His Name Is Baxter Stockman
Meditating deeply in the dojo, Master Splinter had spiritually come in contact with the universe. Through it, he was hoping that connecting with it, the universe would somehow tell him of what darkness was to come to his family. But just before he could get his answer, loud chatter of his sons from the living area had interrupted his meditation.
"Guys, guys, get in your spot!" shouted Mikey.
Groans of annoyance could be heard from the other three as Raph complained, "All right, Mikey, but this is the last time!"
"But don't flip me this time," whined Donnie.
Leo groaned, "Ate too much cheese."
A bit irritated that his sons had interrupted his meditation, Splinter decided to get up from his spot to see what the four were up to now as he made his way towards the doors.
"And now the kid goes for the world record!" shouted Mikey, making Splinter raise a brow at what his youngest son was trying to attempt this time. "He will attempt to jump three mutant turtles!"
Hearing what Michelangelo just said, Splinter walked a bit faster just in time to see him ride down an unstable wooden ramp with his three oldest sons crouched right next to it. Irritation flared, he shouted, "What is going on in here?"
When the boys saw him, the three oldest brothers quickly stood up from where they were, "Sensei!"
However, thanks to his presence in the room, the brothers have all forgotten about Mikey still riding down the ramp until he yelled, making them remember him. They all shouted, too late to move away when the younger slammed into them.
Disappointed at his son's maturity, Splinter then looked around the living area to see that it was an entire mess. Empty pizza boxes, cans, and trash was practically strewn everywhere. Looking back at his sons, he gave them a stern look, "How many times have I told you not to skateboard in the Lair?"
"None, Sensei," replied Mikey, hearing this for the first time.
Splinter narrowed his eyes at them, "I shouldn't have to tell you!"
Seeing his anger, the boys quickly got up on their feet while Leo, being the eldest, tried to talk their way out from the incoming punishment, "You're right, Sensei. We definitely should have known better-" he said, looking at Mikey before all the boys bowed their heads in respect to their angry father, "-and we deserved to be punished… Eh, some."
Knowing that his sons were trying to get away from being grounded, Splinter took a step forward until he was in front of them as he ran a hand down his goatee and looked at his eldest son at eye level, "And what do you think would be a fitting punishment?"
A bit off guard at the question, Leo looked towards his brothers for help, only for them to either pretend to be busy or trying not to look at him at all. He frowned at their helpfulness and wished that Emi could be here right now to help him. She was the only one who could help them escape their fate. But unfortunately, the half-wolf girl was not there. Which leaves him to try and think of something, no thanks to his brothers being no help at all.
Turning back to their father, Leo saw that he was still waiting for an answer. He rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous tick of his, and tried to think of something as he looked around the room, "Well, uh, we- We should… clean up our mess?"
That punishment didn't seem to sit well with Splinter as he crossed his arms in front of him. Quickly thinking, Leo suggested another, "And then… think about what we did."
The punishment that he had suggested had seemed fitting with his brothers as they all started agreeing, making him eye them in irritation that they hadn't helped him out.
"Yeah. Sounds about right."
"We were wrong."
"Wouldn't want to do too much."
Not letting them get away from their punishment, Splinter suggested another, "What about being grounded for a week?"
The boys quickly deny when they had heard the word grounded while Leo nervously stuttered, "Oh, I'm not sure that's-"
"I'm cool with the thinking," Mikey quickly said.
Donnie nodded, "Really that's not necessary."
"Maybe next time," said Raph.
They all smiled nervously at Master Splinter, hoping he really wouldn't punish them with it. But, it was too good to be true when his words settled, "You're grounded for a week!"
They all groaned, disappointed that they hadn't gotten away from being grounded until the ramp behind them fell, the loud crash echoing throughout the Lair. The boys stood rod stiff and laughed nervously up at their father when they saw him narrow his eyes down at them.
Just then, Splinter noticed that his daughter was not here with them. Nor was she in the dojo with him during meditation. Wondering where she could have gone, he asked his sons, "Where is Emi?"
Wondering the same thing, Leo, Raph, and Mikey looked to each other to see if the other knew where she could be until Donnie spoke up, "Oh, she's using the tunnel outside of my lab to practice her balance on tightropes."
Curious, Donnie started to lead everyone through the turnstile and towards the back doors of his lab. When they got there, they could see that a bunch of tightropes was stringed crisscrossed apart from each other, and there, balancing on one of the highest tightropes, was Emi.
The young girl was blindfolded as she stood quietly, until she suddenly leaned back, falling from her perch. Leo gasped and was about to run to catch her until he was held back by a hand on his shoulder. Looking over to whoever had stopped him, his eyes widened when he saw that it was Master Splinter.
"Sensei-" Leo started until he was quietly shushed by the elder rat as he gestured to his daughter.
"Watch, Leonardo."
Looking back at Emi, his eyes widened when he saw that she had caught herself on another tightrope. This time, she held herself on a handstand before suddenly swinging herself like an acrobat on a trapeze and flipped in the air just in time to land on another tightrope silently with elegance.
Before she could continue on with her training, Mikey had spooked her out of her concentration when he shouted out in excitement, "Whoa, Emi! That was sporadic!"
Donnie slapped his forehead, "I told you for the fifteenth time, Mikey, that's not what the word means."
Taking her blindfold off, Emi turned around to see her family standing below her, all smiling up at her. Wondering what they were doing here, she leaped off of the tightrope that she stood on and landed in front of them.
She tilted her head, ears flopped, "What are you all doing here? Weren't you all still doing your eating competition?"
Leo blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh- yeah… w-well, you see… about that-"
Raph rolled his eyes, "What fearless is trying to say is we got punished."
Understanding the situation, she looked up at their Father, "I assume you grounded them, Father?"
Master Splinter nodded, "That you are, my daughter."
She shook her head. Emi should've known to leave the boys to their own antics for a while. She perked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Splinter looking down at her, "Yes, Father?"
He smiled, "You are doing very well in your training, Emi."
Happy at the praise, she smiled, "Thank you, Father."
Splinter's eyes soften at her until he turns sternly to the boys, "As for you, my sons."
The boys stood straight as a board when their Father turned his attention to them. Narrowing his eyes at them he pointed back to the living area, "You four will go and clean up your mess. And do not even think about going anywhere in the sewers or up to the surface."
Aweing, the brother's shoulders sagged at having to be stuck down in their home for a whole week.
"Hai, Sensei."
Once the elder rat went back to the dojo to resume his meditation, Emi followed the boys to the living area, her eyes widening at the mess. She shook her head, "I leave you four for a few hours and the place has already gone into a pigsty."
Leo blushed, quite embarrassed since he's usually the neat one out of his brothers.
Mikey chuckled, "Not the first time we've messed this place up."
"Yeah, but this time it's littered with trash and pizza boxes," said Donnie, pointing out their mess. "Oh, and Mikey's broken skateboard ramp."
Raph smirked, wrapping an arm around his little sister's shoulder, and pulled her into his side, "Hey, just be glad that it isn't as bad as Mikey's room, little sister."
Remembering the day when she had gone into the youngest turtle brother's room to get something of hers that he had borrowed, Emi shivers in horror. She nodded to her red-banded brother's words, "Yeah… definitely glad."
Narrowing his eyes on Raph's arm that was still around Emi's shoulders, Leo walked over and put a hand on his brother's shoulder, pulling him away from her, "Come on. This place isn't going to clean itself."
Raph rolled his eyes at his typical brother's jealousy and let him take him away from their little sister to help clean up the mess. Watching the four clean, Emi smiled before making her way to the dojo. There, sitting in the middle of the room, sat Master Splinter back to focusing on his meditation. Content, Emi went back to the living area to help the boys with cleaning up their mess.
Couple of hours have passed and the day has gone by to the time that the turtle brothers and Emi usually go patrolling. However, thanks to the boys' stunts, they couldn't go anywhere and were stuck in the lair. Pacing back and forth in front of the television, Raph groaned, "Gah, this bites! I can't believe we're stuck down here for a whole week."
"Hey, at least this'll teach you guys for making such huge messes and interrupting Father from his meditation time," said Emi, who was laying back flat across Mikey's lap and head in Leo's, while reading a Japanese novel that April has gotten for her.
Leo had no problem with his sister/crush using his lap as a headrest. This just gives him the opportunity to be able to run his hand through her soft silky hair.
Raph, seeing the dorky smile on his older brother's face, rolled his eyes as he grumbled to his little sister's statement, "Whatever."
Just then, Donnie came rushing at them, shouting in excitement, "Guys, guys! You wanna see what I made?"
Curious, Emi tilted her head backward so she could see the genius brother upside-down while Raph made his statement, "This is how bored I am. Yes, Donnie. I do."
Ignoring his sarcastic tone, Donnie's excitement won over as he excitedly continued, "Okay, okay, okay! Remember the other day I was scrounging in that military junkyard?"
"No/Yes," they all said.
Hearing her answer, the three look down at Emi who looks back at them. When she sees them raise an eye ridge at her she shrugs, "I went with him while he went dumpster diving. Not my fault you three don't pay attention."
Nodding and murmuring at her words, their attention went back to Donnie when he continued excitedly, "Well, I found an incredibly advanced A.I. Microchip, made from- get this! Self-Assembled chain-linked copolymers!"
Not having a clue about what he is talking about, Mikey excitedly said, "That's my favorite kind of copolymer!"
Donnie giggled, "Mine too! And I used it to make this." Grabbing something from his belt, he showed them his latest creation which was a music player, "The most advanced music player in the world."
Taking a closer look, Emi and the boys looked in awe at it, "Whoa."
Donnie smiled in excitement, "So who wants to try it?"
"I do!" shouted Mikey, making grabby hands at it, "Toss me the T-pod."
"The T-pod?" asked Donnie.
"Turtle. Pod. T-pod," Mikey explained, chuckling. "I am so good at naming stuff."
With no hesitation, Donnie handed the player to his baby brother while the three older siblings watched Mikey plug the earphones into his ears.
Raph had to ask, "You're really gonna plug an advanced piece of military technology directly into Mikey's head? What if it melts his brain?"
Emi nodded, "Raph's right. That's kind of worrying."
"It won't," said Donnie, waving their worry away. "And even if it did, who'd know the difference?"
Watching in concern, Emi and the older boys watch Mikey press play. It hasn't even been a second until he started screaming in pain.
Terrified that his invention was hurting his baby brother, Donnie quickly asked, "What?! What's wrong?!"
"It's polka! Make it stop! Make it stop!" Mikey shouted in agony.
Deadpan at his baby brother's dramatic pain, Donnie simply walked up to him and pressed the next button on the pod before making his way back to the others. When polka stopped playing, Mikey grinned in appreciation, "Thanks." Though, whatever music that Donnie had played for him, made him start dancing.
The older siblings blinked, not seeing what the greatness and excitement were about anymore. Raph, having enough of watching his dorky little brother dance, put his hands up in surrender, "That's it. I gotta get out of here."
Seeing him walking towards the turnstile, Leo followed with a frown, "Where are you going? We're grounded."
"I don't care. I gotta do something or I'm gonna go nuts!" Raph replied, throwing his arms up in frustration. Seeing something next to him, he looked down and saw his skateboard. Just then, an idea came to kill his boredom away. Smirking, Raph stomped on the end of his skateboard, flipping the thing in the air, before making a grab for it and pointing out at the sewers. "Let's find a skate spot!"
Hearing what he said, Mikey shouted through the loud music that only he could hear in excitement, "Skate spot? I'm totally in!"
Emi shook her head, hoping that his loudness didn't interrupt Master Splinter's sleep while Leo asked, "But what's Splinter gonna say?"
"I don't know what's going on, because they snuck out while I was asleep," said Raph, imitating Master Splinter.
Emi giggled at his imitation of their Father, making Raph grin. He knew how his little sister loved it when he imitated others and being able to make her laugh is just a bonus. Leo, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes as the ugly anger of jealousy bubbled up within his chest. He knows that there is no need to be jealous of his hot-headed brother because Raph always reassures him over and again of only having brotherly feelings for Emi. Yet, fisting his hands on either side of him, he just couldn't help it.
Reigning in his jealousy and anger, Leo crossed his arms in front of him to hide his fisted hands, "Heh. Real mature. But I'm your Leader. And as your Leader, I say nobody's going."
Raph mentally rolled his eyes. Leo thought he may be slick, but he wasn't slick enough when it came to his feelings for Emi. Oh yeah, he definitely saw the blue-banded brother fisting his hands in anger when he made their little sister laugh. Seriously, he just wishes Leo would get over every little thing when he or the other little brothers tend to either make her laugh or spend time with her. And here he thought he had anger issues.
"Well as your followers, we're going anyway," said Raph, giving no indifference to his brother's feelings of following Splinter's orders nor his Leader's orders. He then looked to their sister, "You coming, Emi?"
Still keeping her promise to Splinter, Emi smiled, "Sure, why not. Could go for some fresh air. Or… however much fresh air one can get in New York."
Leo looked at her in disbelief, "Emi?"
Walking up to stand next to the younger brothers, Emi smiled apologetically at him, "I'm sorry, Leo. But both you and I know that even you are as bored down here as our brothers."
Opening his mouth to deny, he saw her raise an eyebrow at him as if mentally telling him to try and lie to her and knew that she was right. She always did know him better than anyone else. Not wanting to be left behind, Leo made a half-crap excuse that he inwardly winced in embarrassment, "Well as your Leader, I'm going with you. To lead you… away from… bad stuff."
Emi giggled at his adorableness of trying to be distinct at not wanting to be seen to also want to leave the Lair. Hearing her laughter because of him this time made Leo blush in embarrassment while Raph rolled his eyes at him. Just then, Mikey screamed in agony again, gaining everyone's concern.
"What's wrong?" asked Leo.
"It's back to polka!" answered Mikey, looking at the t-pod in distaste. "We've got to get some more tunes on this!"
Everyone narrowed their eyes at him. Seeing their anger, Mikey nervously chuckles, "So, we're heading out?"
Running on the rooftops in the night of New York City, Emi ran next to the boys as they searched for a good skate spot to skateboard. It was a quiet and beautiful night. Though she does sometimes miss running through the woods of real fresh air instead of slight pollution. But hey, beggars can't be choosers.
Emi was snapped out of her tranquil thoughts when Mikey shouted, "Hey, Donnie! Thanks for all the new songs!"
Confused, Donnie asked, "Wait, what new songs?"
Leo glared at them as he loudly whispered to them, "Keep it down, you guys!"
Heeding his words, Donnie ended up flipping up to where Mikey was skateboarding and hand-standing on his baby brother's shoulders. Looking at the T-pod, Donnie was shocked at the list of songs, "What the-? It's got thousands of songs and it keeps downloading new ones every second!"
Both Raph and Emi looked at one another before making their way over to the two. Arriving next to them, Raph asked, "So?"
"So, I didn't program it to do that. It's reconfiguring itself somehow."
Remembering what Donnie had used to create that little music player, Emi pointed out, "It could be the A.I. Microchip that you had installed into it."
Donnie gasped before flipping off of Mikey's shoulders to run next to them, "That could be it!"
Maneuvering himself away from the three, Mikey skateboarded to an angled window and flew as he shouted, "Whatever it is, it's awesome!"
Irritated at their loudness, Leo whisper-shouted at them, "Guys! We're ninjas, remember? We move swiftly and- Here's the important part-silently!"
Emi, noticing that Leo wasn't looking where he was running, shouted, "Leo! Look out!"
It was too late for the blue-banded turtle to heed her warning when he lost his footing on any more ground and fell straight down into a greenhouse building. The siblings all stopped to watch and heard some loud clangs until Leo shouted, "Beehive!"
What they hadn't expected was for him to crash through the other side of the greenhouse and fall straight off the roof. Making their way over to the rooftop, Raph smiled at the karma that Leo was getting as they all watched and inwardly winced as the older turtle brother slammed onto every floor of the fire escape ladder.
Once Leo was finished falling and landed on top of boxes and garbage bags, Raph grinned as he shouted down, "That wasn't very silent, Leo."
Emi softly slapped him on the arm, "Don't be mean, Raph."
Raph merely shrugs and watches their sister make their way down to their elder brother to check on him.
It didn't take her long to get to him. Kneeling by his side, she put a hand on his shoulder, "You okay?"
Groaning, Leo slowly sat up and put a hand on his head, "Yeah. Just glad that I didn't get stung by any bees."
Emi smiled before standing up, giving him a hand, "That's good. We wouldn't want our Leader to be out of commission yet."
Leo smiled and happily accepted her outstretched hand as he pulled himself up.
After that whole fiasco, the siblings finally found an area that they were satisfied with to skateboard at.
Raph smirked, "Check that out."
Looking at the structure, there were rails, dips, and ledges that the boys knew that they could get some pretty sweet moves on.
Mikey excitedly whispered, "Let's grind it."
Emi shook her head with a small smile when she saw their smirks until Donnie turned their attention from the course, "Who the heck is that guy?"
Looking over to who he was talking about, the siblings all saw a dark-skinned man wearing some kind of power suit making his way down the street. Raph raised an eye ridge, "I don't know. But he needs a beat down."
Leo frowned at their red-banded brother. He knew how much Raph loves to fight and should've known that he would pick a fight with someone who hadn't done anything yet besides wearing a power suit.
Inwardly sighing, Leo quickly spoke, "Hold on, Raph. We don't know that he's gonna do anything wrong. He- he could be on his way to… church."
Raph looked at him in disbelief, "Wearing powered battle armor? What kind of church is that?"
"A really awesome one!" said Mikey, imagining where everyone is dressed up as superheroes there.
Emi smiled and shook her head at her baby brother's words before putting in her concern, "Just because he's wearing a power suit doesn't mean that he's going to do anything bad, Raph."
Raph shrugs, "Just saying."
"Look, it's my call," said Leo. "I decide who gets a beat down."
Paying their attention back to the guy, they watched as he went to a back alley towards a locked storage door. Bringing the torched attached to his right wrist up, the man started to heat up the lock. Seeing this made Leo's justice side flare-up in an instant, "That guy needs a beat down."
Sighing, Emi shook her head and followed the boys down into the alley to confront the man. Though, when they got to ground level, they all heard his complaint when his torch died on him, "Are you kidding me? Awww, come on."
Giving up on the torch, he kicked at the door in frustration before trying to pull the thing up instead. The siblings all watched at the guy's sad attempt to try and rob the building.
"It's just kind of sad," said Donnie, frowning at the scene in front of them.
Mikey nodded, "Yeah, I don't know if we should pound him or buy him an ice cream cone."
Ignoring his younger brother's, Leo brought out his blades and pointed at the man before speaking in his Captain Ryan's voice, "Halt, villain!"
The man stopped at his attempt to open the door and turned around, "Huh?"
Raph cringed at Leo's words, "Halt, villain? When did we start talking like that?"
"We're heroes. That- that's how heroes talk," said Leo, slowly regretting saying it, blushing in embarrassment.
Though it would seem the guy was as much of a villain nerd as Leo's hero complex when he pointed his torch arm at them, speaking in his most villainous voice, "You will feel the fury of my powered battle-" He stopped in mid-sentence when he got a closer look at them. "Holy cow! You guys are turtles! And you-!"
Pointing a finger at Emi, the guy looked her up and down, making the boys narrowed their eyes at him for checking her out and blocking her from his view, until he finally finished, "Definitely love your costume. You got to tell me how you made the wolf ears and tail move so naturally like that."
Relieved that the guy wasn't a pervert when checking Emi out, Leo continues with his hero words, "That's right. We're the turtle of justice!"
The heroic vibe shattered quickly though when Raph voiced everyone's cringed thought at Leo's words, "Wow. I mean, just- wow."
Before Leo could reply, the guy started running towards them shouting out a battle cry. Taking out their own weapons, Leo, Raph, and Donnie charge straight at him. Emi decided to stay behind since she saw no point in this battle. She knew that the boys would be just fine without her. Leaning her back on the brick wall, she watched as they were all about to start the battle until Mikey shouted, "Wait!"
Halting on where they stood, everyone turned their attention to the orange-banded turtle, who was taking off the earbuds, twirling the wire around the T-pod, and tucked it away in his belt. Once he was satisfied, Mikey took out his nunchucks, "Okay."
Re-commencing the battle, Mikey was the first to land a hit on the guy by flipping over him, slamming his weapon on the dude's helmet-covered head. Not far behind, the brother's all went after the wires on the guy's suit, disconnecting and cutting the powered battle armor from its source of power. What they didn't expect was for the guy to lose his balance and slammed into the store's window, setting off the security alarm.
Alarmed by this, the siblings all looked at each other until Raph came up with a brilliant idea. Opening the dumpster, he gestured it to them, making the boys grin, agreeing at the idea. Emi, seeing what the boys were about to do, shook her head and watched them grab the guy and dump him into the dumpster.
"You're not the first to ever throw me in the trash, but I swear that you will be the las-"
They didn't hear the rest of his complaint thanks to Raph slamming the top on him. Sighing, Emi walked up to them, "Don't you think you guys went a little overboard?"
Smirking at her, Raph replied, "Nope."
She smiled, shaking her head at the red-banded turtle's typical answer. Before the boys could celebrate their easy victory, police sirens could be heard coming closer to them. Catching the sight of the typical blue and red flashing lights, Mikey shouted, "Oh, snap! It's the Popo!"
Leo shouted, "Go, go!"
Don't have to tell each other twice, the Hamato siblings quickly leaped and climbed up the fire escape ladder and back on the roof as they started making their way back home.
Arriving back at the Lair, Emi got there first before the boys did, seeing as they had decided to take the water route. Her, on the other hand, didn't want to get wet so late at night, so she ended up taking a different route. And also because she couldn't dry as fast as the boys since it'll take her tail, ear, and hair a while to dry.
Waiting for the boys, Emi sat on the couch as she started to wonder how long they were going to take. Though it would seem she had wondered a bit too soon when she saw Leo crawling out of the pool, the others were not too far behind him.
Looking around at the lair, Leo smiled in relief when his eyes landed on her. He was glad that she made it home safely. He hadn't felt great when Emi decided to take a different route home than them, especially when he had voiced this to her. And even though she had reassured him that she would be fine, it still didn't stop him from worrying about her when he watched her leave. So seeing her in the lair without a scratch relieved him of his worries.
"All right," said Raph, gaining everyone's attention. "We made it home!"
Annoyed at Raph's loudness, Leo shushed him, "Shh! It's 2 A.M."
"And Splinter's still asleep. This is epic," whispered Mikey, feeling giddy that their Father hadn't caught them sneaking out.
Frustrated at his brother's being so nonchalant about disobeying Master Splinter's orders, Leo quietly shouted, "It's not epic. It was a really bad idea."
"No it wasn't," said Raph, not letting Leo's frustration ruin his good mood before throwing his skateboard somewhere in the lair and flipped over the couch and onto their beanbag chair. "We got out there and stomped a sleazeball. So, what's the problem?"
Sighing sharply, Leo replied, "The problem, Raph, is that we disobeyed Master Splinter's orders. Especially when we are supposed to be grounded."
Raph looked over his shoulder, "Hey, you didn't have to come with us to the surface. In fact, you could've stayed here while we went. But you didn't."
Emi put a hand on Leo's shoulder, "He's right. And just like them, even you also wanted to get some fresh air and fun out of boredom of being stuck down here, grounded."
Opening his mouth, Leo shut it when he knew that she was right. Though, it didn't make him feel less guilty for disobeying their Father's punishment.
Seeing Mikey patting himself, Emi raised a brow, "Are you okay, Mikey? Did you drop something?"
Mikey straightened when she asked and quickly turned to her, chuckling nervously, "Uh, nope. I didn't drop anything. Did you drop anything? 'Cuz I sure didn't."
Raising a brow, Emi shrugs and stretches her arms above her head, "Well, I don't know about you boys, but I'm going to sleep. Especially since we have to get up in a few hours for morning training."
Remembering their morning training with Master Splinter, the boys all groaned.
Meanwhile, a certain man who just got his butt kicked by the turtle brothers ended up finding the dropped T-Pod and plugging it into his battle armor. The A.I. chip upgrading the thing.
The next morning, the siblings were all in the dojo doing their morning training. The boys were all doing their katas so poorly, no thanks to the lack of sleep. While Emi was working on hers just fine since her body is used to having a few hours of rest.
Master Splinter, who was very well rested compared to his sons, narrowed his eyes at them as he watched their sluggish movements of executing their katas. Looking at his eldest son, he frowns when he sees him yawn and does a handstand, "Knees higher, Leonardo!"
However, Leo was so tired that his arms gave out on him, making him land hard on his head and fall flat on his shell.
Master Splinter then sees Michelangelo leaped and frown even more at his sluggish movement that was just as bad as Leonardo's, "Extend, Michelangelo!"
Mikey did as their sensei said, but he failed, considering how tired he was.
Annoyance rising, Master Splinter narrowed his eyes when he saw Raphael rolled by, "Raphael, you call that a koho tenkai? Because I do not-"
He was interrupted when Donatello messed up on his kata and flew through the dojo, landing flat on his face.
Yelping in pain, Donnie yawned in exhaustion.
The thread of disappointment and annoyance snapped when Splinter saw that his sons had been doing poorly on their morning training and commanded them to stop, "Yame!"
His demand got the boy's straightened up and all stood next to each other while Emi went to stand next to Leo. They all went down on one knee in respect to their Sensei as he walked up to them.
Hands folded behind his back, Splinter slowly walked up to them as he eyed his sons, "Hmm, is there something you want to tell me?"
Mikey nervously chuckled, "Something we want to tell you? Nope."
Emi inwardly sighed as she softly shook her head. Her action was not gone by Splinter's attention, though he did not call her out on it. Since she was the only one who has been doing well on her morning training compared to his sons.
Looking down at them, Splinter narrowed his eyes, "You all seem tired except for your sister."
"We're not," said Leo, waving a hand casually at their father.
Donnie straightened up as he smiled brightly, "Wide awake!"
"Fresh as daisies!" said Raph, grinning. He then puts his info about their sister, "Besides, Emi doesn't need as much sleep as we do."
Mikey destroyed their lie by yawning and keeled over.
"So you would not object to a little randori," said Splinter, bringing out his trusty wooden sword that he would punish his children with, especially when he knows that they are lying to him. The boys gulped when they saw the weapon.
"Well, uh…" Mikey nervously spoke.
However, before he nor any of the brothers could say anything, Splinter smacked them, hard. The boys groan in pain from the smack, making Emi wince from where she still knelt, feeling sorry for them.
Satisfied, Splinter looked at each and every one of his groaning sons, "I hope you learned, turtles, that truth isn't the only thing that hurts. Now, seeing as how you all are still tired besides Emi, you may all leave. We will end your training for today. However, your training tomorrow will be twice as hard."
The boys groaned at that but tiredly dismissed themselves from the dojo. Before Emi could leave with them, Splinter stopped her, "Emi, I wish to talk to you, my daughter."
Hearing their father call for their sister, the brothers all stopped and wondered if he was going to have her tell them what they did last night. However, Leo wasn't too worried about her snitching them out. No, instead he was more worried about what the two had been discussing together. Whatever those two have been talking together about, he just hopes that things are okay.
Watching the boys leave the dojo, Emi looked to Master Splinter, "Did you need something, Father?"
Splinter folded his hands behind him, "How is your meditation going? Have you been getting any more ominous feelings?"
Easing his worries, Emi shook her head, "None so far. Ever since our encounter with the Foot, the feeling vanished."
"Maybe for now. The universe works in mysterious ways and always tries to tell us something that is never clear until we encounter it."
She nodded, "And something tells me that it won't be long until we encounter Shredder."
Splinter frowned at her words. He knew that she was right. But it did not mean that he had to like it.
Seeing the pain, worry, and sadness in his eyes, Emi reassured him, "It'll be alright, Father. Do not forget, I made a promise to you."
Looking into her golden eyes, Splinter could see the determination to keep her promise to him and smiled. He put a hand on her shoulder, "I know you did, Emi. And I do not doubt you will keep it."
With that, the two bow to each other before Splinter dismisses her so he could start on his meditation. Walking out of the dojo, Emi saw that the boys had gone to do their daily routine, fully awake now. She shook her head. If only the boys were this awake just not a few minutes ago during training.
Although looking over to Mikey, she could see that he had fallen back asleep on the couch. Smiling, she settled herself on the couch next to him and brought his head up so he could use her lap as a pillow. Raph, who was sitting on the bean bag chair while reading one of his magazines, looked over at them when he saw Mikey unconsciously snuggled himself comfortably in Emi's lap. Raph was just glad that Leo was too occupied on his Space Heroes show or else he would've had to sit through his brother's jealousy. And it won't be towards him this time.
As Emi and Raph sat through, or in Mikey's case, slept through, Leo's Space Heroes episode, the two looked at the elder when he started dialoguing along with Captain Ryan, "We may have started this rebellion by accident, but by the rings of nebulon, we are going to finish it on purpose!"
Raph smirked, "Seen this enough time there, Chief?"
"Would you-shh! This is the best part," shushed Leo, never taking his eyes off of the TV.
Raph rolled his eyes, his action not going unnoticed by Emi, who softly slapped his arm. Looking at her, he smirked and shrugged before going back to reading his magazine. Emi shook her head, smiling until her ears perked up when Leonardo's show was interrupted by the newscast.
"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news."
"Oh!" groaned Leo, disappointed that the news had interrupted his favorite part in the show.
Ears still perked, Emi wondered what the news was about this time. The news channel would never interrupt a channel show unless it was important. Looking down at her baby brother still snoring away, she patted him awake.
Groggily opening his eyes, baby blues met gold as Emi gestured to the lab, "Wake up, Mikey. Something seems to be on the news channel. Go and get Donnie for me, yeah?"
Yawning, Mikey got up and stretched, "You got it, sis."
Once he left, Emi turned back to the television as both she and Raph turned to watch what was going on along with Leo.
"We've received shocking footage of an assault on the TCRI Office complex in Brooklyn."
The screen then changed to the live footage of a very familiar man wearing some kind of huge battle armor, as he shouted, "At last… I will have my revenge!"
A frightened man, who was brave enough, asked, "Who-who are you?"
"You'll never know," replied the guy in the battle armor. "I'm the thing that haunts your nightmares! I'm the nameless shadow who-"
He was interrupted when the guy seemed to have recognized him, "Baxter?"
"No."
"Baxter Stockman?"
"No!"
"Hey, everybody! It's Baxter Stockman!"
Raising an eye ridge, Raph crossed his arms in front of him, "I think his name is Baxter Stockman."
"Is this because I fired you?"
"That copy machine was already broken when I-I mean… I don't know what you're talking about!"
Emi tilted her head, "You know, buying him that ice cream cone is starting to sound very tempting."
Mikey and Donnie nodded, agreeing with her.
Looking closely at Baxter Stockman, Leo wondered how the human had upgraded his battle armor so quickly. Especially since it was only just last night that his suit did not look anywhere close to that powerful compared to now.
"How did he upgrade his armor so fast?" Leo wondered out loud, hoping to get some insight from his siblings.
His question was answered when the video showed Baxter Stockman attacking the person who was recording as it stopped directly on his chest. Seeing what was stuck there, the siblings' eyes widened when they saw that it was none other than the T-Pod. Everyone turns to their baby brother, just in time to see Donnie fume at him, "He has the T-Pod?!"
Mikey chuckled nervously, "Oh, um… I might've dropped that during the fight."
Donnie towered over his baby brother, who tried to make himself smaller, and narrowed his eyes, "You dropped it during the fight? Nice goin', Mikey!"
"It's your fault!" retaliate Mikey.
"How is it my fault?" asked Donnie, wondering how the bad guy that now has his invention to power his body armor, is his fault even though he wasn't the one to drop it in the first place.
"You know I can't be trusted with nice things!" answered Mikey, saddened that what he said was true. Even though he would sometimes never admit it.
He made himself smaller when Donnie glared angrily at him, while an imagined steam train could be heard, signifying his anger.
Deciding to save Mikey from Donnie's wrath, Emi put a hand on the purple terrapin's shoulder, gaining his attention when he turned to look at her, "What's done is done, Donnie. Right now we need to figure out what to do."
Sighing, Donnie knew that she was right and took a step back from their baby brother. Taking a deep breath, he let it out and was cooled off his anger while Mikey made himself comfortable by flopping down onto the beanbag chair. Emi shook her head at his nonchalant behavior.
Leo then stepped up, thinking out loud, "So the A.I. Chip is upgrading his armor the same way it upgraded the T-Pod?"
"And if it keeps going, there's no telling how powerful he'll get," said Donnie, disappointed that one of his inventions, that he created for entertainment was being used for evil. If it weren't for a certain someone dropping it.
Pursing his lips, Leo narrowed his eyes, "This has gone way too far. We have to tell Splinter about this."
Raph looked at him, disbelieving at what he just heard, "What? That we turned some nutjob into a supervillain? Do you know what he'll do to us for that? I mean, he pounded us into the ground just for being sleepy!"
Before Leo could reply, Donnie quickly intervened, not wanting the two older brothers to get into an argument right now, "Look, we beat Stockman once, we can beat him again. We track him down, grab the T-Pod and get back here before Splinter knows anything."
"If my opinion counts for anything, Donnie's right," said Mikey, flipping through Raph's magazine that was left on the floor.
Donnie sarcastically replied, "Hey, thanks, Mikey. But it doesn't."
"Didn't think so."
Emi sighed, putting a hand on her cheek, "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to go bad?"
Raph smirked, wrapping an arm over her shoulder, "Don't worry, Emi. We got this in the bag. Besides, this is Stockman we're talking about. How hard could he be now that he just got a bit of a power boost?"
She raised a brow at his question, "You shouldn't underestimate your opponent. Especially one that you guys practically dumped into a dumpster."
Leo narrowed his eyes at Raph and walked up to stand on the other side of Emi, wrapping an arm around the half-wolf girl's waist, tugging her closer to him, "Even though I know that you're right, Emi. Raph is right. It's like Donnie said, we beat him once before. We can beat him again."
Raph narrowed his eyes at Leo's sudden show of jealousy and possessiveness and rolled his eyes. Like he was going to take his arm away. He was sick and tired of Leo's jealousy and needed to show him that he's just going to have to get used to him and their younger brother's showing their brotherly affection to their only sister. That they weren't going to take her away from him. Heck, he doubts that the two even have feelings for Emi anyways. Especially Donnie, what with the way he kept pining after April like a love-sick puppy.
After Donnie figured out where Baxter Stockman was hiding, the Hamato siblings all left the Lair and headed straight to their destination.
Landing on the rooftop, the siblings all huddle close to the skylight window just to find whom they were just looking for. Taking one of his swords from its sheath, Leo slid it between the crack and used it to unlock the latch, opening it so they could all go in.
Once inside, they all stealthily made their way to Baxter Stockman, who was in the middle of the room talking to himself. They all looked at each other with a raised brow, seeing that Stockman was so busy talking to himself that he hadn't even noticed that they were there or that they were quietly and slowly surrounding him.
"I'm not Baxter Stockman… I am the Baxman! No, no, I am… I am the Suitinator! Aw, that's terrible! Captain… punch you hard!" He groaned, "Gah! Why is this so difficult!"
"I kinda like the Suitinator," said Mikey, pitying the man on trying to find the right nickname for himself.
Though, it would seem he spoke a bit too loud because he gained Stockman's attention, "You guys again?"
The brothers all glare at their baby brother, Mikey chuckling nervously, "My bad."
Pulling out their weapons, Leo sternly spoke, "All right, Stockman. Nobody wants to hurt you."
"We don't?" asked Raph, looking at his older brother in disbelief. "Did I miss a meeting?"
Emi giggled, gaining a smirk from the red-banded brother but a slight glare from the older who aimed it at the younger.
Focusing his attention back at their enemy, Leonardo turned his glare to him instead, "We just want the T-pod."
"Give up my source of power?" asked Stockman, anger bubbling in his chest. "Why? So you can laugh at me again? Throw me in a dumpster?!"
Everyone blinked, wondering exactly how many times he has been dumped inside a dumpster while Raph smirked, "Sounds good to me."
"Raph!" shouted Emi, giving him a disapproving look.
Raph waved her off as he gave a battle cry, running straight towards the armored man with his weapons in hand. Of course, he didn't come anywhere close to the man when he counter-attacked with a rotating fist, punching Raph straight at the wall.
"Oof!"
Emi sighed, shaking her head. It's what he gets for having such a big-headed ego.
Leo stared deadpan at his brother's action and mentally shook his head before he and the others readied their own weapons. Taking his lead when he charged, they all ran towards Stockman from all sides, hoping to split his attention so one of them could get close enough to grab the T-Pod. However, that didn't go so well when his armored suited arms stretched, taking both younger brothers out for the count.
Both Emi and Leo jumped, dodging the outstretched hand that was trying to go for them next. Running at him, Emi got her tessens ready and jumped. She was about to throw her weapons until Stockman saw his chance and swung his arm at her, knocking her down back to the ground.
Leo's breath hitched when he saw Emi landed harshly on the ground, skidding across the room until her back hit the wall. Turning to look at Stockman, his eyes narrowed as anger blazed within them. Gripping his katanas tighter in his grip, Leo let out a battle cry as he ran at the armored man. He quickly dodged the outstretched hand that had come to grab him and ran upon it. Before Stockman could stop him, Leo leaped into the air and brought his swords up, and sliced his still outstretched arm off, severing the hand from it when he saw that it was about to fall on top of him.
Stockman, on the other hand, wasn't too worried about his severed arm since his power source created a new arm for him.
Leo's eyes widened, "What the-?"
Readying his weapons in front of him, Leo was so focused on Stockman in front of him, that he hadn't noticed the hand that he had cut off had started to automatically move on its own. Emi, who got up from the ground with the help of Raph and Donnie, had noticed the contraption and shouted, "Leo! Behind you!"
Leo was too late to react when the thing jumped onto him, latching itself onto his head. Unable to see, he started panicking and ran around as he shouted, "Get it off! Get it off!"
Gripping their weapons ready, the three were about to help their Leader until the thing turned its head and looked right at them. It seemed to have assessed them before shooting its lasers at them. Dodging the attack, the three readied their weapons in front of them, until they stood stock-still shocked when their weapons were shot right out of their hands.
"Lasers!" shouted Donnie.
Emi pouted that her weapons were shot out of her hands and shouted in anger, "Hey!"
Before she could say any more, the thing shocked Leo, making him run straight at them as it shot its lasers. Raph grabbed a hold of Emi's bicep and started dragging her with him and their little brother as they tried not to get shot at.
While the three were busy trying not to get shot at, Mikey on the other hand, finally got himself out of the rubble and tried to take Stockman on himself. However, it didn't end well for him since he started to get spun from his own kusarigama chain when he wrapped it around the armored man.
Jumping behind some rubbles at a dead end, Donnie shouted, "Incoming!"
Covering their heads, Raph shouted at their situation, "What now, genius?"
Emi crossed her arms in front of her chest, "We need to somehow break that thing since it's using Leo as its legs."
Thinking about what they should do, Donnie's eyes widen at what was in front of them. He pointed at it, "The glass! Help me carry it, you guys. If we aim it at the right angle, the lasers will reflect off of it and hopefully, it'll destroy the thing on Leo's head."
Nodding, both Raph and Emi helped Donnie carry the heavy glass and sweated, hoping that this would work. And, much to their relief, it did. The three watched as the laser bounced off of the pipes and metal wall, bouncing right back to it, destroying the thing in half.
Leo groaned as he righted his mask, "Thanks."
Emi wrapped her arms around his neck, making the blue-banded turtle blush, "Glad you're okay, Leo." Letting him go, she looks over to Stockman, "Now, to go back and get my tessens."
Before she could grab them, the four older siblings saw Stockman walk up to them as he spun a very dizzy Michaelangelo, whose wrist is wrapped by his own weapon's chain. They all narrowed their eyes at him and ran to grab their dropped weapons. Raph ran up to him and readied his weapon. However, before he could attack, Stockman swung Mikey at him. Grabbing his dizzied baby brother, he held onto him while Leo severed the chain so the armored man couldn't use their brother against them.
Spinning his bo staff, Donnie brought the blade of his staff out and tried to slash Stockman's armored hand. His weapon didn't even last when Stockman grabbed a hold of it and splintered it to many pieces.
Donnie shouted, "Hey!"
Leaping away from their enemy, the genius brother regrouped back to his siblings as they all readied their weapons, minus Donnie, and shouted a battle cry, running straight for him.
Their battle didn't go well since the brother's all groaned in pain when Stockman grabbed all four into his hand while holding Emi in his other hand. The half-wolf girl rubbed her head, groaning at the pain that she had to endure from the impact that Stockman inflicted on her. Feeling him carry them somewhere, she looked up from where she dangled in his grip just in time to see him break down the wall of the building and walk towards a dumpster. Knowing where this is already going, Emi scrunched up her nose at having to wash the filth and stench out from her tail and kimono.
Stockman laughed in victory as he dumped the boys in his other hand straight into the dumpster, "Foolish turtles! Did you really think you could defeat me?"
Mikey raised an eye ridge in disbelief that he and his older siblings lost, "Well, yeah."
Hearing his reply, Stockman straightened himself as he glared down at the boys, "All my life, people have laughed at me. The other kids in school, my Co-workers, the woman who fixes the copy machine! How was I supposed to know you don't pour Toner in the top?"
Emi raised an eyebrow at where this monologue was going as Stockman continues, "But when they behold the power of this suit, they won't be laughing anymore! They'll tremble in terror!"
Screeching in pain, Stockman dropped Emi from his grasp, the half-wolf girl catching herself before she could land face first. She stood next to the dumpster where the boys were still in while they all watched Baxter's battle suit upgrade even bigger.
"What's happening?" asked Leo.
Donnie stared in slight horror as he answered, "Stockman and the T-pod. They're… merging. They're becoming one single entity."
They all stared on in shock and horror when Stockman landed his red light at them when his upgrade was complete. It was a silent staring until Mikey broke it with his usual antics, "The Stockman-pod."
Huffing, Emi went up to each boy and dragged them out effortlessly out of the dumpster and set them on their feet, "Well, if you all wish to live. I say we run."
Never taking their eyes off of Stockman, the boys slowly nodded their heads and started running out of the alleyway, Emi following not too far behind. Leo, Mikey, and Donnie screamed as they ran while Raph and Emi mentally shook their heads. Keeping her distance behind the boys, Emi wanted to make sure that nothing would happen to them until she felt a hand grasp tightly onto hers and harshly pull her upfront with the boys, yet still behind the screaming brothers.
Looking over to see that it was Raph who had pulled her, Emi raised an eyebrow at him. Raph didn't look nor answer her as he kept a grip on her hand.
"The Stockman-pod's right on top of us!" shouted Mikey.
Raph glared at him, "Stop calling him that! That's a stupid name!"
Hearing his loud footsteps catching right behind them, Leo shouted, "Split up! He can't follow us all!"
Mikey quickly rejected that idea, "No way! He's gonna follow me!"
"Why would he follow you?" asked Leo, mentally rolling his eyes.
"They always follow me!" shouted Mikey, really hoping Leo had another plan.
However, his hope died when Leo looked at him, finalizing his order, "Stop being paranoid and just do it!"
When the first intersection came, Emi decided to split herself from the group first. What she hadn't anticipated was Raph coming along too since his hand tightened his grip on hers. Running down a few more blocks, the two stopped running and noticed that Stockman didn't follow them. That is until they heard Mikey shout, "Aah! I told you he was gonna follow me!"
Emi tilted her head, "Huh, guess Mikey was right. I wonder what's so fascinating about going after him?"
Raph smirked, "Can't blame them for chasing him. He's too easy."
She frowned, "Don't say that, Raph. Anyways, let's just go find the nearest manhole and meet up with the others."
Shrugging, Raph did as she said.
It didn't take the two long until they went down the manhole. Before Raph could take them to start looking for the others, he got stopped when he felt a tug on his hand. Looking back, he saw that Emi was looking down at their clasped hands, "Uh, you know you can let go of my hand now right?"
Raph shrugged and let go before starting to walk ahead. Emi quickly followed and walked next to him until she asked, "So… why did you grab my hand when we were running away from Stockman earlier?"
Glancing at her from his peripheral vision, Raph looked back in front of him, "I couldn't let my little sister be hurt now could I? If I did, what kind of older brother would I be? Besides, if anything were to happen to you, I doubt I'll hear the end of it from our fearless leader."
Emi raised an eyebrow, "What does Leo have anything to do with it?"
Seeing the confusion on her face, Raph smirked and rubbed her head between her wolf ears, "Don't worry too much about it. Come on, let's go find the others."
Confused by what he said, Emi decided to shrug it off and went with Raph to regroup with the others.
It didn't take them long to regroup, Leo sighing in relief to see that Emi was all right, and decided to go back home to recoup and strategize what they should do next. Also, it was very late when they arrived back at the lair. The lights were off so it was very dark.
Tip-toeing into the lair, Leo shushed his brothers when he heard them making a bunch of noises, "Shh, guys, quiet. You're gonna wake him up."
"I'm not making noise," said Mikey, knowing that it was definitely him who had accidentally done it.
Leo shushed him again. While Raph glared as he tried to slowly go down the steps when he felt the ground dip a little, "Don't tell me to be quiet."
Emi, catching Master Splinter's scent awaiting them in the dark, quietly sighed and stayed where she stood at the top of the stairs. The boy's however, didn't catch on and still tried to be silent, which pretty much failed considering how noisy they were being.
The boys froze when the lights were turned on and there, standing by the dojo under one of the lights, stood Master Splinter
Leo quickly spoke, "Aah! Sensei!"
Running his hand on his beard, Splinter raised his eyebrows at his sons, "And where have you been?"
"Nowhere," Raph answered slowly, already knowing that they were screwed.
Quietly humming, Splinter knew that none of his sons would tell him the truth. So he then points at them, "How did you get so hurt?"
Leo, still holding his broken swords in front of him, quickly hid them behind his shell as he nervously replied, "Oh, that! Um, well, we were-Umm…"
He looks to his brothers, hoping that they would help him with a quick excuse. Raph, not knowing what to say, said the first word that came to mind, "Hit-"
"By a-" Donnie replied next, his brain not working fast enough to come up with a lie when it came to their Father.
"Bus?" finished Mikey, who had fallen on the stairs, smiling nervously.
Splinter raised a brow at that pathetic excuse since he knew that getting hit by a bus will not just leave them with minor bruises.
Knowing that they were done for, Leo's shoulders slouched while Raph rolled his eyes and roughly sat down on the steps. Donnie on the other hand, couldn't believe what Mikey had said, "Hit by a bus?"
Mikey narrowed his eyes at him, "Well, what was I supposed to say? Meteor? Cow? Flying building?"
The two glared at each other until Splinter slammed his staff down, having enough of his son's lies, "Enough!"
The boys straightened at his stern voice. Sighing, Splinter said calmly, "Tell me what happened."
The boys' looked at one another, unsure of what would happen if they did until Leo felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking over, he saw Emi calmly looking at him. A smile made its way upon her lips, nodding her head, silently telling him that everything will be alright. Knowing that he could always count on her, Leo nodded his head before looking at the others. The brothers all sighed and nodded, knowing what they had to do.
Looking back at their Father, Leo sighed, "Okay."
Sitting in the dojo, the boys explained what happened from day one when they had gone out during their punishment. As they explained everything to Master Splinter, Emi was busy taking care of their bruises as she softly dabbed a soaked cloth on them. Leo winced at the coldness of it when she softly dabbed it on his cheek.
She softly apologized, "Sorry."
He smiled, "It's okay."
Turning back to his brothers and Father, Leo listened as Mikey explained his part of how he got away from Stockman. His brothers, though a bit scraped and minor bruises still on them, saw that they were healing quite well no thanks to Emi's first aid care. He was the last of his brothers to get their wound treated since he was the eldest and had asked her to take care of them first, leaving him last. Emi had smiled softly at him for his selflessness and squeezed his hand before helping Mikey.
Leo blushed, a small smile upon his face until he got elbowed in the plastron by none other than Raph, cuing him in to start on how it had all happened.
"- and then I threw hot cheese in his face and ran away," finished Mikey.
Splinter hummed, "Very resourceful, Michelangelo." Mikey bowed his head a bit while their Father continued, "But I'm still highly disappointed in you all. The first rule of being a ninja is "Do no harm." Unless you mean to do harm. Then do lots of harm."
Emi put the wet ragged down as she deadpanned at what she just heard and just shook her head.
Silence filled the room as the boys all bowed their heads in disappointment until Leo decided to speak up, "You're right, Sensei. I guess we did make a mess of things."
"So…" said Splinter, looking down at each and every one of them. "What do you think would be a fitting punishment?"
Thinking about it, Leo knew that they couldn't let Stockman terrorize New York with the T-Pod upgrading his armor. Determined to set things right, he looked at their father, "We need to clean up our mess."
Splinter nodded, "Yes. You must stop this… Stockman-pod."
"But, Sensei, that guy's already kicked our shells. And now he's even more powerful. How are we supposed to stop him?" asked Donnie, unsure of how they were going to stop him.
Raph punched a fist in his open palm in an aggressive manner as he answered, "I know! I'll hit him really hard!"
Feeling something whack him on the back of his head, Raph turned to see that Emi had hit him with a paper fan. He raised an eyebrow at the thing, wondering how long she had that while she frowned at him, "We already did that once and looked what happened, Raph."
They both turned their attention back to their father when Splinter agreed, "Emi is correct, Raphael. Brute force is not the answer. You will need to rely on your ninja training."
"Excuse me, Sensei. But ninjas never had to go up against guys in armor," said Mikey, unsure on how they're going to take Stockman down. He froze when Master Splinter narrowed his eyes at him. Emi coughed, grabbing Mikey's attention as she discreetly looked at the door painting behind their Father. Leaning to look at the picture, Mikey smiled nervously, "Oh, I mean ninjas always had to go up against guys in armor."
"Nice save," said Raph, mentally shaking his head at his baby brother's idiocy.
Leo inwardly sighed before he asked, "Sensei, what was their secret?"
Humming, Splinter wisely explained, "They understood that you do not fight the armor. You fight the man inside."
Understanding what he meant, the siblings all looked at each other, knowing exactly what they had to do. Until Mikey spoke up and ruined their sibling's understanding moment, "Why are we all looking at each other?"
They all sigh at his slowness, softly shaking their heads. Getting up from where they sat, they all bowed to Master Splinter before leaving the dojo to start planning on stopping Stockman.
As they walked into the living area, Raph looked to their sister, "So Emi, want to tell me how long you've been having that paper fan?"
Blinking, Emi took the paper fan that she had hit him earlier out of her sleeve and held it up in front of her, "You mean this? I made it yesterday because I saw a Japanese anime character slapping another character with it when the other was being dumb."
"You saying that what I said earlier in the dojo was dumb?" asked Raph, crossing his arms in front of his plastron as he raised an eye ridge at her.
She smiled, "Yes. Yes, you did. Although to be honest, I wasn't expecting to use it so soon."
Raph rolled his eyes until Mikey bounded up next to Emi, grabbing the paper fan out of her hand, "Ooh! A paper fan!" Waving it around, Mikey tried to wave it at him to try and get some breeze, "This fan doesn't even work, Emi. I think you should just stick to the fans that you have right now."
However, Mikey was waving it so widely around that he had accidentally smacked Raph's head. The younger duo froze, watching the red-banded brother's fist tighten, growling, "Mikey."
Taking that as his cue to run, Mikey bolted, the paper fan still in his grasp as Raph chased after him, "Get back here, Mikey!"
The only answer he got from the youngest terrapin brother was a scream of fright as he ran for his life, trying not to get pummeled.
Watching one chasing after the other, Emi sat on the concrete sofa and took some paper out of her kimono, and started folding it, "Well, looks like I'll be needing a new one."
Waiting upon a rooftop sat the four older siblings while the youngest terrapin brother had gone to bring their enemy to them.
Standing next to the power box that Leo was crouched on, Donnie had to ask, unsure about the plan that Leo came up with, "Are you sure this is gonna work?"
"Like Sensei said. Don't fight the armor. Fight the guy inside," answered Leo. Keeping his eyes back on the direction that Mikey should be coming back from with their enemy, he smirked as he continued, "And one thing we know about bad guys, they love chasing Mikey."
Emi sighed, "That may be true. But I'm actually quite worried when he does end up getting caught though."
"Ah, don't worry about him, Emi. Mikey won't let anything catch him," said Raph, leaning his shell on the power box.
Donnie raised an eye ridge, "Not unless he ends up getting distracted."
Their subject ended there when they all heard Mikey's scream in the distance. Looking over, they could see him running and flipping his way towards them. When he was close to where they were, he shouted, "Guys! Stockman-pod's got… missiles!"
Shocked to see that missiles are actually heading straight for them, no thanks to Mikey, they all scattered and watched it blow up a water tank when the youngest brother leaped off of it. Fire flamed everywhere on the rooftop while Mikey held himself on a telephone line.
Looking at each other, the four nodded and started to commence the battle plan.
Grabbing chains from their belt, they all started running toward Stockman, spinning one of the ends above their head as they all surrounded him from both sides. Wondering what they were trying to do, Stockman looked between them until they all threw the chains, trapping his arms on either side of him. They all pulled tightly at it, trying to stop Stockman from moving, however, that was inevitable when the human male struggled.
Mikey taunted, "Now who's trembling in terror? Whoa!"
He spoke too soon when Stockman broke the chains as if they were nothing and grabbed him by the face, smashing him through a building window.
Their eyes widened at what he had just done to their baby brother, "Mikey!"
Narrowing his eyes, Raph growled, "That's it! You're going down!"
Charging at him, they all yelled a battle cry, their weapons on either side of them. Donnie was the first to give him multiple kicks before smacking him with his bo staff. Running in after Stockman stumbled from the hit, Leo swung his swords, not giving the man any chance to right himself. Raph came in next, thrusting his sais at each opening, pummeling the armor with barely any dent. Pushing himself off of the man, he leaped forward with a sai thrust out. What he hadn't anticipated, however, was for the man to finally get his bearings and dodge the red-banded turtle, smacking him straight onto the other rooftop.
"Raph!" shouted Leo.
Tightening their hold on their weapons, both Leo and Donnie decided to double-teamed as they leaped. Stockman, anticipating that they would jump straight for him, formed a tentacle from the middle of his hands and wrapped them on both turtles, catching them in mid-air. Smirking at the two, he slammed them together, disorienting them, before swinging for momentum to throw them.
Before he could do just that, Emi leaped forward and sliced the tentacles, releasing the brothers from Stockman's grip and hovered between the two. Putting her hand on their plastron, she felt the two slowly sit up as Raph came and joined them.
Shaking his hand at what the half-wolf girl did to him, Stockman focused his attention back at the four when he saw that he had them outmatched. He smirked, "Any last words?"
Standing back up on their feet, Leo replied, "Just one. Bees!"
"Bees?" asked Stockman, confused at what he was talking about.
"Bees~!"
Hearing the voice of the orange-banded turtle, Stockman turned around just in time to see the very turtle leap on him with something in his hand. It was too late to do anything however when he saw a beehive being shoved in the only opened window in the battle armored suit.
Straightening from their defensive position, the siblings all watched as Stockman danced, trying to get the bees away from him. But it was to no avail considering he was stuck inside with a bunch of bees stinging him. So when his body stretched upwards, they all saw the very thing that had started this whole thing.
"The T-Pod!" shouted Leo, making everyone's attention land straight on the very contraption.
Knowing exactly what they have to do, they all ran at the still screaming man, weapons ready. One by one, they all each landed a blow on Stockman until the man stumbled off of the roof. Running over to the edge, they saw that he had landed on a lower rooftop, groaning at the pain that the bees had left on him.
Jumping down to the roof, Leo stabbed the T-Pod with his katana, causing Stockman to forever lose his only source of power for his battle armor. The siblings all jumped down, landing just a bit behind their eldest brother as they watched Stockman crawl out of the suit, smiling nervously at them, "So… We'll call it a tie?"
Raising an eye ridge, Leo smirked to his red-banded brother, "Wanna call it a tie, Raph?"
Cracking his fingers, Raph smirked down at the man, "Not yet."
Knowing exactly what they are going to do, Emi sighed as she put her tessens away and watched as Raph picked up the man, dragging him to a dumpster, and dumped him in it while he shouted no's.
"Now it's a tie."
Watching them slam the dumpster on the now poor man, Emi shook her head at the laughing celebrating brothers, "I will never understand boys."
Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, Raph pulled her to him, "Come on, Emi. Don't tell me you don't feel the sweet feeling of victory?"
"Victory, yes. Dumping a man in a dumpster, no."
Leo wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her, and Raph who wouldn't let go, to him and smiled, "Ignore Raph, Emi. It's pretty much a guy's thing."
The brother's all laughed and cheered while Emi rolled her eyes, smiling while shaking her head.
Back in the lair, they all sat back in the dojo when they finished retelling Master Splinter how they were able to defeat Stockman and retrieve the T-Pod successfully this time.
When they were done, Splinter hummed, "You all showed wisdom and great skills in defeating the Stockman-pod. I am proud of you all."
Smiling hopefully, Leo slowly spoke, "Does this mean we're not grounded anymore?"
Seeing the boys all smiling hopefully up at him, Splinter hummed as he ran a hand down his goatee before briefly looking at his daughter who stood next to him. Emi, who saw this action, smiled and nodded. Smiling, Splinter looked to his seated sons and gave them his answer, "Yes."
The boys all smiled in relief at what he said until their eyes widened in horror when they saw him pull out the punishment wooden sword, "But first… randori!"
Hating the pain from the thing, the boys all screamed and shouted as they fled from the dojo as fast as they could before they could get hit. Watching them flee, both Splinter and Emi laughed.
