Chapter 21: Showdown
The four turtles watched in silent shock as the scene unfolded before them, clinging to each other desperately and staring at the monstrosity that had endangered their family. Raphael still held onto Leonardo, who held him back with equal force whilst gripping his bleeding wound with his free hand, his eyes never leaving the form of their master on the roof. Michelangelo hid behind Donatello, clinging onto him in fear as the two ninja masters prepared to finally face one another.
"Oroku Saki," Splinter began, slowly moving into a fighting stance, "You were once my friend…I thought of you as my brother. Fifteen years ago, I was a different man. I had everything I could want…a loving wife, and a beautiful daughter.
"And you…my loyal friend…jealousy consumed you. You sought that which was mine! You took everything that I loved! Everything! And still you hunt me down…!"
Behind his crimson eyes, a memory burned within him.
...
A fierce battle in what was once a loving home…
...
A small baby's cry of terror…
...
A burning house crumbling around him…
...
The lifeless body of his loved one held limp in his arms…
...
Splinter opened his eyes once more, though they were no longer the eyes of a serene ninja master. They were the eyes of a man filled with a vengeful urge.
"So…I fight you now…To end this!"
Splinter charged for The Shredder with a defiant war cry.
The turtles held their breath as they watched the two ninja masters collide.
Splinter made the first move, launching a spinning back-kick at The Shredder's face before flipping into the air to avoid his sharp blades, landing expertly on his feet behind the human. He quickly picked up Leonardo's discarded katana that lay on the roof and charged again, the sound of metal banging against metal filling the air.
Shredder smashed his fist into Splinters' face, sending him flying backwards with a grunt of pain and a light spray of blood, but in a swift movement, Splinter came behind Shredder again and brought his blade down upon his head, only narrowly missing as Shredder darted out of the way, bounding into the air and landing on the platform of the billboard sign, ducking away sharply as three shuriken sailed over his head and implanted into the sign above him.
Splinter leapt onto the platform, facing Shredder as he hissed through his fangs.
Shredder used his blades to cut at the platform, causing it to topple forward and making Splinter lose his balance. With a cry of alarm, Splinter came crashing to the roof as he landed hard with a thud on his side.
"Sensei!" he heard his sons cry as he climbed back to his hands and knees, shaking his head and grasping his aching shoulder as he tried to clear the dizziness that clouded his mind. He felt something warm between his fingers, and he drew back to find it coated with his own blood, cursing under his breath.
In his anger, fear and desperation to save his sons, he had all but forgotten that he was still much weakened from being imprisoned in chains for so long. His body still had yet to heal from the wounds he had received from his interrogation from both that Bradford man and The Shredder. They were in danger of reopening.
When Splinter looked up again, Shredder was no longer there. He quickly got to his feet and glanced around him, his blade held in front of him at all times. His keen rat ears pricked up, listening for anything and everything around him.
"Sensei, look out!" Michelangelo suddenly cried.
Splinter spun around to find The Shredder leaping from his hiding place, his blades drawn and intent on severing the rat's head from his body. Splinter quickly brought his sword up to block his attack, thrusting Shredder backwards and away from him. He looked up again only to find Shredder had vanished once more.
He heard a bang of metal behind him, and whirled around just in time to see Shredder launching himself towards him another time. Metal clanged and sang in the air as the two ninjas masters engaged in a deadly onslaught, both opponents only narrowly missing their targets as the battle continued.
"Why must you persist in this insanity?!" demanded Splinter.
"You took Tang Shen from me!" Shredder spat back as he bared his blades to the mutant rat.
Splinter narrowed his eyes dangerously. "She was never yours!" he growled as he charged once again, thrusting his blade to Shredders' armored chest. Shredder blocked his attack, pushing against him with all his strength, but Splinter pushed back with equal force. The two locked fierce gazes.
The turtles all watched their Sensei in breathless awe and fear as he fought. They had gone against him themselves many times during the course of their training, but they had never once beaten him.
And they had never seen him fight like this before.
Even though he was clearly still injured and weakened from his imprisonment, and some of his wounds had even reopened during the battle, he did not hold back.
He fought with everything left within him, even as his blood dripped out of his many lacerations, he continued to fight.
He fought for his sons, for the people that The Shredder had hurt…
…and for the family he had lost to death so long ago because of him.
"You never had anything but your hatred!" Splinter snarled. His voice trembled with the pure rage and anguish he had held down for fifteen years of torment for his past mistakes, and he was finally letting it surface after so long.
"And if you defeat me…you will have nothing!"
Shredder finally pushed Splinter off of him and brought his blades down upon his head. Splinter back flipped away, landing in a crouch with his blade still in front of him as he glared at his foe.
Instead of attacking however, Shredder threw his head back and laughed. A laugh that held very little sanity left in it as it echoed in their ears and through the night. Those who stood below watching the battle felt their blood run cold at the sound.
"That, Hamato, is where you are wrong..." he declared forebodingly, "I know your greatest weakness. It is as clear to me as the form you take. You took something from me…so now I…will take something from you..."
His head slowly turned to the injured turtles that huddled together on the other side of the building.
Their eyes widened as they all realized what he was about to do.
Splinter was too late to react.
Shredder launched himself at the turtles and drew his blades.
"NO!" Splinter cried as he ran desperately after The Shredder, but his wounds had finally begun to slow him down as he stumbled to his knees, dropping the katana as it slid across the rooftop. He desperately tried to get up again, but to no avail. He had spent whatever strength he had left, and with the wounds, he wouldn't be getting up again. He was finished.
He watched in horror as The Shredder prepared to take away all he had left in this world.
The four boys screamed in terror as they shut their eyes and held each other, waiting for the impending death that awaited them.
This was it.
They were going to die.
It was all over.
...
...
...
...
"BOOYAKASHAAAA!"
Michelangelo suddenly leapt out in front of his brothers and blocked Shredder's blades, using the single nunchaku he had not thrown away to hold him back with all his strength, his arms trembling but refusing to relent.
The Shredder stared down at the youngest turtle in shock as his eyes widened; he was able to hold him back with a single weapon! Where did this sudden burst of strength come from?
Splinter stared at the young Michelangelo in breathless shock from where he sat, as did his brothers behind him as the breath left their lungs. He was protecting them, pushing himself to his very limits to shield them all from death. All his life, Michelangelo had always been the one to be shielded, surrounded by his brothers so they could keep their baby brother safe from harm.
Not this time.
Now, it was his turn to protect them.
Michelangelo glared at The Shredder with an intense ferocity that he himself never knew he possessed. "You...!" he shrieked in a voice that his family had never heard escape from the always jubilant turtle.
"You don't get to touch my family ever again!"
With a loud, frenzied cry of defiance, Michelangelo pushed The Shredder backwards with his nunchaku before launching a hard spinning back-kick into his face. He then flipped onto his hands, and in a spiral-like motion, spun his body around, kicking Shredder repeatedly in the face once again, giving him no time to retaliate. He leapt into the air and dropkicked him on the head, the pressure of his foot denting the helmet on contact.
Enraged, Shredder advanced for another attack, but Donatello leapt over Michelangelo's head with a loud cry and jabbed him in the head hard with his broken staff, whacking and slapping his exposed bloody skin and beating away most of the armour on his shoulders.
Raphael was quick to follow his brothers' lead as he repeatedly jabbed the tsuka of his Sais into the areas of armour where Donatello had weakened, causing it to shatter under the pressure.
Just as Shredder was able to push off the red clad turtle with a hard blow to the face, Leonardo had grabbed his discarded katana blade and charged at him, despite his grave injury, and began to slice at his breast plate, ripping off large chunks of armour.
The Shredder was becoming overwhelmed as they all advanced him at once. He could barely get his own hit in without being struck from behind or from the side. They all just kept coming.
Where did this sudden eruption of power come from? They were all so severely injured, and one of them was still bleeding profusely from the stab wound he had given him, and yet he and his brothers fought like men possessed, as if their wounds had no effect on them whatsoever.
It had appeared that he had greatly underestimated the power these four turtles truly possessed.
Finally staggering weakly to his feet, Splinter watched them as they all overpowered The Shredder, pushing him closer and closer to the edge of the roof with every strike.
They fought as one unit, all of them striking hard and precise, no hesitation, no false movements…just as he had trained them.
They were going to defeat The Shredder. They were going to defeat this enemy as one.
As a team.
As brothers.
In faultless unison, the turtles used the last ounce of their strength to leap once more into the air, and with a combined final solid kick, they pushed The Shredder over the edge of the roof. Before he could fall any further, he grabbed onto the ladder from fire escape and hung there.
Below them, Casey, April, Karai and the other adolescents watched in shock.
Karai covered her mouth as she gasped in amazement. These four turtles, these four young teenagers, were able to take down The Shredder, one of the strongest ninja masters ever known?
She too had greatly misjudged their skills.
April gaped at the scene above her. She had seen them fight and train before. Alone they were amazing, but together, as one, they were unstoppable.
"Come on…" Casey urged under his breath as he stared up at where the Shredder hung from the ladder, "come on guys! Bring him down!"
Back on the roof, the turtles dropped their weapons and finally fell to their knees, panting heavily in exhaustion, their wounds dripping profusely with blood. Their fight was not yet won, but they had no more strength left in them. Their injuries were taking their toll, and now they could barely stand up.
As Shredder hung weakly by the fire escape ladder, Splinter loomed over him with his hands folded behind his back, glaring down coldly at the shell of the man who had once been his loyal friend, and had now been the cause of so much pain and suffering; for both his old family and his new one.
"Death comes for us all, Oroku Saki…" he spoke slowly, "…but something much worse comes for you. For when you die, it will be..."
Before Splinter could finish, in a desperate attempt to kill the mutant rat, Shredder swiped his blades at his face. Splinter narrowly dodged, but he received a bloody cut on the cheek.
Before Shredder could do any more damage, Karai ground her teeth together with a growl and threw a kunai knife at the ladder. It sailed neatly through the air and hit the loose screw that held the ladder in place.
The ladder came loose and Shredder fell.
They all watched as he fell down, down, before landing hard in a garbage truck and finally losing consciousness as his wounds became far too great.
"…without honor." Splinter concluded, holding his injured cheek whilst staring down at the comatose form of his defeated enemy.
"Oops." Karai smirked coldly.
"Alright! They did it!" Casey cheered, punching his fist into the air. April rejoiced also, jumping up and down along with Casey and cheering for her turtle family. And before long, the streets were filled with the sound of cheering from everyone, even the delinquents that had once followed the Shredder as they celebrated the defeat of The Shredder.
The battle was finally over. The Turtle Clan were victorious.
Splinter looked down upon the scene below him, a warm smile reaching his lips at the sight. With The Shredder finally defeated, he believed that the many young ones who had once felt they didn't belong could finally find a place in this world for themselves to call their own.
He raised his head to the sky, to the starry heavens above, his expression softening.
"Tang Shen...Miwa...' he thought, hoping his beloved above could hear him, 'I hope that now, your souls may rest in peace...now that our sons have finally defeated our greatest enemy..."
Speaking of which...
...
"FATHER!"
Splinter eyes widened in surprise as he spun around, and he was very nearly knocked off roof as his turtles launched themselves at him and embraced him tightly, despite their terrible wounds. He looked down at his sons as they latched onto him and practically sobbed into his chest and shoulders.
"You're alive! My god, you're okay!" Leonardo cried into his chest, clutching his robes tightly in his fists.
"Thank god you're alright! We thought we'd never see you again!" wailed Donatello, wrapping his arms tightly around his shoulders.
"I'm so sorry father! It was all my fault that this happened, I'm so sorry!" Raphael wept, embracing him around his waist.
"Don't leave us ever again, dad! We still need you!" Michelangelo sobbed, hugging him around his waist as Raphael was, but with more desperation in his embrace.
Hearing his sons crying for him and begging for him to stay with them brought tears to the old ninja masters' eyes as he smiled down at them. It had only been less than a week ago that he had he told himself that they were finally ready to leave their sewer home and choose their paths on their own. However, as he gazed down at them now as they wailed and sobbed into him, he fully realized just how much they would long for him if they were to leave, how much they would need him when they were lost and were in need of guidance…
…and how much they still desperately loved their father.
They all gazed up at him with tears streaming down their faces, their eyes wide and pleading to their father, taking him back all those years ago when they were still so very young…
He wrapped his arms around them all in a loving embrace. "Do not fear, my sons. I am just relieved that you are all alive and safe," he said softly, "and I am so proud of you all. As your teacher, I am proud to call you my students…as a father, I am more than proud to call you my sons."
The turtles grasped their father tighter, more tears dripping down their cheeks.
"I love you all, my boys." Splinter smiled.
"We love you too, dad." Leonardo muffled into his chest.
April, Casey and Karai watched the family on the rooftops as everyone cheered around them. April covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes overflowing uncontrollably with tears of joy as she smiled up at the reunion. Casey began to tear up also, but tried very hard to hold them back; he was a man! Men don't cry!
Karai couldn't hold back her own tears either as she smiled up at scene above her. They finally had their family back together.
"They're finally together again," April whispered through her tears, "after all of the pain, the suffering, and the fighting, they're finally whole again…"
Just then, police cars began to fill the streets, their loud sirens blaring out into the night as they surrounded and parked around the large mob of teens. With all the commotion, it was only natural that the police would finally arrive to investigate. Dozens of policemen stepped out of their cars, going up to several young individuals for questioning.
April felt a pang of sympathy; some of these kids would probably go to jail for what they had done, even if they had changed sides at the last minute.
Suddenly, she caught three familiar figures stepped out of one of the police cars. It was Danny's father…
…and her aunt and her father.
"April?!" they called out over the noise of the crowd.
"AUNT ROBYN! DAD!" she cried as she pushed her way past the flood of teenagers and policemen. She finally reached and embraced them with all the force she could muster, unable to stop the tears flowing again as she buried her face into her fathers' chest.
"Oh my god April, where have you been?!" Kirby exclaimed as he held his daughter tight, not daring to let her go ever again, "I got a call from the police and they told me what happened to your Aunts' apartment and her shop. We got no phone calls, not even a text! We thought you were dead! But I got a tip off from the police a few hours ago that a security camera caught you near a shop near that abandoned church before it blew up and - oh god, April, thank goodness you're safe!"
"I'm so sorry, daddy!" April cried, clinging onto them tighter as the tears trickled down her freckled cheeks, "I'm so sorry and I love you both so much!"
In the corner of her teary eye, she caught sight of Danny reuniting with his own father, hugging him tightly, and she could hear him apologizing over and over again for what he did and where he'd been.
She smiled. She knew he would come around eventually.
"APRIL!"
April suddenly felt someone run into her and hug her from behind, squeezing the all of the air out of her. She turned as much as she could with herself pinned, and saw that it was Irma, burying her face into her back as she held her with all the strength she could manage. She had come along with the police too?
"April! You're alive! Are you okay?! I insisted the police and your dad that i could come with them to see if you were here! And you are!" she exclaimed frantically, "Where have you been? Why are you so dirty? What's going on here? Why are you crying?! Did someone die?! What happened?!"
April laughed as she turned around hugged back her crying friend. "I'm fine, Irma. I'm perfectly fine..." she reassured as Irma nodded, nuzzling her shoulder.
"But now you have some serious explaining to do, young lady," her aunt cut in firmly, causing April's head to snap up and her eyes to widen as she looked up at her aunt. "Where have you been this past week with no phone calls, no texts, not even a letter to tell us what had happened?!"
April stared at them all nervously. There was no way they were going to believe that she had helped four talking mutant turtles who did ninjitsu that were trained by a giant rat to fight an army of ninjas and a crazed villain who was named after a kitchen utensil…
…actually, now that she really thought about it, she couldn't quite believe it herself.
But there was no other way to explain such an adventure she had just been on without revealing the turtles to them. She had promised to keep them a secret.
"Well," she tried futilely, wracking her brain in search for a suitable lie she could tell, "um, the thing is, y'see - "
Casey was suddenly beside her before she could grasp what was going on, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and smiling kindly at her father. "Hi there, my name's Casey Jones, I'm a friend of April's, it's nice to meet you sir," he said casually, sticking out his hand to shake Kirby's, who hesitantly took it whilst casting April a questioning gaze.
April slapped a hand over her face, realizing what this must look like to her father. "Oh my god…Casey!" she hissed as a deep red blush covered her cheeks.
"Relax, sweetheart. I know what I'm doing," he whispered into her ear, "there's no lying about it now, so let's just get it over with."
Before April could protest (and ask him why he had called her sweetheart) Casey looked back to her father and aunt and smiled politely. "I think I can help explain everything. If you'll please just follow me."
"We were awesome!" cried Michelangelo as the turtles gathered around each other in celebration. They were still very injured, and Raphael had to support Leonardo due to his stab wound, but that didn't prevent them from rejoicing over their first ever major victory.
"Bodacious!" Leonardo exclaimed with a laugh, and then wincing slightly at the pull of his injury.
"Gnarly!" Donatello laughed, pumping his fist into the air.
"'Gnarly', Donnie? Really? Where'd you get that from, the 'Lame Quip from The Hippies' store?" Raphael smirked sarcastically, earning a pout from his taller brother.
"How about, 'Wicked'?!" Leo suggested, shrugging as much as he was able to with his injured shoulder.
"Banging!" Mikey crowed.
Splinter abruptly cleared his throat, silencing the banter from the turtles as they glanced up at him. "If I were to choose, I must say I actually liked…" he stroked his beard as the turtles watched him in curiosity.
"…Booyakasha!"
The turtles glanced at each other. They grinned widely. "BOOYAKASHA!" they yelled in unison, laughing as they raised their hands in the air for another 'high-three'.
Splinter grinned proudly, "I made a funny!" he chuckled.
"Wait, what does that even mean?" Raph asked as they all turned to Mikey, who simply shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
"I dunno…It just suddenly came to me…But it's fun to yell!"
They all laughed once more as they came together for another loving group hug. Their family was finally happy and whole again. With The Shredder and The Foot finally defeated, the city was safe once more from his malevolent ways, and now, so was their family.
Nothing could take that away from them now.
"Oh…my…god…!" exclaimed a voice from the other side of the roof.
All heads snapped up and turned to see April, Casey, Karai, and three other humans they had never seen before stood on the roof, watching nonplussed as the mutant family reunited. Three of the humans, whom they could only assume to be April's best friend and family members, stood stock-still and completely dumbfounded at the sight before them. Next to them, April shrugged shyly in apology, mouthing 'sorry' to them.
The mutants exchanged glances. They turned back to the humans and smiled, waving awkwardly.
"Ummm…what up, dudes?" Michelangelo laughed uncomfortably with a small wave.
Leonardo sighed heavily.
This was going to take a while...
A/N: Well, dear readers, we are almost at the end of our tale.
Seriously, I nearly cried whilst writing the ending, both of feels and of laughter. Casey you player!
I'm a Apriltello shipper, but Capril is cute and is starting to grow on me!
I OWN NOTHING!
Let's continue onto our last chapter folks...