Up until this point, I've mostly kept this story consistent with the original show, however, here is where the story diverges a bit, expanding their journey a bit. Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Mikata
The Turtles, Usagi, and Kintaro all screamed as they plummeted off the cliff into the canyon below, falling into a tall tree.
The way down was rough as they fell off their horses and hit several branches on the way down. Eventually, though, they soon hit the ground, all of them landing with a heavy thud while the basket Kintaro was in shattered to pieces.
Though the impact didn't kill them, it did leave the six of them unconscious for quite some time.
Leo was the first to wake up as he groaned. "Ugh, feels like I fell off the Empire State Building." He mumbled, holding his head. Yep, he definitely had a concussion from that fall.
Everyone else began to regain consciousness as well as they all sat up. "Everyone okay?" Donnie asked.
"Only broke my skull! Nothing important!" Raph grumbled.
"Where's Pug-taro?" Mikey asked, picking out arrows from his armor.
"He is here." Usagi answered, standing above Kintaro, who was cuddling a tokage lizard. "Wake up, little one."
"Ugh, what happened?" The Holy Child groaned, rolling onto his back and effectively squashing the tokage under him.
"You have your rabbit friend to thank for all of this, puggy." Raph remarked. Their armor had protected them for the most part from the fall, but most of it had either come loose or shattered entirely as all of them were missing bits of their armor. The only bits of armor that remained were the parts on their arms, their boots, and their gauntlets. "Speaking of which, what were you thinking leading us off a freaking cliff, Usagi?!"
Usagi frowned. "It wasn't as if I wanted to plunge us over a cliff!" He snapped at the red turtle. "But if we had stayed, we would have surely been slain!"
Raph scoffed. "Ha! We could've taken those guys no problem!"
Getting up, Leo walked over and gently helped the Golden Boy sit up. "You alright, Kintaro?" He asked, concerned.
Kintaro huffed, smacking away Leo's hand harshly. "I'm plenty fine, kappa! Take me to my temple this instant!"
"We don't need to take you anywhere, you little brat!" Raph said angrily. "Come on, guys! I've had it with these two jerks!" He then began walking off in the other direction while Usagi headed off in the opposite direction.
However, Leo quickly stopped his brother. "Raph, wait. This isn't a good idea."
"Yeah, man." Mikey added. "We can't just leave. Pug-taro needs our help!"
"And besides," Donnie also added, "Usagi said the only way back to our home dimension is at Kintaro's temple."
At first Raph was about to retort, but when he thought about it, he soon realized the others were right. They knew nothing about this world, and Usagi was their only hope of getting back to theirs.
So begrudgingly, Raph followed Leo, Mikey, and Donnie as they rejoined with Usagi and Kintaro.
"So, where are we headed now?" Leo asked.
"We will need to make a quick stop at one of the nearby villages. Get rest and supplies, then move out from there. The fastest path to the Temple of the Sky Buddha is through the Forest of Tangled Skein and over Haha Naru Yama, the Mother of Mountains." Usagi explained.
Kintaro instantly looked frightened. "T-The-the F-forest of Tangled Skein?" He stammered. "B-But everyone knows that place is haunted!"
"Haunted?" Mikey asked, appearing right beside him, causing the pug child to shriek rather loudly. "Sweet! Ghosts are cool, Pug-taro! As long as they don't scare you, possess you, or try to suck your soul out of your body through your belly button, there's nothing to worry about!"
"You're not helping, ugly frog!" Kintaro retorted, smacking Mikey in the face.
Eventually, as the sun was setting, the group of six managed to reach a small village. At first the Turtles seemed a bit tense about going into such a public area, but that quickly died down when they walked into the village and nobody screamed or ran away from them.
It was times like these where they realized it was good that they were in a world full of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans, they could actually be treated as normal people.
The small merry band soon approached a small wooden hut. "We will stay here for the night, my friends. Tomorrow, we set out to the forest." Usagi told them.
Inside, the hut was small, but just big enough for the six of them. The floor, though, was mostly covered in hay and only four mattresses.
"This place?" Kintaro questioned incredulously. "This is unacceptable! I won't sleep in this barn of a hut!"
"Oh, c'mon. It's not that bad, Pug-taro." Mikey insisted, flopping back onto one of the mattresses. "It's actually pretty homey."
The Golden Child pouted, crossing his arms and sitting down on another mattress.
"Well, it'll have to do for now." Leo stated. "If this trip is as long as Usagi says, we'll need to rest when we can."
"Do you really think the monks at Kintaro's temple will help us?" Donnie asked the ronin.
Usagi rubbed his chin. "I believe they will. I have heard the monks are compassionate beings who know much of the spirit world. I have faith that they can aid you."
"Well, it better be worth it." Raph stated.
"Ha! They'll be making you all their new eunuchs when they hear how you've treated me!" Kintaro scoffed, earning both horrified and disgusted looks from Leo, Usagi, Donnie, and Raph.
"What's a eunuch?" Mikey asked curiously.
Donnie quickly slapped a hand over his little brother's mouth. "Trust me, you really don't wanna know."
Usagi then lightly slapped Kintaro on the head. "That was not so courteous." He snapped at him. "Let us rest, turtle ninja."
Morning came again, and after a little breakfast from the villagers (which was much appreciated by the group since they were pretty much starving at this point), Usagi led Kintaro and the Turtles to a large farm with several horses in the pen.
"Excuse us, sir," Usagi addressed the rather tall and bulky farmer. "We will need horses to reach our destination. We were wondering if we could borrow them?"
The farmer chuckled before taking off his hat, revealing himself to be a tall rhinoceros man. "Well, for you my friend, you can take as many as you want."
Usagi looked surprised before he smiled. "Gennosuke! It is good to see you again!"
"Do you know him, Usagi?" Leo asked.
"Indeed I do." He replied. "This is Murakami Gennosuke, we were both bodyguards of Lord Mifune. And he is a good friend." He then turned back to the rhino. "I thought you had died in the battle against Lord Hekiji."
Gennosuke simply spat at the ground. "Yeah well, everyone knows as long as there's a good pay, you can't keep me down." He then glanced over Usagi's shoulder at the Turtles. "And who're your kappa companions?"
Usagi gestured to the Turtles, "This is Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael." Leo nodded, Raph crossed his arms, Donnie gave a small wave, and Mikey gave both a grin and a big wave. "They were originally sent by Jei to destroy me and take the Holy Child, but he managed to free them from his control. They are now aiding me in escorting Kintaro to his order."
Gen knelt down to Kintaro's level. "This is the Holy Child?" He questioned. "He's a lot shorter than I thought he'd be."
Raph snorted while Kintaro looked appalled. "Why must everyone be so disrespectful to me?!" The pug child demanded. "I'm the Golden Boy! I deserve respect!"
The rhino samurai then stood up straight. "So you need horses, eh? What for?"
"We need them in order to reach the Forest of Tangled Skein before nightfall." Usagi stated.
Gen looked surprised. "The Forest of Tangled Skein? Everyone knows that place is haunted."
"That's what I said!" Kintaro yelled.
"Well, Usagi did say that the fastest way to Kintaro's temple was through there and over the 'Mother of Mountains'." Leo said, ignoring the Holy Child's ranting.
Gen then smirked. "I think I know a quick way there."
Raph nearly gulped. "Why do I feel like I'm gonna hate this?"
Gathering enough horses for all of them, Gennosuke led the group out of the village, though Raph of course still had trouble getting his under control.
"Why does this always happen?!" He yelled in frustration as his horse kicked wildly.
"You're being too rough with her," Gen told him, "you need to be gentle so that she doesn't panic. Instead of fighting back against her, work with her."
At this point, Raph was willing to take just about anyone's advice at this point. So instead of fighting against the horse's thrashing, he fastened himself onto his saddle and began gently stroking his horse's mane, muttering soothing words that no doubt embarrassed him but worked nonetheless.
"You know, I never really got to talk about it before, but this place, this whole world is rather fascinating." Donnie spoke up, rubbing his chin. "A world just like seventeenth-century Japan except with animals instead of humans."
"Who are you calling an 'animal'?" Kintaro questioned irritably.
Donnie simply ignored him as a fascinated smile appeared on his lips "So many questions arise like how did they evolve? Why is a horse a horse, but a rabbit is a person?"
Usagi raised a brow. "'Evolve'?" He asked. "I don't understand. We are creations of the gods, as are all things around us."
"Yeah, but a bunny as big as a rhino?" Mikey jumped into the conversation. "And what about those other talking cats and dog dudes walking around?"
The rabbit ronin scratched his head. "I believe I still don't understand." He replied a bit apologetically. "We are all individuals, different from one another. Do all the people in your realm look like yourselves?"
Leo scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Well… we're kinda unique."
Before they could continue their conversation, Gen suddenly stopped, causing everyone to halt as well.
"Set the horses loose." Gen told them, getting off his horse. "They know their way back to the farm. We continue on foot from here."
Getting off, each of them unclipped the saddles and let their horses go. Mikey, however, seemed saddened to set his horse loose.
"Good bye, Bill. I'll miss you." He said, looking like he was about to cry. The orange turtle then hugged the horse, who also whined as it nuzzled the party turtle. He then unclipped the saddle, letting the horse go free as it ran off into the woods.
Continuing their path on foot in relative silence, the group soon reached the edge of a small cliff overlooking a flowing river below.
"This is the way to the forest?" Leo questioned.
"It's a shortcut." Gen explained.
Usagi took one look at the drop below and gave the rhino a flat look. "Your shortcuts will be the end of us, Gennosuke."
Raph scoffed a little. "You seemed fine leading us off a cliff earlier."
Usagi sighed and pinched the bridge between his nose while Donnie gave his hotheaded brother a deadpan look. "You're not gonna let that go anytime soon, are you?"
"Come, let us head back the way we came." The rabbit ronin said.
Unbeknownst to them however, the group was being watched from above by a legion of robed warriors from the cliffs above, their masks obscuring their faces except for their eyes, making all of them look the same.
Without a word, the legion of ninja descended down the cliffs surrounding the merry band.
The Turtles, Usagi, and Gen all drew their weapons while Kintaro simply crouched down in fear, hoping to not be noticed.
"Neko Ninja!" Gen scowled, holding his sword tightly.
"It's an ambush!" Donnie exclaimed, gripping his staff. "We're trapped."
"But not helpless!" Raph rebuked, twirling his sais in his hands. He then charged forward, clashing his dagger with one ninja's sword before kicking him away.
Another ninja tried to stab the red turtle in the back, but was blocked by Mikey before the orange clad turtle elbowed him in the chin.
More and more ninja kept advancing as the Turtles, Usagi, and Gen fought them off as best they could while Kintaro simply ran off screaming like a coward.
Gennosuke then leapt over Usagi and jammed his sword into the ground, causing it to crack under several nekos. Then with an impressive amount of strength, he stamped the cracked ground hard with his foot, causing the edge the nekos were standing on to collapse into the river.
"Whose idea… was this anyway?" Gen grunted as he clashed his sword with another neko.
"Yours!" Usagi answered, ducking under the swipe of another neko. "You and your shortcuts." He grumbled.
Meanwhile, Leo managed to disable one neko of his weapon before performing a spinning back kick and knocking him away. He then clashed his blade with another neko before he was suddenly tackled to the ground by another ninja.
With the blue turtle pinned underneath him, the neko drew his sword and attempted to stab Leo, only for Leo to catch his blade in his hands.
"Leonardo!" He heard Kintaro cry.
Still struggling against the blade, Leo turned his head to see the pug child backed into the rock wall as two more nekos approached him. The look in the Holy Child's eyes was one of pure fear, the barriers of arrogant pride gone.
"Hold… on!" Leo grunted.
The neko continued to try to push his blade down towards Leo's face, but the blue turtle shifted his weight, using the momentum to throw the neko into the two looming over Kintaro.
With them dealt with, Leo helped the Holy Child up, giving him a small smile and a nod, which Kintaro surprisingly returned.
Above the battle, one of the neko turned to a messenger. "Order the ninja on the path to pull back, and the archers to move forward." He ordered.
The messenger nodded before taking out a horn and blowing into it, making a low rumbling sound that all down in the battle seemed to hear.
Upon hearing it, all the neko in the battle immediately stopped fighting before turning and running off.
"What is this?" Usagi questioned.
"Ha! Cowards!" Gen mocked.
"Yeah! Get back here and fight!" Raph added.
Leo frowned suspiciously, his body still tense. "I don't like this, guys. Something's up."
Just then, an arrow whizzed by his head, forcing everyone to look up.
Above them were dozens of nekos armed with bows and arrows at the ready. The sheer number of them making both Mikey and Kintaro gulp slightly.
"There's only one way out." Donnie stated, turning to the river below. "And it looks like it's somewhere wet."
Raph, however, looked incredulous. "Are we seriously going over another cliff again? Are you kidding?!"
Donnie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's all part of the hilarious 'let's all live' routine." He said sarcastically.
"Well in that case…" Mikey got a running start, jumping over the edge. "CANNON-BALL!" He cheered as he plummeted into the water.
Raph and Donnie were next, narrowly dodging the many arrows being rained upon them as they jumped down as well.
"You're kidding right?" Gen asked nervously. "I hate-"
Usagi quickly tackled him out of the way an arrow as they fell down towards the river
"-water!" The rhino cried.
All that was left now was Leo and Kintaro.
Deflecting several arrows with his katanas, Leo quickly put them away before picking up Kintaro and jumping off the edge, curling his body protectively around the Golden Boy while Kintaro screamed the whole way down.
The seven of them landed in the water, sinking deep below the surface as several arrows pierced the water and went past them.
Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were able to swim just fine. They were turtles after all. Leo still carried Kintaro in his arms as they swam for the land. Usagi, meanwhile, was forced to pull Gen with him since the rhino was evidently not a very good swimmer.
Soon enough, the group reached the land as they burst out of the water, all of them panting breathlessly.
"We must keep moving." Usagi said. "Those were Neko Clan Ninja, undoubtedly servants of Jei. They will not give up so easily."
"Easy?" Gen questioned. "You think that was-?"
Sensing something, Leo quickly unsheathed his sword and in the blink of an eye, deflected an arrow that was aimed at the rhino, slicing it in half.
"-easy?" Gen finished with an astonished look on his and Kintaro's faces.
The blue clad turtle quickly put his sword away. "Quick, before more come our way." He ordered.
Agreeing, the group sprinted off into the nearby forest and out of range of the archers.
Back above the river, one of the neko turned to another ninja. "Inform Master Jei that they are headed for the Forest of Tangled Skein."
The neko nodded before sprinting off into the distance.
And so ends this chapter! Gennosuke joins the crew because why not? And yeah, most of this chapter took a lot of inspiration from the 2003 series. You'll probably also notice that Leo didn't get super pissed at Usagi for leading them off a cliff like in the show. I decided to cut that since like when he found out Fugitoid had built the Black Hole Generator in season 4, his anger felt really forced and out of character for him. So, I hope you like this change. See ya next time.
