Oh, Here We Go Again...

[meanandgreen]

It had been a great night. Raphael had just left Casey's place, feeling pretty damn good after spending the last few hours roaming the streets, bashing some heads. They'd found a bunch of punks - some idiot Purple Dragon initiates - trying to break into a convenient store, and the first sight of him almost had them crying for their mamas. Oh, shit! One guy with an especially stupid looking mohawk had cursed. It's the red one!

Then he'd given him a one-way ticket to dreamland and he and Casey had to split at the sound of police sirens.

That had left him a little smug, to say the least. Even after the pair had traveled back to Casey's apartment to catch the hockey game, Raph couldn't keep his big yap shut about it. Because that meathead wasn't just afraid of him because he was a turtle. No, he knew him. Just the red one. Just him.

Yeah, it'd been a great night in the life of Raphael. But what was gonna come next, now that it was almost dawn as he made his way back to the Lair, would definitely put a dent in things. He was supposed to be undergrounded after his last fiasco with Casey that definitely hadn't ended as well. So Splinter didn't like the idea of him running around playing vigilante. So what if he ran out on his own every now and then without telling anyone? Turtle's got to have some space.

Still, he wasn't looking forward to the lecture doomed to be waiting for him courtesy of O, Fearless Leader.

So he took the scenic route, watching the sunrise reflect off the river as he scaled his way across Midtown. The fresh morning air burned his lungs, his bare feet sprinting soundlessly across grit of concrete rooftops. And in a moment, he was caught relishing what was left of his freedom in the weightless seconds of a death-defying leap between buildings.

Then, something was pulling him out of the air before he could ever have the chance to reach the other side, ripping at his guts like getting sucked through a drinking straw. His head swirled, struck completely blind by the dazzling multicolored lightshow.

He landed in a somersault in soft, dry dirt.

"--totally worked!" The voice cut through the drunken daze of his brain swirling around inside his skull like a snow globe, the sheer bubbliness of it striking in him an instant, primal loathing before a tangle of massive ferns even stopped his momentum. Finally stationary, but still blind as a bad, Raph managed to pull himself onto his hands and knees and try not to lose his lunch. But that voice wasn't helping.

"Oooh, sorry!" The girl squealed, now somewhere just over his right shoulder. "I keep forgetting. You still aren't used to traveling this point in your timeline! Oops."

"Renet." The words are seethed through his gritted teeth like venom, partly because of his sheer loathing for her, but mostly because of his ongoing battle with his stomach contents. Blinking back stars, his vision was starting to clear, at least. And with it, the swirling in his head was stabilizing. "How many times have I told you no more time travel!"

Finally, he manages to find which way is up and heaves himself back to standing. And there she is, grinning, wearing that ridiculous hat of hers. The clocks on her leotard all ticked in unison, threatening to drive him freakin' crazy

"I don't care what freak-o test you gotta pass. Send me back. Now!"

Renet seemed nonplussed. "No, no, silly. Nothing like that! This is just a present from me, to, you know, apologize for that thing with the evil zombie knights and everything."

Raph just glared, arms folded angrily across his plastron.

"Oh yeah, you don't know about that yet. I guess it's to apologize for the thing with Savanti Romero, then! Though I guess sending you back to the Cretaceous again wasn't the best idea for that."

"You what!?" And that's when Raph finally had a good look around. The heat was sweltering, and the dense undergrowth was green and thick with massive ferns. Above him, a pterosaurs took to the sky from the vine-covered branch of an odd-looking tree.

Yup. Cretaceous. As if he hadn't had enough of dinosaurs trying to eat him the first time he was here. "You mean you sent me back in time to become dinosaur chow again as an APOLOGY!?"

He was so close to hitting her. Or at least using his sai on her stupid hat. The only thing that kept him from doing it was the fact that she was hovering in the air just out of reach.

Renet's blue eyes were wide, but Raphael knew better than to mistake her for innocent, even if she looked so earnest to persuade him. "Seriously! Like, hear me out, okay! Everything is totally under control. I just asked the Time Scepter to bring us someplace secluded, and sometimes it likes sticking with times and places it already knows." She flashed him another smile. "Either way, you're so gonna thank me when you remember--."

She was cut short by the cloudless sky above them rumbling with sudden of thunder as blue lightning tore through the green forest canopy. Above them, the enraged head of Lord Simultaneous projected itself, glowing brilliantly blue as he turned his scornful gaze at Renet.

"Spoiled girl!" His voice boomed. "What have I told you about meddling in people's lives! And even worse: with their memories!"

"But--"

"No buts! You will be dusting for an eternity, girl! An eternity! It will take me centuries to undo the damage you have done!"

Then, a porthole opened out of thin air, and a giant blue hand snatched Renet, literally kicking and screaming, as it began to pull her in. "Not more dusting! Lord Simultaneous! You can't tell me it isn't sad they've forgotten each other, right!?"

"Silence! Back to dusting for you!" The old wizard boomed as the girl was swallowed away out of sight. All the while Raph was left to look on, jaw clenched and battle ready, but helpless to fight against anything that was happening. Finally Lord Simultaneous turned his eyes toward him. "And I will have to think of what to do with you. I'll be back once I figure out how to undo the damage this stupid girl has done."

Then, he vanished, and Raph was left in the deafening silence of the prehistoric jungle, uselessly clutching his sai. Alone and disoriented, all he could do was huff angrily and drop his hands back down to his sides. "This just keeps gettin' better and better."