Disclaimer: I don't own tmnt
Tanglemorph and I decided I should create a link to her posted chapter, and I recommend you read that first. If you can't click on the link, copy and paste it into the URL box. Here it is: (take out the spaces)
www . fanfiction s / 3848265 / 1 / Reunion
Just a quick note before we begin. I know in the first chapter on Tanglemorph's profile, the girls have the same weapons as the boys. I'm making them have different weapons. And I'm making Lyn have a midnight blue bandana and Dani a royal purple. The girls also are going to have different personalities than the boys and different interests. Same thing for Thorn and Splinter. Oh, and no Omega markings. Just pretend Leo recognized Lyn by a crack in her plastron on the right side when he saw the picture. Just thought I'd let everyone know. Oh, and I'm starting right before the guys get abducted by the Makuzai no Bushi.
Enjoy!
Reunion
"Man, it feels good to be out and about again!" Don exclaimed as their game ended. As far as he could tell, the mutation cure he'd received several weeks before had eradicated any trace of the infection which had transfigured the brainy turtle into a vicious monster. Fear of relapse had led his brothers to insist on weeks of bed rest, but he'd nearly died of boredom, the only excitement being the discovery that their sisters still lived, in addition to learning about Splinter's mate Thorn. No words could possibly express the joy he'd experienced at the discovery. He'd missed his sisters at first when they mutated, before accidentally forgetting them. All his brothers had. But they could hardly imagine how Splinter felt upon realizing his mate still lived.
He'd believed Thorn dead, and they'd all wondered why Splinter had kept her a secret from them. The turtles could be excused because they'd been separated from their sisters when they were extremely young and had forgotten them. Splinter couldn't say the same, and he'd explained it to his sons as soon as the shock of finding the other half of their family subsided.
"Why didn't you tell us about Thorn, Sensei?" Donnie asked, his expression reminiscent of when he found a puzzle he couldn't solve. Why would Splinter hide the existence of someone who was so obviously important to him, judging by the tears he'd shed upon learning she was alive?
Master Splinter sighed. He'd known this question was coming. "I did not enjoy keeping her a secret. But you were too young to understand at the time. You remember, I did not tell you much of Master Yoshi until you were old enough to comprehend what he meant to me. And I did not tell you the whole story until you first met the Shredder, because I did not want hatred to permeate your training. How much more would you have despised Shredder had you known he killed the one who would have been your mother? And…" He paused.
"And…" Leo encouraged.
Splinter's gaze drifted to the floor. "The thought of her always brought me pain. You were too young for me to burden at the time. And by the time you were old enough, I had come to terms with her death. I saw no point in burdening you where there was no need."
His sons understood. There was really no way they could've helped Splinter, understanding little about grief at the time. And perhaps they were already helping Splinter at the time, just by being the kids they were, making him laugh, loving him, and even driving him up the wall.
"Besides, had Thorn and I not been separated, she might not have found your sisters. And I would rather not consider what might have happened to them."
"That's right!" exclaimed Mikey. "Everything worked out for the best. Now all we need to do is meet them." He turned to Leo. "How are we going to do that?" he asked eagerly.
Leo rolled his eyes. "It's not that simple, Mikey. We don't even know where they live. Or if they know we're alive."
"Dude, we've been all over New York, and Don here got on TV once. They have to know," said Mikey. "And don't say anything about them not remembering us," he added, seeing Leo opening his mouth. "We remembered them once we saw them. If they saw us, they'd remember us too."
Leo didn't argue. He was secretly hoping the same thing. It would be awful to meet his sisters only to find they didn't remember him. True, he didn't really know them that well after a fifteen-year separation, but it would be a nice start off if everybody remembered everybody.
"So how are we going to find them, bro?" Mikey asked again.
"Mikey, do you really think finding them is going to be easy? We've combed the sewers several times in the past and we never found a trace of them. How do you expect to find them?"
"Dude, they're ninjas, remember? Just like us. Come on, we'll find them if we set our minds to it."
"Michelangelo is right. Now that you know of them, I am sure we will all meet. I feel it in my heart."
Leo smiled. Mikey's faith strengthened Leo's hope, and Splinter's words drove away his doubts.
"However, I think it is best to help Donatello recover before we locate the rest of our family," the old rat added.
"Yeah, another mutation might crash the reunion," Raph agreed, leading Don back to the couch.
Don protested rather violently, but in the end Raph and Leo, with Splinter's aid, convinced him and Mikey it would be better for everyone if he were recovered when meeting his sisters. He shouldn't have even attempted to journey topside, let alone followed Leo on patrol, but he'd started going stir crazy and snuck out after Leo left. Unfortunately for him, the leader had spotted him a mile into the patrol and dragged him home, though not before Donnie got the blood sample that turned out to be from their sisters.
Two weeks passed before his family agreed to let him leave the lair with them.
"You okay, Egghead?" asked Raph, waving his hand in front of Donnie.
"What?" Donnie asked, realizing he must have blanked out. And his brothers were probably still wary of a relapse. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Skepticism darted across his brothers' faces. "Really, I am. I just got to thinking about our sisters."
Understanding and empathy replaced their doubt as Leo stepped forward, clasping his brother's shoulder. "I know. They've been on all our minds. I've laid awake nights imagining meeting them-"
A sudden whoosh stopped their conversation cold as multiple shadows darted across the rooftops. All four turtles brothers tensed, eyes scanning their surroundings with surgical precision as they prepared for an imminent confrontation. With a swish and a thud, four strange figures landed before them, drawing tonfas. The brothers glared and drew their own weapons.
The brothers slowly opened their eyes. Multiple areas of their bodies bore the effects of their battle; bruises decorated their skin and their entire frames ached. Once their vision cleared, they found themselves lying in the center of a dark but rather spacey wooden cell with straw on the edges of the walls. Light filtered inside through a small barred window on the door, allowing them to determine the wood was colored mostly dark green and that the ceiling stood high, giving off a vibe of dangerous, but not threatening; not yet at least.
"Where are we?" asked Leo as Don noticed the chains on the side of the wall. The brainy turtle couldn't help but feel relieved that those shackles weren't restraining them to the wall.
"Wherever we are." Raph pounded on the door. "We're locked in." He snarled and drew his fist back, ready to slam his knuckles straight through the door when it creaked and slid open several inches.
"Or not," said Don.
"Okay, more freaky weirdness, anyone?" asked Mikey. His brothers detected a hint of fear, though Mikey tried his best to hide it.
Leo eyes darted around quick as they exited their cell and found themselves in a long hallway with multiple doors lining the wall. A cursory glance in each direction revealed no trace of those walking tree trunks.
"Uh, guys, our weapons don't usually float in the air by themselves, do they?" questioned Don. His brothers followed his gaze. Sure enough, on the wall opposite their door, encased in a bright light, their weapons floated.
"This keeps getting weirder and weirder," commented Leo. Coming from a turtle that had battled aliens and faced monsters straight out of horror movies, that was saying something.
"Weird or not, I'm getting my gear," Raph grumbled as picked up his sai and stuck them in his belt. He always felt naked without his mask, but without his weapons, the feeling tripled. His brothers followed suit.
"Um, if we have all our weapons," Leo said, "then whose weapons are those?" He pointed to another part of the wall. Four more sets of weapons hung in the same light.
"Maybe theirs," suggested Mikey, pointing to another opening door. The turtles tensed as a person stepped out.
The new arrival froze, as did the turtles. Neither side could believe their eyes. The newcomer whipped back towards her cell and yelled "Guys, get out here!" Her voice trembled with emotion, eyes glittering behind her yellow mask.
Three more figures emerged seconds later and froze as they laid their eyes on the turtles, their mouths dropping in stunned amazement.
"No way," Raph mouthed.
"It's, it's…" Mikey temporarily lost his ability to complete sentences.
"Our brothers," the girls breathed the same time as the guys mouthed, "Our sisters."
An immeasurable amount of time passed in hushed stillness. This was too easy, too convenient. None of them dared believe it was real. It was impossible, yet it was true. The crack in one of the girl's plastrons drew Leo's eye to her as the girls' eyes found a scar Raph had borne on his left arms since before his mutation. Memories long forgotten surfaced like a shark fin out of the ocean: their first meeting after hatching, days of crawling around in a glass tank, the day they were purchased, changing their lives irrevocably.
Finally, like the glass from a window whacked by a stray baseball, the silence shattered as they raced toward each other, grasping hands, arms, and shoulders, hugging, laughing, and even shedding a few tears. They could hardly believe they were together again; it felt like a dream they would wake up from any moment, except they didn't want to.
Eventually, everyone calmed down enough so the girls could collect their weapons off the walls. No one spoke for a time. Happiness and excitement had pushed back the worry and fear they all experienced when they woke up, and no one wanted to spoil the moment. For weeks, ever since they discovered their sisters were alive, the boys had dreamt of finally meeting their sisters and becoming a whole family again; the girls no less when they realized their brothers still lived. Despite the uncertain circumstances and possible danger, they couldn't help but be grateful they were brought together again, even if it was by freaky walking trees. There was so much to say, so much to do, so many possibilities and opportunities.
Leo finally broke the silence. "I can hardly believe it." His words understated his emotions.
"Neither can we," said the turtle with a midnight blue mask and two Chinese hook swords. "You didn't organize this, did you?" she asked, raising an eye ridge.
"Not our style," assured Don. "Well, not Leo's style anyway, and he's probably the one who would've organized something like this. So no, it wasn't us."
"Good, because then we'd have to have a little discussion with you about organizing family reunions," the girl with the royal purple mask and chigikiri commented, smiling teasingly. The siblings chuckled.
Leo mock glared. "Very funny-" His eyes widened and he blushed.
"What?" asked the girl with the pink mask, nonplussed at Leo's embarrassment.
"I just realized. We're brothers and sisters, but we don't even know each others' names."
The girl with the Chinese hook swords smiled. "I'm Lynora. This is Rachel." She pointed to the turtle with the pink mask holding kamas. "Danielle." The girl wielding the chigiriki waved. "And Madeleine." The final sister wore a yellow mask and carried tonfa.
Leo returned her smile. "This is Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello." Each turtle nodded as he was named, Mikey waved enthusiastically. "And I'm Leonardo."
"So, how'd you guys get here? Mikey asked. "We got the snot knocked out of us by a bunch of wooden mannequins guys with tonfa!"
The girls nodded. "Same thing here," Dani replied. "Vicious fighters, but surprisingly nice enough to let you retrieve your weapons if you lose them?" The boys nodded.
Maddie glared downward.
"Uh, is she…" Raph asked.
"Maddie's fine," Dani assured him. "But since she uses tonfa, it kind of sucks for her to get knocked out by one."
"Ah,"
"Well, we're going to find out what's going on. You guys wanna come?" asked Leo.
"Definitely," replied Rae. "You're not leaving us behind."
The eight newly reunited turtle sibling started walking down the passageway. Upon trying one way and finding a dead end, they retraced their steps and followed the passageway in the other direction. All the other doors on the wall led to cells identical to the ones that formerly housed them.
Silence ensued for several minutes as they walked, everyone dying to ask each other a million questions and yet no one knew where to start.
"So," asked Don, in an attempt to break the silence and perhaps learn more about his sisters, "where do you guys live?"
"In the western part of the city, in an underground chamber," Dani replied. "What about you?"
"Pumping station under Central Park. Before that, it was the tunnels on the east side of the city. Your home must be really well protected; we combed the whole sewer system once while searching for Master Splinter and we never found a trace of your home."
"Master who?" asked Rae.
"Master Splinter, the one who taught us ninjitsu," Leo replied. "He said that your master Thorn was his mate."
"How'd you know about Lady Thorn?" asked Lyn.
"We found a picture of you guys while searching for giant turtle sightings. We had just realized you were alive," explained Don.
"Wait a minute! Splinter must be Lady Thorn's mate!" Maddie exclaimed, before blushing and clamping her beak shut.
Lyn hastened to elaborate. "Lady Thorn told us she had a mate as a normal rat, but she didn't give us any names."
Mikey glanced worriedly at Maddie, who stared resolutely at the ground. "Are you okay?"
The yellow-clad turtle's eyes shot toward Mikey, surprised. "Uh, of course!" She glanced downward.
"Relax," assured Rae. "Maddie's just really shy around new people. Even her long lost brothers. Give her some time and keep talking and soon she'll be perfectly fine around you."
The male turtles nodded.
"Not sure it's a good idea to tell Mikey to keep talking," Raph commented.
"Hey!"
"Getting back to our earlier conversation," Lyn interjected. "Splinter is the name of Lady Thorn's mate and he's your sensei?"
"Yup," replied Raph.
"Wow." Lyn shook her head. "We're all ninjas and trained by two rat masters, who just so happen to be mates. Could life get any weirder?"
"You'd be surprised," Don replied.
Another thought occurred to Raph and he grimaced. "Hey, uh, did Thorn tell you guys about how she learned to be a ninja?"
"Yeah, why?" Dani asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Did she tell you how Master Yoshi died?" Raph hated bringing this up, but he wanted to make sure everyone was clear with each other on sensitive issues, lest someone accidentally blurt out something painful.
Lyn sighed. "Yeah, she did. Oroku Saki, also known as the Shredder. We saw on the news that he died, though."
"Not exactly," Leo replied.
"Huh?" Maddie asked.
"You didn't know?" Mikey asked. "Shredder's really this evil alien bug from this race called the Utroms. He gathered a bunch of Triceraton leftovers from the invasion and tried to leave to kill the Utroms and be all "evil alien terror of the universe," but we blew up his ship and the rest of the Utroms caught him and sent him to freeze his tentacles off on some kind of icy asteroid."
"Are you serious?" asked Dani, skepticism lining her face.
"Weird as it sounds, it's all true," Raph said. "Hanging around us, you get used to weird."
The girls' eyes widened.
"Just what have you guys gotten yourselves into these last fifteen years?" asked Rae, raising an eye ridge.
Don smiled and shook his head. "Long story, sis. A really long story."
"I'd like to hear it. The most we've ever done is take down punks trying to rob stores. Maybe all the action's on the east side of the city," Rae replied.
"No action? What about the Triceraton invasion? And the mutant outbreak? And all the earthquakes New York has? And the Shredder and the Foot and Karai?" asked Mikey.
"Okay, we fought Triceratons and mutants during those events. But we've never run into Shredder or the Foot," Dani answered. "Though we have seen Karai on TV," she added as an afterthought.
"Master Splinter says the four of us attract trouble worse than light does moths. More than likely you'll see more action than you can stand now that we're back together," said Leo.
"Maybe. But first things first, you need to tell us everything. I want to hear how you fought the Shredder," Dani replied.
"Which time?"
"You've fought him more than once?" Rae asked.
"We've lost count." Raph shook his head.
"Okay, how about this," Lyn suggested. "We tell you about our lives, you tell us about yours."
"Yeah, that'll work. It shouldn't take us long to tell you about our adventures." Dani grinned.
Leo grimaced. "Meanwhile, it'll probably take us weeks to catch you guys up on everything we've done."
"You couldn't have gotten into too much trouble." Dani raised an eye ridge.
"I beg to differ Dani," Mikey replied. "We've traveled into space, different planets, different dimensions, and fought all kinds of crazies, gangs, ninjas, government agents, and otherworldly creatures! And that's just the tip of the iceberg!"
The female turtles stared. Rae slowly rotated to face Lyn. "How come they have all the fun?" she complained.
Lyn shrugged. Rae turned back to her brothers. "You are so telling us everything!"
"We will. But later," Don replied. A door loomed before the turtles, small, but no less intimidating. Leo pushed the doors open and led the group inside.
So, what do you guys think? I know I skipped the battle, and that might disappoint some people. In an early draft I did have the battle, but it just felt like I was retelling the episode and it just seemed kind of dull. I'm going to focus more on the in between scenes and the aftermath, at least till the Mystics attack the monastery, otherwise I feel that it'll just get boring, and I want to try to establish character bonding first. Please review!
Oh, and if you're not sure what the girls' weapons look like, just Google Image them and you'll see. For Rae's kama, make sure to type kama weapons! And her weapon doesn't have a chain. Just in case anyone wants to know.