Good evening my readers, and welcome to a brand new short story!
Its been a while since I got a new idea for a story especially since I've had writers black badly and I've been in high demand at work in the hospital due to the Coronavirus Crisis.
Anyway, I was listening to the song 'Slipping Through My Fingers' by ABBA as well as watch that touching Mother/Daughter scene in the Musical Film based on their songs 'Mamma Mia' and it gave me an idea on a 3-part story surrounding the turtles Raphael and Leonardo regarding their daughters growing up as well as Tyroth and Sephie's twin children getting older as each day passes.
Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!
I do not own the lyrics to the song in this story.
Slipping through my Fingers
Chapter One
It was another day in the Turtles lair below New York, and the red masked turtle Raphael stood with his arms crossed as he watched a teenaged female turtle/lizard hybrid practicing with her rope dart and meteor hammer.
His daughter Pandora was now fourteen years of age and was showing true protentional as a ninja and kung fu fighter.
She stood with her hair tied back in a long thick plait and she wore tight black leggings, and a red and black Japanese top.
She hadn't decided on her official ninja outfit as yet, but she slowly finding her style, she seemed to adopt her father's signature colour of red, if just a different shade, as well as the black in her mother's outfit.
Pandora had been working hard keeping up her fight practice, and she was determined to do well and earn her place as an official member of the Ninja Turtles.
She had really taken to her signature weapon of the rope dart and meteor hammer, and she had also started showing her signature kung fu style after learning from Monalisa.
Whilst her mother's signature style was the graceful and balanced Crane, Pandora's was the more aggressive, lethal Tiger and the energetic powerful Monkey.
Each time Pandora swung her metal ball she used her elbows, neck, knees and ankles to bounce it off and she would throw her dart in front of her to strike invisible enemies.
Raphael sighed, it seemed like only yesterday she was only a tiny baby and he was holding her for the first time, then he was feeding her, changing nappies, bathing her, cuddling her close when she cried and then showing her how to walk when she was finding her feet.
And now her she was, a teenager, only a few days after her fourteenth birthday and getting stronger and showing more protentional as a ninja every day.
He felt saddened that she was slowly slipping away from being his little princess, his sweet little baby girl into a strong and fearless young lady.
Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
He could see she was showing a cocky and savage side which he knew came from him, she would get angry easily and she was competitive when it came to starring, practice duels and even games whether it be playing the video type with Michelangelo or board games, but she also had a gentle and loving side to her which came from her mother, she was especially protective of her adopted sister Kemeko.
Even as a child Pandora was the protective type, very much like Raphael himself, always looking out for Kemeko and Tyroth and Sephie's twin children Freya and Loki. Even if she was a little impulse and got into scraps because she didn't always think before she acted, she still showed a strong adventurous side that made her an exciting person to be around.
Raphael sighed again, seeing Pandora practicing her fighting skills showed she no longer would need him to protect her, in fact, she may one day start protecting him from danger, very much like how he, Monalisa and his brothers (Pandora's Uncles) would protect their Master Splinter.
Yet even though Pandora showed such strength, as a father he still felt the need to protect her as any parent would, and he didn't want to lose that too quickly, he wanted her to continue being his little girl, always cuddling him and wanting him to be near her and protect her from danger.
The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl
Raphael looked up at a light in the ceiling and started to daydream about the days when he and Pandora would have their special bonding time.
One of their favourite activities was riding on the shell-cycle through the city, then enjoying a slice of pizza or Ice cream on a tall building whilst they looked out over New York, another was running over the rooftops playing Follow-The-Leader which Pandora especially loved when it was her turn to be leader.
Yet despite the current things they enjoyed together he thought about when Pandora was younger when they would play make-believe games, read books, or have tickle fights.
Raphael remembered one fond memory when Pandora was a lot younger and Raphael was pretending to be a monster and chasing her.
Flashback
"Help! Help!" Pandora squealed "There's a Monster coming to eat me!"
"Grr!" Raphael growled "I'm coming to get you! I'm gonna gobble you up!"
"help me!" Pandora half laughed; half squealed "The monster's gonna eat me up!"
Raphael chased Pandora all around the lair, dodging furniture and pillars as well as the other turtles who were going about their business.
Leonardo was on his hands and knees giving Kemeko a ride on his shell, Donatello was testing a remote-control car he had just fixed, which nearly got trodden on when Pandora ran past and Michelangelo was sitting on a bean bag near the TV area reading a comic yet he looked up to watch his older brother and niece running around the lair.
Before long, Pandora slowed down as she ran out of breath and Raphael pounced on her and pulled her to him before burying his head on her head pretending to bite her.
"Gotcha!" Raphael cried triumphantly "Hmm! Little girls! My favourite snack! Yum Yum!"
Pandora squealed then laughed loudly as Raphael pretended to eat her.
"mmm! Pandora, you're so delicious! I could eat you up!"
Pandora laughed louder then struggled to get out of her father's grip to which she succeeded then turned to him.
"Come 'ere!" she demanded before diving at him and knocking Raphael onto his shell before starting to tickle him.
"Yikes!" Raphael cried as his daughter jumped on his plastron and began to tickle him and jump on him "Oh no! My daughter's attacking me!"
The other turtles watched Raphael lie helplessly on his back as Pandora tickled him mercilessly and they couldn't help but laugh.
"Help! Help!" Raphael laughed "I'm being overrun by a little girl! Help!"
"Jeez Raphie boy!" Michelangelo called over, "you can take on many Foot Ninja and Purple Dragons, yet you can't defend yourself against your own daughter! Pitiful!"
"Shut up!" Raphael barked before laughing and spluttering as Pandora continued to tickle and bounce on him.
"Give up daddy?" Pandora giggled.
"I give up!" Raphael spluttered breathlessly "I give up! Uncle! I say Uncle!"
Pandora then eased off tickling her father then hugged him tightly.
"Sorry daddy." She said, "I was just playing!"
"I know sweetheart" Raphael smiled as he hugged his daughter "I love you so much Little Geisha!"
End Flashback
Raphael smiled yet tears filled his eyes as he secretly wished he could go back to those days when he played with Pandora like that, since she didn't like those games anymore being too old for them now and wanting to do more stuff a teenager would enjoy.
If only he could go back to those days when Pandora was still only a child and his little princess, he wanted to live them again so badly since they went too quickly for him.
He would give anything to see his daughter be that cute curious little girl who tottered around in her little dresses and held her dolls and teddies close and would go to him if she had a nightmare or felt scared or worried because she knew he could protect her from anything.
Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
After five minutes, Pandora stopped swinging her rope dart and meteor hammer and turned to her father.
"How'd I do dad?" she asked standing tall and proud.
"Great work kiddo!" Raphael praised, taking a breath and bringing himself back to the present day "You're getting better each day!"
Pandora grinned.
"You think I'll be able to take down any enemies dad?" she asked.
"I know you can Geisha!" Raphael chuckled "You still got to wait a little longer before going out in the field, but that day's getting closer and closer!"
"Oh Boy I can't wait!" Pandora said as she skipped over to her father "I'm gonna be the best ninja ever! Top of the food chain!"
"And you will be!" Raphael smirked as he flicked his daughter's chin "I have no doubt about it! Now go get showered and you can enjoy some free time before more training later!"
"Got it dad!" Pandora said before hugging him briefly and jogging to the bathroom.
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time
"She's getting stronger, isn't she?"
Raphael turned around and smiled lovingly as he saw his wife Monalisa walking over, she was dressed in a black and pink summer dress rather than her ninja outfit and her long wavy dark brown hair was loose from her pink ninja band.
"Yeah, she is." Raphael sighed "Stronger, tougher, wiser…." He lowered his head sadly "She's not my little princess anymore."
Mona walked up and kissed her husband's cheek.
"I know it's hard Hun." She said, "I'm finding it tough too that she's growing up, but we knew this was going to come eventually, I can't believe it either, that she's a teenager now, and she's gonna be fighting alongside us before too long."
Raphael nodded.
"I just wish I could have those moments back again, when she was just a tiny baby, or a small child and I was her superhero, her protector," Raphael lamented "But soon she's gonna be protecting me, now I know how Master Splinter must have felt when my brothers and I grew up and were no longer the helpless turtle tots he once found in the sewers needing protection."
"I know my parents felt the same…" Mona said, swallowing a lump in her throat as she thought about her own parents and the last time she saw them many years ago, "me, their little girl, then all grown up…"
"Yeah…" Raphael chocked slightly then he wiped a tear from his eye to which Mona smiled sympathetically with tears sparkling in her own eyes.
"Our little Geisha." Raphael said, "Not so little anymore."
"But still our Geisha." Mona smiled laying a head on Raphael's shoulder "She may be a big girl now, but she'll always be our little girl, and we'll always be her parents and always there for her when she needs us!"
Raphael agreed and looked towards the bathroom as he wrapped an arm around Mona and held her close.
"She's a tough girl, but still my little girl, my princess." He thought "I love her so much!"
And that ends the first chapter of the story and Raphael and Monalisa's thoughts as they watch Pandora progressing hard with her training and getting ready to be a ninja!
Stay tuned for the next chapter coming soon!