NANBAKA rocks! Nothing can take away my love of Ninja Turtles, but Nanbaka is becoming a close runner-up! I needed a break this holiday season, and this is the best way to do it. So that I may enter the New Year with another shell-smashing hit in my M/E series.
As I wait anxiously for Season 3 of Nanbaka, this is a fun storyline I cooked up; involves my own OC and a lot of supposing as far as backstories go. Hope you get a kick out of it. It's before the traitorous Building 5 story-arc. Rock has his stone oven, Uno his game room, and Hitoshi works at Building 4.
The lights were out for the night, the rocky shores surrounding Nanba Prison delved in devil-black shadows. The monorail had run its last route until 5AM. The night shift were the only souls awake between the silent halls of the thirteen buildings. Well... almost.
"Perfect night." Jyugo smirked through the bars of his cell window. "Quarter moon, plenty of cloud coverage, and Seitaro's on night duty this week."
Nico's bright green hair nodded eagerly beside him. "Everything's perfectly aligned for it to happen. I can't wait. It's like the night BLEEP stormed the BLEEP of BLEEP-BLEEP."
Jyugo laughed, bumping Nico's shoulder with his fist. "You can say that again, pal."
"Please don't." Uno sighed, tossing the bullhorn over his shoulder. "I avoid censoring after 11PM whenever possible."
"What, you want our ratings to plummet?" Rock threw the bullhorn into the closet along with their censor and pixelator. Uno watched his kick them in, then shrugged in his cocky, nonchalant way. "Maybe."
"We're burning moonlight." Jyugo walked up to their door. Less then two seconds of fiddling and it opened with a sole creak, echoing down the hallway of Cell 13. "Hajime doesn't take a lot of nights off."
"Well, if he did," Uno flipped his cap onto his head. "This game wouldn't be as much fun, now would it."
The four friends shared dubious grins, wandering the first few feet out of their cell. Rock rubbed his hands together, ready to roll; he was the one who got to set the perimeters for their little race this time. "Twenty minutes to make it outside. Another ten to make it to the northwest corner of Tower B. First team there, wins!"
"Piece of cake." Uno elbowed past him. He spun confidently, a wicked blue fingernail pointing at Rock and Nico. "Get ready to watch me eat your dessert!"
"In your dreams!" Rock puffed himself up, stringing Nico alongside him. "Shiro's making those pastries for me in the first place, remember?"
Uno laughed, yanking Jyugo in the opposite direction. "Too bad you're going to have to give them all up!"
Rock might have yelled after them if they weren't going for stealth. It was the first week of February, when Nanba Prison lavished their most well-behaved inmates. Everyone in Building 13 was shocked when Rock- by comparison was announced as this year's winner. His victory naturally sparked some healthy competition. Jyugo doubted he cared one way or the other. Rock always shared his food. Still, as he picked up speed beside Uno, he felt the hype of anticipation warming him.
}{}{}{}{
"Man, I got so jacked!' Mitsuru spun himself in the chair, in and out of the glow of the prison's perimeter monitors. Night duty was unavoidable, but he was usually good at avoiding it. Until he had pasted thirty or so pictures of Hajime over Momoko's desk. Now, he was stuck staring at rocks and salt water froth for the next two weeks. Either the warden needs a sense of humor, or I need a new hobby...
"Naaaw!" Mitsuru kicked his green boots up on the dash, giving the screens another sweep. "Girl's gotta get her aggregation out somehow, I guess-"
His feet went down and he leaned in. "Hello... what's this I see?"
Having 'border duty' was the most boring for a reason. Unless Cell 13 broke a record in their escapades, there wasn't anything to notice. And the eyes were inclined to play tricks when they were bored. Yet, just now... Mitsuru pushed a button that linked him to Building 13's intercom. "Yo, Seitaro. Do me a solid and report."
There was a pause, then the rookie's chipper voice answered. "I finished my rounds not five minutes ago, sir. All good here... did the supervisor ask you to call me?"
Mitsuru puckered his lips thoughtfully. "Naw, man. Just hopin' there might be some action to save me from this bout of boredom."
"Actually, I don't mind." Seitaro gave a static-filled laugh. "We're paid extra for the trouble, and it gives me a chance to catch up on my paperwork-"
Mitsuru considered listening to the pretty boy (yes, he was THAT bored!). But as his eyes floated to the up and he cut the connection. The walls of Nanba Prison were covered by 180 degree high-resolution, infrared cameras- the best in the world. But every system had its blind spots.
"I ain't even seeing this." Mitsuru muttered. He grabbed the joystick, zooming the lens in and ran the 10 second playback. It obeyed and slammed pause. "That... that's a pant leg."
A pant leg had brushed the camera as it climbed over the wall. Into Nanba Prison!? Mitsuru switched his attention to the south side's top ridge... on the edge of Building 4. The entire circumference of Nanba had floodlights bolted at every five yards. The cameras showed nothing now. But those lights were over eight feet in diameter. He wondered if-
Mitsuru located the joystick for South Wall #5 and swiveled it inward. It beamed on its brother light- and the hooded figure crouched on the top of it. The figure froze- then stood, waved, and free-falled down to the inner walkway of the prison. At least, Mitsuru hoped they caught the walkway.
"Oh, I did not!" Mitsuru's spine tingled and jammed his finger on the bottom to the loud speaker. "Attention, Nanba's finest! I got a real hum-dinger for ya this time! Are you reeeeeady!?"
}{}{}{}{
"What the-" Rock looked up at the sudden blare of the prison's warning horns. He turned on Nico, who'd been skipping through their whole 'escape'. "What'd ya do, Nico?"
"Nothing!" Nico hopped in place, wearing his own confused expression. "Honest!"
Rock pushed them both back as the outer courtyard lit up in the neon insanity. And they actually expected people to escape through that glare? Rock made sure they were in the shadows, then smirked. "Must be Jyugo and Uno."
"Not likely." Nico thought aloud. Rock was thinking it too, as many alarms as they usually set off. But if wasn't them and it wasn't the others... what was going on?
}{}{}{}{
"What'd those two knuckleheads do?" Uno looked up at the muffled echoes of alarms above their heads.
"You realize this means they beat us outside." Jyugo leaned on the wall, sighing. Well, he had suggested that they stick to indoors until they reached the corner of the prison serving as their finish line. He shrugged. "Let's head back. Rock will lose his desserts anyway so what's the point?"
Uno furrowed his brow, eyeing the rest of the hallway of Building 5. "No way they beat us!"
Jyugo looked the other way... and was surprised to catch the shadows of four guards running through the main hallway. AND taking no notice of them. Not a one did a double take. "Huh... maybe it's neither of us."
The braided Britain looked back. "That's... just not normal."
"We're already pushing our luck by being out." Jyugo assessed, tapping a finger against the shackle on his wrist. He glanced up, finding the vent to the air system. There were motion sensors attached, but he'd have them offline in the time it took to yawn. He pointed. "We could just back track to Building 13 through the shafts. Avoid any unnecessary attention."
Uno loosened his hat with a snicker. "Too easy."
Jyugo wished he took things more seriously some times. While Hajime was the only one they really acknowledged, the guards here were nothing to sneeze at. Which made the possibility of their focus laying elsewhere an unexpected curiosity. He pushed off the wall, having a thought. "Seems odd they're already running around, when the alarm just sounded."
"What're you saying?" Uno got in position under the vent, his hands cupped to hoist Jyugo up. Jyugo met his gaze. "I don't think we're their target. Rock or Nico either. We went in opposite directions, remember? They'd be somewhere in Building 9 about now."
Uno kept his stance, but his expression changed. "Someone riling up the Nanba guard besides us?"
Rather then a question mark, his query ended with the loud clang of the air vent cover on his head. Jyugo looked up in surprise as a body dropped through the opening, landing a perfect dismount between him and Uno. Jyugo stepped back towards the wall. What the heck?
It was the more mis-matched of outfits- olive-green cargo pants and a black hoodie zipped up to the chin. All facial features above the nose were shrouded by the hood. On top of that, there were bright red sneakers on the guy's feet.
"Wh-" Uno rubbed his throbbing head, sitting up angrily. "What'd ya do that for!? I can only afford so many stress lines at this age!"
The figure straightened. Then his shoulder moved as he giggled. "I didn't think Nanba prisoners were so easily caught off guard."
"How'd you get here?" Jyugo looked up dumbly at the exposed vent. "And how'd you get out of your cell?"
With a sigh, the hood was pushed off. "What cell?"
A bright splash of curly orange and lavender hair popped out at them, reined in by a ponytail. That- plus the giggle and the slender hands- brought Jyugo to a stunning conclusion.
"Is that... a girl?"
Thoughts so far?