The Hamato brothers, Karai, April, and Casey, after leaving a village of Salamandarian tribeswomen, come across an old, spooky temple. Their quest to defeat the Shredder is put on hold as everyone is tempted to explore the place, except for Leonardo.
What sort of horrifying secrets does this place hold, and why does it terrify their fearless leader?
***kaiden- the ancient Japanese tradition, Hyakumonogatari Kaidenkai, "Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales"***
The First Mutant
"I can't believe you hit it off with the general! How did you go from hating each other to partners so fast?!" April huddles close to Raphael as they walk, pestering him about the salamander warrior he shockingly wooed.
She'd kissed him as they left her village, and when he'd turned back around to face his team, high on love, their faces were gaping in shock. The general that had nearly killed him when they first came near the village… was kissing Raph?!
"Well, after she apologized about our near-death misunderstanding, she said she felt the need to help take care of the injuries she gave me. She spent the first few days with me almost constantly, and to be honest? It was kinda humiliating," He admits with a sheepish sigh. "This wasn't some old lady or guy my age taking care of me, it was the literal smoking hot general of a tribe. A fellow warrior! Thankfully, neither of us can stand an awkward silence, so we got to talkin', a lot, and," He shakes his head. "When we had that ambush, she nearly died trying to protect me. It was crazy to think she cared about my life that much in such little time."
"Dude, I'm pretty sure all of us have risked our lives for you at one point—" Mikey chimes in matter-of-factly, skipping alongside him.
"Shut up! We," He motions between him and his siblings. "Are brothers! I know you smartasses like the back of my hand! And they," He motions to Karai, April, and Casey. "Are part of our team. Plus, it's been a few months, of course we'd risk our lives for each other! I just… Didn't expect her to care since I'm not on her… team, ya know? Not sure if I'm explaining this right…" Raphael rubs his face, taking a second to choose his words carefully. "We spent the rest of the week in the infirmary, talkin' it up, and it turns out we just… really enjoyed talking to each other. Pretty much it."
"That's it?" April whines. "That can't be it! I want to hear what you think about her, and what makes you enjoy being around her! Now spill!" She swoons in romantic delight.
Raphael scratches his chin and avoids her gaze, getting butterflies thinking about the whole thing. "She's… She's a hella good fighter… And she's pretty…" His eyes light up as he finishes running through his memories of the last 2 weeks, turning to face April with almost giddy excitement. "Oh! And she has trouble writin', too! It almost makes it worth it. We had a handwritin' contest and laughed our asses off, then she showed me some of her tribe's visual puzzles and stories. When I told her we liked to do something similar, she wanted to "document" it, with my name on the scroll! It was awesome, I feel like I made it into history and fell in love while doing it, like those romances I– ehem– Mother likes to read."
Mikey pats him on the shell, a wide smile on his face. "Congrats, bro, you've found your first love!"
"Heh, yeah… I hope they're safe while we're gone, that attack was no joke."
Leo speaks up, confident in the tribe-women's skills. "They are valiant warriors, Raph. They gave us a good fight, and they have multiple types of warriors. That's some real efficiency right there."
"I suppose that's what makes the difference between an army and a squad like us- we have one of every type of fighter," Karai smiles softly to herself, then frowns. "We are efficient, aren't we?"
"Totally!" Mikey cheers whole heartedly.
April hums before softly giving her answer, "I'd think so."
"Thaaaaat's a tough question…" Raphael grimaces slightly, knowing that if Mikey hadn't saved all their asses back there by mentioning Renet, they'd have been easily killed. They may be more skilled since they've first started this journey together, but they're nowhere near close to being masters like Y'gythgba's tribe of warrior women.
"Do you want me to be blunt?" Donnie asks apathetically, importing his local scans of the forest into his Tech-Bo. "Because if I were to be blunt, I would say we're mediocre, at best."
"Donnie," Leo's deep voice echoes back to them from the front of the group. "Be nice."
"Woah, look at that!"
The conversation dies as everyone's eyes follow Casey's pointed finger, pointing towards a clearing out of the overgrown woods. An old, lightly scorched temple rests by the edge of a crystalline pond, large vines crawling up the entire front.
Consider their interest piqued.
"Everyone who wants to check out the abandoned temple, say aye!" Mikey shouts excitedly, throwing an arm up in the air. "AYE!"
But before anyone can repeat his 'aye', he sprints past the group, with only one destination in mind.
Leonardo groans and turns to Raph. "Why didn't you grab him?!"
"Okay, not gonna lie, that's on me, I should've known he'd do that. He's just so fast!"
Donatello scoffs, calmly walking past the group, "It's probably fine, the fire damage isn't that bad, so it won't crumble. Why worry?"
Leo opens his mouth to speak but hesitates. Why did the old building bother him so much? "It-it could still be dangerous! You never know who or what could be hiding in abandoned buildings, Don."
Karai nudges Leo's side, "Come oooon, we'll be fine! Let's go check it out. Maybe there's some cool treasure."
He gulps, unwilling to admit that he's bothered by a mere temple. "We are not stealing artifacts from a temple." He lightly scolds, following behind her serpentine body.
Raph snorts, "Even if we find somethin' worth keeping?"
Leo answers him with a half-hearted glare.
The wood softly creaks beneath them as they enter the old ruins, the slight charr of the carpet and floorboards scuffing up ash as they explore the darkness.
April casts light on her tantō, holding up the sheath like a torch. "Hm, this sure is… interesting."
"I guess that's a word for it," Karai mumbles in a bored tone. "There's hardly anything in here! I was hoping for some adventure, or treasure hunting. We've just been walking for days! I'm bored!"
"Which is the perfect reason why we should spend the night here!" Mikey spins to face everyone. "Maybe we'll see a real ghost while we tell our stories! That'd be so cool! Oh hohoho this is totally gonna be in my kaiden* tonight!"
"Well…" Leo does another once over of the entry room, noting how this doesn't seem as familiar as the outside. But what if another room gives him a bad feeling? He doesn't want to risk the safety of their group, but he'll give it a chance, for the sake of his team's debilitating boredom. "Let's finish searching the place before we decide, at least, just to make sure it's empty."
"Awesome!" Mikey cheers as he slides himself over to April and holds out his hands, making grabby fingers at her glowing tantō. "Can I lead?"
April smiles sweetly as she hands him her weapon. "Sure! Just stay close to me in case we need to fight something, okay?"
"Okay!"
The hallway makes his stomach flip, but no one else seems to bat an eye as they follow the two youngest members of their group. Why is he so on edge? Something about this place stresses him out, that's for sure. In here, his instincts are screaming for him to run.
But not to run away, just to simply run. The rush of adrenaline that spurs in his veins confuses him deeply, his legs suddenly wobbly and tense, ready for a dead sprint. His fists squeeze tightly closed, forcing himself to snap out of the strange and sudden urge.
There aren't many rooms from what they've seen so far, just a long hallway that seems to follow the outer wall at a slight decline, one he's sure has plagued his nightmares on more than one occasion. Strange, are all temples like this?
Mikey stops in front of the first room, hesitantly sliding open the shōji doors. They enter the bedroom a few at a time.
Funny, this room doesn't seem familiar at all. Leo takes a calming breath and surveys the place, trying to rest his racing heart before they reenter the winding hallway. An open chest lies empty across the room, and the floor seems untouched by the flames that burnt the front of the temple.
"This room doesn't seem all that bad," Karai says his same thought aloud, slithering about the room. "This could make a good resting spot, right Leo?"
She can tell I'm freaking out, damn.
He simply nods his head in reply, his throat still tight from his uneasiness. He steps to the side as the group starts to exit the room, unaware of his inner turmoil. Karai waits alongside him, hyper aware of his tense form as she follows behind the trailing group.
She moves close to his shell and leans forward. "Are you okay?" She whispers over his shoulder.
He turns his head to the side and gives her an anxious glance. "Could be better," He chokes out. He takes another deep inhale and sighs, refocusing his gaze to the back of Raph's head. "This place feels… Familiar, for some reason."
Karai doesn't reply, merely opting to gently pet his shell before she backs away. In their last few months together, she's since learned that Leonardo is the type to prefer space over comfort, similar to herself, but with his apparent fear of this place, she felt the need to at least check on him.
It's rare for Leo to express his fear so blatantly, and that genuinely scares her.
They descend a little more before they reach the door to the second room. As Mikey gently slides it open, he gasps. "Woahhhh, check it out!"
Faster than before, everyone enters the dim room. Mikey follows in behind everyone, holding up the makeshift torch. Light shines on every surface of the room, and as Leo's eyes adjust, taking in the childish paintings on the walls, the art filled scrolls on the floor, and the fire pit at the center of the room, his ears start to ring.
He knows this place.
He drew another circle, similar to the other three he'd drawn. The brush flowed smoothly across the paper, the jet-black ink giving life to his greatest creation.
With the addition of more simple shapes, his heart beat faster in his chest. It was a strange wish, one he shouldn't need or want, for he had all he needed.
His creators gave him everything, taught him everything; he shouldn't hope for anything more. At least, that's what his creators told him.
But as he wrote out the last symbol, a final name to finish his masterpiece, he started to cry. He didn't do that often, only whenever they pushed him to his limit. Except this was a different kind of cry, one of loneliness instead of pain.
He couldn't really tell the difference, though. It hurt either way.
Leonardo quietly walks towards a small chest in the room. He gets down on his knees and opens it up, revealing dozens more of old drawings.
His keen eyes search for one specific piece of art, the one from his memory. He reaches inside and grabs a crumpled scroll, then leans back onto his heels as he opens it up.
Four figures, each with a symbol above them. Inei. Kenji. Reo. Shun.
That's right. His name used to be Inei.
And he had named his brothers based on the traits his creators used to design him.
They praised him for his incredible strength, they regularly tested his intelligence, and they constantly, constantly, put his speed to the test, both in body and mind.
They were his greatest attributes, traits that took them years to steal design, picked apart and given to him before he even had a conscience.
He was made to be the deadliest assassin, the perfect killer- a beast.
The candle flickered as someone slowly opened his bedroom door behind him. He quickly wiped his eyes before scrambling to crumple the tattered old scroll, dropping his inky brush on the carpet in the process.
"Oh, what's this? Practicing your writing, Inei?" It was her. The eerie woman that gave him his powers; the yōkai that made him the creature he is.
Shion. The core reason he existed.
He didn't fear her as much as he feared disrespecting her. She taught him so much. How to access his powers, how to push his body to the absolute limit, how to kill.
She walked closer to him to look at his work, a pout forming on her face when he refused to show her. "Well? Show me what you've done. That's an order."
He stayed quiet, his heart hammering in his chest as he shakily straightened out the paper for her to judge.
She hummed curiously, "You're painting? How odd. I wouldn't expect a creature like you to be… artistic," She harshly chuckled. She leaned in closer, her corpse-like face coming uncomfortably close to his own. "Oh my, what are these little beasts? You made them in your image, it seems. Am I correct?"
He managed to find his voice, a soft tone compared to her harsh and echoey whispers. "Yes. They're parts of me that…" He pondered how to define his 'little beasts'. "That… I wish were here with me. I get this… bad feeling sometimes, and it hurts."
"Hurts?" She hissed, shocked. "Hurts like when you train?"
"No, it… it hurts here," He meekly pointed to his chest, his eyes watery as he thought about the strange feeling. "So much… I start to cry."
He shouldn't be saying this. He shouldn't be crying. She would find him weak. Maybe she'd take him apart. Maybe she'd devour him and make another creature like him.
Maybe she'd make him train for longer, until his muscles screamed, or until he collapsed in a pile of his sweat and blood. Or maybe she'll send him on another mission, the last thing he wanted.
But she did none of that, merely staring at the smudged work of art. "Hmm," She began. "Let me see what I can do."
He turns his head, spying the stain of black ink on the floor where he dropped his brush, all those years ago. A churning feeling rises up in his stomach, but he can't throw up quite yet.
He almost has it. He's remembering. Remembering things that have been lost to him for nearly 20 years.
"Leo, what's up with you, man?" Raph's voice sounds muffled through the loud beating in his ears. "Why are you crying?"
He looks up at their worried faces, noticing once again how unsure they are handling the tears of the eldest. The last time Leo had wept was after they were first killed by Shredder, when he profusely thanked and bowed to Renet for giving them a second chance by rewinding time.
It had startled them then, and it startles them now. The man that almost never expressed his emotions so strongly… on his knees, silently sobbing.
And over an old painting?
But he doesn't respond to Raph's question or say anything to calm their nerves. He slowly stands, his legs slightly shaking, and silently walks past them and out of the room, moving further down the pitch-black hallway.
"Leo, wait!" Karai calls for him, but it's Mikey that runs out of the room to light the way.
He stops at the door, motioning for them to follow. "Come on! Just follow him!"
They waste no time catching up to him as he surely walks down the pathway. Speaking to him proved futile and touching him only made him flinch away.
So, they follow him, all the way to another door. He slides it open and pauses, memory upon memory flooding back to him. His stomach lurches.
This was the dojo, his old training room.
A place where, as a young child, he would push himself to the brink to please his creators. To lift impossible weights, none that any human could ever yield. To sprint down the winding halls to train his impeccable speed, and to learn skills at a rapid rate; to the point that even his creators could not keep up with him. A place to hone his mind, since he was forced into developing his max mental capabilities at a young age.
Every time he entered this room, a little part of him died inside. He remembers that feeling– a devastating weight that made him nauseous, shaky, exhausted. He had just wanted to paint, and later, he just wanted to paint with his team. His team, made especially for him: Kenji, Reo, and Shun. He named them himself. A treat, a gift, from his creators.
And besides not needing to gather food, he was supposed to take care of them. It was hard, damn near impossible, but they were his reason to live. The only joy he had in his life besides painting.
By the Gods. He'd asked them to be created. He raised them under the iron fist of his creators, pushing himself to the awful limit every day to be the perfect killing machine.
And he remembers why he ran away.
"Hey, Leo? Do we need to leave?" Karai, bless her, attempts to get through to him again. Part of him is aware he's being questioned and that they're obviously worried, but it's like he can't escape a tethered lead.
"Yeah, we can sleep outside if this place is bothering you so much, we don't mind!" Mikey chimes in, his adorable puppy eyes shockingly failing at getting Leo's attention.
April, ever the healer, checks his forehead. "He isn't burning with a fever… he actually feels quite cold," She rests her hand on his shoulder, happy when he doesn't flinch away. "We should make him a fire soon, let's try and lead him outside."
"No," He finally croaks, garnering their attention quickly. "One more…"
"One more?" Donnie tries to translate, rushing to the eldest's side with fervor. "One more what?"
Leo shakily points, unable to tear his eyes away from April's glowing pink irises. "Room."
"How do you know that, though? Have you been here before?" Raph questions. "I feel like I'd remember somethin' like this, even if I 'as just a kid."
Leo wobbles away from his family, still tied to the invisible rope pulling him to the end of the hallway; the worst room in this god-forsaken temple. God-forsaken, probably for the crimes against the gods and humanity practiced within these old walls. He'd only been in there twice before, unless you count the day of his creation.
Did the others get left behind after the fire started? Were they left here to starve and rot? He had to know.
He forcefully slides open the doors, with probably a lot more force than needed. He can barely make out what lies inside. He can see in the dark well, but not pitch black.
The soft white light following close behind him finally makes its way in front of him, lighting the room enough to see what's inside.
Mikey screams and drops April's tantō, retreating quickly into the hallway as the glowing sheath harshly drops to the floor next to a frozen Leonardo. He hides behind a shaken Raphael, startled by his little brother's shriek of terror.
"What?! What's in there, Mikey?" He whispers harshly, reaching for one of his hammers.
"B-b," Mikey whimpers. "Bodies… Bodies like ours."
A loud thud pulls their attention to Leo, his knees hitting the floor in defeat.
"Leo? Leo, what's wrong?" Karai slides herself over to him in an instant, cradling his tear-stained face. It was so unlike him… she felt her heart racing with his, her own eyes crying such dreadful tears. She wanted to make it stop. "Please! You are scaring us! What is this place, and why does it make you weep?!" She turns to the others, a desperate look on her face. "We must take him to the first room, he doesn't recognize it!"
Raph obeys her immediately as Donnie questions Karai's explanation, "Hold on, we should get him outside. This place scares him!"
Raphael grunts as he attempts to support the spellbound Leonardo, feeling slightly crushed by his sheer size. Mikey follows close to him, grabbing the light source as he finally gets his tower of a brother onto his shoulders. He drowns out Don and Karai's words, wholeheartedly focusing on his brave little brother, fretfully lighting the hallway towards the first room for him.
Something for him to zero-in on and get the job done.
"No," Karai attempts to explain to Donatello. "I've been near him this entire time. He recognized the temple! He recognized the pond! And yet he was calm for a split moment, in the first room. Who knows why, but we must get him there!" She turns and slithers after a ready-to-tend April and the three brothers.
Donatello follows after her, curious about her reasoning. She could just tell? That doesn't make any sense.
Casey watches them leave, deciding to stay behind and nose around. It's what their lovely wives would want them to do after all. They're curious about the bodies in the room, anyway.
Such an emotional reaction from their fearless, stone-cold leader. There has to be something interesting in there.
Once they can no longer see the leading light, they light the tip of an arrow.
Time for some investigating.
It was such a terrifying place– the room they were made in. They loved to tell him how many times he'd failed in that room. How many times they've restarted him in that room. There were many versions of Inei before him, but they were all failures. Failures that had to be eradicated… In that room.
He lived with that threat over his head for years– while he was forced to push his limits daily, to take lives, and eventually, to take the lives of his team.
All it ever was… was threats. Punishments that followed him like a plague. It was terrible. He wasn't sure if he could take it anymore– the anxiety that filled him daily, waiting for the day that they would start throwing his team into the dojo alongside him. When his punishments became theirs, one after another.
How he dreaded that day. How he tried to avoid it entirely. Withholding his teachings from his brothers, praying that his creators would simply let them live as his "pets" more or less, at least, that was what his creators would have thought. He begged them to never let his "beasts" fight for their lives like himself.
And when the day came, he wasn't ready. She wasn't ready! He was waiting for one more beast before he planned his escape. He could bear it until then, he just needed to wait– to stall his creators, keep his "pets" incapable, and suffer until she was finished, and then they could all leave.
Shion refused his begging, ashamed of his inability to teach them. "Let's see just how incapable they are, Inei. Bring the brute."
Brute was a cruel name for his first teammate, Kenji. He was made with the strength of the strongest samurai in the country, much like Inei himself, but he was merely a child. Couldn't write, much less read, and couldn't speak. So, brute he was nicknamed.
Inei didn't know how his creators gained the bodies needed for his own strength, but he could take a solid guess. His first ever mission was to take down and kidnap the strongest adversaries he'd met on a forced trip across many villages and cities, in the middle of a civil war, no less.
He met many strong warriors that week, but the strongest were the ones who were dragged home, all to be torn apart and create something new for him.
He felt guilty, pondering to himself if they truly needed an entire group of men for such a creation. Taking so many lives like that left a sour taste in his mouth. Despite his harsh and intense teachings, common sense shamed him for partaking in such a selfish and lethal task given to him by his masters. But what did he know? He knew nothing of what steps were made to create him. He was just their perfect assassin. Nothing but a deadly shadow.
He did what they asked of him because he had to, he owed them his existence, and if they were kind enough to grant him this one wish, then by the gods would he do whatever they asked.
But it came back to punish him, because of course, that was what his creators did. They never wanted him happy; they never wanted him comfortable. Every day was spent healing, spent crying, spent painting his sadness away in childish wishes, like having someone to truly care about.
Someone like him. And he got them.
And they tried to take them all away.
Shion was furious at him for denying her orders to get rid of them himself. They were his problem; they were his failures. He was tasked in creating perfect warriors like himself– but he simply wouldn't.
The only thing he granted them skill in was in the arts of creation. In music, in ink, in design, in dance. He would make up lullabies for them to memorize, a song that would make them all feel safe when he was gone. He showed them how to draw, sharing what little inks and brushes he had. He helped them design forts of old wood, and how to make a fire as quick as lightning.
No, no, his teammates were not incapable. They were perfect already, created in their own likeness, not what his creators wanted them to be, but who they wanted to be. They were unique, and they were happiest when creating their favorite things alongside one another.
They understood him perfectly, save for the youngest, just barely old enough to toddle. But they knew him. They were smart. He bet if he actually taught them, they'd learn everything he knew in less than a week.
But that would make them warriors, that would make them "capable" in the eyes of his creators. And that was something he couldn't risk.
Until his creator pitted him against Kenji, old enough to throw a punch, but not quite understanding why he was about to take one from his leader. He didn't understand why he was about to leave this dojo beaten and bloody, all because Shion got into his head.
It was the first time she'd done that to him- deciding to use him like a puppet in an effort for him to fulfill her orders.
It made him sick.
It took so long for Kenji to trust him again, so many gentle touches as he sobbed his apologies to who was meant to be his second in command. He prayed that he understood enough to know that he didn't want to harm him- that it wasn't his choice.
And he hoped that Kenji understood that it would never happen again, for as long as he lived.