Today had been a weird day, even for the Hamato's. It had started as a normal day; they watched he latest episode of Crognard, Donnie blew a few things up, Raph and Karai got a little too competitive in training again, normal day.
Then they all headed out on patrol.
They were only out for twenty minutes before a girl literally fell out of the sky. She looked like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, a really bad one where you can't get past the fact that some thousand years in the future the human race lives in some kind of brainwashed harmony and they all wear the same ridiculous uniform. This girl was named Renet, and she claimed to be not only from the future but also chasing an evil time lord. Now none of the five siblings would've believed this, except for Mikey, if it weren't for the fact that she brought them all back in time to the middle ages. As if that doesn't already push the already obliterated boundaries of normal it just got weirder as they defeated this evil time lord. So they were just returning home, when some interference sent everybody but the one person with a time scepter through a random time portal.
This is what had lead the Hamato's to their current predicament, picking themselves up after landing heavily on the ground.
"Where the heck are we now?" Raph questioned, obviously not to happy with the sudden change in plans.
"The time stream must have been messed with, now we're in…" Leo trailed off as he approached the edge of the cliff they had landed on.
As the other three got to their feet Mikey and Donnie looked around, and so did Karai, but unlike her brothers something about this place seemed familiar. It looked a lot like the forest she had trained in as a child, but she quickly shook the thought away.
All forests' look the same, she tried to tell herself, but Leo soon proved her wrong.
"Japan?" He asked more than stated, but he was looking out at a city, and he knows enough about Japan to recognize the Tokyo tower.
No way, Karai thought to herself, but as she joined her brothers on the edge of the cliff she couldn't deny it, they were on the outskirts of the city she had grown up in.
"Japan?" Donnie asked, but much like his sister he couldn't argue once he saw for himself. "Well at least we're back in modern times," he said in an attempt to lighten the situation.
"And at least we know our way around." Karai muttered.
"Speak for yourself," Raph huffed
"I am," Karai said, Raph and the others looked at her in some confusion. "Are you guys forgetting that I grew up in Tokyo?" She asked
"Yeah but if we're too far in the future or the past-" Leo began but Karai cut him off.
"I know but at least I have an idea of where things are," she said and the guys wouldn't argue with that.
Not that they had a chance to, however, because just then arrows began landing in the ground, backing siblings up against each other. They readied their weapons, a mix of their usual arsenal and what they used in the middle ages. As they prepared for battle their enemy, or to be more specific enemies dropped down to reveal that they were a gang of red clad ninjas.
"Ninjas," Mikey said as their opponents revealed themselves.
"I think we're in deep trouble," Leo commented, noticing that they were outnumbered and more than likely outmatched.
There was one break in the enemy's defense, though it was sure to be closed in seconds. Still the five siblings decided to take advantage of it while they could and on Leo's signal made their move, to run.
"NINJAS!" They screamed in fear as they ran
"This way!" Karai shouted as she made a sharp turn, the others followed and although Raph at least had every intention of asking his sister where she was leading them he never got the chance, because the red ninjas caught up.
"When ARE we?" Leo questioned as the five of them once again found themselves backed against each other, this time with no way out.
Just then a ninja attacked the leader, wrapping a Kusarigama around his sword, which Leo used to dodge the attack. The fight spread the five siblings out and resulted in each of them fighting, and losing, their own separate battles.
"These guys are good." Donnie commented as one ninja sliced clean through his fake beard.
As that happened Leo caught sight of the emblem on one of the throwing stars Raph had narrowly dodged.
"They're not just ninja, they're Hamato Clan. Splinter's Clan!" He exclaimed but was abruptly shut up by a harsh elbow to his stomach.
"But the Hamato Clan doesn't exist anymore, right?" Raph pointed out from his battle, before anyone could answer him his helmet was knocked off and the attackers seemed to freeze in their tracks, after they nearly dislocated both of Raph's arms and knocked him to the ground of course.
"What the… what creatures are these?" One of the ninja's began to say in Japanese, not that his enemies didn't understand.
"They are Yokai!" Another one answered, "They will curse us all!"
As Raph got back to his feet the battle looked as though it might be worse, but a voice cut through.
"What is going on here?" Karai didn't know about her brothers, but when she heard the voice her stomach dropped. A man made his was through the ninjas, a man wearing a sleeveless uniform with the Hamato crest on each shoulder. "Yokai?" He said in surprise.
"Shredder?" Leo responded in equal surprise.
"This can not be," Shredder said but before anything else could be said by anyone Mikey dropped a smoke bomb.
But in the smoke, Karai just stood there. She was still trying to process what was going on and she didn't move until Leo seized her arm and began dragging her.
They ran. They ran fast and they ran far. They went up into the trees and hopped from branch to branch, ditching their middle age disguises in the process.
"That was a close call dudes!" Mikey exclaimed as they moved through the trees.
"Oroku Saki was part of the Hamato Clan before he became the Shredder." Donnie recalled as he and Leo finally touched the ground, deciding that they had put enough distance between them and the Hamato Clan.
"Which means we're at least sixteen years in the past. But why here, why now?" Leo questioned
"Who knows!" Donnie exclaimed,
"Twenty bucks says its all Renet's fault, she doesn't know the first thing about time travel!" Raph exclaimed
"Yo guys, check it!" Mikey grabbed all their attentions, "That's Splinter's old dojo right?" He asked, but the display of the Hamato flag on the front porch was answer enough.
"Come on ninja's, maybe Splinter's in there." Leo said, advancing forward, but Karai grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
"What are you going to do, ask him for help?" She all but snapped.
Leo narrowed his eyes at her, annoyed not only by her suddenly angry tone but also her little faith in him. "I'm going to see what's going on; if he's in there then maybe he'll say something that'll give us a clue as to when exactly we are." He said but Karai only scoffed.
"Or, since we're less likely to get caught and die in the process, why don't I just walk into the city and find a newspaper?" She suggested
"Dressed like that?" Raph asked, gesturing with a sai at her armor.
"Believe me this won't attract any attention in Tokyo," Karai deadpanned, recalling all the bizarre outfits she'd seen over the course of her life in the city.
"No, we can't mess with the past. Just you talking to anyone could have unforeseen effects on the future. I'm with Leo, we listen to whatever is going on in there and try to determine when we are from that." Donnie argued and Karai rolled her eyes in annoyance, but followed the others inside, knowing she had been out voted.
They hid right outside the door, being careful not to be spotted. Oroku Saki was talking to an elderly man, and although Karai had never seen a picture of the man she knew exactly who he was, Hamato Yuuta, her grandfather.
"Yokai? Your imagination has run wild Saki!" A young man came laughing; all five of the teens couldn't help but gasp as they recognized the man.
"Whoa, human Splinter!" Leo said in awe
"He looks weird without fur," Mikey commented as he almost stuck his head further into the dojo, Karai and Raph grabbed him and yanked him back before he could get them caught.
They listened as Splinter mocked and laughed at Shredder, and with each word Karai felt her heart sinking deeper and deeper into her chest. Meanwhile Mikey was quickly seeing a resemblance in the relationship between young Splinter and Shredder, to the one between his two oldest brothers.
"Some legends say that when the Yokai arrive, tragedy his sure to follow."
After that her three youngest brothers began a whispered argument about the Yokai, but Karai couldn't hear them. She was too distracted by her thoughts, because now it was very clear to her when exactly they were. Tragedy was soon to follow, tragedy that she was suddenly counting herself grateful she can't remember from the first time around.
Suddenly, the sound of fighting snapped her from her thoughts, as well as the boys from their discussion, and they all peered inside to see Splinter and Shredder sparring. During their spar they fought, over the Yokai's existence, over their past, but mostly over Tang Shen. Karai was the first to stand up, having watched more of this than she could handle.
"Let's get out of here, they're done talking." She said and with a shared glance the others agreed and they bolted.
"Ugh… we haven't had any real food in days." Mikey whined as he stared miserably at the three cherries in his hand. It was getting to be late at night, and yet again they were camping out in the woods.
"Just be thankful we have anything at all." Karai snapped from where she sat behind a tree.
The boys all looked at her uneasily, and she knew it too, but no one said anything. She'd been in a bad mood pretty much ever sense they got here, and by now the four turtles know her well enough to know that she isn't someone you want to confront when she's in a bad mood.
"Is Renet ever gonna find us and bring us home?" Raph asked for the umpteenth time since they'd landed here. "Seriously, I hate time travel!" He continued.
"You're not the only one," Karai muttered, though no one heard her.
"I've been giving it some thought, I kind of seems like more than just coincidence we're here right?" Leo asked as he threw some more wood on the fire, Karai's ears perked up just a little at the sound of that and she began actually listening.
"Well the odds that we're in this exact place and time by sheer accident is like 879 quintillion to one but if we're here for a reason, what is it?" Donnie asked after giving his statistic and at his question Karai raised her whole head in hope.
Please, please, please, she prayed mentally.
"I don't know but there's got to be one," Leo said and at that Karai had enough; she was so close and yet so, so far. She tipped her head back against the tree in frustration and let out a groan.
"Oh that is it!" She growled as she finally stood up and turned to face her brothers, "You want to know why we're here?" She questioned, "Why don't you morons open up your eyes! We've spent our entire lives living in fear of Shredder and now we have a chance to stop all that before it starts!" She nearly shouted as her anger began boiling over, and she was struggling to put a lid on it.
"Karai, we can't mess with the timeline." Donnie said, trying to talk to her gently, finally beginning to understand what she must be feeling from being here.
"Believe me I know that," she said with a sudden frustration, "but what other reason could there be? She questioned, but before anyone had the chance to answer someone came walking through the bushes.
It wasn't just any random person, it was a woman holding a baby in her arms, it was Tang Shen and baby Miwa.
At first the teenagers just stared at the two, Tang Shen doing the same and staring back at them. Karai was the first to move, although all she did was shut her mouth take a seat.
"Yo-Yokai," Tang Shen said, panic starting to rise in her voice.
Leo glanced at Karai, but she was frozen, and he knew that she was counting on him to make the call.
"It's ok, we're friendly Yokai." He said, something that had apparently surprised Karai judging by her face, honestly she had expected her brothers to just run away in order to keep the timeline in tact.
"Yeah, we're not going to hurt you." Raph said
"Yeah, check out the cute eyes." Mikey said, doing his best happy puppy face, unfortunately he got a little to close to Miwa with it and she started wailing like a siren.
Despite this, however, Tang She still seemed to be considering that the creatures were friendly, and the fact that they had a human companion was certainly helping their case with her. However before she could decide Saki swooped in from nowhere with his sword, obviously having heard Miwa's cries. He forced the Yokai and their friend to scatter and hide, and just when Tang Shen thought they had gone he stabbed through a tree and forced one out of hiding.
"Fear not Shen, I will destroy these wretched monsters." He announced in a deadly voice that told her he wasn't kidding.
But with one down the other four quickly came out of hiding and fought against Saki.
"If we're going to take Shredder down now's our chance," Raph said, his voice indicating that it was a very serious suggestion.
"No, we can't mess with time. If we do worse stuff could happen." Donnie stood firmly on his point.
"Then let's get out of here before I do I something stupid," Karai commented and so they left, but they didn't go far and merely hid among the trees.
They watched the exchange between Saki and Shen, and Karai couldn't tell what she hated more. How genuine Saki sounded, or the fact that she herself had actually been quieted by his touch. But that wasn't even the worst of it. No the worst of it was after Shen left and Yoshi showed up, and just left again in anger.
"Whoa, young Oroku Saki's kind of a good guy right?" Mikey asked but he was answered by a not so gentle slap to the arm by Leo. When he his head turned to ask what that was for he found that Leo was glaring daggers at him, before cocking his head over to Karai who was facing away from all of them and instead watching Yoshi walk away.
"Good guy?" Raph asked incredulously, "He's a total creep!" Well hopefully that would make Karai feel better about what she had just witnessed.
"Maybe we should take Shredder down," Leo suggested
"If we interfere with history Splinter will never move to New York and buy four baby turtles, who's gonna stop the Kraang Invasion and save all of New York huh?" Donnie exclaimed in frustration, clearly still 100% against taking out Shredder before the real war begins.
Leo turned to Karai, sadness in his eyes as he looked at her. He was finally starting to realize how hard this must be for her. All her life, she only ever wanted one thing; her mother. Now she has a chance, she can have the life she dreamed of. She can change her history. She can grow up with two parents, her real parents. She can be happy, no more secrets, no more lies, just her and her parents. But yet she's sitting here, listening to Donnie shoot down all those dreams over and over again.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" He finally asked and she gave a sigh.
"What do you want me to say Leo?" She asked in a surprisingly calm voice before she shifted her position to face the four of them. "If we change history and take out Shredder now I get my mom back, I get my life back. But I lose you guys and without anyone fighting the Kraang odds are I die at sixteen. If we leave well enough alone then I lose my mom when I'm too young to remember her, I grow up as a prisoner, and I live in fear that the man who raised me will kill me. But I eventually gain you guys and Splinter, I gain Casey and April as friends, and I'm not an only child for the rest of my life." She explained, the sadness on her face almost greater than Leo's.
"You might not always be an only child," Leo tried as Karai got to her feet, careful to keep her balance on the tree branch.
"I'll do whatever you guys decide, but please leave me out of the decision because the way I see it, I lose either way." She said and with that she pushed her way past Mikey and climbed down the tree, heading back to restart their campfire.
For a moment the four brothers were quiet, partially because they wanted to be sure Karai wouldn't hear them and partially because they had no idea what to say.
"Guys, I don't want to take Karai's life away from her." Donnie finally said, for the first time actually considering taking out Shredder in the past.
"But what about the life she has now?" Mikey asked with a pout, not wanting to be separated from his big sister again. "She even said she doesn't want to lose us," he continued but Raph folded his arms over his chest.
"She won't remember us, she'll have lived a whole different life. One where she was happy for most of it." He said
"Oh man, this is like that show we used to watch!" The youngest turtle exclaimed, "You know, the one with the guy who used a magical wishing skull to wish that his girlfriend was never kidnapped from her real family by the evil clan and because of that she lived a whole different life where they never met and… wow, this really is a lot like that. Dudes, do you think we're secretly in a show?" He began to ask but Raph had enough by that point.
"This isn't American Dragon you idiot! This is real life and whether or not we take out Shredder now it's going to have serious consequences!" He roared
"Uh guys?" Donnie interrupted before showing his brothers his phone, "Casey is fading from this picture, us already interfering with history as already begun to alter it!" He exclaimed and with that Leo narrowed his eyes.
"Let's focus on whether or not we save Tang Shen later, right now we need to convince her not to run away with Saki. Out of all the outcomes this could have, I have a feeling that one is the worst." Leo decided.
"Let's focus on whether or not we save Tang Shen later, right now we need to convince her not to run away with Saki. Out of all the outcomes this could have, I have a feeling that one is the worst." Leo decided.