Alright, it's time to start a new adventure for this story that I enjoy so much writing! Now this one will be different from the previous one in many aspects; first, it will take place in New York instead of Rio and will follow Lilly, Kowalski, Skyler, and Sparky who are all OCs of my good friend Skyler The Elf Owl. It will also be about Japanese and generally Asian culture instead of Brazilian's one.
Enjoy it ;)
Far from the city of Rio de Janeiro and in the United States of America was one particular town called New York City which was also known as the city that never sleeps. In this city, people were enjoying the full excitation of life along the most annoying things such as endless traffic.
However, deep under New York City, there was an endless set of sewer tunnels. Into one of these in particular was a lair that inhabited a certain group of birds. A part of it which was decorated like a dojo of the old Asian medieval times was currently occupied by four young birds who were about to start training under the eye of their sensei, Master Yoshi.
The old peregrine falcon with with brown feathers, a white belly and yellow beak dressed in a nut-coloured kimono looked over his four kids. There was Lilly, a female spix macaw with light blue feathers, chocolate brown eyes and a purple band to hold her head feathers in a ponytail. She was wearing a purple bandana around her eyes, a brown belt tied around her waist and shoulder which held two katanas to her back, brown gloves on her wings and white bandages on her feet.
Before her was sitting her younger brother Sparky, a male elf owl with honey-coloured feathers and brown eyes who was pretty small in size and was wearing the same attire as his sister, except his bandana was yellow and he was using two nunchuks for both of his wings. His head feathers were dressed as a mini-mohawk.
The third one was Kowalski, a male barn owl with light brown feathers on the back and around his heart-shaped head while the rest of his body was white and his eyes were blue. His bandana was red and he had two sais as weapons.
The fourth and last one was Skyler (or Sky for short) who was also an elf owl with honey-coloured feathers and brown eyes just like Sparky. Her head feathers were curved to hide her right eye and her bandana was black while her brown belt was holding a bo staff.
Lilly was about to spare against Sparky while Sky was gonna do it with Kowalski. "Sutato!" their master ordered to start the sparing.
All four birds caught their respective weapon and engaged the fight. Sparky started by trying to discombobulate his older sister by using his agility to stay ahead of her attacks and trying to keep her off balance with taunts and boasts which worked a bit.
"How do you stop what you can't even see?" Sparky teased.
Lilly smirked and replied by hitting the back of her sword's handle into Sparky's stomach, making him fall down in pain. "Like that?"
"Good one, Lilly," Sparky groaned on the floor.
Meanwhile, Sky swung her bo staff at Kowalski who easily dodged it before grabbing it and then broke it in two with his knee.
"Hey! My staff!" Sky exclaimed in shock.
Kowalski nonchalantly knocked his sister on the floor and then twisted her wing in a painful way until she taped out, recognizing defeat. She then went to seat beside Sparky who let out his tongue at her while Kowalski turned his attention to Lilly.
They briefly kneeled before each other in respect before Lilly rose her katana while Kowalski took out his sais. They engaged the fight with Lilly swinging her sword at her brother who either dodged or blocked with his sais before hitting an elbow to Lilly's head and she replied with a spin kick that sent him flying backward. Refusing to recognize defeat, he kicked up and blocked Lilly's sword again, only for her to knock one sai out of his wing and close to Sky and Sparky.
They charged again, but this time, Kowalski managed to knock Lilly's sword out of her wing before using his sai to knock her down on the mat. "Nice try," Kowalski said as he walked over his sister victoriously with a smile.
"Yame!" Master Yoshi said to announce the end of the sparring and the four siblings all got on their knees before him. "You all did very well," he complimented.
"But I did better," Kowalski affirmed which earned him a pointing look from Lilly.
"This is about self improvement, Kowalski. Not about winning or losing," Master Yoshi explained as he walked behind him.
"I know, Sensei, but I won and they lost," the barn owl kept showing off with a smirk. This annoyed his master who pinched a pressure point on his neck between two feathers. "Ah, ah, ah! But, what's really important is that we all did our best! Good job, everyone!" he quickly corrected himself to make his master let go.
This last one slightly chuckled.
The training being done for today, everyone later met at the kitchen where they took their usual "delicious" meal of worms and algae. It was not their favourite food, but that was the best birds could find in the sewers. They all calmly took the worms in their plate with chopsticks before putting them in their beak to eat them.
"There's some more worms and algae left if anyone wants it," Sparky said with a smile as he spun the meal in a cauldron with a stick, being the only apparent one to enjoy this food. "Anybody?"
"No thanks," Lilly politely declined.
"I'm good," Kowalski added, trying to hide his disgust.
"They're yours," Sky said with a shiver.
"So nobody got enough place for cake?" Sparky asked as he suddenly putted a green and dark blue cake with a candle on top of it on the table.
This caused all of his siblings to look at it with wide eyes. "It is a cake!" Sky exclaimed as Kowalski took a slip of it in his beak.
"Made of...algae," he remarked before noticing a worm slipping on top of it. "And...worms."
"What's the frosting made of?" Lilly curiously asked.
"You don't wanna know," Sparky said in a sinister tone before smiling widely. "Happy mutation day!"
"Happy mutation day!" everyone cheered together.
"Ah, yes," Master Yoshi said with a smile, "15 years ago was the day our lives changed forever and we became the unlikiest of families."
"Tell us the story, Master Yoshi," Sparky asked.
"Sparky, I already told you many times," the old falcon answered.
"Please, pleeease!" Sparky begged with a cute face until Kowalski came and slammed his wing on his beak.
"Please, it's the only way to shut Sparky up," he asked.
"Ah, very well," Master Yoshi finally gave up before starting his story. "Many years ago, when I was still human, I was leaving the pet store with four little hatchlings."
"That was us!" Sparky interrupted with excitation.
"Yes, don't interrupt!" Master Yoshi sternly ordered. "I passed a strange man in the street. Something felt...off about him. I decided to follow. Unfortunately, I stepped on a rat who alerted the four men and I found myself trapped in an alley. I managed to fend all of them off, breaking a vase containing a strange substance in the process and accidentally dropping all my hatchlings in it along with falling into it myself. It was then that my body mutated into a peregrine falcon while you all grew up stronger than a normal bird should."
He then took out the broken canister which contained the substance in question. "That was the beginning of our life together. It was the mysterious substance in this canister that, in a way, gave birth to us all."
Sparky then took the canister in his wings and into a hug. "Mom!" he happily said which earned him dumbfounded glances from his siblings.
"So Sensei," Lilly said, "now that we're fifteen, I think we're finally ready to go to the surface, don't you?" she asked with an innocent smile which Kowalski and Sky imitated.
Master Yoshi simply glances at them. "Yes."
His answer caused the siblings to cheer in joy. "And no."
The cheers turned into groans of disappointment. "I hate when he does that," Kowalski mumbled.
"You have grown powerful, but you are still young," Master Yoshi explained as he got up from his chair. "You lack the maturity to use your skills wisely."
"But Sensei," Sky said, "isn't that just no?"
"Yes...and no. Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from making mistakes," the old falcon explained.
"Ah-ha!" Sky exclaimed. "So, in order for us to gain the wisdom, we have to make the mistakes. So we can go," she tried to deduce.
"No," Master Yoshi responded.
"And yes?" Sky asked with an innocent smile.
"No!" The old falcon replied, causing the female elf owl to groan in defeat.
"Sensei, we know you're trying to protect us, but we can't spend our whole lives hiding down here," Lilly said.
This made Master Yoshi look down with a thinking look and rub his beak. As he was thinking, he turned his head to see all of his four kids looking at him with adorable puppy eyes (yes, even Kowalski). He ended up groaning.
"You may go tonight," he announced which made his kids cheer in joy again.
"High-wing!" Sparky said and rose his wing to share a big high-wing with his three other siblings.
Later, Lilly decided to pass time until nightfall by watching her favorite show, sci-fi classic "Space Heroes". This week's episode: the ship is rocked by an enemy bombardment! Ensign Crankshaw panics in the face of impending doom but Captain Ryan calmly slaps him, announcing he has a bold and daring plan!
Lilly was such a fangirl that at this point she was capable of mimicking the character's poses and dialogue exactly.
"You know this show is stupid, right?" Kowalski commented in his corner as he was casually flipping through a horror comic book.
"Space Heroes is a great show," Lilly replied with an annoyed glance. "And Captain Ryan is a great hero. Someday, I'm gonna be just like him."
"Now you do hear yourself talk, so you're on your way," Kowalski nonchalantly said, annoying his sister further.
Suddenly, Sparky and Sky arrived running in excitation. "It's go time!" the former announced in joy.
Taking their weapons, the four siblings gathered before their master as he spoke to them: "You are going up to a strange and hostile world. You must maintain awareness at all times."
"Ai, Sensei!" the four answered at unison before going toward the lair's exit, only to be stopped by their sensei again.
"Stay in the shadows."
"Ai, Sensei!" they replied and were about to leave, only to be stopped again.
"Don't talk to strangers."
"Ai, Sensei!"
"Everyone is a stranger."
"Ai, Sensei!"
"Make sure you empty yourself before you leave; the bathrooms up there are filthy."
"Ai, Sensei..."
Seeing that they were getting tired of his endless advices, Master Yoshi let out a sigh. "Good luck, my kids."
They all answered positively before finally running outside the lair and toward the up world.
"Look both sides before crossing the street!" Master Yoshi called one last time before looking down.
Our young ninja birds are gonna go explore the outside world. Let's hope it will be fun!
Also, for those of you who haven't guessed it by now, yes, this story is based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which Skyler The Elf Owl is a huge fan of. I wanted to make you happy :)