Episode 9: Love Among the Dragons – Part 3

Ethan had to have been walking for hours. He had taken breaks about every thirty minutes or so to sit on the edge of the stony path, his feet an inch deep now in water. Some of the lights had been crushed on the ceiling above and at closer inspection, it almost looked like those lights were broken in a battle of some sort. That had to be a good sign.

Or maybe he was just wishful thinking.

His mind had rushed like water over the details, settling now like the murky pools he stood in. Sometimes he felt angry. Why would Master Hamato make me leader? We don't even need one! Kaela and Jess can do whatever they feel like. Other times it would turn into a sour self pity that made him cringe. I can't be leader – I don't know what I'm doing . . . I wish Master Hamato could help me. I'm going to mess everything up without him. These voices were difficult to keep away, and so he kept his mind on the task at hand – find the turtles at any cost.

In moments like this one, he instead tried to focus on random details around him, to help him not lose his way. Three broken lights, two functioning ones, another splashed in something green. He looked down at the water, shoving away more difficult thoughts that he wanted to ignore. Water. Kinda gross looking – weird oil or something is gleaming on the surface. Something metal under the water. He paused. What was that strange silvery metal? It was too bright to be a pipe or a soda can. He leaned down and reached his fingers into the water and pulled whatever it was out from the water. The droplets slid off his fur as if they were waterproof and he glanced at each side of the piece, startled.

It was a shurikan with the Hamato symbol on it.

His heart leaped with joy.

Maybe it wasn't wishful thinking after all. He jumped up from where he had been sitting and began to fast walk down the sewer tunnel, his eyes scanning the walls. He had to be close. He could see singed marks of black ash that slashed across the rocky walls, clear evidence that a Kraang blaster must have been fired. Turning the corner, he found a huge railway, but no subway was coming either way. Red lights glowed with a soft hum above the rails. The tunnels here were much cleaner. They were still in use.

He flicked the water from his feet as he made his way out into this much grander, larger, and brighter tunnel.

Ethan was stuck.

He turned to the right and to the left and stuck his tongue out between his pointed teeth, his whiskers twitching. He could feel the air on his tongue, as if it had become a second nose, helping him sense the things around him and he felt another thrill of joy inside him. Being a mutant had its perks. Finally, he felt the best idea was to go to the right. He walked along the tiny, narrow, cement path slowly, water dripping off his feet still. He had since put his naginata away behind his back to make it easier to move quickly.

Weaving through the dusty rails, he eventually found himself at an old, beaten down platform. The barriers had since begun to fall apart. Placing both of his hands up on the platform, he vaulted himself up, a cloud of dust appearing around his feet. It looked like nobody had been here for some time – at least a few months. For a moment, he considered moving on, but then, his eyes spotted a makeshift spiral staircase that went up to the ceiling, made of wood. He stared at it for a few long moments, trying to figure out what it was, and with a final look around to make sure nobody was watching, he stepped through the barriers. They gave him no resistance.

The staircase hung down over square that had been placed like a small pit in the floor. Ethan was surprised to see a television set there, along with an old crate filled with old VHS's. Eagerly, he walked up to the TV. It appeared to be working and in good condition. He grabbed a VHS and read aloud the title under his breath: "Crognard the Barbarian." He chuckled to himself and let the VHS fall back into the box with a clattering noise. The sound of water could be heard and he turned to see that through a pile of bean bags was a tire-swing that had been strung up over a sewer drain, filled with water that looked much clearer than the water he had been wading through.

"This is awesome." He said to himself, straightening up. He didn't know where he wanted to go next. A hallway just behind him branched off into four separate rooms. He opened one of the doors. Inside, it was dark and messy. A light up jack-o-lantern sat in the corner, as well as a metal safe, and a series of posters of popular bands – some of them metal and a bit too hard core for Ethan.

The next room had a shelf of action figures, including a rare mint version of Action Kick Unicorn Man. A pile of comics were strewn in the corners of the room and pizza crusts could be found all over the floor. Ethan wrinkled his sensitive nose to the smell. The bed was unmade and he was happy to see a card-board cut out of Chris Bradford in the corner.

The other two rooms were locked.

Ethan turned back down the long hallway, the stones here were clean, as if they had been scrubbed, but dust had now settled down on the floor. Undoubtedly, those were the rooms of two teenagers, Ethan concluded. A smile spread across his face and he chuckled to himself, realizing that his ears had perked up. He had not been this happy for a while. He walked back out to the television and the bean bags. Across from the living room were two huge metal doors. Although it took some time, he managed to shove them both open and step inside.

Immediately, the first thing that caught his eye was a huge tank, the liquid inside was a frozen blue, and worse, if Ethan was correct, he was looking at a frozen pair of eyes, a mouth and organs. That's weird. Ethan thought nervously, looking around, half expecting a mad man with crazy white hair and a lab coat to pop out. The table nearby was riddled with test tubes, a stack of books, a centrifuge, and petri dishes. A huge mechanical something or other sat in the corner. It looked like a mecha from an anime.

Ethan then turned, closing the door behind him, not wanting to be watched by the unblinking eyes of the frozen organ monster. He walked back to the living room and down into what seemed to be a kitchen. There was a fridge, a stove, a counter top and a garbage can full of more pizza boxes. He looked around the empty kitchen, interested, but stopped in his tracks when he heard what sounded like a meow coming from the freezer. Did whoever live here put a cat in the fridge? Ethan thought horrified. That is the most messed up thing ever! He stepped up to the freezer and nervously laced his fingers around the handle.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he wrenched it open – and stared dumbfounded at what stared back at him. For a second he thought it was a pile of moving ice cream. Then he realized that it was much more than that. It was some sort of cat. "Uhh . . ." Ethan said as the ice cream cat smiled back at him and meowed, showing a throat made of the cool cream as well. "Okay, then." he slowly let the freezer door close.

Making his way back to the living room, Ethan looked around again. Had he missed any places to investigate. His eyes immediately fell on a final room near the middle of the lair. It was bordered in Japanese wall – paper stapled against wood. He walked up to it nervously and wandered around the square until he found the sliding doors. Nervously, he slid them open.

What he saw, brought tears to his eyes.

Tatami mat covered the floor, weapons racked up on the walls, and in the center of it all, a beautiful tree, covered in green leaves. It was not far off from what had been in their backyard. He stepped inside, the room feeling reverent and slowly slid the door shut behind him with hardly a sound coming from it. He stepped forward and sniffed loudly, wiping his nose with the fur on his wrist and looked up at the light that filtered from an opening above that touched the leaves and made them glow like emeralds. He reached out his fingers until his black, sharp nails touched the edge of the wood and he felt warmth spread through his body. It was like coming home again. He bowed his head and let some of the tear drops fall in between the cracks in the tatami mat. Sniffing loudly again, he looked around and took in the practice room more. On the far side of the door was a small shelf. A tiny Shinto shrine sat there, along with two photos. As he drew closer, he realized one was a black and white photo of a man and a woman holding a tiny baby. The second was a picture of four turtles that he knew now from April O' Neil's father, Kirby O'Neil. He had memorized these names since the death of his Sensei.

Raphael was the red one that looked in particularly disgruntled in the picture. The blue one that was smiling was Leonardo. The orange one with a big cheesy grin was Michelangelo. The one with a gap in his smile with the purple mask was Donatello.

He had found the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's lair.

Jess couldn't hardly believe that she had found herself in this situation. She was standing, at eight thirty at night, in a warehouse in a back alley of town, surrounded by a gang of robbers and punks, decked out in Purple Dragon tattoos. Even worse, this same group, who had blown up her school she reminded herself, were now surrounded with new friends – namely the Footbots who watched from the corners of the room. This had to be the worst date she had ever been on. She turned to Mako who stood next to her and hissed under her breath, "You didn't tell me that your meeting included the Foot Clan!"

Mako didn't seem as concerned. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You know them?"

"Um. Yes." Jess said, half wanting to punch him in the arm. All feelings that he was a ruggad romantic had flown from her mind. "They are the ones who messed with my family!" Mako's eyes widened slightly as the figures that had been at the restaurant with them stepped inside, closing the big metal doors behind them. Jess slapped her hand to her face and groaned. Even worse – she knew that she didn't have her weapons on her.

"Seriously?" Mako's voice had raised a level and some of the Purple Dragon's were looking at him now. "The Foot Clan just help us every once in a while. It's not like we're friends with them or anything."

"Purple Dragons!" Hun was speaking now, but Mako still seemed more interested in learning more about Jess and the situation she was in. She tried to quiet him, half wanting to hear what Hun, the K-Pop star wannabe was saying. "Master Shredder has been to see me recently. He has –."

Mako was drowning out Hun's voice: "What did they do to you?"

Jess half wished that Mako had learned to be quiet in class more. She looked nervously around. Purple Dragon's were all staring their way now. "Now is not the time!" Jess hissed through her teeth and she nodded towards the doors, "I want you to take me home, please."

"What is going on back here?" Hun must have stopped talking, because he had moved his shiny boot covered feet from the platform in the huge three story warehouse towards them and he shoved several of his thugs out of the way, black sunglasses flashing.

Jess and Mako turned to him, everyone going silent.

"Well," Hun said, his Asian accent showing through his words thickly, "Good job, Mako. You found one of the three brats Master Shredder has been seeking."

Jess' mouth fell open and she glared at Mako, "This was a set up?" she snapped.

Hun raised an eyebrow, obviously confused.

"No, no, no!" Mako said hands up, "I didn't know that Shredder dude wanted you! That's something you never told me!"

"That's because I barely know you! I'm not going to start blabbing about ninjas to some high school punk!"

"Then why did you go out with me?"

"Shut up!" Hun interrupted. "Dragons, bind her. Footbots, inform Master Shredder that we found one of his prizes." Two of the Footbots appeared from the shadows as the Purple Dragons began to surround Mako and Jess. Mako looked around him, bewildered, frozen to the spot.

Jess gritted her teeth – now she had done it.

Suddenly, something whizzed past her face and slammed into the face of one of the Footbots, a pointed end sticking out just below where it's nose should have been, pink electricity racing down its body as it writhed for a few moments and then went silent, falling backward.

It was one of her kama's.

A figure jumped down, a yellow bandanna sported around their face, brown hair waving, a blue ribbon flowing around her as if she were a performer. She landed nimbly between Jess and Mako. The Purple Dragon's, including Hun, stood stunned.

Kaela slowly straightened up. "That was so awesome!" She said triumphantly, tossing the second kama to Jess who snatched it out of the air. Kaela then turned and pointed directly at Jess, "You are lucky I followed you." She then switched her finger to point at Mako. "You are lucky that I didn't throw that kama at you – stop messing with my sister, please."

Jess could hug Kaela.

Mako looked like he had been slapped across the face by Kaela's words.

Hun glared. "Don't just stand around watching you idiots! Get them!"

The Purple Dragon's burst forward and very quickly, Jess realized it was easily two against thirty. Kaela obviously had a plan. She spun, throwing her dart around and slammed a nearby string of lights. The cord immediately snapped and plummeted, hitting an oil drum and with a blast, flames leaped up around the stage. Dragon's began to shriek and ran straight past Jess and Kaela for the door. "Come back here you cowards!" Hun called after them, but it was no use. Even Mako had disappeared in the crowd.

"Someone slashed my tires!" Jess heard him call from outside. She met eyes with Kaela.

"I am sick of you teenage brats ruining my day!" Hun snapped, pushing out his chest to show the Purple Dragon tattooed just below his neckline and he flung his glasses off, smashing them against a nearby wall. Fire illuminated his face in anger and he lowered himself into a horse stance.

Kaela followed suit, "Your stupid master burned down our house – consider this us returning the favor." Hun lunged forward, dodging a swing from Kaela's ribbon and slammed the side of his foot into Kaela's shoulder, making a sound similar to Bruce Lee as he went, throwing her out of his way and he raised his spiked fist to slam Jess in the face. She dodged, blocking with the metal of her kama and she moved in, slamming her shoulder into his chest, throwing him backward.

Jess snatched up her second kama to block a round house kick from Hun. Flames were spreading across the ground with the oil, leaping higher and higher and spreading toward s the doors. She could feel the heat on her face. Kaela's dart flashed through the air, but Hun dodged each attack, spinning, retreating, jumping forward and drew closer and closer to her. Jess lunged, slamming Hun like a football player in the side and he shrieked as they rolled on the floor. Jess quickly jumped back up to her feet and turned to Kaela. "Let's run for it!" She said.

Kaela nodded and then slapped Jess on the side of the head.

"Ow!" Jess yelled, rubbing the side of her face. "What was that for?"

"For dating Mako." Kaela said with a smile. "I promised myself I would do that."

Jess rolled her eyes and the two ran through the doors that had been flung open by the Purple Dragons and out into the darkness. "In here, in here!" Kaela motioned to a manhole around the corner. The cool dark air lit up in the flames of the warehouse. Jess watched nervously, the doorway. She hated Hun, but had no desire to let him burn up in the building.

His shadow suddenly emerged and he looked directly at them.

Satisfied, Jess followed Kaela into the sewers and closed the manhole. "We better run." Jess said. "Hun might follow us."

"Good idea. Let's try and find Ethan."

The two sprinted down, water flipping up behind them, staining their already dirty jeans. It took them an hour to get back to the school manhole that they usually slept at. Ethan wasn't waiting for them. Instead, was a note.

I found the Lair that the Turtles used. Follow my naginata markings out to the subway and turn right.

Kaela and Jess looked at one another eagerly and resumed their sprinting, pausing only moment to moment to search out Ethan's naginata markings. Finally, they emerged out into a red stained tunnel, the lights glowing above and dust under their feet. They turned right and walked slower together, their feet cold from the water of the sewers. "We need to find a shower soon." Kaela commented. "We smell horrible." Once they finally reached a platform, they turned to see Ethan, his Red Panda face watching them. His arms were folded across his chest and for the first time in a week, a smile was spread on his face.

"Good to see you guys again." he said. "I didn't find the turtles, but I found this place." he motioned for them to look inside.

"Wow." As Jess moved past the barriers, her eyes widened. A television set – beanbag chairs, a kitchen, even a Japanese wall.

"Welcome to our new home." Ethan said, spreading his arms out with a smile.