The Intellegence Card

The moon, pregnant with fullness, floats behind him, showering her ghostly light on the snow shrouded earth through a modest veil of clouds. The brown robed bipedal turtle makes his way over the cold landscape holding his lantern high with his right hand to let the cheerful flame light the way better. He leans forward slightly and narrows his eyes, left hand tightening a little on his bo-staff.

Someone’s there…

Extinguishing his lantern, he sets it aside and takes his staff up in a defensive position as a cloud smothers the moonlight. He sees the shadowy figure turn and pause before slowly making its way towards him.

“Who’s there?” the figure calls in a feminine voice.

“Donatello,” he calls back, taking a few steps closer.

The moon’s light is liberated when the cloud continues on its way. The soft illumination reveals the features of a dark haired woman bearing the uniform of the now dead Dark Kingdom, her mysterious eyes semi-hidden by her mask.

“It’s good to see you’re alive and well, Obsidian,” he comments with a slight grin as he leans down to turn on and lift the lantern.

“Likewise, Don. What happened? Where are we?”

“Well, I have a few theories on that. Based on what I remember happening and the strange makeup of this land we find ourselves in, I have come up with two hypotheses.”

The woman arches a brow at him. “And those would be…?”

“Well, first, and most obvious to me, we’ve been transported out of New York, perhaps off Earth entirely, for some unknown reason. Perhaps we have a job to do here, or perhaps the person or persons who took us wanted to do something at home that we would get in the way of.”

The squeaking of the freshly fallen snow under their feet is the only sound that permeates the silence as Obs mulls this over, face thoughtful.

“Interesting. And the other?”

“The other is perhaps not as likely, but it is possible that our home was changed, mutated if you will, around us,” he tells her as he switches his lantern to his other hand.

“Why were we all separated then? And where have all the people gone?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe because of our respective mutations, physiologies and magical abilities we stayed but were scattered by the same effect that made everyone else disappear. That’s the only explanation I can think of that would make sense with the second scenario.”

She nods. “Hai…it seems that your first theory would make the most sense.” Grinning a little, she continues, eyeing his robe. “Neither one explains the wardrobe change, though.”

He looks down at himself and shrugs. “Maybe our tormentor or tormentress didn’t approve of my fashion sense.”

A smirk curls her lips. “What fashion sense?”

“Hey…” he responds indignantly.

She chuckles and shakes her head. “Anyway, are we heading for the mountains?”

He nods. “That seems to be the most logical course of action. It’s strange,” he continues, lifting the lantern higher, “that range seems to have been put there for the sole purpose of drawing us to it.”

He feels her eyes on him as she asks, “Do you think this could be a trap?”

“It could be,” he responds after a moment of silent walking. “Yet, what choice do we have?”

There’s a soft sigh at his side. “I suppose we don’t have one.”

His only reply is a quiet nod. Though the situation is grave, he can’t help but revel at the new puzzle his mind is now presented with. As they trek towards the far away slopes, he grins, his intellect struggling to put all the pieces together.

~Fine~

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