Tally was a light sleeper by default. You kind of had to be, being on the streets. You never knew when some rando-what Tally liked to call random strangers-could come up to you and jump you.
You had to sleep lightly.
It was because of this light sleeping that Tally woke up to the near silent footsteps. Her eyes bolted open, but she feigned sleep, a trick she had picked up. If you kept up the rouse that you were still sleeping, you could surprise whoever got close to you, because they still thought you were asleep.
Tally steadied her breathing, and took a deep, sleeplike breath. She heard the footsteps cross the floor. There was more than one. She reasoned it was the turtles. Though why they were up at this ungodly hour, she hadn't the slightest. She glanced at the clock on the wall without moving her head and it read 4:58am. Tally heard the soft 'shink' of the dojo door open, and then close again.
Why were four teenage turtles up at five in the morning?
Tally yawned and briefly considered rolling over and curling back into her warm pillows, but her curiosity got the better of her. So she sat up, popped her back and stood up. She had gotten into the habit a while back to sleep with her shoes on. Nothing's worse than losing your shoes. She brushed her hair back and walked quietly to the dojo, where she pressed her ear to the door, crouching precariously on her haunches. She didn't want to blatantly open it; that would be stupid. She didn't want to interrupt if they were doing some like family bonding or something else that four turtles and a rat do at five am.
"Good morning my turtles." Tally heard from the other side of the door. Must be Splinter.
"Good morning Sensei."
"This morning we shall be studying the art on how to eavesdrop properly." Splinter said, a slight beat to his tone.
Suddenly the door slide open and Tally lost her balance and fell to her face. She got up and sat on her legs with a sheepish grin, looking at them.
"I'm really sorry." She said immediately. "I was just wondering what you guys were doing at five in the morning? I'll leave if you want me to, I was just-"
"Training dudette." Mikey piped up, interrupting her. "Every day."
"Every day?" she asked, impressed.
"You don't think those moves you saw last night were from nothing didja?" Mikey continued, a goofy grin on his face.
Tally looked at the old rat, who smiled in the sort of "I-don't-really-want-you-here-but-since-you're-already-here-and-already-interupted-you-might-as-well-stay" way and waved her in. She stood up and closed the door silently.
"You may observe, if you wish." He said, inclining his head. Tally nodded.
"I'll be quiet, I promise." She said.
"Now, turtles." Splinter continued, rapping his cane on the floor twice. "First position. Begin!" Immediately the four turtles went up into handstands. They held this pose for about thirty seconds, before they rhythmically went into push-ups while still in handstands. They did twenty.
"Second position!" Splinter called out. Again, the turtles immediately and simultaneously dropped to the standard push-up position, and put their right arms behind their backs, and began a set of one armed push-ups, alternating between arms with each push.
"Third!" Seamlessly the brothers rolled up into a squatting position, spreading their knees and feet as far as they would go, before squatting so the carapace of their shells were only an inch off the floor.
Whoa. Tally thought in amazement. She thought she was pretty fit. She could do push-ups, handstands, jumping jacks, whatever. But nothing like this. Compared to Leo, Don, Raph, and Mikey, Tally looked like a seasick sloth who can barely walk.
The positions went on for another seven. Varying tough positions for about a minute each. They did the splits, front flips, high kicks, burpees, you name it, they did it. After they had gone through the rotunda of positions, they took a two minute break, when they got water.
And then they did it again.
After the second run through, they received a longer break, all four of them guzzled down water, beaded in sweat. Though not nearly as much as Tally would have thought.
"Now you get to see the fun part." Don grinned, twirling his bow staff.
"The fun part?" Tally asked, looking up.
Raph grinned, elbowing Leo as he took a swig of his water. "Sparrin'."
"You guys fight?" Tally asked, a grin making it's way to her face.
"Best way to train." Leo said. "Every other day we do it without our weapons, to improve our hand-to-hand."
"But today is not that day." Mikey grinned, swinging his nun-chucks.
"And then after we spar," Don continued, "We practice on our own with our weapons."
"Or we're supposed to." Leo said with a meaningful glance at Mikey and Raph, both of whom pulled faces at him.
"Cool." Tally said bluntly, at a loss for anything else.
"Get in position. Leonardo, you and Raphael. Donatello, you and Michelangelo." Splintered ordered, wrapping his cane again.
First there was nothing.
And then there was everything at once.
When it began, Tally nearly snapped her neck trying to keep up. The four we're moving so fast that Tally could barely keep track of who was who. The only thing that gave it away was the streak of color from their bandannas.
And who said turtles were slow?
The way they handled their weapons was uncanny. They controlled them like they were just extensions of their arms. Leo had obviously been strict about the practicing on their own with their weapons. He was by far the most skilled with them. But the others weren't far behind. Leonardo was about precision skill and concentration. Raphael was about overpowering the opponent with strength and skill. Donatello was about precise calculations and using his surroundings to his advantage. And Michelangelo was all about speed and flips, but still with precision; he knew where he wanted to hit, and he did.
Tally was so flabbergasted she stood up to get a better look.
Mikey noticed and winked, flashing her a grin.
"Impressive right-" He was cut off by Donatello coming down on his shell with his bo staff.
Donny laughed. "Very impressive."
There was another rap of the cane, and Splinter called halt. The turtles stopped, and bowed to their respective partners, and bowed to Splinter. Funny, Tally thought idly, they don't seem winded at all.
"I call training to an end, my turtles. Well done." Splinter continued.
"Thank you Sensei," Leo spoke for the group, bowing again, the others followed suit.
Splinter nodded once again and retreated into his room, shinking the door behind him quietly. Three of the four turtles grinned at each other and put their weapons into their usual place on their persons. Leo frowned.
"Guys…" he warned. "We're supposed to-"
"We've got a guest dude." Mikey grinned, shrugging a stinky arm around Tally's shoulder. She laughed.
"I'm sure she'll want breakfast since she's up so early." Don grinned in agreement.
"We don't wanna be rude shell-fer-brains." Raph continued, sauntering out of the dojo. "Don't be lame Leo." He called back.
Leo groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration, but finally he sheathed his swords on his shell. As if on cue, Tally felt her stomach grumble loudly. Mikey laughed.
"How do you feel about frozen pizza dudette?" He asked as the five of them walked into the kitchen.
Tally grinned. "All about it." She agreed, sitting at the table and drumming her hand on the tabletop anxiously as the other three sat down by her. Leo notched an eye at her gesture, but didn't say anything. There was something she had wanted to ask as soon as she saw them training.
She wanted in.
She wanted to be a better fighter. She wanted to learn from a master. She wanted to be able to defend herself better. She wanted to a part of something. And maybe she wanted to hang out with the guys more. They were cool people, turtles, whatever.
She also wanted to learn more about the people they fought. The Purple Dragons, and the Foot people. It seemed to her that they were regulation baddies, and she wanted to help. She was way too young to join the police academy like she wanted to do when she turned eighteen, so she figured this could be the next best thing. The way she figured, these turtles were like vigilantes, regular superheroes! And what better way to start off her crime fighting career than fighting the very people that her dad dealt with?
Her thoughts were interrupted when a box of warmed pizza was sat in front of them, and she took a piece gingerly.
"So…" she began after she got through half of her piece. "How would I go about training with you guys?"