This story is rated G for general viewing.
I sit on a flat rock and dangle my feet in the creek, watching Raph’s mutt, Taiwam, bounding through the water, trying to eat the foaming liquid as it splashes up. He’s really big now, almost two feet at the shoulder, but still a puppy, and it’s funny to watch him play. I scoop up his well-chewed tennis ball and toss it across the creek. Taiwam stands like a statue as I complete the throw, and then he’s off, splashing all over the creek and barking like crazy. Minutes later, he trots over to my rock, and lies in the shade to gnaw on the ball.
I gaze into the water. It’s so beautiful--I rarely saw this kind of thing growing up in New York. Just some muddy ponds in Central Park. But the farm in Northampton is full of creeks and streams, not to mention the big river that curves through the woods and up to the wildlife preserve. That’s the other thing I love, the animals. There are squirrels EVERYWHERE, and chipmunks, and birds, and rabbits, though they run off when you get close. And deer, bear, bats, owls, and dozens of other animals that you can’t get too close to. And the diversity of life in this water alone is fascinating. Sometimes I’m even inspired to dig out my old books on eco-systems. I stir the water with my bare foot. Plants are there, of course, minnows in the shallows, insects, frogs, toads, snakes, and even a few smaller breeds of turtle. This creek is too shallow for large fish, but the river holds a variety of species, as well as giant turtles! I remember training lessons with Splinter which ended in swims at the river, watching the baby turtles, swimming with them. It was so cool. I should try and get the guys to do that again sometime.
But we’re leaving tomorrow. I wish we weren’t--there are times when I almost feel a bond to this place. Sort of silly for an aspiring scientist, who bases his opinions on reason and logical progression of ideas. And just because this place is beautiful, it doesn’t follow that I’m bound to it.....But it doesn’t matter. I dismiss the thoughts and lie back on the rock to bask in the sun. Yeah, back to smoggy old New York and the sewer den. Sigh. We’ve had a blast these past couple weeks, but it’s time to be back home for a while. Maybe we’ll come out again later this summer. We will if I have anything to say about it! We don’t get much time for games these days.
My thoughts are interrupted by a loud cry. I tune my ears, recognize Raph’s voice. "Tai!" he’s yelling. I sit up and look down at Taiwam. He seems not to hear. Faker. If I can hear it, a dog certainly can! "Tai! C’mere, boy!"
"He’s getting mad," I inform Taiwam. He perks up his ears and gazes at me. I shrug and lay back.
"Taiwam! I know you’re there, you little monster!" Taiwam gets to his feet, wagging furiously, to greet Raphael. "Ha, gotcha, ya mutant!" But Tai bolts past Raph in a black blur, toward the meadow behind me. Raph goes after him. I hear crashing and rustling receding as both race to the meadow. I hear the familiar cursing, muffled thump, and yelp as Raph tackles his dog and they wrestle in the grass.
Another laugh joins my own. I sit up, trembling, muscles tensed and ready for action. I look closely at the intruder. A human woman, standing in the creek, dressed in strange, silken garments of blue and green. They seem to blend with her light blue skin. Her green hair--Hang on, did I say human? How peculiar. But human or no, what is she doing on Jones property? This is too far away from the borderline to be a simple misjudgment of the preserve boundary. She smiles brightly at me, unaware of the turmoil she is causing within me.
Should I take her down and ask questions later? Maybe, but I’m unarmed, and I try not to use violence without due cause. She had wandered in here, sure, but she wasn’t convicted of anything yet. Should I call to Raph for help? Nah, Raph’s liable to get out of control. Should I run like heck for the farmhouse, lose her in the woods, and let her think she’s delusional? Hardly feasible, and I don’t like running either. So I guess the only solution is to--
"Ah, who are you?" I ask, taking the simplest choice, or as Raph would have it, "the weasel way out."
"I am Terra, Elementmaster of planet Earth," she tells me with another smile. Okay, she doesn’t look like anyone I should be scared of, and she doesn’t appear to be under the influence of anything, so I’ll proceed with caution.
"What are you doing here?"
"I am looking for someone," she says, and I am about to ask another question when I realize she is merely pausing. I shut my mouth and wait. She rapidly launches into a spiel about the Elementmasters of the solar system, something about a Fiveholder and some crystals, then the Mars elementals killing Mars...The planet? No, a guy named Mars who runs the place. Kay, that explains it. Her elementals are brutally murdered, so she seeks five new ones to fight the Mars ones. She seeks me....Whoa, go back. Me?
"Uh--reality check," I say slowly. "Let me get this straight: you want me to abandon my family, go off without telling anyone what’s going on, abandon my world, and go off and save the universe?"
"Just Earth, not the universe."
"Sorry, it was just an expression. And this crystal will help me?"
"The crystal is merely a representation, a focus, of the planetary force which drives an elemental’s power. The planet itself will help you. The water." She looks at me as if she says this kind of stuff on a regular basis. Heck, maybe she does. But this is the weirdest thing she’s yet said.
"I’m sorry if the truth seems a little unorthodox to your scientific mind, Donatello." I gape. How does she know my name, and how did she read my mind? "It’s quite easy, really, to capture surface thought, especially in a fellow psi. You’re a seer, Donatello, and that’s a prerequisite for the water elemental. In addition, turtles have a traditionally strong bond with water." So she knows of my power, the insane dreams I have that sometimes end up coming true. Sometimes I can’t even tell if they come true, they’re so vague and symbolic. I’ve been seeing lots of green and blue lately, maybe it’s related to this? "It is quite possible."
"Would you stop doing that!" She looks startled. "I don’t care if you’re the Elementmaster or whatever, it doesn’t give you the right to poke through my head! Lay off!"
"I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know it offended you," she says slowly. "I apologize."
"‘Sokay," I sigh, relenting. "Uh--look, this is a lot to swallow, do you think I could have some time to--"
"No." She says it flatly. "There is no time. Yes or no, you must choose now."
Oh, great. In five minutes I have to make a decision that’ll change the rest of my life. I want to consult my brothers, and Splinter. But wait--I’ve lived with them my whole life, so I should know what they’d say, right? I run imagined comments through my mind. Raph--How d’ya know she’s tellin’ the truth? I just feel it. Don’t risk yer life on feelings. Mike--You should be able to trust your own instincts by now, Donny. ‘Sides, this sounds cool! True enough. Leo--Remember your honor, brother. It won’t be easy, but how can you reject your duty to save Earth? I’m not as honor-bound as Leo, but I have a feeling that if I say "no," I’ll spend the rest of my life kicking myself for choosing the way I did. And if what Terra tells me about the crystal choosing the right candidate through her is true, if I really am the right person for this job, the rest of my life could be a very short period of time. Splinter--Do what it is in your heart to do. Geez, that sounds like him! I guess I know what I feel better than any of my brothers anyway--in a way, I want to help this Terra.
So be it.
"Terra--I’ll do it."