[TEXT] Leo to Team, COME IN TEAM

[anything_it_takes]

[The cart ride into Keeliai is long, exhausting and stressful. Leo presses himself into the furthest corner to hide (which still leaves him painfully visible) even as his sharp blue eyes peer through the slats, taking in as much of the alien city as possible.

On one hand, this is the most amazing thing Leo's ever experienced, an exhilarating adventure straight out of Space Heroes. On the other, he's never felt so alone, out of control and exposed in his life. Sure, he always wanted adventure, but not without the guys - and not hauled down a city road in broad daylight, surrounded by people turning their heads in curiosity.

At least the few kedan on the street who take a close enough look into the open-backed cart to spy him out don't scream or run. But there are some stares, and he can feel the undercurrent of hostility like a flame inches from his skin. There's a tension in the air in some parts of the city they go through, a hard look to some of the kedan when they see someone not like them...

Leo slips into his appointed building like - well, like a ninja, or as close as possible while lacking the cover of darkness. When he gets to his temporary quarters he leans his shell against the door and sighs wearily; alien robots and plant monsters are one thing, but this? This is an entirely new level of crazy.

Water had seemed a natural choice when the kedan gave him options. He's glad of his choice now as he splashes some from the room's small fountain over his head, then winces as he does the same to the burn mark forming on his shoulder. It's not serious, but Leo's entire arm aches and tingles from channeling Justin's electrical shock through his katana. He's certainly pulled smarter moves.

Hopefully whatever jerked him "sideways" during that explosion also took his brothers through in slightly different places, and he can link up with them again once they all get their bearings. He knows the team can handle this situation, but first? They have to be together.

He'll start canvassing the city come dusk, one Sector at a time if he has to. But until nightfall, Leonardo has time to kill, and he isn’t about to sit around doing nothing.

Settling in at the console, Leo sets it up for a text message - and pauses, considering his options. This is a public network; he has to get a message out that his brothers will understand if they're listening, but that won't arouse too much civilian curiosity or alert any enemies.

There is one thing... He'd batted around an idea for a code word with Donnie. The problem being, it was never official - Leo just hadn't anticipated a realistic situation where it would be useful. The idea was just idle talk.

He hopes that if Mikey or Raph are alone out there, they'll recognize his reference. Donnie will catch on at least, if he's listening. One way or the other it's the best Leo's got until he can search the rooftops.]


ANy New Yorkers out here? if you know the 2nd Time About shop on Bleeker, contact me ASAP

[Ryan to Dauntless, come in Dauntless...]

Aalso. Look, I got the story from the kidan ans I know i can;t be the first person to ask. But Im looking for any leads on how t get back to my own world... stories, rumuors, anything.

Thankyou.


[Please don't let him be alone out here. Leo presses Return.]



[ tl;dr Enter one cagey ninja turtle boy with delusions of being a Great Hero! Leo v.2012 is here and super worried about his bros ;A; ]

Comments

I was sad to see it end

[neoguardian]

[She's not that fond of school actually, it's not challenging enough for her.]

Right, my name is Lara-Su...guess you should know that before you go chasing shadows.

Oh yeah...well I was a little skeptical at first, but my home is a floating island and I went for a little swim to see for myself. Apparently the big guy is a little sick, I'd like to take a look inside to see if there's anything I can do...thing is, I'm not a medic.

[Apparently not many people in this place have thought about going inside.]

V true. It's out on DVD now tho :D I need to get it

[anything_it_takes]

[Yeah he has a brother like that. Too smart for anyone else to teach - the sciences, anyway - Donnie is frighteningly self-educated.]

Ryan. Nice to meet you.

[Yes, he's still doing the code name thing. Shhhhh.]

Whatt do you mean 'take a look inside"?/

Ditto. I've been meaning to get it for years XD

[neoguardian]

[She's inherited a genetic thing from her father that allows her to pick up concepts easily.]

Nice to meet you too, Ryan.

[It totally doesn't suit him. But Leo tried that's all that matters.]

Well...he's a pretty big guy you know? I bet if he opened his mouth you could just walk on in. I feel bad for him being sick and all...You know, that's how it goes, if something isn't right on the inside the outside is effected...and there's been a lot of decay on the island.

^^^

[anything_it_takes]

[Yeah no it totally doesn't suit him. God, he's paranoid.]

yeah i undderstand that part trust me.

[Turtle health. He gets it. Oooooh does Leo get it.]

I guess you couldd walk around in hismouth.

SO< hes sick... that doenst sound too good for us. whatt kind of decay are we tallking about?

[Aw Leo lookit you, analyzing the situation and being all leaderly about the Big Problems. Bless ♥]

[neoguardian]

[That's okay, Lara-Su's Dark Mobius self is the same way, this version is more trusting.]

Hopefully I could learn something from that, going deeper might get tricky.

[Not that she couldn't it's just kind of squicky.]

Well I went for a glide around the island and it's like the island is dying or something. The trees look pretty bad and there's this black mold. Like it's been polluted or something.

[Hey, if something happens to the island they're all sunk...maybe...bad puns...]

[anything_it_takes]

[This is GREAT intel. Lara-Su has some impressive talents (glide? Did she say glide?) and she seems willing to share.

It's possible Donnie would know what to do with an inside look at the turtle. If he could be convinced to try this fairly insane stunt. Speaking of which...]

NOt to menton, why wuold he open his mouth for us in the firsst place/? Cuold he even hear us if we asked?

[Because this turtle is clearly HUGE. Leo doesn't think he would notice if a couple gnats few by his face and asked him to open his mouth.

This isn't directly related to getting home of course, but... the entire situation is so strange, Leo's willing to gather information on anything to get a handle on the place. The more he understands, the better chance he has of figuring out how to get back.]

Polluted, huh. THat definitely doen;st sound good. i Wonder whats going on...

[neoguardian]

[She's not one to brag, but she has a few talents. Unfortunately her fighting skills and Chaos Control are unrefined.

Some of the best stunts are insane one's, Leo, but you raise an interesting point...at least it's a point that causes her to raise a thoughtful finger into the air...]

Ah...ah? Hm...well the only turtles I ever talked to were Mobians like me...but I'm willing to wait him out. He'd have to open his mouth eventually, don't you think?...I wonder if there's anything in the ocean that he eats...if he eats.

[Maybe they can make the big guy sneeze...like pepper or something.]

Yeah, it's unfortunate because I have to avoid certain places in the Water section...I wish I knew more. Apparently the emperor isn't the most cooperative of souls, I'd like to talk to her though on a diplomatic level.

[anything_it_takes]

[Leo's pretty sure an insane stunt was what landed him HERE. But he prefers to think about his stunts first, if there's time beforehand.]

Well whatt about when he closes it again?/ and you;re still insdie?

[Leo doesn't see ANY way that could possibly end well. Giant teeth. Yeah.

Some "Mobians like her" are turtles, huh? That's something he wouldn't mind hearing more about, but it's a bit of a side tangent, and the last thing he wants to do is get on the topic. She might ask what species HE is.]

And what;ss wrong with some parts of theWAter section?

['cuz that's where they put HIM]

[neoguardian]

Oh...I think getting out would be much easier than getting in actually. It's easier to spit something out if you don't like it than to eat something you know you don't like. I'll irritate him a little and he's bound to spit me out, no problem.

[She sees no down side to this whatsoever, how in the world could this end badly?

Fortunately for Leo a Mobosapien is a Mobosapien, they come in all shapes, sizes, species, and tribes.]

Well, the black mold, so far that seems to be the big problem with the water section...water and mold go hand in hand. I'll have to look more closely at what is polluted, but I'd generally be wary of anything that has mold.

[anything_it_takes]

By the time you irritate him it might be a ittle late. this guys teeth must be huge.

[Leo ain't willing to rely on the giant turtle to realize they're people and not food. There's absolutely nothing in his skill-set that could defend against a behemoth - not without hurting him, anyway. Which Leo does not want to do.

For this kind of brainstorming, he needs Donnie.

But Q&A with someone who can glide above this place? NICE.]

so Hwow big is this tplace? i take it the Big GUy's swimming somewhere., so Tu Shsnshu is an island.?

HTanks for the warnig abou the water, i;ll try not togo for as wim.

['cuz no one ELSE has directly warned him about it yet THANKS BROS B| ]

[neoguardian]

Chaos Control would come in real handy then! There's always a way around these dilemmas.

[Ah, chaos control. Don't leave home without it. She can't jump dimensions and there are a few things beyond her means, but telekinesis and freezing time ought to come in handy in the instance the giant turtle should he add his chompers to the mix.]

It's actually quite large, too large to just walk across, but being short might influence my perspective here. It looks like he's swimming around aimlessly in a vast ocean and yeah I'd call this an island...we're surrounded by ocean. I've made an attempt to glide out further, but apparently you are limited to where you can go.

Oh no problem! Sorry my information is so vague, this isn't my territory so I'm still trying to feel the place out, it means being constantly aware. Hope it helps a little bit.

[anything_it_takes]

[Whatever the heck Chaos Control is. Leo would love to know about that telekinesis and time manipulation, but he's been curious enough already. Especially since he's not sharing back.]

htis is all reallly helpful. i haven't had a chance to look around myslef yet. thanks Lara Sue.

um, I hope i spelled that right.

[neoguardian]

Hands on experience is always better, good luck and be careful!

Oh, it's Lara-Su...silly Echidna traditions, the girls have hyphenated names. [yeah, she's volunteering this stupid stuff]

[anything_it_takes]

Im pretty good at looking after myslf.. Thanks, yout oo.

[OH GOOD SHE'S AN ECHIDNA. Now that burning question has been answered.]

[neoguardian]

Very confident. So that's what it's like to be independent, you know this would be the first time I've been on my own.

[She's not quite a turtle, but hey, she came from an egg.]

[anything_it_takes]

[Technically, Leo's not used to being "on his own" either. When he's aboveground he's usually got his brothers at his side, and he's never spent a full 24 hours away from home. They always come back to the Lair at the end of the day. Thank goodness he's got two brothers here.

But independent and confident? That's Leo, so long as you ignore the co-dependance on his brothers, which happens when they're the only people you know for 15 years.]

whatt abuot you? SOmeone told mme about violenc against foreginers. you goingtob e ok out therre?

[He also gets more typos when he's typing quickly because he's worried.]

[neoguardian]

[It kind of puts them in the same boat, this is the first time she's ever been away from her parents and her father, especially, is way over protective. Because of that Lara-Su's confidence has a tendency to ebb and flow from time to time...but she has her persistence and can-do attitude.]

Really, that's one I haven't heard about yet, though it wouldn't surprise me! There seem to be a lot of Overlanders around, but I think I'm mixing most of them up with humans. Many of them seem too friendly to be Overlanders...um...it's weird being the only Mobian, but I'm okay.

[Fortunately she can decipher pretty well, but she's noticing the change.]

[anything_it_takes]

[Three fingers, giant hands, not used to typing, doesn't want to waste time proofreading. It adds up.]

oKay, clue me in. What;s an Over-lander and what's a Mobian? You said some Mobians were turtles/?

[Annnd there he goes giving in to temptation.]

[neoguardian]

[It should totally be adding up, shouldn't it?]

No problem! Okay, so I come from the planet Mobius...there are rumors it used to be called Earth before the great cataclysm. Apparently these beings called the Xorda dropped gene-bombs on the planet. Apparently it didn't destroy all life like they wanted and various creatures had their DNA infused with human DNA. The mutation resulted in Mobo-sapiens...that would be creatures like me...but there are all kinds. Crocodiles, Hedgehogs, Cats, Dogs, Rabbits, Chameleons, Turtles...it's a very long list...and that's the short of it [the long of it would be more complicated and it would take longer for her to explain it]...Overlanders...they are the survivors of the gene-bomb...or the descendants...they were also mutated, they are more aggressive than humans, very war like with Dr. Ivo Robotnik being among the worst of their kind. Overlanders can be very xenophobic and brutal to Mobians, but not all of them are.

[anything_it_takes]

[WOW. Okay. He's almost sorry he asked. It's an interesting story though.]

so tthere are lots of people like you.

[People. Not creatures.

He can only imagine it might be nice, an entire population of mutants - they wouldn't have to hide, anyway. Of course technically, Leo doesn't have to hide here either. But it's one thing to be told that fact, even to see it in action, and another thing to challenge his lifetime of strict training.]

These Zorda didn t have robot bodies, did they?

['Cause where he comes from, stuff is mutated by the Kraang. And they apparently have different names in different dimensions - or SOMETHING - soooo...]

[neoguardian]

[When it comes to academics she can be a little on the descriptive side.]

Yup. Mobo-sapiens are the dominate species.

[Lara-Su hasn't actually thought about being different, even the rare humans on Mobius aren't treated differently...but being one of the few individuals here who didn't pass for human on the island put some things in to perspective.]

Well, I don't know really, I've only heard descriptions of them...they look like funny brains with tentacles and one eye.

[anything_it_takes]

[The tentacled alien brains Leo knows definitely have two eyes. Apparently, alien brains like to run around mutating stuff. Maybe they're dimensional cousins, like himself and that other Leo he's hearing over the encrypted connection.

But really, chasing after a potentially alternate universe version of the Kraang is not high on his priority list. He still has the gut reflex to investigate anything that sounds like mutagen, and that "gene-bomb" sounded like several devices they've had to contend with before. But he's got to get back on track.]

thanks for all the informatnion Lara-Su . ive got togetb ack to finding my peopl.

[Maybe if he sees you around when he's out after dark he'll creep on you until he's close enough to say hi without anyone else seeing him. He won't make any promises to her face though.]

[neoguardian]

You're welcome, and good luck!

[Echidnas are nocturnal so who knows, they might just bump into each other.]