Loneliness was a dangerous thing. More dangerous than a blade or a blaze. More dangerous than the sharp mind of man and the sharp claw of beasts. Even the most skilled of warriors could not withstand the dark cloud that was loneliness. The cloud that would take over their mind and their heart in a darkened shadow.
Deep down inside, it was every mans fear. To be alone, forgotten. To have everything and everyone stripped from you at a moment's notice. Fearing it was one thing, but experiencing it was something else entirely. Something no man should wish on another, enemy or friend or stranger.
At least that's what Hamato Yoshi thought.
Perhaps that is what brought him to that pet store in New York City. Or perhaps it was something else entirely, for the warrior had seen too much to not believe in fate.
"Welcome to Furever Friends, where your new companion is waiting just around the corner! Is there anything I can help you with today, sir?"
The girl was so young and full of life, blue eyes glowing with the innocence of a child, an innocence Hamato so longed to preserve. The innocent eyes of his daughter, Miwa, going up in those flames. Oh, how he must look without that precious knowledge. Skinny, tired, and sickly. He had been crying, and he was sure it must be obvious by his expression, and yet the girl drew no attention to it.
"I wish to purchase a pet, please."
Was that his voice? It sounded strange. Foreign. When was the last time he had used it?
"Of course! Have you got a particular animal in mind?"
Never once did her kindness falter. Never once did she consider the darkness that was in Hamato Yoshi's eyes and soul.
What animal did he want?
He had never planned to walk into that pet store. He'd never planned to buy a pet. It just... happened. It was fate.
And what held more fate and wisdom than a turtle?
"I was thinking perhaps a turtle."
"Great choice! Lucky for you, we got some new hatchlings this morning! Four baby red-eared sliders! They're a great pet for beginners. Have you got a tank and filter already or are you looking to purchase that today?"
Hamato rubbed the back of his neck. "I suppose I need to purchase one."
"Of course! Here, I'll show you some suggestions!"
They considered the tanks for a long time. Big tanks, small tanks. Cheap tanks, expensive tanks. In the end they settled somewhere in the middle, and then they moved onto the filters and repeated the process until they picked out everything they needed; food, sand, heating lamps.
Then it was time to see the turtles.
There were four of them, as promised, each one small as a quarter. Hamato knelt to get a closer look.
It was as if lightning shocked the air, lightning only he could feel. A lightning that caused a shiver to go down his spine, and caused the hair on his neck to stand up.
The turtles were looking at him.
"These guys may be little now, but don't let their small size full ya! They'll get to twelve inches when fully grown. They're real friendly too."
"Can two of them be housed together?"
"Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it. They're all males. They'd be okay when they're small like this, but you'd have to buy another tank when they reach sexual maturity. They have a habit of fighting, you know."
"Then I'll take two."
From the four in the tank, Hamato chose two; the darkest of the four, and the smallest, with a spiny ridge on his shell that the others didn't posses, and the palest one with a shell swirled with green and yellow that could make your eyes hurt if you looked long enough.
Names started flowing through his mind as the girl took those two from the tank and placed them in a carrier box, finishing the transaction and giving him a pamphlet on how to take proper care of them.
Hamato was halfway out the door when something stopped him. A question burned so suddenly inside him, like a fire that could only be extinguished by finding the answer.
He ducked back inside.
"Sir?" The young girl prompted, blinking those innocent eyes.
"Are these hatchlings from the same clutch?"
"Yes, we have a breeder that provides all the turtles for our shop."
Hamato sat the cage and supplies on the floor and hurried to the back of the shop. Back to the turtle cage, where the two remaining turtles sat on their rock gazing back at him.
The cage seemed surprisingly lonely under the dim light.
"I want the last two." Hamato decided at once.
The store worker looked at him as if he were crazy. "Sir, are you sure? Four baby turtles are a big responsibility, especially all at once."
"It's not right to separate brothers."
The girl was uncertain, but simply said, "alright."
She picked up the two remaining turtles; a pale one, yellow with a green shell decorated in orange splashes, and the second an almost solid green but for those two signature dots of red.
They were placed in the carrier box with their brothers, and paid for.
Hamato felt a weight lift off his shoulders the moment he left that pet store, only for another weight to replace it when he rounded the corner and came to face a dark alley.
He suddenly wanted to check on the turtles.
So he did. He could feel them moving around in their tiny box container, willing to be let loose.
Soon, he willed for them to know, soon.
But where could he take them? He had no home to return to. He had bought all this stuff with nowhere to take it. They could just live in the box forever, could they?
He lifted out two of them; the original two that he had chosen. They had wisdom in their eyes that far surpassed any normal creature. The eyes of an old soul.
There were footsteps.
It an an instinctive move, drilled into his mind over and over and over from the day's of his youth. In a single, swift motion he had tucked the two back in their holder box and dove out of the view, behind the shelter of a dumpster and in the safety of the shadows. Right where he belonged.
There were two of them; he couldn't see them, but he could feel their presence. He found himself wishing he had his katanas, but they had been lost in the blaze. It was easy to forget a weapon when everything you knew was going up in flames.
"Does Kraang have the package known as the secret package that contains secrets of Kraang?"
"Indeed, Kraang."
Both voices were identical. Robotical.
Hamato considered his options. It was complete idiocracy, but he had to know...
The two men were identical, suit-wearing twins with short-cropped black hair and clear skin that was almost too perfect. The one nearest him carried the package, an oval-shaped secret hidden in a layer of brown.
"Give it to Kraang, Kraang."
Hamato leaned out further. Maybe he could see something he couldn't before, maybe catch a glimpse of whatever was in that package. Maybe...
There was a scuffle as Hamato's foot pushed against the glass tank.
Then all Hell broke loose.
Guns fired pink bullets, and more robotic words were spoken and lost on the warrior. A true warrior knows when to improvise.
Hamato dropped the turtle's box to the ground and seized the tank in both hands, throwing it at the one closest to him. The one with the package.
The glass shattered on impact, but the flawless man remained unscathed.
"Destroy the one known as the one attacking us!"
The filter was the next thing Hamato saw, and the next thing he took. He held it like a battering ram as he charged, unrelenting. It wasn't a ram, but it worked all the same, and the one he'd charged went flying back, off balance, and slammed into its companion. And up in the air the package Flew, and out into the open flew a vial of blue that slammed back into the earth against Hamato.
A pain seized him and he fell to the ground.
Where were those men? Where were his turtles?
The last thing he saw before the pain took his sight from him were four tiny, red-eared sliders covered in a blue-green ooze.