1999-03 – Letters from Venus

Happy greetings to you!

I am writing to you from my homeland in China! Leonardo left with me one of Donatello’s top-of-lap computers! It is a wonderful thing! I am so happy to be at home, and I can tell you that we have been successful! The Dragon Lord is no more!

I had begun to have night visions after the time of Christmas… bad omens that showed me images of the Dragon Lord attacking friends of my Master Chung I. These grew ever more detailed and frightening, and when I told Master Splinter, he agreed that we must journey back to China to help my people. Dragon Lord was assuredly up to something evil.

The journey here was quick. I spent my time in communication with my old Master’s friends. They at first told me that no trouble appeared, but they would be cautious. In short time, Dragon Lord made his attack. We were but a day from the village by then… but we would be too late to save some of the Shinobi. I am glad we had left in time to save most.

Upon our arrival, we were met by several of the most ancient Shinobi priests. Dragon Lord had begun a series of raids, with no evident pattern of time or place. His Rank warriors are most sturdy and hard to defeat, and Dragon Lord sent them in small and large groups. The Shinobi were tiring and fearful of total defeat. The priests did what they could do to weaken the Rank, but the warriors were not well trained… it had been long since they last fought, and the constant combat had them exhausted.

When we first arrived, Leonardo took control of the warriors. And while Michael will try to convince you that he did not do much battle, I can assure you that without him we would have failed in our mission. He is a true ninja, and he is mighty. He saved us on numerous occassions. One battle we won when Michael and the children fell from trees with vines about their ankles. They each held rocks in their hands and when they came close to the ground, they dropped them onto the Rank. They then climbed back up the vines into the safety of the trees. This turned the tide on a battle that we were losing. I was so proud of both Michael and the children that day. They were fearless, and clever!

With Leonardo helping now, Master Splinter and I met with the priests to devise a strategy to defeat Dragon Lord. He had been on the offensive, and Master Splinter thought that we would have an opportunity for a counter strike directly at the evil reptile. We forged a plan to capture him, as he was once before by the Shinobi so long ago.

The priests liked the idea, although we did not know if we had a vessel of enough power to hold the Dragon Lord for long… but as we researched this we managed to unearth an ancient box of mystic power. It had been buried long ago in the temple, and luckily I had stumbled upon an old scroll that made reference to it. Once we had found it (a long story unto itslef), the priests began fortifying it with arcane spells to prepare it to be Dragon Lord’s new prison. This would take many days. Master Splinter used the time to bait and enrage Dragon Lord. The evil one has always had an angry heart, and he is easy to manipulate because of this.

Master Splinter had been successful in angering Dragon so greatly that he planned an all out attack on us. The Dragon Lord had hoped to defeat the Shinobi quickly and use the magic items in their temple against the Turtles, so that he might finally defeat (and devour) us. Splinter saw this as our opportunity to capture him. Dragon Lord had not used his powers to help his Rank much, as he was conserving his energy for something. This worried us all, and Master Splinter decided it was best that we bait the reptile into using his power when we expected it, rather than waiting to be surprised by it. We all agreed. So the Sensei gave Dragon Lord false information “accidentally”… he told the evil one that the Shinobi had just uncovered a magic item so powerful that it would easily destroy the Dragons altogether once it was fully charged. Master Splinter was clever in his deceit, and the Dragin believed his story completely. As we expected, he sent all of his Rank warriors to attack the temple that very night.

Our plan was simple… while the battle ensued, our priests would focus just enough energy upon the Rank to force Dragon Lord to protect them. This diversion would allow Master Splinter and I to further hinder the Dragon while the priests then focused their abilities to put the evil one into the prison box. All we needed was someone to get near enough to Dragon Lord so that when the box was opened, the reptilian monster would be sucked into it. Leonardo volunteered, but Master Splinter felt that it would look suspicious if he was not leading the Shinobi against the Rank. So Michael once again came to the rescue. Again, he is too modest to tell you, but it was he who first succeeded in capturing the Dragon Lord. He fought off many of the Rank and several deadly attacks by the Dragon Lord himself before he managed to open the lid within proper range. I honestly thought he had died at one point after the Dragon had struck him down with a violent bolt of energy. Dragon Lord recognized instantly what that box meant, and when he saw Michael carrying it towards him, he exploded with fear and anger.

But by the time the evil one had noticed Michael, he was already defeated. As soon as he diverted his attentions away from the Rank, the priests quickly used their powers to help the Shinobi warriors capture the vile, cold-blooded soldiers. Master Splinter then struck at Dragon Lord via the Astral Plane merely to divert him, as I entered his mind and confused him enough that his further attacks missed Michael. I cried with joy when Micheal stood up and carried the box in front of the Dragon Lord! Not only had he survived the blast, but he was seeing that the mission succeeded!

As soon as the box was in range, the priests unleashed their final spells of binding. The lid flew open and the Dragon Lord and all of his rank were drawn into it, like leaves being drawn into a whirlpool. The Dragons had been trapped once again!

But Dragon Lord was very powerful! Master Splinter and I had to help the priests maintain the imprisonment. They worked diligently to invoke the spells of permanence, and this took many, many days. In the meantime, Dragon Lord made every effort to escape and nearly did on several occassions. It was Master Splinter’s job to monitor the evil one and warn us of impending escape attempts. I was to distract the Dragon Lord as I had done before. What few priests remained were left to the task of relentless magical assualts as the Dragon tried to destroy his prison. Leonardo and Michael were anxious to return home, and so we bid them a hasty farewell. Master Splinter and I would join them once our work was done here. We would travel the same route that I had used before to get to New York on my own… much slower than the submarine, but we could not leave, and Master Splinter wanted Leo and Michael to return home. He had spoken with Donatello via astral projection, and there was trouble afoot there. So we bid goodbye to our heroes and went back to our own task. After many weeks, the spells of permanence took hold and Dragon Lord was held fast in his new prison!

The priests wrote a new scroll and we buried the box many feet below the temple underneath a stone that weighs four tons. With any luck, Dragon Lord will trouble us no more!

So while things were treacherous and frightening for many months, all is well in the end! I am so happy to have captured the villain who is responsible for the death of my former Master. My heart sings with this accomplishment! And if not for my new found family, it would not have been possible! I have been enjoying my stay at my old home, and being heralded as a hero by my former Master’s friends made me very proud. Master Splinter has been spending time with the Shinobi priests and in the evening we go for walks in the forests and try to spot Pandas. We are making plans for the journey back to America now, but we will stay here for a few more days. I hope that everything is going well for you!

Peace be with you,
Venus

Master Splinter

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