"You'd better be right about this, Leo. If Raph ends up wasting an entire evening searching an area that doesn't contain Pops' thingamajig, there's gonna be consequences." He further emphasized his point with a crack of his knuckles.
"Relax, big bro; when I opened the portal, I was envisioning a hand, so it's gotta be somewhere where there's a lot of hands," Leo shouldered his sword, stepping away from the group and holding a palm out to survey the building behind him, "and what better place than a casino?" He raised a brow, smirking. "Where money is always changing hands?"
Raphael seemed content with the answer, huddling the group together. "Remember fellas, we're not here to have fun;" Raphael stared in Leo's direction, raising a brow as the younger brother huffed, crossing his arms, "we're here to find Pops' mystic doohickey and get outta here."
April, who unfortunately ended up wrapped in this mess, laced her brows as she glanced between the brothers, trying to remember how they'd even ended up here in the Yokai's Hidden City to begin with. As the brothers discussed plans to split into teams to search the casino, her mind recollected the events that had transpired over the past hour and a half.
It had been like any other day. She'd gotten out of school, ran home and dropped her schoolbooks off, then had jogged to the brothers' lair for an evening of what was bound to entail shenanigans. And shenanigans they turned out to be when Leo opened a portal to the Hidden City, having thrown one of Splinter's "do not touch" items – which they had chosen to play the role of a makeshift ping-pong ball – through, thinking that it would land in Raph's hands on the opposite side of the room. However, when he failed to open a counter portal, everyone entered a state of panic.
Thus, the five of them had ended up in the mystic underworld, searching frantically for the item in fear that the explanation regarding its whereabouts would be far more unbearable than simply finding and returning the item.
"Don't you guys think this is a little – I dunno – excessive?" April spoke up, feeling like common sense outweighed the mere idea of searching for an item they knew next to nothing about. "I mean, c'mon… Do you really think Splinter would get upset over losing something," she gestured her fingers in a half-dollar sized circle, "this big?"
The brothers collectively gasped, disbelieving that she'd even suggest telling Splinter they'd lost his priceless possession. She, however, knew that they would rather jump off a cliff than face Splinter's wrath – or worse yet, his outlandish punishments.
"Scoff!" Donnie crossed his arms, frowning. "Pa-pa cannot find out about this, April." He lifted his index finger, pointing at her. "And you must swear not to divulge any information to him while we hunt for the missing object."
April exhaled, dropping her shoulders as she furrowed her brows, silently surrendering with an "I give up," as Raphael nodded in satisfaction, plans having been discussed and understood as he pointed a set of fingers towards his pupils and then at Leo, the silent "I'm watching you," clearly established as Leo rolled his eyes dramatically.
As the group stepped forward, Raphael motioned to Leo to initiate plan "diversion," to which the younger brother nodded and rolled from his perch atop the massive sign overlooking the building, sticking the landing as he snuck to the front of the line and got into character, the guard at the door eyeing Leo suspiciously as he frowned.
"Excuse me, my good Yokai, but I believe I have a reservation?" Leo responded in the poshest voice he could muster, accentuating his supposed importance with a hand on his hip and a flip of his wrist. The man eyed him from behind his sunglasses, lowering them to make eye contact with Leo.
"This is a casino, man. You can just walk in, y'know." He deadpanned.
Leo was struck speechless, furrowing his brows together as he struggled to wrap his head around the concept, lifting a finger to speak but being struck with no counter. The man eventually shook his head and opened the door for him, watching as Leo slowly walked in and turned to speak, only to have the door slammed in his face.
Leo shook his head, snapping himself out of his stupor as he turned, taking in the hustle and bustle of the massive main room filled with dozens and dozens of Yokai, all gambling and quite distracted from anything going on outside the tables they occupied, providing Leo with the opportunity to sneak behind the nearest row of slot machines and portal his comrades in.
"Hey, uh, guys?" Mikey spoke up, gathering the group's attention as he pointed to a poster on the nearest wall. "This says 'no humans allowed'!"
"Rude." April remarked dryly, raising a brow as she put her hands on her hips.
"How are we gonna search the casino and keep April from being spotted?" Mikey thought out loud, worriedly hugging his friend as she sighed.
Raphael rubbed his chin, turning to eye a coat rack standing in the corner of the room, an idea forming in his head as he glanced back at April, mentally measuring her size with a grin. Within thirty seconds, she was being donned in an oversized coat, having her poofy hair tucked under a hat and having a cane shoved into her hand. To a normal person, she looked like a teenage girl that had been swallowed by an overcoat, but to the turtles, she passed as a Yokai.
April didn't know what to think, at that point, but didn't have time to protest as Donnie and Raphael both teamed up and Mikey and Leo both sped off together to search, leaving her alone to her own devices as she grumbled, trying not to trip over the coat as she rose to her full height and walked into the open, ditching the cane before taking in the sights and the energy as she scanned the open spaces inbetween Yokai.
There was so much going on, but she could hear bits and pieces of individual conversations as she glanced over different parts of the room, mostly ignoring them and occasionally leaning down to look under tables. She also tried searching in a few purses, but nearly got caught a few times, discouraging her from continuing in fear that she already looked suspicious enough; no need to actually go and have it done.
After several moments, she couldn't catch sight of any of the turtle brothers, figuring either they were being incredibly stealthy, or they'd moved on to another room. Whatever the case, she still felt there was so much ground to cover here in this main room, stepping up to a roulette table and resting her weight on her arms as she took a break to reevaluate the situation.
The Yokai gathered around the table had their palms clenched in anticipation, begging the ball to land on the desired position. As she watched the ball travel around and around the wheel, she began to tune into an interesting conversation being had in the corner of the room on one of the many dining tables set up near the bar.
"You're pullin' my leg, Horace!" A yellow three-eyed octopus Yokai sat his drink down, eyeing the other in disbelief.
"I am not either, Fergus." His friend, a navy blue cyclops Yokai, who sat on the opposite side of the round table, held out his hands, shrugging his shoulders. "It really did fall from the sky."
"Things like that just don't happen!"
"And yet it did!"
"I mean, c'mon Horace… The one item you've been searching the Hidden City for for years just falls out of the sky", April's interest was piqued, "and into your hand?"
"That is right." The man opened his palm, revealing Splinter's thingamabob. "It will look grand in my collection, don't you think?"
April gasped, quickly turning her head back towards the table as she tried to formulate a plan. She couldn't get the brothers' attention without causing a scene, and if she caused a scene, there was no guarantee that she wouldn't get caught; and if she got caught, she'd probably get in a ton of trouble for being in a non-human establishment. Then she'd end up needing a lawyer, and then she'd have to take out a loan to pay him; but then how would she get him down here, with… well, this whole situation?
April shook her head, grounding herself back in reality as she concluded that she'd start small; test the waters, and see how much this "collector" guy really valued Splinter's thingy. She took a deep breath, shoving her hands in the coat's pocket as she lowered her face behind the collar, taking slow steps as she made her way towards the table, immediately earning the attention of the two Yokai, who stared at her in confusion and curiosity; even slight suspicion.
"Evenin', gentlemen." She tried to lower her voice, internally cringing that she still sounded like a teenage girl. "I couldn't help but overhear that you've managed to get your hands on-" she panicked, trying to think of any time she'd heard Splinter even remotely refer to it by name. However, when she couldn't recollect a moment, she resorted to "s-such a rare and unique item!"
The men seemed to relax, the one eyeing the orb as he rotated it in his fingers, glancing back at her.
"Yes… It's quite the find down here. Only three have ever been made."
April paled. If they didn't get this thing back, Splinter would know they had lost it. Heck, it was rarer than having mutant turtles for sons!
"Of c-course, which is exactly why I have to know how much you'd be – uh, willing to sell it for!" April stammered, clenching the fabric lining the pockets between her increasingly sweaty hands as the man frowned, clenching the orb within his palm.
"My fair Yokai, I cannot simply sell the one object I have spent years upon years searching this city for." The man seemed to be offended by the mere idea of letting go of the item, to which April began to bite her lip.
"Y-you sure? 'Cuz I'm craaazy rich!" She nervously laughed, pulling her hands out of her pockets, temporarily forgetting her disguise as the man's eyes widened at the sight of her definitely-not-a-Yokai- but-absolutely-a-human hands.
"Impossible!" He growled as he rose to his feet, ganging up on her as he jerked the hat from her head, revealing her hair – and more importantly – her totally-not-a-Yokai face. April froze as a collective gasp passed over the entire room, spreading from one end to the other as her presence was quickly made known.
Sweat beaded along her brow as her eyes darted from one Yokai to the other, fear making her feet feel like lead. As she slowly turned to face the man directly in front of her, her eyes lowered to the man's clenched hand, the orb still stored tightly between his curled fingers, a dangerous idea racing through her brain.
She hated to have to do this, but it wasn't his to begin with, so she lunged forward and jerked the orb from his hand, resulting in a chain reaction as the man yelled, he and his partner making chase as the Yokai surrounding her all scampered in varying directions, trying their best to avoid confrontation. April clenched the orb hard, shoving it in her pocket as she made a beeline for the door, zigzagging to try and avoid running into an unsuspecting Yokai. However, what she didn't expect was to full-on body slam into Leo, who was just coming out of the men's restroom.
The two tumbled to the ground, April on top of Leo as he moaned in pain, flinching when the Yokai grabbed her from her jacket's collar and jerked her off him, lifting her off of the ground and into the air as she struggled to free herself.
"Hey!" He hopped onto his feet, temporarily struggling to maintain his balance, pointing an accusing finger at the man as he clenched his other fist, brow furrowing. "Let her go, loser-clops!"
The man showed his teeth as he stiffened, his partner positioning himself next to his comrade, clenching his multiple fists. Leo blinked, acknowledging that he was outnumbered - until at least Mikey realized he'd ditched him halfway through their search and came to get revenge. Until then, Leo figured he was match enough, lunging forward at the man holding April, who countered and allowed his partner to take his place as he rammed April's back against the nearest poker table, clamping her by the neck while the other man smacked Leo to the ground, the momentum knocking him into at least three slot machines.
While April struggled against the man, Leo unsheathed his ōdachi and took a few slashes at the octopus Yokai, slashing the end of one of his tentacles off, which resulted in a shrill, pain filled screech followed by a rush of enraged tentacles. Leo managed to counter the majority of them, but miscounted, which resulted in a slimy tentacle wrapping around his ankle and lifting him into the air, ramming him into the nearest table, releasing him as he groaned in pain, acknowledging a pair of dice that had landed on seven during the entire debacle.
"Pure irony." He deadpanned, reaching an open palm out before being pulled back up with a yelp and rammed into yet another table.
"We… could… really use… some… GASP!… help, Leo!" April sputtered, kicking the man in the stomach, forcing him to release his grip as she rolled over and out of his way as he growled furiously, ramming his fist down, narrowly missing her. She grabbed a chair and threw it at the man, knocking him out as his partner caught sight of her, narrowing his eyes before shooting a tentacle in her direction.
"Not today!" Raphael jumped in, mystic fists hot and ready as he parried the Yokai's tentacles before grabbing them and pulling the Yokai forward close enough to pull the tentacles taut, flinging the man up in the air and then back down, slamming him into the ground on top of his fallen partner hard enough to crack the floor tile.
"Mikey, make sure these guys are out cold." Raphael, picked April up, careful not to stir her too much, acknowledging that she seemed short of breath as Mikey nodded, cracking one last chair over the duo, rubbing his palms together in satisfaction. "Donnie, help Leo up." He glanced around, noting the increasing rowdiness of the Yokai crowd. "We gotta get outta here."
Donnie helped Leo to his feet, letting him go once his brother was alert enough to walk on his own, joining his brothers as they all swiftly exited, ignoring the questioning calls of the doorman as he tried to chase after them, giving up once he realized they were already gone.
Once they were safely out of reach, they assessed the damage to April's neck, Donnie assuring them all that, aside from some slight bruising, she would recover in no time with no damage to her airway. Leo, however, received a pretty good gash to his shoulder, to which Donnie instructed he'd need to lay off the crazy portalling for a while in order for it to properly heal, which Leo found absolutely preposterous, attempting to prove he was fine as he swung his ōdachi to open them a portal home, only to loudly groan when the action elicited more pain in his shoulder afterwards.
Once they'd all stepped through, Leo immediately let himself fall to the floor, content to lie there, stomach flat against the ground as he exhaled, muttering to himself about how much his "everything" hurt.
"Agree to never do that again?"
"No way, Hosea."
"I concur."
"Absolutely. Never, ever gonna do that again."
"Ch, ya… Now who wants to play another game of ping-pong?"
"LEO!"
