Stealthy Stories

[Askre]

Here it is, the sequel to Encounter of the offworldly kind. And inbetween fic for the Assassin series. This story will establish few things for the upcoming fifth official instalment of the assassin series.

But like with Encounters, this one is the Movie turtles, not the regular NT-turtle crew. I had already begun posting this story before, but pulled it back when I began rewriting Encounters and repost it.

Species profiles are available for most of the species that appear in this fic on my forum.

But here it is, again reworked a bit and will continue now hopefully as planned. This story is canon to the assassin series and occurs a bit after Shattered Shells.

Disclaimer and Legal stuff:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, including Raphael®, Michelangelo®, Leonardo®, Donatello®, April O'Neil®, and Splinter® are registered trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on characters and comic books created by Peter A. Laird and Kevin B. Eastman.

I do not own them in other words.

This story is written purely as a homage to the Teenage Mutant Turtles and not meant for any commercial profit or infringement on copyright. This story will immediately be removed if Viacom International wishes so.

The story, is copyright © 2007 by Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

Other characters, including Akre, Braka, Jala, Daram, Dia, Alo, Accrel, Mizuri, Kolaza, Maccar, Rakl, Rqwt, Sqwrt, Askre, Ice and Air are © Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

Bint originally created by Namishiro, used with permission.

The species of Rytonas, rymskas, ymskas, umskas, otanis, cabbats and other off worlds, are © Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).


Warning: This story contains violence some slight language and implied adult situation, if you are of a sensitive mind or easily offended then you have been warned. This story is rated PG-14

This story is canon to the Assassin series.

This story is part of the Main story line of the Assassin series but is not an official long instalment. Rather an in-between story between the 4th and the 5th long instalment

To fully understand this story, having read Encounter of the Offworldly kind is advisable.

For over a year, Leonardo has been searching for his black clad counterpart who attacked him one and half year ago. But he decides to take a break from the search to spend time with his family and friends. But as we all know, the TMNT never gets a break. EOTOK sequel.

Chapter 1.

Leonardo looked over the city from the rooftop he stood on. One finger was slowly caressing the long scar on his left cheek. The old battle wound was a constant reminder to him of had happened. But the turtle was brought out of his thoughts when aware of a presence nearby.

“Hey bro,” Michelangelo suddenly appeared on the roof. Leo glanced at him and nodded.

“Hey,” he addressed the orange-masked turtle.

“Heard you were back,” Mikey stepped up beside his brother smiling broadly. “Any luck?”

“None,” the blue-masked ninja sighed heavily. “I just went out to make sure my New York is still the same.”

“Heh, take it you have been to quite a few by now,” Michelangelo commented with a smirk. His sibling smiled wide at that.

“Yes I have in fact, but none containing a black masked turtle,” Leonardo folded his arms and frowned. “Yet I did hear about him. Not enough but I did meet counterparts that had met him as well.”

“Really? Cool, what am I like?” Mikey asked eagerly. Leo couldn’t but chuckle at his brother’s question.

“In most of them, the same old goof-ball,” the blue-clad one smirked and nudged his brother gently with an elbow. “But Mikey, I was lucky.”

“Huh? How so?” his brother asked confused.

“This assassin counterpart of mine… he only gave me this,” Leonardo pointed at his scar. Then he pointed at his head. “Others were more deeply wounded in here.”

“Ouch,” Mikey cringed. “So you’re back for now, take it you’re coming with us to the farmhouse?”

“Yes, I need a break from the search. The Rytonas gave me information about a world that might be a possible location. I’m going to look into it later though, but my counterpart there is apparently famous bounty hunter and quite popular in his world. Doubt he is the one,” Leo shook his head and then smiled. He looked at Mike who was looking over the city, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“One and a half year ago, Raph stood on this rooftop and while peering down this alley saw Braka run into it,” Michelangelo suddenly said and pointed to where the two buildings formed an alley. Leo raised an eye ridge in slight surprise but then nodded in agreement.

“Not to mention, this is the same rooftop we fought the ones looking for him,” he added.

“Yeah, hey did you know they have a special section in their police department that specifically handles the cases related to the Akre dude,” Mikey glanced back at his brother.

“Yeah, heard about it when inquiring about alternative universes at their dimensional department,” Leonardo shrugged but then eyed his brother. “How did you know?”

“Jala told me and Don when we were visiting her today,” Mike stepped away from the ledge. The blue clad turtle nodded in understanding.

“She’s been a good friend ever since we met her. It will be nice to see her again,” Leonardo said.

After the events one and half year ago, where the turtles met Jala and her son Braka, Leo had spent a lot of time in other dimensions. The blue-masked ninja was determined to find the black masked turtle that attacked him prior to the events with the Rytonas. So far he had only met other blue-clad counterparts, no evil assassin ones.

He was though back for now and intending to spend time with his family. Thus Splinter brought up the idea that they head for the farmhouse for a month. Then Don suggested that they invited Jala and her children as well, he, Mike and Raph visited the wolfoid woman regularly.

“Shall we head home?” Leo looked at his brother.

“Yeah,” Mikey agreed and they began climbing down the fire escape.

“So, how has she been?” Leonardo asked when they reached the bottom. Unlike his brothers, due to his traveling mostly, he hadn’t met the alien woman that much. The two turtles silently sneaked up to a nearby manhole cover.

“Fine, she has finished her therapy with flying colors. I tell you bro, this is not the nervous homesick dudette we had one and a half year ago any longer,” Mike answered while prying up the lid. “In fact, she can be deviously tricky.”

“Oh really,” the blue-masked ninja raised an eye ridge. They entered the sewer tunnels and began the long walk home.

“Yeah, she tricked me into changing Dia’s diaper, by leaving me alone with her,” the orange clad pretended to pout.

“Where did she go?” Leonardo had to restrain a grin forming; he almost could picture his baby brother trying to change a dirty diaper.

“She said she had to go to the store and would be quick. Donny had gone to check out the library there, so I was all alone and she started to stink. Braka somehow managed to tell me what to do,” Mike explained and then snorted. “She was in that store for two hours.”

Leo couldn’t contain his laughter and earned a glare from his brother. But the blue masked turtle just found it hilarious that the trickster of the family had been tricked.

“Raph is also going to start training Braka soon. He wanted to wait until the tyke could speak English more properly,” Mikey said in an attempt to change the subject from his embarrassing diaper encounter.

“Oh yes, I heard him and Splinter talk about it. That will be interesting to see. I bet though Splinter will be overseeing that for the first period,” Leonardo chuckled. They then continued for a moment in silence.

“I think Donny likes Jala,” the younger turtle mentioned suddenly. Leo looked at him slightly surprised.

“You mean, like her like friends or, like her like her?” he asked.

“Like her like her,” Mike said. “At least, they do talk a lot with each other.”

“Well, Don did seem too interact the best with her back when she was stuck here,” the blue-clad ninja shrugged; he couldn’t though help but feel slightly worried on his brother’s behalf. Don was more sensitive than he often showed. If his feelings were hurt he tended to shut people out. Sometimes he could be as difficult as Raph to pry open.

Should I confront him about it? No even if Mikey is correct it really wouldn’t be my business. Then again, no I bet Mikey is just reading too much into things, he thought as they continued their way home.

***

Leonardo wondered why he was feeling anxious. Morning practice and breakfast had come and gone. The blue masked turtle was in his usual extra training in the dojo. But he felt distracted.

I’m not worried am I, he wondered while doing a swift kick.

Maybe I am. It’s one thing if my brothers and I are spotted. We are trained to disappear but Jala and her kids are not, Leo did few punches into air and finally completed the current kata. Satisfied with his workout, he walked out of the dojo intending to meditate in his room.

He stopped in the doorway when he heard voices; Mikey and Raph were greeting somebody. A female voice responded and then there was a child’s.

Hey they are here, Leonardo thought and walked out when recognizing the voices. He felt though something odd about Jala’s. Of course it’s been almost a year since he saw her last time due to his traveling.

No nervousness. No hesitation, the turtle realized that he was for the first time hearing the rymska, talk with her normal voice and not frightened and unsure like he had heard her last time. Of course back then, Jala was still in therapy.

“Well, Don went to the junkyard and Leo came back yesterday and there he is,” Raph said when Leonardo stepped out of the tunnel and into view.

The blue clad turtle raised an eye ridge in mild shock. This was definitely Jala, the wolfoid alien that had been stuck among the turtles for over a week. Yet there was something different about the rymska woman now. She wasn’t nervously rubbing her arms, she didn’t have a worried frown and her smile on the wolfish muzzle was very genuine.

Wow, Leo thought realizing now that he was for the first time seeing Jala being herself.

Raphael had young Braka in his arms. The boy was tightly hugging his dadarad, having long since claimed the red clad turtle for a father figure. Mikey had been handed baby Dia who was still only a few months old and babbling at the ninja. The orange clad turtle held her almost like he was afraid to drop her, in the end had sat down just to be on the safe side.

Jala turned towards Leonardo when Raph had told her he had arrived. She smiled even wider when seeing the blue-clad turtle and immediately walked towards him. The woman grabbed the turtle in a hug.

“Well long time no see,” she said when they parted.

“Yes, really long time,” Leo agreed with a slight smile. “I have been traveling as you know. Looking for the person who gave me this wonderful scar.”

“I heard, any luck?” Jala wondered but Leonardo shook his head. The rymska patted him lightly on the shoulder before returned back to Raphael. He stood nearby the suitcases and bags the Rytona had brought over.

“I couldn’t help myself and brought few presents,” she mentioned and dragged forth a big bag. Raphael put Braka down since the boy was very eager to help his mom handing them out.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Leo said as he approached but just got a dismissal wave from the woman.

“Ok, Mikey since you like to cook,” Jala drew out from the bag a thick book. She handed it to Braka who ran with it to Mikey.

“Here da go Roha Makey,” Braka said with a wide smile. He was still learning English and could now make himself understandable. He still tended to use Rytona words in-between. The orange clad turtle grinned at the boy and accepted the gift.

“Thanks little dude,” he said and glanced at the title. “Rytona cuisines, English edition.”

“Yeah, now you can cook Rytona food,” Jala remarked with a smile. “You don’t have to buy actual Rytona food for the receipts though; it lists earth ingredients you can use instead.”

“Cool,” Mike gave a thumb’s up and showed the book to Dia who stared with wide open puppy like eyes. “See what mommy gave me? Now I can cook your kind of meal.”

Leonardo watched the exchange smiling. He noticed that Braka was approaching him now holding yet another book, a very thick one. The turtle crouched down as the boy came and handed the reading material.

“Here da go Roha Leo,” he said smiling a muzzle straining smile.

“Thank you Braka,” the blue-masked one accepted the book and looked at the title. “The war of three ages?”

“Yeah, your brothers told me you liked war history and this particular war is an event from my world. It lasted for over 300 years, my people though weren’t involved until at the very end,” Jala explained to him. Leonardo nodded.

“Well that sounds interesting, thank you very much,” he said and rose up.

“You’re quite welcome, oh Raph you said you didn’t read much so I got you this,” Jala brought out of the bag what looked like a knife with a very thick and long blade.

“It’s almost a Rytona version of your weapon,” she said and gave it to the turtle. Raphael examined it with great interest, when he squeezed the handle two extra blades shot out of the main one.

“Whoa cool,” the red clad one grinned. “I’ve seen knives like these before, but just not in this kind of shape and size.”

“Yeah it’s actually common across many worlds,” the rymska woman told him and then brought out a book from the bag. “And then here is a gift for Don but since he isn’t here yet, I’ll just wait with it. Where is Master Splinter?”

“He’s meditating in his room,” Mikey told her, he was rocking gently now sleeping Dia.

For some reason Jala had named her infant girl after the woman they met one and half year ago. The Rytona never really gave an official reason, just told that the name Dia had stuck with her.

As Leonardo was going through his new book he found himself gazing back towards the woman. No he hadn’t been mistaken; there was something much more graceful about her movements. Nothing like when she had walked in rather short nervous steps many months ago.

“So when do we go to this farmhouse?” Jala asked curiously.

“Well April is done workin’ around 2 or 3 pm. She’s going to pick us up then and drive us to the farm house. She’ll also buy for us month worth of groceries, we did pitch in though,” Raphael explained he still held his new weapon. Braka was right beside him trying to take a look at it too.

“I could probably pay…” the woman started.

“No need, we are inviting you on this trip. Well my brothers did,” Leo decided to cut in. “You just enjoy yourself.”

Mikey stood up still holding the child. He headed for his own room, intending to allow Dia to take her nap in there. The orange clad turtle then returned and went straight into the kitchen with his new cook book.

Jala sighed and decided to simply surrender already instead of protesting. She knew from personal experience that the turtles couldn’t be budged when having decided something.

“Ah I forgot,” she suddenly remembered and picked up her purse that had been laid on one suitcase. From it she drew out an envelope and then hurried after Mikey.

“Mikey, you got an answer from the Victim Fund,” she called after the orange clad one before disappearing into the kitchen. Leonardo frowned and looked at Raph who was now crouching and showing Braka the new knife, being careful though not to let the boy handle it.

“Victim Fund?” Leonardo asked and approached his red clad sibling.

“Oh yeah, Mikey decided to try and see if he could apply for indemnity as a victim of Akre. They have this special fund for people that have suffered at his hands,” Raph shrugged. A victorious shout was heard from the kitchen, indicating that Mikey had indeed received a positive answer.

“But he doesn’t have to prove it something?” Leo wondered but smiled. He was glad that his brother was receiving compensation, even though his imprisonment hadn’t been that torturous it had still been difficult for him.

“I think he was tested, telepathically or something. I dunno how it works, didn’t go with them,” his red masked brother said.

“Well you should be happy,” Jala said smiling as she appeared in the kitchen doorway; she was still staring inside talking with Mikey. “Ice himself vouched for you.”

Leonardo nodded, remembering the human like Rytona. The attention was though diverted to the ladder leading down into the lair when Donatello came climbing down. Braka jumped immediately towards the descending purple clad ninja who had a full plastic bag slung over his shoulder.

“Hi Roha Donnay,” Braka greeted him as he went several circles around the ladder.

“Hi Braka,” Don greeted the rymska boy with a grin as he jumped off the ladder. “Hello Jala, nice to see you here.”

“Hi Don,” the woman waved him and immediately went for her gift bag and brought out the book intended for her friend.

“I found some stuff in the junkyard I’m going to take a look at in the farmhouse,” Donatello explained to Leo who had been eyeing the bag questionably. Braka went in circles around the purple clad one hoping to peek into the mysterious bag.

“Don, I finally found an English edition of Rytona Anatomy/Physiology you wanted, this one summarizes all twenty racial groups,” Jala stated as she walked towards the turtle handing him the book. Don put the bag down and grabbed it with a wide smile.

“Whoa thanks, wait first book of 21?” he noticed on the title.

“Yeah, this is just the summarizing edition, if you want more in-depth then there are twenty other books that take on each individual species with in the Rytona species,” the woman explained to the turtle who nodded.

“Oh I see, well this should do for now,” he said and was about to grab the bag but it had disappeared further away, by a very curious wolfoid boy.

“Braka!” Jala scolded her son. “Ask permission first.”

“Fagve,” Braka hung his head and put his tiny arms behind his back.

“Sorry Braka but there are some stuff in this that you shouldn’t handle,” Don picked up the bag and gave the boy a warm smile. “But I can pick something out you can take apart safely.”

“Yo Braka, come with me. Better show you around the dojo,” Raphael said after taking his gift into his subway car and had returned.

“Yah ok dadarad,” the young boy immediately ran to the red clad turtle who grinned at the title. He was really growing fond of being technically speaking called dad by the child, even though it wasn’t completely correct translation of the word. He and Braka disappeared into the tunnel that led to the dojo.

Leonardo finally closed the book after skimming through it. He was definitely going to be reading this more closely at the farmhouse. He looked up to see Jala browsing through yet another bag she had brought. Again the turtle found himself admiring her movements.

“I apologize for not having visited more often, I guess I got a little too involved finding the person who injured me,” he said glancing down at his book and then again at Jala who was looking up from her bags. She smiled warmly.

“That’s ok,” the woman said and then dove back into the bag.

“Looking for something?” the blue-clad one asked and walked closer.

“Dia’s brush, while she still has the baby fur I have to use a special brush. She needs to be brushed after her long naps or the fur will get unruly and stiffen up. Yuck, trust me, when you’re covered in fur taking care of it is VERY important,” Jala said and finally drew out from the bag a brush with short but soft hairs.

“Well, I wouldn’t really know,” Leo chuckled. The rymska looked at him and smiled loop-side.

“Yeah, you reptilians don’t really have hair do you,” she giggled.

“Fur and hair in general is purely a mammalian trait,” Don said as he returned from his lab where he had taken his bag and new book.

“Well we need the insulation ya know,” Jala said. “Since we produce our own body heat and all, of course then you have to ask; what happened to the humans?”

“Humans are covered in hair; it’s just very soft now and very light. It is sometimes very visible on some men though and occasionally women too,” Donatello pointed out. Jala stuck her tongue out at him.

“You know what I meant,” she grunted. Don grinned and Leo couldn’t help but laugh.

“Of course my brothers and I break the general reptilian rule. We do have a fairly stable body heat, but I guess that’s has something to do with our mutation than our actual anatomy. But we are still more sensitive to change of temperature in the environment than a mammal would be,” the purple-clad turtle said.

“Yes I noticed, I thought Mikey was hyper before but as soon as he set his foot in Rytonas it was like he doubled up,” the woman shook her head chuckling and so did the two turtles.

“I’m going to check on Master Splinter, then finish packing up,” Leo then said and walked to the old rat’s subway-car.

“Oh yeah, I better finish taking care of my stuff before lunch, or I’ll never be ready,” Don said and immediately ran back into his lab. Jala looked around slowly waving the brush around wondering where to go. She decided to sneak into Mikey’s room to see if her daughter had woken up.

End Chapter 1

Dadarad: Means father figure, it's not exactly a father but rather a person who can step in while the father isn't available for one reason or another.

Roha: A bit like Uncle, holds though a bit more meaning. A family friend would not be called Roha, if a child calls somebody a Roha, that child pretty much consider the person part of his or hers family.

Fagve: Just means in short sorry. Although it would be more correct to say 'Forgive me'.

In the original version, Leo was actually avoiding Jala because of what happened to her in Encounters. But that now didn't really fit as instead Leo's been travelling in other dimensions.

_________________
Confusing the heck out of the world since 1983.

~

"He never gives up!" - Storm Shadow about Snake Eyes.

[ame_musashi]

Well, I still hadn't gotten the alert, *kicksFF.Net*

Anyway, I liked how you had Leo demension jumping instead of moping around like the earlier version, this gives him more deapth in settling in with his discomfort and actually facing it, not withdrawing and being grouchy about it~

But with Mike's confession about Jala and Don in the beginning, I'm starting to wonder how you'll deal with the plotline now, since it might change the earlier concept with him not yet sure how Don felt about her and taking a step...

Btw, is the weapon Jala got a Katar, or just something just as smiliar to it? Cause if I got the desciption right, it appeared like a Katar to me...
_________________
"Those who had never tasted defeat would never appreciate victory."
"The past makes us, the future breaks us, in the center we are what we have BECOME."

[Askre]

[HoratioCraver101]

I love them both please update as soon as you can.

[Askre]

Thanks and thanks for reading


For those who read the original version of Encounters, then called Otherworldly meetings, you probably recognize this as the original sequel, love of other worlds. But now it has a new name as you all have noticed. The changes in this chapter are minor, mostly some dialogue change and minor modifications.

Chapter 2.

Jala gingerly touched the alien letters that were carved on the brick wall. She sighed and looked down for a moment. Although the woman smiled, a single tear did crawl down her cheek.

“For five years, he and his sister were my only friends,” she whispered and turned away from the wall, standing nearby was Donatello. The turtle smiled and nodded.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get a chance of knowing him better,” the purple clad one said.

They were in an abandoned section of the sewers. The same place and they had burned the body of Jala’s late husband, Daram. The letters on the wall were simple indication that here the funeral had taken place. Jala had wished to visit it before they all headed for the farmhouse; Don had agreed to escort her.

“He would have loved Dia. He loved children. I think he wanted hundreds of them,” the woman walked away from the wall.

“Well at least he got two and he left a good mother in charge of them,” Don mentioned smiling. The rymska chuckled.

“You never did give up on me about that did you,” she said shaking her head. “Even when I still believed I couldn’t be Braka’s mother.”

“Well I was right wasn’t I?” the turtle folded his arms and regarded Jala for a moment before gesturing to the tunnel opening. “You ready to leave? We can stay longer if you want.”

“No, I’m ready. Just wanted to say hi,” the woman said and they walked towards the tunnel that led out.

The two walked in silence for a while. Occasionally Don would glance her way and every time he did a small smile crept on his beak. The turtle had to admit that ever since they had returned Jala to her home world, she had gone through phenomenal change. Almost like the rymska had been reborn. She walked gracefully almost like a cat and there was now always this smile on her short but wolfish muzzle.

The turtle had to admit that he had become a bit fascinated by Jala’s people and the other species that shared her world. He found it so interesting that they all resembled animals in look only; behavior was much closer to humans. Especially and surprisingly for him, the rymskas Jala’s own species, had the most human like behavior of the Rytona people.

Donatello had tried to come up with some ideas on why the Rytonas resembled twenty different earth species, but had come out blank. He hoped his new book would shed some light on it.

He glanced at Jala who walked slightly in front of him now for the tenth time. She was wearing the usual dress most Rytona females seemed to insist on wearing. Don asked once why the females almost only wore dresses while the men wore nothing but shorts. Jala had surprised him by saying that there were no laws about dress code; you could walk around naked in a Rytona city without being arrested. The dress had simply once been a protection for the weather, now it was just a traditional Rytona women wear. Donatello then learned that they were very stubborn on giving up traditions.

But then Jala added that in her opinion pants and shirts just messed up the fur too much, the dress allowed the coat to flow more freely and kept it nice and soft. In fact the woman actually detested pants, though she didn’t openly voice it when April had given her clothes when stuck in this world.

Don had been pleasantly surprised to learn that she did have a good sense of humor. He had seen sparkles of it back when she was stuck on Earth, but now that she was recovered from her ordeal it really shone through.

That’s probably what had kept her sane those five years she was married to Daram and pretty much hated by his family, he thought.

“Ok I have lost our scent, you better lead now, phew,” Jala waved her hand in front of her sensitive nose. Don grinned, that had been the only reason he allowed her to walk in front. She had been following their scent the way they came. But eventually the stench of the sewers was just too overwhelming for her.

“Well we aren’t that far away anyway,” Donatello mentioned and now took the lead.

“Agh hgja,” he heard her mutter, the turtle glanced back and saw that Jala was shaking one foot.

“Step in something?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she grunted and continued to walk.

“You can clean it when we come home. Probably nothing worse than we usually have to wade in, especially when there is heavy rain,” Don said, Jala nodded.

“I really need this vacation; I don’t think I have relaxed since Dia was born,” the rymska said as they approached the covered up hole that led to the lair.

“I thought you were on a maternity leave,” the turtle said while crouching down to uncover the hole.

“I am, but just being a mother is a full time job,” Jala laughed and accepted Don’s help to begin climbing down the ladder. “Especially since I have two.”

“Yeah, I see where you are going with that,” Donatello smiled and waited until the rymska was down a bit before descending himself.

In the lair the other turtles were busy gathering whatever they were taking to the farmhouse. Since they didn’t wear much anyway it wasn’t that much, just one or two bags each. Jala and her kids had the most stuff. Don came next closely followed by Mikey. Raph and Leo had the least.

Watching from the door of his subway car was Master Splinter. He had a content smile on his lips, secretly looking forward to slight peace and quiet, but also glad that his son’s were going on a restful vacation. Something they needed. The old rat had decided not to come as he wasn’t sure he trusted himself to be in a car for so long. Especially since it would be cramped with four turtles, three aliens and one human.

He nodded to Jala and Don when they finally reached the floor. The rymska woman walked immediately towards the old rat. She bowed slightly and the old ninja master returned it.

“Greetings Master Splinter, it is good to see you before I leave with your sons on this vacation,” she greeted him.

“It is good to see you too Miss Jala. I hope you had no difficulties reaching your late husband’s resting place,” Splinter said.

“No I didn’t, Donatello guided me safely both ways,” Jala told him. “Did you like my gift? I told Leonardo to give it to you since you hadn’t returned from meditation before I went.”

“It was most appreciated, I thank you,” he thanked and smiled warmly.

“You’re welcome; I wasn’t sure what to give you. So I figured that since you have a fur coat that you could use it,” the rymska said grinning a bit nervously. She then glanced at her foot that had stepped into something unknown in the sewer. “And speaking of fur, I better go clean mine.”

Splinter nodded and the rymska disappeared towards the bathroom. The rat couldn’t help but chuckle when he thought about Jala’s gift. A whole basket with various products intended to keep the fur coat clean and healthy. Jala had even written a long note to go with it, translation of the instructions from Rytonas to English.

Shortly later Mikey appeared in the kitchen doorway and bellowed:

“Lunch is ready!” From behind him Braka peeked and was licking a spoon.

“Yummie food, eat while hot!” he added, causing everybody else to chuckle and even laugh.


Somewhere in Rytonas.

The jackal looking humanoid sat at a table drumming his fingers impatiently. He was large, over six foot tall with golden brown fur coat. His ears were slightly narrow and on the neck, almost directly on the Adams apple, was an ugly scar. It was an ymska, just one of many Rytona subspecies.

This particular ymska was waiting but not for long, another ymska, a bit smaller and with wider ears came holding two trays loaded with food. He gave his brethren one of the trays before getting seated at the table.

“About frickin’ time,” the larger jackaloid growled and began shoveling the food into his mouth. His friend just shook his head and began eating himself.

They were soon joined by an umska, hyenoid Rytona but with not many spots and more tan colored fur, safe for his hands and feet that had black fur. The hyena creature was slightly smaller than the wide-eared ymska and much, much thinner.

“So,” the umska said with a slight grin as he sat down with his own food. “What’s the plan for today?”

“Akre is going to take it easy for few months. Business is slow and he thinks it’s time to lay low for a while,” the smaller of the ymskas told him.

“Easy for few months, huh, that means guard duty and again guard duty,” the larger jackaloid snorted.

“That comes with the job Rakl, we are Akre’s bodyguards,” the other ymska reminded him. Rakl glared in his direction while viciously tearing apart a piece of meat with his mouth.

“I know that Sqwrt! I meant guard duty at the opening, or patrolling the damn tunnels. I like protecting the boss, but I hate that newbie stuff!” he snarled and then glared around. They were in a large cave filled with tables; at each table were many Rytonas. Everybody were eating and talking.

“KEEP IT DOWN WILL YA! A RYTONA CAN’T HEAR HIMSELF THINK!” he roared. The noise in the cave almost immediately diminished. Some of the people around eyed the table with the trio fearfully.

“You think Rakl?” the umska asked teasingly and got a piercing stare from the large ymska.

“Very funny Rqwt, want to see how funny you are with my fist up your snout?” he snarled. But his umska friend was very well used to these kinds of threats and just smiled.

“Guys,” Sqwrt shook his head and continued to eat. “Anyway, I was thinking. Maybe we should take a vacation for a month.”

“Vacation? What’s that?” Rakl asked with a snort and swallowed the last bit of food off his tray.

“Remember the anthro turtles we encountered about 17-18 months ago,” the smaller ymska mentioned rather casually. Rqwt cringed when hearing that.

“Don’t remind me, I barely fought one of those bastards for five seconds before that blue masked turtle had knocked me out,” he said and shuddered. Rakl suddenly smiled wide as he recalled it.

“Oh yeah, I fought one with a large stick or something. Had a purple mask, but then the blue masked one took over,” the ymska said but his smile dropped. “My foot still stings after kicking the carapace of the little one.”

“Hah! Oh yeah I remember that. Your face was priceless when the foot connected with it,” Rqwt laughed but yelped when Rakl had risen and grabbed the scruff off his neck.

“You planning on laughing some more about that?” the large ymska growled. The umska put his hands up to cover his face in case he would be punched.

“Rakl! Put him down,” Sqwrt ordered. Rakl growled and let go of Rqwt who plumped back down on his chair. The very thin Rytona rubbed the back of his neck and cringed a bit in pain.

“So what about those damn reptiles,” Rakl snorted as he got seated again.

“I was thinking about a rematch,” Sqwrt mentioned, that got the attention of his two companions.

“Yer kiddin’ me right?” his larger brethren asked raising an eyebrow.

“Rematch? Sqwrt I was knocked out in matter of seconds. I have no desire to try fighting those flip fighting reptiles,” Rqwt protested.

“You don’t have to fight Rqwt, but we are still going to need your help,” Sqwrt glanced at the umska.

“Whoa, whoa, what makes you think I want to fight?” Rakl pointed out. But the smaller ymska looked at him unimpressed.

“Don’t even try it Rakl. I know very well that you want that rematch,” he said with a slight smirk. The large ymska folded his arms and leaned back in the chair, for a moment he had a thoughtful expression on his face but then he smirked deviously.

“Yeah yer right Sqwrt. I’m in,” he then looked at Rqwt who was still very unsure.

“Um, I don’t have to fight them right?” he said.

“Well you better if they attack you because I am not going to be babysitting yer sorry little tail,” Rakl snorted. The umska sighed in surrender and just nodded.

“Good then it’s settled. We’ll talk to Akre about opening a gate to that dimension they live in,” Sqwrt said with a nod. The three Rytonas all now smirked, although Rqwt did it uneasily and still a bit doubtful.


Somewhere in an unknown dimension.

The girl looked a bit like a mutant turtle. But she had three toes on each foot and four fingers on each hand. The little turtleoid was a Cabbat, a race of turtleoid humanoids. She was running through what was left of village in a forest clearing.

The young turtleoid ran into a hut and immediately to a hulking shadow that lay on some sort of bed made of animal skins.

“Father, father,” she peeped and shook the shadow. The figure on the bed slowly turned and then rose.

“Oh Kolaza,” the adult Cabbat said tiredly and sat up. The girl climbed into his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and clung tight.

“I’m hungry father,” she complained.

“I know Kolaza,” her father said with a sigh and stroke her almost flat carapace. “I know.”

“Why does Tribe leader Alo insist on staying here,” the girl asked and released her hold on her parent. “Everybody else have left, except for you, me, Accrel and Alo.”

“Alo isn’t a tribe leader anymore, remember? He lost his title when that strange Cabbat with the double sword and his brethren defeated him,” the adult said. “I don’t know why we are still here Kolaza.”

“We are waiting,” a voice growled from the entrance to the hut. The adult Cabbat and Kolaza looked towards it to see a larger Cabbat there, a scar was on his beak and his face was disfigured in a scowl.

“For who Alo?” Kolaza’s father asked, he shuddered at the sadistic smirk coming on Alo.

“Maccar,” he said. “He should be returning at any given day now.”

“Maccar?” Kolaza looked at Alo confused. The large Cabbat frowned and glared at the girl’s father.

“You haven’t told her about Maccar, Mizuri?” he snarled. Mizuri gulped and hugged his daughter closer.

“I just… I just didn’t think I had to,” he whispered. “He’s been gone for so long.”

“Maccar is our brother; he went on a trip many winters ago but now is returning to us. He is going to help us get revenge,” Alo said looking now directly at Kolaza.

“W-what?” Mizuri gulped startled, his brother was now smiling sadistically.

“Yes. Revenge against those cursed three fingered Cabbats who humiliated me, the cause why the tribe left us,” Alo laughed and narrowed his eyes on Mizuri.

“You had better stay in line Mizuri, you have still not earned my trust. You better not betray your kind again,” he growled.

“I won’t,” the other adult Cabbat whispered looking away.

“Good, be ready when Maccar arrives. And Accrel went to hunt so we should have food later today,” Alo then disappeared out of the hut. Kolaza looked at her father sorrowfully.

“Why does Alo not trust you father?” she asked. Mizuri looked at his daughter and cupped her cheek.

“I… I committed a sin against our kind. I will hopefully redeem myself one day, but that’s up to Alo to decide if I did,” he said and smiled weakly at his daughter.

“You have your mother’s eyes and smile,” the adult Cabbat whispered and then kissed his daughter on the forehead. “Go play, let me rest.”

“All right father,” Kolaza nodded and hugged him again before sliding off his lap and ran out of the hut.


TMNT world.

April had been waiting for bit with her van parked in the alley when finally she heard the low but familiar sound of a manhole cover being lifted. The woman carefully looked around to see if anybody else was nearby, but this was a secluded area and low traffic, despite it was daylight.

“Hey guys,” she said in a low voice as she stepped out.

“Hi April,” the quiet voice of Donatello whispered back. The turtle was handling a large bag and one small. The human opened the back of the van and Don put the luggage in, Raphael appeared with more bags that were promptly thrown in with little concern.

“You think all seven of us can fit in there?” the purple-masked one stared into the space. There were seats since April was used to haul four mutant turtles around in the car, but so far hadn’t need to drive additionally three aliens from another world.

“If one takes the front seat,” April commented. “Any of you in disguises?”

“Mike wants to take the front,” Leonardo appeared holding Dia’s carry bag, the little girl was sleeping soundly. Slung over his shoulder was a backpack. April took the child from the blue clad turtle and climbed into the van with her. She gently put Dia on the inner most seats in the van.

“Who’s going to sit with the kid?” she asked, she noticed that the carry bag didn’t offer to fasten a seatbelt to it.

“Jala probably,” Leonardo answered and returned with Donatello back to the opening to help Jala up. Raphael returned from it with the rest of the luggage. Last up climbed Mike who was helping Braka climb, the orange clad turtle was dressed in a fedora and a trench coat.

Soon all mutants and aliens were inside the van. April quickly walked around it to make sure all the windows on the sides and the back were covered. She then climbed into the driver’s seat. The woman glanced back into the vehicle to see the sitting arrangement.

Like Leo had said, Jala sat next to her daughter. The blue clad turtle sat on the other side, probably to make double sure that the bag holding the child wouldn’t go anywhere. Raph and Braka were seated close to the back. Donatello sat on the seat that faced the rymska woman and the Leonardo.

“Hi Jala, glad to see you again,” the human greeted the wolfoid. Jala turned in the seat and the two women shook hands.

“Nice to see you too again April,” the rymska smiled.

“Ok everybody, as you know its daylight so that means lying low,” April said sharply and started the van. The woman glared at Mikey who was peering out of the side window. “That means no leaning on the window and revealing your face Mikey.”

Mike looked up and then sat straight with as much innocent face he could muster. But he was only rewarded with an unimpressed look from the woman. April shook her head and drove out of the alley.

“How long will this trip take?” Jala asked after they had gotten out of the city.

“Few hours,” Don answered and then made a mental calculation. “We’ll arrive late tonight.”

“We will only stop for emergency breaks,” Leonardo informed everybody. “We have food packed in one of the bags, as well as there are water bottles.”

“Aw, no snacks?” Mikey asked looking back in the van.

“You should have thought of that before we went,” his oldest brother informed him sternly. The orange clad turtle pouted and turned back to face the front.

“Roha Mikey want snacks?” Braka asked looking up at Raph. The red clad turtle looked at the boy nodding.

“Yeah, Roha Mikey always needs snacks,” he said with a grin and then reached for his own backpack. Opening it revealed two bags of chips.

“What’s that?” the boy asked curiously when his dadarad was pulling out one bag. The rustling sound had not gone unnoticed from the front.

“Raph, you brought snacks?” Mikey had turned again to look in the back.

“Maybe,” the red clad turtle said casually as he opened the snack container and offered it to Braka. The boy plunged his hand deep within the bag and pulled out a handful of chips.

“Plan on sharing that?” the orange clad turtle asked and smiled his most charming smile.

“Hm, maybe I do. Yo Jala, you want some chips?” Raph asked the woman who just shook he head and cringed.

“Don’t like junk stuff,” she informed him and smiled slightly. “Thanks anyway.”

“Oh Raphie,” Mikey said in a singsong voice.

“Donny?” Raph leaned forward to offer his purple clad brother some chips.

“If it doesn’t have sour cream and salt taste then I am not interested,” Don informed his brother.

“Well it’s paprika,” Raphael said then he looked at Leo who was watching Dia. The little girl had woken up but was silent and stared up at the turtle, the blue masked one smiled at her.

“Leo, chips?” Raphael offered ignoring the waves from Mikey.

“What? Oh sure,” Leonardo looked up, Raph handed the bag to Don who gave it to their oldest brother. Mikey tried to reach the bag from his seat but was scolded by April.

“Mikey, don’t do that when I’m driving, sit still,” she snapped.

“You want the bag back?” Leo asked Raphael, realizing the little ploy he was playing on Mike.

“Raaaaph!” Mike whined. “Can’t I have some chips?”

“Oh very well. Leo, give him the bag. But I want it back immediately,” Raph grunted. Leonardo handed Mike the chips and the turtle took a two handfuls of snacks. The plastic container then found its way back to the red clad one.

“Oh sorry, April. You wanted chips?” Raphael realized and was ready to hand the bag back to Don.

“No, I’ll just steal from Mikey,” the woman told him and was already with a single chip in one hand, generously offered by the orange masked one.

“Anybody want water?” Don asked, he was opening the bag that held the water bottles.

“I’ll have a sip,” Jala said. The purple masked one nodded and opened a bottle; he took a large gulp before handing it to the woman. She sipped from it before offering it to Leo. The turtle accepted it and had a mouthful of water. The bottle ended in both Mike’s and April’s hands before it returned to Donatello.

“Raphael?” Don looked back but saw that Raph was already holding a bottle and was giving Braka some water.

“We’re cool and fully stocked back here,” the red clad one informed him and drank from his bottle.

“Having fun Braka?” Donatello glanced at the boy. The young rymska nodded furiously, in his hands was now a comic book he had borrowed from Mike.

“Braka, ry hegh ef?” Jala called to the back. Braka looked up and nodded. His mother smiled and turned her attention to her daughter. She reached with her hand to caress Dia on the head, at the same moment Leo had the same thought. Unable to resist the puppy dog eyes the child portrayed. He was a second to late and his hand went over Jala’s.

“Oops sorry,” he apologized and quickly withdrew his hand. Jala giggled while gently stroking her daughter’s crown. Dia babbled and smiled happily.

“I think Dia likes you,” the rymska woman said and looked at her daughter, the little girl was staring at the blue clad turtle again.

“I think she does,” Leo agreed, he had his left hand over his right hand like he feared it would do something again. The turtle then looked away for a moment to see how the rest was doing. Raphael was helping Braka with the comic book; Mikey was talking with April, but Don.

Leonardo frowned slightly. Was it his imagination or was Don trying not to look in his direction, his beak was moving like he was trying to conceal his teeth. As if he was gritting them.

“Something wrong Don?” he finally just simply asked.

“No,” Donatello answered quickly without looking in his direction. Quickly the purple clad turtle then reached for his backpack and drew out of it the book Jala had given him. Leo shrugged and glanced back down at Dia. She babbled at her mother who was cooing at her and smiling. Jala still cupped her hand on the little girl’s head.

The turtle yawned and leaned slightly in the seat. He might just as well take a nap and was soon dozing.

End chapter 2.


Just a refresher. Sqwrt, Rakl and Rqwt are the three Rytonas, Don, Leo and Mike fought on the rooftop in Encounters. Rakl is also the large ymska who fought Mikey when he was captive of Akre.

The Cabbats played a prominent role later in Encounters. Alo taking over the villain role in the story from Akre.

Agh hgja: Very close to saying 'Oh damn'. But Hgja doesn't have an earth language equal, it's just simply a mild swear word. So 'damn' is not techincally the correct word over it.

Ry hegh ef?: There is no direct translation. But roughtly Jala was just asking if Braka was ok, doing fine, or was happy or something like that. Rytona words can have many different meanings depending on how they are pronounced so, there is seldom one correct translation.

_________________
Confusing the heck out of the world since 1983.

~

"He never gives up!" - Storm Shadow about Snake Eyes.

[HoratioCraver101]

I love it please update as soon as you can.

[ame_musashi]

ah, now they're on the open road towards the farmhouse~ its only a matter of time before their restful retreat gets disturbed, and Akre's evil trio are on their way to crash the party.. its Alo and his crew we didn't really get to know much in the first time you posted the story, so hopefully this time you'll continue the whole thing and we'd get a better feel of the characters~
_________________
"Those who had never tasted defeat would never appreciate victory."
"The past makes us, the future breaks us, in the center we are what we have BECOME."

[engelina]

well, i am glad you started this story again!! somehow i have a feeling they are not going to get much of a holiday!!

and hope you can update soon!!
_________________

[Askre]

[Askre]

Chapter 3.

Somewhere in an unknown dimension.

Kolaza sat by the fireplace digging into the ashes with a stick. She sat cross-legged with one hand under her chin. The young Cabbat girl was very bored. Since the tribe left she was the only child around, nobody to play with her. Her father still suffered from back pains and had to rest often.

She didn’t dare to approach either of her uncles; Alo was always brooding and snappy. Accrel scared her; he always had this strange insane glint in his eyes.

The young Cabbat lifted the now dirty stick and examined it critically. She didn’t notice the large shape approaching until a shadow was cast over her. Noticing that everything had become darker Kolaza looked up and her eyes opened wide in surprise.

A large figure was standing over her; the person wore a brown cloak that concealed most of its body. But the turtle like beak could be seen and it sported a strange almost sinister grin. Around the neck it wore a strange necklace made out of bones of small animals.

“Hello little one,” the figure said, his voice was soft and gentle.

“Hello,” Kolaza greeted him back not sure what to think. There was something familiar about this person.

“You must be Mizuri’s child, you carry his mild features,” the person regarded the girl.

“You know my father?” she asked surprised, the figure nodded and then large hands pulled out from under the cloak and took down the hood. Kolaza gasped at the big Cabbat that stood before her grinning almost madly.

“Yes I know your father. I should, I’m his brother,” the turtleoid chuckled softly.

“Maccar!” was shouted and Alo came running.

“Alo,” the cloaked Cabbat held out his arms, the two large turtleoids hugged briefly.

“It’s about time you came,” Alo said patting his brother fiercely on the back.

“It was time yes, I returned,” Maccar said and then looked around. “The village looks empty.”

“Yes and that is what I must discuss with you about,” his brother said and gestured to his hut. “Come, we don’t have much food but we manage.”

“Yes, indeed,” Maccar said and then glanced at the girl. “Come little one, I would very much like to learn more about my brother’s daughter.”

Kolaza gulped but obeyed. Something about her newly arrived uncle made her very uneasy, something more than Accrel and Alo did. But Maccar in a rather friendly gesture took her hand while they walked towards the hut. The girl wondered briefly if she was just being overly paranoid.

Alo had run to fetch both Accrel and Mizuri and soon the five Cabbats were seated inside the former leader’s hut. Maccar insisted on Kolaza sitting beside him, her father sat on the other side of her. In front of them were the other two.

The former tribe leader began telling Maccar about the reason the village was empty. Much to Mizuri’s dismay, the tale began on his affair with Dia, the human from the nearest village of the so called Tri-Villages. He was shot a very angry glare from Alo and Accrel, but Maccar remained strangely neutral, just nodded.

Alo then told about the discovery of the strange three fingered Cabbat and his lupinar like mate and their child. Then when three other Cabbats suddenly arrived with their human slaves and attacked in order to save their heretic brethren. Alo then reluctantly admitted he was defeated by the leader of these strange Cabbats and the prisoner.

The whole time Maccar just sat and listened, but he became extremely interested when Alo mentioned how different from regular Cabbats the attackers had looked.

“Interesting, very interesting,” Maccar mused and stroke his chin thoughtfully. “How did they escape?”

“Um,” Alo fell silent and looked at Accrel.

“Well, we’re not sure, one moment they were there the next moment they weren’t. There was this bright flash of light and they were gone,” the other Cabbat mentioned. That information seemed to please their cloak wearing brother even more.

“Then I think I know the problem, these weren’t Cabbats,” Maccar said confusing his siblings completely.

“Then what?” Alo inquired with a frown.

“These were some creatures alright, but from another world,” Maccar smirked and pulled from under his cloak a pouch. Carefully he shook out if it few blue crystals, letting them fall to the ground.

“Don’t touch little one,” the Cabbat instructed his niece who had began reaching for the crystals, fascinated by their color and shape. “These crystals are very dangerous.”

“What are those?” Alo leaned closer to see the objects on the floor.

“I acquired these in my travels,” his brother explained. “These crystals access a gateway to other worlds.”

“Really?” the former leader said and grinned, eyeing a beautiful chance.

“Yes, and that’s not all,” Maccar continued. “They are activated by thought. Think about something or someone and you are transported to a world that has something similar. In other word, say you think about Mizuri…”

“I rather not think about him at all,” Alo growled glaring at the Cabbat in question.

“Say I think about Mizuri,” the cloak wearing turtleoid continued with a sigh. “These crystals do not transport me to him. Instead they find a creature that is similar to him and transport you to him.”

“But the creatures didn’t look anything like Mizuri or any other Cabbat,” Alo pointed out.

“Yes indeed, that’s the problem with those crystals. If they are unstable they will probably not necessarily bring you to someone similar to Mizuri in look but more in race,” Maccar explained. Four Cabbats, three adults and one child just stared at him confused.

“The crystals would then instead find a creature that appears like a Cabbat, much like those who attacked the village,” the cloaked Cabbat clarified shaking his head.

“On the other hand, if you are already in another world and think about Mizuri, the crystals bring you to Mizuri. They do not work as transporters within a world, they transport only to another one,” Maccar finished.

“So, if we would think about those Cabbats that attacked the village… we would be transported to them?” Mizuri asked. His brother nodded smiling.

“You’re right Mizuri, we would be instantly transported to them, wherever they are,” he said with a nasty grin. Alo grinned as well a very similar one. Accrell seemed a bit indifferent, while Mizuri didn’t like this at all. But he refrained from saying anything. His daughter was the only one confused.

“How can these crystals bring us to them?” she asked and shuddered at the memory of the red masked one. Alo growled and seemed ready to raise his hand and slap the girl. But Maccar grabbed the hand and gave his brother a stern glare.

“We do not know I’m afraid, little one,” he said and smiled down at his niece. “They just do.”

“So are we going to do this?” Alo rose up from the ground.

“I don’t see why not, gather your weapons brothers. I think we better avenge our brother’s humiliation,” Maccar said standing up as well.


Somewhere in Rytonas.

“So let me get this straight,” the light gray rymska male started. He was sitting by a table in a small cave. In front of him were Rakl, Rqwt and Sqwrt. “You three want to go on a about a month vacation, in order to get a rematch with those turtle humanoids we encountered when dealing with Daram and his big mouth?”

“Eh, yeah that sums it up sir,” Sqwrt said bowing his head slightly. The rymska, Akre, sighed and shook his head.

“I kind of decided that we were done with those turtles. They didn’t do much that interfered with me, though they did harbor Daram’s kid and I did take that young one, Michelangelo captive to try and gain information on his location. Yet I have little desire to interfere much more in that world, I see no business opportunities there at the present time,” he growled and narrowed his eyes on the three bodyguards.

“I know sir, but we are going on our own volition, we take full responsibility and will deny your involvement. In fact the only involvement we need from you is the portal,” Sqwrt explained to his employer.

“I don’t know, if I recall correctly these turtleoid made a short work out of the two of you,” Akre grunted narrowing his eyes on them. Sqwrt and Rqwt cleared their throats and looked embarrassed, only Rakl had a devious smirk on his muzzle.

“Wipe that smirk off Rakl, you broke your foot when you kicked Michelangelo’s carapace,” his leader snorted when seeing the face on his large ymska bodyguard. Rakl’s smile instantly disappeared and he looked away muttering something.

“Oh very well, I must admit that you would only collect dust for the next two or three months hanging here. But I stress that I am only helping you creating a portal to that world, then you are on your own,” Akre growled and stood up.

“Thank you sir,” all three said at once.

Shortly later in the same cave they were all staring at a portal their leader had opened. Akre was though once more not very convinced. The portal seemed to be changing colors rapidly.

“Strange, the portal should be fairly stable. It should lead to the world but there is something interfering with it,” the rymska said. “Maybe you should reconsider.”

“Nah that’s ok,” Rakl grinned and was the first one to run through. Sqwrt and Rqwt shrugged and went after their large jackaloid friend.

Shortly later the portal closed after them, but Akre kept staring at its former position.

No, there was definitely something wrong, I hope I wasn’t just sending my best men into their deaths, he thought with a frown.


TMNT-world.

“OW! HGJETTA!” Rakl growled when he came running through the portal and ran straight into a large tree.

“Whoa,” Sqwrt and Rqwt came shortly later and stopped short when seeing the large ymska stumbling backwards from the tree.

“Um, didn’t we meet those turtles in a city?” Rqwt the umska asked, the hyenaoid looked around confused. They were in a forest and the day was rapidly making way for the night.

“We did,” Rakl retorted while rubbing his sore snout. “Akre was right, that portal must have been in a fritz.”

“Great, so we are maybe miles off course,” Sqwrt sighed and shook his head. The portal was long gone and they were stuck for the moment.

“Terrific,” the larger ymska snarled still gingerly touching his muzzle. The three Rytonas froze though when hearing voices.

“What was that Maccar?”

“Hm, I don’t know, felt like we were pulled.”

“I don’t see those blasted Cabbat like creatures anywhere. Weren’t these crystals supposed to take us directly to them?”

“They were, but you felt the pull as well. Hm, if I were to vaguer a guess we were pulled off course during our travel.”

“Then where are we?”

“We are no doubt in the same world and these three fingered Cabbat like creatures, but probably at some distance from them. We are going to have to get our baring straight and hopefully locate them by other means. The crystals can’t transport with in a world, and we better not risk using them in case this interference is still going on.”

The three Rytonas looked at each other, all wondering about these voices. Then Rakl drew up his sword and from the belt a throwing knife. Sqwrt and Rqwt followed suit with their own swords and they approached the owners of the voices.

They all raised eyebrows at the sight of the turtle like humanoids. Four were clearly adults and male but the fifth was very small, Sqwrt and Rakl being of a race closer related to rymskas, could scent it was a girl. Rqwt, being the more observant of his companions, noticed instantly that these were not the turtles they were looking for.

“So, um, what do we do?” Rakl looked at Sqwrt. The smaller ymska was thinking.

“I don’t know, but them talking about three fingered creatures rings a bell. I say we go talk with them, maybe they can help us,” he said. But then one of the turtleoids turned and spotted them.

“We got company;” he growled and raised a long sword he was holding. The three other adults turned and two of them growled, raising their own weapons. The cloaked one had a rapier like sword but the other had a similar blade and the one who spotted the Rytonas. The only Cabbat holding a staff on the other hand looked nervous and instantly tried to conceal the small girl.

“Let’s interrogate them, they probably know where the Cabbat creatures are,” the cloaked one snarled.

“Ok new plan, let’s defend ourselves,” Sqwrt immediately decided and his fellow bodyguards nodded in agreement. Then the turtleoids charged.

***

“It’s beautiful,” was Jala’s comment on the farmhouse when the van finally approached it.

“Yep, and it’s even better inside,” April said as she parked the vehicle in front of it.

The turtles hurried to bring the luggage inside. Once that was done, Donatello took the guide role and gave the rymskas a tour around the house. He also showed them the only spare room left, since four were already claimed by the turtles. But Braka wished to bunk with Raph, so Jala would sleep in the spare room with just little Dia. April was simply going to crash on the couch since she would leave tomorrow, but Leo wouldn’t hear it. Told her to take his room and he would sleep on the couch.

Braka took off with Roha Mikey to explore, since dadarad wanted to take a quick shower. Leo decided to join April and Jala in the living room, were the women had sat down, tired after the long drive. Baby Dia still slept in her carry-bag beside her mother who sat on the couch.

Don went around the house to see if anything needed to be fixed. He had a notepad and pen and wrote anything down he spotted. It was Raphael who found the first thing that needed to be fixed.

“SHIT!” he came running out of the bathroom soaking wet in cold water. “DONNY! NO HOT WATER!”

“Right, fix hot water,” Donatello mumbled wrote it down on his list. He almost bumped into Leo who was now heading for the kitchen, after two tired ladies requested water.

“Hm,” the purple clad turtle looked up at the hallway ceiling light. It hadn’t turned on, so either it needed a new light bulb or a fuse had blown.

“Maybe you should look at the refrigerator, the light doesn’t seem to work,” Leo returned from the kitchen. Don looked up from the notebook thinking.

“Is it plugged in?” he asked, Leonardo blinked once and turned in order to reenter the kitchen. Shortly later Donatello could hear embarrassed cough emerge from there. He smiled wide before descending down to the basement, intending to check on the fuse box and the hot water tank.

Donatello confirmed that the fuse box was alright and the hallway light probably just needed a new bulb. He thus turned his attention to the hot water heater. The purple clad one had been working on it for a short while when someone else came down to the basement.

“Don?” it was Leo.

“Yeah,” he answered while inspecting some of the pipes to make sure they were alright.

“I wanted to speak with you about something, out of earshot from everybody,” his brother continued.

“About what?” Don looked up from his work.

“There earlier in the car, before we came here,” the blue masked ninja mentioned, his arms were folded and he leaned up against a nearby wall. “You seemed a little bit frustrated. Something wrong?”

Donatello froze for a moment when he recalled what Leonardo was talking about. He bit his lips and wondered how to answer.

“It was nothing, I was probably just thinking,” the purple clad turtle muttered and returned to work.

“It didn’t look you were thinking Don. I know your faces when you are thinking, this was more like you were angry or frustrated,” his brother said. “Come on, Donny. If something is bothering you, you can talk with us. We are here on a vacation, we all need to relax.”

“It was nothing Leo!” Don said with an unnecessarily sharp tone in his voice.

“Doesn’t sound like nothing,” Leo claimed having caught the tone in his brother. But Donatello just kept working on the water heater. The blue masked one sighed and shook his head. There was no way to get him to talk once he clammed up, at least not without force.

“Alright, have it your way,” Leonardo unfolded his arms and left the basement.

The ninja returned to the living room. Raphael was now sitting in there as well since he couldn’t take any shower. All eyes went to Leo as he entered.

“So hot water ready yet?” the red clad one asked with a frown.

“Uh, I didn’t ask him,” Leo said as he got seated in the recliner.

“If anybody sees my son, tell him to go to bed,” Jala murmured she was leaning back in the couch and seemed ready to go to sleep right there. April also looked tired were she sat beside the rymska.

“Why don’t you go to bed, I’ll go find Mikey and Braka,” Leonardo said with a smile and stood up once more. Raph got up as well and left the living room, mumbling something about checking on Donny.

Jala rose up from the couch and bade everybody good night, picked up her daughter and left for her room. April as well decided to retire for the night. Finding himself suddenly alone in the living room, Leo went to search for Mikey and Braka.

He found them both in the attic, exploring the various boxes and other stuff stored there. They hardly noticed it when the blue masked one came walking up the steps.

“Braka, your mother says you are supposed to go to bed,” Leo addressed the young boy.

“Aw,” Braka pouted, Mikey looked up from his rummaging.

“Five more minutes?” the orange masked pleaded but his brother shook his head.

“His mother wants him to go to be now,” Leonardo said firmly. “This stuff won’t be going anywhere, it will be here tomorrow.”

“Okay, I sleep in dadarads room,” Braka said jumping up from the box he had been examining. He ran to Mikey and hugged him. “Good night Roha Makey.”

“Nighty night little dude,” the orange masked turtle said hugging the boy as well. The rymska then darted to Leo and hugged him as well.

“Good night Roha Leo,” he said and was hugged by the blue clad one as well.

“Good night Braka, sweet dreams,” Leonardo said and Braka then ran down from the attic.

Mikey decided to continue his exploration in the attic and dove back in the box. He noticed though that his brother had walked towards him and sat down close by.

“I’m a little worried about Don,” Leo mentioned, that prompted Mike to look up.

“Why?” he asked surprised.

“He, I don’t know. In the car, at one point he seemed frustrated or angry or something. But he refused to say anything about it. I tried to talk with him down in the basement, but again he didn’t say much. Tried to avoid the subject entirely,” the older turtle said.

“Really?” Mikey frowned.

“You think it was because I was sitting close to Jala?” Leonardo wondered.

“You mean you think he was jealous?” the younger ninja asked and sat up straight. His blue clad sibling was thoughtful.

“Well, you did mention you thought Don liked her,” he said.

“I suppose, but that was only a guess. I think they are just good friends really,” Mikey shrugged, he then grinned a bit. “So what do you think about her? Now that you have seen the real Jala.”

“I must admit I was surprised,” Leonardo said as he began thinking about the rymska woman. A smile crept over his beak; he had to admit that she had changed drastically. He would go so far to say she was stunningly beautiful, not that she had been ugly or anything before.

“Uh Leo?” Mikey waved a hand in front of his brother, but Leonardo had zoned out and didn’t response. “Yo, earth to Leo!”

“Uh, what?” the older turtle looked up as if he had just awoken from a dream. “Sorry, I guess I was thinking.”

Really now, I wonder what? Mikey restrained himself from grinning slyly. But they were interrupted by a distant wail. Dia had apparently woken up and refused to go to sleep.

Leo rose up and walked to the entrance of the attic. Mike followed him and they both went downstairs. The turtles just missed when Jala carried the crying baby out of the guest room and down the stairs to the ground floor. Leonardo looked at his brother and they both shrugged and followed.

They were rather surprised to see that Jala had gone out with the child. She stood now on the grass in front of the porch and seemed to be dancing. The two turtles carefully crept out and then heard the woman’s soft voice as she sung for the child.

Leonardo found himself mesmerized at the sight. He just couldn’t stop staring at the soft almost catlike movements of Jala, the rymska danced slowly in front of the porch while singing something. The voice was so soft and gentle that the turtle felt like just going to sleep himself.

They couldn’t understand the words, she was singing in Rytonas. But it did quiet down Dia who was soon yawning wide and drowsing in her mother’s thin arms. Mike leaned forward on the porch railing, watching with a smile. But Leo was still awestruck; he almost wanted to join in but somehow managed to restrain himself.

Soon Don also appeared on the porch, having noticed his two brothers standing out there. He as well was thunderstruck when seeing Jala and just stood and stared, slack jawed.

“Why is everybody… whoa,” Raph also entered and was followed by Braka. Both stopped and just stared at Jala who had either not noticed the audience or ignored it.

Finally April came after having been on a trip to the bathroom. Now everybody was watching as the rymska woman sung her baby girl to sleep. Jala smiled at the sleeping child and finally stopped singing. But when she turned around, the woman was quite shocked to see everyone on the porch.

“Uh… encore?” Mikey grinned sheepishly and clapped his hands softly, so he wouldn’t wake up Dia.

“Yes… please,” Leo just barely found his voice.

“Um, I just do this all the time when putting Dia to bed. Sing for her and dance. It was nothing special,” the rymska woman was blushing under the fur.

“It was beautiful,” Don offered smiling a bit.

“It was just a common lullaby,” Jala muttered looking away embarrassed.

“Amazingly beautiful lullaby,” Leo said and stepped down from the porch. He approached the woman and offered to take the child. “Why don’t I take her so you can sing something else for us?”

“I don’t sing so well,” the woman grunted but did transfer Dia to Leonardo. The turtle backed away back to the others. The rymska sighed and shook her head smiling, seeing there was no escape.

“Ok, I’m afraid I don’t know anything in English though,” she said.

“That’s ok,” Donatello immediately mentioned. Mikey glanced back at him, the orange masked one frowned slightly when seeing the almost flustered look on his brother.

What’s up with him? He wondered but then remembered what Leo had mentioned in the attic. But he didn’t get a chance to wonder as Jala’s soft voice reached his ears, the turtle turned back to enjoy the singing.

Did I say beautiful, I meant heavenly, two turtles, one wearing blue and the other purple thought as both were quite taken in by the singing.

End chapter 3.

A/N: Hgjetta: Yeah Rakl has a potty mouth. That word is very close to the F-word

_________________
Confusing the heck out of the world since 1983.

~

"He never gives up!" - Storm Shadow about Snake Eyes.

[Askre]

Chapter 4.

There are some things that never take a vacation. Leo’s internal clock was one of them. Almost as soon as the grandfather clock downstairs started to chime in the number 5, indicating the early morning hour, the normally blue clad turtle opened his eyes.

He was maybe supposed to rest, but that didn’t mean the turtle was going to stop some of his normal routines. Like waking up early and do few exercises and meditate. In fact he had full intention to herd his brothers out to practice around six, like they did back at the lair. One thing was always constant in their lives and that was practice.

Besides, he was curious to see how Raph would fare with Braka. The red masked one had intended to begin some of the simpler exercises with the boy during their stay on the farmhouse, getting him used to the training hours among other things.

Yawning Leonardo sat up in the couch and stood up. He left the living room and headed for the bathroom. The turtle was about to open the door not really paying attention, just wanted to get rid that uncomfortable feeling in the lower region. It didn’t register until too late that the door was already opening.

“AHH!” Jala shouted and quickly slammed the door back. Leo blinked and now he realized that the rymska had been in full view to his still sleepy eyes.

“Uh, sorry,” he smiled and wondered if his senses were still sleeping and stepped aside, preparing to let the woman have room to get out. “You can come out now; I’m not in the way.”

“Ah… could you close your eyes,” she said from inside the bathroom.

Close my… Leo froze as he realized that the woman hadn’t just been in full view in front of him, she had been naked.

“I’ll do better than that, I’ll just go back to the living room and let you get out first,” the usually blue clad one said and quickly darted off. He waited until he definitely heard Jala retreating to the guest room before returning.

After finishing his business, Leo decided to head for the kitchen to get some tea before meditating. He was still feeling a bit shocked after realizing he had pretty much seen the woman clad only in her fur. But the turtle stopped short in the doorway when seeing that Jala was already there, now dressed in her dress and preparing tea.

“Sorry about earlier,” Leo grinned nervously and walked in.

“No that’s ok, I should apologize… I’m just a little too used to it that in my house I’m the only one who wakes up so early,” the rymska said and glanced towards him with a smile. “Even Dia sleeps soundly for another hour or so.”

“So you are making tea?” Leo gestured to the pot that was full of hot water.

“Yeah, I couldn’t find a kettle, so I’m just heating the water like this,” Jala said and took the small pot off the stove. “You want a cup?”

“That’s why I came down here, to have tea before meditating,” the turtle smiled a bit and sat down. Jala gave him a cup of hot water and the turtle picked out a bag from the small box on the table.

“So you always wake up so early?” the woman asked as she sat down with her own cup.

“Yeah, and we usually have practice around six in the morning, before breakfast,” Leonardo told her.

“I thought you were on vacation,” Jala raised an eyebrow in surprise. The turtle grinned and sipped from his cup.

“Even if we are here to rest and relax, that doesn’t mean we can skip on our training. It is essential for us to be in peak performance,” he explained to her.

“Yeah I guess I can see that, with you guys needing to stay hidden and all,” the rymska shrugged. “Ever considered moving… now that you can?”

“We well did actually,” Leonardo said surprising her a bit. The turtle looked down at his cup for a moment before raising his head again and smiled a bit.

“We decided against it, all things considered this is still our home. Sure it is risky, but we had so far managed to live in it. Moving just sounded like running away. I didn’t want that and neither did my brothers. Master Splinter as well refused, but more on the ground that he felt he was too old to be switching to a new world,” he told Jala who nodded.

“Understandable” she said and drank from her cup.

Leonardo watched her for a moment with a slight smile. It was almost funny in a way how she drank just like Splinter did. But that probably had to do with both having long muzzles, although Jala’s was shorter and more pointy. The rymska noticed the attention she got and looked at him questionably.

“Sorry, just I’m… uh sorry,” Leo realized that he had stared longer than intended and looked away. What is wrong with me? I’m staring like an idiot.

“Hey I don’t like it much either kid, but we aint got no choice,” they heard coming from the outside, then into the kitchen walked Raphael and he was holding very tired Braka.

“See this guy here, he’s a tyrant and if we aren’t up on time we’ll never hear the end of it,” the red clad one said and pointed at not very amused Leonardo.

“Roha Leo tyrant,” Braka mumbled and pointed at the blue clad turtle.

“Hey the kid is learning,” Raph grinned and put the boy on a chair, Leo just shook his head and Jala chuckled.

“I’m surprised Donny hasn’t made something already,” Raphael grunted when seeing no coffee in the machine.

“I’m surprised you are up so early,” Leonardo muttered and finished from his cup. Braka seemed to just be getting ready to sleep on the table.

“Braka, nea flah,” Jala said sternly and had her son sit up properly. The little boy protested and yawned wide.

“How long is a practice session?” she asked with a slight hint of worry.

“For us it can last two or three hours,” Leo answered but then made a notion to the child with his head. “Braka won’t be doing more than an hour though, while he’s getting used to this.”

“Yeah, the first time it’s only to see where he is at. He’ll do some simple exercises and stuff like that,” Raph told her. “He won’t begin on the basic self defenses just yet.”

“It’s important first that student and teacher are at understanding with each other and there is respect between them. When all that is established then the real fun starts,” Leo added. “That can take a short while.”

The blue masked ninja saw that Jala was about to say something when suddenly she seemed to stiffen. The rymska perched her ears and suddenly her nose started to vibrate a bit.

“Rytonas… at the front door,” she whispered and her eyes opened wide in shock.

But the two turtles didn’t get a chance to react just yet. Suddenly they heard the front door being kicked down off its hinges. Leonardo and Raphael rushed out of the kitchen at the same time but stopped short at the sight that met them.

In the doorway was a large ymska, he supported a smaller one that clutched at a bleeding wound on his side. The big Rytona scowled when seeing the two reptiles, immediately lowered his injured comrade and grabbed for his sword.

“Hgjetta, egw shaw skarta katta,” he growled. Leonardo frowned when seeing the scar on the ymska’s neck. And this guy seemed to recognize them.

Then the turtle remembered the large jackaloid he had fought on a rooftop almost two years ago. On reflexes he grabbed for his katana, but then remembered he hadn’t strapped them on yet. Raph on the other hand already had his sai up and ready.

“Alright who the hell are you supposed to be?” Raph growled being the only one who had no idea who those were.

“They work for Akre,” Leo sneered and was now simply in a ready fighting position since he had no weapon.

“Good enough for me,” the red masked one snarled and lunged towards the big Rytona. The ymska wasn’t quick enough and the turtle collided with him forcing both out of the house.

“Jala stay in the kitchen with Braka,” Leo called to the rymska woman and rushed to the doorway.

Outside in front of the porch, Raph and the large Rytona were in a heated battle. Leonardo immediately recognized his fighting style. Staying far enough away so kicking and punching was useless. Raphael was most of the time blocking the large scimitar shaped weapon and occasionally trying to stab with is sai.

The blue clad turtle looked down when heard a groan. The smaller ymska was still clutching at his wound; his face was disfigured in a grimace of pain. Leonardo crouched down in front of him.

“Why have you come here?” he asked sharply, the turtle held an inner debate whether to help this guy or not. He recognized this one as well; recalled Mikey knocking him out in the same battle Leo had fought the big ymska.

“M…my idea,” the wounded Rytona muttered and shook his head. “Stupid… notion… got attacked…”

“Attacked by whom?” Leonardo frowned, he recalled these guys not being that bad fighters. Who could have attacked them, the wound on the ymska looked like sword cut.

“Turtle…turtle like creatures,” finally the ymska looked up and at Leo. “Don’t smell like you… you different… they were not turtles… just alike.”

“But why did you come here?” the blue clad one asked again. The Rytona smirked.

“Wanted rematch,” he said but then dropped his smirk. “Bad idea…RAKL?”

“Feqqe Sqwrt!” the larger ymska shouted as he blocked a kick Raphael managed to make.

“Oh for crying out loud. STAND DOWN RAKL!” the ymska actually managed to both speak clearly and sit up. But that was too much for him and the fell back down. But Leo caught him and gently lowered him to the floor.

“Hey what is going on?” Donatello and Michelangelo came running down the stairs; they froze at the sight of the wounded Rytona.

“We are having visitors,” Leo grunted and glanced at where Rakl the ymska and Raphael still fought.

“Rakl!” the smaller ymska, Sqwrt, growled. He had the battle now in eyesight. “Stand down!”

“The hell I will!” the large Rytona growled and tried to stab his sword at Raph who blocked it with both sai.

“Don’t have… time for this… must rescue Rqwt!” Sqwrt tried to stand up.

That kicked Donatello into gear. Seeing the wound on the ymska the turtle immediately took action. He turned to Mikey and ordered him to get the first aid-kit. Then the purple masked one hurried down and told Leo to help him carry Sqwrt to the living room.

“Don,” Leo frowned but his brother wouldn’t hear it.

“Leo, I don’t care who it is. He’s bleeding and needs treatment now!” Donatello said and grabbed Sqwrt’s legs. His brother sighed in surrender and they both carried the ymska into the house.

That caught the attention of his large comrade. Rakl immediately ran after them with Raph hot on his heels. But before the big ymska could protest or the hot-tempered turtle could continue the fight, they were stopped.

“Rakl… stand down,” Sqwrt growled for the third time.

“We are just going to help him,” Don said and was using his own mask to keep a pressure on the wound. Mike appeared with the med-kit but had to push past both Rakl and Raph who now glowered at each other.

Don blinked a little when noticing that despite how deep the cut was, the ymska bled slowly. Taking a closer look at the blood, the purple-masked turtle noticed that it was thick. He looked up when his brother knelt down in front of him.

“Speaking about being literally thick blooded, I think that just saved his life,” Donatello whispered to Mikey who took over holding the pressure on the wound.

“Hey… I know you,” the smaller ymska grinned when seeing the orange clad turtle.

“You do?” Mikey frowned as his purple clad brother began cleaning and stitching the wound.

“Yeah… you knocked me out,” Sqwrt mentioned and cringed a bit at the pain. Leonardo stood up once it was evident that the situation was so far under control.

“So you two came to have a rematch with us?” he asked unimpressed and glanced at the large Rytona.

“Yeah, so?” Rakl grunted and folded his arms. He had already placed his sword on his belt.

“We got no time for rematch…” Sqwrt gritted his teeth but this time in anger. “Must rescue Rqwt.”

“Rqwt? There was a third one?” Leo looked down at the wounded ymska. Both Rytonas nodded. The blue masked turtle sighed heavily and glanced at Raphael.

“Keep an eye on them,” he told his red masked brother before leaving the living room and headed for the kitchen.

He found Jala who sat by the table holding Braka. The turtle didn’t know what to say, he was sure the woman had recognized them. Since they worked for a crime lord from her world, the rymska was sure to have seen or heard about them before.

“They came here originally to fight us,” Leonardo said and glanced back towards the doorway. “That has apparently hit a snag. They were attacked by someone and a friend of theirs was captured.”

“They work for Akre,” Jala muttered and held her son tight. Braka was confused and a bit scared, but he didn’t say a word. Leo just nodded.

“They’ll leave as soon as Don has finished treating the one who is wounded,” the turtle said and was about to leave but Jala mentioned his name so he stopped.

“… I can scent it; he’s too badly injured to move…” the woman took a deep breath. “Don’t… don’t throw him out on my account… just keep them away from me and my children.”

“Are you sure, it is perfectly understandable,” Leonardo said with a concerned frown on his face.

“No… it’s all right… it’s just that… I can scent something else from them… something familiar,” Jala was shaking; the turtle stepped away from the doorway and walked to her.

“You all right?” he asked still with concern. What a perfect way to begin the first day on the farmhouse.

The rymska woman nodded but didn’t say a word otherwise. Leo patted her reassuringly on the shoulder before leaving the kitchen. He saw April on her way down to the stairs.

“April go to the kitchen and be with Jala and Braka,” Leo told her, the woman frowned but seeing the stern face on the turtle she didn’t argue. The reporter was though dying to know what was going on.

“How bad is it?” the blue clad turtle asked his brother who was still tending to Sqwrt’s wound.

“Well the sword cut deep and he lost blood. I wouldn’t recommend he move much for a while,” Donatello reported. “Still, him being so thick blooded, literally, probably saved his life.”

“Don’t have a choice… Rqwt is still out there,” Sqwrt growled and began rising up. The orange clad turtle stopped him.

“Hey, now I remember you, you kept me un-bored when I was a prisoner,” Mikey said with a grin. The ymska smirked a bit.

“Right,” he said. The orange masked turtle helped him stand up and supported him. Rakl was about to approach but Sqwrt told him to stay still.

“Mikey, you’re not honestly going to think you owe the guy one for keeping you un-bored,” Raph growled with his arms folded but still ready to spring into action.

“Duh, of course not,” Mike said as he guided Sqwrt to the couch and helped him sit down there.

“But guys, there are apparently some people out there now who just beat the crud of him and the big guy there and captured their friend,” the orange-masked ninja started.

“Mike,” Leo frowned as he looked at his younger brother. But the Michelangelo was now sitting beside the ymska and ignored him.

“So who attacked you?” was asked once again but this time by Mikey.

“We don’t know really… they looked a bit like you but larger and broader,” Sqwrt looked at Rakl who nodded in agreement.

“They also had three toes and four fingers… I think they called themselves Cabbats,” the Rytona shrugged, they both noticed when everybody froze in shock. “You know what I’m talking about.”

Leo was gone out of the living room almost immediately and running to the kitchen. He was pretty sure now who had attacked those Rytonas and didn’t think it was any coincident.

“April, you need to take Jala, Braka and Dia back to New York,” the blue clad turtle said almost the moment he entered the kitchen.

“What why?” both women asked at the same time.

“Remember the large turtleoid, Cabbats,” Leo decided not to beat around the bush. He wanted them out of the area right now. The turtle wasn’t very surprised that Jala froze and tightened her hold on Braka.

“I remember you guys telling me about them,” April mentioned and immediately stood up from the table, as did the rymska.

“We’ll go,” Jala whispered and put Braka down on the floor, but then took his hand and led him out of the kitchen. The human and the turtle followed them.

Leonardo watched the ladies and the rymska boy disappear upstairs to get ready before going back to the living room. Raph and Rakl still stood, pretty much ready to jump at each other. Mikey still sat on the couch and so did Sqwrt, Don stood nearby.

“I’m sending Jala, the children and April back to New York,” the blue clad one announced. His brothers just nodded in approval, the turtles then regarded their unexpected guests. Finally Leo approached the couch.

“Where were you attacked?” Leo asked Sqwrt. The Rytona’s brow sunk as he thought but then glanced at Rakl.

“Hege?” he addressed the larger ymska. All eyes went to him.

“Well, it took us all night to get here,” the big Rytona growled. “We stumbled up on this place by pure chance. We in fact thought it was empty, our sense of smell isn’t as good as rymskas.”

“From what direction did you come from then?” the blue clad turtle asked. Rakl growled and glared at Raph who sneered. The ymska then turned and walked out of the house. But he returned shortly later.

“East of the house. Past that large warehouse or whatever it is,” the ymska snorted.

“That’s a barn,” the red masked turtle growled. Rakl didn’t answer just grunted something.

“Rakl,” Sqwrt snapped at his comrade, having apparently heard him.

“How many were they?” Leonardo asked ignoring the apparent outburst.

“Four,” the smaller ymska answered, Raphael chuckled mockingly.

“Raph,” this time it was Leo who snapped. But then turned back to Sqwrt.

“All right, we will help you rescue your friend and then I want you three off this world,” the blue clad one said in a dead serious tone.

“That works for me,” the injured ymska said and nodded, he glanced at Rakl who shrugged but rolled his eyes.

“And why should we help them?” Raph asked and glared at the large ymska.

“Because we need to deal with those Cabbats anyway,” Don suddenly spoke up and everybody looked his way.

“It’s no coincidence why these Cabbats are here; they come from a world that has those crystals remember. I think it’s no question about it,” the purple clad turtle said between his gritted teeth. “They are here… for us.”

Leo looked at his brother and noticed now how uneasy he was. But there was no surprise. Of the four of them, Dontello had suffered the worst at the hands of the large turtleoids.

April appeared in the doorway, the woman looked uneasily at the large ymska who stood there nearby. But she then signaled for the blue clad turtle.

“Jala and the kids are in the car, we are on our way out,” she told him.

“I’ll walk you out,” the turtle said and approached the doorway.

The woman and Leonardo left the house and he followed her to the van. Jala was in the back and so were Braka, Dia was in her carry basket. Leo opened the passenger side to look inside.

“We are going to deal with those Cabbats, try to have them leave this world. We’ll call when it’s safe to come back,” he said and smiled reassuringly to the rymska woman.

“Ok,” Jala nodded and returned the smile.

“All right, let’s get this show on a road,” April said as she got seated behind the wheels. The woman then tried to start the car, but nothing happened. The human tried again but only got a slight starting noise but nothing else.

“Oh no,” April gulped and looked at Leo.

“I’ll go get Don,” the blue clad one muttered and disappeared back into the house. Meanwhile the reporter opened the hood and stepped outside.

“What’s wrong,” the rymska climbed in front and poked her head out of the door.

“I don’t know, I think it’s the ignition,” April answered. At that moment both Don and Leo came running. The purple-clad turtle wasted no words and dove into the engine.

Braka became impatience in the car so Jala had to climb back to keep him from going out. Leo and April both paced in front of the vehicle while Donatello worked. But after a minute the purple masked one looked up and glanced at the human.

“Try it,” he said. The reporter jumped back in and attempted to start the car. Donatello was forced to jump back away when there was a loud bang. Then smoke emerged from the engine.

“Get them out of here!” the turtle called as April fled out of the van. Soon Jala, Dia and Braka were out as well. Everybody stared at the car in dismay, safe for the infant girl who had managed to sleep this all off.

“I… I’m afraid this will take days to fix,” Don muttered and looked at Leo who had one hand over his face.

“Alright then, Jala take your children back inside. We’ll just have to leave one behind when we go,” he said with a heavy sigh.

April shook her head and helped Jala to empty the car again and carry everything back in. Soon only Don and Leo stood outside the house, both staring at the smoking car.

“I would have preferred to have her leave here first,” they both muttered at the same time. Leonardo didn’t notice as he was already shaking his head and returning to the house. Don looked down and then glanced back and just missed his blue clad brother walk inside.

He’s never shown any interest. He’s seeing her for the first time since… Donatello sighed and slowly turned towards the house.

Maybe he has been this whole time, just came to terms with it now, the purple clad turtle wondered.

I hope I’m wrong.

End chapter 4.


A/N: Nea flah: 'Don't sleep'. Nea is a negative sound and can mean, Don't, won't, no and most negative meanings.

Hgjatta, egw shaw skarta katta: Rakl just said that they had found the turtles. Basically saying, "Fuck, we found the turtles." But it is not direct translation.

Feqqe Sqwrt: 'Busy Sqwrt'. Sqwrt is just the name of the injured ymska.

Hege: Basically can mean where, especially specific locations.

_________________
Confusing the heck out of the world since 1983.

~

"He never gives up!" - Storm Shadow about Snake Eyes.

[Askre]

Disclaimer: the opinion of characters spoken in this chapter are their own and do not represent the opinions of the author.

There is also some Cabbat religion, but it is a made up one and does not represent my religion in any shape or form. I do not write soap box stories.

Chapter 5.

Leonardo walked into the living room shaking his head. He noticed that Rakl had relocated himself to the couch and sat on the other side of Sqwrt. Mikey still sat where he had been before. Raphael was by the doorway.

“Unfortunately they won’t be going anywhere, April’s car just died,” the blue-masked turtle sighed.

“Well this shouldn’t be that much of a problem anyway. What I remember from those sorry excuses for turtles, they weren’t that much of fighters,” Raph grunted.

“Maybe so, but it’s been a while since we last met them,” Leo looked at his red-masked brother gravely.

“We had an easy fight because they wanted us alive and mostly unharmed,” Donatello snorted as he walked into the living room. Again the attention was on the purple-clad one. He walked to one window and stared out.

“They thought we were Cabbats back then, they wanted us alive. Cabbats as rule do not kill another Cabbat,” Don continued and took a deep breath. He was shaking a little.

“But now is different,” Leo nodded seeing what his brother was getting at. “Now they are after revenge. I think they have taken the silk gloves off.”

“We had the element of surprise; also most of the tribe was newly awoken after hard battle first, victory celebration second. Many of the Cabbats you beat were probably hung-over or even still drunk,” Donatello looked into the living room. “Now we are probably facing battle ready, sober Cabbats thirsting revenge.”

“Don’t worry Don, we will beat them,” Leonardo approached his brother and put one hand gently on Don’s shoulder. But surprisingly the purple-masked one shook it off.

“Don?” the blue-clad ninja frowned in worry. The other turtle had closed his eyes tight and ground his teeth.

“Don I know you suffere…” Leo was cut off short when his sibling whirled around to face him.

“Suffered? I got minor bruises when that brute beat me up to get me to talk. But no matter what I said, even when I told the truth, he beat me up. But before that…” Donatello snapped and breathed rapidly. “HE! RAPED! JALA!”

“He raped her, endangered her unborn child and violated her honor and body. What happened to me is minor compared to what happened to her. Now she is stuck here and quite possibly her tormentor is just few miles away looking for US!” the purple-clad turtle snarled. Leonardo frowned and grabbed his, usually calm and collected, brother’s shoulders.

“Don, calm down. I know, I know this is hard for you and I know this is going to be double hard for Jala,” he said calmly. The others just stared at the scene surprised, even the two ymskas.

“I-I… c-couldn’t protect her,” Don’s voice lowered and suddenly wrapped his arms around Leo and clung tight to his older brother. The blue-clad ninja hugged him back, patting him reassuringly on the carapace.

“They were too strong… they overpowered me… I couldn’t protect her… I could hear her scream for mercy and I couldn’t do anything,” Donatello sobbed.

“Shh, Donatello you did what you could at the present time. You even managed to free yourself on your own,” Leonardo spoke soothingly to his distressed sibling.

“And this time you can protect her, you will stay and protect our injured guest here, Jala, her children and April. While Raph, Mike, our other guest and I go and search for those Cabbats and drive them off,” he added. Don slowly stopped crying and nodded. The brothers parted and Leo patted Donatello on the shoulder and smiled.

“We defeated them once, we will defeat them again, drunk or sober,” Leo assured him.

***

Rqwt flinched when a splash of water hit his face and woke him up. Slowly the umska opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed were the two Cabbats standing in front of him. Then the Rytona felt his arms were in upright position, tied to a large tree-trunk.

The umska pretended to be still disoriented as he glanced carefully around to take note of details. Something he did as one of Akre’s bodyguards. Sqwrt and Rakl were the main muscle; Rqwt was the observer and checked the rooms or other areas for anything unusual.

They appeared to be in what looked to be a small gorge in the forest. Close to the tree he was tied to, were four small crude tents made of animal skins. The umska recalled now seeing gear on the ground before engaging the creatures in battle earlier. But he had been knocked out almost instantly; the Cabbats had been too strong and vicious.

“Stop looking around and pay attention,” the Cabbat with the scar on his beak suddenly slapped Rqwt hard. The umska’s head snapped sideways but then the Rytona looked up and glared at his captors.

“Your friends managed to escape us, apparently they managed to snatch our niece Kolaza with them,” the Cabbat in the black cloak growled and had his arms folded.

It’s not like Sqwrt or even Rakl to take a kid hostage, Rqwt frowned, figuring this Kolaza had to be the small Cabbat.

“Now you’re going to tell us where your friends are,” Alo snarled and slapped Rqwt again.

“How in Orvan’s name should I know? We were barely in this world for five seconds before you brutes attacked us,” the umska growled and was slapped again by the scarred turtleoid.

“Easy Alo, we need his head intact so he can speak,” Maccar put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“I’ll send him to Dular if I have to so he will speak,” Alo growled but didn’t raise his hand for another strike.

“You know only one can send someone to Dular and that is not you,” Maccar said sharply then turned his attention to the umska once more. “Tell us what we want to know and you will not suffer. Much.”

“Oh, that’s so reassuring,” Rqwt snorted. “Trust me, there is nothing you can do that I haven’t seen the interrogator that works for my employer do to others.”

“Seeing,” Maccar said and leaned closer and smiled strangely. “Is not the same as experiencing.”

“Jgha ege,” the umska grunted in Rytonas.

While Maccar and Alo concentrated on their prisoner. Mizuri crawled out of one of the tents. One arm was bandaged and the Cabbat looked weak. He slowly rose and cringed as the back pains came with vengeance. The turtloid looked around worried before eyeing his brothers.

“Is Accrel not back yet?” he whispered.

“Not yet,” the cloaked Cabbat responded without turning around.

“Maybe… maybe I should…” Mizuri stopped when Alo growled and glared slightly back. But Maccar turned around and approached his injured brother.

“Accrel is a tracker and a hunter, he will find Kolaza. You are a healer Mizuri,” he said and put a hand gently Mizuri’s shoulder. “We need you here to keep our prisoner alive. I can only do so much as the High Shaman and you know Alo.”

“Yeah, he makes the injuries, not heals them,” the other Cabbat muttered under his breath. Maccar smiled and patted the shoulder before turned back to the prisoner.

Mizuri sighed and sat down in front of the tent he had crawled out of, his mind constantly on his missing daughter. The battle had been very vicious and fast paced. He had managed to knock out their current prisoner, but his companions had not been so easy. It wasn’t until Maccar had injured one of them that they retreated. But in all this confusion, Kolaza had been lost.

Kolaza… my only source for light and joy in this miserable life, the Cabbat hung his head and a tear crawled down his cheek. He didn’t follow the standard Cabbat religion as his brothers did. But yet the turtleoid found himself making a small prayer. Please Dular… be merciful… I know I sinned against my race, but please don’t make my child suffer for it. Keep her from harm.

***

Don sat on the porch and watched Braka play in the swing nearby. He had the staff in his hands and occasionally glanced around. The turtle was nervous, worried that the Cabbats might be near. It’s been two hours already since Leo, Raph, Mikey and Rakl went to search in the forest.

Jala, April, Dia and Sqwrt were in the farmhouse. Last Don knew, the women were in the kitchen and the injured ymska in the living room. Braka had wanted to go out and play, his mother had not liked the idea but Donatello assured her that he would watch the boy.

So far nothing was happening and the scene around the farmhouse was very peaceful. The sun was shining, birds where chirping, almost a normal day. Donatello almost wished it would stay that way, but knew better.

*

Sqwrt grimaced a little when he stressed the stitches on the side. The ymska was rising up to sit as he had just felt uncomfortable lying in the couch. It was too small for him to lie properly in.

The ymska glared at his wound and shook his head. He was so used to fighting Forest Guards, the Rytona’s police force, who were fair fighters. That the jackaloid had been completely unprepared to fight that dirty fighting cloaked Cabbat.

Rakl had faced both Cabbats with the bigger swords while he had gone for the cloaked one. Rqwt tried to take on the turtleoid that wielded the staff but didn’t last long. As usual the umska had been to slow to react.

We need to begin working on his speed, Sqwrt growled.

Rakl had the time of his life fighting the other two, but Sqwrt had not liked cloaked one. He kept chanting in the battle and suddenly put one hand inside his cloak and brought out a vial full of powder. This the turtloid had thrown at the ymska, the vial broke and the dust blinded him. The Cabbat had thus used the opportunity to slash at his side, causing the injury.

With him injured and Rqwt out, Rakl was forced to break his fight and grab Sqwrt who was nearest to him. But the Cabbat’s blocked his way to Rqwt so the two ymskas were forced to flee.

He dropped out of his thoughts when April walked into the living room. The woman held a tall glass full of water. She approached the Rytona and offered it. Sqwrt raised an eyebrow and looked at her questionably.

“Jala works in a hospital and said you would need water, you lost blood,” the woman told him simply.

“Hjakk,” Sqwrt said simply and took the glass and began drinking from it. The ymska then remembered he had addressed her in his own language and shook his head. “Sorry I meant to say thank you.”

“Don’t worry, Jala’s been teaching me the simple words,” April said and folded her arms.

“Simple words in Rytonas?” Sqwrt chuckled and drowned the rest of the drink and handed the glass back to the woman. April took it and was about to leave, but stopped and turned around again.

“What exactly gave you guys the bright idea to come here to fight my friends?” she asked a little sharply.

“Slow days at work,” the ymska answered shrugging. The human frowned at that answer.

“No seriously, we were having lull in work. Had nothing to do, we weren’t coming here to kill them, just fight them,” Sqwrt said simply.

“Uh huh, just a friendly brawl,” the woman didn’t sound too impressed by that answer.

“Hey, sure I’m not a nice guy. I have killed, I have stolen, I have beat up people at my boss’s orders,” the ymska said. “But if we had been coming here to kill them, I would not have told Rakl to stand down when he was fighting the red masked reptile. Plus we would have come in greater numbers. But then again Akre rarely uses us to kill unless it’s necessary to protect his business.”

“And that’s supposed to make me feel all better about it?” April snorted.

“I was trying to make you feel better?” Sqwrt asked with a smirk. The woman narrowed her eyes.

“Look you can rant all you like, pour out how you feel about me and my friends. It won’t change anything. I know who I am, there is no guilt, no angst, no nothing. I’ve heard it all, so let’s just safe your breath,” the ymska told her just as April began opening her mouth, she promptly closed it again.

“I’m maybe a crook, a servant to a multi-dimensional underworld lord, but I am also a Rytona and we seldom lie. So you can believe this when I say, we will be out of here the moment we get Rqwt back, no fight, no trouble.”

“You had better,” April grunted and turned once more to leave.

Sqwrt rolled his eyes and watched the woman disappear out of the living room. Shortly later Braka came running into the house and past the open doorway. After him came Donatello but the purple-clad one stopped in front of the room.

“I see Dqrre gave you a shajkr cut,” the ymska commented when the turtle had looked in.

“A what?” the ninja entered the living room, frowning in confusion. The Rytona pointed at his leg, were a long scar was visible.

“That’s a shajkr cut with a –D Rytona Scimitar sword, the type Dqrre carries. Though his is a pretty old model, a family heirloom called Killer,” Sqwrt explained.

“A murderer with a sword named Killer, how appropriate,” Donatello grunted dryly, causing the injured alien just to smirk.

“Usually that cuts off the limb, but I recall you managing to jerk the leg a bit away,” the ymska said as he recalled the fight on the rooftop.

“I try not to recall that fight,” the purple-clad turtle grunted, knowing how ‘well’ he had faired in it.

“Neither does Dqrre, he went ballistic when he learned how young you and your brothers were,” Sqwrt told him.

Donatello sat down in a chair opposite to the couch. The ninja regarded the large jackaloid alien. Even though the ymska was not as tall as Rakl, he was still an impressive almost intimidating sight. There was no doubt that in full form, Sqwrt was nobody to mess around with.

“Your race is what, ysmaks?” the turtle tried to recall the name.

“Ymskas, like rymskas, just remove the R,” Sqwrt explained. “We are sometimes called rymskas with an attitude problem.”

“And your blood is gooey and thick?” Don asked, his natural curiosity winning over the resentment he felt for the person for now.

“It’s thick,” the Rytona shrugged. “Dunno much about it, I aint no biologist.”

“What did my brother mean when he said you kept him un-bored?” the turtle realized he was talking with the wrong person about Rytona physiology, so he changed the subject.

“The orange clad one? Michelangelo?” Sqwrt sat up a little more properly in the couch. “Nothing much really, he at one point complained about being bored. Akre told me to talk with him and keep him un-bored as he put it. That’s what I did, sat with your brother and talked with him.”

“I do actually similar stuff back in Akre’s mountain. I interact well with children and younger recruits of Akre’s guards and other employees. So Akre often has me handle the younger people, or at least help them get comfortable in their situation,” the ymska told him.

“Situation?” Donatello wondered what the ymska meant by that.

“Contrary to popular belief, the mountain isn’t just full of crooks and criminals,” Sqwrt said with a smirk. “We got the whole families, generations of Rytonas who have never lived outside the Mountain. People whose grandparents came to Akre because they wanted to disappear from society for various reasons, from personal grief to just feeling unwelcome in the hostile world.”

“My little brother came with me to the mountain; he’s not committed a single crime in his lifetime. His record is clean. All he does is wash clothes in the laundry cave. Rqwt who your brothers are helping us rescue, he barely knows any other life than the Mountain. His little sister is completely unknown the rest of the world,” the ymska shrugged carelessly.

“But I’m not telling you this is an ideal society, there do live criminals in there as well. Rakl is one of our most famous one, then there is Dqrre and of course our leader, Akre. Myself included. And this is no life really; we can’t enter a city without being arrested, if we are caught that is. Our rooms are caves, the beds are skin piles. If you’re not strong enough, you will not survive there,” Sqwrt glanced at the couch and then patted it. “This is the most comfortable thing I’ve sat on for two years.”

“Considered just turn yourself in, sit out your sentence and then leave jail free to get these luxuries?” Donatello asked.

“Because I don’t want to, but that doesn’t mean I want others to live this life,” the ymska told him simply. “I’ve full intentions to have my son moved later to civilization so he can live a normal life.”

“You have a son?” the turtle asked a little surprised.

“Yes I do,” was the only answer the ymska gave and didn’t say more. Suddenly he looked a bit uncomfortable and glanced down. “I don’t suppose you can help me stand up so I can go to the bathroom?”

Donatello sighed and rose up from the chair. The turtle rose up and approached the ymska and offered his hand. Sqwrt took it and began to rise up, but then something very odd happened. Suddenly the Rytona froze and stared utterly shocked at the ninja. Then he ripped his hand free and held it almost as if he feared it would attack someone.

The turtle stared at the alien confused. But the ymska straightened up the best he could and didn’t say a word. He began stumbling towards the living room door with out explaining anything.

“Hey wait, what was that all about?” Don approached him and was about to offer to support him. But the Rytona brushed him off.

“I’ll be fine,” he muttered under his breath and continued to stumble out.

Don stared at the alien disappear into the bathroom without getting any answers. Something had definitely happened, but it seemed to shock the ymska very much. Shaking his head the ninja went to the kitchen, there Jala was feeding Dia and April was fixing a sandwich for Braka who sat by the table.

“I’m going to scout around the farm, our ‘guest’ is in the bathroom just so you know,” Donatello told them and got positive nods.

Holding his staff again tight, the turtle ventured outside. He began walking around the farm. The peaceful scene calmed his mind a little and before Don knew it, he was humming a familiar song. It was a melody that he had hummed long time ago, when the ninja was for the first time on the farm.

*

She stumbled through the woods, tired, thirsty and in pain. The sun was hot and it did no favors for her small body. This place was much warmer than she was used to in her own world. Kolaza whimpered a little and wished so much to be in her father’s gentle arms.

The little Cabbat girl didn’t have a really clear idea what had happened. She had seen her father and uncles engage in a fight with those strange creatures. Kolaza had tried to stay out of the way and had left the main fighting circle. Kept behind a tree and watched. Then Tribe Leader Alo and Accrel had begun backing off towards her, fighting the largest creature.

Kolaza knew she would get in trouble if in the way, so the little girl hurried away. But the turtleoid had then stumbled on something, tree-root most likely and fell. The Cabbat had then rolled and rolled, hitting her head hard before coming to a stop. Everything went black after that.

When she woke up, it was dark and the girl covered in plants and other foliage. Her head hurt, the entire body hurt and no sign of her family. Kolaza had begun wandering to try and locate them, occasionally calling the name of her uncles or for her father. But nobody appeared.

Now it was day time and she was still wandering. She hadn’t eaten for a long time, had little water, her head still hurt and the girl was getting very tired. Sniffling Kolaza still kept going, hoping to stumble up on her family.

Finally the little Cabbat suddenly walked out of the forest. The turtleoid stopped and looked around. She was starting to feel dizzy and disoriented. But what she saw was apparently a large hut, two in fact. For a moment the girl wondered if she had stumbled up on a village. But there was no sign of life.

“H-hello?” she called weakly. Hoping that perhaps this was a Cabbat village, then she would get food and water.

A movement caught her attention. Kolaza turned around and saw what looked to her like her own kind. She squinted her eyes and walked closer and so did the strange Cabbat. But the girl stumbled and almost fell to the ground. Strong hands grabbed her up and the little turtleoid was held close.

“Who are you?” a voice addressed her. Kolaza looked at the face, it had a purple mask.

“F-father?” the girl smiled weakly. Had she found father? But why was he wearing a mask. Cabbat’s seldom wore anything, aside from shamans.

*

Donatello stared down at the small turtleoid in his arms. There was no doubt about the species, the three toes and four fingers gave her away. But he was surprised that she or he, Don wasn’t quite sure about the sex, addressed him as father. The voice did hint at a girl.

She’s definitely dehydrated, doesn’t seem to have been fed properly for a while, the ninja began examining the girl. She was very weak and already beginning to lose consciousness.

Nasty bump on her head, Don felt for the crown and cringed. Suddenly the Cabbat retched and the turtle was just quick enough to turn her before she threw up. Definitely concussion.

“Come on kid, you can’t fall asleep right now,” the purple-masked one prodded her gently; she seemed to focus on his voice and opened the eyes a little. He rose up and rushed back to the farmhouse, intending to get her hydrated again.

He rushed into the bathroom, just as Sqwrt was standing up from the toilet. The ymska raised an eye-brow when seeing the turtle go for the bathtub and began filling it with cool water. Donatello only filled it ankle deep, and gently placed the little cabbat in the tub.

“Can you get me a glass and fill it with water, we need to get her to drink as well,” the ninja addressed the Rytona, not caring right now who he was, the girl needed water. Sqwrt nodded and went as quickly as he could out of the bathroom.

“Come on kid, stay awake,” Don scooped up a bit of water in the tub in his palm and let it pour over the girl. That did seem to help and she smiled, this was obviously making her feel better.

“I’m hungry father,” she whispered, opening her eyes a crack. Again the turtle wondered why she was confusing him for her father. But that was unimportant for now.

“We will give you something to eat, but first we need to cool you down and hydrate you,” Donatello told her gently. Sqwrt returned to the bathroom and with him came April, Jala holding Dia and Braka.

“Here is the water,” the ymska handed the glass to Don and then carefully knelt himself by the tub.

“Hjakk sakta,” Donatello thanked him in Rytonas, causing the alien to tilt his head a little in surprise. Jala grinned in the background, though she was uncomfortable at both seeing the Cabbat and because of Sqwrt.

“Here try to drink,” the ninja brought the glass to the girl’s lips. Carefully he managed to let her drink the whole content.

“Don… is that a…?” April approached carefully.

“Yes April,” Don nodded and spared his friend a glance. “This is a Cabbat.”

“It must be the little girl that was with them,” Sqwrt commented. “She must have gotten separated. I did notice she disappeared during the fight.”

“How many others were there?” the ninja whispered, not recalling that point being brought up.

“Four adults, male, one had a scar on his beak, one wore a cloak, the other two were otherwise naked,” the ymska told him.

Donatello froze for a second when hearing the description on one of the Cabbats. He gulped and carefully glanced at Jala. She had heard it too and was visibly shaking. April turned to her and took the rymska woman out of the bathroom with little Dia.

The turtle returned his attention to the tub and frowned when regarding the little Cabbat in it closer, realizing that there was something familiar about her. Braka approached the tub and seemed to perk up when seeing the girl.

“She help,” he said pointing at her and looked at Donatello.

Can it be? It’s the little girl that I saw release Braka? He thought stunned. The girl was starting to look a little better.

“You know her?” Sqwrt noticed the recognition form on the turtle.

“I do… and her tribe unfortunately,” Donatello whispered.

End chapter 5.


AN: Jgha ege: Bite me!

Hjakk: Thanks

shajkr: No translation exists.

Hjakk sakta: Thank you very much.
_________________
Confusing the heck out of the world since 1983.

~

"He never gives up!" - Storm Shadow about Snake Eyes.

[Askre]

Chapter 6.

“Hgja, there is no trace of them,” Rakl snarled and hammered a fist on a tree, leaving a crack on it. Mikey’s eyes opened wide when seeing that.

Gee, and I fought him on my own free will? What was I thinking? The orange-masked turtle shuddered and turned away. Leo and Raph were examining the ground.

“This is where you fought?” Leonardo glanced at the large ymska who was still cursing and swearing in Rytonas.

“Yes, it has to be,” the jackaloid alien growled.

“There is blood here, probably from his friend,” Raph said and pointed at some brownish/reddish looking spots on the grass.

“But no track. These guys were too heavy not to leave any tracks,” Rakl snapped and looked around.

“You said it yourself earlier,” Leonardo reminded him. “You aren’t much of a tracker. That was the job of your friend who is now captive.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah whatever,” the large Rytona grunted and stared into the distance, though the trees were in his way.

Like Raph on steroids, Mikey held back a chuckle.

“It is true though,” the blue-masked ninja muttered. “There is no sign of where they went, they covered their tracks well.”

“Guess these bastards are smarter than we gave them credit for,” Raphael snorted, his brother nodded in agreement.

“But I suppose it makes sense, the Cabbats do live in a forest, they probably know how to live in one, even in alien territory,” Leo rubbed his chin for a moment and looked around.

“It’s getting dark and we didn’t bring gear to search in the darkness. We better return to the farmhouse and resume search in the morning,” he said and rose up.

The turtle looked at Rakl, half expecting him to protest. But the ymska didn’t. The alien had his arms folded and looked like he was contemplating something. The large Rytona eyed around with a heavy frown.

“Right, I need to speak with Sqwrt anyway,” he suddenly said.

Leonardo nodded and began heading they way they had come. Michelangelo followed from behind, next came Raphael but Rakl walked last. The ymska seemed deep in thought. Suddenly he looked up and halted; narrowing his eyes he glanced around but saw nothing. The ymska snorted and continued his walk; the turtles hadn’t noticed and were almost out of sight among the trees.

After few minutes the ymska halted again. The suspicion was growing on the Rytona and he slowly reached for his sword. The turtles were already out of sight but he didn’t care, Rakl was used to having to work alone from time to time. Truthfully he wanted the reptiles on their way to the farmhouse so Sqwrt would have protection.

“Alright, I know you’re there, I can smell you. Show yourself,” the Rytona growled and had a hand on the hilt of the sword.

“And here I took a bath just yesterday,” a sly sounding voice addressed the ymska. From behind a tree appeared a Cabbat, big and broad, yet smaller than Rakl. He wielded a sword that was currently shouldered. The turtleoid leaned on the tree and smiled at the Rytona.

Wait a minute, he wasn’t with the other four, the ymska frowned. Even though he was not the best observer, he still had noticed the differences between the four Cabbats and this one shared nothing with them, except species.

Suddenly another Cabbat appeared and another, the number continued to grow. Before Rakl knew it, he had been surrounded by both male and female Cabbats, armed and ready. The ymska counted thirty of them.

“Where in Jorvan’s name did you filth come from?” the Rytona frowned and turned in circles. Most of the turtloids were sneering or stared at him with contempt. Only the first Cabbat kept a sly smirk on his beak.

“They are here thanks to me,” a more familiar sounding voice addressed the ymska. Into the circle, stepped Maccar. Rakl growled when he recognized the cloaked Cabbat.

“I knew that based on what my brother told me about our Cabbat like friends, that we would definitely not want to be four alone against them. Our old tribe was clearly useless, drunk and undisciplined,” the shaman smiled strangely.

“So I went about an hour ago to fetch Bint here and his tribe of nomadic warriors,” Maccar explained and gestured to the sly looking Cabbat.

“Well let me be the first one to welcome him here,” Rakl growled and charged for Bint.

***

“When was the last time you saw him?” Leonardo frowned and scanned the forest edge.

“When we left the fighting area,” Raph grunted. They had already left the forest and were just outside the farmhouse.

“Dammit, why didn’t he call us if he got into trouble,” the blue-masked turtle growled. “Now it’s too late to go look for him, we have to wait until tomorrow.”

“Great, another idiot missing,” Raphael snorted and followed Leo and Mike to the farmhouse.

When they entered they were almost immediately greeted by April who hurried towards them. She gave all three turtles a sign to be silent and follow her to the kitchen. Confused the ninjas obeyed; in there they found Jala holding Dia and Braka. The little boy immediately ran to Raph who picked him up.

“Earlier today, when you guys were searching,” April began explaining as she sat down by the table. The turtles opted to stand.

“A young Cabbat came stumbling through the woods, she was dehydrated, tired and hungry, plus she had a concussion after a nasty hit on her head. Probably fell on a rock or something,” the human took a deep breath and looked the rymska who smiled nervously.

“She first mistook Don for her father, but once she recovered she immediately recognized our guest and that Donatello was in fact not her father,” April bit her lip for a moment, seeing the reaction of her friends. They all waited, though Mikey and Raph showed visible surprise.

“She naturally freaked out, we had to evict our alien guest back into the living room and he’s there still. Donatello is still in the bathroom and has managed to calm her down and assure her that we are not going to hurt her. We’ve managed to feed her and give something to drink,” the woman finished and shrugged in a nervous reaction.

“Great, the Cabbat have now two prisoners by the looks of it and we have their child,” Leonardo sighed and rubbed his forehead tiredly.

“W-what do you mean?” Jala asked confused.

“Rakl, the big ymska, he managed to get himself disappeared,” the blue-clad ninja sighed.

“Maybe he wasn’t captured and just is scouting or something. He is very tough,” Mikey peeped in and rubbed his jaw.

“And he’s bloody independent and likes to work alone if he doesn’t have me or Rqwt around, or any personnel from Akre’s mountain,” Sqwrt appeared in the kitchen doorway and supported himself on the frame.

“Your brother may be correct; it is possible he decided to do a one man search for now. We ymskas are at home in the woods; darkness is no hindrance for us. We are not rymskas but we do have a very good sense of smell,” the Rytona explained.

“Well, we are used to work in the dark as well, but frankly it would have been wiser to rest a bit first. Plus these Cabbats covered their tracks almost perfectly,” Leonardo said as he turned around.

“Yeah, well good luck telling Rakl that,” Sqwrt said with a smirk. “Anyway, I doubt you care much about it being who I am. But I’m a little hungry and if it’s possible to get at least a fruit or something.”

“Eh, April or Mike?” Leo looked at both. “I think I want to see this Cabbat child so if you excuse me.”

The blue-masked ninja evicted himself out of the kitchen just as Mikey turned to Sqwrt to ask him if he wanted something special. Leonardo headed straight for the bathroom door and knocked.

“Who is it?” Donatello called.

“Me, Leo,” his brother answered, he heard a gasp from the inside.

“It’s ok, I told you, nobody is going to hurt you,” the calming voice of the purple-masked ninja said.

“Come in but slowly,” Don called.

Taking a deep breath, Leonardo slowly opened the bathroom door and stepped in. Donatello sat by the wall and beside him was Kolaza. She stiffened up when seeing the blue-masked turtle and Leo raised an eye-ridge when recognizing the child.

“Well I see we meet again,” Leonardo walked closer but was careful not to come too close. Kolaza huddled up and stared with frightful respect at him.

“She got separated from her father and her uncles when they attacked our guest and his friends,” Donatello explained looking up at his brother. “She hasn’t talked very much, mostly just wants her father.”

“I can understand that,” Leo crouched down and regarded the child carefully.

“Why have your uncles come here with you and your father?” he asked keeping his voice gentle.

“T-tribe leader Alo wants revenge,” Kolaza whispered.

“I gathered as much but nice to have it confirmed,” Leonardo looked at Donatello who nodded.

“I don’t know where they are now… so I can’t show you,” the little girl said and quickly covered her behind. Leo chuckled and so did Donatello, who had been told when Raphael had gone good on his threat and spanked the girl almost two years ago. It had not been hard, but bruised the little girl’s pride greatly.

“Don’t worry little one, I guessed already. Plus I do feel a little guilty for having to force you to help us last time we met,” Leonardo said with a smile but then turned a bit serious again.

“But I can still not allow your uncles to harm my family. You will remain with us for the time being until they can be found. Do you understand that?” the blue-masked turtle asked. He could see Donatello frown a little, but he remained silent. Kolaza nodded.

“Yes, I am your tribe’s prisoner and I shall behave or my life is forfeit,” she said. Though it was in a way like a child would recite something it didn’t fully understand. Leo suspected that the girl had no idea really what she just said.

“Ah, well prisoner is kind of harsh, guest will suffice,” Leo rose up as did Donatello.

“Uh can I speak with you Leo,” the purple-masked turtle gestured out and his brother nodded. Kolaza was given a gesture to stay and she did. The two turtles left the bathroom and Don pulled his brother out to the porch.

“You don’t seriously want to keep her here against her will do you?” Don asked the moment the two brothers were outside.

“We don’t have any choice anyway Don. We don’t know where here family is, we are in fact still searching for them. Plus I don’t quite trust our guests and by putting her under our protection, I feel a little safer about her,” Leo explained. Don sighed and nodded, knowing his older sibling was in fact right.

“Don’t worry Don, I know what I’m doing,” the blue-masked ninja patted his brother on the shoulder.

***

“About time,” Alo growled when Maccar appeared again in the gorge. “Where did you go?”

But the cloaked Cabbat didn’t respond, Maccar just smiled and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. Then gestured the way he had come from. Their prisoner looked up and his eyes widened in surprise when thirty or so Cabbats began walking into the gorge.

“What by Dular is this?” Alo’s jaw dropped when seeing all those Cabbats arrive. Mizuri scrambled out of his tent and blinked when seeing the newly arrived.

“Alo, you remember Bint,” Maccar gestured to the Cabbat in question, he walked casually forward with his sword. Bint knelt down in front of Alo.

“I return Tribe Leader. My work is done,” he said and bowed his head.

“Bint my friend,” Alo smiled almost wickedly, he grabbed the other Cabbat’s right arm and had him rise up again. “Rumors said you were dead.”

“Not quite,” the other turtleoid grinned and the two Cabbats hugged briefly, slapping hard at each other’s carapaces.

“Our nomad days are over. We have finished our pilgrimage,” Bint announced over the other Cabbats. He then looked at his scarred friend. “All hail Tribe Leader Alo!”

Rqwt’s wished he had the rymska ability to lower his hearing when every single Cabbat began shouting Alo’s name at the top of their lungs. The only Cabbat who did not shout was Mizuri, he stepped back into the shadows shaking his head.

“We encountered one of our prisoner’s friends when we were arriving back to this world,” Maccar said once the shouting was over. “Unfortunately he put up a fierce enough fight to escape. And he stole my crystal bag.”

“The crystals? The ones who brought us here?” Alo growled when his brother nodded.

“Hopefully though he cannot use them,” the shaman said. “And we can capture him.”

“Just in case though, Bint, send few scouts into the woods, they should know who to look for,” the tribe leader ordered his new second in command.

***

“I guess with you guys, there is no escape from excitement?” Jala chuckled and so did Leonardo.

They were both on the porch, the rymska sat on the swing but the turtle stood by the rail, leaning on it and stared into the darkness. Raphael was getting Braka to bed, and Mikey had offered to take care of Dia. Donatello had been given full responsibility for Kolaza. April and Sqwrt were both in the living room, watching the television, though the human kept a good distance between herself and the ymska.

“April said something similar once,” Leo chuckled and sighed a bit. “I suppose it come with being a mutant turtle who happens to be a ninja as well.”

“I don’t know, if you were living on Rytonas, I bet there would be many days if not weeks of boredom,” Jala teased and let the swing go a little back and forth.

“I suppose you’re right,” Leonardo nodded. “But then again we have always had a knack of keeping us from being too bored.”

“Yeah,” the woman nodded. “Have you ever been in love?”

“Excuse me?” the turtle glanced at Jala who smiled teasingly.

“Sorry, I was just wondering,” she said. Leo snorted in amusement and turned to lean back on the railing.

“I had a crush yes, a very big one but got over it just as quickly,” he admitted and grinned.

“Oh? Do tell,” Jala giggled. Leonardo gestured with his head inside, the rymska’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”

“No, we all were, but of course she was also our first human contact and we got over it. I mean back then we had no idea about other worlds and stuff like that,” the turtle shrugged. “Now she’s a very good friend, a sister. Even on times a mother.”

“I can see that, she must be very special to all four of you,” the rymska woman stated and got a confirming nod.

“She’s always been there for us and we have tried to be there for her when ever we can,” Leonardo rose up a little and walked to the swing. Jala scooted a little to the side to allow him to sit.

“What about you, not that I expect you to answer. You did lover you husband very much, but have you had your eye on someone before…. Well or after?” Leo asked curiously and looked at her. Jala put her arms around herself and leaned a little forward in the swing.

“Well no, Daram was my first,” she said and sighed contently. “But I do not fool myself by saying I will never love again. You can never fully tell the future. I have to admit that I did have a mild crush on one I know. But I don’t want to risk losing the friendship I have with him. He’s just too nice, if things wouldn’t work out… I fear it would tear him apart.”

“So you have no crush now?” Leonardo wondered. The rymska’s expression turned a bit thoughtful.

“I don’t know, I have never really,” she looked up at him since the turtle was taller than her. “Never really thought about it so much.”

Leo stared right back at her; deep back in his mind something told him to do something. But other parts told him to simply stay put. He blinked then lifted his right hand to point at Jala’s hair.

“That’s not natural is it? I’ve seen you and few others with hair but most others do not have hair,” he mentioned.

“Yes it’s an extension. Naturally, rymska woman only have short fur on their head. But some of us get a little vain,” the woman chuckled; she blinked when suddenly a green hand began gently caressing it.

“It’s beautiful,” Leo whispered, staring a bit transfixed at it.

“Thank you,” Jala was a little surprised but did not protest. In fact she found it strangely soothing.

Leo scooted even closer and put his arm around the woman. Then he leaned forward and gently pressed his beak up against her wolfish snout in a kiss. It was short and the turtle quickly looked up with guilty expression.

“Sorry… I just… you are very beautiful Jala,” Leonardo whispered to the surprised and stunned rymska. “And I think… no I’m positive now that I’ve been in love with you ever since I first saw you.”

*

“Really?”

“I’m sorry about my forwardness… I shouldn’t have… not while we are dealing with this situation. The Cabbats and those Rytona criminals…”

“No wait, its ok, I’m not mad. I just want to know. You were, I mean are in love with me?”

“Yes… yes I am. And you don’t have to worry about hurting me if you say no. I can take it.”

“Well… you know… I must admit…”

“What?”

“I’m a rymska and for us family is very important and well… I have no family any longer, well unless I take you and your brothers into consideration. My son has already adopted your brother as a dadarad and the rest of you as roha. Rymskas need a family to thrive.”

“Y-you mean.”

“You are very sweet and charming and great leader to your brothers. I want my children… at least Dia to be able to call someone pabe. Braka could be permitted to call your brother that if he feels like it. But I’m ready… to try.”

Donatello couldn’t listen to more. He quickly backed away from the front door and further back into the farmhouse. The turtle had managed to get Kolaza to sleep, then went to the living room. When inquiring about where the others were, April naturally answered him. Up on hearing that Leo and Jala were both on the porch, had caused the turtle to head there.

But he had stopped in the doorway and gone back inside when seeing Leo lean forward to kiss the rymska. Then the ninja had stood behind the door and listened to the conversation between them.

She loves him and he loves her… I wasn’t wrong, the purple-masked turtle just barely could think straight.

Don had for so long wondered when he would work up the nerve. He had been admiring Jala from the distance almost since first learning of her troubled family situation. How she had been denied everything and was stuck with a family that viewed her with contempt. The turtle had admired how the rymska had survived it.

They had in fact managed to become good friends, she was interested in some aspects of science and thus they could talk together about so much. But now it seemed everything had just gone down the drain for him. She was going to be in his brother’s arms instead.

Why didn’t I do anything sooner? Donatello stopped in the kitchen and grabbed his head. Why was I so slow…? Why didn’t I…?

He barged out of the back door and was outside. The turtle just had to get fresh air. Try and clear his head. Additionally the purple-clad ninja had no desire to be too close to the apparently new couple right now.

Donatello sunk down by a tree, breathing heavily and just staring into the dark forest. He wasn’t sure how deep he had gone into it; time had been a bit of a blur there. Yet the turtle didn’t believe he had gone too far.

Oh… Donatello you’re overreacting. You probably never stood a chance anyway, besides Jala is a very good friend. I should be happy for her… and Leo, he’s been through a lot… he deserves someone nice to come home to, the purple-clad turtle sighed and rose up.

But I still love her… he looked in the general direction of the farmhouse sadly. Then everything turned black.

***

Donatello groaned and rubbed a very sore spot on his head. He barely could remember what happened. Something very heavy had struck him and whoever had done it, snuck up on him in complete silence. It hadn’t helped that Don had been quite a bit distracted at the time.

Slowly he rose and then noticed the sparkling fire place. The turtle frowned, finding this situation a bit too familiar. Then he looked up and the jaw dropped towards his chest. All around him were Cabbats.

“Well, well,” a disturbingly familiar voice addressed him. Don slowly looked to his side and felt panic slowly crawling all over him.

“If it isn’t the little heretic, we meet again,” Alo stepped forward; Bint was close behind him smirking slyly. More Cabbats gathered around.

Two Cabbats reached down and forcefully pulled Donatello to his feet. The ninja tried to struggle, but was just reminded that physically the turtloids were his superiors in strength. Alo stepped in front of him, smiling strangely down at the ninja.

“Wish… I could say I was glad to see you… Alo,” Donatello muttered and gasped in pain when a large fist connected with his plastron. He didn’t keel because the other Cabbats held him up.

“That’s for the first knock on my head,” Alo growled rubbing his knuckles. Then he slammed his fist on Don’s beak, the turtle almost cried out in pain. “And that’s for the second.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t… brain you….” Donatello mumbled looking down; his chest plate and jaw were in roaring pain.

“You are going to be sorrier,” the tribe leader growled. “You and your fellow tribe Cabbats are going to pay for my humiliation.”

“Bint,” Alo looked at his second in command. “He’s all yours; just remember to tie him up on the other prisoner tree when you are finished.”

“With pleasure sir,” Bint smiled and stepped forward cracking his knuckles. Don glances carefully at this new Cabbat who was raising his fist. The turtle winced and closed his eyes before the punch connected.

End chapter 6.

Bint was a cameo character created by Namishiro when I needed few Cabbats for a part in a chat RPG. She created Bint and that character stuck with me and I was allowed to adopt him, I had another character in mind to be the nomad leader, but Bint fit the bill much better. Heartfelt thanks go to her for allowing me to use him.
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Confusing the heck out of the world since 1983.

~

"He never gives up!" - Storm Shadow about Snake Eyes.

[Friend of Leo]

Askre, you rascal. Please don't my Donny-poo too much. Although I don't mind a little bit of a beating.
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Come see my website. There are loads of pictures of you, A-Leo, so come see them, Bad Boy.

[Askre]

Hehe, don't worry, he will not be hurt too much

Thanks for reading

The character of Askre that appears in this chapter is not me in any shape or form, so this is not an author insertation. It is though my OC character whose name I'm using as a penname and have had for a veeeeeery long time. He was first created in 1995 and probably the only character I had no hard time giving a name.

Chapter 7.

“Well we shouldn’t move too fast, I mean I would feel better if we went through this slowly and gradually,” Leo said as both he and Jala returned in, but the turtle couldn’t resist having one arm around her now.

“I guess that’s a good idea, besides Braka will have to get used to seeing me with someone,” the rymska nodded, they stopped in the front hall.

“I have no intention though to replace what Raphael has become for him,” the ninja clarified and but is other arm around her, pulling the woman closer to him.

Jala nodded and smiled. It felt strangely good to be in someone’s arms again, the Rytona first now realized how much she had missed it. Leonardo lowered his head and the rymska prepared to be kissed. But a cough interrupted them, looking up revealed Raphael standing there with arms folded and smirking.

“Well, that’s one way to announce it I guess,” the blue-masked turtle chuckled when seeing his brother. Jala was blushing and hiding her face in Leo’s plastron, this had been unexpected.

“Oh well I need to go to the bathroom anyway,” the rymska giggled but didn’t get loose until her new boyfriend had kissed her. Then the Rytona darted past Raph and to the bathroom.

“Just one thing,” the red-clad ninja said as he approached his sibling. Leonardo raised an eye-ridge and waited.

“You hurt her in anyway, I’ll kill you,” Raphael had his arms semi-folded using one hand to point directly at the blue-masked one.

“If I do that, I’ll sharpen the blades for you,” Leo responded with a slight grin, his brother grinned now wickedly and slapped him on the shoulder.

“Well then, congrats bro, though I wasn’t exactly expecting you and her,” Raph said.

“I wasn’t exactly planning on anything either, things just happened,” his brother rubbed his forehead for a moment with his right hand. The two turtles then left the front hall and entered the living room.

“Leo did Don come out to the porch?” April asked where she sat in a recliner. “He left in a bit of a hurry when hearing that you and Jala were there.”

“No, I didn’t see Don,” Leo said and glanced at Raph who shook his head, having not seen their purple-masked brother.

“Probably went to his room then,” the woman shrugged and turned back to the television. Sqwrt had fallen asleep on the couch.

The two brothers shrugged and got seated in the different chairs. Jala returned from the bathroom and took a seat near Leo. April didn’t notice, as she was very sunken into the program. But Raph did and the red-clad ninja couldn’t hold back a wide grin. Michelangelo arrived reporting that little Dia was sound asleep. The turtle then promptly planted himself on the floor to sit and watch the television.

Raph who sat next to the open living room entrance, suddenly felt a cold breeze on his leg. He glanced around but saw no open window. The turtle remembered the front door being closed so he looked at Leo and Jala.

“Is there a window open somewhere in the house?” he wondered.

“Not that I know of,” the blue-clad one responded and glanced at Jala who shrugged.

Finding what was on the television currently boring, Raph decided to head off to investigate. He found himself soon following this slight breeze into the kitchen. The ninja blinked when seeing the back door open. Casually the turtle walked to it and closed it with a frown. Mike appeared looking for snacks.

“Hey Mikey, you leave the back door open?” Raphael asked when noticing the orange masked turtle.

“Nope,” Michelangelo responded as he began rummaging through the cupboards.

Raph frowned heavier when hearing that. He wasn’t sure that Rakl had returned, that big ymska was far from being silent, plus the Rytona would probably have come straight to the living room. The turtle left Mike in the kitchen and decided to head upstairs. Maybe Don had left it open. But he found the purple-masked one’s room empty.

Ok, he didn’t go out and forgot to close the door did he? The red-clad turtle wondered and for some reason found his hands on the hilts of his weapons. To be sure Raph went all around the house to see if Don was in there and didn’t find a purple string anywhere.

“Hey Leo, I think Don headed out,” Raphael entered the living room again.

“What? Why would he do that, are you sure?” Leo asked concerned. His brother nodded.

“Maybe he went out for a short walk,” Mike suggested and shrugged.

“Maybe, but if he isn’t back soon, we better head off and see if there aren’t any signs of him,” the blue-clad one said, right now he did not like anybody being outside unless in company of others.

***

Donatello held back a cry when the damp cloth was put on his wound, whatever was in it stung terribly. The turtle was now tied with his hands up, to a tree. He had cuts and bruises all over his body and was being mended by Mizuri.

“I know the herbs sting, but they do clean the wounds,” the Cabbat told him gently and kept cleaning the cuts.

The turtle didn’t respond, just closed his eyes and tried to focus his mind and calm down. Bint had though done a good number on him; his whole body was on fire. The Cabbat had then dragged him half-conscious to the tree to tie him up. Shortly after that Mizuri arrived to tend to the injuries.

“There is nothing broken, but you’ll definitely feel those wounds by sunrise,” the healer kept talking. He was used to do that with his patients, especially if it were not growling and snarling warrior Cabbats.

But the ninja ignored him, having no desire to spark a conversation. He glanced to his right and spotted where Rqwt was tied to a tree in similar manner. The umska hung now in his bonds and was fast asleep. Some of the other Cabbats were also sleeping all around in the gorge, few were awake to stand guard.

“My daughter… Kolaza… she’s with your tribe Cabbats isn’t she?” Mizuri asked after a slight hesitation. Don blinked and looked at the turtleoid.

“Um… yeah,” the turtle relented to respond. So far this Cabbat had been the nicest of them all and it was Kolaza’s father.

“Is she alright?” the other reptilian whispered and started to put ointment on few cuts. Donatello gritted his teeth when the herbal remedy was put there.

“All things considered, she is fine,” the purple-clad one then answered. Mizuri nodded and continued his work. Don frowned, in the weak light from the fireplace; the turtle could see that the Cabbat was suppressing his tears.

Mizuri finished his work and stepped back. The Cabbat turned around and went to the only tents were they stood. Since he was the healer and needed storage space for the herbs he got, the turtleoid was spared one tent to have for that purpose. But Don wasn’t alone for long; Maccar stepped in front of him.

Donatello blinked, not remembering this Cabbat at all and the fact that he wore something puzzled the turtle. The shaman regarded him carefully without saying a single word at first.

“Hm, interesting, very interesting,” Maccar said, his gaze turning to the ninja’s tied hands.

“You have the three fingered hand of Dular and by my brother’s account so do your brethren,” he continued and looked back at the prisoner who blinked in confusion.

Dular… I’ve heard that somewhere before, the purple-masked one thought.

“Well with your capture, my brother figured your brethren will come for you again. They did it the last time, so we have decided to wait until they come,” the shaman explained.

Well they got that part right, Don looked down; he was tired, beaten up and stung all over. The turtle just wished to lie down and sleep. He began reprimanding himself mentally for running out of the farmhouse like an idiot. Being so careless and stuck in his own little world that he had been caught easily.

I can just hear Leo lecturing me about this… well I would actually welcome it right now, the purple-clad one sighed, he could hear Maccar leave and begin talking with one of the guard Cabbats. Slowly he finally managed to drift to sleep, hanging on his ropes.

***

“It’s been over an hour,” Raph growled and glared outside the living room window.

“Right,” Leo nodded and prepared to rise up, intending to go and search for their missing brother.

But Leo stopped in a mid-rise when there was a knock on the front door. Raphael turned around; he was not at the window the porch could be viewed from. April frowned and prepared to rise up herself in case this was a human. Though no car had been heard approach.

“Did you lock the door Leo?” the red-clad turtle wondered. His brother shook his head though he didn’t look too sure. Jala had gone up to check on her children so they currently couldn’t use her razor sharp sense of smell. Sqwrt had woken up but was still drowsy hand hadn’t really realized that someone had knocked.

“Mike,” Raph spotted where Mike was entering the living room, having been visiting the bathroom.

“Go check carefully who it is, maybe its Don locked out,” the red masked turtle told him.

Shrugging the orange-masked turtle went to the front hall. But peeking out of the small windows didn’t reveal too much. Though the turtle was pretty sure he heard and saw movements. Mikey decided to risk taking a peek and carefully began opening the door; it was pulled open almost immediately.

Michelangelo blinked at the big dark-gray furred male rymska that had opened the front door fully. He definitely recognized the grim expression again and the large scimitar like sword carried on his side. But standing a bit further away from the door was a light gray rymska who turned around and smiled when seeing the turtle.

“Ah Michelangelo,” Akre chuckled, still saying the ‘ch’ in the name too hard. “We meet again.”

Dqrre, the dark gray rymska who had opened the door, stepped back to stand beside the crime lord. Another of their kind was there as well, he looked younger and all over his dark gray fur were light lines. Michelangelo’s eyes widened when seeing all the Rytonas standing in front of the house. Rakl appeared from the left with a grin.

Leonardo and Raphael came running having heard the voice of the Rytona criminal. They both stopped and gaped when seeing who had just arrived. Raph narrowed his eyes when recognizing the rymska, but Leo held him back. Somehow he suspected they would not have it as easy as last time.

“Hey, I brought a little back up,” Rakl said but then got a signal from Akre to step back.

“I originally had no intention to help them as they were going here only to fight you turtles, but with one of my better men captured and another injured I felt more inclined to come and retrieve them,” the underworld-lord explained.

“I’ll show you what you can retrieve,” Raph growled and pushed Leo’s hands away and prepared to charge out. But he never even had a chance to approach the doorway.

Suddenly into the house came two large creatures, over seven feet tall one with black fur the other dark brown. Their heads were horse like and they had a horse mane and tail, even their hands resembled hooves. These giant horsoids immediately walked to Raphael and pinned him easily to the wall. Leonardo recognized the species; these were otanis, the largest of the Rytonas.

The two behemoths both sneered down at the growling and cursing turtle. Michelangelo caught a glimpse into the brown one’s mouth and gulped. There were no horse molars in it, four sharp looking fangs were on an outer jaw and then there was an inner jaw with sharp edged teeth. There was no question about it that these guys were not herbivores.

“I did recall your excellent fighting skills and thus took a bit of a precaution,” Akre said with a slight smirk. “Also the Rytonas you see outside here are no strangers to similar fighting techniques. You fought last year mostly new recruits and normal guards, I brought combat veterans now.”

“Wise choice,” Leonardo muttered, his suspicion was confirmed. Akre was not going to have his men easily defeated this time.

Raphael had stopped cursing and struggling. The turtle had realized finally that he wasn’t escaping anytime soon from the giants. Michelangelo backed away form the front hall and to stand beside Leonardo, they could hear a gasp and glancing to the stairs they saw Jala.

“Stay upstairs, we will handle this,” the blue-clad ninja told her. The Rytona woman quickly nodded and disappeared up again.

“I have no quarrel with you boys, even though you did a fair number on my men last time we met,” Akre said and casually entered the front hall. Dqrre and the currently unknown young rymska followed. Rakl was close behind. “I’m only here to get my two best bodyguards back and then we’ll leave.”

“You need to bring an army to do that?” Leonardo asked and folded his arms, the eyes narrowed on the elder Rytona.

“Yeah, because the Cabbats that attacked us have brought an army as well,” Rakl spoke up, causing the turtles to all raise their eye-ridges.

“And bloody tough bastards as well, the one I fought almost beheaded me,” the large ymska grunted. At that the blue-masked ninja got concerned. He remembered fighting the big jackaloid and he was a fair match and if he had troubles with those new Cabbats…

“I haven’t gotten this far without taking precautions…” Akre stopped and looked at Leo questionably.

“Leonardo,” the turtle responded.

“Ah, so you’re Michelangelo’s Leonardo,” the rymska said nodding, saying the d almost like a t.

And Donatello is not back yet… oh no, I hope he hasn’t been caught, Leo realized now what these new Cabbats could mean.

“Anyway, Dqrre, Askre, help Sqwrt out,” Akre ordered the other two rymskas.

Leonardo frowned but then pulled Michelangelo with him to stand in the living room doorway, blocking the Rytonas’ path. Dqrre frowned and put a hand on the hilt of his sword, the younger rymska identified by the name Askre looked a bit unsure. He glanced at the dark gray one as if waiting for an advice or an order.

“Your bodyguard will remain in the house as insurance, so that when you retrieve the other one from the Cabbats, you will indeed leave,” Leonardo said, Akre had watched everything with mild amusement.

“Very good, very good indeed Leonardo,” the underworld-lord stepped up beside Dqrre and gave him a signal to stand down.

Sqwrt waved his boss from the couch. The ymska then gave a signal that this was alright. Akre glanced at him, seemed to scent the air and nodded. Rakl growled and took the hand from the hilt of his own weapon.

“I’ll remain here with Sqwrt,” he then snarled. At that the light-gray rymska looked at Leonardo, who took a deep breath and nodded.

“We will camp outside, then prepare search in the forest,” Akre told his bodyguard. He looked at Leonardo briefly, nodded to Michelangelo before heading out with the two rymskas after him. On his way out he gave the otanis an order to let Raph go.

“Damn bastards!” Raphael growled as he entered the living room, Rakl was already sitting beside Sqwrt speaking with him in Rytonas.

“Keep an eye on our ‘guests’,” Leonardo said. “I’m going to check on Jala and the kids.”

The blue-masked turtle then quickly disappeared out of the living room and up to the second floor. He found the rymska woman sitting on her bed, nervously rubbing her hands together.

“He’s here to retrieve the Rytona that’s the Cabbats’ prisoner,” the blue-masked turtle explained and sat beside her. Jala just nodded, but she was clearly terrified.

“He says he’ll leave immediately after that,” Leonardo put one arm gently around the woman to pull her closer and take her in a comforting hug. The rymska huddled closer to him.

“I would have loved nothing more to throw him back to where he came from… but he came rather prepared,” the turtle muttered.

“It’s ok,” Jala whispered, her eyes were closed tight. “I could never expect you to be able to deal with someone as powerful as Akre easily.”

“He’s at least staying outside, seems he want to get the search started and over with as soon as possible. I did keep his body guard inside as an insurance that they will leave after they find the other one,” the ninja explained. The Rytona sniffled but then nodded.

“What a way to start what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation,” he then remarked and got a weak chuckle out of Jala.

*

Leonardo didn’t return downstairs until an hour later, he had stayed with Jala until the rymska fell asleep. In the living room, Sqwrt was again dozing and Rakl sat next to him. April had disappeared to the kitchen, but Raph and Mike stood guard.

“Don is not back yet?” he asked and just got nods in response. He growled. “What timing, I don’t want us all to go and search with Akre and his team showing up on the doorsteps.”

But his brothers did not get a chance to respond, there was a knock on the front door. Leonardo glared towards the front hall but then went to answer it. He wasn’t terribly surprised to see Akre standing there again, with him Dqrre and Askre. But Leo never managed to demand what they wanted; he froze stiff when seeing the Bo staff in Askre’s hands.

“My nephew and another scout found this weapon in the forest east of here,” the light-gray Rytona said and got the staff. He gave it immediately to the blue-masked turtle.

Not… again… Leo got a nasty flashback from when he also had Mike’s weapons in his hands, when the orange masked turtle had been abducted by the Rytona in front of him.

“They immediately found a family scent on it, indicating it was your brother’s staff. But the area was also rank with alien scent; we are guessing it’s those Cabbats. I’m sorry; it does seem that they have captured your brother,” Akre explained. Leonardo stared almost hypnotized at the Bo for a moment before looking up.

“My scouts are still in the forest searching, we will probably find those Cabbats soon. When we do, we will return your brother to you, unharmed,” the underworld lord and prepared to turn around and head off.

“That’s very generous of you,” Leonardo was confused at this offer; the light-gray rymska had mentioned no conditions.

“I do shady deals Leonardo that is true,” Akre looked back and was smirking. “But I’m still a Rytona.”

The blue-clad turtle then watched the crime-lord disappear further off to where some of his men had started campfire. Dqrre snorted and walked down from the porch and followed his brother. Only Askre remained and the young rymska looked a bit uneasy.

“East of the building and roughly two hundred meters inside the woods, it’s far enough so the farm is invisible so it probably escaped the Cabbats,” he then said before heading off to the campfire.

Yeah… they were probably too busy with Don, Leo thought and returned inside.

“The Cabbats have him,” the ninja told his brothers when he entered the living room.

“What? Again?!” Raph snarled, Michelangelo’s jaw was almost down to chest level.

“We can’t all leave, Akre has said that if his people find the Cabbats first Don will be returned to us unharmed,” Leonardo told them. “Though how trustworthy those words are I do not know.”

“If Akre said he will be delivered unharmed, then he will be delivered unharmed,” Rakl growled.

“One of us will have to remain here, two have to go and try and find the Cabbat camp, sneak in, free Don and the other bodyguard,” the blue-masked one said.

“I’ll go!” Mikey almost immediately volunteered before Raph could even think of opening his mouth.

“I’ll go, you take care of things here,” Raph said. Leonardo nodded and restrained himself from sighing.

“Be careful guys,” he said, his brothers smirked and nodded.

“Don’t worry Leo, we’ll get him back,” the red-clad turtle said and began heading towards the doorway with Mikey following right behind.

End chapter 7.
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Confusing the heck out of the world since 1983.

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"He never gives up!" - Storm Shadow about Snake Eyes.