Chapter One: Rise of the Turtles - Part 1
A/N HardyGal: After much hesitation, I have decided to come out in the open with a story I have been working on for almost a year. Over that time I've been molding my character, editing the chapters, everything I can do to make it perfect for fanfiction publishing. Just to verify, many of the Author's notes at the bottom of each chapter are about as old as the chapters themselves. And that's quite old.
I do not own TMNT 2012. I don't even own most of the storyline in every chapter. Nor do I own Elvis or Renaissance artist Andrea del Verrocchio. I do, however, own Hamato 'Andi' Andrea. Enjoy.
It was sexist to say at the least. Just so sexist. And maybe older-ist. Was that even a word? Probably not. But whatever. They were sparring today, one-on-one. Which meant that, as usual, she was the odd one out.
There had been a bit of a debate. She'd insulted Donnie by accident ("He may be taller than me, but I'm still faster than him"), complimented Raph, also by accident ("Only Raphael is stronger than me"), insulted Leo ("He could beat Leonardo!"), and had a bit of an argument with their Sensei, most of which she didn't understand.
Finally, since she had used Donatello and Raphael as the very vague basis of her argument, she was allowed to fight whoever won their round. She played winner.
Her brothers faced each other. Leo and Mikey jumped to their feet, both pulling out their weapons.
Andi watched them stare each other down for at least seven seconds. 'I'm betting on Mikey.'
Yes, Leo was probably the best fighter out of all of them. Andi would be willing to admit it (along with some teasing as to what Leo was not good at), Raph would have to be put on the rack, Donnie would probably agree, and Mikey would definitely agree. But Leo only played by the rules (or at least he tried). And that was sometimes damaging. Mikey was a lot more flexible in his abilities, and he tended to talk a lot, which was both annoying, and a good distraction.
Leo made the first move, darting forward with a yell. 'Not the best move, Leonardo. The first mover - is that a word? - doesn't usually win. Except in chess. And tic-tac-toe. And… Ok, never mind.'
"Oh, yeah!" Mikey said, twirling his nunchucks and running for his brother. "Michelangelo is on the move!"
Leo swung, and Mikey dodged, jumping and landing behind Leo, who turned, eyes narrowed. "You don't know what to do!" Mikey said confidently, busting some fancy moves with his nunchucks.
Leo darted forward, a gave another swing, which Mikey again dodged.
"I'm here!"
As quick as lightning, Leo swung where Mikey dodged, but not quick enough as his youngest brother dodged yet again.
"I'm there!"
Leo held his katana in front of him, and Andi couldn't tell if the look on his face meant irritation or concentration.
"I can be anywhere!" Mikey said, one knee on the ground. His eyes widened when Leo took another dart forward, and he just managed to dodge.
'Oh my gosh, Michelangelo, do some offense already! Leo's taking up all of it! I'm losing a bet with myself!'
Leo smirked. Either he was satisfied with his brother's near miss, or, more likely, he had a foolproof offense plan in play.
"How can you stop what you can't even see?" Mikey asked cockily. Finally, he held his nunchucks up. He was going in for the offense.
'Bad idea, Mikey.'
Leo thrust his katana back, ready to defend himself, and Mikey ran forward, nunchucks twirling lethally. At the last moment, just when Mikey was going to reach him, Leo grabbed his katana by the blade and drove the hilt into Mikey's lower plastron.
"Ooh!" Andi winced.
Gagging, Mikey rolled out of continued harm's way, stuck his tongue out, and fell to the ground.
Leo examined his sword hilt. "Like that?" he said, smiling at his downed brother.
"Good one, Leo," Mikey said hoarsely, holding up a twitching finger.
Andi rolled her golden hazel eyes, and slapped her own palm, as if paying herself.
Now it was Donatello and Raphael's turn. Donnie whirled his bō staff a couple times, before pointing it threateningly at Raph's face. Andrea had to admit, for someone who wasn't the best at fighting, Donnie was really good at what he knew.
Raph had just watched his brother's performance with the staff with a bored look on his face, and now he tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck. He hadn't unsheathed his sai, which showed just how confident he was about the fight. "Alright, Donnie. Put down the staff, and no one gets hurt."
Andi snorted, and Donnie looked at him with full skepticism. "Yeah, you said that last time Raph, and then you hurt me!" he said, lowering his staff sharply.
"Yeah," Raph said, shrugging in agreement. "But… less than I would have."
"Yeah, right." Donnie lifted his weapon, and struck.
'First move, Donatello! First move, I'm telling you! I don't care if Leo won the last fight, I'm betting on Raphael…'
Raph dodged easily, and Donnie turned back to face him, whirling the staff in his hands. He jabbed at Raph's throat, which Raph just barely managed to avoid. Andi suspected that her red clad brother was probably just messing with Donnie. Raph was a lot better than this.
Donnie whirled the staff above his head, and struck down, striking again when Raph dodged. Raph dodged the second strike as well. Andi watched, tapping her fingers on the floor anxiously as Donnie swung, once, twice, Raph dodging, once, twice.
She could just see Donnie's eyes clench tight as he whirled his staff above his head, and she had just enough time to think that that was a very bad idea when he struck downward with a shout.
Faster than she could follow, Raph had his brother's weapon in hand. Donnie gasped, looking from his empty hands, to Raphael, who grinned, whirled the staff, and snapped it over his knee.
"Should've dropped the staff?" Donnie said weakly.
"Should've dropped the staff," Raph agreed, whirling the broken pieces of the bō staff in hand, much like his sai, and running towards Donnie.
"Ow! Ok, ok! Ow! I'm down!" Donnie said, protecting his head as Raph beat him with the pieces of his own weapon.
"Very good, Raphael," Andrea said, standing up, and slapping her palm again. She drew her own weapons, and struck stance. "Now let's get down." Her weapons were basically mini twin scythes, but they were called kama, or bunrai.
Donnie crawled away to kneel next to Mikey, who stuck his tongue out at him. Raph grinned, and held up the broken pieces of the bō staff.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Andi said, smirking. She knelt in front of her brother.
"I have principles," Raph said, also kneeling down. "And one is not to fight girls. And since that one's a bust, then it's don't hurt people who are weaker than me. Well, don't hurt 'em too much, anyway."
Andi glared. "Well, we'll see who's weak, my dear brother," she said in a low voice, and they both jumped to their feet. Andi's eyes narrowed. Ok, she was a little taller than Raphael, and maybe even faster, but Raph was definitely a lot stronger.
Green eyes were unnerving to say at the least. Especially when they were Raph's. He was most definitely deciding where it would be most painful to hit.
"Ok…" She was probably going to regret this. She made the first move. Swinging one kama at Raph's plastron, she somersaulted over her brother just as he dodged the blow, and used the other kama to swipe at his shell.
It just grazed him before he rolled away, and whirled around, glaring.
'Well, that was pretty good.' Perhaps there was something to be said for the first move.
"Ha ha ha!" Andrea said mockingly. She held out her right kama and made a 'come and get it' gesture with it. "Alright, Raphael, put down the sticks and no one gets hurt, hm?"
Raph scowled, and charged. Stabbing one of the sticks at Andi's plastron, he swung the other at her side as she blocked the first with her kama. (Sliced it, actually; 'Sorry, Donnie.') It was only a graze, but she felt the splinters go into her arm, and she yelped in surprise, and fell back.
She examined her arm, but a yell from Raph drew her attention back to the spar. Andi gave another yelp of alarm, and blocked one of her brother's swings, only for her legs to be swept from under her.
Raph grabbed one of her wrists, a foot on her plastron, and forced the kama out of her hand. "What do you think of me now, sister?"
"I think that you're really gonna get it when we're finished here," Andi ground out. Out of the corner of her eye, Andi saw Leonardo step forward. Raph let go of her wrist, and stepped away from her, dropping the stick.
Growling frustratedly, Andi got up and stomped towards her two youngest brothers, kneeling next to Donnie.
"Guuurl," Mikey whispered. "That was embarrassing."
Andi scowled at him, and Mikey grinned nervously. "Guys, shh," Donnie whispered.
Leonardo knelt down on one knee, facing Raph, who did the same.
"Onegai shimasu," said Leo.
"Whatever you say," Raph retorted.
Getting to his feet, Leo swung his sword and pointed it in Raph's face, as Raph did the same, unsheathing his sai. Andi smirked. Raph would get what was coming. 'I'm betting on Leo.'
Instantly, Leo swung at Raph's face, and Raph quickly blocked with his sai. Breaking the block, Raph dodged the second swing, and stepped behind his brother. Leo turned around, eyes narrowing dangerously.
Raph took an offensive stance, and the two stared down for a few seconds, before Raph twirled his weapons, and charged with a yell. Leo swung, Raph bobbed, weaved, and hit him in the face with the hilt of his sai. On the ground, Leo swung round and floored his brother. Slowly getting to his feet, he turned, and pointed his katana at Raph.
Raph jumped to his feet, in a crouching position, just managing to dodge and block as Leo swung at him from behind. Leo managed to get a lock on one of the sai, and swung it from Raph's hands. Andi, Donnie, and Mikey didn't even flinch as it hit the wall behind them.
'Attack number three,' Andi thought, as her two brothers gripped their weapons, and did a third stare down. 'This time, it's personal.'
They charged, and clashed. Before anyone knew it, Leo's katana clattered to the ground, and Raph locked Leo's wrist in his sai, grabbing it with his free hand, and flipped his older brother over his shoulder, and to the ground.
Leo groaned, holding his wrist, and looked up to see Raph standing over him. "Nice try," Raph said, smirking smugly.
Suddenly, the door to their Sensei's room slid open. "Yamè!" came the command, and their Sensei, a giant rat of a man, walked into the dojo.
All of them moved to the middle of the dojo. Andi knelt down next to Leo, who bowed as their Sensei passed. "You just made me lose a bet with myself, Leo," Andi muttered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Well, I'm sorry for not living up to your newfound grudge with Raph expectations," Leo grumbled back.
"You all did very well," Master Splinter said, walking past all five of his children.
"But I did better," Raph said smugly.
Andi almost face palmed, and Leo shot their brother an incredulous look.
"This is about self improvement, Raphael," their Sensei said, walking behind them, which made Andrea very uncomfortable. "Not about winning and losing."
"I know, Sensei," Raph said. "But, I won… and they lost." He clasped both hands behind his head in a confidently casual gesture.
Andi couldn't help wincing as Splinter pressed a pressure point near Raph's neck, causing him to give a couple sounds of pain.
"But… what is really important is that we all did our best!" Raph said quickly. "Good job everyone!" he added, holding up a finger. He fell forward with a gasp as Splinter let go.
Their Sensei chuckled.
It was either the ingredients, Mikey, the name, or maybe just the meal in general. Considering everything, it was probably all four.
Andi had to keep from curling her lip at the meal, and just picked at the worms, catching them with her chopsticks and sucking them in. She never chewed them. Leo did, and it grossed her out.
Typical Raph stabbed the algae with his chopsticks, and ate whatever stuck to it. Was there anything he didn't stab? Donnie made no attempt to hide his disgust as he caught a worm in his hand, and 'blah'ed. Splinter ate his food without complaint.
"There's a little more algae and worms left in anyone wants it," Mikey said in a slight sing-song voice, mixing said 'food' in a pot. Andi hated to think about what it was doing to the worms. "Anybody?" her orange clad brother asked encouragingly. "Anybody?"
"Nah," Andi said, pushing her own portion away.
"No thanks," said Leo, dropping his chopsticks.
"I'm good," Raph said.
"All yours," Donnie added.
Mikey shrugged. He was grabbing something from a cupboard behind his back. "Well, I guess no one left room for… cake!" He presented his creation on the counter. Andi and her brothers had been watching him indifferently, but when his acclaimed cake was brought out, they leaned forward, staring at it in awe.
"Woah," Raph muttered, sticking his finger into the cake, taking it out, and licking it.
"Is this real?" Andi said, poking it, and leaning back when it started to jiggle.
"It is a cake!" Donnie said, sounding very surprised.
"Made of… algae," Raph said. A familiar, tiny, pink creature crawled from the mass of green and blue, and sank back into it. "And… worms."
Andi couldn't help curling her lip slightly. There was something a lot less appetizing about this jiggly mass than the rest of their meal.
"What's the frosting made out of?" Leo asked, slightly hesitant.
"You don't wanna know." Mikey drew the 'cake' back slightly, before presenting it again enthusiastically. "Happy Mutation day!" he declared.
"Happy Mutation day!" his siblings echoed happily.
"Ah, yes," Master Splinter said happily. "Fifteen years ago today, our lives changed forever, and we became the unlikeliest of families."
"As the only girl, I get to blow out the candle!" Before any of her brothers could object, Andi leaned over and blew out the candle.
"Hey…" Mikey protested. Then, he grinned, leaning towards her. "So, what'd you wish for?"
Andi smirked, and pushed him away a little. "If I told you, it wouldn't work."
"Tell us the story, Master Splinter!" Mikey said, the ADD turtle's priorities completely changed, moving next to their surrogate father.
"Michelangelo, I have already told it many times," their Sensei said gently.
"Please!" Mikey begged, clasping his hands. "Pleeeeaaassseee…!" He was quickly silenced as Raph launched himself over the table, and clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Please," Raph said. "It's the only way to shut Mikey up!"
Splinter sighed. "Very well. Many years ago, when I was still human, I was leaving the pet store with five baby turtles…"
Andrea couldn't remember much about her early childhood as a mutated turtle, let alone a regular turtle, but she was willing to bet that her brothers were as annoying as they were now.
"That was us!" Mikey piped up.
"Yes," Splinter agreed. "Don't interrupt!" He resumed his story. "I bumped into a strange man in the street. Something felt off about him. I decided to follow."
The five of them listened intently as he explained all. How he followed the mysterious dude into an alley, and saw him with another man, who looked almost exactly like the first guy, handling a glass tube filled with a glowing substance. How, due to a rat that he stepped on, Splinter was accosted by the two men, and more. How he fought them off, and caused the glowing tube of whatever to crash on the ground. How, due to the substance, he was changed into a rat, and the five of them into fully sentient anthropomorphic mutant turtles.
"That was the beginning of our life together," their Sensei said, finishing off the story. He was handling the empty canister that had been holding the substance that had mutated them all those years ago. "The mysterious substance that, in a way, gave birth to us all."
Thus far, Mikey had been quiet, but now that the story was over, he grabbed the canister and hugged it. "Mom…!"
His four other siblings stared at him.
"So, Sensei," Leo said finally. "Now that we're fifteen…" He put particular emphasis on the age. "…I'd say we're ready to go up to the surface, don't you?"
Andi, Raph, Mikey and Donnie nodded eagerly as Leo looked to them for consent.
"Yes," Splinter said.
They cheered. Finally… finally they could come out of this claustrophobic hole! Andi liked it down here and all, it was their home after all, but there was so much to see out there, and by age five, all of them had become exceedingly restless.
"And no," their Sensei added.
They all groaned.
"Seriously?" Andi said miserably.
"I hate when he does that…" said Raph.
"You have grown powerful, but you are still young," Splinter said gently. He stood up. "You lack the maturity to use your skills wisely."
"Well, some of us do," Andi pointed out. "Have the maturity, I mean."
Splinter turned to her. "Andrea, confidence is a good thing when put to good use, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. And I am not sure I approve of your supreme confidence of your own responsibility."
"I'm responsible! Leo's responsible," Andi said desperately.
"Hey, don't bring me into this!"
"So, Sensei," Donnie said, turning in his seat as Splinter paced down the room. "Isn't that just… no?"
"Yes," Splinter agreed. "And no. Wisdom comes from experience. And experience comes from making mistakes."
"Ah ha!" Donnie said, in his typical 'eureka' voice. "So in order to gain the wisdom, we have to make the mistakes… So we can go!"
"No," said Splinter.
"And… yes?" Donnie added hopefully.
"No!" their Sensei said, a lot more firmly.
"Aw…" Donnie groaned.
Leo looked from his brother to Splinter. "Sensei… We know you're trying to protect us… But we can't spend our whole lives hiding down here."
Splinter turned away, stroking his beard. When he turned back to his surrogate children, they were all kneeling in front of him, giving him the 'sad puppy' eyes.
He sighed. "You may go. Tonight."
They cheered, the yells of 'YES!' punctuated by Mikey's 'BOOYAKASHA!'
"High three!" Mikey said, holding his hand in the air. His sister and brothers accepted his call, grinning happily.
"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Andi said, her voice a lot higher than usual due to excitement. "I can't wait for tonight!"
'I got my wish!'
Now that there was seriously something to look forward to, the rest of the day was the most boring in Andrea's life. She usually had a solution to this; music.
Andi loved music. Even more than Mikey, and Mikey really liked music. She even found very old records, and sometimes posters down in the sewers. It was strange what you found down here. Her room consisted of pictures of instruments, and ancient looking posters, as well as a record player. Her favorite record was the one that pretty much only said 'Hound Dog' through most of it. She liked most of the songs by that guy (Elvis, right?), but that one was her favorite.
When she was bored, she listened to music, preferably at full blast, partly because it was awesome, and partly because it drowned out her brothers. And it effectively annoyed Raph, which made him a hypocrite, because he had a drum set in his room… Who knew how he'd obtained it. But this time, music just seemed so drab.
So she knew that she was seriously bored when she crouched behind where Leonardo was seated, watching his most favorite show ever: 'Space Heroes'.
She could almost hear the rest of his brain shut down as his entire focus was on the TV screen. Sticking her tongue out in a bored expression, she watched as the ship was bombarded with gunfire.
"Mr. Crankshaw," said the captain guy. "Status report!"
"Status!" another guy said. "I'll give you the status! We're gonna blow up in two seconds!"
"WHOO!" Andi said, fist in the air.
"Shush!" Leo hissed, still fixated on the screen, where the panicking guy was slapped.
"Thank you captain," said the guy who'd been slapped.
"Gentlemen…" the captain began, his words soon being echoed exactly by Leo, who had on fist on his hip, a finger in the air, the same position as the guy on the screen. "I have a bold and daring plan! There's no time for hesitation! My orders must be carried out without question!"
Andi smack a hand over her own mouth, shaking with laughter.
"You know this show is stupid, right?" Raphael had been sitting on the entrance steps, reading a comic book, and he finally spoke up.
"Y-yeah…" Andi agreed, finally able to catch her breath. "Not to mention, are there any girls on this show?"
Leo scowled at both of them. "Space Heroes is a great show. And Captain Ryan is a great hero. Someday, I'm gonna be just like him." He put a hand to his chest, as if taking a vow.
"Well, you do like to hear yourself talk, so you're on your way," said Raph, going back to his comic.
Leo glared at him. "And see, now you're just avoiding my question," said Andi, pointing at her immediate younger brother.
Whatever may have followed was interrupted as Mikey and Donnie ran into the main room. "It's go time!" Mikey announced excitedly.
After collecting their weapons, the five of them stood erect in front of their Sensei as he paced in front of them.
"You are going up into a strange and hostile world," Splinter said sternly. "You must maintain awareness at all times."
'Can't be any more strange than it already is down here,' Andi thought.
"Hai Sensei!" They all turned to leave.
"Stay in the shadows," Splinter added.
"Hai Sensei!" they said again, stepping back into line, then turning back towards the exit.
"Don't talk to strangers," their father said before they could even go a full step.
"Hai Sensei!" Andi knew she wasn't the only one who was starting to tire of this.
"Everyone is a stranger!" Now Splinter was moving onto overprotective mode.
"Hai Sensei…" they said wearily, not even bothering to go back in line. They quickly ran for the exit.
"Make sure you go before you leave!" Splinter said. They all froze, wincing. "The bathrooms up there are filthy!"
"Sensei!" they said exasperatedly.
Splinter sighed. "Good luck my children."
"Psyched!" Andi said excitedly, among her brothers' exclamations of excitement, and they launched themselves over the out of order subway turnstiles.
"Look both ways before crossing the street!"
"I think Sensei is starting to lose it a bit," Mikey said.
"Oh, like you haven't?" Raph pointed out.
"C'mon bros!" Andi called from the front. "Last one out is a tortoise!"
"That's it…" Leo pointed to the manhole cover with his free hand, the other gripping the ladder rungs. "Our entrance to a whole new world."
"Thank you for the introductions, Leonardo," Andi said. "Now could you just move it?"
Leo pushed the cover open a bit, and peered out, before pushing it aside and climbing out, his sister and brothers coming out after him.
"What…?"
Andi could see trash everywhere. Weird drawings covered the buildings, and flies ate the garbage, while some human guy rolled over on a makeshift bed and farted. In the background, horns and sirens blared.
Andrea wasn't quite sure what to think.
"It's so beautiful," Mikey whispered.
First impressions aside, Andi was the second, right after to Leo, to walk out of the alley, and onto the street. She had taken their Sensei's advice at first, and looked both ways before crossing, but she didn't do it again. A.) she was just so excited; there was so much to see! And B.) hey, it was, like, eleven o' clock at night! Who would be out at this hour?
Well, except for them.
"The city is just full of possibility!" Leo said excitedly, soon ahead of all of them. He looked around the alley corner. "There could be an adventure around this corner…"
He looked around the corner of an empty restaurant. "Or this one…" He poked his head into another alley. "Or this one!" A cat meowed and ran off. "There's not, but there could be!" He ran after the rest of his siblings, who had already moved ahead.
"My dear Leonardo," Andi said, arms crossed, looking over her shoulder. "You put so much expectation on the world."
Everyone else had been effectively ignoring Leo, Donnie walking off on his own, Mikey doing hand stands on a street lamp, and Raph was looking for something to stab (presumably).
Donnie suddenly pressed his hands against a glass window. "Look at all the computers!" He gasped. "Is that the next generation cadmium processor with quantum encryption?"
"I don't know, Donatello!" Raph said sarcastically. "Is it?"
Donnie looked back in. "It is!" he exclaimed excitedly.
Andi walked over and spotted the computer he was talking about. It looked exactly like all the others. "Donnie, only you would act the fanboy over a computer." She peered into the store herself, and squealed suddenly.
Raph stared at her. "Is it just me, or did I really just hear you-?"
"A surround sound stereo!" Andi gasped. "Oh, man!" She tapped her finger on the glass. "See, now that is rad!"
"Andi, you have a stereo at home," said Leo, catching up to them.
"Yeah, which I fixed for you, by the way," Donnie said, crossing his arms.
Andi was about to reply, when Mikey called them. "Guys, guys! Check this out!" He pointed to a window, on which a pink hand glowed. He pressed his own hands to the window excitedly. "It's a hand made out of light!"
"It's a neon light, Mikey," Andi said. "Like the ones we have in the kitchen?"
Clearly, her youngest brother hadn't heard her. He gasped as the hand disappeared, and a glowing blue eye illuminated instead. He gasped again. "Now it's an eye made out of light!" Hand. "And the hand again!" Eye. "Now the eye's back! Now the hand!"
"C'mon, genius," Raph said, grabbing his younger brother by the tails of his mask and pulling him back.
"The eye!" Mikey wailed.
"So where to next?" Donnie asked, as Raph dragged Mikey into the middle of the road, where they were all now standing.
No one had a chance to answer as the purr of an engine and the glow of headlights froze them in place. A motorcycle with a human on it stopped right in front of them. The human stared at them. They stared at the human. It was harder to tell who was more startled.
Andi could sense the horror in all her brothers, minus one. Raphael smirked, and leaned forward, wiggling his fingers and growling, a classic monster look on his face. The human yelled in terror, spun his motorcycle around and drove away in a cloud of smoke and squeal of tires.
"Ha!" Raph laughed. "That was kind of fun!"
Leo looked at him irritatedly. "We're too exposed out here." He glanced upwards, and seemed to get an idea. "C'mon!" He ran off.
Apparently, Leo's idea was the rooftops, which Andi thought was pretty awesome. She spread her arms, knees against the edge. "Queen of the world!"
"That was such a sucky movie," Raph said shortly.
Andi glared at him. "DiCaprio is an awesome actor for a human, not to mention a human with a name liked Leonardo, but it doesn't mean that I'm that obsessed with everything he's in."
"Hey!" It was Leo's turn to glare, only at Andi. "There is nothing wrong with my name!"
Andi grinned, and leaned an elbow on her immediate younger brother's shoulder. "Nothing, of course, my dear baby brother, but you do know that Andrea Del Verrocchio was Leonardo Da Vinci's tutor, hm?" She tapped a finger on his plastron. "I. Am. Superior. To you."
Leo scowled, and pushed her away.
"Hey, guys!" Mikey pulled himself onto the roof. He was holding a flat box in his hand. "Check this out!" He set the box on a block on the roof. "This dropped off that dude's bike, I think."
"What is it?" asked Andi, squeezing herself into the circle around the box.
"It has some writing on the top," Donnie pointed out.
Mikey narrowed his eyes. "Pizz-za?" he read carefully.
"Should we open it?" Donnie said nervously.
"I don't know," Andi said slowly. "As far as I know, any poor sucker who opens a mysterious box ends up in something they don't want to be in."
"Then let's open it!" Raph said automatically.
"Carful," Leo warned. "It could be dangerous."
"That's what I said!" Andi snapped.
Raph rolled his eyes, and opened it. In a burst of smoke, the most delicious scent Andi had ever smelled came out. It was a round thing, with red, yellow, and more red stuff on it, cut into triangles. Her mouth started watering, but she was still wary.
"I think it's… food," Donnie said.
"It's not like any food I ever saw," Raph said.
"I'll try it!" Mikey volunteered.
"What?" Andi said incredulously. As much as she had wanted to come out of the sewers, she had at least had a good idea what it would be like. But how did she know this stuff wasn't poisoned? "Are you crazy?"
"Yeah!" Mikey agreed happily, and picked up one of the triangles. Andi, Raph, Leo and Donnie watched tensely as their youngest brother took a bite out of it.
His eyes grew very wide, and Andi almost expected the worst, gripping Donnie's wrist. Mikey's chewing became very loud and rapid, and he made a low sound of satisfaction as he swallowed. He quickly chomped down the rest.
His sister and brothers watched him, shocked, as he burped. That was when he noticed them watching his every move. Andi's mouth was seriously starting to water now, and she could sense the anticipation in the rest of her brothers.
"Uh… yuck!" said Mikey, not convincing anyone. "You won't like it… I'll take the rest!"
"No way!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Yeah, right!"
"Back off!"
Andi just managed to grab a piece, and she took a bite. "Oh, holy hound!" she exclaimed, her mouth full. She quickly downed it. "That's unbelievable!" She grabbed another piece, this time not giving a dang about the loudness of her brothers' chewing.
"I never thought I'd taste anything better than worms and algae, but this is amazing!" said Raph.
"I love it up here!" Mikey shouted.
"I second that motion, Michelangelo!" Andi agreed.
The new form of food had quickly disappeared, and now that they were on the rooftops of New York City, that just opened another world. It was the perfect playground.
"Hey, Leo!" Mikey called from one of the buildings. "I bet I could beat you to that building over there!"
"You're on!"
Andi took a wider route with Donnie and both of them ended up on the building Mikey and Leo were racing to. They both pretended to be waiting for their brothers, and Mikey caught the ledge, and pulled himself up, Leo very close behind him.
"Took you long enough," Donnie said.
"Aw, but we weren't even racing you!" Mikey protested.
"What are you guys, the slowest ninjas in the world?" Raph was way ahead of them.
Eventually, they all ended up on the same building, looking out on the city. Andi breathed in, and out. Man, this felt good!
"Alright, guys," said Leo. "It's getting late… We should probably head back home."
"Awww…" They groaned.
"Who made you the leader?" said Andi, but in truth she was getting rather tired.
"Lame…" said Mikey, and they all turned to go back. Except for Donnie, who gasped.
"Guys!" he said. "Look at that!"
They all turned to see what he was pointing at. A human man, and a younger human girl, probably that man's daughter, both with orange red hair, were walking down the sidewalk below. Donnie was pointing more specifically at the girl.
"That, my dear Donnie, is a girl," Andi said slowly.
Either he heard her, or he didn't. "She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." His voice sounded dreamy.
Andi shot him a look, and her jaw dropped. Donnie looked dreamy!
"Isn't she the only girl you've ever seen?" Raph cut in, and Donnie was abruptly snapped from whatever daydream he was in. Andi shot Raph a look. "Well, except for Andi."
Donnie, glanced at said turtle, who was now watching him with the biggest grin ever. "My point still stands…"
The screech of tires drew all attention back to the ground, where a white van had pulled up suddenly in front of the family.
'Don't need to be genius to figure this out…'
Another human, in a white singlet, and a bunch of other humans in suits exited the van, and accosted the man and girl, who was gripping the man's arm, looking terrified.
Donnie gasped. "We've gotta save them!"
Andi raised her hand. "I second that motion!"
They both were about to move forward, but a hand on each of their shoulders halted them. "Splinter's instructions were very clear," said Leo. "We are supposed to stay away from people… and bathrooms!"
"I thought you wanted to be a hero," Raph snapped. "Since when do heroes ask for permission?"
"They don't," Leo said exasperatedly. "But-"
"Well, I'm going!" Donnie snapped, jumping off the building.
"I don't give a dang about being a hero, Leonardo," said Andi. "But I have principles, and one of them is that bending the rules is necessary when people are being kidnapped! C'mon!" Grabbing the nearest to her by the shell, who happened to be Mikey, Andi jumped off the building after Donnie.
When they reached the bottom, the man had just been tossed into the van by one of the suit guys. "Hey!" Afore mentioned suit guy met Raph's fist.
Andi reached for her kama, about to attack the suit guy who was holding the girl. Her shell suddenly made acquaintance with Raph's feet as he backflipped, accidentally pushing her to the ground.
"Smooth moves, acro-boy!" Andi snapped, yelping suddenly when a fist barely missed her face
She slashed at the legs of the suit guy who'd thrown the punch, flooring him instantly. "Ha!" The pink clad kunoichi aimed the hilt of one of her weapons at the guy's face, but was startled by a hit to the side of her head. She managed to roll and land on her feet, and saw Donnie looking at her in surprise.
"Watch it, Donatello!" she snapped.
Donnie didn't reply as he drove his staff into his opponent's stomach. Andi turned back to her own opponent, of which, there were now two.
"Twins, hm?" she said. "Will it work out if I just hurt one of you?"
She darted forward, dodged their fists, and aimed the hilt of one of her kama at the right guy, while aiming a kick at the head of the left. The left one stumbled back, but the right caught her by the wrist.
"Ow! Seriously!" She kicked the guy's ribcage with one of her legs, managing to wrap her other leg around his knees, and flooring him (possibly a second time, if it was the same guy). "It's not nice to grab a girl!"
Andi spun around quickly to face some more suit guys, slashing her kama. A yelp caused her to look to her right. Mikey was crouching down, blocking one of her weapons with his nunchuck chain.
"Woah, watch what you're doing with those things!"
"Sorry, Mike!" She turned back to her opponents, and was met by a foot to the plastron. She fell back, gasping. "Hokay… Not hitting females is not exactly a part of your basic principles, I see…"
She quickly got her breath back, and jumped, doing a fancy acrobatic flip in the air, over the two suit guys. "Man, do you guys ever go down?" Slowly backing up, she bumped into something, and automatically turned, kama coming down in a dangerous arc, and clanging against metal.
"Could you please stop trying to kill me?" Leo snapped irritably, katanas crossed and making a big difference between life and death, or at least an extremely painful chest.
"You too, huh?" she said, glad that she wasn't the only one who had almost been killed by her own siblings. Unhooking her kama, she turned back.
Raphael was seriously having his own troubles, and a few more suit guys were heading his way.
'You people are an extremely inbred family.'
She darted forward, rolled in between two of the guys, turned, still crouched, swept their legs from under them, and raised her weapons to smash the hilts into the chests. Andi was very startled when, with a neat, metal schink, something hooked onto her kama blades.
Instantly, she was flipped over onto the ground, and she blocked the extremely painful hilts of Raph's sai.
"Andi!" Raph yelled, sounding a little surprised.
She broke the block and pushed him in the chest.
Getting to her feet, Andi just saw Donnie catching the girl, who had been thrown into the air somehow. They looked at each other. The girl screamed. Donnie screamed. Donnie dropped her. The scene would have been absolutely hilarious, if it weren't for the situation. Andi didn't get to see much else, because a foot was planted painfully on her chest, and yet another one of the suit guys was staring down at her, totally dead panned.
"Ugh!" Very irritated, Andi hit his legs with her wrist. He didn't give. "What is wrong with you guys? You on steroids or something?" Suddenly, he stepped away, running towards the van. Gasping slightly, Andi got to her feet. The van sped away.
"They're getting away!" Donnie shouted, first to run after it. "They've got the girl!"
'And her father, Donnie!'
Raph, Leo and Andi followed close behind.
"You just jabbed me with your swords!" Raph was shouting at Leo.
"Well, I didn't know you were going to land where I was stabbing!" Leo retorted.
No dice on catching the van. Donnie was really disappointed about it.
"We have to save her- them!" he shouted at his siblings as they walked back.
"Yeah, but yelling at us is not gonna save them," Andi replied wearily.
"Hey…" said Leo. "Where's Mikey?"
"Guys! Guys!" Speak of the devil… Mikey ran up to them, looking absolutely panicked. "You're never gonna believe it! That dude…!" He pointed to some obscure alley. "He…! He-he… had a brain!"
They stared at him.
"We all have brains, Mikey," Leo said, irritation clear in his voice.
"Not all of us," Donnie pointed out.
"In our chests?" their youngest brother shouted, pointing to his own chest.
"No, Mikey," Leo said slowly. "Not in our chests."
Mikey glared at his oldest brother. "You're not listening to me!" He got a slap to the face, and his hands moved into an automatic defensive position. His eyes narrowed. "Did you just slap me?"
"I was calming you down," said Leo, his voice sounding like 'well, duh'.
"You've been watching too much Space Heroes, I'm telling you," Andi said, shaking her head.
"Why would that calm me down?" Mikey shouted.
"I think he's delusional," said Donnie.
"Just-just… c'mere!" Mikey said desperately, walking towards an alley. "I'm telling you, this dude was a robot, and he had a freaky weird alien brain thing in his chest!"
Andi sighed, and followed her brothers, who had already started following Mikey.
"You've gotta believe me," Mikey said, still sounding desperate.
"I'm not sure we do," Raph said honestly.
"Oh, yeah!" Mikey pointed into the alley. "Well, you'll change your tune when you see that he's…" He broke off.
Andi and her brothers peered into the empty alley.
"Gone?" Mikey turned to his older siblings. Shaking their heads, his brothers turned, and walked away.
"Are you sure you're alright, Michelangelo?" Andi asked, following her brothers, looking over her shoulder at Mikey's dejected form. She faltered as Mikey gave her the heart wrenching 'kicked a puppy' face.
"So your inability to work together allowed them all to get away?" Splinter asked sharply.
They were back home. In the dojo. With Splinter. Whom they told what had happened. Getting chewed out.
"With all due respect, Sensei," Andrea said, looking up from her kneeling position. "I probably would have done something effective, if someone…" She turned to her left, where Raph was kneeling, glaring furiously. "…hadn't kicked me in the back."
"Well, maybe if I hadn't wasted time arguing with hero boy…" Raph glared at Leo. "…I could've saved them!"
Leo glared right back. "Hey, if you hadn't gotten in my way, I could've done it!" He turned his glare to Donatello. "And you went flying off on your own! How smart was that?"
Donnie maintained a bit of dignity. "Well, it would've worked out great…" Then he glared at Mikey. "…if somebody hadn't hit me in the head with their nunchucks!"
Mikey hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Well… none of this would've happened if…" He turned to his left, and paused, seeing no one there. "…somebody hadn't trusted us to go up there in the first place!"
They all gasped, looking up at their Sensei, who'd stopped his pacing abruptly.
"Oh, geez…" Mikey rubbed his head nervously. "Sensei, I didn't mean to…"
"No, Michelangelo," Master Splinter said slowly. "You are right."
"I am?" said Mikey.
"He is?" Andi and her brothers echoed.
'I knew it… Our Sensei's finally lost it.'
"You were not fully prepared for what was up there," Splinter continued, resuming his pacing. "I trained you to fight as individuals, not as a team. And as your teacher, your father, the responsibility for that is mine. Perhaps, in another year, we can try again."
'What!'
Andi didn't say what she was thinking aloud, looking at her knee pads sheepishly. However, the one who did speak up was actually Donnie.
"Wh- Another year?" Donnie exclaimed.
Andi stared at him, then up at their Sensei, who'd turned his red auburn eyes to Donnie. 'That's your grave, Donatello.'
"Has everyone forgotten that people were kidnapped?" Donnie demanded, looking at his siblings. "They don't have a year!"
Andi's golden hazel eyes widened slightly. She'd almost forgotten about the girl and her father.
"Sensei," Donnie said, turning to Splinter. "We have to do something now!"
Splinter narrowed his eyes.
"You weren't there, Sensei," Donnie said desperately. "You didn't see the way that girl looked into my eyes. She was scared. And-and she was counting on me-" They shot him a sharp look. "-on us, to save her!" He recovered on the last bit, and Andi couldn't help rolling her eyes slightly.
Their Sensei looked beyond them, and Andi had a feeling he wasn't looking towards the kitchen. He turned, and stared at what Andi called his 'memory shrine'. It was a shelf, and all that was on it was a single picture of a human man, a woman, the woman holding a baby.
That man was Splinter. The woman was his former wife, Teng Shen. The baby was his deceased daughter, Miwa. He'd told them the story of their deaths once before, but it stuck out vividly in Andi's mind, as if she herself were stuck in the flames… There were happier moments that he would speak of, but when he spoke of Miwa, his gaze would eventually turn to Andrea, and his expression would become sad.
It sort of hurt Andi. If Miwa were still alive now, as far as she knew she would be only a little older than her. And Andi did not want to cause Splinter pain if she reminded him of his deceased Miwa.
Andi didn't want to be a replacement.
"Yes," Splinter said finally, snapping Andi out of her thoughts. He turned back to his children. "You must save her."
"I agree, Sensei," Leo said automatically. "But in that fight, we weren't exactly a well oiled machine."
"Like that robot with the brain thing," said Mikey. Andi peered at him, slightly concernedly.
"Give it a rest," Raph groaned.
"Hm…" They all turned their faces back to Splinter, who was stroking his beard. "If you are to fight more effectively as a unit, you are going to need a leader."
"Can I be the leader?" Leo asked eagerly, raising his hand as though in preschool.
Andi scoffed slightly. "Oh, Leonardo, my dear baby brother, that is just too cute. But as the oldest, and as the only girl, I think I ought to be the leader."
"Why should either of you get to be the leader?" Raph demanded, looking between them. "I kicked both your butts, I should be the leader."
"Hey, I'm smarter than all of you guys put together, it should be me!" Donnie said, crossing his arms.
"No way! It should be me!" They all stared at Mikey. "I don't really have a reason," he said, grinning. "I just think it would be me."
"This is a difficult decision," Splinter said, stepping into his room. "I will meditate on it." He closed his door for two seconds. "It's Leonardo." And retreated back into his room.
Andi gave a small, genuine, 'aww…' of disappointment, while Raph glared at the ground.
"No hard feelings, Raph?" said Leo.
Raph growled, standing up and stalking away. "Just stick it in your shell!"
"Raphael…!" Andi called, but he was already gone. She looked at Leo, who was also now looking at her with concern. She made herself smile a bit, and pat him on the shell. "Good job, Leonardo," she said, before standing and walking away, feeling only a little dejected.
'Eh… Leading's a big pressure anyway. At least I don't have to play big sis much anymore… Goodness, don't do anything stupid, Leo, please…'
They had gone back the very next night. Leo's first plan as official team leader; stakeout time.
"But… Leo… stakeouts are boring," Raph had said.
"Yeah, but I'm the leader."
Andi had later approached him. "You like playing the ranking card, don't you?"
"That was my first time, and seeing as it actually shut him up for a bit, yeah."
That had been awhile ago, and nothing had happened yet.
"Explain to me again what we're doing here," Mikey whispered, sitting on the building ledge.
They all groaned. 'Five millionth time! Not exaggerating! Ok, maybe a little…'
"Mikey, we've been over this," Leo said exasperatedly. "That building has the same logo as the van that was used to kidnap the family, so, if we wait here long enough, one of the kidnappers will eventually show his face."
"Eventually," Andi said, hanging one leg off the building.
"And when he does," Leo said, ignoring her. "We'll make him tell us where he took them." He punched a fist into his palm.
"Then we've got ourselves a van!" Mikey said, fist in the air.
Leo face palmed. "Just hit the guy I tell you to," he said exasperatedly.
"Will do!" Mikey gave a thumbs up.
"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Raph asked skeptically.
"Trust me," Leo said confidently. "They'll be here any second."
Andi rolled her eyes. 'And that's how you know we're gonna be here for a couple hours.'
Andrea sat shell to shell with Raphael on the rooftop billboard, while Donnie and Mikey played table football, watching Leo, who was still standing on the building ledge as he had been at the beginning of the stakeout, with half closed eyes.
"How does he stand there for so long?" Andi said.
"He's a stiff necked jerk," Raph replied shortly.
Andi narrowed her eyes, not exactly approving the bad temper. Teasing was one thing, insulting was another. "Maybe he's fallen asleep while standing," she suggested, pretending she hadn't heard.
She felt Raphael straighten a bit, and could sense him grinning. "Push him a little."
"Hm?"
"Freak him out."
"Well, ok…" Andi hadn't done the freaking out thing for awhile, not since she'd traumatized Mikey at age twelve, and Splinter'd had a very long lecture especially for her. She stepped stealthily towards her younger brother, reaching out to poke his shell.
"I have general principles against hitting girls, but my sister doesn't count."
Andi tripped backwards, clutching her chest, eyes wide. 'Holy-hound-heart-attack!'
Where had Donnie even packed a jump rope? Andi didn't know, but it was amusing to watch. Leo was still standing on the ledge, Mikey was taking a nap, and Raph was being unpleasant to be around. Not like that was anything new.
"Woah!" Donnie tripped, and tangled himself in the jump rope.
Andi clapped her hands lightly, a very wide grin on her face. "Encore, encore."
"Ok…" Mikey said, back to back with Donnie. "I'm thinking of something green. Green. Green. Greeeeeennn."
Andi sat on the billboard, sticking her tongue out in her typical bored expression. 'And the word 'green' has officially lost it's meaning.'
"Is it Raphael again?" Donnie mumbled. Mentioned brother was still unpleasant to be around.
"Man, you're good at this!"
Andi was exhausted, bored, and irritated. Sitting next to Mikey on the billboard, she watched as Raph approached Leonardo.
"Give it up already!" the former groaned. "The guy's not gonna show."
"We have to be patient," Leo said.
"No," Raph said shortly. "You have to come up with a better plan."
Andi jumped down from the billboard. "Leo, for once I agree with Raph. We're bored and exhausted, and we haven't even done anything!"
"Yeah," said Raph, turning from her to back to Leo. "Cause the five of us here with our thumbs up our noses…"
Mikey examined his thumbs. "I don't think they'd fit."
"Is pointless!" Raph finished.
"You sure about that, Raph." Leo sounded infuriatingly smug.
"He just showed up didn't he?" Raph looked towards the building with Donnie, Mikey and Andi, where a very familiar white van had pulled up. "I should've complained two hours ago."
"Phew, finally," Andi said, desperate for some action, watching the guy who was the only one not wearing a suit last night, and actually looked unique, exited the van.
"Gentlemen…" She stiffened at Leo's voice. "…and lady… I have a bold and daring plan!"
'Oh, he could not possibly…'
"There's no time for hesitation!"
'He is.'
"My orders must be carried out, without question!"
His speech finished, Leo opened his eyes to see only his sister standing next to him grinning widely. "Guys? Guys, wait up!"
He dropped down the fire escape. "Don't give up, your leaderness," Andi called down. "They'll listen to you eventually." She jumped down after him, and both soon caught up to their siblings. They surrounded the van slowly, and the guy gasped when he saw them.
"Alright, buddy," said Raph. "We could do this the easy way, or, my vote, the hard way." He drew his sai. The rest of his siblings followed suit, drawing their weapons.
"Yeah, look at it logically," said Donnie, the last word seriously making his words lack the threatening umph. "There are five of us, and one of you." He chuckled. "What are you gonna do?"
Answer: gun.
Andi yelped, dodging a sudden laser blast from a gun the guy had just pulled. They all jumped to the building fire escape. The guy grinned, climbed into the van, and drove away.
"You had to ask!" Raph snapped at Donnie, and they ran after him.
"Where'd he get that gun?" Andi shouted.
"Toys R Us?" Mikey suggested.
The van turned a corner. "He's getting away again!" Donnie yelled.
"No, he's not," Leo said defiantly. He climbed the nearest building his team following close behind as they jumped the buildings, able to keep the van in sight from up there. At one point, Raph jumped down a fire escape, and on top of the van. Not for long, as the guy jerked the wheel, and Raph was sent careening into a wall.
"Raphael!" Andi shouted, somersaulting off the building, and landing next to him. Raph groaned, and Andi pulled him from his upside down position.
"Ugh, that was stupid…"
"Only because you admit it, I'm not going to slap you."
Helping her brother to his feet, Andi narrowed her eyes, searching for any sign of her other brothers. "Dang it, where'd they go?" She glared at Raph, and punched him on the shoulder.
"Ow! Hey, you said you wouldn't slap me!"
"That was for making me lose the rest of them, not for being stupid, and that was a punch, not a slap. Don't be so wimpy." Andrea frowned. "We need to find the others."
A loud, drawn out honking from a couple blocks away startled her, and Raph smirked. "I'd say that's a good start."
They did find Leo, Donnie and Mikey, who were leaning against a building wall, the smoke betraying the wreckage of the van. Leo did a bunch of obscure hand signals, and Andi curled her lip slightly in bewildered confusion.
"I. Don't. Know. What. That… Means!" Raph hissed, making equally obscure motions with his arms.
"Go around back!" Leo whispered, his voice clearly saying 'duh!'
"Why didn't he just say so?" Mikey wondered.
They surrounded the van, moving slowly and cautiously towards the back of the vehicle, weapons drawn and senses alert. A lot of empty boxes were spilling out of the back.
"Someone needs to sue their shipping company," Andi commented wryly.
Raph opened the back door that wasn't hanging off it's hinges, and gasped when a canister rolled out, and stopped at Mikey's feet.
The canister held a glowing, green substance.
"Mom?" Mikey gasped.
A/N HardyGal: This is what boredom does to me. I just had to make this. So… do you like Andrea yet? Like all of my OCs I insert into a canon storyline, I seriously go painfully out of my way to make it so he/she doesn't steal any canon or major roles or lines. Or any roles or lines for that matter. So… yeah.
I personally like how Andi turned out. She's the oldest, and rather patronizing, but she is still reasonably encouraging in her own way. By the way, I imagine her skin to be a sort of spring green, a bit lighter than Mikey's I guess. I can't wait to write the next chapter! And- HOLY ON HIGH THAT IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER I HAVE EVER WRITTEN!
Up next, the turtles find out more behind their mutation.