Mad Scientist
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,715
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Chapter fifteen
"Thank you for your help back there, miss." Donatello tells Jagwar, as we race through the jungle in the recovered turtle van. "We would have been goners if it hadn't been for your timely assist."
"De Nada, my turtle friend. Any enemy of the rat King, is a friend of mine. Besides, you four saved me from the monster alligator back there." The princess replies. sitting in the back of the van with Donnie and Raph. "And with your assistance, we can destroy that tyrant, and rescue your master!"
"Aw yeah, we'd be happy to help ya, girl!" Mikey replies with a smile, trying to hit on our illustrious guest. "You're the first girl mutant we've ever met up close, and you are one fine kitty!"
Jagwar simply smiled at Mikey, patting him on the head. "You are an amusing one, little turtle. But this is not the place, or the time."
"Thank you for your aid, Princess Jagwar. We could not have escaped without your assistance." I look back over the front seat nodding my head respectfully. "But now, we must go somewhere to regain our strength, and prepare to rescue our master from this 'rat king'."
"I know the perfect place to go, far beyond the Rat King's reach." The princess replies. "It belonged to my family in a bygone age, and we can stay there while we rest, and form a strategy."
Jagwar leads my brothers and I back to the Cara Sucia ruins, where I had been touring with radical earlier. There, we lick our wounds, and tried to formulate a plan. But, not all of us take this respite we have been granted so well.
"Why are we just sitting around here on our shells?!" Raph asks, upset at the current turn of events. "We just left master Splinter back there, and ran with our tails between our legs!"
"Dude, we don't have tails anymore. We lost em when we mutated." Mikey shivers. "We also got that warm blood stuff that humans got when we mutated, freaky."
"Master Splinter could be hurt, or dying!" Raph yells at us, kicking at the dirt angrily. "And you're all happy just sitting around a campfire, chatting with this fuzzball? What the hell is wrong with all of youse?!"
"Raphael, calm down! We can't do anything for Master Splinter without a plan!" I shout back, turning to look at Jagwar. "Okay princess, what can you tell us about the Rat King?"
"Aye Caramba! What can't I tell you? That monster not only destroyed my family, but my entire world!" Jagwar snarled, her sharp pointed fangs showing. "Centuries, is was the royal alchemist to my mother, the queen. He studied the very forces of creation in the universe, and discovered a way to extract the primal ooze from living creatures."
"Primal Ooze?" Donatello asked, curious. "You mean the cosmic soup left over from after the big bang? Is that where mutagen come from?"
"Si, it has been called many names, in many cultures- chi, mana, penuma, prana, manitou... The Rat King discovered a way to extract it in liquid form, and discovered it's transfomative properties." The princess explains. "He even used it in the mutation of your brothers and your sensei."
"Wait, what do ya mean the rat king mutated us?" Raph asked in disbelief. "We were mutated in a lab, by Dr. O' Neal and Eric Sachs."
"Eric Sachs is the Rat King, senior. " Jagwar explains. "Over twenty years ago, he killed the real Eric Sachs, and replaced him. He provided the foot clan with the mutagen for the experiments that created you, and Convinced Oroku Saki of the plan to spread a plague through New York and cure it with the ooze."
"Whoa, Eric Sachs was really the Rat King?!" Michelangelo replies in shock. "Okay, my mind is officially blown!"
"Wait a second, if Rat King can make his own mutagen, why did he have the Shredder wait fifteen years to extract the mutagen from our blood?" Donnie inquires. "He could have gone ahead with the plan without us!"
"He didn't want to blow his cover with the foot clan." Jagwar replies with a shrug. "He was waiting fifteen years to make it look like it was hard to replicate the ooze. You and your brothers just happened to show up alive at the right time."
"But, why was Rat King manipulating Shredder?" I ask. "And what happened after we thwarted his plans?"
"After you defeated the Shredder, Rat King abandoned him and the foot, and came back down here." The princess continues. "Rat King has taken many identities over the years, and has many different schemes going all at once."
"Poor Shredder; first manipulated by an ancient mummy disguised as his adopted son, then manipulated by an alien brain we trapped him in dimension X with for all eternity." I shake my head. "If he weren't our greatest enemy, I'd almost feel sorry for him."
"But what is the Rat king trying to achieve?" Donnie Asks. "What is his end goal?"
"The Rat King seeks to destroy all human civilization, and replace it with a world ruled by animals, particularly by his beloved rats." Jagwar adds. "He plans to unleash the mutagen upon the world, and turn this planet into a world of rodent-men."
"But why did he take Splinter?" I then query. "And how did he know we would be down here?"
"He lured you down here, using his control over rats to control over your sensei, and convince you all to come to El Salvador, so he could attack you directly." Jagwar shakes her head. "And the reason was very simple; you defeated his carefully laid plans, and taking your sensei to become his first mutant rat slave would be the perfect act of vengeance against you."
"There's only one thing that doesn't make any sense." Raph demands, pointing a finger in her face. "How the hell do you know all this? How do you know so much about this jerk, or about us?"
"Are you kidding me?! I've been fighting that walking corpse my whole life!" The princess roars. "I've thwarted his schemes all over the globe, spied on him and kept us on his plans for centuries!" She narrowed her eyes. "But now, with you here, I finally have a chance to take my revenge, for all the hurt he gave me and my family and my people!"
"I'm sorry for all of our loss, princess. And for all of the pain you've had to suffer." I apologize to her, bowing my head. "And I give you my word, that when we go to rescue our father, we will help you to finally bring an end to this ancient monster."
We continue to talk for several hours, before everyone falls off to sleep one by one. I am soon the only of my brothers still awake, sitting away from the fire, and looking up at the stars. Jagwar cones over to talk to me, a look of concern on her face.
"You seem to be having some trouble sleeping." She puts a hand on my shoulder. "Are you scared you will not be able to rescue your father?"
"Master Splinter has been hurt and in danger before, and we managed to save him." I reply, quietly gazing into the heavens. "But we have never faced a foe like this before, and I don't know if we are even going to survive, let alone bringing his home safe this time."
The princess sit down beside me for several minutes, merely staring at the stars, before replying;
"I remember my mother, Sihuehuet; a brave ans strong woman, who looked after me, my half brother prince Cipitio, and all of her royal subjects. After she and I were mutated, the two of us hid from our people in the forest, and every night she cradled me as I wept myself to sleep, even though I was an adult." Jagwar looked over at me. "In order to feed the both of us, she would go out and scare farmers and travelers along the road- giving rise to all those La Siguanaba legends you've heard- and steal their food and supplies. It hurt me so much when those scared farmers shot her down. I don't blame them though, it's the rat king's fault. Btu it doesn't take away any of the loss I feel."
"I'm so sorry." I tell her again, a look of sympathy in my eyes. "Do you still miss her?"
"Every day of my life, mi amgio. Though I still feel her spirit here with me." She places a hand against her chest. "I know she'll be there with me at the end, when I end that monster's life, once and for all."
"Is that why you wish to do battle with the rat king?" I ask, standing up. "To seek vengeance for your mother?"
"No, senior Leonardo. Revenge is an empty experience, that leaves you feeling nothing empty inside." She gets up, and looks down at me. "I seek to slay the rat king... to make sure what happened to me, never happens to anyone else, ever again."
Jagwar walks back over to the fire, leaving me alone with a great deal to think about...
Last edited by Panda_Kahn_fan; 03-28-2017 at 11:15 PM.
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