Kiriya paced around the lounge while talking in his phone. Everyone else was worried, Hibari most of all. "Yes. Yes. Thank you. That's good to hear." He hung up and turned to the others. "Well, they say that Yagyu will make it, but she's going to need a lot of bed rest."
"Whew." Michelangelo exclaimed. "That's a relief. Right, Hibari?" He noticed that Hibari's expression hasn't changed at all. "Hibari? Is something wrong?"
"It's my fault." Hibari confessed with tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I did this to Yagyu."
"It isn't your fault, child." Splinter said. "I know that Yagyu would never regret saving you."
"Not that." Hibari sniffled. "The truth is… I brought that robot here."
"You what?" Raph asked.
"Hibari, what do you mean?" Asuka asked.
"After that fight Yagyu, Mikey and I had at the beach, I found that robot underneath the rubble." Hibari explained. "I brought it here to be looked at by Donnie."
"Donnie?" Leo asked.
"Donatello, is this true?" Ikaruga asked.
"I didn't want to say anything until I was absolutely certain." Donnie said. "I've been examining that robot's software all night, but every time I thought I was getting closer, there was always another obstacle. I suppose someone's been remotely adding new firewalls as fast as I could breath through them."
"So what?" Katsuragi asked. "Did that thing come from Hebijo or what?"
"Since it was looking for the Super Secret Ninja Arts Scroll, it's more than likely." Kiriya said. "But I've never heard of them using robots like that before. Something doesn't feel right about this."
Hibari's mind stopped paying attention after that. She just kept thinking about how she brought in the very robot that injured her best friend. In her mind, she just kept blaming herself over and over again filling her heart with despair and guilt.
"AAAHHH!" Stockman yelled as he was thrown to the wall. The Shredder stood above him with the Hebijo elite standing behind him. "Look, Master Shredder, I…" He was interrupted when the Shredder grabbed his throat and lifted him from the ground.
"Your machines have failed me, Stockman." He growled. "You have failed me."
"I didn't." Stockman choked out in fear. "I got a hit on them. I injured one of them. That's good, right?"
"Sending one shinobi to the hospital is nothing compared to what happens when we get that scroll!" the Shredder shouted. He let go of Stockman's throat letting him hit the floor. He then knelt down to point his gauntlet spikes at him. "I may as well kill you just for wasting my time!"
Homura leaned over to her friends. "What do you girls think? Do you think Stockman will try to weasel his way out of this one?"
"Logically speaking, it's best to cut him out." Hikage said. "He is nothing but a nuisance."
"Yeah!" Mirai agreed. "Not to mention, he stole my chance to injure Yagyu before I could!"
"Well, at least Hibari's more vulnerable now." Haruka said. "No doubt that naïve, cute girl blames herself for her best friend's injury."
Shredder, who heard the girls' conversation, dropped Stockman and turned to them. "What was that? You said the naïve shinobi girl blames herself for what happened?"
"No doubt about it, sir." Haruka replied. "I've been studying the cutie. Knowing her, she's probably filled with guilt for bringing that robot into her school."
Shredder thought for a moment. He then smiled underneath his helmet. "Then perhaps Stockman doesn't deserve death after all."
"I don't?" Stockman asked. "I mean, of course, I don't. But, uh… What made you change your mind?"
"The fact that you gave me the opportunity that I needed." Shredder replied. "Haruka, I have a job for you."
In the dead of night, Hibari made sure no one was awake. She carefully sneaked out of her bedroom and tip-toed through the hallway. She thought no one was there… until she bumped into Donatello.
"Whoa." Donnie gasped. "Hibari, what are you doing up?"
"Uh… Well… What are you doing up?" Hibari asked.
"Don't change the subject." Donnie said. "Just tell me what you're doing."
Hibari sighed and confessed. "I'm going to find Hebijo."
"By yourself?" Donnie asked. "You'll be killed. I know I'm basically doing the same thing, but…"
"What?" Hibari asked.
Donnie decided to confess himself. "I was worried I might lose the little robot that hurt Yagyu, so I planted a little virus into its software. I can track that virus to see where it's going, which is basically Hebijo Academy."
"You can do that?" Hibari asked. "Where is it?"
"Not so fast. I'm not putting you in harm's way." Donnie said. "Look, it's just as my fault as yours. I was studying that robot. I should have realized it was armed and was being remote controlled."
"But I'm the one who brought it in." Hibari said.
"You both make good points."
Both Donnie and Hibari gasped as Kiriya suddenly appeared next to them. He crossed his arms glaring at both of them.
"Master Kiriya!" Hibari gasped.
"Look, I don't know what you may have overheard." Donnie said.
"I overheard that the two of you planned to follow the robot to Hebijo Academy." Kiriya said. "In all honesty… I support it."
"You do?" Donnie asked surprised by that.
"Yes. Hebijo has gone too far this time." Kiriya said. "But the problem is, even if both of you go, you won't stand a chance against them. It's not just the five shinobi you and your friends fought that are there. Hebijo has an entire army of shinobi in training. The only way to stop them, I'm afraid, is the Super Secret Ninja Arts Scroll."
"I thought that was forbidden." Donnie said.
"Desperate times." Kiriya said. "If you wish to stop Hebijo once and for all, head to the headmaster's office and get it there. I'll cover for you."
Donnie and Hibari looked at each other and nodded. They left the room to the headmaster's room.
"Spy."
The same word that was spoken to the Mouser was spoken to Donnie and Hibari when they approached the scroll's vault.
"What's that mean?" Hibari asked.
"I think it's some kind of passcode exchange." Donnie said. "They give us a word and to open it, we must give the appropriate response."
"Spy."
"Well, what is it?" Hibari asked nervously.
"All right. Let me think." Donnie said. "I think Master Splinter gave me and the other guys a proverb that sounds similar to this when we were little. Uh… In that proverb, the word spy is associated with the word… Um…" His head flashed. "Assassin!"
CLICK!
And just like that, the door opened slightly. Hibari opened it up and pulled out the roll of paper inside that was tied in a green ribbon.
"It worked." Hibari said. "You're really smart, Donnie. I can see why Ikaruga likes you."
"She does?" Donnie asked with a bit of blush in his green cheeks. "Ahem. All right. Let's go."
A couple of hours later, Donnie and Hibari found the school they were looking for. They entered the front gates to take in the red and black atmosphere.
"Well, this place certainly screams evil." Donnie said.
"Where do we go now?" Hibari asked.
"I got a few ideas." A sultry woman answered. Haruka landed right in front of them in her pink outfit and white cape. She eyed both of the intruders with an eager interest. "Hello, Hibari. And you must be that genius turtle that Yumi mentioned. I admit, when it comes to guys, I like the brainy ones the most."
"Haruka!" Hibari shouted. "You're the one who attacked us on the beach!"
"It's good to see you too, my little dolly." Haruka said. "You know, I don't think I've ever had a turtle for a doll before."
"No one turns me into a toy." Donnie said readying his bow staff. "How did you know we'd be here?"
"Because he sent you to me." Haruka said as a new figure appeared in a puff of smoke. Both Donnie and Hibari widened their eyes.
"Master Kiriya!" Hibari gasped. "I don't…"
"Well, he's not your sensei." Haruka said. With a snap of her fingers, the man who looked like Hibari's teacher turned into a wooden mannequin. "This is a puppet copy of your sensei. I sent him to you so you could bring us the Super Secret Ninja Arts Scroll."
Donnie growled. "Well, the joke's on you." He pulled out the scroll. "Now, we have it. And we're going to use it against you."
Haruka giggled. "Do you even know how that thing works?"
"How hard is it to read a scroll?" Donnie asked. "I can read Japanese." He unrolled the scroll to look inside, only to be caught off guard. "Though I can't read what's not there."
"What?" Hibari asked. She joined him in looking in. She was confused to see that there wasn't anything written on it. "It's blank?"
"Maybe it's some kind of metaphor." Donnie said. "I saw this movie where a scroll full of immense power turns out to be a metaphor where your truest power comes from within."
"Don't be so cheesy." Haruka said. "You're embarrassing yourselves in front of us both."
"Both?" Donnie asked.
Suddenly, someone landed right behind the two. They slowly turned their heads to see the headmaster of Hebijo academy, the man with bladed armor over his body. He arose from his superhero landing and locked his evil eyes at them.
"Master Shredder." Haruka greeted with a bow.
"Shredder?" Donnie asked.
"Who… Who are you?" Hibari asked already trembling with fear.
"I am the headmaster of Hebijo Academy." Shredder introduced himself. "And I must thank you two for handing me the scroll of Hanzo."
"It won't do you any good." Donnie said. "It's blank."
"Is it, or is it just blank to you?" Shredder asked. "The Super Secret Ninja Arts Scroll can only be read by one who is truly disciplined in the ways of the shinobi. We already knew neither of you could use it, so we used it to our advantage. Now, hand over the scroll or suffer the consequences."
"Scroll or not, we'll defeat you." Hibari promised.
"What she said." Donnie said. He immediately charged toward Shredder, but in the blink of an eye, the armored ninja struck at his chest hard with a kick. Donnie fell backward groaning and holding his stomach.
"Donnie!" Hibari gasped. She tried to help her friend, but Haruka stopped her by grabbing her wrists from behind. She held them behind her back with one hand and cupped her cheeks with the other.
"Now, now, cutie. Let's let the boys have their fun. Don't worry. We get to watch."
Hibari struggled to escape, but Haruka was too strong. All she could do was watch as Donnie got up and faced the Shredder again. What followed for the next two minutes was a one-sided beatdown with the Shredder throwing Donnie and damaging him in different ways. Donnie couldn't land a hit and he couldn't defend himself either. The whole time, Hibari was slowly breaking inside as she was forced to watch the onslaught.
At the end of it, Donnie was bruised at every part of his body and the Shredder took the scroll from him. He planted his metal boot on top of Donnie's head.
"Don't!" Hibari begged. "Please. Don't kill him."
"Normally, your pitiful pleas wouldn't reach my ears," Shredder said, "But since Haruka spoke on your behalf before, there is a way I can spare you."
"Name it. Anything." Hibari said desperately.
Shredder glared. "Join Hebijo."
Hibari widened her eyes while Haruka let go of her. "What?"
"It's really the best option you got." Haruka said. "Think about it. You brought a dangerous robot into your school. You got your friend hurt. And now, you brought the scroll to your enemies as well as get your friend captured. All of this is your fault. They'll blame you for this and you'll never be welcome back to Hanzo Academy again. Luckily for you, there's always a place here."
Hibari lost her breath. She couldn't help but figure all of this was because of her. Tears began to form in her eyes until she heard Donnie's voice.
"Hibari… don't." Both Shredder and Haruka were shocked that he was still conscious. "They'll… never… blame you." Shredder made him stop talking by pressing his book harder.
"Since reasoning won't work, let's work out a deal." Shredder said. "Hibari, I'm making this offer one last time since Haruka is so fond of you. If you transfer to Hebijo Academy, I will spare this freak's life. He will of course be studied by my science team, but if you agree to cooperate, I give you my word that no harm will come to him. But if you refuse…" Shredder made his point clear by holding his spiked gauntlet near Donnie's head.
Hibari lost her breath again, only more sudden. Her knees trembled as she fell down on them. She sobbed once more taking in the entire situation at once.
"Okay. You win." She said silently. "I'll join Hebijo."
Author's Note: Sorry I haven't done this sooner. I'm just glad I got around to continuing it. Any and all comments are welcome.
