The Sewer Stalkers (1st)

Subconsious prt 4

They were on the road again in the morning. Kylee and Donny were even more miserable, yet another Raph had joined the posse- and an old one at that. He was what? Sixty or seventy in turtle years? The only good thing about him was that he didn’t take any of the turtle tots behavior and made him actually behave, so the grouch got stuck with the kid, everyone else kind of steered clear. For an old guy he could sure move fast, Old Raph and Tot Raph were in the lead and telling everyone else they walked like old people. Kylee should have known this would be Raph when he was old; loud, bossy, and unable to show frailness. She could see the faint limp in his left leg, the many scars that handicapped him and for some reason he was missing an eye.

Why is it, Kylee thought, that in all Raphs older incarnations he was missing an eye. He’s been missing an eye in that one episode where Don had been transported to the future by the Daimios son/Draco creature, he was missing an eye in that MNT Gaiden comic she read, and he was missing an eye here. Why was he always missing the same eye? Whenever they stopped for a break she couldn’t help but stare and wonder, which would irritate the geezer even more and he would thump her in the forehead. Kylee desperately wanted to ask about his eye, but then thought that might be rude. She tried to preoccupy her mind with something else but it always came back to Old Raphs missing eye.

“Don-ARE WE THERE YET? I mean we’ve been gone for three days already, Leo, Mike, Becca, and Splinter will be worried sick by now.”

“I think so. I mean, how big could Raphs mind really be right?”

The three Raphs cleared their throats with indignation, Don smiled apologetically.

“Now, what exactly are you looking for Donny?” Geezer Raph asked stepping up

“Um… you I guess. Well the younger you.”

“Which one?” The other two Raphs asked

“Neither of you, the grown up Raph… Not senior Raph, but our Raph, the uh… middle age one, from outside the subconscious.”

“Are you talking about the punk who’s been running amuck in the valley over a couple hills from here?” Old Raph cocked an eyebrow at his brother.

“He about my age?” Don asked

“Yes.”

“Does he seem like he’s from out of town?” Kylee asked

“Yes.”

The two looked at each other, smiling like maniacs. This crazy adventure was about to be over. “YES! WE DID IT, WE DID IT! I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE FINALLY GONNA GET OUT OF RAPHS STUPID FAT HEAD!” Kylee cried out, doing a little jig. Donny was laughing gaily as the Raphs stood unimpressed

“Don’t worry, your heads aren’t that fat” minny Raph said. Geezer Raph glared at the kid and bashed him in the head really hard. Teen Raph laughed until Tot Raph kicked him in the shine and got bashed in the head again.

“Raph, can you lead us to that valley? It’s critical we get to that turtle.” Donny began to plead

“I dunno Don… that maniac is causing a lot of trouble, it could be a lot of trouble.”

“Please. Raph, if we don’t find this Raph, and wake him up, he will die, and so will the rest of you. I can’t lose my brother.”

The geezer thought about it for a moment, and then nodded gravely. Kylee jumped up, tired of being in Raphs head, and Donny took a breath of relief.

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“Hey Leo, Do you think they’re gonna wake up anytime soon? Oh, and do ya have any threes?”

“Nope, go fish. I don’t know Becca, they’ve been gone for three hours now, I’m sure they’ll be back soon. Mikey hand over that jack.”

“AW MAN! DUDE YOU WIPED ME OUT!”

The three had set up a table and had started playing go fish. So far Leo was winning and Mikey had just lost. Becca was determined to win, but was sure she was about to lose.

“I hope they’re having fun in there.”

“Please, they’re in Raphs head. It can’t be fun in there.”

“Eh, I guess yer right.

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The posse slid down the side of the hill entering the valley. There was a single tree smack in the middle of the valley a couple miles off. There were some figures chasing each other and you could hear the faint sound of children laughing. And then a bigger figure chasing them.

“Oh yeah Raph, kids and a parent chasing each other and having fun-HOW CATASTOPHIC!” Kylee said flinging her hands in the air and making fun of Geezer Raphs comment earlier. He put a hand on her shoulder, pressing hard and making her crouch. “You haven’t seen this place at war. I have.” Then he walked off like the last survivor in a war movie. Teen Raph stood by her side as she rubbed her shoulder.

“Is it just me, or is he really dramatic.”

“He’s older then you, he deserves to be. And he’s a total hard case, just like you.”

“Ha Ha Ha.”

Kylee and Donny ran ahead, happy to almost be finally over with this and go home. They stopped at the top of the next hill, looking down at the tree, expecting to see Raph spying on that family. Kylee’s jaw dropped and her eyes looked as if she’d been stabbed in the lung or heart.

“NO! NOT HER! ANYTHING BUT HER! NOOOOOOOOO! NOT MONA LISA!” Kylee cried out in misery dropping to her knees, gripping the grass and looking at the scene in front of her. There were tiny lizard little ones, and tiny turtle tots running from a beautiful, laughing, bright green lizard woman. Her hair was a perfect glistening brown and perfect crystal blue eyes. She wore a pink scarf around her perfect neck and a brown belt around her perfect waist, and even her laugh was a perfect beautiful chime. Raph sat at the base of the tree. He looked so content there, smiling and watching his family run around and play. Mona walked towards him, put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Kylee? H-H-How do you know about Mona? S-She wasn’t even in the series.” Donny sputtered, completely dumbstruck. Had he missed a episode or something? Don crouched down by Kylee, her eyes filled with absolute hate. “No, she may have not been in my series… but she was in the nineteen-eighties series. She showed up for one lousy episode called ; Raph meets his match, became wildly popular, and was marked as his girlfriend for the rest of eternity. If ya looked on YouTube you’d find millions of videos on her and Raph, there are short stories about her. I hate her. I can’t believe she’s real…HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?”

“How many series of us are there?”

“Oh hundreds (that’s an exaggeration) NOW WHATS HER STORY!?!”

“She showed up out of the blue one day and ended up staying with us for a year or two. She and Raph really hit it off, spent all their time together, ended up falling in love and then she disappeared one day without a word. Raph pretended to shrug it off but it cut him deep. I thought he’d gotten over her by now, but apparently not…why do you care? What’s up with hating her?”

“That’s not important. I just do, I found her character to be extremely annoying. Now, let’s go get Raph and get the HELL outta here!” Kylee picked herself up took a breath and walked down the hill. The other three Raphs caught up, the teenager smirking. “All I heard was blab la bla-I’m jealous of her ‘cause she stole the guy I have a crush on.” He said passing them and following the girl.