Volume Two: East
Chapter 1: No place like Home
Don woke up his head still spinning, dizzy, upside down....wait what? He looks around realizing he was caught in a jumble of vines, not unlike what happened when he, Leo, mikey, April and raph landed on the wasp world and fought off a wasp that tried carrying his hot-headed brother as a meal for later. Which didn't exactly set his mind anymore at ease after he remembered that cuz now for all he knows killer Ants, cockroaches or fleas might come after him now if he couldn't get free, he reaches for his belt as best he could, “If I could just....get.....my.....knife....” a giggle causes him to stop, he looks around wondering where it came from. This time he manages to reach the knife he had concealed in his belt.....but the trade off was he ends up going onto a rope spin like a tire and gets wrapped up worse than he was before, “Ugh.....sewer cakes....I'd rather be at one of Casey's hockey games than stuck in a tree like this...” he grumbles with his legs and arms tied to his body with the vines looking like a trussed up turkey. The giggling was heard again, “Alright! Whoever is out there, come out of hiding! I maybe tied up but I'm not helpless!!!” peeking out from a jumble of creeper vines, was a little monkey's face smiling at him giggling, “Hello!” Don blinks, he didn't know what to make of it, “Umm...hello....?” The little monkey crawls the branches and reveals herself to have wings, Don started to wonder if he was in the Land of Oz.
The girl climbs to his vines and pulls on one vine setting him loose, but she catches him and carries him upwards into the trees keeping him from falling to his death, “Name's Canopy Monkey, what brings a terrapin like yourself into the trees?” Don shook his head snapping himself out of his own confusion, “ugh....well one minute I was taking apart a transport artifact to destroy it after I took a look at it; the next minute I'm tangled in a series of creeper vines” Canopy giggles, “well you're not tangled now, come, I'll take you to the city.” Don shrugs and follows Canopy's lead jumping through the trees keeping pace with her flight, they keep going for about 50 yards until a City comes into view, though not exactly what Don was expecting when he hears the word “city” in a conversation. Flying up behind them was a pair of Anthropomorphic Lady Bugs, “Canopy you're late for school again” Canopy screeches, “is it time already!! poop!!!” Don again was confused, “Miss Kanti's gonna pluck my feathers, come on Donatello!!” she grabs his arm and flies off in a shot not giving don time to think, the Ladybugs follow holding don's other arm and belt keeping his flight even and not so shakey. As they headed for what Looked like a Tree-house converted into a schoolhouse, “Uh sorry to be a bu-- Bother, but who are you and who is Kanti?” the Lady bugs look at eachother, “I'm so sorry I forgot to introduce ourselves, my name is Bird, and this is Budd” Budd waves at Don with his free hand, “Nice to meet you.” Don Stared at Budd for a minute, “yeah yeah I know, as a Ladybug I look like a girl so it's kind of a shock to hear a gravelly man's voice from a feminine-looking body” Bird pokes his arm with her carapace, “Don't be coy Big brother, you love to trick people like that, you play up to it all the time.” Budd frowns at her, “I do not!” Bird giggles, “ You do so, you even runway walk when a guy cat-calls you” Budd grumbles as they land on the deck of the schoolhouse with Canopy running inside leaving the door open, “I'm so sorry I'm late miss Kanti, I met a new friend out in the Jungle when I was getting my lunch.” she took a quick seat.
Once Don got into the Schoolhouse entrance he stands off to the side and looks up getting a good look at Kanti; she was a Chameleon with big Vibrant blue butterfly wings, her head plate rounded over the top of her head looking like “hair” as humans would understand it and stained yellow for color, “It's alright Canopy, I haven't started my Lesson yet, I was only going through my greeting to my new students” she smiles brightly to the young monkey-bird, it wasn't until Budd nudged him that Don realized he was staring with his mouth gaping open like an idiot, “We have a newcomer here Miss Kanti” Kanti looks up seeing Don, he kind of stiffens up as he feels his face heat up, was he blushing?? Kanti flutters off the ground heading for Don, she circles him looking him over, “Hmm.....a 5'11 Bipedal Chelonia specimen wearing protective gear indicative of a practice in Martial Arts, I'm guessing Ninjutsu, although your Callouses on your hands, toes and legs are more akin to that of a Handyman, tinkerer and engineer. You have the chemical smell of a scientist where you handle curatives, drugs and cleaning substances as well as a lingering after-scent of a Pepperoni and Jalapeno pizza” Don shook his head again, swearing that he had gotten dizzy from all of that, “Uhhh.....” was all he could mutter. Kanti chuckles at his reaction, “it's alright, I usually have that effect on others, my name is Paralii Kanti, most just call me Kanti though, and you are?” she held out her hand for a handshake, “I'm deena-dodda-don-- * ahem!! * I'm Donatello, Hamato Donatello” He shakes her hand with Kanti giving a look to a few students who laughed at his stuttering, “Japanese style, yet you sound American” Don smiles, she did NOT miss a beat, “I grew up in New York....well, New York of my Dimension, I'm not quite sure which one i'm in though....” Kanti lets his hand go, “Bubo, take over the class, i'm going to spend more time with Donatello” a Large old Owl stands up resuming the lesson as Don and Kanti walk out of the schoolhouse.
Don Explains everything that happened with the Puzzle Box Artifact, how the Crystals turned into what appeared to be a Feng Shui Mirror; 8 sides, 8 points, with a circle center for the middle, the whole shebang, “Hmm....that sounds like the Star Crystal Mirror from one of the Atlantean lands....” Don looks right at her, so Atlantis' knowledge even stretches this far, “ I see. So the puzzle cube sounds like it's one part of the ability of those crystals, the other part if they're brought together into a whole new apparatus denotes an alternative function to the transport.” Kanti keeps her eyes on him smiling, and don sighs with a little bit of a dejected attitude, “ You don't even know what I'm saying do you?” Kanti pokes his nose, “On the contrary, all you basically said was that without the crystals being in the Puzzle box, they turned into another door when they became a mirror, and therefore opened a path to a different side of the multiverse” Don's bo staff falls off his back with a loud and audible 'plunk!' after she said that, “I take it a lot of the time most make you speak in layman's when you're speaking in plain English, though, very highly educated English” all he could do was nod. Kanti giggles at him and takes his hand leading him to the jump ramp, “Come, let's get something to eat, is Pizza or Eastern food okay with you?” Don blinks again, “Eastern food?”
In the Village which looked like a Mix of a tree village and a modern City Kanti had Donnie at a table in what looked like a Mix of a Japanese, Korean, Thai and Chinese restaurant, so to call it “eastern” food wasn't too inaccurate even without specifics, “So then I raised the quotient by 5 and it ended up splitting at 2.5 seconds which made the Engine splatter oil on the jerk's face” Don laughed hard enough that tears were falling from his eyes, he'd never had a conversation like this with anyone else accept Leatherhead, it was a nice breath of fresh air, she was cute too, wait what? Kanti accepts the tray of food from the waiter as well as the Sake pouring herself a shot as well as Don, “If you like Donatello, I can help you find a way home, I know the Atlantean legends pretty well, so it shouldn't take too long to find a way back the same way you came.” Don drank his shot but had a paused expression on his face, he knew he had to get back but he didn't want to leave so soon, “How long exactly is 'not long' with you Miss Kanti?” Kanti chuckles, “please, only my students call me Miss, you can call me Kanti if you don't mind” Don smiles at her, “Well in that case, you can call me Don” he winks at her, making her blush a little.
Kanti thought for a moment, she wanted to get to know this turtle a little more herself, but she didn't want to make it seem like she was shanghaiing him, “Well...we still have to go to the archives which is half a continent over, and there's a lot of reading to do on that alone so.......maybe 5-9 weeks of travel, depending on the number of references- -” Don stops her, “How about we agree on me sticking around for 7 months, I need to learn the lay of the land here as well, I mean, it's a jungle out there and here, and I'm a city boy so....yeah, I'll need time just to get used to this dimension, forget finding information.” Kanti holds up her shot plinking it with Don's, they made an agreement over Sake, which wasn't a bad one to either of them. Don pretty much saw through Kanti's ruse though, he knew she wanted him to stay a little longer, he was hoping that his brothers would understand the length of time he'd be gone though.
