April was thoroughly enjoying her first training session with the rest of the group, she was surprised at how many sit-ups she could do and had even had a silent contest with Donnie to see who could do more. He won naturally, but it was still fun to try and keep up. They had then worked on their forms and had tried some new routines, the only thing she was struggling with was a spinning kick. She kept falling over.
"I just don't get it. How do you stay upright?" She said from the floor.
"You have to lean back on your heel, your momentum will carry you around and pull you back upright," Leo explained to her, he then showed her one more time how to do it. "See?"
"Well obviously I see, but doing it is more difficult." She let him pull her back to her feet.
"Just keep trying and you'll get it." Leo said encouragingly. There was a yelp and a thud from the other side of the room. April turned to see Holly sprawled on the mats, just as she had been a moment ago. She sat up and rubbed her elbow groaning slightly, Mikey and Donnie chuckled.
"Something funny?" Holly glared at them.
"Do you have any idea how many times we fell over learning this stuff?" Donnie said through his gap-tooth smile.
"Yeah, Raph knocked himself out when he hit his head learning how to do flips." Mikey laughed.
Raph smacked him on the back of the head, "I'll knock you out if you're not careful." He crossed his arms and sulked.
"It's ok Raph, at least you weren't dropped on your head as a baby." Holly covered her mouth playfully like she hadn't meant to say anything. Raph and Donnie laughed while Mikey pouted. "I'm just kidding Mikey, I'm sorry." Holly climbed to her feet and started her routine over.
Master Splinter was watching everyone silently from one end of the room. Leonardo had been going around, mostly to the girls, giving them pointers and advice about their technique. Donnie and Mikey had been sparring and Raphael had been punching the training dummy. He had been thinking about letting the girls try learning some of the more advanced routines including weapons. Well, practice with dull weapons anyway. Maybe the turtles would learn a thing or two about their own skill set as well.
Master splinter had been watching the six teenagers before him with a lightness in his heart. He was so proud of his boys, and he couldn't have picked better friends for them himself. He tapped his cane a couple of times to get their attention, and the teenagers all fell into line before him.
"You girls have been doing very well these last couple of months, and I feel it's time that you start learning how to use your skills along with the weapons we have." The room remained silent, but there was a ripple of emotion that ran through the room. April was ecstatic, he could practically see the electricity sizzling around her. Holly was dubious, and Donatello and Raphael had matching expressions of worry written all over their faces. "I have also decided, that you boys are going to teach them how to use these weapons. After all, there is no better way to learn, than to teach."
"It would be our honor." Leo said with a little nod.
"Good, you may begin now then." Splinter walked to the sliding door that lead to the living room.
"Don't you want to stay and watch sense?" Leo asked curiously.
"I will check in on you in a while, but right now I am going to make some tea." Splinter walked out leaving the teens looking slightly lost. Well, all except Leonardo who was all too excited to lead the others in practice.
"Alright, well where would you like to start?" Leo asked.
April and Holly looked at each other with different expressions on their faces. April looked delighted, while Holly looked anxious.
"Well, I've always wanted to have a go with the Bo staff." April said with a glance at Donnie. His eyes widened and a small smile played around his lips.
"Ok, well what about you? What do you want to do?" Leo directed at Holly.
"I have absolutely no idea." She said looking a little lost.
"I could show you how to do this." Mikey said swinging his nunchucks around expertly. He swung one around his body doing a figure eight around his torso. It wound and unwound around his arms and body as he changed the direction of the spin. Mikey flashed her a cocky grin until one of the handles clocked him in the side of the head. "Ouch."
"Ok, you have been practicing for years, and you still hit yourself in the head. I think I'll pass, thanks." Holly shook her head at him with a smile. Mikey looked a little downcast and she felt bad. "I promise I will try, but I don't want to start with those."
"You could always practice with us." Donnie offered.
"Oh no, I'm not getting in the middle of that." Holly pointed to her two friends, they looked at each other and immediately looked away from each other again. Donnie scratched the back of his head nervously, while April rubbed her arm. Both were blushing.
"Why don't you start with me then? I think you'd do well with a sword anyway." Leo offered.
"Umm, ok. Why not?" Holly shrugged.
"What about me?" Raph scowled at his big brother. "What are me and Mikey supposed to do?"
"You could practice with us, it might be worth us all learning some extra skills." Leo said.
"You want me to learn how to use those?" Raph pointed at the swords on his brothers' back, his face was twisted as if he had just been asked to do something disgusting.
"Yeah, who knows what could happen, and maybe these could save your life." He drew his katana and swung them around in a little demonstration.
Raph rolled his eyes, "Alright, fine. I'll stay." He picked up one of the wooden practice swords muttering to himself. Holly and Leo smirked at each other, they weren't stupid. Raph was just being a drama queen since Holly hadn't jumped on him like April had with Donnie.
Mikey and Holly grabbed the other spare sticks and stood facing Leo, Raph was still muttering to himself but joined the others by his big brother. At least Donnie was having a better day for a change.
Donnie and April were in a remote corner of the room. April had a smaller, lighter version of Donnie's weapon in her hands and was starting to feel a little nervous. He was telling her a little about the history of his chosen weapon, how it had been used by common men in feudal Japan who were not allowed to carry swords of their own, and how they could be passed off as walking sticks if need be.
"Any weapon you use should become an extension of yourself, movements should be fluid and smooth." He twirled the staff from side to side showing her what he meant. "Got it so far?"
"Uh-huh." She nodded at him. He beamed at her, and she couldn't help but smile back.
"Ok, we'll start with some basic motions and combine them into forms." He showed her slowly how to spin the Bo staff from side to side in front of her body. April tried to copy his motion but kept clipping her ankles and getting her hands tangled up in themselves.
Donnie stood next to her and kept repeating the motion, hoping that following him would help. April kept doing pretty well except for when she was supposed to unwind her arms on her left side, it just didn't seem to want to click. He put his Bo staff down for a moment and walked in front of her. He was watching her again like he had earlier when she was trying her hand at archery.
"Am I doing this right?" April asked him after a while, he hadn't said anything, he just kept watching her.
"What? Oh, yes." He snapped back to reality, "Alright, now try doing it backwards?"
April stopped what she was doing and leaned up against the staff, "What are you talking about?"
Donnie smiled at her and snatched up his own staff into his hands, "You we're spinning forwards," He showed her what he meant, "now try doing it backwards." As he changed directions, April noticed that as the end of the staff was spinning in front of the lanky turtle, it appeared to be moving from front to back, even though it was technically going in a circle.
April tried it, and found that going backwards was way easier. She only hit herself once or twice before she could keep going pretty consistently. "Hey, this is awesome."
"Yeah you're doing pretty good. Ok, now start going forwards, and just as your switching sides spin on your toes so your body is facing the other way, then you'll start spinning it backwards." He didn't demonstrate this time, instead, he just gave her a smile.
She raised her eye brows at him, but his grin just spread wider across his face. Apparently he was not going to share what was so amusing just yet. So, instead of prying, April did what he had told her to do. She started spinning the staff forwards, and just as she was about to switch sides, she twisted her body on the balls of her feet. As she did, the staff swung up from behind her and smack her straight in the face. "Ouch," She said rubbing her forehead. Donnie just chuckled. "That's not very funny." She tried to be mad at him, but the twitch in her lips and the blush in her cheeks gave it away that she wasn't really annoyed.
"I have smashed myself in the face so many times you wouldn't believe it. Besides if I would have warned you, you would have tensed up, and you can't be smooth if you're tense." He gave her a sheepish grin. "If it makes you feel better, Master Splinter never warned me either."
"Oh don't worry, I'll get you back for that later." April winked at him as she tried again. Once again as she tried to turn, the end of the staff came rushing towards her face. But this time she was ready and managed to move her head at the last second, the staff clunked against her shoulder instead. "Ok, you have to show me, I need some visual aids here."
Donnie chuckled again and demonstrated for her. "Don't worry, it takes some practice but I know you can do it."
April and Donnie kept practicing the switching motion, Donnie would do it with her and tried to explain exactly where her hands needed to be. After a few more attempts and a few more bonks to the head, April finally managed to twist and continue spinning the staff like she was supposed to. "I did it!" she yelled, a huge grin spread across her face and she jumped up and down a couple of times before launching herself at her tall teacher. She gave him a bone-crushing hug before she let him go and beamed up at him.
Donnie smiled back at her, "I knew you could."
"Well, I'm glad they're having so much fun." Raph said grumpily after hearing Aprils ecstatic outburst.
"You're not even trying." Leo said, sounding fed up.
"Yeah Raph, I think this is fun." Mikey poked his tongue out at his brother and continued to practice the little routine his biggest brother had been teaching them.
"It just feels weird." Raph looked at the fake sword in his hands, he had spent so many years learning how to use his Sais, that this just felt wrong to him. It felt so unnatural.
"Come on Raph, if you stick this out I'll make Leo join in when we work with you." Holly winked at the turtle beside her. He perk up slightly knowing that he would be able to boss Leo around later. Plus, he was having more fun than he was going to admit. He really liked learning next to Holly, she was just as bad as he was but kept encouraging him that he was doing just fine.
Master Splinter had been watching the little group practicing. Once he had made some tea, he was glad to return to a room buzzing with activity. He was a little worried that the turtles would want to socialize more than work, but they were behaving, for the most part.
After another hour or so of them working amongst themselves, Splinter decided that it was probably time to let them go have some fun. He called over his six students, who kneeled before him once more. "You have all worked hard today, I am very proud that you were able to focus so well. But now, you are free to go have some fun."
"Alright!" Mikey hopped up and started running for the door.
"After you clean up in here." Splinter yelled at his escaping son.
The turtles and the girls cleaned up the training room quickly, they put away the equipment and cleaned the floors before heading out into the living room to relax for a moment. They all flopped down on the sofas and chairs before Mikey turned on the TV and powered up one of their many games consoles.
"How do you still have so much energy?" Holly asked Mikey who was bouncing slightly waiting for his game to load.
"Because he's a freak of nature." Raph answered before Mikey could.
"No," Mikey glared at his brother, "It's because I always have enough energy to appreciate great art."
"It's just a video game, and an old one at that." Holly replied.
"It's art to me." He turned his attention back to the screen.
"Anyway, what do you guys want to do tonight?" April asked the group.
"I'm starving, I don't know about you guys." Leo said rubbing his stomach. There was a murmur of agreement from the entire room, even Master Splinter agreed, and he was just passing through the room.
"Why don't we order some pizzas?" Mikey yelled from the floor.
"Don't you ever get tired of pizza?" April asked.
All of the turtles answered with a resounding "No."
"Why don't I go and pick up something to eat, and April you could go rent a couple of movies." Holly offered.
"Sure, what movie should I get? And do you guys have popcorn?"
"What's popcorn?" Leo asked.
"I'll take that as a "no" then." April and Holly stood up and each went to grab their wallets.
"Grab a few different movies and we can vote on it when we get back." Holly offered, "Here, take that so you can get a bunch." She handed April forty dollars and stuffed the rest of her cash in her pocket. "While we're gone, maybe you guys could tidy up a bit." Holly directed the comment at Raph, who peered at her over the top of his comic with a look that implied that she was nuts. She waved at them over her shoulder, and she and April left the lair laughing together.
Baxter Stockman was on his way home, today had been disastrous. The Shredder had threatened him countless times to find the turtles, and the Purple Dragon idiots he had been forced to work with were doing little to improve his odds of success. His only hope was the computer chip that was tucked safely in his pocket, the design was incredible, and it belonged to the tall turtle creature. He had plans for the chip, oh yes, and hopefully, it would get him out of his current predicament.
Stockman entered his apartment and walked straight to his computer, an icon was blinking, indicating that his last Mouser unit had transmitted some information. It was supposed to be at the warehouse waiting for him to start working, but that moron Fong had lost it. He knew the turtles had it, but he needed to know where they were. He opened the file to find one single image, it was slightly blurry but he could make out the basic shapes of two of the turtles looking fierce. Behind them was a stone room with very little distinguishable architecture to help him pinpoint where they may be. He leaned back in his chair and sighed, there was nothing that could help him.
There was another figure in the image, one that was not a turtle. It was a human, and a young one at that. Stockman leaned back in and examined the image carefully, there was a young girl in the turtles' lair, which would mean they could use this girl to find the turtles. Stockman printed the image and would take it to the Purple bozos in the morning, they would be much more capable at finding this girl than he would alone. With so many eyes on the street, this redhead would not be able to stay hidden for very long.
