April couldn't believe what she had done. She kept playing that moment over and over in her head all morning, and she was desperate to tell Holly. She kept finding herself smiling at nothing, and whenever someone asked her a question, she realized she hadn't been listening at all. She couldn't seem to get a moment alone with her only female friend, and it seemed even more hopeless once Master Splinter decided he wanted to give them one super intense training session. He and Leonardo had gone into overprotective mode once everyone was fully caught up on the days' events, and thought it best to really put the girls to the test.
April and Holly were told to practice blocking and evading since it was unlikely they would have access to a weapon if they came up against the Purple Dragons in the street. They were each told to stand in the middle of the room and had to defend themselves from attacks that could come from anywhere. April stood next to Holly, and they were surrounded by the four turtle boys.
"Alright, imagine were a typical group of Purple Dragon members." Leo said from behind April. It was a little intimidating being surrounded by the turtles, April was glad that they were just training, and wasn't sure how she would feel if she and Holly truly had to defend themselves. "We're going to pretend to attack you, all you have to do is fend us off and get away." He made it sound so simple.
"Just like that, huh?" Holly said sarcastically. She turned so the two of them were back to back.
"You'll be fine, it's not like we're actually going to hurt you. Just remember your training, and we'll even start off slow so you get the feel for it." Leo looked at his brothers. "Ready?" They all responded with nods. Mikey had the biggest grin on his face, he was apparently enjoying this more than anyone else. Leo then turned to the girls. "Are you ready?" Neither of them really responded, April took a deep breath and kept shifting her gaze from one turtle to the next. Holly had a grim look on her face, but her eyes were determined. She understood why this exercise was so important. In the event of an actual confrontation, Holly would have to do whatever she could to get April away from the group. After all, as of right now April was the target, and if Holly were caught, she would be able to play dumb long enough for the cavalry to arrive.
Splinter sat watching the group from the corner of the room. He was anxious to see that the girls would be capable of at least defending themselves against the boys, if they weren't, then April would be in trouble on the surface. He believed that they could take care of themselves under normal circumstances, but he was worried that they might have trouble against someone who actually wanted to hurt them. Still, he believed in them. They always worked hard during their training sessions and they were advancing faster than he would have anticipated.
Leonardo nodded at his brothers, and instantly Mikey moved to grab onto Aprils arm. It is what the gang members would try first after all. He lunged out and gripped Aprils' wrist, but she managed to twist herself free and pushed his arm away without too much issue. Behind her, Leo and Raph both took a step towards Holly.
Holly flicked her eyes back and forth between the two of them so she could see when one of them lunged. It was Leo who moved first. He swung clumsily at her, just like one of the Purple Dragons would, but she was prepared for it. She side blocked the punch, pushing his arm across his body screwing up his center of balance. He "stumbled" sideways, so she gave him a shove towards his brother.
Donatello was about to follow Mikeys lead and act like he was going to try and subdue April. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying much attention to what was happening next to him, Holly had just given Leo a good hard shove in his direction, and the next thing he knew, his big brother was barreling into him. They both stayed on their feet since they had years of training behind them, but they knew if they really were as uncoordinated as the real gang members, they would have been on the floor.
April saw Leo come flying by in her peripheral vision, but she had Raph on her other side and he was a bigger threat right now. April turned to face him fully, and realized for the first time how menacing he could be. He sent some uncharacteristically uncoordinated blows her way, but she managed to deflect them all. April felt quite proud of herself for all of two seconds until Mikey was back on the attack, He tried to grab her from behind. He dove at her from a couple of feet away, she dropped to her knees and ducked her head down and he few straight over her and crashed into Raph. They tumbled backwards and landed in a heap on the floor.
"Mikey! Get off me!" Raph yelled from under his little brother. Mikey just laughed to himself and rolled sideways.
April hopped back to her feet, only to be caught off guard by Donatello. He grabbed her from behind around the shoulders and she struggled against him for a couple of moments.
"Come on April, you know what to do." Donnie whispered to her.
April tried to focus and remember what she was supposed to do. She grabbed his wrist and forearm tightly with both hands, twisted her torso slightly, and threw her hips backwards and her torso forwards. Donnie flew straight over her shoulder and landed with a thud on his shell just in front of her.
April and Holly fended off the boys for a good thirty minutes. They were starting to get tired but kept on fighting since they would not be able to call a time out if they were fighting for real.
April had Mikey on one side of her and Donnie on the other, Leo had stepped out of the action for a while to observe what the girls were doing and see if he could spot any issues they might be having. She blocked a punch from Donnie, ducked under another sent her way by Mikey, and then jumped backwards as the two turtles attacked at once. They ended up crashing into each other and crumpled on the floor in front of her. April shook her head and couldn't help but smile.
Holly meanwhile was trying to deal with Raph. He always bragged that he was the best fighter out of the turtle boys, and even though he was taking it easy on her, he was still considerably faster and stronger than she was. He was really putting her to the test today though, he kept sending different attacks her way. First came punches, then he tried to take out her legs with a sweep. She casually hopped over his leg and then she had to duck under his foot that almost took her head off.
"What happened to not trying to hurt us?" Holly said while still dipping and weaving around Raph.
"You guys were doing so well I thought I'd step it up a level." Raph lunged at her again.
Holly hopped backwards away from him and danced just out of his reach. "I don't know, you haven't landed a hit yet." She was smiling cheekily at him, trying to wind him up.
"Oh, don't even go there." Raph said with a chuckle. Holly just poked her tongue out at him, then had to spin sideways as Raph dove at her.
Raph and Holly knew they were supposed to be practicing seriously, but they were having too much fun teasing each other to really pay attention. Holly burst out laughing as Raph landed on his face trying to tackle her. He looked up her from the mats and narrowed his eyes at her. While she was busy doubled over clutching her sides, he grabbed her around the knees and watched her topple over. Holly landed on Raphs shell, she tried to push herself away from him since they were still fighting, but he used his superior strength to flip her over and pin her to the mat. She lay there still laughing with tears pouring down her face, Raph let a smile cross his lips as he looked down at her.
"Would you guys quit messing around already?" Leo was standing with his arms crossed looking annoyed.
Holly lifted her head off the floor to look at him, "Killjoy."
"You two can goof off later, when we're not busy training." Leo huffed.
"You two are in trouble." Mikey sang and pointed at Raph and Holly.
"Alright." Holly shoved Raph and stood back up. "Would you like us to continue?"
"No, you can do wall squats, and Raph you can go clean all the equipment." Leo said shortly.
"Dude, you got me in trouble." Holly shoved Raph playfully. "I'm sorry Leo." She wobbled her bottom lip at him.
"Just go." He pointed at the wall, and she winked at him as she walked by.
While Holly and Raph were being punished, Leo was letting April take a short break. They along with Donnie and Mikey sat on the floor discussing how they thought the girls had done in their little scenario.
"You guys were doing great, right up until someone quit taking it seriously." Leo yelled the last bit over his shoulder.
"Thanks, but I don't feel like we did that great." April said.
"Why not?" Leo asked.
"I don't know. Practicing with you guys is all well and good, but won't it be way different if we actually have to fight." April said.
"Yes, but that's why we practice, so it all becomes second nature." Donnie said.
"I guess." April said.
"Hey, how long do I have to keep doing this?" Holly said from the wall.
"Until I say stop." Leo replied with a smug grin. Holly just rolled her eye, she's he knew he was just reminding her that he was the boss, but she didn't mind, she did like to push his buttons and knew she should really behave more.
"Yes sir." She said giving him a salute.
"Anyway, hopefully, you won't need to actually deal with the Purple Dragons, and you guys gave them the slip a couple of times already so maybe your luck will hold out." Leo said.
April did not look convinced, she didn't want to fight if she could help it and her luck hadn't been the best since her father had gone missing.
After Leo felt Holly and Raph had been punished enough, the group continued to practice for a while longer. April and Donnie broke off from the group to continue with her Bo staff lessons, and things felt different than they had before. Where Donnie used to be jumpy and nervous whenever they were together, he seemed much more confident and relaxed. When they accidentally brushed each other's hands, he would smile obviously at her, and it sent goosebumps up her arms. She had to talk to Holly as soon as possible, she needed to freak out and act like a girl.
Holly and April sat on the floor of the training room drinking deeply from some water bottles. They had been training for a couple of hours now, and Hollys' legs were about to give out due to the fact that she had to do about a hundred squats.
"Hey, are we done here or what?" Mikey asked Leo.
"Yeah, I guess we can call it." Leo turned to Splinter who was still sitting in the training room with them. "Unless there's anything you want us to do."
"No, you have done well today. Enjoy the rest of the evening together." Splinter said quietly.
"Alright!" Mikey yelled, "Who wants to play some video games?"
"Sure, but I get to pick the game this time," Holly said, she tried to stand up but her legs still felt like jelly. "Um, give me a second though."
"Alright, but if you take too long I'm picking the game." Mikey ran into the living room and dove for the controllers. The others could hear him laughing to himself as he switched on the television to watch some cartoon.
"Need any help?" Raph offered Holly his hand.
"No! She's fine." April swatted his hand away, even though Holly had been reaching for it. "I'll take care of her. Go on, it's fine." She shoved Raph towards the door, and promptly pushed Leo and Donnie out with him.
"Alright, gees we'll go. You could have just told us you wanted to talk to her." Raph said once he had been ushered out of the room. April didn't even respond, she just shut the door in their faces and hurried back to Hollys' side.
Splinter had been planning on meditating once the teens had left the room, but he sensed that April wanted to discuss something with Holly and decided it would probably be better if he left them for a minute or two.
"Master Splinter, if you want to stay in here we can leave. April didn't mean to be so rude." Holly said glaring at her friend.
"Oh no, I don't want to get in the way of girl talk. I may be an old rat, but I know a thing or two about girl talk." He left the girls alone and made his way out to the kitchen for some more tea.
"Alright, what is going on?" Holly asked.
April could barely contain herself. "So, I don't normally do the girly thing, but I kissed Donnie earlier." She bit her lower lip waiting for Holly to respond.
Holly meanwhile just blinked up at her friend. "Wait a second, what?"
April's face fell, that was not the reaction she had hoped for. "You suck at being a girl." April folded her arms across her chest.
"No I don't! But, are you serious?" A smile started spreading across Hollys' face. "Did you really kiss him?"
April nodded and Holly squealed delightedly. The two girls giggled together as April spilled all the details, and in true best friend fashion, Holly oohed and aahed in all the right places.
"So you just launched yourself at him?" Holly asked finally after she had settled down.
"Kind of, I just couldn't help myself." April said.
"That's alright, I don't think he minded." Holly laughed.
"Probably not." April agreed. "Let's get out of here. I'm sure Mikey already picked out a game and has started without us."
Holly pushed herself to her feet, her legs still didn't want to work properly and she stumbled slightly as they made their way out into the living area.
"Holly, are you alright?" Leo asked.
"Oh yeah, as soon as I get the feeling back in my legs I'll be great." She gave him a sarcastic thumbs-up, and any sympathy he had felt for her was gone.
"Then you should stop flirting when you're supposed to be training." Leo snapped back with just as much sarcasm.
Raph choked on the soda he had been drinking. Holly just laughed, "Alright, I get the point. Nice burn by the way."
"I can be just as sarcastic as you." Leo said feeling smug.
"Yeah, Of course." Holly said laying it on thick. She rolled her eyes and winked at Raph, who had to stifle a chuckle by pretending he was still choking when Leo glared at him.
The gang played video games for a while, until Holly and April pulled out a deck of cards. They started playing two-person games until Donnie's curiosity got the better of him and he had to join in. A while later Leo decided he was bored too and wanted to join in and learn how to play hearts with his brother. Master Splinter came out of his room looking for another pot of tea, but he got distracted by the sounds of laughter and conversation. He watched the teens play a hand or two, then decided he would join in the fun for a change.
Raph and Mikey however remained isolated, Raph behind another of his thousands of comics and Mikey was captivated by the television. They did participate in the conversation at least, and soon the night had flown by and everyone started getting sleepy.
Splinter headed back to his room first, as usual, but he was followed shortly by the turtle boys. The girls passed out almost as soon as the lights had been shut off, they had had an eventful day and had earned a good nights' sleep. Donatello fell asleep with a smile on his face, he was still thinking about the kiss he had gotten earlier in the day and couldn't help but smile every time he remembered the feeling it had given him. Leo and Mikey stayed up for a while in their rooms doing their favorite things. Mikey played games on his T-phone while Leo watched reruns of his favorite show on the laptop he had borrowed from April. But eventually, they both passed out and enjoyed a full nights' rest.
Raph on the other hand, tossed and turned for most of the night. He couldn't figure out what was wrong. Yeah, he had panicked earlier, but he had enjoyed the rest of his night with the girls. He had an uneasy feeling in his gut that he couldn't shake, but after long enough of lying there his body finally gave in and he drifted off into a restless sleep.
