Ten minutes after the turtles have left, Splinter circles Spike. "Do you have a chosen weapon?"
"I use a mace, and a battle flail, those are my favorites, anyway, but I think I'd like to learn to use….as many as possible as a failsafe," Spike says nervously.
"They are not particularly ninja weapons," he notes.
"Well, no offense, Sensei, but Raphael does not fight like a ninja all the time either from what I've gathered," Spike mentions. "He's a brawler."
Splinter raises an eyebrow. "Is he?"
"I mean no disrespect to your teaching skills," she says hastily. "But yes, he is." She shrugs. "So am I."
He nods. "Well, we will continue with your basic skills for a while longer." He gets into a defensive stance. "Attack."
"Sensei?"
"Attack me." He closes his eyes.
"This hardly seems fair," she remarks.
"Oh?"
"To me," she explains. "I don't think this is going to end well for me."
Splinter sighs, eyes still closed. "No pain, no gain. Begin."
Spike circles him slowly, searching for an angle. His ears twitch. Spike jumps at the movement.
She inhales and charges, leaping into the air for a flying tackle that she just knows he can sense because she can swear he has mystical powers because exactly two seconds later, she's on the ground with his stick at her throat.
She groans. "Man, I knew that wasn't gonna work."
"You have power behind you, but one's power can be turned against them. You need to work on several things."
"Speed, endurance, power, and stealth?"
"Something like that."
Spike sighs.
"Attack me again."
"Sensei, on the off chance that one of these years I actually hit you, what would you do?"
"Admit that you have improved. Attack me again." He closes his eyes and Spike aims a low punch. Splinter starts to reach out and wraps his fingers around her wrist. Spike's eyes widen.
"Uh-oh."
He starts to pull.
Spike hits the ground again.
"Again."
He closes his eyes.
Spike leaps, leg extended for a kick. His eyes snap open and he grabs her leg.
She whimpers.
And a second later, she hauls herself off of the ground again.
Her phone rings.
Splinter raises an eyebrow.
Spike shrugs. "Can you hold on a minute?"
"I suppose."
Spike flips her phone open. "Yo, April? What do you mean, I sound tired?" She wipes the sweat off of her brow. "Uh…..I'm out…..exercising. Yes, I know it's late. I'll be home soon."
She turns back to Splinter after hanging up. "Three more rounds of you handing my rear to me and I gotta go." She shrugs. "Which will be one minute tops."
He chuckles. "Again."
"Yes, Sensei."