Suncreeper again :). If you've been paying attention, then yes I'm putting up my second fanfic just after starting my first one. You will soon see, though, how those two will tie up. I want to write them at the same time though because I'm just bursting full with ideas for them and, AND: It's summer vacation! I'll have (almost all) the time in the world, mwahahahahaha!
...Ahem. This story will feature Tien, another one of rubyhardflame's OCs (Ahnnie's little sister) with her Konoha team. There will also be some Rise of the Guardians characters in it so don't be too surprised (it is a Christmas story, after all). I just love writing about this holiday, no matter whether summer or spring or fall ^^. Anyways, Tien is obviously different from Ahnnie. No two sisters can be alike, after all. She is more hot-tempered and straightforward as well as rebellious. Unlike the other story, which is going to be kind of dramatic and sad-ish, this story is going to be on the jolly-angry side. Doesn't mean there won't be sadness or drama in it but...well in short, it's going to be a lighter story than the other. 'Cause, you know, I kind of picture Ahnnie as the more serious and tragic one...Tien, on the other hand, is the ray of (burning hot-to-death) sunshine :D!
(This story takes place after Blue Mask and Red Flame but will not exactly spoil anything, by the way.)
You will also see that Tien and her teammates call Christmas, "Hollyday." Ruby told me that the three siblings (Ahnnie, Tien, TB (a little brother)) made the word up to avoid saying "CHRIST-mas" because they aren't Christian, they're Buddhist. But they still believe in the holiday because Santa is real and they primarily believe in him; they've met him several times in the North Pole on their adventures and seeing as he wasn't leaning towards any religion in particular, decided he was ok (this is in her stories, doesn't have anything to do with real-life values and beliefs, please do not be offended). So they took a play on the world "Holiday" and taking into consideration the sprigs of holly used to decorate households at Christmastime, turned it into "Hollyday". And since the inhabitants of the Naruto world did not know about Christmas beforehand, when they met the siblings they simply copied off from what they heard.
Again, I will be setting this in the 2012 universe. So please, enjoy and review~!
It was a dark and stormy night.
Well, not exactly.
It was a dark and snowy night.
New York City at this time of year is absolutely freezing. Snowstorms, sleet, frozen rain, frost, ice, hail, slush...you name it. But its inhabitants are used to it, having lived year in year out through such seasonal turns for most of their lives. Only newcomers to the state from down South would not adjust with it as smoothly. Only newcomers and...turtles.
Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo in particular.
Of course, they had been residents of New York City (or, more correctly, the City's sewers) for about fifteen years already. But for at least fourteen of those years, they were limited to a life primarily in the sewers. When they first surfaced at fifteen, they had no idea about the outside world and the forces of nature. And so once the earth's clock ticked over to the wintry season...boy, were they surprised.
"THE WORLD IS ENDING!" Michelangelo yelped when he peeked out of the manhole to check the situation for another one of their nightly escapades. He quickly fell back down, refusing to go up again. His eyes were wide with fear.
His brothers stared at him in confusion. All of them were dressed for cold weather (even if it was only strap-on padded armor plus a scarf, pair of boots, and a hat; do you honestly think they could fit real clothes over their shells!?), as they had been noticing since fall that the surface was getting colder. April reassured them that this was a natural process, a result of the Earth's tilting on its axis as it rotated, and things would soon be back to normal again come spring. But the brothers had never seen snow before. They'd heard of it, seen it on TV several times...but as people say, seeing the thing and experiencing it in real life are two totally different things.
"Geez louise, Mikey, what could be so horrible?" Raphael grumbled. "It's just a little cold, it won't kill you."
"But, but, but," Michelangelo stuttered. "You haven't seen it...it's the worst!"
"Well, what is it?" Donatello asked. "We'll never know if you don't tell us."
"Yes, Mikey, just calm down," Leonardo coaxed him.
That was what Michelangelo did, and he took a deep breath to do so. "Ok. So." He looked seriously at his brothers. "It's all white up there. Nothing but white. I think the city's been erased."
"..."
"Seriously, guys! I'm sure of it!"
"Whatever you say," Raphael said with a smirk on his face. "The city's been erased...Oh come on, Mikey, what else can you come up with?" He started pushing up the manhole and climbed to the surface. When he did, that smirk was wiped off his face.
Leo, Don, and Mikey came up after him.
"Whoa," Leonardo breathed. "It really is white..."
Raphael looked around left and right. "What happened to the street lights? Why are they all turned off? And...what is this stuff?"
"See, Mikey," Donatello started explaining, "the city really isn't erased but just covered by snow; and that is what 'this stuff' is, Raphael. The whiteness effect is heightened by the lack of street lights, which would have made it orange instead of white. I believe a snowstorm blew out the area's electricity, and it is currently experiencing what is called: a blackout."
"Oh," Michelangelo said. He blinked several times and then started rubbing his arms up and down. "Gee...it is a little colder than last night..."
"Well it's the first snow of the city, and snow is generally frozen clusters of water, so if you combine that with already cold air then-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it, Mr. Science!" Raphael interrupted him.
Donatello frowned. "You could at least let me finish my sentence!"
Leonardo flashed them both an annoyed look. "Are you two going to stand there and argue for the whole night?"
"No," they both replied in unison.
"Then let's get moving!" And he quickly leapt up onto the roof of a building.
His brothers decided not to dilly-dally any longer and followed him up. They began to do their usually roof-hopping that they did almost every night; but this night was different in that, everywhere they stepped, their boots sank into the puffy, crunchy white substance known as snow. The fifth time it happened, Raphael actually tripped in a clod of particularly deep snow and fell face-down into all that coldness.
"Yaaaarrgggh!" he yelled out in frustration. His voice was partly muffled because of the snow.
Leonardo came over to help him. "You all right?"
Raphael pushed him away. "I'm fine! I can get up on my own!" He shook the snow off his head and body. Seeing Michelangelo trying to stifle a giggle, the hot-headed ninja turtle growled and warned him, "Stop laughing at me or you'll regret it."
Mikey immediately looked away and whistled casually.
"We'll just have to be more careful," Donatello said. "Every roof seems to be covered in snow, so..."
Raphael spat out a bit of the frozen stuff from his mouth and wiped it crudely with the back of his wrist. "Hmph! What's so good about this season!? It's all cold and snowy and cold...I actually regret coming out here!" He pulled his hat on a little tighter around his head. "Let's go back to the lair."
"Aw, not so soon," Mikey whined.
"But I'm cold!"
"Then you go," Leonardo suggested. "We don't feel that cold. We can stay."
After a while of some mumbling, grumbling, and thinking, Raphael finally gave in and decided to stay. "Fine," he had ground out. But then shortly afterwards he let out a little achoo!
"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" Donatello asked him concernedly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be just fine," he assured him.
"Ok..."
The brothers set out again to continue exploring the snow and city, slowly coming to find that the white flakes weren't all that bad. Michelangelo in particular discovered a new game he could play; shell-sledding.
"Weeheeheeee!" he laughed as he slid, on his shell, down a sloping road. "This is fuuuuuuunnnn!"
"Hmph, he looks stupid," Raphael grumbled.
Leo and Donatello watched as Michelangelo came to a spinning stop at the bottom of the road. He was still laughing, gasping for breath in the cold air and releasing clouds of vapor as he did so. They started to become interested.
"I...I think I'll try it," Donatello said.
"What!?" Raphael exclaimed. "You crazy or something?"
But Donnie didn't seem to hear him. He immediately went over to the starting point where Mikey had placed his shell and then laid down to do the same. "Here I go!" he yelled, and then let himself slide down the road. "Woooow! This is fuuuunn!"
Leonardo was laughing. "I'm coming too!"
"Seriously?" Raphael asked with a groan. But after seeing Leo land at the bottom, with Mikey and Don still down there on their shells, a mischievous smile crossed his face. "You know what? I just thought of an even better game to play."
"What is it?" Mikey asked him from below.
Raphael trotted over and then laid himself shell-down at the sloping point of the road. "Bowling!" he cried out as he pushed off.
"Nooooo!" Leo, Donnie, and Mikey screamed as they saw Raph barreling towards them.
BAM!
The world had blacked out for a moment, but then it grew white again as Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo regained their senses.
"Uugggh," Mikey groaned. "Did you have to hit so hard...?"
Raphael was laughing mockingly at all of them as he spun to a stop. "Ahaha! The looks on your faces were priceless! Like a buncha scared little girls!"
"Not funny, Raph," Donatello said as he struggled to stand. He lurched for a moment, catching his mouth. "Oh, I think I'm going to be sick..."
Leonardo sat up, shaking the snow off his head. He found that his hat had fallen off and retrieved it somewhere in the snow. After he put it back on, he sighed and looked up at the sky. Thanks to the blackout, there was an expanse full of stars...
Raphael noticed his distant look and smirked. "Missing your girlfriend already, Leo?"
Leonardo blushed and looked back down onto the ground. "Um...what are you talking about?"
"Yeah, if she stuck around, she could have celebrated Christmas with you!" Mikey suddenly added.
Leonardo blushed even more. "Let's...let's not talk about this right now..."
"Christmas isn't even here yet," Donatello pointed out, "and it's the one good thing about this season that you overlooked, Raphael."
Raphael scoffed. "Bah. Some weird holiday where a fat guy breaks into people's houses and eats their cookies while they're asleep? You think that's good?"
"You left out the presents!" Michelangelo reminded him.
Donatello sighed. "The point is, Raph, that Christmas is supposed to be about goodwill and friendship amongst everybody. Santa Claus is just a myth made up to make little kids excited about it."
Mikey leapt up onto his feet, looking excited. "Oohh, I hope we get presents from Santa this year! You think I've been good?"
"No, Mikey, you've been so bad you're gonna get a stocking; no, three; full of coal for this year, and the next," Raphael said sarcastically.
Leonardo elbowed him. "Raph! Don't say that!"
"Pff!" The red-masked turtle turned to walk down the road. "Donnie said so himself. Santa's just a myth. Why shouldn't I say that?"
Just then, a big white van with a suspiciously familiar symbol emerged from right around the corner...
"Shii and Naku, at Murakami's."
"Kei and Tien, on 37th street."
"Target is on the move...Kei, Tien, trail and report on it."
"Yes, Shii-sensei."
Kei switched off the mic system and nodded his green-highlighted head at Tien. "You heard him, let's go."
"You don't have to tell me twice." She swished her ponytail off her shoulder and leapt ahead to the next rooftop. "Are you coming or not?"
Kei joined her shortly, and with a nod they both continued roof-hopping all the while following the van that they'd been sent to track.
The mission came to them a while ago back in Konoha, when a scientist by the name of Dr. Barlow requested bodyguards for his stay in New York City. The reason was that he felt unsafe with the sudden disappearances of the city's scientists lately, and he was sure that he would be next. So for the meantime Team Shii was granted accommodations at the Barlow residence until Dr. Barlow would leave for Philadelphia. Anything the team could find about who was abducting them, though, would be much appreciated...
...and tonight, they'd just gotten onto a lead, when these strange carbon-copy businessmen suddenly shoved a man; another scientist; into a big white van.
"Target is turning on XXX, XXX street," Tien reported into her mic as she and Kei trailed the vehicle.
Kei sighed, checking his watch. It was around nine. "I wonder what these people want with scientists, anyway," he mumbled under his breath.
Tien shrugged. "Oh, I don't know...maybe they're actually just throwing a big surprise party for them? And they forgot to send invitations?" The tone of her voice was blatantly sarcastic.
Kei frowned. "Come on, Tien...don't you ever think of things seriously?"
"You're saying I'm not being serious?"
"No...well, I mean...they have an ulterior motive, you know."
"Well I know I have one."
Kei was shocked. "What is it?"
"To convince Shii-sensei to get me some hot chocolate once we're done. It's so darn cold out here!"
Her teammate relaxed. "Oh...Should've known you were just joking..."
Tien smirked. "You've been my teammate for three years already. I thought you'd know me by now."
They both chuckled a bit at his slip-up and continued on trailing the van.
Kei could never forget that day three years ago. They were only twelve at the time, with Kei and Naku being fresh graduates out of Konohagakure's Ninja Academy. Tien had never studied at the Ninja Academy, but because of her already innate magic talent, Lady Tsunade allowed her to register as a Konoha citizen and genin-ranked ninja. From there, she met Shii-sensei and the two boys and trained with them as a kunoichi. She mastered most of the basic ninjutsu techniques such as Shadow Clone and Transformation, as well as learning wood style through Shii-sensei, who happened to be distantly related to Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage.
Her main talents lay in the manipulation of the element earth and illusions. Therefore, she was also quite fluent in earth style jutsu and several forms of genjutsu. Kei himself was a wood-styler, having not come from a major clan in the first place and pretty much parroting off of Shii-sensei, whereas Naku was a Waterbender and thus exceled in water style. Compared to them Kei felt a bit like a bumpkin...but as Shii-sensei had always said, everyone had their own uniqueness. They just had to discover it.
A little while later, Kei obviously had something to say.
"Don't you think we should rescue him now? The scientist, I mean."
"Do you think I care?"
"But we can find out who they are if we force them out right now," Kei pointed out.
"But we won't be able to find out where they come from if we don't follow them back to their base," Tien countered. "I think it's worth the loss of one boring, explosive chemical-obsessed scientist."
"Not all scientists are like that."
"But all scientists are boring."
Kei sighed and decided not to argue with her anymore. She was known as the most sarcastic, hot-headed, and outspoken one of the group. He knew she didn't literally mean it, that every single scientist on the face of the planet was boring...it was just the way she worked and expressed herself, that was all. (Although he did have to admit, science bored him out a lot too.)
It's funny how they're so different, Ahnnie and Tien, he thought. Ahnnie's so calm and Tien's so...spunky! And yet, isn't Tien's name supposed to mean "angel"?
Listening to her speak, he could hardly believe that.
They rounded a bend in the road, still following the van. Nothing particularly special was happening at the moment, and Kei was growing worried for the scientist inside. In a result of that worry, he pressed the button on his mic again and said, "Kei and Tien, trailing the target. Shall we rescue the victim?"
Tien looked at him in incredulity. "What the heck!? Kei!"
Shii-sensei was responding. "Shii and Naku, at Murakami's. Take no action unless necessary. Ask Tien to use a see-through spell or something. Over and out."
"Wha...!?" Tien exclaimed. "Sensei! Sensei!" But it was too late; he had already switched off his intercom for now. "Uggh!" she groaned. "What's with people who don't understand magic? Just 'cause I have it doesn't mean I can do everything! 'See-through spell'? Seriously? I'm not a Hyuga!"
Kei shook his head. "Forget it. Let's just keep moving."
And so they did. Hopping from roof to roof, following the van, just as they had for minutes now. Snow began to fall.
"Oh geez," Tien huffed. "That just had to happen."
Kei shrugged. "The only one who's having fun with this weather is Naku."
"Yeah...he was raised in the Northern Water Tribe."
Suddenly the mic came on again. It was Naku's voice this time. "Shii-sensei and Naku, moving out on XXX boulevard. Meeting you soon."
Tien answered the mic. "Kei and Tien, trailing the target. What, did you figure out something?"
"No, we're going to be at a distance but still close enough to give you reinforcement."
"Ok, got it. Over and out." She sighed when the mic went off again. "Well, Shii-sensei finally decides to drag his lazy butt out into the field...I feel so touched."
Kei smirked. "Knowing him, he just finished a bowl of ramen or something. Naku too, that lucky duck..."
Just then, the van turned around a corner and skidded to a squealing stop. Alarmed, Tien and Kei looked at each other once before hopping to the nearest roof to see what was happening. They were able to hide themselves behind a mound of snow, where they could spy on the scene without themselves being seen.
It was a little too dark to make out the shapes below. The streets had been in a blackout for awhile now so-
"Oh wait a second," Tien said, suddenly remembering. "Shii-sensei couldn't have been having any ramen if the power was out. I mean, I know Murakami's blind but..."
"Shh!" Kei shushed her. "Not now!"
-the snow was the only illumination, being white enough to give off some form of visibility. Lucky Kei had brought binoculars, and was taking them out of his pouch to use them. As he adjusted the scope, Tien gave him a rough tap on the shoulder.
"Hey. What do you see?" she asked.
"Well, what do you see?" he countered. "I think you can tell how many people are down there even from your distance."
He could hear her give out a frustrated sigh. "Ok, fine, I see four blocky idiots to the side of the van," she snapped. "There. You happy now? So tell me what you see! We're supposed to be teammates, you know."
"Wait, wait..."
Kei was beginning to wonder whether it was his eyesight or the binoculars that had gotten bad. True to Tien's word, there were four blocky-looking people down there. But they seemed a bit too blocky for people...
"So?" Tien was growing impatient.
"I said wait!"
As he adjusted the view one more time, Kei tried his best to scrutinize the figures down below into recognizable shapes. "Man, if only they'd get into the van's light," he mumbled to himself.
The van was suddenly backing up. That wasn't exactly granting Kei's wish, but he had a feeling the people inside were going to try and make a run for it; that, or hit the four blocky figures down. A hit and run, huh?
After the van had backed away some distance, the both of them heard the gas being applied rather heavily to the vehicle as it whrrred angrily and started rushing for the four blocks. In that span of time, the car's headlights shone brightly upon the objects of its vendetta. And when that happened, Kei almost dropped his binoculars in surprise.
"T..." Tien was stuttering. He could tell she'd seen them too. "Turtles!? Those four idiots...were turtles!?"
"Walking, life-sized turtles!" Kei added incredulously.
"And I thought those brain-obsessed illithids from Drizzt's world were weird!" Tien remarked.
They would only be further surprised when one of those turtles grabbed a trashcan off the sidewalk and smashed the frozen metal into the windshield of the van. When that happened, the driver veered the vehicle sharply to the left where it spun like crazy, due to the ice at the bottom of the sloping road. It was at this time that the four turtles began surrounding the van.
"Ok, action is now necessary," Tien declared, and stood up to find a way off the roof. "C'mon, Kei, we're going to save that scientist you love so much."
The both swiftly climbed down, landing without any noise like the shinobi they were. By this time, the turtles had begun to unsheathe a whole bunch of weapons seemingly out of nowhere. One had two katanas, another had a bo staff, the other had two sai daggers, and the last wielded nunchaku. They started raiding the van like it was nothing, with the katana turtle making a deep slice onto the top of the van.
"Hey!" Tien called out. "This is our target! What the heck do you think you're doing?"
Kei facepalmed. Tien! Why so aggressive on the first instance?
The sai turtle whirled around and glared at her. His eyes were a striking neon-green, standing out in the dark. "Your target? Well, you were unlucky then. 'Cause its ours now."
Kei rushed out before Tien could make another snappy remark. "What's your motive, then? We've come here to rescue a scientist that was captured. What about you?"
With the van's headlights smashed out, there was no more of that annoying light-and-dark contrast that hurt Kei's eyes. He could see now that the sai turtle had a red mask, the katana one had blue, the staff one had purple, and the nunchaku one had orange.
"We just wanna kick some Kraang butt!" the red one spat, and then leapt off the van to deal with the driver that had gotten out.
"I guess we're working together," Kei said, and withdrew a kunai knife.
"Eew! With turtles?" Tien made a face. "Oh, well, I guess I can't complain. But I like that red one's swag. He reminds me of someone."
Of you, maybe? Kei mentally asked, and then rushed in to the rescue. Tien, behind him, was making ninjutsu hand seals, preparing for a jutsu spell.
"Wood style! Wood bind jutsu!"
Roots of wood suddenly sprouted out of the frozen blacktop and reached out to twine and twist around the van's wheels as well as the legs of the weird businessmen that came out of the van. Kei looked back at Tien, giving her a salute as a way of saying thanks. He saw her wink in return and then she, too, was dashing in for the action.
One of the businessmen was suddenly brandishing a squarish gun of sorts, aiming it at the wood that was trapping him. Pink laser bullets were shot out and immediately detached the woody tendrils.
"Oh no you don't!" Tien yelled, and came diving in with a kunai knife at the man's face. She managed a large gash in it that took out his left eye, but...
He wasn't exactly dead or bleeding. He was...sparking.
"Huh?" She blinked. No matter, she drew back to make another jutsu. "Earth style! Earth prison jutsu!" The frozen earth beneath him suddenly engulfed him like a cocoon, leaving only his head uncovered, and then sank back down so that the businessman's head was exposed like a cabbage in the soil.
"Dude, that was awesome!" Tien heard one of the turtles say about her jutsu. She turned around and saw the orange-masked one waving at her. She frowned but then turned back to the businessman.
She kneeled down beside him, a curious hand reaching out for his face. His head was moving around frantically much like that of a bird's, but his eyes and mouth were unmoving. Weird. The gash in his face was pretty deep, but instead of blood there were only tiny sparks flying out every time he moved. Her hand was getting closer, only two inches away from his hair.
Pew!
A pink laser bullet zoomed right past her hand, startling Tien back into action. She saw one of the businessmen aiming his gun at her. With fast thinking, she ducked out of harm's way by somersaulting to the right, and then manipulated a big chunk of earth to hit him square in the stomach. He fell over as expected, but not without firing another shot that hit one of his brethren in the head.
The one that was hit was the one Tien had sunk into the ground. The moment the laser hit, a large flash of sparks erupted from the businessman's head. When it faded, it no longer revealed a human face but...
A robot!
"Wow," Tien said. "Just, wow." She got up to join Kei, but found herself assaulted by another one of those robots in disguise. She'd managed to bring up a wall of earth to block the lasers, and then let it down when the laserfire ceased. She smirked at the robot. "That's the best you got?" She quickly crouched down to make several more hand seals. "Shadow clone jutsu!" she yelled out at the finish.
Two clones of her emerged to either side of her. They both rushed at the robot-man and, with earth covering their feet, kicked him down. They held him that way for Tien when she unsheathed her lapis-lazuli sword. Its magic ability was giving off heat, and Tien made it do just that when she sunk it into the robot's belly. So much heat was released from the sword that it combusted the metal area surrounding the blade. As before, the robot's disguise was stripped, but...
"EEWW!" Tien screamed.
Kei poked his head out of the hole in the van's ceiling. "What is it?"
"A BRAIN!" She held up her sword, and true enough, a pink brain-shaped thing was dead and impaled on the point of the lapis-lazuli blade. She flung it off in disgust. "That is just wrong on so many levels!"
"They're called Kraang!" the blue-masked turtle called out from where he was fighting.
Tien shivered at the memory. "Euugh..." But there was still a battle to tend to. "So that's what he meant by Kraang," she muttered, and then, after canceling out her clones, leapt to the top of the van to see how Kei was doing. The turtles were all locked in combat on the ground below, so she was the only one up there. Thanks to her wood binding jutsu, most of the Kraang were dealt with accordingly.
Kneeling down to take a peek in on Kei, Tien saw him trying to slice the scientist's rubbery-tough binds with his kunai knife. "How's the rescuing going?" she asked.
"I'm trying!" Kei grunted.
She frowned, but saw another Kraang coming in from behind him; he was too busy to notice. "Look out!" she cried, and threw her kunai knife at the incoming Kraang. The blade sunk into its neck, sparks flying around it. Its coordination was broken for a fraction of that moment and it tumbled backwards. "I'll get it!" she offered, and going to the back of the van, slid down to land near the fallen Kraang.
Her lapis-lazuli sword was risen in preparation for a sweeping chop at its head...but before she could do it, the red-masked turtle suddenly flew in and took it out with his sais.
Tien was bristling. "What the heck? I was going to attack!"
"Heh." He smirked at her. "Should've been faster, then."
"Why you-"
"Tien!" Kei snapped. "Not now! Come help me!"
She was still glaring at the red-masked turtle. "Well, did you and your friends finish the fight or not?"
He flexed his arms. "Almost. Leo and Mikey are dealing with the last one."
She didn't even bother to ask who Leo and Mikey were. Instead, she quickly turned back to Kei, lapis-lazuli sword still in her hand. "All right, Kei, stand back." She raised her sword in the air, and with a simple slice, cut the man's binds loose. Kei pulled off the duct tape that covered his mouth and the scientist started blubbering thankfully to them on his knees.
The purple-masked turtle began to poke his head in. "Is everything all right here?" he asked. Seeing the red one's nod, he sighed in relief. "Great, no one's hurt. Oh, um, you'd better get that man out of here first."
"We know already," Tien snapped, and helped the scientist out with Kei.
"Oh thank you, thank you so much children," he kept saying repeatedly.
"It was nothing, sir," Kei reassured him.
"But it wasn't worth the ugly brain thing," Tien muttered.
The scientist was regaining his senses, and looked around wildly. "Wha...wha..." His eyes widened. "Turtles!"
Kei, in a momentary reflex of surprise, made a sweeping chop with his hand at the scientist's neck, knocking him out. When he realized what he'd done, he blushed and said, "Oops..."
Tien shrugged. "Oh well, at least he won't frighten himself to death." She looked around at the turtles in the snow. "Which wouldn't be so hard to do for a person like him...not with all these freakazoids around."
The red-masked turtle growled. "We're not freaks!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Kei elbowed his teammate. "Tien!" He pressed the button of his mic, and then after catching Shii-sensei's signal, said, "Kei and Tien, rescued the victim. There was a bit of a situation, involving some brain aliens called Kraang and...you won't believe this, but ninja turtles."
"Shii and Naku, above your heads," Shii-sensei replied.
Kei and Tien both looked up in unison. True enough, there was Shii-sensei and Naku sitting on the ledge of the roof above them.
"Shii-sensei!" Tien called out. "When did you get here?" She was all smiles now. But that smile soon vanished. "Hey, don't tell me you were watching the whole time!"
Shii, a tall, brown haired, and well-built man in his mid twenties, smiled and then leapt down from the roof. "Relax, we just got here. By the way, I'd like to meet your new friends."
Naku followed suit, his Water Tribe coat flapping in the air as he sailed down. His hood was pulled over his head, to keep out the falling snow. "Let me help you, Kei," the Waterbender offered, taking hold of the scientist's arm opposite Kei. "Let's see..." He started rifling his gloved hand through the unconscious man's pockets, and withdrew a wallet. After taking a peek in it, he read an address, "And that's where we should drop him off," he explained.
Shii, hearing Naku speak, applauded him. "Bravo, Naku! Now, put that wallet back in." Turning back to the turtles, he began to talk. "So..."
The man known as Shii-sensei, after having ignored the brothers to talk with his students, turned back towards them. "So," he began. "Ninja turtles. Sounds quite interesting."
"Oh?" Raphael came up at him. "And what are you?"
"Ninjas," Shii replied calmly. "Just, ninjas."
"Raph, relax." Leonardo held out a hand, blocking Raph from attacking Shii. "In any case, they helped us with the Kraang. That wood trick especially...we wouldn't have finished the job so fast without it."
"You can thank me for it," the ill-tempered girl with the ponytail told him. According to her and her teammate's talk, her name was Tien.
"Yes, yes," Shii-sensei cut in. "My students are wonderful." He pat Tien's head to prove it. "I'd love to stay and chat, but we've got to get this gentleman back to where he was from."
"Sure, sure," Leonardo said with a pleasant smile. "We won't stop you."
"However-" Shii held up an index finger. "-you seem to know about whatever kidnapped this man. Care to tell us about them? It would help us a lot on our mission."
"You're on a mission?" Michelangelo asked curiously. "Who are you?"
"It's politer to introduce yourselves first before asking for an introduction," Tien said with a harsh snap in her voice.
Before Leo could say anything, Raphael stepped in his way. "Just who do you think you are, ordering us around like that? And how do we know we can trust you?"
"Um, hello?" Tien waved a hand in front of his eyes. "Didn't we just help each other out?"
"Didn't I finish that Kraang off before you could?" Raph shot back.
"You-"
Leonardo jumped in between them. "I am Leonardo, that's Raphael, and those two are Donatello and Michelangelo. And yes, we're ninja turtles. We were originally just turtles, but we got mutated when we came into contact with mutagen...which is this kind of substance that mutates whatever touches it."
"You guys were hit hard, then," Tien remarked.
Leo ignored her insult. "The Kraang need scientists to help them improve the mutagen, which isn't exactly very refined right now. That's why they're kidnapping them."
Shii-sensei nodded. "Thank you. We came here as bodyguards for another scientist who was worried about that. So I suppose, if we are going to investigate the matter, we might be meeting each other again. I am Shii Hiisawa, sensei of these three young shinobi." He swept his hand at his students.
Taking the cue, they started to introduce themselves. "I'm Tien," Tien started. "Just call me Tien."
"Kei Fukushima," the boy with the green highlights in his hair said.
"Naku," the other boy with the blue Eskimo coat said.
"And now," Shii said, looking at his students once more, "we must leave. Thank you for your information." Almost as if in a flash, he'd teleported himself to the top of the rooftop he'd been standing at earlier. His students began following his example. Then, with one last wave, they began to roof-hop away. The turtle brothers said nothing until their figures were lost in the distance.
"Man, I hope I never see them again," Raphael grumbled.
"He was kinda relaxed when he saw us," Mikey remarked. "That Shii-guy, I mean."
Leonardo shrugged. "Well, whatever the case, they are a very...different type of ninja than we are. Their fighting reminds me of Ahnnie's magic." At the mention of Ahnnie, his face grew soft again.
"You mean Tien's," Donatello pointed out. "She was the only one who was really fighting, if you'd noticed. Kei was busy trying to get the scientist out. The fighting style was different, too, because she had to do these hand signs before activating them. That also rules them out as Foot ninja."
Raphael spit into the snow. "Whatever. Let's just go back to the lair, now. Splinter'd want to hear this."
Leo sighed. "Yes, indeed."
And so the four turtle brothers leapt back onto the rooftops, the snow flying in their faces. Theirs was certainly an interesting report to give back to Splinter...interesting, indeed.