Title Series: Total Shell Shock
Rating: R
Chapter Title: The Encounter
Author: White Werewolf
Category: Slight B/X if any
Timeframe: Prequel to Slayer in a Half Shell
Spoilers: Graduation Part II
Summery: Xander leaves Sunnydale and meets the Turtles in New York.
Together, they form a team and have to stop Rat King
Disclaimer: Buffy: the Vampire Slayer is owned by Whedon, UPN, FOX, and
Mutant Enemy. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are owned by Eastman, Laird, and Mirage Studios.
Author Notes: (............) indicates thought. Prequel to Slayer in a Half Shell
Special Thanks: Ozmandayus, Vampyr64, Mims, Michael Wilson
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Sewers
"Bodacious!" the stranger said in triumph. He turned to his brother, "did you get the pizza, Mikey?"
Michaelangelo nodded, "Sure did, Donny. That was some fun, dude."
Leonardo sighed, "At least your robber didn't bite you in the hand. Man, that hurt."
Raphael shook his head. "It looks like our fearless leader hurt his hand. Want me to kiss it and make it better, Leo?"
"Stuff it, Raphael. I'm not in the mood tonight."
"Looks like I struck a nerve."
The blue banded turtle turned to the red banded one. "Listen, Raphael. What we did tonight was sloppy. I actually brought my head into my shell. I should've just moved my head, not bring it into the shell. That was a copout."
Raphael's eyes widened. He knew that his brother took his fighting style seriously, but to actually regret using something that was a natural turtle instinct as defense was a surprise to him, "Jeez, Leo. Take it easy. It was natural instinct. No matter how hard you train, you'll never be able stop doing that. So, just accept it."
Leonardo sighed. "I know it is. But, it just seems like a flaw."
Michaelangelo shook his head, and wrapped his arms around the two. "I worry about you two sometimes." He twisted his neck to look at his blue banded brother. "Just accept being a turtle, Leo. We all have."
Donatello showed a confused look. His brother never had that problem before. "What's the real problem, Leonardo? You never had a problem with pulling your head into your shell before. If you ask me, I think that answer was a copout."
Leonardo glanced at his brothers. Donatello was right. The 'dropping his head into his shell' was a copout. But he couldn't tell them the truth. The very truth that haunted him all these years. Not at the moment anyway. The turtle leader shook his head, "Sorry guys. It's nothing against you. It's just something that I have to deal with myself. Forget I mentioned it."
Michaelangelo nodded, "Sure thing, dude. Just know that you can always come to us. We're always here for you."
He smiled. "Thanks, Michaelangelo. I know I can. Like I said, this is something that I have to deal with."
"Same here," Donatello joined in.
Raphael sighed, "You know you can come to us."
The inventor smiled, "Spinter too, Leo."
At that point a grumbling sound was heard.
The turtle rubbed his stomach. "Sorry, dudes. Getting hungry."
Raphael grinned, "Me too, Mikey. Let's go back to the lair."
***Holiday Inn Room 603***
Xander surfed through the channels, but nothing was on. He turned the television off, then entered the bathroom.
It was a small bathroom with the floored tiled in a white and off-white checkered pattern. The walls were wallpapered in a light tan color. A toilet sat in the corner with a shower next to the right wall.
Xander leaned his hands on the sink counter that was against the left wall. He looked into the mirror and started the faucet. Waiting for the water to turn warm, he went over the events that happened this night.
These 'vigilantes,' Officer Kelly called them were in fact professionals. One could tell by the way they were tied up. Not to mention the well-organized fashion the thieves were organized for the police.
The water turned warm, and Xander ran his hands underneath the faucet. He massaged his hands, getting the dirt off. When finished, he washed his face, and then brushed his teeth. After that was done, he turned off the sink, flipped the light off, and exited the bathroom.
Xander plopped himself on the bed, removed his white undershirt leaving only his boxers. The boy slid under the covers and looked at the digital clock on his nightstand. It read 11:30. True, it was still early, but he was tired. After all, he did travel a lot today.
The high school graduate closed his eyes, and tried to go to sleep. But sleep never came. Sighing, Xander quickly got dressed and grabbed his wallet, cell phone, and two stakes. Even though he hadn't seen any new vampire activity. His time on the Hellmouth taught him to always be prepared.
Then he headed out into the night to take a walk.
Xander walked out of the gas station carrying a twenty oz. bottle of Coke. He sat down on the ledge looking at the night sky. Xander couldn't see that many stars because the lights from the gas station were shining brightly. He took a swig of his soda and stared at the pavement. He could feel the vibrations of the cars going by under his feet.
He looked into the street and saw a couple of vampires running wild. Xander immediately jumped to his feet and started to chase after them. "Why can't vampires leave me alone?"
The two vampires looked back at Xander. "Perhaps it's your magnetic personality," one of them hissed.
"What are you going to do, boy? Stake us?" The other said "Fat chance!"
Xander pulled out a stake during his pursuit. "Exactly, Fang Faces."
"This boy knows what he's doing! Let's get out of here!" one of the vampires yelled.
"And lead him to our lair," the other vampire whispered to his partner with a grin, "To the sewers."
Xander didn't hear the last part, but continued on his chase. He chased them down into the sewers and saw them stop in the middle of nowhere. "What's wrong, Overbites? Run out of room."
One of the vampires simply returned. "We're waiting for our friends."
Xander gulped and scanned the sewers for any more vampires. "Friends?"
At that point five more vampires came out of nowhere.
Xander knew he was in trouble, and he wished he had Buffy with him. However, that wasn't going to happen. "If I'm going to go out, I'm going to go out fighting."
With that being said, Xander launched himself into the seven vampire horde.
One vampire came charging at Xander and swung a punch into his gut. "This is too easy!"
Xander flew a few feet back and landed into some sewer water.
Splash.
Xander jumped back to his feet and charged back to his attacker. The vampire shot him with a punch, but Xander blocked it with his free arm and then stabbed it with his stake.
After the vampire's dust fell to the water, two more vampires charged toward Xander. He looked around and knew that the six remaining were too much. His life flashed before his eyes. He saw images of Jesse and Willow, moments of good with his parents, the first day he saw Buffy, the Scoobies, Cordelia, and finally the person he loves. Xander saw Buffy.
One of the vampires approached Xander and grabbed him by the neck. "Lunch Time," it hissed.
At that moment, the vampire became dust. Xander looked at his savior and found it to be a demon with a wooden staff. "This is just great! I run into vampires and now I run into a demon"
The demon looked at Xander. "I'm not a demon, kid. I'm a mutant turtle." He helped Xander up. "The name's Donatello. What's your name?"
Xander didn't know if he should trust Donatello. He looked around the sewer and only found two more vampires fighting a demon with swords. Then he looked back at Donatello. "How do I know you're not a demon?"
Another demon came up to Xander and Donatello. "If we were demons, wouldn't we try to kill you? I think I just saw Donatello help you, dude."
Xander finally understood. These demons weren't demons at all. They were mutants. "My name's Xander Harris."
The mutant with the swords decapitated his two vampire foes with one quick swipe across their necks. "I thought foot soldiers were hard. These recent vampires in Manhattan are tougher." He walked over to where his brothers were talking to the boy.
Raphael walked over to his orange band wearing brother and his purple band wearing one too. "What did we tell you about taking in new pets, Michaelangelo?"
Xander looked at the turtles. "Let me get this straight. You're mutant turtles? But I thought the only mutants were in comic books. Y'know, like X-Men. This is real life!"
Raphael laughed. "Who would read stories about mutants?"
Leonardo introduced himself. "Excuse Raphael, Xander. He makes bad jokes about everything. My name's Leonardo. I believe you already met the other turtles. Let's take you to Master Splinter."
Xander heard footsteps coming from behind him and turned around. He saw another vampire. Xander threw his stake and it punctured the vampire in the heart. "That was easy enough." He turned around to the turtles. "Who's Master Splinter?"
Mikey responded, "He's our sensei, dude. Splinter's also a mutant rat."
Xander shook his head in disgust. "I leave Sunnydale where demons and vampires live. Now I come to Manhattan, and find out that mutants exist. Just promise me there are no more mutants."
Donatello looked at Leonardo. "You want to tell him, or should I?"
The turtle leader smiled, "Why don't we go see Master Splinter first. Then we'll settle this all out."
The boy shrugged, "That's fine by me."
The inventor smiled, "This way, Xander."
With that said the five of them headed deep down into the sewers to where they lived.
***The Turtles Sewer Lair***
Fifteen Minutes Later
The Turtles and Xander entered into the lair to see Splinter eating some sushi.
Leonardo immediately held up his hand, "Master Splinter. This is Xander. We met fighting off vampires. He helped us stop them."
The rat finished his sushi, walked over to the new visitor, and outstretched his hand, "Nice to meet you, Xander. My name's Hamato Yoshi, but you can call me Splinter."
Xander accepted his hand and smiled. "Well, Splinter. My name's Alexander Harris, but you can call me Xander."
"Come, Xander and my sons. I believe that we should get down to proper introductions. This way," he suggested as he went over to the end of the table and sat down. "We have much to discuss."
The five teenagers went over to the table as the rat suggested. Xander sat opposite Splinter while Leonardo and Raphael sat on the left side. Michaelangelo and Donatello sat on the right.
Splinter placed his right hand over his left in front of him, "Tell me Xander. Why don't you tell us about yourself."
Xander shrugged his shoulders, "There's not much to tell. I'm more interested into finding out why I'm sitting and talking with mutants."
"I believe Master Splinter should tell you what happened, Xander. After all, he's the one that raised us," Leonardo said in response.
The rat cleared his throat, "You see Xander, many years ago I was once a man named Hamato Yoshi. Where I lived in Japan studying the art under a Ninja Clan called the Foot. One day a man named Oruku Saki framed me for attempted murder, which caused my banishment from the Clan. Fifteen years ago I arrived in New York where I was forced to live in the sewers scourging for food. My only friends were the rats and shortly after four baby turtles. One day I found the four turtles wondering in some green ooze which is called mutagen. I went to the turtles kneeling into the mutagen myself with my pet rat and attempted to clean the turtles off. Something strange happened. The mutagen altered our bodies and turned me into a four foot rat. My sons turned into five foot turtles. Later, I became the turtles' teacher. I named them all after my favorite Renaissance Artists. They're the ones that gave me the name, Splinter. I taught them Ninjitsu since that fateful day."
The boy's eyes widened. "Woah. That's quite a story."
Splinter chuckled to himself, "Indeed it is, Xander."
Then it hit him. "You're the guys that stopped those thieves tonight. That was incredible."
Michaelangelo returned, "Thanks, dude. But we were simply doing our job. Y'know, protecting the citizens of Manhattan."
"You guys are like my friend, Buffy."
The Turtles exchanged looks. "Buffy?" they asked in unison.
He nodded, "Yeah. Buffy's a slayer."
Splinter's eyes widened. Through his years he has heard of slayers, but never met one. He said surprisingly, "You know about slayers, Xander?"
Xander smiled, "You bet. You see, I'm from Sunnydale where vampires, demons, werewolves, and basically anything supernatural run rampant. Well, accept leprechauns. And I help to kill them."
"Why accept leprechauns?" Donatello asked.
He replied, "Because they don't exist, Donatello. Buffy doesn't like them."
"What's a slayer?"
Xander glanced at the turtle, "Raphael is it?" He nodded. "A slayer is a chosen girl sent by the Powers that Be to fight the vampires. Basically, anything that goes bump in the night. She has super strength, speed, healing ability, and basically heightened senses."
"So, she could say kill the Boogyman?"
The boy shook his head. "I don't know about the Boogyman. But she did kill a giant praying mantis."
"Giant Praying Mantis?" Donatello asked.
Xander answered, "Yeah. Among other things."
Leonardo questioned, "Well, Xander. With all these vampires and such, you must be a great fighter."
The high school graduate shrugged, "I handle pretty well," then he figured something out. He glanced at the rat, "Can you train me, Splinter? If I become a better fighter, then I'd have a better chance surviving."
The ninja master answered, "The thing is Xander. The training would take some time in order for you to become truly successful. Are you willing to take the training seriously?"
Xander nodded, "I am Splinter. With you training me, I could help Buffy more rather then just doing research or donut delivery. I'm on vacation anyway."
Splinter got up from his chair and walked over to his new student. He said, "Good, Xander. We can start tomorrow. Right now, why don't you go back home?"
The boy nodded, "Sure. When should I come by?"
Donatello left his seat, walked out of the main room, and into his laboratory. He came back in two minutes, and handed something to Xander. The turtle told him, "Take this Xander. It's a turtle communicator. We'll call you tomorrow."
The brunette took the communicator and placed it in his pocket, "Thanks, guys. If you need me before my first class, my room is 603 at the Holiday Inn."
"See you tomorrow," Leonardo said. The rest of the gang said their goodbyes and watched him head out of the lair.
"The kid seems nice," Donatello commented.
"Seems that way," Michaelangelo admitted. "And it's nice to have a human friend who's in the same business we're in."
Raphael shook his head, "We already have Casey Jones and April."
Michaelangelo shrugged, "The more the merrier."
"Can't you say something non-cliched?"
"No."
"I didn't think so," then he turned to his brother. "Donatello, get Michaelangelo a thesaurus."
TBC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating: R
Chapter Title: The Encounter
Author: White Werewolf
Category: Slight B/X if any
Timeframe: Prequel to Slayer in a Half Shell
Spoilers: Graduation Part II
Summery: Xander leaves Sunnydale and meets the Turtles in New York.
Together, they form a team and have to stop Rat King
Disclaimer: Buffy: the Vampire Slayer is owned by Whedon, UPN, FOX, and
Mutant Enemy. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are owned by Eastman, Laird, and Mirage Studios.
Author Notes: (............) indicates thought. Prequel to Slayer in a Half Shell
Special Thanks: Ozmandayus, Vampyr64, Mims, Michael Wilson
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Sewers
"Bodacious!" the stranger said in triumph. He turned to his brother, "did you get the pizza, Mikey?"
Michaelangelo nodded, "Sure did, Donny. That was some fun, dude."
Leonardo sighed, "At least your robber didn't bite you in the hand. Man, that hurt."
Raphael shook his head. "It looks like our fearless leader hurt his hand. Want me to kiss it and make it better, Leo?"
"Stuff it, Raphael. I'm not in the mood tonight."
"Looks like I struck a nerve."
The blue banded turtle turned to the red banded one. "Listen, Raphael. What we did tonight was sloppy. I actually brought my head into my shell. I should've just moved my head, not bring it into the shell. That was a copout."
Raphael's eyes widened. He knew that his brother took his fighting style seriously, but to actually regret using something that was a natural turtle instinct as defense was a surprise to him, "Jeez, Leo. Take it easy. It was natural instinct. No matter how hard you train, you'll never be able stop doing that. So, just accept it."
Leonardo sighed. "I know it is. But, it just seems like a flaw."
Michaelangelo shook his head, and wrapped his arms around the two. "I worry about you two sometimes." He twisted his neck to look at his blue banded brother. "Just accept being a turtle, Leo. We all have."
Donatello showed a confused look. His brother never had that problem before. "What's the real problem, Leonardo? You never had a problem with pulling your head into your shell before. If you ask me, I think that answer was a copout."
Leonardo glanced at his brothers. Donatello was right. The 'dropping his head into his shell' was a copout. But he couldn't tell them the truth. The very truth that haunted him all these years. Not at the moment anyway. The turtle leader shook his head, "Sorry guys. It's nothing against you. It's just something that I have to deal with myself. Forget I mentioned it."
Michaelangelo nodded, "Sure thing, dude. Just know that you can always come to us. We're always here for you."
He smiled. "Thanks, Michaelangelo. I know I can. Like I said, this is something that I have to deal with."
"Same here," Donatello joined in.
Raphael sighed, "You know you can come to us."
The inventor smiled, "Spinter too, Leo."
At that point a grumbling sound was heard.
The turtle rubbed his stomach. "Sorry, dudes. Getting hungry."
Raphael grinned, "Me too, Mikey. Let's go back to the lair."
***Holiday Inn Room 603***
Xander surfed through the channels, but nothing was on. He turned the television off, then entered the bathroom.
It was a small bathroom with the floored tiled in a white and off-white checkered pattern. The walls were wallpapered in a light tan color. A toilet sat in the corner with a shower next to the right wall.
Xander leaned his hands on the sink counter that was against the left wall. He looked into the mirror and started the faucet. Waiting for the water to turn warm, he went over the events that happened this night.
These 'vigilantes,' Officer Kelly called them were in fact professionals. One could tell by the way they were tied up. Not to mention the well-organized fashion the thieves were organized for the police.
The water turned warm, and Xander ran his hands underneath the faucet. He massaged his hands, getting the dirt off. When finished, he washed his face, and then brushed his teeth. After that was done, he turned off the sink, flipped the light off, and exited the bathroom.
Xander plopped himself on the bed, removed his white undershirt leaving only his boxers. The boy slid under the covers and looked at the digital clock on his nightstand. It read 11:30. True, it was still early, but he was tired. After all, he did travel a lot today.
The high school graduate closed his eyes, and tried to go to sleep. But sleep never came. Sighing, Xander quickly got dressed and grabbed his wallet, cell phone, and two stakes. Even though he hadn't seen any new vampire activity. His time on the Hellmouth taught him to always be prepared.
Then he headed out into the night to take a walk.
Xander walked out of the gas station carrying a twenty oz. bottle of Coke. He sat down on the ledge looking at the night sky. Xander couldn't see that many stars because the lights from the gas station were shining brightly. He took a swig of his soda and stared at the pavement. He could feel the vibrations of the cars going by under his feet.
He looked into the street and saw a couple of vampires running wild. Xander immediately jumped to his feet and started to chase after them. "Why can't vampires leave me alone?"
The two vampires looked back at Xander. "Perhaps it's your magnetic personality," one of them hissed.
"What are you going to do, boy? Stake us?" The other said "Fat chance!"
Xander pulled out a stake during his pursuit. "Exactly, Fang Faces."
"This boy knows what he's doing! Let's get out of here!" one of the vampires yelled.
"And lead him to our lair," the other vampire whispered to his partner with a grin, "To the sewers."
Xander didn't hear the last part, but continued on his chase. He chased them down into the sewers and saw them stop in the middle of nowhere. "What's wrong, Overbites? Run out of room."
One of the vampires simply returned. "We're waiting for our friends."
Xander gulped and scanned the sewers for any more vampires. "Friends?"
At that point five more vampires came out of nowhere.
Xander knew he was in trouble, and he wished he had Buffy with him. However, that wasn't going to happen. "If I'm going to go out, I'm going to go out fighting."
With that being said, Xander launched himself into the seven vampire horde.
One vampire came charging at Xander and swung a punch into his gut. "This is too easy!"
Xander flew a few feet back and landed into some sewer water.
Splash.
Xander jumped back to his feet and charged back to his attacker. The vampire shot him with a punch, but Xander blocked it with his free arm and then stabbed it with his stake.
After the vampire's dust fell to the water, two more vampires charged toward Xander. He looked around and knew that the six remaining were too much. His life flashed before his eyes. He saw images of Jesse and Willow, moments of good with his parents, the first day he saw Buffy, the Scoobies, Cordelia, and finally the person he loves. Xander saw Buffy.
One of the vampires approached Xander and grabbed him by the neck. "Lunch Time," it hissed.
At that moment, the vampire became dust. Xander looked at his savior and found it to be a demon with a wooden staff. "This is just great! I run into vampires and now I run into a demon"
The demon looked at Xander. "I'm not a demon, kid. I'm a mutant turtle." He helped Xander up. "The name's Donatello. What's your name?"
Xander didn't know if he should trust Donatello. He looked around the sewer and only found two more vampires fighting a demon with swords. Then he looked back at Donatello. "How do I know you're not a demon?"
Another demon came up to Xander and Donatello. "If we were demons, wouldn't we try to kill you? I think I just saw Donatello help you, dude."
Xander finally understood. These demons weren't demons at all. They were mutants. "My name's Xander Harris."
The mutant with the swords decapitated his two vampire foes with one quick swipe across their necks. "I thought foot soldiers were hard. These recent vampires in Manhattan are tougher." He walked over to where his brothers were talking to the boy.
Raphael walked over to his orange band wearing brother and his purple band wearing one too. "What did we tell you about taking in new pets, Michaelangelo?"
Xander looked at the turtles. "Let me get this straight. You're mutant turtles? But I thought the only mutants were in comic books. Y'know, like X-Men. This is real life!"
Raphael laughed. "Who would read stories about mutants?"
Leonardo introduced himself. "Excuse Raphael, Xander. He makes bad jokes about everything. My name's Leonardo. I believe you already met the other turtles. Let's take you to Master Splinter."
Xander heard footsteps coming from behind him and turned around. He saw another vampire. Xander threw his stake and it punctured the vampire in the heart. "That was easy enough." He turned around to the turtles. "Who's Master Splinter?"
Mikey responded, "He's our sensei, dude. Splinter's also a mutant rat."
Xander shook his head in disgust. "I leave Sunnydale where demons and vampires live. Now I come to Manhattan, and find out that mutants exist. Just promise me there are no more mutants."
Donatello looked at Leonardo. "You want to tell him, or should I?"
The turtle leader smiled, "Why don't we go see Master Splinter first. Then we'll settle this all out."
The boy shrugged, "That's fine by me."
The inventor smiled, "This way, Xander."
With that said the five of them headed deep down into the sewers to where they lived.
***The Turtles Sewer Lair***
Fifteen Minutes Later
The Turtles and Xander entered into the lair to see Splinter eating some sushi.
Leonardo immediately held up his hand, "Master Splinter. This is Xander. We met fighting off vampires. He helped us stop them."
The rat finished his sushi, walked over to the new visitor, and outstretched his hand, "Nice to meet you, Xander. My name's Hamato Yoshi, but you can call me Splinter."
Xander accepted his hand and smiled. "Well, Splinter. My name's Alexander Harris, but you can call me Xander."
"Come, Xander and my sons. I believe that we should get down to proper introductions. This way," he suggested as he went over to the end of the table and sat down. "We have much to discuss."
The five teenagers went over to the table as the rat suggested. Xander sat opposite Splinter while Leonardo and Raphael sat on the left side. Michaelangelo and Donatello sat on the right.
Splinter placed his right hand over his left in front of him, "Tell me Xander. Why don't you tell us about yourself."
Xander shrugged his shoulders, "There's not much to tell. I'm more interested into finding out why I'm sitting and talking with mutants."
"I believe Master Splinter should tell you what happened, Xander. After all, he's the one that raised us," Leonardo said in response.
The rat cleared his throat, "You see Xander, many years ago I was once a man named Hamato Yoshi. Where I lived in Japan studying the art under a Ninja Clan called the Foot. One day a man named Oruku Saki framed me for attempted murder, which caused my banishment from the Clan. Fifteen years ago I arrived in New York where I was forced to live in the sewers scourging for food. My only friends were the rats and shortly after four baby turtles. One day I found the four turtles wondering in some green ooze which is called mutagen. I went to the turtles kneeling into the mutagen myself with my pet rat and attempted to clean the turtles off. Something strange happened. The mutagen altered our bodies and turned me into a four foot rat. My sons turned into five foot turtles. Later, I became the turtles' teacher. I named them all after my favorite Renaissance Artists. They're the ones that gave me the name, Splinter. I taught them Ninjitsu since that fateful day."
The boy's eyes widened. "Woah. That's quite a story."
Splinter chuckled to himself, "Indeed it is, Xander."
Then it hit him. "You're the guys that stopped those thieves tonight. That was incredible."
Michaelangelo returned, "Thanks, dude. But we were simply doing our job. Y'know, protecting the citizens of Manhattan."
"You guys are like my friend, Buffy."
The Turtles exchanged looks. "Buffy?" they asked in unison.
He nodded, "Yeah. Buffy's a slayer."
Splinter's eyes widened. Through his years he has heard of slayers, but never met one. He said surprisingly, "You know about slayers, Xander?"
Xander smiled, "You bet. You see, I'm from Sunnydale where vampires, demons, werewolves, and basically anything supernatural run rampant. Well, accept leprechauns. And I help to kill them."
"Why accept leprechauns?" Donatello asked.
He replied, "Because they don't exist, Donatello. Buffy doesn't like them."
"What's a slayer?"
Xander glanced at the turtle, "Raphael is it?" He nodded. "A slayer is a chosen girl sent by the Powers that Be to fight the vampires. Basically, anything that goes bump in the night. She has super strength, speed, healing ability, and basically heightened senses."
"So, she could say kill the Boogyman?"
The boy shook his head. "I don't know about the Boogyman. But she did kill a giant praying mantis."
"Giant Praying Mantis?" Donatello asked.
Xander answered, "Yeah. Among other things."
Leonardo questioned, "Well, Xander. With all these vampires and such, you must be a great fighter."
The high school graduate shrugged, "I handle pretty well," then he figured something out. He glanced at the rat, "Can you train me, Splinter? If I become a better fighter, then I'd have a better chance surviving."
The ninja master answered, "The thing is Xander. The training would take some time in order for you to become truly successful. Are you willing to take the training seriously?"
Xander nodded, "I am Splinter. With you training me, I could help Buffy more rather then just doing research or donut delivery. I'm on vacation anyway."
Splinter got up from his chair and walked over to his new student. He said, "Good, Xander. We can start tomorrow. Right now, why don't you go back home?"
The boy nodded, "Sure. When should I come by?"
Donatello left his seat, walked out of the main room, and into his laboratory. He came back in two minutes, and handed something to Xander. The turtle told him, "Take this Xander. It's a turtle communicator. We'll call you tomorrow."
The brunette took the communicator and placed it in his pocket, "Thanks, guys. If you need me before my first class, my room is 603 at the Holiday Inn."
"See you tomorrow," Leonardo said. The rest of the gang said their goodbyes and watched him head out of the lair.
"The kid seems nice," Donatello commented.
"Seems that way," Michaelangelo admitted. "And it's nice to have a human friend who's in the same business we're in."
Raphael shook his head, "We already have Casey Jones and April."
Michaelangelo shrugged, "The more the merrier."
"Can't you say something non-cliched?"
"No."
"I didn't think so," then he turned to his brother. "Donatello, get Michaelangelo a thesaurus."
TBC
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