ROUND FOUR: Red Reign
The group trudged up the assigned path. Where the wood met asphalt there was a large piece of paper taped to the railing. Raph pulled it off and they all gathered under one of the lights.
The paper was a tourist brochure that had a map of New York City printed on the inside. There was red marker writing reading "YOU ARE HERE" and "YOUR DESTINATION" with matching red marker circles. "YOUR DESTINATION" had "NYWA STADIUM" and an address listed out underneath. Someone had been kind enough to trace a route connecting the two locations.
"What's this?" April lifted the corner of the brochure to reveal a notecard taped on the edge. It read:
Transportation has been arranged for you should you choose to accept it. Proceed to the parking lot and look for the green minibus with a capybara mutant in the driver's seat. His name is Todd and he will drive you to your next location.
"Do we take the ride?" Raph asked. "I'm not super happy with the idea of being in a confined moving space that's been arranged by Mikey's kidnappers."
"Me too," Donnie piped in, "but this is all the way across the city. Who knows how long it will take us on foot. This is a different universe, the sewers might not connect all the way there and there's no telling if the buildings are suitable for roof hopping that entire distance."
Raph looked around, Leo and Casey looked ready to drop and both Donnie and April looked like they wouldn't make the trip on foot without numerous breaks. Raph didn't like either option.
"I vote we risk the bus." April said. "Mikey is on the line here. Either the bus gets us to the location or it takes us straight to the kidnappers. Either way it gets us closer to Mikey than walking will."
"I agree with April," Leo nodded, "we're taking the minibus. Plus," Leo smiled, "how much trouble can a capybara mutant give us? If he looks twitchy we just commandeer the bus and drive ourselves."
The answer was a lot of trouble. He was just too polite and nice to say 'no' to or argue with.
The group found him easily in the parking lot. He had the window rolled down and was dancing along to pop music. He excitedly greeted them and got down from his booster seat to open the bus doors. Next thing Raph knew he was sitting down holding a juice box and Todd was throwing a blanket on his shoulders as he apologized for not having any of his 'world famous' lemonade on hand.
They started moving and Casey asked about all the dog pictures on Todd's dash. Turns out Todd runs a puppy rescue. He then proceeded to talk about each individual dog. Several minutes into the trip Raph glanced over at the others to see them all asleep.
Leo was drooling on Donnie's shoulder, Donnie had his head tilted back against the headrest with his mouth wide open. April's head was pillowed on her own blanket she had placed against the window. Casey was slouched forward with his face pressed against the seat in front of him, also drooling.
The minibus pulled up to the front of a stadium. Raph woke everyone up and they filed out, thanking Todd before he drove off. After some debate they decided to look for a side entrance. They entered quietly and did not encounter any night staff or security. Once entering what must've been the main corridor there were poster board signs spaced evenly apart that had a drawing of a cartoon turtle and a large arrow.
They followed the arrows into a large indoor stadium. At the bottom of the rows of seats was a wrestling ring. Besides the ring there was a pile of chairs and ladders. The group made their way down the steps, and when they reached the bottom red lights started flashing and a fog machine turned on. Where the fog poured out of there was the shadow of a hulking figure.
Then music played followed by a loud voice,
"PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOLKS, WE HAVE A REAL TREAT FOR YOU TONIGHT! THIS COMPETITOR HASN'T BEEN IN THE RING FOR OVER TWO YEARS NOW. HE'S THE STRONGEST POWERHOUSE THE NYWA HAS EVER SEEN, GHOSTBEAR'S BIGGEST FAN, AND THE MAD DOGS' TEAM MOM. ARE YOU READY? BECAUSE I DON'T THINK YOU ARE! BACK FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY: RED REIGN!"
The figure stomped through the smoke. He wore a red over black pants and boots. One elbow of the jacket was black and matched his fingerless gloves. The top of his head was covered down to his nose with a dark red mask. He showed his sharp teeth in a menacing grin.
Leo felt his stomach drop. This was Raph?!
Red Reign was over six feet tall, at least four feet wide, with biceps the size of Leo's torso and spikes protruding through the back of his jacket.
"WILL ALL COMPETITORS PARTICIPATING THIS ROUND PLEASE ENTER THE RING."
Red Reign hopped over the ropes, the ground vibrating as he landed. Donnie gulped.
Raph followed Red Reign's lead, hopping over the ropes. Leo slipped in between the ropes after Raph, and quickly the whole team had entered the ring.
"IT'S TIME FOR, SAY IT WITH ME NOW, CHAOS IN THE CAGE!"
Everyone looked up as a giant cage descended from the ceiling, covering the ring and the floor around it as far as the front seats. Leo moved a hand to his sword. They were now trapped in here.
Somewhere a bell rung, and Raph charged Red Reign.
Red Reign calmly reached over the ropes and grabbed one of the ladders. He snapped it shut and held it in front of himself. Raph tried to hit Red Reign with both sais at the same time, but Red Reign moved and spun the ladder; easily catching Raph's hands and disarming him in seconds. While Raph looked down at his hands in disbelief, Red Reign held the ladder like a bat and swung it into Raph. Raph yelled as he was thrown into the ropes and rebounded all the way to the ropes on the other side of the ring.
The rest of the team attacked simultaneously. Red Reign defended himself with the ladder, pushing them back like a wave. Raph was suddenly behind them, having launched himself off the ropes, and jumped on Donnie before leaping at Red Reign. Raph landed on one of Red's big shoulders and attempted to put Red Reign in a headlock.
Leo saw Casey had split off from the group and was hauling chairs into the ring from the pile and began throwing them at Red Reign, almost hitting April in the process. Leo ran over to Casey, sliding between the ring floor and the bottom rope before dropping two feet to the floor. He began grabbing chairs and handing them to Casey to throw.
Red began using the ladder like a shield. Donnie used the chair distraction to come up behind him and hit Red with his bo. It did nothing to slow Red Reign. Raph was being swung about on Red's shoulders, yelling out every time Casey or Donnie missed and hit him instead.
When Leo and Casey ran out of chairs April climbed up the ladder Red was still holding and yanked his mask down over his eyes, blindfolding him. When Red realized what she was doing he threw her off with his hand. Red Reign hands were so large Leo saw how one easily wrapped entirely around April when she was thrown.
April immediately got back up, and seeing as she was fine Leo jumped back into the ring and charged at Red. Red was staggering back and forth, a hand trying to push his mask out of his eyes while Raph and Donnie tried to pull him backwards and to the ground. Leo unsheathed a sword and slashed at Red's knees. Leo then had to cover his eyes as his vison filled with bright red light.
Red Reign had momentarily grown bigger. What could be described as a forcefield had covered his body and pressed out, throwing Leo and his brothers off and away from him. The body double-like forcefield then shrunk back into Red Reign, who used his now free hands to push his mask all the way off his head before shoving it in his pants pocket.
Red Reign's skin was darker than Leo and his brothers, and now without his mask Leo could see how the skin around his right eye was covered in scar tissue.
"Woah, what was that?!" Donnie exclaimed as he picked himself back up.
Red Reign turned to Donnie and conversationally said "It's Hamato Ninpo. You can even do it too with enough practice."
"Really!"
"Oh! Oh!" Casey chimed in, "Can I do it!"
April decided to take advantage of Red's relaxed body posture and struck at him. Red calmy pushed her away like she was a rowdy kitten and continued speaking.
"Well that depends. The only people who can use Hamato Ninpo are those who belong to the Hamato Clan, as they are gifts given to us by our ancestors. You're Casey aren't you?" Red pushed April back again. "Our Caseys are apart of the Hamato Clan, but if you aren't you could learn how to use mystic powers. They're super similar and there's tools and teachers and things to-" Red picked April up by the back of her shirt and held her up and away from him. Leo watched as she kicked her feet through the air in frustration. "Help you learn, unlike us where everything is kinda trial and error learning."
Raph started climbing up Red's back spikes, clearly unhappy with the improv fight break.
"Mystic powers? Are you talking, like, magic?" Donnie had gotten back up and into a battle stance, but Leo could tell by his flabbergasted expression he was far more focused on getting answers than fighting. Leo would be lying if he said he wasn't massively interested as well.
"Some of it is, some of it isn't? I'm not quite sure and every time someone tries to explain it gives me a headache. Me and Leo just tend to think of it as superpowers."
Red had set the ladder down properly set up, and now reached behind him to grab Raph one handed. Leo tensed, remembering they were in a real fight and not a friendly chat. Red pulled Raph around to his front before lifting him above his head and hooking Raph's belt onto a hook that was hanging on a rope from the top of the cage. He let Raph go, who's frantic movements made him begin swinging, and then put the ladder under Raph who gripped it like a lifeline.
Leo was able to notice Red Reign's scared eye didn't move in time with his unscared eye. Leo charged Red, coming up on what Leo was hoping was a blind side. Leo hit Red in the head with the pommel of one katana and sliced at the arm holding April with the other. It worked.
"Attack from his right! He can't see you coming!"
Leo attacked again. April quickly got up off the ground where she was dropped and joined him. Casey went high for Red's neck and Donnie went low for Red's knees. After several long minutes of repetitive hitting Red Reign went down on a knee. Leo wrapped his tired arms around Red's neck and pulled down while Donnie pushed against Red's knee. April and Casey went to Red's left side and started pushing his shoulder. Slowly Red Reign inched more and more horizontal.
All Leo heard was "DOG PILE" before Raph jumped from the ladder and landed on Red, the force of the jump and the angle of the landing pushed Red onto the floor. Everyone jumped on Red, trying to pin him to the ground. The horn sounded. Once. Twice.
Red began pushing himself up. With all five of them on top of him.
Leo kicked at the elbow closest to him, knocking Red's arm out from under him. Red dropped back down to the ground. Raph leaned out from under Leo and grabbed onto Red's jacket cuff, pulling Red's arm to him and then hugging it so Red couldn't get it back under himself. The horn sounded again.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
Red Reign stopped struggling and went limp. Casey cheered.
Red Reign had removed his jacket and put his mask back on. He was leading them through the sewers to their next fight. He didn't seem upset that he lost, and answered all of Donnie's questions that he could. They had already tried asking after Mikey, but Red would give them the same answer over and over again: Mikey is perfectly fine, he's not in any danger.
When Donnie paused to search his pockets for a notepad to jot Red's answers down, Leo asked "So, uh, what's up with your eye?"
"Oh it's a glass eye. I wear it because the eyepatch basically screamed 'hit me here! I'm blind!' to enemies."
"Ahh…"
"How'd you figure it out so fast?"
"Oh, when you were hooking Raph to the ceiling only one eye was moving. Honestly if I hadn't seen the scars I would've just assumed you had a lazy eye."
"Makes sense, Donnie has told me I move my head a lot more when I look at things now. I can only tilt my head back so far, so my eye must've moved to cover the rest of the distance. Good to know."
"Woah, you have a fake eye," Casey pushed himself to the front.
"Yep, watch this," Red put his finger in his eye and started moving it around. Everyone but Casey and Donnie found it disturbing and had to look away.
"Okay! Okay! We get it you can stop now." Raph had turned completely around.
Red laughed but stopped messing with his eye and resumed walking.
"I thought prosthetic eyes moved these days," Donnie commented.
"A lot of them do! But that involves surgery, which is kinda hard to get when you've got," Red gestured to all of himself, "this whole situation going on."
"Speaking of situations, is your Donnie always that," Donnie struggled to find a word, "intense?"
Red laughed.
Red Reign led them back up to the streets and to the docks. They walked in a maze of shipping containers to an area that had obviously been cleared just for them. There were two shipping container stack towers, each four containers high. A spotlight located on one turned on, shining right on the team and into their eyes.
"WELCOME TO ROUND FIVE! YOU HAVE OFFICIALLY MADE IT HALFWAY." April held back a groan. Only halfway? This was shaping up to be on the longest night of her life.
"JOINING US AT THE MOMENT WE HAVE THE SECOND HANDSOMEST TURTLE IN THE FAMILY. HE GOES BY MANY NAMES, 'ANGELO', 'DELICATE TOUCH', AND 'ONE LOVE' TO NAME A FEW. BUT TONIGHT HE'S BREAKING OUT A WHOLE NEW PERSONA. MAY I INTRODUCE TO YOU, DOCTOR DISAPPOINTED!"
A mutant turtle jumped from the tower and landed on the shipping container in front of the group. He wore an orange turtle neck under a lab coat and had large square glasses over his orange mask. He stood up and crossed his arms, "tch tch tch. I'm not mad, just disappointed."
"OOOOOOOOH"
All the orange implied this was alternate Mikey.
"AND JOINING HIM TONIGHT WE HAVE A NYWA WINNER AND BATTLE NEXUS CHAMPION! HE'S GOT IT ALL, LOOKS, BRAINS, AND MAD SKILLS BOTH ON THE DANCE FLOOR AND THE BATTLEFIELD. HIS BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT TO DATE IS OUTSMARTING THE QUEEN OF TRICKS HERSELF, BIG MAMA."
Doctor Disappointed cupped his hands around his mouth, "OOOOH…"
"HE'S A FAN FAVORITE, PROUD PART-TIME DAD, AND PROUD FULL-TIME ANNOYANCE. NOW LETS HEAR SOME APPLAUSE FOR THE ONE, THE ONLY, PRIMETIME!"
Another turtle flipped down from the tower to land next to Doctor Disappointed, who was whooping and hollering.
"ME!" He winked before holding the mic out and dropping it.