.
"I always wanted to take down an environmental nightmare, but if we're gonna do this, we have to come up with a safe plan because of all the radiation around." Sam said, worried about what will happen if they aren't careful?"
"Donnie, any ideas?" She then asked.
Donnie thought about it and then said, "When they take down cooling towers, they're always rigged to blow up and implode inwards. We might be able to re-rig one of these so it falls outwards…."
Jazz suddenly got it and continued, "Creating a new barrier to bloke the leaking dike, thus stopping any more waste from flowing into the river!"
"But what about the radiation?" Casey asked.
"The cooling towers themselves aren't radioactive." Tucker answered. "We should be fine to do this without wearing bio-suits."
"Then the first thing we gotta do is sneak inside." Raph said.
"Right and like the Three Musketeers would say, 'One for all and…all for ninja mode!" Mikey said, making it up as he completely forgot the quote.
Danny groaned, slapped Mikey on the back of the head and commented, "You really should re-read actual books Mikey to avoid further quote mishaps."
With a plan in mind, they began their mission. Danny, Raph, Leo, Mikey and Casey were the first to climb over the fence and stealthily made their way across the plant. Donnie and Tucker then jumped over the fence and carefully began making their way over to the cooling towers.
They hid behind a rubbish bin, where a racoon was sitting on it, going through the rubbish. Donnie scared off the racoon. The creature screeched in fright and ran off, dropping a banana peel as it did.
He then pulled out his shell cell and called April, Jazz and Sam and then said quietly, "Alright girls, Tucker and I are almost there. Another thirty seconds and we'll be in position."
"Roger that. We'll signal the others." April replied, her, Jazz and Sam hiding among the trees.
Mikey, Casey, Danny, Raph and Leo made their way towards a door and stood ready. Mikey's shell cell rang, and he answered, "Mikey's party line, who's your daddy?'
"Donnie is in position." April informed him.
It was time to put their plan into action, starting with a diversion. Raph waved his sai at the top of the door sensors, triggering the alarm and alerting the workers that there were intruders. The workers made their way to the door, but found no-one there.
With all the workers in one area and well-distracted, Tucker and Donnie had made it to the cooling tower and went inside. Donnie and Tucker went up to control panel for demolition and Donnie opened it to reveal the wires.
Donnie began re-wiring it as he said, "A little creative re-wiring…"
He then closed the panel, allowing Tucker at the controls. He activated it and set a timer as he finished, "And we should have a new damn in about sixty seconds."
With the timer starting, Donnie and Tucker exited the cooling tower and began making their way back to the fence. Donnie pulled out his shell cell and was about to call the others, but he slipped on the banana peel and fell to the ground, dropping his shell cell and causing him to fall right on top of Tucker.
They both groaned and Tucker commented, "The banana peel thing works? I thought it only did on Saturday morning cartoons."
As Donnie got off Tucker, a worker had heard the noise and was now standing before the two of them. He looked in shock at the sight of Donnie and asked, "What the heck is your friend here kid?"
They both stood up and Donnie lied weakly, "Um…just a little guy in a Green Peace costume?"
The worker tried to swing a fist at Donnie, but the ninja turtle jumped back. The worker then said, "Green Peace huh? That's all I needed to hear."
Donnie whacked the man several times with his staff in the hands, getting him to back down a bit. He then warned, "Listen big guy, we don't have time for this! So please accept my apology."
"For what?" The worker asked.
Donnie smirked and answered, "For this."
He leapt down and swept the worker right off his feet with his staff.
The timer had reached down to thirty seconds. There definitely wasn't much time left before the cooling tower imploded. The others had made it back over and were waiting for Tucker and Donnie.
April had tried calling him by his shell cell, but there was no answer. They were unaware that Donnie had dropped his shell cell.
Tucker and Donnie were trying to carry the heavily built worker away from the tower. Tucker groaned, "It had to be a big guy huh? Couldn't be a skinny nerd could it? NO!"
Leo had found them and ordered them, "Come on let's go! Fireman's carry!"
Donnie and Leo lifted the man over their shoulders and began making their way back to fence more quickly. They quickly leapt over as the timer reached zero and both cooling towers imploded, creating a massive smoke cloud.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Mikey shouted as they ran into the woods.
One of the cooling towers landed right into the creek and as Donnie had planned, it created a whole new damn and stopped the leaking radioactive waste from reaching any further to the river.
The worker Donnie, Tucker and Leo had saved woke up and shouted in shock and anger at the damage done, "Oh no! No! No!"
Danny, the Turtles, Jazz, Tucker, April, Sam and Casey ran further into the woods, just as a car pulled up and the worker's boss started scanning the area with his device.
"This is not a good way to start the day." The boss commented.
"Environmental do-gooders sir." The worker reported as his boss looked at what happened. "We gotta go after them and make them pay for this!"
The boss saw the new damn and scanned the water, the device showing high levels and radiation flowing around. He turned to the worker and said, "Are you kidding? Whoever did this, did us a favour. This whole area is contaminated."
He frowned at the worker and questioned, "We must get a crew here right away and clean this up. Why wasn't this area checked? Whoever dropped that tower may have saved a lot of lives. A whole lot of lives."
Casey pushed the raft back towards their camping spot. Donnie then asked, "So, do you think we did a lot of good here girls? I mean, do you think we saved the last of those fish people from Y'Lynthias?"
"I don't know Donnie. I guess we'll never know." April answered.
"Hopefully we did and created a better future for them, if they make it." Sam added, holding her knees close to her chest.
Under the river, the fish woman's eggs had finally hatched, and the fish babies had emerged. Thanks to them, they would not be killed by the radioactive waste? Will the new generation survive? They may never know, but as the sun began to rise on the new day, the fish babies swan out to see what life would bring them.
THE END
NEXT TIME ON DANNY PHANTOM AND THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES…
The Purple Dragons are on the rise to power! After stealing something from Agent Bishop, Hun is determined to lead the Purple Dragons on a new path and it's up to Casey, Leo and Danny to stop whatever thing that came from Agent Bishop. Can they do it? Find out next time with Danny Phantom and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in: DRAGON'S BREW!