Chapter 25: New Friend, Old Enemy Part 2

Alora's POV

After our surprising first impression on the Foot Clan and the approaching of police cars, the turtles and I went back to the Lair to recuperate from what we just experience. Leo and I were in the Kitchen, standing near the island, with Master Splinter, who was standing on the side near the counter and stroking his thin beard, telling him about the encounter with the Ninjas and their Tough Leader.

"Their Leader was crazy good, by which I mean he was good and seemed a little crazy," Leo explained.

"Crazier than good if you ask me," I brought up.

"Besides, he had all these guys with him. It – it wasn't a fair fight," Leo also added, sternly.

Splinter eyed us intently as he stopped stroking his beard. "What do you mean 'fair fight'?"

"Oh, boy," I murmured, knowing that tone in his voice.

Leo gazed around a bit before looking back at Sensei, a little unsure how to put his sentence lightly.

"Uh, a fair fight, you know, where either side could win?"

"So, a fair fight is a fight you could lose," Splinter clarified, grabbing his jaded cane and walking over to us.

"Well, yes, but – Well, what – what I mean is – " Leo tried to say only for Sensei to interrupt in his explanation.

"You don't want to assure your victory."

"No, I do, but –" Leo tried again, but out of nowhere, Splinter whacked his legs, knocking him to the floor and being pinned with Splinter's cane up to his neck as I stood at the sidelines, flinching at the scene.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Was that fair?" Splinter asked.

"No!" Leo shot out.

"Did I win?" Splinter asked once more.

Leo hesitated on thinking it through before wheezing out, "I see your point."

"Seek victory, not fairness," Sensei informed as he got up with his cane, leaving Leo still lying on the floor.

"Hai, Sensei," Leo said in defeat.

Splinter reached his hand out to Leo and helped him up. After Leo was at his feet, Splinter then turned around and walked away, hearing the sound of his cane hitting the floor every time he moved. Leo looked down in thought over about Splinter's words on the victory and fairness between a fight. I went over to him and placed a hand on his arm.

"You okay?" I asked.

Leo glanced at me then looked back down. "[Sighs] yeah. It's just… I don't understand what Splinter understands. You know, the 'fairness of a fight' or the 'victory of a fight'. If you want to win, you have to be fair to claim the victory, right?"

"Well, yes, but either with how many enemies you are against at and how many allies that you have with you, you just need to do the best you can to fight back. Either way, whether you win or lose, Leo… it's still a victory," I answered confidently.

Leo looked at me with a grateful smile. "Thanks, Alora."

I nodded with a smile. "I should go check on the others, just to be sure that Mikey or Raph or – I don't know – which one of those three isn't trying to kill each other."

Leo chuckled at that before turning into a grin. "Well, you better get over there and make sure that doesn't happen."

I smiled wider with a nod and was about to head out before Leo spoke up to me.

"Hey, Alora?"

I look back to him, seeing as if he wanted to ask something. "Yeah?"

Leo looked at me with hesitation before shaking his head, saying, "Uh, nevermind; it's nothing. I'll – I'll see ya later."

I gave a confused look but shrugged in response as I pulled back the curtain and left the Kitchen.

No One's POV

After Alora left, Leo looked down with a deep thought look in his eyes. His mind wondered back at that supernatural moment back at the Kraang Facility, the place that his brothers and best friend went to rescue April. It was right after Alora had woken from her unconscious yet emotionless trance that she muttered out one word that Leo had caught from under her breath:

'Alon'

Even though Raph and Mikey didn't get the gist of it, Leo apparently had heard it clearly and held it in his brain since that very night. He didn't know what this word was or what it meant; a name, a place, an object, something entirely different like an unknown being, or maybe even dangerous like a weapon. With all these options running in his head, Leo wasn't sure what that word meant, but something tells him that Alora somehow does. Ever since that night when she got her powers, Alora has been acting strange, as if she was hiding something. Although, Leo trusts Alora dearly with his life but he was just concern for her well-being over these amazing abilities she's gained. He felt if she's trying to keep something to herself without anyone around her knowing, mostly him and his brothers. He wanted to have a chance to talk to her about it, but with all the situations happening with the Kraang, Mutants, and now the Foot Clan, he just couldn't get the moment to ask. As much as he wanted to focus on the missions, Leo was very worried for his best friend, more so than ever in his life.

Alora's POV

The next night, Donnie, Raph, Mikey, and I were all in the Living area doing our own private time. Raph was over the side doing push-ups, Donnie was at the far right side with his laptop (ogling on a picture of April that he doesn't want any of us to see), Mikey on a beanbag reading a magazine, and I was doing some sketching on my Sketchbook. Also, April had arrived about 20 minutes ago and was sitting on the concrete couch, reading a comic book with me sitting on the floor right next to her. Everything was nice and quiet when Mikey spoke up.

"Whoa, that's rad!"

I gazed over from my sketch to Mikey who held a 'Martial Pain' of Chris Bradford Magazine with a child-like look in his eyes. Even though it was cute to see Mikey like this, I was disgust by how Bradford was a celebrity of Fame and Fortune with so much to live for, yet works for an ungrateful and dangerous man like the Shredder.

"Oh, I wish me and Chris Bradford were friends!" Mikey exclaimed excitedly with big, giddy eyes as he nom three times on the Magazine and leaned back on his beanbag chair with his legs kicking in the air while holding the Magazine up high, laughing happily.

With what Mikey was reading and getting all hyped up about it, I couldn't help but chuckle at it and I glanced at April to see she was chuckling too.

"Mikey, you already have human friends," April brought up, making Mikey and myself gazed to her as she motioned to herself and me while answering her own statement.

"Me and Alora."

After hearing her say that, I then started to wonder upon that in my head. Since I technically knew that April wasn't entirely a 'human' being, I was beginning to think with me having these powers had me judging the fact that maybe I'm not fully human either. I felt a bit of worriedness and suspicion to that but I brush it off to the side to focus on the matter at this part. Mikey looked at both of us for a second before looking back at his Magazine while saying the one sentence that left me and April looking at him in surprise.

"April, you and Dudette don't count. We saved your life, you have to like us. And Dudette's been living down here with us for a whole week and already knows about us."

"Too bad there's no place for freaks to meet people where no one can see how hideous they are," Raph stated with a few grunts while doing his push-ups, making Mikey slump in annoyance.

April glance to the side in deep thought before her face lit up.

"Wait, there is – the internet! Donnie, can I see your laptop?" She asked the purple-clad turtle on the far side of the couch, who shot his head up with a pink tinge of embarrassment on his cheeks.

"Uh, y – Uh, sure! Just a sec," Donnie stuttered out.

He press a key on his laptop to change the main screen before he got up and walk over to where April sat with a nervous smile, making me silently giggle. Donnie handed April the laptop and sat down next to her, looking around anxiously while April was typing away.

"Check it out, it's site where you can make friends with anybody online," She explained as Mikey zipped over to her side with a huge grin and an excited twinkle in his eye.

"Sweet!"

He bumps April out of the way, taking the laptop and typing it away before holding onto it while waiting patiently as the laptop pulled it up something, like Chris Bradford's home page. Mikey then went wide-eyed at the screen with hearts in his eyes and rubbing the sides of the laptop lovingly.

"[Gasps] ohh, Chris Bradford's on here! He'll be my first friend!" Mikey said while typing away again before pressing one final key and watch the screen with anticipation.

Donnie, April, and I watched him for a sec before April broke the silence.

"Mikey, people don't always respond immed – " but was cut off as the laptop beeps, meaning that Bradford got back to him by accepting him as his 'friend'.

"But sometimes they do," April finished her sentence.

Mikey slowly sat back up with shaky eyes and opened mouth with a few gasps as he looked at what he saw.

"No way!" He said out loud, holding the sides of the laptop with joy before leaning back with his hands behind his head, "Chris Bradford has accepted my friendship! I have a friend!"

Mikey then grabbed April and pulled her into a hug, much to Donnie's shock. "Thanks, April!"

He suddenly threw the laptop in the air, got up and walked out of the Living area towards the entrance.

"Where are you going? Hey!" Donnie yelled out as he sprang from his seat and caught the laptop before hitting the ground, making me cringe at that.

"To hang out with my friend, Chris Bradford," Mikey replied smugly as he continued walking out.

I placed my sketchbook aside before standing up with a much concern look. "Mikey, I'm not so sure visiting this guy is a good idea."

From the corner of my eye, I see April nodding to my understanding, but to my acknowledgement, she clearly didn't.

"Alora's right, Mikey. This guy's famous. He probably has thousands of friends," she quoted.

"And guess who's number 5, 286?" Mikey asked skeptically.

We stared at him for a few seconds as April simply answered, "You?"

"Daniel Ramirez! And I'm right next to him. Later!" Mikey replies as he leaves the Lair in a flash.

"Well, this ought to be interesting," April said as we, including Raph, all looked at where Mikey left with bewildered faces.

"Should we go after him?" Donnie questioned, looking between April and I.

"Eh, he's gotta learn somehow," Raph shrugged off.

I stared at the entrance with a worried some expression then turned away and started heading right towards Donnie's Lab. I felt the eyes of my friend's gazes staring behind me, but I ignore them and shut the door slowly as it went with a loud 'thud'.

Several minutes had passed; I was in the right side corner at my workbench in the midst of sewing to pieces of fabric patterns together for my new Ninjustu outfit, watching the needle move up and down with the thread going through, stitching as the fabric and thread sync in harmony. After the needle reached its end, I lifted my foot off the peddle, pulled up the holder, rose up the needle, and pulled the pattern out from under the plate of the machine. The two threads from the bobbin and the needle held onto the inner and out seam of the fabric as I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut both in half. I took one of the threads and began to double-knot it to keep the thread in place until hearing the door slowly open along with some soft 'thuds'.

"Knock, knock."

I looked up to see April with the back of her right, index finger tapping the metal door, smiling softly. I gave her a little smile as she then walked over to me.

"I see you've got your nice little area all worked up to use your sewing equipment and other supplies," she chuckled.

I chortled a little before looking back to the thread-like fabric pattern I held in my hands. "Yep, Donnie really helped me set it up so I could work my way around here better."

It's true; Donnie has helped me set myself up after I'd ask him if it was okay to use part of his Lab for some of my sewing practices. He immediately accepted it, saying it would be nice to have someone else hanging around with in the Lab who wouldn't disturb him or mess up his work. I felt relieve and happy to know that Donnie was humble to allow me to work on my sewing. He gave April and I a hand with the bags of fabric and such over to the right side corner of the Lab. Next, he somehow manage to bring out a workbench and a moving chair to help me set up shop with my sewing machine and materials, also helping me plug it in to a nearby unit. I was very grateful for Donnie's help, even though he was partially doing it to impress April, I was glad to have him by my side.

April giggled at that as she knelt down to my level. "I know, I saw the whole thing when Donnie was setting you up. It was pretty cool, but it was also a little silly, too."

I smiled a bit before looking back to my one pattern once again as I heard April speak up again, this time with a bit of concern in her voice.

"Anyways… you okay?"

I nodded while still keeping my gaze at the pattern. "Mm-hmm. Yeah; I'm fine."

"You sure? Cause, after Mikey left, you went quiet for a while and went straight in here without a single word," April clarified.

I stood still for a minute as I let out a sigh and looked up towards her. "April, do you ever have a problem on telling something important to your friend and persuading them not to be around a specific type of person that you don't trust at all?"

She looked at me with surprise before glancing to the side with unsureness on how to respond.

"W-well, I don't normally, but I know that some people have that sort of problem. So, yeah," April sputtered out before looking confused, "Why? Does it have something to do with Mikey?"

I focused myself on double knotting the loose threads on my fabric as I talked to April while doing so.

"Apparently. This 'Chris Bradford' isn't the guy everyone thinks he is. He's not who Mikey thinks he is and he certainly isn't worth being 'friendship' material. He's someone that Mikey shouldn't be around with, not after the situation we were just in last night."

"Wait. You think Chris Bradford has something to do with the Foot Clan?" She asked curiously.

I knew I had said too much, even though no matter how much I wanted to tell her and the others that Bradford is really working for the Shredder, I couldn't put the storyline at risk. I looked away in agony with my eyes shut tightly.

"I'm sorry, April, but – I can't tell you about it. I shouldn't have said that to let you think that way. I just… I just don't want to spoil the story," I replied with guilt and depression.

I then felt a hand on my shoulder, making my eyes open and turned to April, looking at me with regret.

"It's okay. I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have asked that since I forgot that you don't want to cause any more harm to our world."

I brought another small smile to my lips as I place my right hand on top of her left one on my shoulder and gave a little pat. "It's alright, April, I understand. And thanks for coming in to check up on me."

"No problem," she replies as she got back up and started walking back towards the opening doors of the Lab until she turned around halfway, saying, "Besides, maybe this will change since you're here, Alora. Maybe Bradford won't be a bad person now than you think."

As she then continued walking out of the Lab, I frowned at the statement April just said as I look back down and shook my head.

"If only if you knew, April…" I muttered to myself, "If only if you knew…"

Wow! Things are beginning to get a bit uneasy for our heroes. Mikey has befriended Chris Bradford online, but Alora isn't too thrilled about it at all. Not to mention our dear, blue-clad Leader is getting suspicious about Alora's hidden secrets. Will she be able to convince Mikey about not hanging around with our Deadly Assassin? And is Leo ever going to figure out who or what this 'Alon' is? Find out next time!

Stay tuned and thanks for reading!