Disclaimer: I do NOT own TMNT (teenage mutant ninja turtles)!
One Purpose
Chapter 2
"DONNIE!" Raphael shouted "You better hurry up!"
Donatello had been able to pinpoint the toxic and now hurriedly was making the antidote "I'm working as fast as I can!" He shouted back as he poured the last of the mixture into another glass tube with shaking hands and put it in the oven.
"Well work harder, or else she isn't going to make it!" Raph yelled.
Ignoring his elder brother shouting from the living-room, Donatello focused on the matter at hand "I can't belief she is alive to begin with…" He muttered looking at the results he found in the toxin.
"What do you mean?" April questioned, looking at him worriedly.
He turned to look at her as he explained "Well, whatever it is that attacked you, the toxins in the spines could have killed an elephant with only one - she should already be dead"
April felt a pang of guilt and looked to the ground. If only she was able to do more…
Seeing her the guilt on her face, Donnie quickly tried to cheer her up in a panic kind of manner "But she might have some immunity to it already, so that would explain that~! Hahaha!"
The timer on the oven dinged and he quickly put the antidote into the centrifuge – while Raphael shouting for them to hurry the shell up – and hastily ran to the living-room to find his brothers and master hovering over the pale looking girl.
April followed behind him as Donatello bend over to inject her with the antidote.
"Her breath is so shallow" April commented as she observed the girl. She could barely see Mai's chest move "I hope it's not too late…"
In order to tend to her wounded arm, they had to remove the denim jacket, and as they had done so, they discovered that in the jacket there were weights – they weren't too heavy for the material to ever rip, but it was heavier than any normal jacket would be…
And though many of the spines penetrated the flesh of her right arm, most were stopped by even more weights strapped around both her upper and lower arm.
Raphael had also removed the belt that was strapped around her waist to make breathing more easy for her, discovering a small compact little bag on her back and the knife.
Without all the material covering her and now lying in brought light, they all could clearly see her and all the scars she had.
They were really old, fainted with time and would barely be visible in the dark. But Raphael could see them now and wondered where they came from.
"She is strong, both in body and in spirit" Splinter said, answering April, but putting his hand on Raphael's shoulder who hadn't blinked until that moment. The teen looked over his shoulder, up to his father. He was still holding her left hand with which she touched his face.
"She will heal, but it will take time" Splinter reassured him.
"Hai, sensei" Raphael replied and looked back to her face.
After a moment of silence, the girl's slight color returned and sighed, finally breathing normally.
She was still wearing her sunglasses and Raphael wondered if it was okay for him to take them off so he could fully see her sleeping face, hoping she would look peaceful.
"April, do you want us to take you home?" Leo asked, now that the danger for the girl was over, they could concern themselves with their friend.
"Are you kidding?" April asked, almost shocked "She saved my life, I'm going to stay here so I can help her get better"
"But what about school?" Donnie asked.
"I can call in sick" She said with determination "it wouldn't be a first"
"Well, if that's what you want April" Leo said, shrugging and looking at his Master who simply nodded the permission.
"Hey guys, look at this!" Mikey suddenly exclaimed and they all turned to see him open the hockey stick bag, revealing a huge Katana in its glossy black sheath.
There was an audible 'wow' coming from all the teens as Michelangelo removed the bag surrounding the katana entirely.
"That thing is huge! How could someone fight with a thing like that?" Leonardo asked in wonder as he jumped to stand next to Michelangelo to admire the huge sword.
"Michelangelo, Leonardo, put that sword back immediately!" Splinter ordered, his voice stern.
"But sensei, we just,-" Leo began, but was cut off.
"A samurai's Katana is no toy, you do not simply take it and drool over it without the proper respect to its owner." Splinter said gravely to all of his students, a slight scowl dragging over his features.
"Huh, what?" Mikey blinked in confusion.
Splinter sighed deeply "In other words, you don't touch someone else's property without permission"
"oh" Mikey said, zipping the Katana back into the hockey stick bag.
"Yeah, besides," Raphael said darkly, standing up and fisting his hands, his anger boiling "Shouldn't we be looking for the monster who did this?" And he gestured to Mai "I say, let's find the creep and smash its face so hard it doesn't even know what hit him!"
"I can stay here and take care of her while you go," April offered.
The three other brothers looked at each other for a moment.
"Let's go then" Leo said, a confident smile on his face.
As they left, Raphael glanced over to the girl, silently promising that he would pound the creep to the next dimension for what he did to her.
He thought he did so unnoticed, but his father wasn't blind nor a fool. Seeing his second eldest son leave, he stroked his long thin beard thoughtfully.
Feeling how warm the girl's forehead was with the back of her hand, April refreshed the bowl of water, getting a cloth, she laid the wet material on the girl's forehead. Hoping it would help a little.
"Where do you think she came from, Master splinter?" April asked, interrupting the rat-man's thoughts.
He looked at her "It doesn't matter where she came from, April. The important thing is that where she is now"
"Huh?" April looked at him questioningly "What do you mean by that?"
Splinter sighed, putting his hands behind his back "What I mean to say is, that at this very moment, it doesn't matter who or what she is or where she came from, but that we should be thankful for her presence today, if not, it might have been you lying on this couch."
April frowned and then looked at the hairy rat face "So, what you are saying is, that we should consider us lucky that she is here?"
"Yes," Splinter replied and looked at the sleeping girl. Her color had now fully returned and her breathing was steadying out "And perhaps it is very lucky she found us as well…"
"Master Splinter…" April begun looking at her hands.
He turned his attention to April again, cocking a brow "Yes?"
"I don't know…" April sighed, her face contorted between angst and worry. She felt her guilt rising up "I was just thinking that, with all the scares she has…she must have fought for her life many times right?"
Splinter smiled somewhat gingerly "Your concern is not only of that of this girl, now is it April?" Splinter touched her shoulder lightly with his hand "If your concern is about how much you are willing to go in a fight, the choice is always yours. There is always a way to choose flight instead of fight, even if it seems hopeless" He straightened up again and gestured to the girl "The scares she bears are the choices she made to stay and fight -whether they were wise or not. Like the new scares she will have now for saving you, is a choice all of her own"
"I understand" April bowed her head slightly. Feeling a bit better now "Thank you, Master Splinter"
"So, do you like her or what?" Leonardo asked Raphael as they followed the traces of what Mikey had named 'Toxic-Stinger' through the filthy dark alleys.
"What?!" Raph snapped and tried repressing his blush, failing miserably "NO! of course not!"
"Looks like someone has a crush on samurai girl" Michelangelo teased, getting hit over the head by Raphael's fist who was breathing rapidly in anger.
"SHUT UP MIKEY!" He growled angrily "So what if I like her?! Go ahead and make fun of it while I go find that thing that almost killed her!" He all but shouted stomping off into the direction which indicated the mutant had gone.
Leo easily caught up with him "We are not going to make fun of you for liking her,"
"We're not?" Both Donnie and Mikey questioned in unison.
"No, we aren't," Leo scowled them and turned his attention back to his angry younger brother, laying his hand on his shoulder so they stopped walking "Just because you always act childish and annoying about these things, doesn't mean we would do the same…in fact, we are happy for you," He looked over his shoulder to the other two "Right guys?"
They nodded rapidly, smiling extravagantly.
Raphael was still skeptic of his brothers blind acceptance and promise of the 'non-teasing-treatment' "But why would you? I mean, I'm always giving you guys such a hard time"
"Nah," Donatello shrugged, stepping forward "we all know you are just a big softy on the inside, Raph"
Michelangelo happily scattered his attention elsewhere as his brothers indulged in conversation, suddenly noticing something lurking in the shadows.
Tapping Raphael on the shoulder "…guys…" He tried, but was ignored.
"I'm NOT a softy!"
The creature appeared to have been crouching and grew taller in the shadows "Guys!"
"Yeah, yeah, we all know you are tough, Raph"
"GUYSSSSS!"
"What Mikey?!" The three asked with slight annoyance to their little brother.
Mikey stepped behind them to cower as he pointed behind his brothers backs "Look!" he squeaked "It's Toxic-Stinger!"
They turned to look behind them just as the creature roared at them.
They came home, beaten and battered. They were lucky that none of them got stung by one of the toxic spines shooting from the creatures tail. As Donatello had pointed out, Toxic-Stinger had apparently been some hedgehog who had fused with some thrown away blowfish.
It had chased them all over the place, beating them up in the process and almost badly injuring Michelangelo. The thing had been crazy fast.
"Guys!" April exclaimed, running toward them as they entered the lair "Are you all alright?!"
"We're fine, April" Leonardo mumbled painfully, wincing as he walked over to the couch and sat down.
"Fine?! We're FINE?!" Donnie shrieked in a mild form of hysteria "That thing almost killed us, Le-o! How are we fine?!"
Raphael was supporting Mikey and brought him to sit on a beanbag who was muttering an 'ow, ow, owww' quietly.
"Calm down, Donnie," Leonardo replied in an overly tired voice "We made it home safe, that's what counts"
Donatello grumbled, but let it go.
"Yeah, but Toxic-Stinger is really dangerous, Leo. What if it hurts somebody?" Michelangelo questioned worriedly. He was naturally worried about the potential human friends he had yet to meet.
"We'll think of something tomorrow, Mikey. But right now we need some rest" Leo said and eyed Raph who had walked over to the girl on the opposite side of the couch and sat down in front of her. Raphael was naturally tougher than they were, even if his wounds would have been greater, it didn't affect him as much as it would them.
And yet he looked more battered then them at this moment.
Very gently, Raphael took her left hand in his, her hand so much smaller than his since she was human.
April who had been helping his brothers mend their wounds, came to do the same for Raphael. Her eyes looked worried as she observed the often sarcastic and hard looking turtle being so broken.
"She is going to be fine" April whispered gingerly, as she sat down next to him on the floor and opened the first-aid-kit "Here, lets clean up those wounds"
Accepting April's help to clean out and bandage the fairly deep gashes, Raphael continued to watch Mai sleep.
He was a little relieved to see her look better than she did before he left, but he was mad at himself for failing his promise, for failing his brothers.
Master splinter appeared a short while later, just as April finished tying the last bandage around his arm.
They told him what happened, his advice being the same as Leo's. Rest now, fight tomorrow.
After a few more moments discussing the problem and 'resting', they retired to their rooms to sleep – April sleeping in the guest room they had created for her when she first needed a place to stay – until only he and Leo were left.
"You okay, Raph?" Leo asked. He had been standing ready to leave to go to his own room, but stood nailed to floor as he worried about his younger sibling.
Raph sighed. "Yeah" He stood, knowing Leo wouldn't leave him alone until he gave any sign that he would return to his room too "what a day, though"
Leo walked over to his brother, laying a hand on Raph's shoulder. Raphael looked over his shoulder, seeing his elder brothers soft smile "We'll get him next time" Leo said quietly.
Finally, at that thought, the corners of Raph's mouth turned upward "Next time"
Morning came.
And so did utter soreness. All four awoke more broken then healed, though they were used to getting pummeled and pushed to the very limit, they might need a little bit more time before they could go after Toxic-Stinger that day.
So when they gathered in the living room to find the couch empty, they stared with wide eyes and open mouths at the girl doing one armed push-ups with her bandaged arm.
Sweat creased her brow as she was counting the times she went down to face the floor and up again, her right arm shaking with the effort it took while it was being brutally abused by its owner. The white of the bandages had turned crimson, a sign her wounds had opened up once more.
April appeared behind them, yawning a "Good morning…"
At the lack of response from the turtles, April looked passed them to see what they were staring at "What's going on?" She asked before she also witnessed the girl in the middle of the room.
April too fell silent.
None of them knew what to say as they watched her. Some of them thought of stopping her, to tell her she must rest. But how do you approach someone who looked so…so…focused and determined?
At the moment Leo suggested someone stopped her due to the blood trickling down her arm, the girl finished her push-ups and pushed herself up right, stretching her arms.
"Ohayō" Mai greeted them good morning. She turned her head in the direction of the turtles and the single human girl standing next to them "April was it?" She asked, her Japanese accent softly caressing each word she spoke.
April blinked, surprised "Y-yeah" She looked at her friends and back to the girl "Are you alright? Your arm…"
"It'll be fine" The girl turned her body fully to them and bowed "Thank you. All of you"
"No problem" Leo said, bowing back to mimic her formality.
"Yeah, thanks for saving April" Donatello thanked, bowing as well and dragging Mikey down with him into his bow.
April bowed too.
Raphael stood frozen.
He hadn't anticipated this.
He had thought she would still be lying down unconscious on the couch, where he could idle over her, preparing himself mentally and emotionally to talk to her.
Leo straightened up, followed by the others and smiled apologetically to her "And we are sorry for being so rude to you on the roof the other time, it's just that we have to be careful who we trust"
Mai raised her hand to stop any further apologies "I can relate to such a thing, the world is indeed a dangerous place" her lips softly twitching up in an understanding smile.
She sighed, letting her hand slip back to her side "Sadly, it seems it becomes more dangerous every day"
"Yeah tell me about it!" Mikey complained loudly "All those mutants, alien robots and the foot…oh! And don't forget the purples dragons!"
"Really? You're keeping the purples dragons as the worst of them?" Donnie questioned his little brothers sanity.
"The Foot?" Mai asked in a low tone, dragging their full attention back to her – even unfreezing Raph for the moment "What do you know about them?"
Author Comments:
Yellow my lovely's!
UPDATE: Now if you are reading (or rereading the story because of me taking too long to post a new chapter - so, so, sorry) this, it means you are reading my rewritten version of the story (well, rewritten is a big word, more like 'corrected' version) One Purpose.
I am at a stage where I am going to TRY and correct all my mistakes and horrible grammar/spelling in the story, so bear with me for a little while...^^;
So I am busy cleaning the story, if you will, all the way to chapter 12 - after that, I will upload chapter 13 ;)
Anyway, as always, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter so far, let me know what you think and I hope you will also enjoy the rest.
Lots of love,
Siaanna
