Heya readers, I'm so sorry it's been a month since I updated this fic, but I did have some writers block and I was focused on my crossover fic 'Turtles and Transformers' and 'Little Geisha Lost' but I hope this new chapter makes up for lost time.

Again big thanks to Meian16 for his help!

Also, some references to Tyroth Darkstorm's fanfics 'Mutant Vigilanties' and 'Ancient Legacy' and my fanfic 'October Surprises' appear in this chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The following day, Jun and Dahlia decided to go and join the meeting Sephie had planned to hold.

Not long after lunch the previous day, the Gecko had decided to ask around the sanctuary and she was successful at finding a few residents who were more than happy to meet and speak about their experiences.

Last night, the tiger and wolf had found it difficult to sleep as they were sleeping in new beds, and they were still trying to contemplate their new bodies.

Jun had also remembered that their belongings were still in the hotel they had been at before the tournament and Jake said that he would go with Hugh topside to get them when he could.

Thankful that someone was going to help there, Dahlia had given the human man the keycard to their hotel room so he could collect them next time he went with Cam and Barry.

Luckily it didn't take long for Jake to retrieve their items which turned out to be the suitcases which had their clothes and toiletries, and two carry-on bags they had brought with them with consisted of some personal items such as their laptops, some magazines and a journal.

Having some personal items in their new room did help them settle in a little, but they decided that if they were going to stay in Mutopia that they did a bit of decorating in their new quarters.

Before long, Jun and Dahlia arrived at a door where there was paper sign on it saying, 'Meeting for Discussing New Mutant lives, 2pm."

Jun looked at his watch.

"Well, it's almost 2pm." He said to Dahlia "Let's go and see if Sephie's in there."

"Only one way to be sure." Dahlia said and she placed her hand on the door and pushed it open to see the gecko along with other Mutopians in chairs in a circle.

Upon seeing the wolf, the Gecko smiled.

"Ah look whose here!" she said, "Our newest additions!"

The other Mutopians looked over and Jun and Dahlia saw Cam and Barry were there along with Sharky, Jack, Tania, Amber and Jake.

There was also a young Chameleon girl sitting in-between Sephie and Cam that Jun and Dahlia hadn't yet met, and they wondered who she was and why she was there.

"Hi!" Dahlia said with a smile as she and Jun went over to a spare pair of chairs and sat down.

"Glad you made it." Jack said, "Hopefully after this meeting you might feel a little more at ease?"

"I hope so." Jun muttered, he was still feeling sore despite all the support he and Dahlia had received but he was curious to know about how the mutants in the room came to be what they were and he hoped it would soothe his soul a little.

He remembered his mother saying once that hearing other people's problems and learning how they felt would make one realise they were not alone.

"Well now you've arrived." Sephie said gayly "Let's get started." She stood up and gestured her hands to everyone.

"Welcome everyone." She said to which everyone said hi back.

"As you can see, we got two new arrivals who merely joined us yesterday." She gestured to Jun and Dahlia who waved and smiled, although Jun's was a little forced.

"You're a new face..." Jun said as he looked at the Chameleon.

"Hi, I'm Sonia." The chameleon said and as she smiled at them her scales went from green to pink which surprised the wolf and Tiger.

"Whoa!" Jun cried.

"How...How are you doing that?" Dahlia asked.

"I'm a Chameleon." Sonia explained "My scales change colour depending on my mood."

"Ah I understand." Dahlia said.

"She's our youngest resident, at least until the geckolings were born." Sephie smiled.

"Geckolings?" Jun asked raising an eyebrow.

"My children." Sephie replied "Freya and Loki, you've yet to meet them, and they're excited to meet you too!"

"You'll love them!" Sonia grinned "Uncle Tyroth and Aunt Sephie's twins!"

Dahlia thought for a moment as she tried to remember everyone they had come across in the canteen, and she soon remembered seeing a couple of younger mutant children that resembled Sephie and had wings on their backs.

"Geckolings." She muttered then looked at Sephie "Those two children?" She asked "They're yours?"

Sephie nodded.

"You're...a mother?" Jun exclaimed.

Sephie smiled dreamily

"Yes I am." She said.

Jun blinked and looked at Dahlia then back at the gecko.

You...actually gave birth? After you were changed?" he asked.

"Live birth or eggs?" Dahlia asked without thinking.

"I did yes." Sephie replied "And it was a live birth, despite the appearance of a gecko, I still got my human organs."

"I see..." Dahlia said, a thoughtful look on her face.

"What?" Cam said indignantly looking at Jun "You think one can't reproduce after being mutated? We might be mutants but we can still reproduce you know!"

Jun frowned.

'Hey!" he barked "We're still coming to terms with this and trying to understand everything, okay?"

Dahlia placed her hand on Jun's paw.

"Jun..." she said with a pleading look on her face to her boyfriend to keep calm despite his feelings.

"Alright, alright! No need to be snippy mate!" Cam grunted to which Barry coughed at him.

"Cool it Hornhead!" he said.

Jun felt a sense of calm as he felt Dahlia's hand, and he shook his head before looking at Cam.

"Sorry about that..." he said, "I didn't mean to snap, as I said, I'm still trying to get used to this...you know."

"Hey, I getcha, no hard feelings man!" Cam said with a shrug.

Jun sighed and looked around at everyone seated in the room and sighed.

"Look everyone," he said "I apologize I I'm coming across as being ungrateful. I'm not. I truly am thankful you saved not just my life, but my girlfriend's as well. It's just...

Sephie smiled softly at the tiger.

"By all means Jun, speak your feelings."

Jun looked at Dahlia who nodded and squeezed his hand.

"It's just..." the tiger spoke "And I mean no disrespect by this at all, but...neither of us had an unfortunate life."

Dahlia nodded in agreement.

"We had good lives. We had family, friends, we had plans for our future together..." Jun looked at the ring Dahlia wore around her neck.

"...and to have it all snatched away...it kills me." He sighed as he felt tears well up in his eyes as the images of his parents, older brother and younger sister came into his head.

"I can understand that Jun," Sephie said gently "Tyroth and I did too, until it was ripped away from us."

"It happened to you too?" Dahlia asked and Jun's head shot up.

"Indeed." Sephie replied "Tyroth and I were human too, and we had many plans, very much like you two."

"Seriously?" Jun asked.

"Did the Mafia kill you too?" Dahlia followed up.

"not exactly, we were assassinated because we spoke out about crime dealings..." Sephie said then began to tell her story about how Tyroth had been working at a video game shop in Chicago and how he had found out his boss had been working with a Crime Lord to boost his sales in his shop and he had reported him to the police, but that because Tyroth had spoken to the police, the Crime Lord had ordered him to be killed.

Jun and Dahlia were horrified, and they could see the connection they had with Sephie and her husband, even though their situation had been slightly different.

"We were targeted because we tried to stop crime taking place, and we paid the price with our lives" Sephie said with a sigh.

"Because you were doing the right thing." Jun murmured.

Dahlia just sat in silence as she listened.

"We all have a story to tell in this room," Sephie said "How we were forced to be mutated because it saved our lives, we weren't all forced to mutated because of evil people, but sometimes it was through tragic accidents or circumstances."

"We do yes," Tania spoke up "I can relate to what happened to you."

"You do?" Jun asked looking at the Panda.

Tania nodded.

"I was a student looking forward to achieving my dreams in Fashion and beauty at University when a drunk driver knocked me off the road into the river in Chicago when I was on my way to celebrate with friends."

"Oh my gosh!" Dahlia gasped and Cam and Barry looked sadly at each other.

"I remember that day like yesterday, finding her in the river." Cam said.

"Yeah! A real miracle she even survived." Barry said.

"Jesus..." Jun muttered.

Tania nodded sadly.

"It took me a long time to get used to the fact that I was now this mutant animal, and my human life was over." The Panda said, "But after a few weeks I decided that I had to get used to it, and feeling sorry for myself wasn't helping me and I decided to use the skills I had as a human to help down here, very much like how Louie has his skills as our chef, Leona as our carpenter, etc."

"I see." Dahlia mused.

"But like I said." Tania continued "It took a long time to get used to this new life, especially with how it affected my mother...and my two best friends...I missed them terribly, and I wished I could tell them I was okay."

"They don't know about you at all or what happened to you?" Jun asked.

Tania shook her head.

"Mine still don't know either." Sephie said "Even after so many years."

Jun frowned as he thought of his family.

"I understand wanting to protect themselves and their families, but...I don't think I could do it..." he thought "I wonder if there is a way to let them know without giving away the location of this place?"

"It was hard, but I knew I had to just accept I couldn't go home." Tania ended getting Jun's attention again.
"Same with me Tania." Sephie agreed.

Cam then raised his hand.

"Barry and I were from the gang life, it was easier for us to just accept our new life, as we had nowhere else to go."

"Yeah...still didn't mean it didn't hurt though." Barry agreed.

"I don't even remember my life before I mutated, I was very young." Sonia quipped.

Jun turned to the Chameleon.

"Wait what?" he asked, "You were young when you were changed?"

"Uh huh." Sonia replied.

"Indeed yes." Sephie clarified "She was a mere toddler when she was mutated."

"I was told of what happened not too long ago when it was agreed I was old enough to understand." Sonia said.

Jun frowned and rubbed his chin.

"So, something happened when you were young that the only way to save you was to be mutated?"

"I was found washed up in the sewers and brought here to be saved, apparently I was a victim of drowning when a yacht I was on sank on Lake Michigan." Sonia explained "I felt saddened when I realised what had happened, but I couldn't be more grateful I had been saved that night, I just wish the others had been saved too."

"Us too kiddo." Barry said, "I think someone must have been watching over you when you wound up with us, you were to be given a second chance."

Sonia smiled at the warthog.

"I think we were too." Cam chuckled as he looked at Barry "Given a second chance and look where we are now!"

Barry laughed.

"I know right?" he said.

"I can relate as well!" Sharky spoke up "When I threw myself in front of that train I should have died, yet I didn't, and I ended up here! And I couldn't be happier!"

"All of us have had lives that changed so quickly, and we can relate to you." Sephie said looking at Jun and Dahlia.

"I see..." Jun murmured.

"This might be a dark time for you both right now," Sonia said, "But you're safe and amongst friends here."

"We're grateful for that, yet it doesn't change how we feel, the grief that we won't see our loved ones again." Dahlia said with a sigh.

"I don't know if we'll ever get over this." Jun said looking at Dahlia who nodded in agreement.

"No-one is saying you should get over it," Sephie said "All we can do is focus on a new normal."

"A new normal?" Dahlia asked.

"A normal we shouldn't even have to deal with...damn it all to hell..." Jun thought and glared.

"Well, we don't have much choice apart from try to create a new normal." Dahlia said.

"I had to do the same, it wasn't easy at first, I can tell you." Tania said.

"This is crazy..." Jun growled "This, all of this...what happened to us, what's happened to all of you, being what we are now..."

The tiger clenched his fists as he tried to stay calm.

"It's normal what you're feeling Jun," Sephie said "And you have every right to feel how you're feeling."

"And the mafia that did this to us...they're still out there..." Jun snarled.

"Mafia!?" Sonia cried and the others in the room looked grim despite having been told before about how Jun and Dahlia had lost their human lives because of the Mafia.

Jun narrowed his eyes and turned to Dahlia.

"Should we explain?" he asked

"Sure." She said, "Maybe the more people we tell, we might have more help on making sure those bastards pay for what they did to us, and to our families."

"Sounds like a plan." Jun agreed.

So Jun and Dahlia have attended a meeting held by Sephie to learn about the other mutants who had been in a similar plight to them and now they're going to tell their story.