TMNT: Raph and The Secret Door

The Third Eye

(Raph steps into the apartment and carefully shuts the door. The cannons and Ferris wheel are dark and quiet; the circus tent glows dimly, and pale green moonlight shines in patches through holes in the roof. The corners and edges of the room are very dark. Other Rocksteady suddenly crawls by the door behind him. Raph whips around, on guard. He slinks past the cannons on his right, leaning towards him)

Other Rocksteady Hello, ga-LOO-boo-shka.

(There are too many joints in his arms and legs)

Raph-No... I'm Raph.

(His tall, crooked hat is pulled so low, and his collar so high, that his face is completely hidden. He throws out his arm towards him and the circus ball from the mouse circus rolls from his sleeve to his hand)

Other Rocksteady-Is dis vhat you're looking for?

(He looks through the hole of the triangle candy and sees an amber glow ­ the third ghost's eye!)

Raph-... Yeah.

(He grabs for it, but he's too quick. He back-bends to all fours and scuttles around him towards the back shadows.

Other Rocksteady-You tink vinning game is goot ting?

(Raph holds up the triangle candy, scans the room for him. His voice sounds distorted now)

Other Rocksteady-You'll just go home and be bored and neglected... (He twine up a post behind Raph, then crawls out on a beam) Same as alvays. (He swings upside-down from his ankles, his head stopping right by Raph's. He whips around, alarmed) Stay here vis us; vee vill listen to you and laugh vis you. (He drops to the floor on his head, then slithers  into the circus tent. Raph does not want to follow him, but he has to, so he does)

(In the circus tent, The Other Rocksteady is perched on a pile of moldy cheeses in the center of the ring. He moves like all his bones are broken)

Other Rocksteady-If you stay here, you can have vhatever you vant, vsig-DA - alvays.

(Raph raises the triangle candy to his eye, sees the amber glow coming from inside his hat)

Raph-You don't get it, do you? (He moves closer)

Other Rocksteady-I don't understand. (Small forms move under the back of his coat)

Raph-Of course you don't understand. You're just a copy he made of the real Rocksteady.

Other Rocksteady-(last breath) Not even that anymore.

(Raph pulls off his hat. Instead of his head, a huge pale circus rat - holding the circus ball. It screeches at him then dives down the coat collar. Rats leap from coat sleeves and pant legs, Raph pulls back, horrified, as the clothes collapse, scanning around for the circus ball. There's a rat screech behind him and he turns. The huge rat - balanced on a wheel of cheese, circus ball taunts him, then runs the cheese out the door! He gives chase. The other rats  behind the twin rows of cannons - the cheese wheel rat rolls through them, heading towards the door! Raph charges. The cannons, manned by rats, fire cotton candy at him. Using his ninja reflexes, he dodges the cotton candy being shot)

(He spots a pet door - perfectly shaped for the rat on the wheel. It opens and the cheese wheel rat heading  through it to the outside. Raph takes his triangle candy stone and throws it as hard as he can at the ear. The candy flies through the pet door towards the rat, just outside. Outside, the rat ducks, the candy misses, and the cheese-wheel rat escapes down the stairs with the ball. Raph, lurching forward, yells)

Raph-NOOOO!

(Two waiting rats - tail tips tied, trip him. He crashes through the door and out onto the balcony which tears away from the house, along with the stairway. The whole rig, with Raph on top, rotates as it collapses. Raph jumps down before the rig can hit the ground. He pauses for a moment, and scans past the topiaries and poplars and white gravel driveway, looking for the cheese-wheel rat and circus ball. No cheese-wheel rat, no circus ball ghost eye. Raph, lit by a narrowing band of pale green light, turns to look at the moon. It's nearly covered now by the dark button shadow)

Raph-... (Devastated) Oh God, I've lost the game; I've lost everything. (He hugs his knees with face to chest. The band of light that illuminates him is narrowing to near-gone. In the foreground, the head of the cheese-wheel rat - circus ball in its teeth - drops on the ground as sawdust leaks from its neck. The light drops narrowing , the eclipse pauses. There's a familiar sound we all know and love. Raph looks up. Across from him on the front yard, sits the black cat, and the ice cream cat, licking her paws, rat's head and circus ball at their feet)

Shadow-I think we mentioned that we don't like rats at the best of times.

(Raph smiles, and walks towards them)

Raph-I think you might have said something like that.

Ice Cream Kitty-It looked like you needed this one, however. (She bats the circus ball and it rolls to Raph. He picks it up, and  sticks it in his bag. Around him, the yard, house, tree, shrubs, and driveway turn into a lifeless gray color)

Raph-Thank you. (He looks towards house) I'm heading inside. I still have to find my brothers. 

(The stalled eclipse starts again, and in one beat, the last sliver of green moon is fully blacked our. The edges of the button shadow start to flake away on Raph and the cats. What appear to be grey paint chips or bits of paper are falling. Confused, he looks up to see:. The huge button shadow is vanishing to nothing and then the sky around it is vanishing as well, revealing a dirty white light. The destruction travels from sky to the distant hills, the sound of a million, invisible locusts becomes audible. The cats hiss. Deeply alarmed, they look from one direction to another. The destruction travels up the driveway, pulls apart the poplars, and then unravels the topiary. They are at the center of a rapidly diminishing island! The ground beneath their feet starts cracking, white light coming through. The cats make fearful sounds, afraid for the first time in the story! Raph holds out his arms to the trembling animals, his guardian angels)

Raph-Come on! (The cats leap and he catches them, then carries them up the disintegrating  porch steps to the front door. He gets through just in time, and slams it shut!)

(It's dark and stable in here, with just some creaks and slight vibrations. A poisonous green light spills from the other living room. Raph goes there, carrying the cats over his shoulder, past wallpaper that peels up as he passes, to the room where he last heard the sound of his brother's finger on glass. In the other living room, a poisonous green fire burns in the fireplace. The bug furniture looks grey now, their lights flickering as if short-circuited; legs and wings twitching uncontrollably. Raph scans the walls, the ceiling, looking for a sign of his brothers. Raph shudders, sensing the Other brother behind him, a creature who is no sort of brother at all but a warlock, a Beldom. He turns. The Beldom is hunched on the sofa - his face hidden)

......

See you later! Byeeeee!