Ryan opened her eyes.
"I can't do it!" she said. Splinter looked up at her.
"Not all can master meditation the first time. You need to relax Ryan. It will come. You just need to clear your mind."
"Sensai, I... I can't!" she insisted, standing up and running out of the dojo. Splinter let out a breath of air. He didn't know what else he could do for the girl. But there had to be something she wasn't telling them.
the next day
Ryan wandered around the lair and came across what looked like a trophy room. Splinter walked in behind her.
"Master Splinter, sorry. I didn't mean to snoop." she said, turning to leave.
"It's alright child. Curiosity is not always a bad thing." he said. She walked back over to him. She looked over at shelves with helmets and masks on them.
"What's this?" she asked.
"It's the masks of our enemies who have fallen and have been defeated for good. We have left them in the past." he explained. One mask caught her eye.
"What about that one?" she asked. She knew who it had belonged to, but she wanted to hear it from their point of view.
"Ah, that one belonged to one of our most fearsome enemies. It was property of a man called Shredder. His real name was Oroku Saki."
"How did you defeat him?" she asked, wondering if what her father had told her long ago was true. From how long she had been with the turtles, it didn't seem like they could kill unless they absolutely had to.
"We tried reasoning with him first..." Leo was suddenly behind her.
"What?" she asked.
"There was this weird stuff. An ooze. It actually created us. We went out to find him after Mikey blasted him out of the club we were in with a giant speaker. He had threatened a woman from the audience not moments before with a small vile of ooze. When we got out there, Shredder was gone. When we were about to celebrate our victory, the dock caved in from beneath us. We got down underneath, and the shredder had drank the whole vile of ooze. It was literally a super shredder. He was knocking over supports and pulling the dock down as he walked towards us. We jumped out just before the dock caved in and the shredder was finally defeated." he explained briefly.
"So... the shredder caused his own defeat." she said.
"Yes. It's kind of ironic really." Leo said.
"So, you guys didn't kill him?" she asked.
"Not really." Leo said. Ryan looked like she had weird thoughts going through her mind.
"Why?" he asked.
"It's nothing." she said, walking away. As soon as she was gone, Leo turned back to Splinter.
"What was that all about, Sensai?" he asked.
"I'm not quite sure. There must be something she's not telling us." Splinter said, walking away.
"How do you figure that?" Leo asked bewildered.
"She's unable to clear her mind." he said turning back. "I believe that's she's afraid that if she clears her mind she'll reveal something to us that she does not wish to reveal." he said. Leo got a worried look on his face.
"Like what?" he asked.
"Do not fret, my son. I'm sure in time, we will know." he said, patting Leo's shoulder before walking out. Leo stood there for a few seconds more before walking out as well.
Ryan flew into her room, shutting the door behind her. She couldn't believe what she had just heard and she was sure she was going into shock.
"He lied! That sonofabitch lied!" she said out loud, just to hear it. "Of course, I'm not surprised." she muttered shaking her head.
"Ryan! Is everything okay in there?" it was Donnie knocking on her door. She went over and answered it.
"I'm fine." she said. He didn't look convinced.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yeah..." she said.
"Cause I saw ya come in here and you didn't look okay." he explained.
"Donnie, it's okay. I'm fine." she insisted.
"Alright, well. Mikey just ordered a pizza. Why don't you come out. We could play a few board games while we wait." he said, smiling.
"Alright... good." she said, wanting to get her mind off of her father.
That night, Mikey was on watch. It's been 6 days since she first entered the sewers.
"Hey Ray Ray!" Mikey said, using his new nickname on Ryan. She was sitting on the couch watching tv when he slid next to her.
"Hey Mikey!" she said, putting him in a headlock and giving him a noogie.
"Ugh! what is it with you and Raph!" he said, pulling out of the headlock.
"What?" she asked.
"Well, Raph does that every chance he gets..." he trailed off.
"Oh." she said, finding this interesting. Maybe her and Raph did have some things in common.
"Yeah... well, good night!" Mikey said, walking off towards his room.
"Yeah... goodnight." she said, standing up and turning the tv off. She was somewhat glad it was just Mikey. From what she had heard, he could sleep through anything.
Three turtles flew over buildings, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
"That's kind of suspicious." Donnie said, pointing to the Bay.
"What is that?" Leo asked, stopping to look at what Donnie had pointed at. Raph stopped to. They bay was probably a couple of blocks away.
Some kind of blue light was shining out of the water.
"come on. Let's go check it out!" Raph said, running forward and flipping onto another roof, heading for the bay. Leo and Donnie looked at each other before running after him.
"No! Never!" MIkey heard Ryan screaming. He got up and ran for her room. Him and Splinter got there at the same time. He stopped for Splinter to go in first.
"Ryan." he said, sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Master?" she asked still asleep.
"You know, sometimes you can talk to people while they are sleeping." Mikey whispered.
"Ryan. What's troubling you?" Splinter asked.
"Shredder." came the muttered reply.
"What about the Shredder?" he asked.
"I'll never be like him!" she screamed. Her eyes shot open and she sat up in bed.
"whoa like, I'm gonna go fix some hot chocolate. Want some Ray?" Mikey asked her, changing the subject a little bit.
"Yeah, sure." she said. He walked away leaving her and Splinter sitting in the room.
"Ryan, do you remember what your dream was about?" he asked.
"No. What did I say this time?" she asked annoyed.
"You said you would never be like the Shredder." he said. Her eyes went wide as she cradled her head in her hands.
"Ryan, why would you say that?" he asked.
"Because I will never be like him." she said matter o factly.
"But why would you dream about something that doesn't concern you so much." he asked.
"Actually, Sensai. It has everything to do with me." she said.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I'll tell you with the rest of the turtles." she promised as Mikey walked back in with some hot chocolate.
"Fools! Turn off that light! Do you want to advertise to the world where we are?" shouted Jong.
"Sorry sir." said one of the foot as he pushed a button, turning off the light.
"Where'd it go?" Donnie asked as the three turtles arrived to where the light had been.
"Whatever it was, it's gone now." Leo said.
"What, we're not gonna check this out?" Raph asked as Leo turned to go.
"Raph, we have no idea where exactly that light was coming from. We have no place to start." Leo said. Raph looked like he was going to protest but didn't. The other two were surprised by this but didn't say anything. Soon, the three turtles quickly left the bay with no words uttered until they were back at the lair.
"What's going on?" Leo asked, seeing that Splinter, Ryan, and Mikey were sitting up waiting for them.
"Ryan has something to tell us." Mikey said.
"What is it?" Donnie asked coming in behind Leo. Ryan caught Raph's eye before saying anything.
"Guys, I'm..." she started but stopped, afraid. Splinter rubbed her back.
"It's alright, child. We will not judge you." he said warmly.
"My full name is Oroku Ryang..."