Hello hello hello! Here is another chapter up and it's kind of a long one so bear with it. This one has the Turtles finally meeting the girls in the weirdest way I can think of, well maybe not weird but unexpected I guess is the right word for it. Anyway, like always I do not own TMNT. Enjoy:)
Chapter 3: Meeting the Benders
Verena's P.O.V.:
The guys and I run like crazy over the rooftops so we can get to the docks as soon as possible to find my friends. I know I basically scared my friend over the phone, but desperate times do call for desperate measure and this case is no different. Their lives are in danger and we need to keep them safe from the Dark Benders, away from harm or worse. Since getting to know these girls I have bonded with all three of them very well, almost like we are long-lost sisters and we were meant to find each other for a purpose. The question would be what purpose? And will we prevent this evil from rising?
We stop at one of the buildings near the docks as we catch our breaths from all the running, and I look around to see if I can spot my friends. I don't see them. I look frantically all over again, moving my body all around just in case I miss a spot, but they are not here. I hold out my palm so I can feel their energy to see if they are nearby, and I cannot sense them near us. This is not good.
"They aren't here." I tell the guys as I begin to worry, "Something is not right. The air seems so dark and cold…," And I come to the conclusion, "Dark Benders."
"Do you think they found your friends?" Donnie asks with the same worry.
"I am not sure." I said honestly and look out to the city having an idea pop up in my head, "Give a moment." I reach my palm to face the city, focusing on anything out of the ordinary atmosphere and I feel three familiar energy signatures. I look at the guys, "The good news is that they aren't too far away."
"And what's the bad news?" Raph asks holding onto his sais.
"The bad news is all three of them are scattered around the city, separated from each other. My guess is that they didn't want to cause too much attention with the Dark Benders." I explain the best I can and face Leo, "I suggest we all split up. It would give us a better chance in finding them, and then bring them back here."
He nods, "Alright. Guys, follow Verena on this one since she knows more about these people."
All of them agree and I fly up a few feet looking down, "Okay, Mikey you take the south, Donnie take the north, Raph you go to the west, and Leo will head east. I will search for them in the sky." I look at each one closely, "Remember guys, these are not ordinary benders. They will most likely attack you so you need to be ready, and if the Dark Benders by some chance have set up traps just avoid them. Now let's go before something else happens to them."
The guys run off in the directions I gave them as I fly above the city to find my friends. Dear Gods, I hope we find them.
Mikey's P.O.V.:
Talk about having a crazy night, first V has one of her scary visions and now we have to go on a manhunt for her friends that we know very little about. I mean we don't even know what they look like. What if they're like these giant muscle guys that want to rip us to pieces? Or if they have a very short temper and probably hurt us when we see them? How do we deal with them?! It's weird I am asking myself all these different questions when I should of ask V before we left. If there is one thing V taught us is to always see everything with an open mind and to never question a person before you get to know them. Maybe her advice can help me out… I hope.
I get to an apartment building not far away from the docks and I start to feel funny, and I don't mean 'haha' funny either I mean 'funny' funny. Almost like I'm not alone. I then hear a strange sound coming from the other building, like a loud grunting sound. The voice doesn't sound like a guy's, no, it sounds more like a girl's voice. I jump over to the building and pull out one of my nunchucks as I hug the wall so I can't be seen. Very carefully I take a peak and what I see is something I was not expecting. The person making all those noises is a girl, chained by her wrists and ankles to a small silver pipe and the cuffs had weird black markings on them. I move my eyes up and stare at her in complete awe, this girl is so… pretty. She has this hair… and these eyes… and her outfit… holly shell she's perfect like an angel. I begin to get all warm and tingly everywhere especially in my chest, and I don't want to blink fearing she would disappear and I never see her again. Before I know it I take a couple of steps towards her and I freeze in my spot as her eyes immediately face me. Oh shell, I'm such a bonehead!
The girl gasps and her jaw drops, she looks scared, "W-W-Who are you?" Even her accent voice is pretty.
I put my weapon away and put my hands up, "Easy, I'm not gonna hurt you." I walk to her and she steps back, "I'm a friend."
She tilts her head to the right and gives me a confused look, "A friend?"
I stop as I am right in front of her, "Yeah." I smile at her, "And in case you're wondering, I'm not human." I look down and wait for her to scream at me like everyone else does.
"I had a feeling you weren't human," She says and I face her, her small smile making me happy, "And to be fair I'm not human either."
It was my turn to be in shock, "You're not human?"
She shakes her head, "No, I'm not. You see I was born on a planet far away from here called Kennistar."
When she said that I gasp, "Kennistar?! Does that mean you know Verena?"
The girl's eyes widen, "Verena Ishtar? Yes. I'm one her- wait a second! How do you know her?"
"She's a friend of mine, and we're out here looking for her friends before the Dark Benders do." I explain.
"Well you came to the right place, because I am one of them you're looking for." She said holding her hands up and showing me the cuffs.
I take her hands into mine to look at the cuffs, "Did those dudes do this to you?"
"Yeah, it's one of their traps that I unfortunately got myself into. The only way to break them is to hit the cuffs with something hard." She said.
I look around and spot a giant rock on the far corner of the building. "Maybe that could work." I go over and grab it, holding up the cuffs with one hand and staring at her, "I don't know if this will work, but I'll get you out."
"I trust you." She said sweetly and smiled.
I nod and smash the rock onto the cuffs, the metal shattering to pieces to the ground and I do the same to her ankle cuffs. The girl jumps up and down in joy and rams into me for a tight hug, her arms circling around my neck perfectly. Her laugh is like music to my ears and her hug feels so warm as I hug her back with the same tightness. I wish it could last longer, but she lets go and stands up straight smiling at me.
"I cannot thank you enough, my friend." She said rolling her shoulders back.
"No problem dude- I mean…," I rub the back of my head in embarrassment, "Sorry, I never caught your name."
"Oh! How rude of me! Here I am talking on like a lunatic and I never introduced myself." She said and holds out her hand to me, "My name is Layla Kealoha."
I take her hand and shake it, "I'm Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey if you want to."
"Well Mikey I'm glad to have met you." Layla said and puts her hand down to her side.
"I'm glad to meet you too Layla." I tell her and remember V's plan, "We should get going before those creeps come back here."
"I agree with you, Mikey. Lead the way." Layla said and we run off back to the docks.
Donnie's P.O.V.:
The air feels cold and crisp on my suddenly warm skin as I run and jump on the rooftops searching for Verena's Kennistarian friends. We failed, however, to ask her what her friends look like and if they are male or female; talk about not thinking. To be quite honest trying to find these benders is like trying to find a few needles in a giant haystack. It's going to take a miracle to find at least one of them in the city as big as New York. The only good thing about living here long enough is knowing where everything is and when something is out of place. As a ninja we are trained to be aware of our surroundings and to know every single tiny detail, everywhere and at all times no matter how much has changed. And me, being a turtle of science, I have learned a lot in the past year about Verena's people and their amazing technology from over the centuries so now I know what to do when the Dark Benders come at us. I'll be ready to show them what I can do.
I jump on an old warehouse building and hide behind a shack in the shadows, feeling a new presence in the atmosphere. There is a light groaning a couple of feet away from me and the sound of metal rubbing against the concrete, someone is here and it seems like they're in pain. I pull out my bo staff and hold it close to my chest, breathing slowly and focusing. As I take a slow step further the voice goes silent, having me tense up and tighten my grip. I close my eyes and concentrate my mind into this situation at the moment, I'm not afraid to attack whoever is there especially if it's the Dark Benders. With a deep breath I jump out of the shadows to the persons location and get into a fighting stance, staring the person down. What I fail to realize is the actual person there in front of me, looking at me with beautiful sapphire eyes.
Right in front of me is the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen in my life, she is an angel that has fallen from Heaven. Her skin is a beautiful tan color, her hair is a deep crimson, and those eyes are like deep sapphire blue pools you can get lost in. This woman is a breathtaking sight that would make any man fall to their knees to worship a beautiful angel like her. I walk over to her and hold my bo staff out to the side, not wanting to scare her more than she already is. A few steps away she immediately takes her spear from the ground and points it at me, showing no fear in her eyes as I wave my hands out to her.
I kneel down and set my staff on the ground, "Don't be afraid." I gently said to her starring into her eyes, "I mean you no harm."
The young woman stares at me with a serious look, absorbing my words into her mind to see if I'm telling the truth or not. I am starting to believe she will not listen to reason, but then the look in her eyes softens. She lowers her spear and just looks at me while breathing deeply.
I take a look at her legs and see these heavy cuffs on her ankles digging into her skin, and I can tell it's making her uncomfortable, "Let me help you out of those." I grab my staff and she puts her hand on top of mine.
"These cuffs cannot be broken by brute force, stranger." She tells me in a light British accent, her voice sweet and soothing, "You would need to use electricity to set me free from these restrains."
"Why electricity?" I ask her.
"As an air-bender that is my greatest weakness, and these cuffs are in enchanted to withhold my magic. If you can break them with enough electricity then I can be free."
I look at her with a surprised expression, "You're an air-bender?"
She nods and raises an eyebrow, "Yes… I am. How do you know about my people?"
"I promise I'll tell you once I get you out of these heavy things." I look around and see a satellite dish with wires sticking out of the panel, "Hold on a second." I go over and grab the wires and bring them back to the cuffs. Once I see a spark ignite in between them I light up the cuffs and they shatter to pieces after a minute.
She rubs her ankles to ease the pain she has and looks at me, "Thank you, stranger."
"You're welcome." I said as I stand up and reach my hand out to her, "Here, let me help you up."
The woman looks nervous as she stares at my three-fingered hand, probably still not trusting me.
"It's alright." I reassure her.
She tucks her hair behind her ear using her hand and starts to show me a small smile as I see her pearly white teeth. I smile at her to make her feel better, and I think it is working. The woman slowly takes my hand and I lift her up carefully from the ground until she is standing up straight. As we're still holding hands a soft breeze circles around us with some leaves dancing along, making this moment so unreal like a dream. When it leaves we stare at each other in complete awe and let go of our hands, rubbing our necks in an awkward silence.
"What is your name?" I ask her gently.
She smiles and chuckles low, "I am Sasha Palmer, an air-bender from the planet Kennistar. And who are you supposed to be my reptilian friend?"
"Donatello, or Don, Donnie, whichever you prefer." I introduce myself and extend my hand to her like a gentleman.
"Please to meet you, Donatello." She said and shakes my hand.
"And you too, Sasha." I tell her happily and put my hand on my side.
"So, Donatello," Sasha starts as she grabs her spear off the ground, "you seem to know about my kind, and I just cannot help but wonder how it is you know about me?"
"Well you see my friend is from Kennistar, and actually the best part of it is she's the princess."
Sasha gasps, "The princess? You are friends with Verena Ishtar?"
"Yeah, for a while now. How do you know her?"
"I am a friend of hers as well, and in fact I am supposed to be meeting Verena along with my other friends."
"So you're the one I have been looking for. Verena asks my brothers and I to help find you three and to bring you back to the docks." I tell her.
"Excellent. Then let us be off and hope that your brothers have found the others." Sasha says and we run off back to where I started.
Raph's P.O.V.:
This has got ta be one of the weirdest nights of my life. Searchin' for some random benders we don't even know about in New York is not how to start off patrol, and to make it worse we have no idea what these guys look like. How do we know when we found them? Do we take a guess, cross our fingers, and hope for the best? I have no clue. I'm just saying that all of these would go so smoothly if we had something else to go by and not just one of Verena's horrifying visions. Maybe I'm just being an idiot, maybe I'm too hard on her. Doesn't mean I can't be too overprotective of our family now with new people in the picture, especially after what happened last year. All I want is for our family ta be safe, and if it means protectin' these strangers then I'll go along with it… for now.
I get ta this one rundown apartment building and all of a sudden a loud bang goes off from behind me and I see nothin' but darkness. When I wake up a minute later I feel my wrists and ankles pinned to the wall of the emergency exit and I try to pull myself off, but with no luck not even a slight tug. This is just great. Now how am I supposed ta find these guys stuck here like a stuffed animal on the wall? If I wasn't ticked off before I am now.
Then I start ta hear laughing from in front of me, almost mocking me and making me really mad. A second later six ugly Dark Benders jump on the roof with their leader in front and smirking at me as they walk over. If I wasn't stuck here I would wipe that frickin' smirk off of his pale face.
The leader stands right in my face, "Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise. We come here to catch an earth-bender and instead we catch one of the terrapins." He chuckles to his bozos and still has a smirk.
I growl, "What, ya afraid I can kick your sorry butt, Ugly?"
"Not even, my tempered friend. In fact, I know someone that will be dying to see you again." He says and was about ta say something else when a beeping sound goes off on his arm, "Excuse me." He presses a button on his wrist, "Yes, what is it?"
"Sir, we have the earth-bender in sight." A voice says to him on the other line.
"What? Where?" The leader questions.
"Sh- No! Stay away! AAHHHHH!" The guys screams and the line goes dead.
"What's happening?! Come in! Answer me!" The leader shouts and looks freaked out.
Just as the others stare at him a rock spear goes through one of them in the very back and he goes down to the ground shocking the rest. All of a sudden a person falls from the sky and lands hard on the roof with the Dark Benders starring at it with their weapons drawn. The person lifts itself up and my eyes widen at it-her. This person is a-a girl, and a very good-lookin' girl to be honest. She has this pretty orange hair, green eyes, and a killer figure like she works out all the time. Anyway, this girl smirks at the Dark Benders and takes out one of her butterfly swords.
"You boys looking for me?" She asks them in a smart-aleck tone that makes me smirk.
The leader steps out, "Lower your weapon, girl, or the reptile gets it!" He yells and points at me.
The girl looks at me and her eyes widen, "Whoa." She shifts her eyes back to the leader, "I suggest you let him go before I make you regret messing with me."
"My, such big talk from a scrawny thing like yourself, my dear. You underestimate our abilities." The leader says and the Dark Benders get closer to her.
She looks at each of them and back at us with a smile, "Okay… how about this, I'm going to count to three and when I get there you better have set him free."
"Oh please, you are such a-" One of them speaks and gets knocked out by a giant rock ta the head and the others jump.
"One." She says keepin' her cool.
"If that's supposed to scare us then think again!" The leader said with fear in his voice.
Another one is stabbed by a rock spear to the chest, thrown by the fiery red-head herself.
"Two." She narrows her eyes and looks irritated, "Do you think I'm playing? Huh? Do you?!"
The Dark Benders look to their weasel leader and he gulps deeply, "Don't just let this whore make you weak, get her!" He yells and they all charge at her.
"Three." I hear her say under her breath and backflips in the air behind them.
There are only three of them left, including the leader that are taking on this one girl and I'm force ta watch from the sidelines. A skinny one jabs at her with his fists missing each time as she dodges them perfectly, shell this guy even tries to kick her but with no luck to match her speed. She punches the crap outta him several times in the chest and face and slashes at his stomach with her butterfly sword, and he goes down scratching the concrete roof with his fingernails and gaspin' for air. The second one is bigger in muscle and has a longsword in his hands as he tries to sweep her off her feet, and for a moment he does and hits her with a black dart across her arm and I hear her hiss in pain. Now these guys are really makin' me angry! Just as he's about to slay her she blocks his sword and rolls to her side, jumping to her feet and disarms him like it was nothing. With a flick of her wrist she slices his cheek and uppercuts him in the chin, sending him flat on his back. Finally it's just her and the leader with a dagger as small as a toothpick ta go against her butterfly sword. I'm bettin' my money on the girl, if I had any. Suddenly, she puts her sword away and grins at him, motioning her hands for him to come at her and I start ta think this girl's nuts. The leader runs at her like a man hell-bent on one goal, and she's his target. She lifts her arms up and giant rocks surround her from the dagger as it penetrates the stone getting stuck in, and she throws the rocks at him causin' him to fly off the building to God-knows where until he's nowhere in sight.
The girl defeated several Dark Benders all by herself. Her skills are amazin' and she even looks good fighting too. I see her take a deep breath and turns to face me, laughing softly to herself as she walks towards me. I feel my body get tense as her eyes examine me like I was an animal in a zoo. Damn, I really wish I wasn't pinned ta the wall. I must look like an idiot in front of this girl.
"Easy there, Red, I haven't forgotten about you." She said sounding like she's mocking me.
I quickly get annoyed, "I get it, the red bandana. You're so funny."
"Hey, no need to get snappy with me, Big Guy. If you want I'll just leave your sorry shell up there to look at the stars." She said and turns to her right side like she's ready ta leave.
"Don't ya dare leave me stuck up here." I said in an angry tone.
She shrugs her shoulders innocently, "I am not going to cut you loose with that attitude, Red."
"Attitude?! Hey, you're the one callin' me names!"
"Relax." She says motioning her hands for me ta calm down, "I'll tell you what, if you promise to calm yourself then I will get you down from those cuffs. Deal?" She asks raising an eyebrow and half smiling.
I sigh and shake my head, "Deal. Now get me down, Sweetheart."
Her eyebrows rise and she looks at me in surprise, "Oh, you are nice. And I thought all this time I was going to be dealing with a jerk-off." She comes up and rubs the metal cuffs with her fingertips, almost lookin' for some sort of weakness. Then she nods and pulls out both of her butterfly swords, "Hold still."
"Like I gotta choice." I said as she shakes her head.
I shut my eyes and hear her grunt and the sound of metal rubbing against each other in a high pitch. The next thing I know I'm landing on my feet and feeling the weight of the cuffs off of my wrists and ankles. I stare at the broken cuffs and look up at the girl feelin' like a jerk.
"Uh… thanks for getting me down." I tell her being bashful.
"No problem. Tell me, what's your name, Red?" She asks still using that stupid nickname.
"Raph." I said and raise an eyebrow, "And you are?"
"Soviano. Cheryl Soviano." She says and extends her hand out for a handshake which I take into my own, "So, is Raph short for something?"
"Raphael."
"Ah, an Italian name. Very nice, and it suits you well."
"Thanks." I said as I let go of her hand.
"So, what brings you all the way out here on this fine evening?" Cheryl asks putting a hand on her hip.
"I'm actually out here lookin' for these benders that know Verena." I said and I remembered what the Dark Bender said about her and my eyes get bigger, "Wait, are you one of them that little weasel was talkin' about earlier?"
She nods, "Lucky for you I am, and I was beginning to wonder if Verena would be searching for us. My friends and I were almost to the docks, but then the Dark Benders showed up and attacked us. I told my friends to split up and stay out of sight until it was safe to go back, but I haven't heard anything from them since then." Cheryl sighs deeply and rubs her forehead.
"Hey, don't worry," I put my hand on her shoulder and she looks at me, "we'll find your friends. I promise."
"Raph! Cheryl!" A voice yells at us from the sky and we look up to see Verena flying down, with relief written all over her face. "Thanks the Gods Raph, I am so happy you found Cheryl."
"Yeah, we're fine." I tell Verena and wink at Cheryl, makin' her cover her mouth with her hand to hold in her laugh, "Ya hear anythin' about your other friends?"
"Yes. Donnie and Mikey found the girls and are on their way to the docks." Verena said.
"Oh Thank the Gods!" Cheryl said feelin' better.
"Come on. We need to hurry and get you three out of here before the Dark Benders come back." Verena said and the three of us run back ta meet the others.
Leo's P.O.V.:
Verena gave me a call a minute ago telling me my brothers found her friends and are on their way to meet me here at an abandoned building near the docks. While I'm waiting for everyone I pull out a piece of paper out of my belt and unwrap it, revealing a picture of a ring with a small diamond and two sapphires on the sides. This is the ring I want to give to Verena when I propose to her and with some help from April I will be able to show Verena how much I love her. I know looking at this ring it's small and not as fancy as others engagement rings, but hopefully she will like it just as much as I do. After all, it's the thought that counts, right?
I see Verena in the sky flying down and I quickly put the picture away without her noticing, and I also see my brothers with three women following them. Are they Verena's friends? Soon everyone is here together and unharmed.
"Leo," Verena calls me and I look at her, "these are my friends. The ones we are out here looking for."
I wave at them, "Nice to meet you three, but we're going to have to skip the intros until we get back to the Lair." I tell everyone and receive a nod.
Just as we start to leave a Dark Bender pops up with a golem that looks like it was made out of lava with the cracks of its face glowing red and orange.
"You freaks aren't going anywhere!" The Dark Bender yells at us as he pulls out his magma whip to prove a point, "My pet, attack! Destroy them!"
The golem roars and fire shoots out of his mouth, and we think fast and dodge the attack in time before we got fried. Verena and her friends charge at the golem while my brothers and I attack the Dark Bender, avoiding the whip as much as possible. As I come up to slice the whip the Dark Bender backflips and shoots fire from his hands, and I duck down making him miss and hit his golem as it whined in pain. Don and Raph are able to disarm him and break the whip, but the Dark Bender swiftly punches them in the chest and face and they fall down. Mikey and I give it a try and get thrown back by his heavy kicks as we hit a wall. I look over at the girls and see they are having a hard time as we are.
Verena's P.O.V.:
"We can't keep blocking it, Verena." Cheryl says tiredly and out of breath as her legs shake from defending herself and us from the golems punches with her earth-bending.
"If only we can break it down somehow." Layla said as she tries to extinguish the flame with her water-bending.
I look at the creatures body and see a weak spot on the arms and legs, "Maybe we can." I look to the girls, "Cheryl, Layla, dislocate its arms! Sasha, you and I will tear its legs apart!"
The girls nod and follow my orders. Sasha uses her air-bending with her spear and slices the right leg in one swift move as the wind acted as a butter knife slicing it. I use Timaeus and with the help of my light magic I stab the left leg first, and chop it off into tiny pieces then the golem fell down with no way to get away. Cheryl slices the left arm with her butterfly swords in only a few moves and the rock shatters. Finally Layla hooks the right arm with a hook-blade and uses the other one to dig it into the shoulder and pry it off, falling to the ground and breaking. I gaze at the girls and we focus all of our energy on the magma center of the creature, and in one blast the flame goes out and the golem melts away into nothing.
We see the guys try to fight the Dark Bender and they almost have him cornered until he pushes them away with his black magic and they hit the ground. I hear them groan and see them struggle to get up. The girls and I rush in to help them only to get hit as well with the black magic. The Dark Bender focuses his attack on Layla, who is slowly lifting herself up on her palms, and she looks at him in fear.
Cheryl is the first one up and sprints over, "Layla look out!" She uses her earth-bending to lift a giant rock up as a shield, but gets thrown back on her side despite saving Layla from the attack.
"Sovi!" Layla screams for her and sees Cheryl motionless.
It made the pit in my stomach burn and I get up and grab Timaeus. The Dark Bender didn't see me coming until a second later after I jabbed my sword into his chest making him bleed out. He stares at me with a blank face as I take out Timaeus, and the scum dies on his back. I put Timaeus away and check on the others as Leo comes up to me.
"Is everyone alright?" I ask him.
"Yeah, we're fine. So is your friend right there that took a heavy hit." Leo of course is talking about Cheryl who is getting up and we walk over.
"Cheryl, are you feeling alright?" I ask her in worry.
She nods, "Yeah, I'm good." Cheryl starts to walk and hisses in pain and grips her right side bending her knees.
"Cheryl, what's wrong?" Layla asks holding her steady.
She removes her hand off her side and we see blood, "Oh… great."
"You're wounded." Sasha says and checks her injury, "I can treat it, but I will need a first-aid kit."
"We have what you need back at the Lair." Donnie tells Sasha.
"Oh, no, we can't intrude into your home when Cheryl's like this. It just does not seem right." Sasha tells him and his brothers.
"Look Sasha, I know how you feel, but what other choice do you three have? Cheryl needs help and your homes are too far for her to handle. At the very least your best bet is to come with us." I explain to them and I see Sasha look at Cheryl and Layla for a moment.
"Fine." Cheryl answers for them and they agree.
I nod, "Alright. Raph, carry her back for her sake please?" I ask him since he's gotten along with her well so far.
"Sure." He goes up and carries her bridal style in his arms and we leave.
Twenty Minutes Later…
As soon as we got back to the Lair Sasha and Donnie cleaned and treated Cheryl's wound, and from they've told us it was not too bad. When they got out of Donnie's lab Cheryl was still shaking and she told me she hasn't eaten since around two in the afternoon, so Mikey was kind enough to make her some pizza which she gratefully took and ate. The girls even got the chance to meet Master Splinter for about ten minutes, and they were nervous about him at first until he started talking to them and making them more comfortable in his home; he turned in for the rest of the evening and gave the girls permission to come to the Lair whenever they liked, which was two minutes ago.
I get up, walk over to the girls, and look at the guys, "Well, since you don't know my friends that good allow me to introduce you four to them. The first one right here is Sasha Palmer, an air-bender and medic and the smartest of the three."
She bows her head slightly and gives a small smile, "Please to meet you."
"This one in the middle is Layla Kealoha, one of the most energetic water-benders you will ever meet."
She waves and smiles big, "Hello."
"And of course this last one right here is Cheryl Soviano, an earth-bender that will protect you no matter what."
She lifts her hand up and smiles, "Nice to meet you."
I walk back to the guys and look at the girls, "And I know each of you has met at least one of the brothers, but allow me to introduce them all." I start in the far corner and work my way down, "That one in the purple is Donatello, the orange one is Michelangelo, the tough guy in red is Raphael, and the leader in blue is Leonardo."
"Leonardo?!" The girls said at the same time in complete surprise.
"You mean the same Leonardo you've been telling us about?" Sasha asks first.
"The same Leonardo that is charming, strong, and handsome?" Layla asks next.
"And the same Leonardo that so happens to be your boyfriend?" Cheryl finishes it off.
I look and Leo and smile at him so he can relax, "Yes. This is him."
Cheryl looks at Leo with a comforting smile, "We've heard a lot about you, Leonardo. Now that we get to finally see you I can see why Verena goes on about you so much," She looks at me, "she picked a good one."
"Well Cheryl as much as we want to hear about them the question still remains as to why the Dark Benders were trying to kill us?" Sasha asks and everyone looks at me for answers.
I sigh and take a deep breath, "I believe the Dark Benders tend to use your powers to resurrect an ancient monster from the Underworld to destroy the world."
"But why them?" Mikey asks me as he stares at Layla in worry for her life.
"Because-"
"Because we're not ordinary benders." Cheryl cuts in and explains next, "We are the Guardians of our power, which means we are stronger than the normal bender."
"It is said that the Guardians are the descendants of the Gods and Goddesses of Kennistar." Sasha said.
"And as their descendants it's our duty to protect our given power in their name." Layla said and looks down at her knees.
I look at the guys, "These girls are the most important Guardians out of all the rest for they combine together and help one another to create life. If the Dark Benders were to take them and their powers all of life will be in danger of dying, and it may not even survive an attack. This is why I needed them here."
We stay silent. All of us are soaking in all of the information as the four of us tell the guys the best we can, but it does not seem to be helping the girls out at all. I can see it in their eyes, they're scared and worried. This is as I feared would happen tonight. My job now is to protect my friends and make sure no harm comes to them.
Leo takes my hand and I look at him, "Do the Dark Benders know where they live?"
I shake my head, "No. The only they know about them is their powers, nothing else especially their personal lives. I do suggest you three stay here for the night and I can take you back to your homes when you're ready to." I said staring at them.
My friends look at each other for a moment and talk in whispers so we can't hear. The guys and I hope and pray they will stay here with us for the night just until the hunt dies down.
Cheryl faces us and nods, "Okay. We will for tonight only and go back to our homes early in the morning. I mean, I have a business and the girls have class tomorrow."
Leo nods in agreement, "Very well. Verena, will they be alright in your room?"
"Of course. I was about to suggest that anyway." I said to him and have the girls follow me.
"We'll get them some blankets and pillows." Mikey said and Raph and Donnie follow him.
I open the door to my room and the four of us walk in. the girls sit on the bed together and look very sad, so I go up to them and hug them close.
"Do not be afraid. We will protect you three and get to the bottom of this." I say soothingly ease their worry.
The guys come in and lay the blankets on the bed and leave as they stare at the girls feeling bad for them.
"Call me if you three need anything, okay? I'll be in Leo's room for the night." I tell them and walk to the door, "Goodnight, my friends."
"Goodnight, Verena." They said and I walk off to Leo's room.
He is already in bed when I get in and shut the door behind me. I climb into bed and hug him tight, burying my head in his chest. I feel him wrap his arms around me and he kisses my head softly.
"Everything will be alright, Verena. I promise." He whispers in my ear and breathes deeply as I get lost in his heartbeat.
I lift my head up and look at him, "I love you so much, Leo."
He brings my lips to his and kisses me warmly for a few moments and I melt into his arms more, "I love you too, Verena." Leo gives me another kiss and rests his chin on my head, "Goodnight, Beautiful."
"Goodnight, my handsome turtle." I tell him and snuggle into his chest and let sleep take me.
Whew! This one was long. So, what do you guys think? I would love to know what you thought about this long chapter, so as always you are my judges. I want to let you know ahead of time that I start college again in February so I do not know when my next update will be, but I can guarantee that I will do the best I can to have something posted soon. I want to thank all of you that have favored and followed my story so far, I really appreciate it. Please R&R, PM anytime you like. Until next time:).