Ch. 2 Cryptid Central
Saya smiled happily as she played with the pet shop's three young ferrets in their plexiglass enclosure. She picked up the smallest female by the scruff of its neck giggling when it yawned sweetly. She crooned at the little creature for another moment before setting it back in its habitat and joining her sister behind the register. Miss Jun was giving a quick summary of the days transactions thus far and also assuring herself that the girls had finished their homework before coming down to take over the shop for the next few hours. When she seemed satisfied with everything the kindly woman smiled before dashing out of the store to get some grocery shopping done and promising the girls homemade soup for dinner.
The girl chatted idly as they went about their tasks for the remainder of the day, taking turns ringing up and otherwise assisting customers. Miss Jun's store, Pet Palace, was modest but had garnered a steady stream of loyal customers over its years in business and time passed quickly. By 9:15p.m. the store's chores were finished and the girls switched off all the downstairs lights and locked the door flipping the closed sign as the turned to ascend the stairs.
When they opened the door of their small apartment appreciative smiles curled at their lips. As promised Miss Jun had left two large containers of homemade wonton soup on the kitchen counter. The girls simultaneously tossed their work aprons in the corner of the room scooping up their individual containers and a pair of chopsticks each before plopping on their abused couch and inhaling the rich broth and meaty wontons.
"So," Karina mumbled between bites of a particularly large dumpling. "what's the plan tonight?" Saya hummed thoughtfully and gulped down a large swallow of the flavorful broth before answering.
"I think tonight we step it up a notch." Saya could feel Karina's eager grin without ever glancing up from her dinner. "Canvasing the city has helped us get a lay of the land, but it could take months to find the Foot at this rate. I say tonight we tail some of those Purple Dragon thugs. If I know the Shredder he will have stuck his miserable claws into their... 'business ventures.'"
"They definitely seem to be a prominent gang in this area. If Shredder is around this area he is definitely using them by now." Karina nodded in agreement as she stood and carried the empty containers to the sink. She rinsed them out along with their cereal bowls from the mornings rushed breakfast, listening with one ear as Saya turned on the television and flipped through local news stations looking for any new leads.
By the time Karina put the dishes away Sayah had already wandered into their shared bedroom and was studying the map of the city that covered one of the otherwise barren walls. The simple map had evolved into a collage of multicolored pushpins and strands of yarn that the two of them were using in an attempt to connect the major happenings of possible shinobi activity in the city since their arrival. There were purple and red pins that clearly respectively denoted confirmed Purple Dragon and Foot Clan related incidents as well as the more troubling yellow pins. Those represented the areas where some unknown third party had been involved. For instance, the TCRI science building that had exploded apparently as the result of what the media described as a faultless "underground gas leak" a few nights ago. That night they had been on the opposite side of the city and had only felt the earthshaking explosion and watched the column of smoke rising above the city skyline. In the hour it took them to cross the sprawling city blocks, a group of suits in white unmarked vans were scavenging through the wreckage and removing bits and pieces of smoldering technology that neither of the sisters could identity off the top of their heads.
"This should be a good place to start." Saya noted with confidence as she tapped her index finger softly against the head of a purple pushpin that was situation in what they approximated to be the center of the Purple Dragon's territory. Karina nodded in agreement and walked to her small closet where she began digging towards the back to retrieve her carefully stashed kunoichi attire. By the time she had stripped down and had begun to pull on her fishnet leggings, Saya was already shimmying into her own modified catsuit. When both girls had their outfits in place Karina sat on the edge of the bed and waited for Saya who immediately went to work taming her sisters long locks into the intricate yet traditional braid that fell past the girl's hips. In seconds the final ribbon was tied at the base of Karina's neck and the two girls methodically began attaching their personal bits of armor and weaponry with sure hands that had gone through these motions countless time.
The minutes passed in comfortable silence until at last Karina was checking the small quiver of arrows attached to her thigh as Saya slid her razor sharp neko-te on slender fingers. With barely imperceptible nods the girls slipped out the window and silently ascended the fire escape perching like felines on the quiet rooftop. The autumn breeze blew softly as the two took in the ever present hazy glow that outlined the city skyline as the sun dipped completely below the horizon and dusk settled. Saya adjusted the neoprene mask that covered her nose and mouth until she was satisfied with the fit before extending her clawed hand and pointing to the south. No words were exchanged as the girls took that first leap, sailing through the air for just a heartbeat before landing on an adjacent rooftop rolling to absorb the potentially bone jarring impact and recovering to their feet in one fluid movement. They fell into step swiftly crossing this rooftop before scaling the side of the next, slightly taller building. The two continued on this way for several blocks landing, rolling, and leaping in perfect synch their years of training side by side showing in ever subtle flex of their muscles.
Time passed comfortably as the girls soared across the rooftops of China Town until a sudden scream pierced the night air causing both girls to drop into defensive crouches ears straining to locate the source of cry. In retrospect, the scream hadn't quite sounded fearful and had honestly been more of a exasperated shout than a shriek of terror or pain. Still, better to err on the side of caution. The two exchanged sidelong glances before Karina gestured to the left with her short bow. Saya nodded in accord and both girls melted into the shadows before advancing soundlessly in the direction of the grand Dragon Gate. As the ornate archway came into view the girls found themselves crouched beneath a nearby rooftop water tower incredulous eyes transfixed on the four figures standing across the way.
Karina's exposed mouth was slightly ajar and Saya's eyebrows were furrowed in disbelief. Karina blinked slowly before snapping her jaw shut wide eyes still hypnotized by the two figures balancing on one of the thick cables that connected the Dragon Gate to a building across the empty street. The two girls were sure their eyes could not get any wider until one of the figures drew one of the twin blades from a sheath strapped to its back...er shell.
"Katana?" Saya murmured taking in the steel as it glinted beneath the halogen street lights.
"Turtles!" Karina whispered the word harshly both positive but thunderstruck by the observation. Both girls made muted choking sounds in their throats as one of the bi-pedal humanoid turtle began to speak. They gazed on in unabashed wonder as the four creatures proceeded with an unorthodox game that appeared to be a mix of king of the mountain and chicken fighting. The girls were equal parts impressed by the quick and obviously well trained movements and confused by how disharmonious the supposed training exercise was going. It was obvious the creature with the katana was the leader of the group but his frustration was evident and the girls could only guess he was less than pleased by the unorthodox methods his fellow ninja had used to cross the street. Soft gasps escaped twin lips as the girls observed the final turtle hurl a sai viciously at his companions face. The girls heard the katana wielding ninja shout a surprised yelp as well as a scolding about the throwing of a ninjas weapons, but his subordinate payed him no mind instead bowling him over and slinging him off the cable to the hard street at least five meters below.
The girls crept to the edge of their current hiding place straining their ears to pick specific words out of the shouting. They watched as the three green skinned males walked together down a dark alley way leaving the lead er standing in the middle of the vacant street with a despondent expression gracing his vaguely reptilian visage. He stood very still for a moment longer his eyes locked on the sharp steel before he slowly sheathed the weapon and trudged off down the dark alley way. The girls hurried across the cables and shadowed the strange being. They observed intently as he removed a manhole cover and slipped into the fetid sewer. As the cover slid back into place the girls dropped to the alley way below gazing silently at the NYC logo emblazoned on the steel lid. They locked eyes and weighed their options before climbing a nearby fire escape and retracing their steps back to the apartment. They blundered back through their window, not quite as graceful as they had been when they departed, before falling heavily back onto their abused couch.
"Saya." Karina began in an unsure tone. "Did we just see four giant talking turtles practicing ninjutu?" Saya's gaze remained locked on the wall across the room as she lowered her mask and nodded. Karina swallowed thickly, "I was afraid of that. Odds of food poisoning from undercooked pork in our wontons?"
"Possible, but identical hallucinations are unlikely. " Saya stood abruptly and stalked into their bedroom quickly reappearing with their shared laptop in hand. She sat on her knees and placed the laptop on the low coffee table quickly connecting to a neighbors wifi shaking her head at the unsecured connection as well as mild disbelief of her intended search. She quickly pulled up the web browser and clicked on the search bar typing in the strange key words 'New York City giant turtles' and clicking the small magnifying glass search button.
The disbelief melted away into absolute shock as result after result filled the screen. Blurred images of the turtles they had seen as well as a few other strange creatures but all of the photos were blurred, out of focus, or grainy. One image appeared to be a group of suited men engaging the turtles, strikingly similar suited men to the ones that they had seen cleaning up the debris from the fallen TCRI building. Along with the assorted images were headlines and news stories citing strange sightings in the dark of the night.
"What the hell!?" Saya huffed indignantly as she turned the screen so Karina could view a blurred cell phone photo showing one of the turtles striking a Foot Clan underling with a bo staff.
"My brain hurts." Karina moaned as she began to massage her temples. Saya slammed the laptop shut in frustration and stomped off into the bedroom. A few loud thumps and clatters mixed with muted curses filtered out of the open doorway as Saya undoubtedly tossed her armor and weapons in a haphazard pile. Karina entered the room a few moments later to find her sister already nestled beneath her sheets with only a black tuft of hair showing from the edge of the comforter. Karina eyed the red numbers on the digital alarm clock sitting next to the strange ever bubbling canister. Obviously there would be no more discussion tonight, but turning in early actually sounded pretty fantastic after the night they had just had. A few moments later she too had shed her armor and was snuggling into her pillow her breathing evened out and she was just about to drift off when she bolted upright eyes wide and transfixed on the swirling ooze. The glow suddenly jogged an image in her mind one of the blurred photos had featured one of the suited men holding an identical container!
Their "early night" went to hell in a hand basket quickly as Karina leaped from the bed shaking Saya awake vigorously while jabbering on about the canister and the internet. They spent the early hours of the morning researching and compiling as much information as they could find. Before the two knew it their alarm was going off signaling it was time to get ready for the school day. The girls shared an exhausted look and quickly decided that school would not be happening today. With their matching bloodshot eyes and dark circles it was completely believable that they had caught some kind of virus.
Karina stood and plodded down to the stairs to tell Miss Jun that they would be staying home today leaving Saya to sift through her new pile of notes and makeshift "creature sighting" photo album on the laptop. Hell they had even come across a short news clip that showed what looked like a bipedal alligator attacking a sanitation worker in the sewer. She continued clicking through the photos as she heard Karina's footsteps ascending the staircase.
"Man pigeon, bat creature, giant dog, robots,"Saya groused as her sister re-entered the room. "and a least another half-dozen unidentified beings spotted in the city within the past year and no one is really even talking about it! How is this not under federal investigation?!"
"Hn." Karina grunted noncommittally as she dragged her feet into the kitchen followed by the fierce bubbling of the coffee maker. Moments later she returned with two large mugs of coffee filled with gratuitous amounts of cream and sugar. "Maybe New York doesn't want the world to know its cryptid central? Or maybe Shredder or these new suits have their fingers in the media, maybe even the government?"
Saya worried her lip briefly before swallowing a gulp of the hot liquid. "This puts a significant kink in our plans. Are these entities all allies? Multiple factions? Are they working with Shredder? And who are the guys in the suits? I honestly don't know how we should continue."
"Not to mention our new lava lamp." Karina commented casually sipping her own sweet coffee. Saya groaned and sank deeper into the couch having pushed that particular tidbit out of her mind for the moment. Silence settled over the duo before Karina gave a brooding hum. "Well, I would say tonight we can either follow up on our Purple Dragon lead, or try to find those turtles form last night."
"Oh? Do tell sister mine." Saya snorted before pitching her voice into a sugary sweet sarcastic tone, "Do we just approach them and say, excuse me mister turtle I see that you are a shinobi! What a coincidence you see I myself am a kunoichi! Let's chat!" The two glared at each other with narrowed eyes before Saya finally nodded with a heavy sigh. "Fine, we will try to follow up on these turtles tonight. We can always go back to the Purple Dragons if this dead ends."
Karina yawned out some affirmative or other ash her eyes drifted shut. Saya gently prodded her sister with her toes encouraging her to sister to go to the bedroom and lay down. Sunlight was filtering through their drapes as they stumbled back into the bedroom and crawled into their beds. A few more soft yawns and mumbles were exchanged before soft snores filled the room.