Lost in Transition

[saralinda]

The waters of the Twin Falls of Mercy thundered down around Leonardo, soaking the turtle's skin with a light spray. He was standing as close as he could to the slick rocks, sucking in as much of the wet, cool air as his lungs could handle. It smelled like wildness, but also like the mossy old tombs at the cemetery in Woodside back home. Not like death, exactly--more like tradition, or shrines, or memories. Protection.

He'd grown tired waiting in the Daimyo's palace, in a stuffy room attended by even stuffier servants. They'd propped him up on some kind of pillowy dais. Leonardo normally didn't object to fluffy cushions, but being stranded on one for six hours during a performance of traditional Refrus folk dances had nearly driven him out of his skull. After one dance in particular--it featured several amply-endowed Refrusian males wearing what looked like spandex bike shorts--Leo politely made his apologies and escaped to the base of the falls. He half expected to see his father meditating there on the stony bank--it had been a favorite place of Splinter's on their last journey to the Nexus. But here he was, alone.

"Where are they?" he wondered.

[RenaRoo121]

Being new to the magic employed by something as magically apt as the Time Scepter did cause some understandable set backs in the case of inter-dimensional travel. It was, after all, a new experience to him and judging by the fact that all of his ventures with Scepters before dealt with Renet's use of magic, Michelangelo considered this to be pretty damn good!

Of course, it would have been even nicer if he had figured out how to land himself and Master Splinter on the grounds of the Nexus rather than afloat three feet in the air above it.

It wasn't a large drop, of course, but it was quite the annoying one and before he could think twice, the turtle had landed beak first onto the grounds, just feet from the slick rocks which, of course, would have been even less ideal for a landing.

He groaned loudly at the landing and attempted to swallow in his dry throat. He was still so hot that his skin was pulsating with heat and he couldn't think straight from the exhaustion. Did the Time Scepter zap him of that much strength or was he just dehydrated?

Mike didn't know and he didn't care. He had gotten them out of the Lair alive!

[saralinda]

"Mikey! Here!" Leo raised an arm to hail his newly-arrived brother. "You made it!" His grin froze and began to fade at the sight of the rat who had accompanied his youngest brother. "Father?" Dropping to his knees, Leonardo reached for Splinter's paw.

"Mike, why's he...?" Then the turtle realized that there were much worse issues to contend with than Splinter's black-and-whiteness. You didn't need to be Donatello to see that their father's sunken eyes, dry lips, and raspy breath all signaled severe dehydration and heat exhaustion. "Nevermind. Come on, this water's clean. Both of you need to cool off. Now."

He reached down to take his father into his arms. "You can explain everything to me later."