Turtle Tots: WORLD TOUR!
誕生日おめでとう、カメは加える! Leo、Raph、Don, よびMikeyの回転5!
Journey's End
Hello, everyone....sorry I waited for so long to update! Physical therapy was very long today....my bad.
It was a long journey....(Sniffs...)
But all good things come to an end...except for the turtle tots, that is. As long as there is a loyal fan....well....chibi power goes on forever.
Thank you, my gracious reviewers. Your support....and cyber cookies/flowers have meant so very much in rougher waters.
Quote:
"I always wanted a happy ending... Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity, in the ultimate search of a happy homecoming." Gilda Radner
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Splinter made himself watch, as Juto's eyes glowed, sparks seeming to flutter as he raised his shaking hand.
"I command these memories....be purged!"
The rat let out a quiet groan, clenching his claws into his palms, wincing slightly.
Be glad they're being spared.....be glad they're being spared....
But the rat nonetheless closed his eyes as the turtles let out startled cries....
The burning continued in his eyes as the spell continued.
_____________
And they dazedly stumbled about, eyes glazed, small smiles on their faces...
Juto raised his hand once again, as Splinter bent down to the staggering children.
Raph turned to slowly face the rat, eyes unfocused and dreamy.
"D-Daddy?"
Splinter seized Raph's shoulders, shaking the befuddled turtle slightly.
"Yes? My son, what is it? Are you alright?"
Raph's watery grey eyes met his dark ones for a fraction of a second.
"My....train.....went swimming in the piano, Daddy."
Juto raised a hand. Splinter inwardly winced.....
...but the air in front of him began to flux and spin.....
The rat's eyes widened....
...as a portal opened itself to a familiar looking room.
A very familiar one.....that he had not seen for so many long weeks...
Splinter's eyes widened with delight. If...this was what he believed it to be....
....they didn't have to travel all the way the home again!
"My burrow!
My home!"
But, as the rat stepped made a step forward, the Ancient One bustled in front of him.
"Wait! Splinter-san!"
And the old man pulled out four colored cloths from his shirt pocket, smiling broadly.
"These....are for your little ones. You mentioned them to me previously last night......their old cloaks, I mean. It's....not the quite the same, but...." he shrugged, smiling.
Splinter blinked, a small smile growing on his lips.
"Ninja masks!"
The Ancient One waddled over to each turtle, flopping each mask on...wit occasionally difficulty.
Orange for Mikey.
Purple for Donny.
Red for Raphie....
....and blue for....Li-Li.
Splinter managed a peaceful laugh, as Raph giggled feebly.
"Enough of this nonsense," snapped Jitara, gesturing to the portal with emerald fingers.
As the rat guided each turtle through, the Ancient One cherily waved.
"Goodbye, little turtles! Goodbye, Splinter-san!"
And the rat managed a nod, slowly passing off with the young ones still blindly sleepwalking through...
....the Land of Dragons fading away alongside a bleary portal....
And home, sweet, glorious home enfolded him.
* * *
This was happening so quickly...and so oddly. Nothing like he had imagined....
So thought the rat as he finally, FINALLY tucked the dazed turtles back into bed, as he had dreamed of doing so for weeks.
Donatello was giggling faintly as Splinter carefully laid his head on a pillow.
"Ah.....aha.....ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha..."
If this Memory Purge caused any permanent damage-!
Mikey slowly turned to face the rat, eyes still empty.
".....the soup lids." he said quietly.
"Hmm?" Splinter pulled the quilt around Leonardo more.
Mikey let out a tiny groan.
"The.....Campbell's soup lids. They're going....to join up with Congress.....and begin....a hostile takeover." The Comic closed his eyes.
"....they'll destroy all us to make it happen."
Splinter paused, giving his child an odd stare in the darkness.
"...um, I understand, my son. Sleep well."
The Lionheart just let out a sigh as he slightly turned, mumbling.
The rat blew out the candle, softly withdrewing into the doorway.
Hopefully, they would be alright in the morning.
The rat sank into his own bed, gazing at the cracked ceiling.
Home.
Too wonderful to believe...after all this time.
But he had forgotten how frightening it could be underneath the sewer streets. No wonder why the little ones normally liked a candle burning nearby. But tonight, they were a little....
Yoshi's pupil turned slightly, biting his lip.
Perhaps....the hour had begun....like what his master had described to him on late evenings such as these. His master had told him....
When the clock strikes midnight, everything fades into the silent darkness and the witching hour begins.
The old rat smiled as he thoughtfully turned over to the side again.
How would his sons see it? He had always been curious....it might be considerate to use his well established links with one of his little ones. Hopefuly, it would not be an invasion of their privacy....
....the rat closed his eyes, rwaching out to any of his sons in general.
Ah....Leonardo. Splinter paused, then allowed the immature sensation to wash over him.
How did THEY see the witching-?
It's the time when the good children are asleep and the ghosts haunt their dreams. Spirits, monsters, demons and all sorts of night creatures rise from the underground, city of the doomed and they dwell upon grounds freely, giving the unforgettable nightmares of terror, in the spiritualistic realm that is a....dream world……or perhaps, in reality.
Tonight, if you were a resident of this underground city, (and I find no evidence that you are) you would see the minions of undead, knock on your windows and ask for direction……or maybe, their destination 'was' your place and they want to kill you. But it's ok. The ghosts can't 'really' harm you physically but that doesn't mean they can't scare you still....
Splinter concentrated, going very still.
It was the work of Edgar Allen Poe come to life.
Black. Black and black and an endless abyss of absolute, positive....nothingness all around you.
An emptiness that takes the light and sucks it into the bloody pits of demons. Rips its life to shreds in the jaws of hate and evil and nothingness and swirls around and around and around you until you go insane with the thoughts that you will again inexperience as you...
Demons laughing with wild intensity in their wild dance...
Splinter winced.
So that was causing all the....
You could never understand a child's pain unless you have been a child yourself.
A feeling of sweet slumber washing over yourself, hazy as a golden moon in an indigo sky, dotted with silver stars....slowly fading into blissful nothingness....into the warmth of your pillows...
Wraiths hissing as they scattered, bodies collapsing slowly into the air, melting into a soft grey whisp....
Scattering away by the base of your home like dandelion seeds...up, sideways...and away, over dying patches of land, crookedly landing aside.
Home....
That word had been echoed twofold in their heads and hearts.
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Splinter laughed softly.
There was no way he could sleep now.
He slowly got to his feet, ignoring the throbbing aches the demon had inflicted on his body.
The rat needed to do something before he could retire that night.
Outside, the realm of darkness grew darker. In such time, even the ghosts hushed their whispering and dreaded upon their grey grounds. Slowly, everything absorbed into the shadows and it was just blinding blackness that fell on the Underground.
The witching hour crowed its slumber.
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The rat hummed softly to himself as he reached for a small, blank book he had lying around the lair, sinking into his beloved rocking chair with a sigh.
Yikes. Every inch of their home was coated with a thin inch of dust....he would have to dust tomorrow.
But then again, his little ones adored dusting, he thought dryly, lighting another match with a stttttttttttt with his clawtips, blinking as his sleep deprieved eyes adjusted to the flickering light in the gloom, carefully lighting a nearby kerosene lamp.
Glancing at the turtles' bedroom, Splinter felt a rush of affection for the children.
Even if his little ones would forget, he would never. The memory would be preserved....
...even between the faded pages.
He would forever remember his sons' courage, naivety, and...well, what made the Hamato turtles who they were on their...world tour.
Oddly enough, for children of the shadows, they were able to see so much.....what most children in this country did not.
And, in an even more ironic stretch of fate....
The son of Yoshi sighed. Well...he would have to start this sooner or later.
Splinter quietly reached for a nearby pen, pausing.
An adventure on the seasides.
Miraculous rare sights.
The kindness of humanity...and for souls who walked upon a different path...
...bonds that had been forged many, many years ago, on that fateful afternoon the rat had watched, wide eyed, from an old ripped box, as a truck rushing by on a crowded street...
Splinter lowered his sore hands, wincing at the throbbing friction as he lowered a hot ballpoint pen, smiling nonetheless as he looked at the first page, squinting at his handiwork.
The late evening sun was beginning to sink over the hilltops outside New York as parents were beginning their night time preparations of bringing their reluctant children to bed.
Underneath the city streets, someone was making preparations of their own, rummaging through the family trunk in search of neccesary items,
sighing as he impatiently thrust trivial objects aside.
Ah...here was Donatello's polar bear-he would never leave it behind, he had it since he was a newborn....
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The rat stood up, stretching slightly.
He had been up until the darkest hour.....
...the one just before dawn.
It would be soon time to prepare for Thanksgiving-there was plenty to be thankful this year-and the children's birthday.
Hopefully, the young ones would have recovered by then....Don would be so disappointed if he didn't get to make a wish.
Well, the rat knew one thing for sure, moving aside a book about Russia with his foot:
He was going to beg them not to make any wishes that had anything-remotely anything- to do with travel.
The End
Sorry I waited so long....my bad, my bad. And that I used this kind of ending again....
Arigatou, my friends. Arigatou.