Hey everyone, I am doing the NaNoWritMo challenge. One novel (approximately 50,000 words) in one month. NaNoWritMo (National Novel Writing Month) is just to get the very first draft done but I am cleaning this up a bit before posting so please forgive me if things don't flow smoothly. This is just a first draft. That being said I will post once a week after some editing is done and if I'm lucky I will have the beginnings of a novel by the 31st. Not that I could publish it but it's good practice.
Now this is a fanfic based on the tmnt but for legal reason I changed out their names. Insert general disclaimer (that I'm not even sure would work in court) here: I own nothing, I don't work for nor am I affiliated in anyway with anything or anybody that owns tmnt. OC's are mine.
1: A: The beginning of the end. 10 years ago
A grubby hand balls up into a fist, an exasperated sigh turns into a lecture. Scared eyes cry, not understanding why. Desperate times calls for desperate measures mamma. She's on that computer for days before making another appointment.
"Hello" Shes smiles at the little boy holding the door open for her. He flashes a shy smile back, tiny gap showing in his teeth. "I am looking for Mr. Harlan, we have an appointment" He waves her into the waiting room.
Another boy appears beside her, he seems to be older but the same high as the first one. He smiles but there is no gap between the teeth. "Hello, you must be Mrs. Hudson" He's just a boy, not much older then her own, but he holds himself with a quite confidence. "Father is waiting for you"
"I am sorry to keep you waiting" A glance at the clock shows there only 5 minutes late. "Ryan hid Mathews shoes again" She falters in her steps as the man behind the desk stands up. The family resemblance is amazing between the father and two sons. They all have brown hair, chocolate eyes, a slight tan that says out door fun in the sun.
"It is quit alright Mrs. Hudson" He greets her with a warm smile and she feels better already. "Boys can be a handful at the best of times"
She stifles a laugh at this. "That is an understatement for mine I fear"
Ryan pokes the younger boy in the face, adopting that stance he has. He's about to cause trouble "Hey bugs bunny"
"Ryan! You apologies for that right now!" She feels her face flush up, he couldn't even go 5 minutes. "I am so sorry Mrs. Harlan, Ryan is a good boy"
He holds a hand up and she fears they will be kicked out again. "There is no need to apologies Mrs. Hudson. Little Ryan's attempts to push buttons for a reaction is unlikely to work here"
Her son puffs up his chest, stomping his way up them. "I anti little!"
"To me you are" Mr. Harlan leans back in his chair, a hand waves by his face as something moves behind her. "You are untrained and no real threat to anyone, body size alone isn't enough to win a fight"
"Oh yaa? I can take anyone down, bring it old man!" Ryan beats his own chest as Mrs. Hudson goes red in the face
"It is fine Mrs. Hudson, I have had many misplace their angry on me. I will not fight you child for that is not what you wish to do. Tell me where did all this pent up energy come from?" She looks to her youngest playing in the corner, then feels her face fall as Ryan stomps over and kicks his brothers toys away. Mathew starts crying and Ryan laughs while pointing at him. Calm as ever he taps a hand on his desk to get the younger man's attention. "Ryan, do you know when you point a finger at someone, you are only pointing three back at your self?" Ryan looks at him, down at his own hand then waves it away despite seeing the evidence for himself. "Ryan, Mathew why don't you go play in the dojo while the adults have the boring conversation? My sons Lucas and Darin can show you around." Lucas pleads with his eyes while Darin's shoulders drop but Ryan and Mathew agree to it. "Lucas show Ryan the rock climbing wall, Darin why don't you take Mathew to the mats?" The four are off.
She stumbles for the right words "Lucas...Ryan can be, aggressive at times..."
"Lucas can hold his own I assure you and Darin can calm even the most, aggressive, of children and most adults down. I assure you Mrs. Hudson the boys will be fine." He waves a hand to a seat in front of him watching her habitually push a stray blond lock behind her ear. Dainty is the best word that comes to mind when he looks at the stunning woman in front of him. "Was Mr. Hudson unavailable today?"
"No, Mr. Hudson passed away a few years ago and shortly after that is when Ryan started to developed his current... unpleasant, point of view on the world"
"My deepest sympathy for your loss than, but it does explain his behavior. It can happen to the best of children with the loss of an important figure head in their lives, he was close to his father then?"
"Very, Mathew barley knew his father so he seems to have had a better time adjusting"
"Hmmm, I believe Mathew may disagree with that statement." He points out the large window over looking the mats where Mathew is crying again, yelling at his brother who holds Lucas in a head lock. She jumps up gasping at this to witch he places a hand on her arm. "It is fine Mrs. Hudson, Lucas will untangle them, Darin will calm Mathew down and Ryan can go back to enjoying the rock wall." True to his word Lucas ends up slipping out of Ryan's grasp and in one smooth move finishes putting the harness on him. Darin distracts Mathew with a rubber practice weapon, who promptly wants to try it after Darin hits himself in the head with one end. She looks back to see Lucas racing Ryan up the rock wall in the far corner and she feels lighter. For that is the first time in almost two years that Ryan has a smile on his face. "It would seem Mathew is in need of a more stable environment and Ryan needs to work a few things out on his own"
"Oh if they can be equal your sons in any kind of time frame where do I sign?" She turns back around with a smile on her face and he feels his heart skip a beat. "Mrs. Harlan must be so proud of your boys and their skills already"
"Indeed, Mrs. Harlan would be very proud of our sons. But that skill set was hard earned when she became ill 5 years ago and passed away a few short months later. We too, know the sting of loss. We got through ours, you too shall get thou yours"
"I am sorry for your loss. It is good to know time heals wounds, now how long till I can get my sweet Ryan back?"
"I am afraid that Ryan will never be the same, but we can show him how to control and even harness his energy into more productive things. Just as I showed Darin how to channel his pent up anger. Mathew could benefit as well, we could show him how to be his own stable rock in the ragging sea of life. Much like how Lucas had to learn to be more confident in his own abilities" He chuckled at the look she was giving him. "Yes even Lucas had to learn to keep his cool, it is how they can connect with and help so many others experiencing similar emotions."
"Well if it can work out for your boys then mine have a chance too? So what happens in a dojo anyway?"
"Well I run my dojo a bit different then most, thank to Mrs. Harlan." He pulls a few sheets out as the boys gather around a sectioned off area.
Lucas looks up, the adults are busy with paper work so he ushers them inside even as Darin points out the potential consequences of their actions to which Mathew simply says. "Then keep an eye out"
"Besides Darin, dad said to show them around" Lucas darts his eyes up, there still busy looking at paperwork. "And who wouldn't want to try these some day?" He pulls a key lanyard out of his pocket and searches for the right key
"Dad said not to open that case up without him, these are really dangerous Luc"
"Come on D, a look wont hurt anyone" Lucas peeks up again before unlocking the case.
Dark ornate wooden doors open, revealing several weapons strapped and tied down. The boys eyes, even Darin's light up. They looked like so much fun but even Ryan wouldn't move forwards to get a closer look. Something about them said proceed with cation even as it screamed how cool would I be to wield? "Luc" Darin spots the car lights bounce off the walls. Lucas jumps forwards to lock the cabin up again but it's too late.
"Boys" Mr. Harlan crosses his arms and Lucas can already feel the pain of having to polish all the wood again for the punishment coming.
"Way to keep an eye out Darin!" Ryan snaps at the boy, smacking him upside the head as soft as possible.
Mathew breaks out the tears as his mothers eye twitches, oh they done it now. "We didn't touch them!"
"We can see that, Lucas, I gave you those keys for safe keeping not for showing off"
"Sorry father" Lucas bows his head feeling his face flush up, it makes Ryan mad.
Not that Ryan understands why he's mad, but he gets up the guys face who seems unfazed by his angry. "Whatever, he was just showing us some old stuff"
"Those are weapons that have been handed down from my father to me and one day will passed onto Lucas..."
"Why doesn't' Darin get one?" Mathew peeked up through un-shed tears
"Because they are a set, to give them out individual I would need four students that I feel are worthy of them, so far no set of friends have proven this to me yet.."
"so why does Lucas get them?" Ryan shifted his weight to one side, chin up.
"Because he is the oldest..."
"So? Why can't Darin get them?"
"Because that is not how tradition goes.."
"Why?" Ryan shoots off before he can finish answering Mathew
"Because that is how tradition works, the oldest son..."
"That's bull shit" Their heads turn to see a raven hair girl defiantly standing in the dojo.
Lucas points at her feet. "Shoes are not allowed in the dojo!"
"Kandace, langue. Sorry if we are interrupting anything, my name is Orlando Sabb" Another man stands in the doorway, black suite screaming expensive, black hair perfectly in place and green eyes impatient. "Kandace has been kicked out of 6 dojos for her less then lady like manners, thou I'm not sure where she is learning it. Your website says you are good with trouble children"
"Boys" Lucas, Darin, Ryan and Mathew jump at his tone. "Show Kandace around please. while I don't recall using that phrasing, yes we have helped many children better understand themselves over the years"
"Excellent, I wish to enroll my daughter but I didn't see any private lesson options online" He snaps his wrist around to look at the time as his phone goes off he chooses to ignore the number after looking at it.
"There are no private lessons available in my dojo. Twice a month for three hours on select Sundays all new students are assessed while interacting with other students. To best decide which class they are in need of, we do take personal preference into account. I need to see how they interact with others and what their skills leaves are at already"
"She has a green belt from the dojo on 3rd and main"
"Maybe, but the dojo on the 3rd and main teaches a different style then me, her obi color basically means nothing here. That is why I assets their skill leaves, till I see what she knows I can't accurately place her in any class, just as you wouldn't assign a job to a student that has no experiences I would never place a student into a class I didn't believe they could handle"
"She doesn't play well with others"
"We have one this Sunday and I think she is playing well with others right now." He steps to the side to show all the kids tossing a dodge ball around, when Mathew gets nailed in the head Kandace helps him back up while Darin sees to his head wound. "Mathew likes to up play his injuries for additional attention, Ryan brushes his off to seem stronger, Kandace appears to need more social interaction with others since she appears to be missing some key social clues." They watch her ignore Lucas while pushing Ryan about something. Ryan pushes back and Kandace try's to take him down only for Lucas to get in her way, they roll across the mats but Lucas ends up winning as Ryan cheers him on.
"Oh, can I learn that move too!" Ryan bounces with joy pleading with his mother
"Oh no way am I being taken down by a boy!" Kandcae doubles her efforts and hold Lucas in an arm lock
"Darin"
Darin shakes his head at this. "Dad would shoot me for tag teaming like that"
"No, move Darin" Lucas dead lifts them both off the floor, arm shaking with the weight on it. Darin dives out of the way taking Mathew with him. Ryan cheers him on as Kandace goes head over feet, tumbling across the floor when Lucas frees himself from her hold while tossing her away from him.
She jumps shooting in joy. "Oh daddy please!" She doesn't wait, just jumps back at Lucas and lands on Ryan as well. Mathew and Darin scream dog pile landing on them all. Lucas try's to dead lift them again but cant do it, until Ryan helps. This causes the others to fall over and they burst into giggles at themselves.
"Very well, see you next Sunday then" He pauses to hand his hand over to Mrs. Hudson. "Four sons, you are a luck man. My wife was told she couldn't have anymore, so one daughter it is"
"Oh!" Mrs. Hudson turns bright red. "Oh, no only two are mine"
"Mrs. Hudson was a few minutes late for her appointment, Ryan and Mathew are her sons. Lucas and Darin are mine"
"Oh!" Mr. Sabb shuffles his feet. "My apologies, I did not mean to interrupt your appointment, my assistant did not tell me that I needed one"
"It is fine, we were almost done anyway and you got a few answers for me"
"Walk-ins are always welcome as well"
"Right, Sunday then" Mr. Sabbs phone goes off again. "Kandace dear we need to get going, your mother is looking for us and were late for supper"
"But dad..."
"Now, you are coming back on Sunday for an assessment. It was a pleasure meeting you both, if you'll excuses me" He nods as he walks out the door holding a phone to his ear.
"Assessment?" Kandace pauses to look at the other boys, she hasn't been in a dojo for almost a year now.
"It's no biggie' Lucas waved it off. "Just do your best and have fun. It will be like we are playing games, races, tumbling, more rock climbing, stuff like that" Lucas smiles at the pretty girl.
"OK" Kandace slaps him on the shoulder leaving a red mark. "I'll be back to kick your ass on Sunday then"
"Oh bring it"
Ryan makes a gagging noise as she leaves. "Girls have coddies"
"They have germs just like everybody else, coddies are not even a real thing" Darin rolls his eyes before screaming out as Ryan tackles him.
"Boys" Mrs. Hudson calls out. "Come on, its almost your bed time we will be back on Sunday OK, Ryan what have I told you about tackling people." Once again exasperated with her son's shenanigans they take their leave and Mrs. Harlan has a good feeling about them.