Warning: The following is BOOK 2 of a series. If you have not read book 1, this story is going to be confusing and unclear. Check out Book 1 on my page under Vengeance of the Foot Clan. Then come back and read on! :) Also, as a fair warning, this book is filled with Season 3 and 4 of the current running Nickelodeon TV Show spoilers. You have been warned.
Episode 9: Love Among the Dragons – Part 1
Drip! Drip! Drip!
Ethan slowly opened his eyes at the sound of water pluttering down on the stones of the sewers. The buzz of electricity sounded in the air as the white lights beamed down on him. It was cool in the stone tunnels – and for that reason, he feared that his sisters, Jess and Kaela would be freezing cold. After all, they didn't have fur. Ethan slowly straightened up and looked nervously at the two forms slumped on the wall. They were still sleeping, their chests moving up and down slowly. They had slung old blankets they had managed to ravage around them.
They were essentially homeless.
They had been homeless for a week now.
He groaned, his back hurting and he smoothed the fur around his face back down. Sleeping in a New York sewer was not the most charming experience in the world. Slowly he straightened himself balancing his hand on the cool, damp wall and he felt his legs pop. A constant sickness raged inside him. A sickness that hadn't died in the past week.
A shadow had fallen over New York City, and Ethan felt like he had personally failed in preventing it's appearance. Was he worth anything anymore? Every nerve ending in his body wanted him to give up. Everything demanded that he surrender. Sometimes, he felt like he almost had.
His naginata he felt, solid on his back. He clasped it, hoping for peace – hoping for solace – hoping for anything that would bring him comfort back and make him feel like he was more than an empty shell. Jess and Kaela were now stirring. They must have heard his rustling, or perhaps felt the shadows he was casting about him. Either way, they opened their eyes and blinked, as if trying to remove the light from their eyes.
They all looked worse for wear. Kaela's long brown hair was now splayed across her face and shoulders in tangles. The yellow bandanna she usually wore held back her hair in a rough ponytail. The clothes they had worn the same day that they had seen their Master perish by the hand of the Shredder were still on, ash stains from the fire that consumed their house spotting them. Kaela slowly stood. She had been very quiet over the week and Ethan didn't blame her – nor did he try to talk her out of it.
Ethan slowly walked to the nearby ladder that led up to the streets above and he climbed each of the metal rungs until he could peak his head out from the crack. He slowly looked back down at his two siblings. "School will be starting soon." he said, "You should hurry." he tried to keep the emotion out of his voice. Being in the sewer by himself was one of the most difficult things that he had to do since they had lost everything.
Jess let out a long sigh as she straightened. Her light colored, brown hair was a mess. She still wore her own green bandanna often and she slipped it off her eyes and tucked it into her pocket. Wiping her face she turned up to look at Ethan. "I wish we didn't have to keep going." she said. "Without a shower and stuff – it's getting embarrassing to go."
"Master Hamato would want you to go." Ethan said quietly.
That silenced the debate immediately.
Ethan had learned two things earlier in the week – the first being that Master Hamato had already paid for their education all the way until their high school graduation. Although, Ethan had no chance of returning, considering that he had been mutated into a Red Panda – human hybrid. Having a tail, ears and whiskers with a body covered in fur would make life difficult.
The second thing that Ethan learned was that he had a savings account pumped with money that luckily had been put in Ethan's own name with Jess and Kaela. That was how they ended up being able to still eat. Getting clothes would be next, but Ethan resisted thus far, not wanting to accept that Master Hamato was gone.
Jess and Kaela had, however, gotten new backpacks and school supplies. Ethan had been able to justify that. As they shoved things into their backpack, Ethan paced at the bottom of the manhole cover that had led them very near the school building. Every thought that he had that wasn't sorrow for Master Hamato, was fury at Shredder. Tumbling through his mind was temptation to go up one of these nights and take on Shredder himself – but he knew this would be an insult to his Master's memory, so he resisted.
When Jess and Kaela were ready, they all hugged one another, as was a more frequent practice as of late. "Have a good day, Ethan." Kaela said softly, her hand lingering on his shoulder. Ethan was sure that Kaela knew how he felt, being alone in the sewers. Ethan smiled weakly back. "Thanks." he muttered. But there was some comfort, knowing that he was doing something important – fulfilling their Master's dying wish.
His words rang in Ethan's mind over and over again.
Find the Turtles.
Stop the Heart of Darkness.
Whatever that was.
The turtles had been all Ethan had heard for some time, and since Karai had been searching the sewers for them, Ethan figured that, as uncomfortable as it was, this place as prime real estate for completing that goal. As for the Heart of Darkness – Ethan had absolutely no clue what that was.
Jess and Kaela climbed the rungs of the ladder and then, peeking out, finally opened it up. Sunlight burst down in from above and Ethan let himself stand in it for a moment, relishing the feeling that it gave him and then with a final wave goodbye, they closed it shut again and once again, Ethan found himself in perpetual darkness.
With nothing else to bide his time, he sighed and began walking down the sewers. He had begun to memorize these tunnels. The first few days, it had been nearly impossible to find Jess and Kaela again, but now, they were becoming as familiar as the streets that ran above them. All week they had searched for the turtles without a shred of luck. He kicked at the water beneath his padded feet. He had since abandoned his shoes. They were uncomfortable and he found that the padding on the bottom of his furry feet were just as resistant as the leather.
He let his tail wave back and forth as he moved, trying to keep his mind on that instead of on Master Hamato. Sometimes – if he closed his eyes – he could still see the old Master's eyes as he died. It had been with a smile.
He had accomplished whatever mission he had hoped to and now Ethan, Jess and Kaela were more lost than they had ever been before. They didn't even know who they were. He sighed, feeling the melancholy wash over him and dragging his heart down. He almost wished he had something to beat up with his naginata. He walked for at least an hour, weaving through the tunnels until he reached a familiar cut in the stone wall. He had marked where he had stopped the night before. Now, he could begin the search again.
This was uncharted territory.
He paused for a second sat down for a moment and breathed in and out. The same way Master Hamato had taught them to when meditating. "Master Hamato," he said quietly to himself as if his Master were sitting next to him again. "I hope you knew what you were doing." He bit his lip to keep the tears back.
"Where has Ethan been?" Mr. Randall asked Jess and Kaela after the bell rang. "He hasn't been in class for weeks."
"O-oh." Kaela stuttered, running her fingers through her hair, dragging out tangles with a wince – a new habit she had gained since the nightmare a week ago. "He transferred to a different school – he um . . . was really scared of the Purple Dragons." Kaela knew that she was definitely reaching with that. She of course, referred to attack the Purple Dragon's had conducted with their new head Hun at the front – a very K-pop looking man. Mr. Randall hummed under his breath suspiciously, but didn't ask any more questions and so Kaela and Jess retreated quickly back out into the hallway.
"Ethan's lucky he doesn't have to deal with school." Jess said quietly, "It's twice as hard considering everything that happened." her voice got softer as she continued to speak and Kaela sniffed loudly next to her, hugging her books close to her chest as if they could offer some kind of comfort to her. They reached their lockers, painted in green and began to spin the dials together.
Kaela opened hers first and placed her books inside and turned to Jess. "I hope we find the turtles soon." She said, sniffing again and not daring to look in the mirror on the inside of her locker. She knew that she looked horrible and was sure that wasn't going to help her in the least. "I just feel like . . . we have no purpose. Why did we even get put here in New York a few years ago with no memories?" She closed her locker again, not looking at Jess. "It's just so unfair."
"Yeah," Jess began.
"Well, well, haven't seen you in a while, girlie."
Jess heard a voice behind her and with all the anger and frustration from the past week pent up inside her, spun to punch whoever dared call her "girlie" in the face. She raised her fist and turned but immediately stopped, gasping.
Mako was behind her – his spiky black hair tipped with purple highlights. He wore a long-sleeved leather jacket with studs on the shoulders to match his black gloves. He smiled coyly at her and nudged her arm as if to show that he was teasing her to be funny.
Jess chuckled nervously and immediately dropped her fist. "Hey Mako." She said, blushing. She could hear Kaela fake gagging behind her and she reminded herself to punch her in the arm after Mako left. "How have you been?" Jess quickly asked, hearing her voice crack.
"Awesome, as always." he replied and he leaned against the nearby lockers and folded his arms across his chest, just staring at Jess up and down, making her blush all the more.
Grabbing Jess' arm, Kaela moved up so she was standing next to Jess and with an expression that was obviously a forced smile, she said, "Well, if you have nothing else to say, Jess and I have to get going back home." she pulled at Jess but she stood solid in the hallway as other students passed them, giving them passing looks of interest before going out into the coolness of oncoming winter.
Mako raised an eyebrow at Kaela, his grin faltering for a second, becoming a grimace but then he shrugged his shoulders. "Actually," he said, "I do have something that I wanted to say to Jess."
"Oh?" Jess asked expectantly and Kaela slapped her face mentally, grimacing right back at Mako. "What did you want to ask me?" She tried to be coy back, but she immediately felt fake by even trying it. She hoped that Mako didn't think she was an idiot.
His smile returned, this time showing white teeth and he leaned in a little closer, twisting one of his purple tipped spikes with one of his fingers. "Yeah," He said, "I wanted to ask you out on a date, girlie."
Jess felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest and had the strange urge to hug him. After all of the crazy messed up things that the had had to endure, a date with Mako would be one of the greatest things in the world. She caught a look at Kaela who for a split second looked like she was about to grab Mako by the collar and slam him against the lockers. Jess was sure she had only seen that expression on Kaela's face enough times to count on one of her hands – if most of the fingers were missing.
"Nope." Kaela said and Jess' mouth dropped open and she turned on her sister, angry. "We are super busy." Kaela said, looking at Jess more than Mako. "Like, really busy doing really important things, right?"
Jess turned to Mako, "Kaela forgot that we rescheduled some of our important stuff. I have time tonight! Would that work."
Mako looked between the two, apparently amused by their conversation and then nodded his approval. "Perfect." He said. "How about seven tonight?" Jess nodded her agreement and he closed his eyes and nodded again, cockily, and said, "Awesome. Where's your house so I can pick you up."
Jess' heart sank. "Uh," She said, "It's f-far and I'll be um – in town – so, how about you just pick me up outside the school."
Mako didn't blink and shrugged again. "See you then." He leaned in closer and for a crazy moment Jess thought that she was going to be kissed by him, but then he ruffled her hair with his gloved hand and winked. "Smell you later, Kaela." he said turning and walking back down the hallway, his hands in his pockets.
Until he reached the doors and vanished out into the steely gray weather, Jess watched him. She turned to Kaela with a smile. It was not returned. Kaela raised her hand and slapped Jess' shoulder hard. "Ow!" she snapped, "What was that for?"
"For being an idiot, Jess!" Kaela snapped. Jess wasn't sure she liked this more aggressive Kaela that had appeared after . . . she didn't want to finish that thought and replaced it immediately with her fantasy of what her date was going to be like that night with Mako. "Mako? Seriously? He beats up kids, Jess. He's totally a bully and probably a criminal too! Plus – we need to spend our time finding the turtles, not hanging out with weird guys in the middle of the night."
Jess glared back at Kaela, "Kaela, I've felt like crap ever since Sensei . . . well, since Shredder messed up our lives. This is my first chance to be able to do something for me. Plus, Mako is so nice! I don't look very good and yet, he still asks me out! It's obviously because he likes me for more than just my face, Kaela. That's not criminal."
"Oh!" Kaela said sarcastically with a smile, "How romantic! He loves you more than he's sickened by your B.O."
Jess shook her head, "I want to do something fun for me, Kaela." she reiterated.
"Something dangerous for you, Jess!" Kaela slapped her forehead with a groan and then shook her head. "Boy am I excited to hear what Ethan is going to say about this."
Jess hadn't thought about that – but she was feeling angry again and she crossed her arms across her chest and turned towards the doors to the school, not much caring if Kaela was going to follow her or not back outside. "I don't care what Ethan thinks." She lied, "He's my brother, not Sensei."
Kaela, giving up, sighed and finally shrugged her shoulders and then threw her arms up in the air. "Kay, Jess. Do what you want I guess." And with that the two walked down the hallway and opened the huge glass doors out into the daylight to return back to their sewer.
Jess could only hope that she could find a shower before the date.
