WARNING: This chapter contains violence.
Leo
"Tiger Claw, come in, you overgrown feline!" Saki screamed into his communication device. The ninja began to pace, punching a random Foot bot in the face out of frustration.
I found Raph and Donnie's stare from across the alley, and we smirked in unison. As serious as our predicament was, it was hard not to find amusement in the fact that Master Splinter and Mikey must have kicked Tiger Claw's tail. It also provided a sense of relief, knowing they made it out okay and had to have been on their way to April's place. All I cared about was Mikey getting out of the danger zone. What did that mean for us now that he'd done so?
Suddenly, the Shredder pivoted to find our shared smiles, his eyes narrowing. "We'll see who will be smiling soon, Turtles. Let's have some fun."
His eyes darted to a group of ninja, then at Big Leo. At his silent order, the group dragged my future self to their master and forced him to his knees. Big Leo remained calm, deadpan. As for the rest of us, our smiles had diminished. Raph began to squirm under Rocksteady's hold.
"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded.
"I don't need all of you alive to get what I want. One pathetic Hamato spawn will do to bring the junsuina mono crawling from his hiding spot. Let's see which one of you that will be." He raised his gauntlet, activating the blades of his tekkō-kagi as his eyes cast down on Big Leo, who only stared ahead. "Any last words, iyana kame?"
Sweat trickled down my forehead, and I felt an invisible hand grasping at my heart.
Big Leo's eyes remained unmoving from the wall behind our enemy, his lips fixed into a tight scowl.
"Perhaps you wish to explain how I ruined your family?" Saki continued.
Finally, the future turtle blinked. His eyes broadened, almost fearfully, yet still didn't meet the Shredder's waiting gaze. Saki lifted Big Leo's head with a tip of the tekkō-kagi digging into his chin, finally locking eyes.
"That has to be why you're here, isn't it? To undo your past? I'll bet you're here to stop me from using the Heiwa no Buki, which tells me I was successful in your time. I think you know I can't let you do that, Leonardo."
Wincing slightly from the blood now trickling down his neck, Big Leo cut his eye ridges down at Saki. He wriggled under the Foot ninja's hold on him, claiming, "I came to save my brother."
"Then you failed," Oroku Saki growled. He drew back his gauntlet for a deadly blow, his foe unfazed beneath him.
"Now, Raph!" I shouted in a panic.
Raphael's fingers just grazed the handles on his sai from behind, which was all he needed to quickly arm himself. In a quick sweep, he jabbed the tip into Rocksteady's arm that had held him down, forcing the rhino to let go with a roar. Raph had forcefully kicked the arm that held Donatello before he had time to react.
I clenched my teeth and gripped my katana's hilt that Rahzar had pressed against me, ducking under his arm and twisting his wrist until I heard an unpleasant pop. The zombie wolf uttered a dog-like whine before I kicked him, taking my katana back for myself with a smirk. I immediately turned to Big Leo and the Shredder, who had halted amid this chaos.
My future self saw his opportunity and seized it, belting a cry and tearing his arms away from the ninja that held him captive. He unsheathed a blade in time to parry an incoming tekkō-kagi coming at his throat.
"Maybe you're the one who's failed, Oroku Saki," he spat.
"Foot soldiers, attack!" the armored ninja cried in rage.
A wave of black washed over us, shouts of Japanese, and brandished fists raised amongst the crowd. I swiveled, my second katana singing in my ear as I unsheathed it. My eyes danced around the ninjas that advanced on me, trying to focus on an escape route while evading their attacks.
"Until I say so, give them shell, guys!" I ordered.
I heard Raph laugh somewhere in the mass, his fist clocking someone in the head. "That won't be a problem, Fearless."
Raphael whirled his sai in his hands with a twisted smile curling at his lips. He leaped and went straight for Fish Face, bringing the blades down on the robo-fish before he had a prayer. Fish Face recovered quickly, kicking my brother back with a large metal boot that only sent Raph back a couple feet. Just as he regained his balance, he turned nervously to find Rocksteady charging at him, his horn aimed at his shell.
"Not this time!" Raph claimed.
He backflipped as high as possible, landing on the rhino's head and gripping his ears as if to steer him like a car. Rocksteady rammed his horn into Fish Face before he had any control, screaming a panicky apology to the out-cold mutant fish that couldn't hear it.
Donatello took on Bebop, bringing his bo to the ground and skillfully twirling around it before landing a swift kick on the warthog's snout. When the pig went invisible, Donnie quickly dug in his bag, all the while staying perceptive to his surroundings. He fished out a pair of goggles and put them on, immediately whacking at the air. But it wasn't just the air; he had clobbered Bebop.
"No way, home slice! How'd you see me?" the warthog snorted.
Don wasted no time hitting him while he was distracted, knocking Bebop down for the count. "Infrared glasses, you stupid Phacochoerus!"
I smiled to myself as I checked on my brothers, turning back to find Rahzar and a pack of ninja approaching me. The wolf mutant swung punches with the arm I didn't dislocate, but I easily sidestepped every strike. Waiting for an open window, I continued to dance around Rahzar while slicing Foot bots left and right. When the mutant's blows turned sluggish, I jumped to strike. My katana cut at his ankle and brought him down to one knee, where I thwacked his temple with the hilt. Rahzar hardly uttered a grunt before his body smacked the concrete.
Now, to deal with the rest of the Foot and find an open exit. There were so many keeping me from concentrating.
"No! Leo!" My future self called.
I jerked my blade from the torso of an unsuspecting Foot bot, looking toward the sound of his desperate voice. He looked beyond the Shredder, who towered over him, his eyes following a rogue Foot bot running away from the fight. I found said ninja, gasping as I noticed he clutched the Heiwa no Buki.
"Get it!" Big Leo pleaded as he deflected a killing blow from Saki.
Narrowed eyes, I dismissed the ninjas trying to attack me by bounding off the closest wall and effortlessly flipped over them. My feet raced across the concrete upon touchdown, arm outstretched to the ninja that seemed just too far away. As my fingers nearly curled around the scruff of the robot, a pang shot through my chest.
No, not now. Please!
I pushed through the pain, only making it worse as I found myself hitting the ground with a grunt.
"No!"
I clasped my plastron as another pang shook my core. When I looked up, the ninja was nearing the corner, getting away with the Heiwa no Buki. Just before it could, a body came crashing down from the roof of the adjacent building. It landed on the ninja, crushing it and sending the robot into short-circuiting spasms.
"Booyakasha!" Mikey belted, brandishing his nunchaku.
I hardly heard it over the sound of my heartbeat that thrashed in my ears, absolute terror taking over my body at the sight of my little brother.
Mikey
Most of the frantic crowd of ninjas and mutants pivoted at the sound of my voice, including Shred-Head. I flashed him a cunning smile, twirling a nunchaku and holding it in place behind my shoulder.
"That's right, it's the comeback kid! Now, leave my family alone!"
A hush fell over the alley before Big Leo stepped forward, a desperate look in his eyes that I tried not to notice, but it was hard when they were boring into my soul. "No, Mikey!"
The Shredder punched my bro from the future with his spikey glove while his attention was on me, slashing his cheek apart and making Big Leo wail. He dropped to his knees, clutching his face with blood seeping through his fingers and falling on the ground like gruesome raindrops. I clenched my teeth at Shredder, who began strolling over to me.
"So the junsuina mono finally comes out to play."
"You're gonna pay for that, Shreddy Bear!" I taunted, clenching the wooden handles of my nunchaku so tight that I nearly lost feeling in my six fingers.
Before I could move, Leo stepped in front of me with steady blades, ready to strike. "Get out of here, Mikey."
"I don't know if you noticed, bro, but I didn't drop in just to say hi," I argued.
Leo sighed defeatedly, his eyes trained on the advancing Shredder. "You are so in trouble when we get out of this."
"I'd rather be grounded until I'm old and thirty if it means I helped my bros," I said.
With that, my big bro and I charged at the spikey ninja. Leo crouched down on his knees, giving me a boost as I jumped on his shell. The momentum sent me flying over the Shredder's head, where I gave him a well-deserved thwack that rattled his Kuro Kabuto. I somersaulted before landing, cracking another wooden handle against his back.
Leo sprang from his crouch and swiped his blade down on Shredder's torso, clanking off his armor and cursing under his breath. He swooped to the side at an incoming punch aimed at his head.
I turned my nunchaku into a kusarigama, flinging the metal chain around Shred Head's stomach, and attempted to yank him back, but I wasn't strong enough, to my dismay. He turned around and shot me a glare through his creepy eye, wrapping his arm around the chain and tugging me toward him. His hand clasped my shoulder, throwing me at Leo with all his might. My big bro brought his blades down before we clashed, our bodies tumbling roughly across the concrete.
"Leo, Mikey!" Raph and Donnie shouted in the crowd. They tried to intervene, but Rocksteady made sure that they couldn't. He kept them busy as the Shredder marched over to us, a dark chuckle coming from under his mask.
"This is the so-called warrior capable of wielding the Heiwa no Buki? You're weak," he spat.
"Michelangelo…"
My eyelids fluttered open. Through hazy vision, I saw the Heiwa no Buki lying in the clutch of the Foot bot I landed on earlier. Something overcame my senses, a sudden need to grab it, to feel it. I did just that, reaching out and curling my fingers around the stick that suddenly glowed orange. My hand pulsated, sending a quiver down my arm as I pulled it close.
Heat swarmed my body, getting hotter as I felt a pressure building up inside me. It was like the time I accidentally dropped a soda, and the bubbles inside rushed to the top. Donnie explained that the soda's carbonation is due to the presence of dissolved carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide uses pressure when not dissolved, which causes it to explode if too much is released when you open the bottle.
That's right! I listen sometimes!
My body felt like the carbonated soda, and I cried out as an orange glow shot from my body, just like it did when I tried to grab the Heiwa no Buki from Fish Face in the ocean. Only this time, it was more powerful. The energy pushed everyone in the alley back, sending unconscious bodies, my bros, and the Shredder rolling on the ground and grunting in pain.
Let's see what this thing can do.
My eyes shifted white when I turned to the Shredder, who shielded his eyes from the glowstick that was my body.
"The power…" he muttered in awe.
With the flex of my brain, a beam from the Heiwa no Buki hurtled for him, zapping him into a wall. I don't know how I made it happen.; I just… did it.
The ninja picked himself up, wobbling on his feet. He pointed at me, firey rage rippling in his eyes. "SEIZE HIM!"
I smirked at the hoard of Foot bots and Rocksteady running to me, slamming the Heiwa no Buki on the ground and sending a tremor that knocked them on their butts.
"How you feel, Oroku sucky? I just took you out with a stick, dog!" I twirled the weapon like it was a bo staff, smiling wider as the Shredder clenched his fists in rage.
My brothers ran up to me, looks of amazed shock and fear blended together on each. Big Leo grabbed my arm. I met his gaze, mentally cringing at the two gashes caked in dry blood across his cheek.
"Do you know what you just did?" he demanded.
"Besides saving your butts from the Foot?" I asked dryly.
His grip became merciless, cutting down his eye ridges in anger. "You just showed the Shredder what the Heiwa no Buki is capable of. Not to mention you broke your promise."
I opened my mouth to argue, but the other Leo butted in. "Mikey, where's Master Splinter?"
My eyes drooped as I recalled the pained look on my father's face as he lay unconscious on my lap.
"He's—"
I was interrupted by a furious humming growing closer and closer. Tiger Claw's body slammed into me before any of us could react, and suddenly I was flying toward the buildings above, struggling in his grasp with a scream I thought would break my throat.
"MIKEY!"
If anyone knows where the "Oroku sucky" comment came from, I love you and we should be best friends.
I had too much fun writing this chapter, and I hope you had just as much fun reading it! Feel free to leave comments, as I'm still trying to improve my writing! I hope you enjoyed, and hope you have a wonderful day!
