I would like to apologize for the sheer lateness of this chapter. Hopefully it will never happen again.
Casey awoke in a cold sweat. When he sat up, he realized that he was still wearing all of his vigilante gear. Ripping off the sloppily painted hockey mask, Casey wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead as he thought back to how exhausted he was when he fell asleep in his gear. He remembered stumbling into his family's two bedroom apartment (he must have been exhausted because Casey didn't even remember saying goodnight to his sister) and falling onto his bed. Mental fatigue had covered his mind like a thin layer of lightly falling snow, there wasn't much of it, but it was definitely always there. Lately, the circuits in his mind had been firing on all cylinders, and most of the time the main lead in Casey's thoughts was the Spirit dude.
Even when his eyes were closed, Casey still saw him. Or rather, he saw April being possessed by him, and that thought was way worse than just the spirit alone. Sleeping peacefully had been out of the question ever since.
It was early, but Casey couldn't go back to sleep. He tiptoed down the creaky wooden hallway leading to the kitchen, engulfed a bowl of Cheerios, and raced out the door, eager to return to his underground friends. As he slipped down the sewer grate, the Cheerios in his stomach couldn't help but churn in his stomach. Why did he have such an uneasy feeling?
Casey rocketed into the lair, skates on and excited for an adventure. But instead, his hoots and hollers only bounced off the walls and echoed back to him, followed by an erie silence.
"Guys?" Casey asked more timidly. He skated down the hallway, peering through each door to find the messy rooms completely devoid of life. A panic began to resound through his body, as he skated furiously around the room, praying that the guys and April were just playing a prank, a very cruel prank.
"Casey Jones?" asked a low voice. Casey turned and saw Master Splinter standing in the opening to his room. The rat man still put Casey on edge, but after he had graciously taken in April, he had decided to trust the guy. "What's going on?" The rat looked around the barren lair. "Where are the boys?"
"I was kinda hoping you'd know that," Casey replied.
The relief Raphael felt when he finally found April was short lived as the Ghost of Eternal Annoying-ness opened his big mouth. Raphael wanted the relief that he felt to carry out longer, it covered up the massive amounts of anger building in his chest. He was angry at the Spirit for getting him into this mess, angry at Leo for being so nosey, angry at Mikey for tattling to Leo.
But most of all, he was angry at April for disappearing and scaring the hell out of him.
The three of them cautiously made their way up onto the deck of the ship, but it was extremely difficult, given that the ship was tossing like a sock on the spin cycle. Every now and then, the ship would randomly jolt, casually throwing the trio into a nearby wall. April had it the hardest; her skin-tight kimono allowed for little stability. Raph tried to keep his stance wide and steady, but even his superior coordination was no match for the raging storm. When they finally did reach the deck, Raph suddenly wished to be back below, in the safe confines of the cabin.
They were caught in a storm, the worst Raphael had ever seen. The sides of the wooden barge tipped almost to the point of facing vertically, the ocean ferociously slamming the port and starboard with terrifying force. All three of them grabbed the railing to a staircase leading up to the main steering wheel. As Raph's eyes received pelts of frigid rain, they followed the path of the stairs, focused upon a green, transparent figure, whom he could only assume was the spirit, and saw Mikey and Donnie tied to a pole, unconscious.
Raph fumed. "Let them go you bug-eyed Demon!" He crouched and spun his Sais in his hands, preparing for battle.
Thinking back on it, neither the brothers nor April had ever actually seen him before, so his original ghost form was a complete surprise. The spirit stood about eight feet tall, making Raphael feel miniscule in comparison. But as the ghost moved closer, it was revealed that he was levitating above the ground. As the demon peered over the railing, Raph's eyes went immediately to his face. The skin of his face seemed to be holding onto the bone for dear life, a sign of immense aging. But the details of old age ended there. He had a rectangular face completed with a wide, sturdy chin. The arch of a nose was nonexistent, leaving it flat, and his eyes were completely black and distant. His mouth was one straight line. It was almost as if his facial features were afraid to look anything less than intimidating, and Raphael might've actually been intimidated, if the demon wasn't completely glowing in sea foam green sparkles.
Nevertheless, the spirit's presence was noted as he stood above them, arms cross, robe flowing with each gust of salty wind. His stance never wavered, no matter how much the boat tossed and turned. The trio continued to gain and regain their balance with each toss of the ship, all the while under the fierce but silent glare of the demon.
"You heard him!" yelled April. "Let them go!"
The demon's mouth curled from a line into a slight parabola. "April O'Neil, you of all people should know that I am not so easily intimidated." Raph was surprised that, throughout the vicious rain and violent wind gusts, the spirit's calm and greasy voice carried smoothly through the storm.
"Who are you?" asked Leonardo. "What do you want with us?"
"Oh I'm sorry, did April not tell you?" he smirked, leaning on the railing. "I am Kaito Yoshiro, leader of the prosperous Kaito clan. Founder of the thriving Kaito Industries." He threw his arms open for dramatic effect. "And what I want? Well, that's a little more complicated."
Raph started to get impatient. He didn't like the way Mikey and Donnie's necks flopped with each toss of the ship. "We don't have time for stories," Raph grumbled to April and Leo, tightening his grip around his weapons. "We have to free Mikey and Donnie."
Leo nodded. He sheathed his katanas and stepped towards where the demon was towering them before them. Raph and April quickly looked at the turtle, and then to each other, and back at Leo. April shrugged.
"Oh great Yoshiro," called Leo, facing the spirit and opening his arms. "Please grace us with the reason why you have gathered us here."
Yoshiro's eyes widened with surprise. He smiled again, obviously flattered. "Well, all of my problems began when I sent my vessels on their first voyage." He looked to sky in remembrance.
"Uh huh," said Leo, hooked on every word.
"C'mon," whispered April, pushing Raph out of the direct view of Yoshiro. They followed a wooden wall around to the back of the deck the spirit was standing on. "Give me a lift, I'll cut them free," she whispered.
"No way!" Raph rebutted. "How are you going to carry Mikey AND Donnie? Also, what would happen if that demon heard you?" He pushed her shoulders away from the wall. "I'll free them."
April groaned. "Why don't we both free them?"
"No can do," said Raph, hoping Yoshiro wasn't running out of story to tell. He turned towards the wall, preparing to jump when he felt a petite hand on his shoulder.
"Why do you want to do this alone?" she demanded.
He wanted to yell at her. He wanted to shout and tell her that this was too dangerous, that the first time she had been possessed had upset him and he didn't want anything like that to happen again. She was quite a sight in her sopping wet black dress, hair plastered to her face from the rain and a determined look in her eye. Raph suddenly wasn't sure why he was so adamant about her not helping. April certainly wasn't helpless, she had proved that on many occasions. This sudden need to protect her felt foreign to Raphael, and he quickly shook it off.
"Fine," he grumbled. He stuck out his hand and hoisted the red head onto the deck. When Raphael had finally climbed on the deck, he was surprised to see April already cutting Mikey and Donnie free.
But suddenly, Raphael was struck with a thought. Even if they did manage to free his brothers without Yoshiro noticing, what then? There was no way to tell for sure where they were, and there was no chance of swimming in this storm. This thought caused Raph to freeze, with in turn, caused April to look at him with confusion. Raph never froze up, why was he doing this now?
Deciding to keep moving forward with their "mission", April wrapped an arm of an unconscious Donnie over her shoulder and began to pull him towards the stairs. Forgetting to take into account the weight of the lanky turtle plus shell with the fact that her outfit prohibited her from basic movements, April struggled to keep her balance between the tossing boat and her total deadweight. She turned back to see if Raph was following her, when she suddenly felt the already frigid air grow colder.
"Very bold, Miss O'Neil, trying to save your friends," flattered Yoshiro. "But I'm afraid you've only sunk your ship further." The demon pointed back to where April had just freed Donnie, to see that Raph and Leo were now tied up as well. Thought they were fully conscious, Mikey still lay limp besides them.
"What do you want, Kaito Yoshiro?" she asked, tightening her grip on Donnie.
"Well if you had been listening as well at the dumb turtle here," he pointed a crooked finger towards Leo, "you might have heard." The spirit levitated over towards her friends and traced a jagged nail up Leo's chin. "Why don't you tell your friend what you learned?"
Leo gulped. "Um...well...the thing is…"
"YOU WEREN'T PAYING ATTENTION?" Yoshiro boomed so loud that April felt the floor boards rattle. Leo sulked, embarrassed and the demon turned back towards April. He sighed, "Well if I'm going to tell you, why don't we get more comfortable?" With one sea foam green snap, April, the turtles, and Yoshiro found themselves in an elaborate cabin. Donnie was no longer on her shoulder, but instead, tied up with the rest of the brothers, laying his head against Raph's shoulder. But it was often jolted around on account of Raph's persistent struggling. He kept getting frustrated about his whole capture, which would just make him more angry. He had to rely that April could get them out of this.
The ghost sat behind an oak desk with a blue velvet table cloth. There was nothing on the desk except a piece of paper, a quill, and a globe. At first, the globe looked relatively normal, but upon further inspection, it was noted that the globe showed no forms of land. It was a blue ball.
"Let's just get down to brass tax, shall we Miss O'Neil?" Yoshiro asked, greasily. "I only visited my dear friend Hamato Yoshi because he had something that I wanted."
April raised a damp eyebrow. "And that is?"
The demon's smile curved in such a way, that it sent a shiver down her spin. "You."
Not gonna lie guys, this chapter was a struggle. What with the ever-increasing hiatus of this show on Nickelodeon (as well as my discovery and later obsession with some other animated shows) I just wasn't feeling very inspired or compelled to write. But then, this amazing this happened called a comic convention and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles panel was just the thing to get my creative juices up and running.
Seriously though, if you watch this show and havn't checked out the news about season 4, I strongly suggest it.
As always favorite, follow, and/or review. I love to hear from you guys!