"4 turtles in the sewer… They are allies…"
-Feudal Smashers, chapter 21
Chapter 17: Hidden Heroes of the Sewer, Ninja Turtles!
"Okay, so you guys are humanoid turtles," says Yoshi, quite surprised. "But I've seen beings even weirder than you."
"There are beings even weirder than us?" asks one of the turtles. "Wow… I should be traveling the world more!"
"It would be a more proper way for us to introduce each other first," says Marth. "I'm Marth, the ex-prince of Altae."
"I'm Roy, prince of Etruria. I'm currently away from home for some reasons I forgot."
"I'm DK! The greatest gorilla in the world is me!"
"I'm Yoshi, and I like to eat!
"I'm Pikachu! I'm a special Pokemon who can talk!"
"Me too! I'm also a special talking Pokemon called Pichu! I'm the baby form of Pikachu! For some reason, I can never evolve…"
"Jigglypuff! I'm Jigglypuff!"
"Good to meet you. Call me Young Link."
"Do you know who I am? I am the man of speed! The fastest man in the world! They call me the one and only speed master, Captain Falcon!"
"Never heard of you before," says one of the turtles.
"How can you not! The man of speed's name should travel around the world fast!"
"Anyway, let us introduce ourselves. I am Leonardo, the leader of the Ninja Turtles. Brothers, please introduce yourselves."
"I'm Raphael. That's all I have to say."
"I'm Michelangelo! Just call me Mikey! I love pizza more than anything else! I also enjoy parties! Cowabunga!"
"Enough, Mike! Anyway, I'm Donatello, and I'm the brain of the group. I am a skilled inventor and have great interest in the science of the world!"
"It's nice to meet you guys!" says Marth. "Where do you live?"
"We live in the sewer," replies Leonardo. "We hide ourselves from the world above."
"World above?" asks Pichu. "You mean the heavens?"
"I mean the world above the sewer…"
"Oh."
"Why do you hide yourselves?" asks YL. "Our master told us that we are not human beings, but mutant beings. People will make freaks out of us, so we live in the sewer to hide ourselves."
"I see… Actually, the world out here is also filled with strange beings like you. They don't have any shame walking around among humans."
"I can tell from your dinosaur pal," says Michelangelo. "And why don't you guys come to our sewer home? We can know more about each other!"
"Mike! Master said not to bring unfamiliar people into the sewer!" Raphael reminds him.
"Cool down! These people are freaks! Since we are already freaks, it's nothing bad to bring more freaks into our home!"
"Who are you calling freak!" says CF angrily, pulling up his sleeves and ready to hit someone. "Please calm down…" Roy tells him.
"Never mind, come with us," Leonardo tells them. "We will explain to our master."
"How do we go to your home?" asks Pikachu. Leonardo points to a manhole nearby. "Oh!"
Somewhere in the center of New York City, a tall tower stands there. Inside lives the evil villain known as the Shredder.
"Boss, the Smashers have arrived in this city!" a Purple Dragon henchman reports to Shredder.
"So they're here…" says Shredder
"And worst of all! They seem to have befriended the ninja turtles!"
"This cannot be… How can they join forces with the turtles...? This will not be an easy task after all."
"What are your orders, boss?"
"I'll have to plan on it first. Wait until further orders. You may step down."
"Yes boss!"
"I can't believe you guys live in this kind of place!" says Yoshi, walking through the sewer with the others. "We're used to living here," Donatello tells him. "You'll eventually get adapted to it. Living in the sewer can be fun."
After walking through a long winding maze, they came to a wooden door. "Beyond this door is our home," says Leonardo. "You stay here while we four go in and get permission from our master." The four turtles push opens the door and steps inside. The 9 Smashers wait outside for something to happen; eventually, Michelangelo pokes his head out from the door and tells them to come in.
They step inside and are amazed at the sight before them. Before them is a beautifully decorated room as clean as a wealthy mansion! "I never thought such a clean place exists in the sewer!" exclaims YL. "I always have the impression that it's a smelly place!"
"The Mario Bros. would be surprised to see this!" says Yoshi.
"Come meet our master first!" Donatello tells them. "He's hoping to see you!" As he guides the Smashers to his master, Pichu whispers to Pikachu, "Who do you think there master is?"
"Perhaps a large tortoise? Could be a Blastoise too."
The Smashers come into a room with several ancient Japanese artifacts, and in the back of the room sits a man-size rat! "That's our master," Donatello tells them.
"Guess we're wrong…" Pichu thought to himself.
"Welcome, Smashers," says the rat politely. "I am the sensei of the turtles. Please address me as Splinter."
"What's sensei?" Pichu asks Pikachu. "I believe it means teacher," came Pikachu's reply.
"How do you know about us?" Marth asks Splinter.
"It's because your master foretold me about your coming,"
"Master? You mean Master Hand?"
Splinter simply nods his head once. "So you know Master Hand!" says Roy. "Majority of the people we encountered knows who Master Hand is!"
"Master Hand was once a combat partner of my master, Hamato Yoshi," Splinter tells them. "Who me?" says Yoshi curiously.
"Not you, my friend. My master happens to have the same name as you. Or should I say, you have the same name as my master, since he was still living when you were born."
"WAS still living?" asks CF. "You mean he's no longer living now?"
Splinter's expression turns a bit sad and nods. "Yes, he no longer walks the earth."
"What happened?" asks DK, who somehow got all that he heard without fail.
"DK, it's not nice to make people tell about their sad pasts," Roy tells him.
"Never mind," says Splinter. "I actually want to share my story with you. Shall I start my story?"
Pichu nods his head up and down fast. "I love stories!"
And Splinter starts…
"Several years ago, I was the pet rat of my beloved master, Hamato Yoshi. He is a powerful martial artist and is respected by many people. Every time, I would watch from my cage his fighting skills and techniques, and I would mimic his move. Things were going very peaceful. It seems as if this peacefulness will never end.
"However, I was wrong… The dreadful day came when the Foot Clan attacked master's house. I watch in shock and sorrow as Shredder, the Foot Clan's leader, pierces his armor into my master's heart. I later escaped from the house and hid in the sewers. There, I spent my days in toil and danger, not knowing whether I can live to see another day.
"My life changed when I unknowingly stumbled across a special mutation chemical that somehow leaked into the sewer. Coming in contact with that chemical altered my body. In a glance, I was transformed into a man-size rat you now see me as. I build myself a home deep in the sewers so that nobody will see me and bring harm to me.
"After a while of living alone, I came across four man-size turtles wandering through the sewer. Apparently, they had also come into contact with the mutation chemical…
"Those turtles would be us!" says Michelangelo, interrupting the story. Splinter picks up a stick and hurls it at Mike, knocking him out. "Silence! Thou shall not interrupt!" Splinter scolds him, and then he continues with the story.
"And as I was saying, the turtles had come into contact with the same chemical I came across. I took them into my home and treated them as my sons. I taught them ninjutsu and the way of the ninja. We spent our days living in the sewer, going out only at the latest hour of nighttime, and making sure not to be seen by any outsider. The only outsiders that have ever seen us are our good friends, April and Casey Jones. That pretty much wraps up my life story."
"Such a tragic story…" says Yoshi, who has tears in his eye. "I don't know why, but I'm crying."
"Indeed... A tragic story…" says Michelangelo, wiping tears off his face. "I feel like crying also… But then, it could be because of the pain master Splinter gave me just now."
"It's a tragic past all right," says Splinter. "But now I am living happily with my sons."
"Your sons?" asks Pichu. "He means someone that is close to him," Pikachu tells him.
"Oh,"
Marth then asks him, "The reason we come to New York is to search for the Dark Reactor and destroy it."
"Yes, I know," says Splinter. "And you surely must have the Holy Weapons."
"Yes we do."
"Very well. With the weapon of evil's bane, you can rid this place of Darkling."
"I heard about those Darkling," says Donatello. "They're supposedly the great evil that took control of the world in the far past. The Holy Weapons are the only things that can destroy them."
"Yes, Donatello. That is why I do not wish you to fight them."
"If they are vulnerable to anything, then I would have gone to crush them all!" says Raphael.
"Did anyone here a sound?" asks Pichu all of a sudden. "Nope," reply the others.
"Sounds like someone is chomping bricks," continues Pichu. "I wonder if bricks taste good," says Yoshi.
The turtles got out their weapons and get in fighting stance. "I'm starting to hear it," says Leonardo.
"But I still don't," says Roy. Suddenly, the wall burst open and in comes several small white robots with large jaws!
"What are those!" gasps DK. "I once saw it on E-Bay selling for $50!" responds Roy upon seeing them.
"Those are Mousers!" cries Donatello. "We must not let them come into our house! Our old home was destroyed by them!"
"So we just have to push them out of here and finish them off outside? Sounds fun to me!" says Roy, unsheathing his sword.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Do you think the story is kind of rushed? I'm running out of ideas around these days, so forgive me if chapters are getting more and more uninteresting.