Episode 5: Mutation Roulette – Part 3

At some point that Ethan couldn't remember, he moved from the bean bag to the ground, groaning as the screen flashed another episode of the supernatural cartoon.

"Sakura, I love you so much. You are almost as pretty as me."

"Oh, Tanaka, you're so beautiful!"

Ethan cringed at the horrific pronunciation of the Japanese words and rolled onto his back with a groan. He had spent most of the morning groaning and watching episode after episode of the idiotic cartoon and ate his way through a box of twinkies, two bags of popcorn and a box of cookies that now lay sprawled all over the room. Why? Why? Why? He kept agonizing over his horrible circumstance. Sometimes he still felt like crying, other times he felt incredibly angry.

Suddenly, he heard the door open and he sat up quickly. "Hello?" He called, not sure whether or not it was Jess and Kaela coming home early, or Master Hamato. Maybe if he was lucky, it was Karai and she could put him out of his misery.

"Ethan?"

It was Master Hamato.

"What are you doing at home? Don't you have school today?"

The door opened and Master Hamato stared at Ethan who stared solemnly back, his ears flattening again. "Hm." Master Hamato finally said. He didn't seem to be shocked in any way. He had a staff in his hand and a blank expression on his face. "This was unexpected." He said.

"I'm a freak, Master Hamato." Ethan finally said, looking down at the ground. "Yesterday night on patrol we went to a Kraang lab and saved a bunch of animals. But, a mutagen canister dropped on me and . . ." He trailed off, not really wanting to talk about it anymore as it made his eyes sting and his heart sink every time he had thought over the details. Telling them to Master Hamato was awful.

Master Hamato didn't reply at first but opened the door a little wider to let the light into the room. He didn't seem to care for the mess and the garbage and the ridiculous cartoon that was now showing Tanaka fighting a giant fighting robot that was piloted by a ghost.

"I understand if Jess needs to be leader." Ethan sighed, "I can hang out around here and help out when I get the chance."

Master Hamato oddly smiled and then motioned out to the hallway. "Come talk with me, my son."

Ethan groaned, clenching his sharp teeth and he stood up, his tail sweeping out from under him as he slowly walked out the door. He followed Master Hamato out through the dojo and he opened the back door for Ethan who then stood outside. This was the first time that he had felt the sun on his new self. His fur warmed under it's light and the sound of the brook somehow was clearer, the light more beautiful as he could see more clearly it's beams filter through the trees. He couldn't help but muster a small smile.

The door closed behind Master Hamato and he stood next to Ethan, his hands behind his back and looked at the large tree as well. For a few moments neither of them said anything but basked in the light of the burning sun, drinking in the sounds. Ethan could smell the soil, the grass and the tree as vibrantly as his vision. "Why is it that you feel that you cannot be leader?" Master Hamato finally asked, stepping away from Ethan and walking across the tiny bridge towards the shade of the tree.

"I dunno." Ethan managed to get out, already feeling a little more light-hearted. Master Hamato had that effect on him. "I don't look the same – I don't even know if I can fight anymore."

"Why would you not be able to fight?"

Ethan shrugged. He wasn't totally sure how he felt. His insides felt like a storm, boiling and crashing around his heart and although everything was the same around him, he was no longer the same. "I'm just . . . different now."

"You look different now, yes." Master Hamato agreed turning to him, "But does the personality and the skills of a caterpillar change when it has blossomed into a butterfly?"

"I guess not." Ethan said.

"The only thing that changes in that metamorphosis, is now the caterpillar looks more magnificent and gains new, powerful abilities."

Ethan thought about those words, but although he felt they were beautiful words, he wasn't sure that he could really apply that to himself. He bowed, "Thank you, Master Hamato." he said. Master Hamato passed him and walked back into the dojo, leaving Ethan out in the sun. Before going back inside, he said, with a note of finality, "My son, spend some time out here. Get to know your new abilities. I expect you to remain the leader. Come talk to me when you are ready." He then closed the door.

Crossing the bridge, he went under the shade of the tree and breathed in deeply. He could smell and see better than ever before and felt lighter on his feet. Perhaps being a mutant was going to be as horrible as he thought.

Smash!

Jess and Kaela sprawled across the ground having taken another swift punch from the Purple Dragons, the last of the few glass boxes had shattered across the gym floor. The Purple Dragons had proceeded to rip down the curtains at the stage and now Hun was making two less competent looking Purple Dragon's heft the large diamond from off the pedestal. "Without our weapons, I've got nothing!" Kaela cried.

"Where are the police?" Jess hissed, wiping a cut on her chin, leaving behind a red smear. She had rage spelled all over her face and she grabbed one of the nearby stones about the size of her fist and hocked it as hard as she could at Hun.

It spun through the air and hit him just above the elbow. He winced, gasping, and then turned his eyebrows angled in a deep glare, although his eyes were still disguised behind the two black lenses of his sunglasses. "Get that diamond into the car." Hun commanded to the other two. "I will take care of these two girls." He stepped over some of the debris from the wall that had exploded as the two still struggled to heft the diamond off the pedestal that it sat on.

Jess and Kaela yelped at the same time and turned, running for the hallway. They could hear Hun close behind them. "Let's go to the front office!" Jess called. "Mrs. Campbell will know what to do." Even though she was a creepy administrator, surely he would have a way to contact the police. They looked behind them to see that Hun was trailing them, although he wasn't moving very fast. His cockiness showed on his face.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the two little girls ran away." Hun called down the hallway after them.

Jess began to slow down, "I'm going to punch his pretty teeth out!" Jess hissed but Kaela had grabbed her arm as she passed her and yanked her along. The two turned around the corner of the hallway, nearly smashing into the drinking fountain. Some students were still throwing their lockers open, grabbing their stuff and booking it to the front door, papers strewing in their wake. The office was not far away.

Once they reached it, they didn't even bother to walk around to the entrance, but slid across the receptionist desk that now lay empty and into the main office. Mrs. Campbell's office was the first one next to the Principal's. His office was dark and empty. Kaela burst through the door to Mrs. Campbell's office. "Crap!" she hissed.

The office was dark. Not a single light shone in the room. A desk with papers stacked on top of each other stood in the center with two large cushy chairs on either side. A manila folder was opened on the desk, next to it sat a phone. Kaela picked it up without hesitation and pressed 911 so quickly that she felt like she was going to pass out. But no dial tone rang in her ear. She lifted the phone a little higher to see that the wires had been cut. As a matter of fact, now that she thought about it, the power in the whole school seemed to be down. And there wasn't a cop in sight.

"We're dead!" Kaela said, "Hun is going to come in here and beat the crap out of us with his golden knuckles. I never thought I was going to be murdered by a Korean singer!"

Jess held up her hand to quiet her. "Look at this." She was staring down at the open folder on the desk. Kaela leaned over Jess' shoulder to get a closer look at gasped. The folder was filled with pictures of the Kraang. Not only that, but one person kept appearing in photo after photo. Her yellow shirt and red hair could be recognized by most students. April O'Neil. Strange characters ran up the pages side – an alien language of some sort. As well as several notes including something about Plan 10, and Objective: Capture April O'Neil.

"Wow." Kaela finally muttered.

"The Kraang want April? Why? Do you think they got her?" Jess asked, looking up from the folder. Kaela didn't really get a chance to answer as the door burst open. But Hun was not the one who was looking in at them.

It was Mrs. Campbell.

Her usual brown skirt and suit and the buns on either side of her head were unmistakable. "What are you two doing in my office?" She asked pleasantly. Jess and Kaela both hated how pleasant she could be, even in the worst of circumstances.

"Mrs. Campbell, the school is being attacked!" Kaela cried, "The Purple Dragons are trying to steal Winter's diamond!"

Mrs. Campbell didn't seem to be listening, but instead noticed the folder open on her desk and then slowly looked back up at them, her expression unchanged. "Leave this office immediately."

Jess narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Where's April?" She said slowly.

"Oh. It seems you have seen too much." She said, and this time, a robotic tone could be heard in her voice. Her eyes seemed to roll back to reveal two red lights. She slowly lifted her arms and suddenly they were dislodging from their elbow joints, hinging upward like doors.

"Poop." Jess hissed.

"I think we should duck." Kaela added.

The two dived under the desk just as two rockets blasted from where her elbows should have been , blowing up the chair next to them in a poof of feathers. Kaela screamed and grabbed Jess by the shirt, shaking her. "I never expected to be killed by a teacher with rocket launchers for elbows either!" She then pulled out her phone. "I'm calling Ethan!"

Ethan breathed in deeply, letting all of the new feelings engulf him. He was sitting, cross legged under their large tree, the river bubbling next to him. Both of his hands he had placed in his lap, folded over each other, palms open, his eyes closed. The breeze managed to get into the dense little square that made up their backyard and stirred his fur. He had managed to make his made go blank – white – for a few moments and had felt some clarity there. He let the breath out from lungs through his mouth and then inhaled again through the nose after a brief, five second pause.

On occasion, the image would return of the mutagen canister dropping down from the conveyor belt above his head, or the red panda whimpering on the table – and these moments filled him with anger. Anger that he seemed to have to conquer again and again. Each time it would interrupt his breathing and he was forced to control his body and lungs back to where they needed to be.

The door opened and for a moment, Ethan thought this was a part of his meditation, but then his eyes snapped open as he heard footsteps on the grass. Master Hamato was walking toward him, his hand outstretched. A phone was sitting in the palm of his hand. "This has been going off for a few minutes now." He said.

Ethan quickly took it from him and looked at the screen, sliding away an image of Japanese scenery. He had a new voicemail. He quickly put the phone up to his ear, which was now a little more difficult as his ear was no longer directly on the side of his head.

"You have one unheard message . . ." The phone said in a woman's soothing voice. "First unheard message . . . ETHAN!" Kaela's voice screamed out from the phone and Ethan yelped, jumping and pulled the phone further away from his face. "IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN TO THE SCHOOL RIGHT NOW WE ARE GOING TO BE MURDERED BY A WOMAN WITH ROCKET ELBOWS AND A KOREAN POP STAR! GET DOWN HERE! Oh, and Jess says bring our weapons! HURRY!" Ethan stared at his phone, blinking at the screen apprehensively. The woman's voice returned, giving further instructions but Ethan had already hung up the phone and had stuffed it into his pants pocket.

He turned.

Master Hamato lifted up Ethan's weapon in one hand, the white bandanna in the other and smiled.

Ethan took his naginata in his hand, the wood still feeling as friendly as it always had and strapped it to his back. He then took the bandanna reverently from Master Hamato's fingers and laced it around his head, flattening the fur in those areas, the white matching the spots of white fur on his face. "I'll be home soon." He said.

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" Kaela whispered, her eyes wide as she grabbed Jess and held her close under the desk. They could hear the loud, mechanical stomping of Mrs. Kraangy Cambell's high heels on the ground, smashing the floor beneath it.

"Y'know," Jess said, "It almost would make more sense if every teacher was actually a Kraang."

That thought didn't carry on as the two pointed high heels of Mrs. Campbell slammed in front of them and her red eyes peered under the desk at them. Kaela screamed in panic as Mrs. Campbell reached in and grabbed her by the arm, tugging her from under the table. Jess tried to snatch at her hand but she had already been thrown out from underneath it. "Wait!" Jess cried, climbing out from the desk. Mrs. Campbell was standing, back to her, holding Kaela up so her tip-toes grazed the flooring of the dark office. "I know where April O'Neil is!"

Kaela whimpered as Mrs. Campbell's head twisted all the way around, electronically and looked at Jess with her glowing red bulbs for eyes. "April O'Neil?" She asked in that same polite voice, even though it looked like she was about to throw Kaela into the wall.

"Yes!" Jess said, hoping that this stall would actually work. "But you have to drop my friend first." Mrs. Campbell immediately obeyed and released Kaela who landed on her feet and backed away, pressed against the wall.

"Speak." Mrs. Campbell pointed her elbow rocket at Jess, a pinkish glow beginning to gather at it's core. "Or be incinerated."

"U-Um . . ." Jess said, "April O'Neil is at . . . uh . . ." She glanced around the room, looking for any salvation. Then she saw the phone that Kaela had hung up. "Let me call her. I'll tell her to come here." Jess couldn't detect any suspicion from Mrs. Campbell, but could you actually see any from a robot. She tried to signal with her eyes to Kaela that she should get ready to run and then, she slowly leaned down and picked up the receiver. Before Mrs. Campbell could see that the phone clearly wasn't working, she threw it as hard as she could and it slammed into her face. Acting quickly and mostly off adrenaline, Jess slammed her fist into the side of Mrs. Campbell's arm, making a resounding metal echoing noise as it turned, firing a blast of pink into the wall, leaving a steaming, ashy hole.

"RUN!"

Kaela kicked Mrs. Campbell's legs, knocking them out from under her, causing the robot to fall to the ground and then she jumped over the desk with Jess and ran, throwing the door open and jumping over the receptionist desk. "The exit is this way!" Jess pointed to the front doors.

"But – the diamond!" Kaela cried back.

"Forget about that!"

She nearly fell over as she stopped herself at the metal detectors.

Hun and three purple dragons were waiting at the door. He had his arms folded across his chest and had that cocky smile again, his glasses flashing in the light of the sun outside. "Well, well, the little kitty cats think they can get away." Hun said. "You really shouldn't have thrown that stone at me."

"Geez, dude it was just a rock!" Jess combated.

Clanking sounded behind them and Mrs. Campbell turned the corner, her arms at her side, her face as blank as always. "Well, maybe we can have neighboring tombstones." Jess said nervously. Kaela closed her eyes in defeat and put her face in her hand.

"Hey!"

Kaela and Jess looked up at the sound. A figure appeared behind Hun and the Purple Dragons who immediately turned and took a step back. A figure was silhouetted in the light of the sun outside. They were wearing a long coat and a hat, covering most of them, but with one fluid motion, the coat and the hat flew off, revealing pointy, soft ears, a raccoon like tail and a white bandanna, a naginata in their hands.

"Ethan!" Jess and Kaela cried happily.

"Another freak?" Hun asked.

Ethan burst forward. He moved quicker and with more dexterity than he had ever done before. With a solid swing, one of the Purple Dragon's dropped to the floor with a single, short gasp and didn't get back up. The other two Purple Dragons backed up, their eyes full of fear. "Hey, you guys were right," Ethan said, "He really does look like a Korean Pop-star."

Hun looked livid, his tiny mouth puckered in anger.

"Jess, Kaela, catch!"

He threw their weapons up in the air and Jess and Kaela jumped, snatching them from the air and landing back on the ground expertly, as if the weapons had honed them back to who they actually were. Ethan then turned to the figure behind them, "Mrs. Campbell, get out of here!"

"Nope," Jess quickly said. "That would be the rocket-arm lady trying to kill us."

"Oh."

"Fox boy!" Hun snapped, "Do not ignore me!" He pulled his glasses off with a sense of drama, revealing his eyes and threw them against the wall, shattering them.

"That looked expensive." Ethan said, "And I'm a red panda, you moron."

"Shots fired!" Kaela cried.

"Speaking of which . . ." Jess added.

Mrs. Campbell was done listening to them and her arms folded back to reveal her elbow rockets again. She screamed, making a sound like a dying car and two rockets blasted from her elbows, zooming through the air. They hit the ground but Jess and Kaela had jumped out of the way, the stairs exploding, rocking the school.

Ethan burst forward and sliced at Hun who jumped out of the way, his arms held close to his side, poised and he lifted his leg high enough that it could have touched his own forehead and slammed it down Ethan's blade, pinning it to the floor. Ethan's instincts were sharper than ever before and he let his leg kick upward and slammed it into Hun's side and then he raked his claws at Hun who had to step away to dodge. Ethan had new weapons now. He grinned and moved forward, throwing his whole body into an elbow strike.

Hun grunted and stepped backward and then slammed his fist into Ethan's chest and shoved. Ethan fell backward and had to gather his footing, which was much easier than before. He could feel something pumping in his blood – likely mutagen and it compelled him forward. He wasn't done yet.

Jess and Kaela twisted out of the way as Mrs. Campbell blew up the metal detectors behind them, the attacks moving dangerously into the range of the Purple Dragon's and Ethan. "I got you, Jess!" Kaela called and she let her ribbon dart fly. Mrs. Campbell caught it in midair and pulled, throwing Kaela towards her.

Kaela lifted her legs and slammed them into Mrs. Campbell just as Jess reached her and with a cry and a twisting strike, she cut through the robots arm from shoulder all the way through and it slammed onto the ground with a metallic clunk! The Kraang robot didn't seem to notice and kicked Jess backward with her high heel and she grunted from the pain. Kaela's dart swung around Mrs. Campbell's leg as she made distance between her and the robot and then wrenched it, throwing her to the ground.

The two Purple Dragons ran forward with cries of anger at Ethan. He twisted and – WHAM! He slammed the end of his weapon into the stomach of one of the two thugs and he dropped to the ground. The other snatched Ethan's tail which was surprisingly painful and wrenched. Ethan flipped through the air and placed his hands on the ground, kicking hard as if he were uppercutting the third, hitting him directly in the chin and he fell backward to the ground.

Hun was on him. He felt his golden first slam into his shoulder blade, then his stomach and a kick to the side of his head and Ethan hit the ground. It was only when he was flat on his back that all the pain from those jabs really set in, but he ignored it as best as he could and twisted, spinning back up onto his feet. "I'm getting really sick of you!" Ethan said, running forward.

"I'll end you!" Hun cried back, his voice thick with a Chinese accent.

Jess jumped over a punch from Mrs. Campbell and with a strike of finality she slammed her two kama blades into the her chest and slashed, landing on top of Mrs. Campbell. She gave one final shriek and then went silent, steam rising from her body.

Ethan swiped with his naginata – up, down, side, spin around the head, side again, across. Hun dodged each one, but it was clear that he was starting to get tired. Hun's leg swung up and this time Ethan blocked it with the wood of his staff, but didn't doge another punch and fell backward just as the sound of sirens blasted around the corner, red and blue lighting up the school entryway.

Hun looked up and then glared back down at Ethan and Jess and Kaela and jumped over the top of Ethan. "This isn't over fox boy." He then vanished out the door. Ethan flipped himself back up.

"Ethan!" Kaela said giving him a hug. "We would be so dead without you! Not to mention that you looked adorable doing flips!"

Ethan snorted.

"You better get out of here." Jess said patting Ethan's shoulder and pointing with her kama at the police that were flocking out of their cars.

"No kidding." He grabbed their weapons quickly and then nodded to them, "I'll see you back at home." And then he ran for it, sprinting through the hallways that he was never going to enter again as a student and out the giant hole in the gymnasium wall and up onto the roof of the school to make his way back home.

He smiled to himself, feeling that same wind that he loved so much ruffle his fur. Maybe being a mutant wasn't going to be so bad.