Heya all!
I was watching the TMNT 2012 episode 'The Good, the Bad and Casey Jones' and this little thought for a oneshot came into my head.
I'm still writing 'A Dangerous Captive' and I hope to have another chapter up tomorrow, but until then I hope you enjoy this little oneshot. :)
Holding Back
It was another ordinary night in the turtles sewer lair under New York city at night.
In the middle of the lair, a elderly grey rat wearing burgundy Japanese robes stood at the side as he looked at four male mutant turtles and a female humanoid lizard who were standing in two rows facing each other.
On one side were two turtles, one wearing a blue mask and holding two katana the other wearing a purple mask and holding a bo staff.
On the other side were the two other turtles, one wearing a red mask and welding a pair of sai, and the other wore an orange mask and carried twin nun chucks. In-between them was the female lizard dressed in a black crop top with a pink floral pattern on it with a matching loin cloth along with black hotpants, black stockings, and black fingerless gloves up to her elbows and a pink ninja band tied in her long dark brown hair and she carried a pair of metal warfans.
The Rat analysed the mutants as they looked at each other and gripped their weapons. He walked between them as he addressed each one and spoke about what today's lesson was.
"My children..." the Rat spoke "You are truly becoming impressive warriors, but to grow as a team, you must know each other's strengths and weaknesses."
The mutants nodded in agreement then looked at each other.
"This competition is a free for all! Last turtle..." Splinter paused for a moment looking at the female lizard "or lizard standing wins!"
He then made his way to the top of the area and clapped his hands barking at them to start fighting.
At once the red masked turtle Raphael aimed for the purple masked turtle, Donatello who moved stealthily out of the way before aiming his bo staff behind him to knock Raphael forwards but Raphael was too quick for him and dodged that move.
Donatello then spun his bo staff above his head and tried to bring it down on Raphael but the red masked turtle caught the staff in the hilt of his weapon then used his strength to send Donatello flying over his shoulders.
Donatello was shocked as he was thrown over, but he did a flip and landed on his feet but since he lost grip of his staff he decided to use his fists against Raphael until he could recover his staff.
The blue masked turtle, Leonardo aimed for the orange masked turtle Michelangelo who spun his nun chucks and clanged them against the blades of his katana trying to knock them from his older brother's hands.
The female Lizard Monalisa looked a little annoyed none of them had aimed for her, but she decided to attack them anyway if they didn't attack her first.
She went for Leonardo doing a few ballerina twirls and spinning her fans as a distraction.
Michelangelo was easily distracted by the spinning fans and Mona's fancy dance moves then saw her threw a ninja star at him causing him to duck.
Mona then danced over to Leonardo and used her open fan to try and slash at Leonardo who stepped backwards then recovering from the sudden attack from Mona began to fight back.
Mona dodged and deflected his katana with her closed fans and she noticed Michelangelo as she did a twirl avoiding Leonardo's katana getting up from avoiding her ninja star.
Michelangelo aimed for Mona but she lifted her tail and made the tip into a point and struck him in the shoulder causing him to fall backwards and onto his shell.
Mona then turned her attention back to Leonardo who aimed his katana at her but she caught the blade in her fan and spun it wrenching it out of his hands then she grabbed his wrist and manoeuvred around so she around his arm up behind him, rendering the turtle to his knees and pushed him down with her foot.
Mona then turned to Raphael and Donatello who had stopped fighting to look at her, Mona hadn't bothered to recover her one fan so she held her second one up and got into a crouching position holding her other hand up clawed like a tiger's paw.
Both turtles looked at each other wondering what to do next, Mona then glared.
"Well? Are you going to attack me or just stare?"
Donatello shook his head shaking himself back to reality and aimed for Mona spinning his staff but Mona leapt into the air doing a somersault then jumped onto the back of his shell making him fall forwards and onto Leonardo who had been in process of getting up.
Mona had landed in a crouching position and was now facing off the last turtle standing, her lover and mate who was holding up his sai but looking hesitant.
The other turtles watched the lovers wondering what was going to happen.
Mona stared at her lover, then dropped her warfan causing the other turtles to stare in bewilderment.
"No weapons Raph..." said Mona "Let's settle this with feet and fists...I won't use my tail."
Raphael still looked hesitant but he dropped his sai and held up his fists.
Mona did the same then the two reptiles stared each other down and they aimed for each other.
Everyone watched as they fought together blocking and deflecting each others punches and kicks. Mona had her hands clawed as she tried to fight against Raphael who ducked and dodged her every move.
After about five minutes Raphael managed to grab Mona's wrists but Mona placed her foot behind his legs and pushed hard causing the turtle to fall backwards onto his shell, letting go of her wrists and she placed her foot on his chest.
"K.O!" Michelangelo called out.
Splinter tapped his stick on the ground ending the session and looked at Mona.
"Well done Monalisa, you really are becoming stronger in your fighting." Mona took her foot off Raphael's chest and bowed to Splinter.
"Thank you sensei." she said "But I have to say...I didn't have to do much to fight and win..."
As she spoke she looked at the turtles and at Raphael who struggled to his feet.
"What do you mean my daughter?" asked Splinter.
"I felt that your sons were taking it too easy on me..." said Mona "and I had to make the first move..."
The turtles looked slightly uncomfortable as Mona spoke and Splinter rubbed his chin musing for a moment.
As the old rat mused, Donatello and Michelangelo looked at each other, Raphael gulped and Leonardo chewed his lip.
It was true, all three turtles had sort have been holding back when it came to fighting their adopted sister, or in Raphael's case, his mate. Though they had sparred with her before, they never liked to use their weapons or fists on her mainly because they were worried about hurting her by accident.
This had been a free for all session where they were supposed to bring each other down, but they didn't want to lay any bruises or cuts on Mona.
Splinter then stopped musing and looked towards his sons.
"I see they do hesitate when they fight you, Monalisa." he said "They care for you and have honour within that stops them from hitting a woman, but you are correct, you mustn't be treated any different."
"No..." said Mona "I might be a woman...but I am one of the team...a Kunoichi, a warrior who needs the training so I can continue to fight and protect my brothers and mate..."
She looked at the turtles then bowed to Splinter.
"If training is concluded, master." she said "May I retreat to my room to reflect?"
"You may." said Splinter "Training is concluded for now, we shall resume later."
"Hai sensei." said all five mutants bowing to the old rat before he walked into his quarters.
Mona strode off before anyone could stop her and she leapt up to her quarters and closed the door behind her.
Watching her go, the turtles looked at each other.
"Man..." said Michelangelo "I think we are a little soft on Mona."
"Well..." said Donatello "I don't want to hurt her! When I was first paired up with her when she first came to live with us, I was hesitant to hit her."
"I'm with you Don." said Leonardo "She's our sister, and even though she's one of the team and has taken any punishment our enemies have laid on us, I feel hesitant to even strike her in sparring."
Raphael said nothing as he crossed his arms. He felt bad that his mate felt that way, he knew she was a tough lizard lady and was always encouraging the turtles to throw everything at her, but like his brothers he would never dream of hurting his mate, even if they were just sparring.
All the turtles walked to the TV all muttering together wondering what to do or say to Mona that was if she was happy to talk about their hesitation in training.
As soon as she was alone in her quarters, Mona placed her warfans on the dressing table and pulled her ninja band out of her hair so it fell heavily over her shoulders.
Sitting on the bed, she thought more about why the turtles often held back on her whilst they were sparring.
She had been living with the turtles for over a year and she had never been happier to be part of a family after her life was tragically ripped apart two years before they took her in.
She had never felt more proud when she had passed her tests to be a ninja warrior alongside them, though she wasn't trained as well in ninjustsu as they were she had her fair share of martial arts, especially Karate and Kung Fu having learnt those arts when she was human and still retained those skills after she mutated and still practised to this day.
Mona was more than capable of holding her own in a fight, she could take on anything she and the turtle's enemies could throw at her.
She could hold her own against the deadliest of enemies and the turtles and Splinter knew that, so why did they hold back when she fought them? It wasn't fair on her, especially when they never held back with each other.
"I'm grateful they care about me, and I'm happy to know they have honour when it comes to girls and respecting them, but I'm a fighter too, I have to be prepared for anything!" Mona muttered to herself.
She flopped onto the bed and stared at the celing.
"They know I'm not weak, but they got to realise I'm not some delicate flower, they have to be tougher on me! I can handle it!"
As she lay there lost in thought, she heard someone knocking at the door, she sat bolt upright and looked towards the door.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"Mona?" she heard Raphael's voice within "You ok? Can we come in?"
"Sure." said Mona.
The door slowly opened and Mona saw the four turtles walk in, all looking a little sorry and wondering what Mona was going to say to them.
"Oh hey guys." she said.
Raphael walked up to Mona and sighed.
"Listen Mona." he said "We just wanted to say to you, that we had a thought about what you said."
Mona raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.
"Really?" she asked.
The turtles nodded.
"We understand you're a tough girl Mona." said Donatello "After all the shit that happened to you before you came into our lives, you showed you really can handle yourself, but the thing is..."
"We're just hesitant because we care so much about you Mona." said Leonardo walking up and placing his hands on her upper arms and looking her in the eyes.
"Yeah." said Michelangelo "And we would feel bad if we accidentally hurt you."
Mona smiled softly at the turtles.
"Aww guys." she said "I do apprecaite everything, I feel pleased that you all have honour in you about respecting women, but still, like you said...I'm a tough girl, you need to be tougher on me if we're gonna face anymore baddies!"
Raphael walked up and hugged his mate from behind before nuzzling into her hair.
"I know you're tough," he said "But to me, you're the delicate lotus flower that needs to be protected, a firey flame that needs to be sheltered from the wind and rain."
Mona laughed and she carressed her mate's face.
"Awww, I love you Raph." she said.
"I love you too Mona." said Raphael softly.
"You're a delicate flower to us Mona." said Leonardo "And we will prtoect you, but we still got to realise that as well as that, you're as strong as any Kunoichi warrior."
"You're right there bro!" said Michelangelo "Mona's our tough big sister!"
"Indeed!" said Donatello.
"Thanks guys." said Mona with a smile "I'm sorry I got so annoyed earlier, I just want you to be a little tougher on me, after all I am part of your team."
"It's ok sis." said Michelangelo "We promise we'll be a little tougher, not too tough though!"
The others agreed.
"Ok." said Mona with a smile.
"It's a deal." said Leonardo as he went to hug Mona, the others followed suite and they all shared a group hug.
"Ok! Whose up for some lunch guys?" asked Michelangelo.
"Oh yes please!" said Donatello.
"Me too!" agreed Mona.
Leonardo and Rapael agreed and they all went downstairs to get some lunch, more than likely pizza.
Much later, the gang resumed their positions for training under Splinter's watch.
Splinter saw that his students looked happier, especially Mona and he belived they had spoken about how Mona was feeling about the boys going easy on her.
"Ok guys," said Mona as she took out her warfans "Think you bys can take me?"
"You bet!" said Michelangelo "Prepare to be pulverised!"
"Not to much though!" said Donatello.
"Ok then!" said Mona "Bring it!"
Splinter held up his hands and clapped them.
"Begin!" he barked and the mutants instantly began sparring. As he watched them, he smiled at how focused the turtles were at being a little tougher on Mona, but again being careful not to seriously hurt her.
"I am proud to have such respectful sons," he thought as he watched the turtles and Mona shout friendly banters to each other as they sparred "I couldn't be more proud of all of them as a team."
The End
And that's my oneshot! I wanted to write a little more about Monalisa's relationship with the turtles especially when it came to sparring and how they care for her.
It's not my best oneshot, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same! In the meantime, I shall have another chapter of 'A Dangerous Captive' up soon!
See ya later!
Love Bloodrayne666