Acceptable Risk

Fairytale Fumble

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, neither characters nor anything pertaining to the franchise. I do 52 bottles of body lotion form Bath and Body Works…Seriously where did it all come from?

Author's Note: So I've decided to write some shorts (some might not be so short, some might be really short) from the perspective of April/Raph. Originally for the 2012 series Raph was supposed to be in love with April, not Donnie. Since the series presents him as a guy who can't really be honest with his feelings I figured that Raph would be the ultimate tsundere type guy.

Also I'm on tumblr starsiasestra#tumblr#com (#=.). Come follow me if you like. I'm a big turtles fan and sometimes post extra stuff there

Raph and April are taken hostage by Sir Malachi. Can Mikey, Leo, and Donnie save them or will outside forces beyond their control prevent them from doing so.

Donnie swung out, his makeshift staff clocking a giant part bat, part beetle monster on the head. The creature went sprawling to the ground in a whirl of legs. With one last hiss it dissolved into a puddle of mist.

This is impossible, his scientific mind screamed. Well, it would have screamed had brains been capable of screaming, which incidentally they could not. Though the Kraang were technically brains and they could scream. Perhaps only creepy alien brains with tentacles could scream. Hmm, how would one go about testing that theory?

Donnie shook his head furiously.

Now was not the time to be distracted. There were still plenty of those creatures, and the cluster of writhing bodies didn't appear to be thinning no matter how many they destroyed. What were these things anyways and where the shell were they coming from?

There was a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye, drawing his attention away from his mental musings. Another strike and yet another foe melted into nothing. All around him creatures were exploding into mist as he and his brothers fought on. The queue was seemingly endless then, as suddenly as the monsters had appeared, the hallway was empty.

Donnie checked carefully any other opponents, but much to his relief their foes seemed to be vanquished. For now.

A single bead of sweat crawled down his face, getting tangled in the stringy mass that was his beard. Ugh, how did humans do it? The stupid thing was driving him crazy but every time he tried to pull it off it stuck fast as if glued to his face.

While the whole medieval adventure thing had been fun at the beginning, the novelty was swiftly wearing off.

…

Donnie, Mikey, Leo, and Raph gaped in shock as a figure appeared from a cloud of blue smoke, hovering just in front of them. It stared down at them with beady bird eyes, glancing over each of them in turn. He looked like something out of one of their video games with his gnarled staff and patched tunic.

"Who is…" Donnie trailed off staring at the strange creature.

"WHAT THE?" Raph's eyes bugged out of their sockets, while Mikey merely uttered an awed "Weird".

"Thou possess questions," the bird floated gracefully to the ground. His eyes glowed a deep blue from beneath the hood of his cowl. "I am the one that possesses thy answers."

Now the turtles stared at him no longer with wonder, but instead with confusion.

"What did he say?" Mikey asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "I don't speak Spanish, dude."

The creature continued on as though he had not heard Mikey's words.

"My name is Sir Malachi. I am the one who changeth your clue and the one who broughteth you here." Sir Malachi paused, ensuring he had their full attention. "And I am the one who will rewardeth you if you win the quest."

"A quest?" Leo looked around at his brothers. "Um, that's great and all… But we're all good on quests right now. We've got like a million canisters of mutagen to find. So if you could send us home we'd really appreciate it."

Sir Malachi smile took on an evil twist.

"But if you do not win you shall never achieveth your reward."

With a wave of his hand, and another puff of blue mist, a small glass orb poofed into being. Inside was a familiar figure. A tiny irate April pounded on the glass as she stared angrily from within its confines. Donnie gasped and Mikey covered his mouth in horror. Raph on the other hand was not so slow to react, a snarl formed on his features and he hefted his weapons angrily.

"Hey birdbrain, let her go and maybe I won't turn you with pillow."

His posturing that had no effect on the bird wizard as he toyed with his glass bulb and smirked.

"Maketh me."

With a furious roar Raph took off towards Sir Malachi, his self-made ax swinging wildly. The attack did little, Sir Malachi neatly sidestepped allowing Raph to pass unscathed. With another regal wave of his hand blue smoke enveloped the red masked turtle, and like some sick magicians trick he too was gone.

Suddenly, the situation was a lot more serious than it was before. Despite having weapons intended for play the three remaining turtles each took a defensive stance. Three stony pairs of eyes gazed at the unrepentant wizard.

"Let them go," Mikey's expression was uncharacteristically serious as he strung his bow, "or I'll possesseth your face."

"Ah, ah, ah," Sir Malachi waved a single feathered finger in their direction, "that is not how the gameth goes. If you are able to solve my puzzles and defeat the dragon, then I will relinquish them both and return you all back home. Fail and you will all be trapped here forever. Forever."

And with a maniacal cackle he disappeared in a poof a smoke.

…

"Leo, are you sure you know where you're going?" Donnie asked as they passed what look like the same statue for about the millionth time.

"Look," Leo too was beginning to show signs of frustration, as he stared down at the scroll. "I've been following the map that YOU stole from that guard and it says that the door to the dragons keep should be around here somewhere. If you want to take a look for yourself then please be my guest."

"Hey, no need to get snippy. I'm just saying wandering around for hours don't seem to be getting us any closer to finding April or Raph."

"Guys, guys calmed down." Mikey raised his hand to the preceding gesture. "I've got my plus one ring of awesome. It can show us where to go."

Closing his eyes Mikey raised his hand it to the air. Grasping at nothing he stumbled around like a blind man in the dark. Donnie sighed, covering his eyes with one of its oversized hands, while Leo turned back to check his map of again. Maybe there was something he was missing?

As he wandered aimlessly, Mikey stumbled over a small piece of rock which had come loose from the wall. Arms pin-wheeling he went flailing towards ground, his descent stopped only as he grasped one of the torches that lit the dank hallway.

There was an awful grinding of stone on stone. The trio turned and stared as a large chunk of wall shifted sideways exposing pitch black corridor.

"See, plus one ring of awesome." Mikey punched an exuberant fist into the air.

With a whoop of joy, the youngster took off down the dark hallway. Sharing a look and a shrug Leo and Donnie quickly followed. The corridor itself was short and the three turtles found themselves blinded as they entered the room on the other side.

Blinking away black dots swamping his vision, Donnie took in the shining room. There was gold everywhere, it was stacked in piles and mountains so that the whole room was covered in a rolling metallic sheen. Only a few torches lined the room but the reflected light on the metal bathed it in a quivering golden glow. For a moment he could only stare, taking in the overwhelming amount of wealth filling the room.

Atop the tallest pile of gold in the center of the room was a glass bubble, like Sir Malachi's but bigger. Inside was a mass of ruffles, and crinoline, and what appeared to be a tiny gold crown.

"Hey it's Apr…mrph."

Leo thrust hand over Mikey's mouth, muffling the rest of his words. Silently he placed a single finger to his lips in a shushing motion before letting go of Mikey again.

"Ninjas are supposed to be quiet remember." Leo hissed, looking both stern and exasperated.

Mikey rolled his eyes and cast Leo exasperated look of his own.

"But I'm not a ninja, duh, I'm an elf."

As Mikey and Leo squabbled semantics Donnie took the opportunity to look around the room. The amount of treasure was truly amazing but something tickled at the back his mind. There was no way rescuing April would be that easy. Sir Malachi took way to much joy in testing them from him to give up his prize so easily.

Then suddenly it hit him like the number eight southbound subway.

"Guys," Donnie tightened his grip on his weapon, "where's the dragon?"

Immediately Mikey and Leo fell silent, taking in the seemingly vacant room. At first there seemed to be nothing but piles of metal. Then they heard it, the soft scrape like the sound of scales on metal, followed by a low, echoing cackle of laughter.

Almost subconsciously Mikey, Donnie, and Leo formed a circle, defending each others' backs from the invisible foe. The sounds echoing through the room seemed to come from all directions. There was a flicker shadow here, flash of movement there, but still their opponent clung to the shadows. It was almost as if it were toying with them.

"We know you're out there," called Leo bravely, "surrender now we might let you leave here alive."

Again there was laughter, closer and louder than before. From behind the center pile of gold stepped a figure swathed in red.

The turtles could only gape in shock.

"A- April?"

The creature growled angrily at them, curling her long tail around her feet. Indeed it did look like April, if April had large leathery wings protruding at the back and razor-sharp fangs. Red scales littered her body forming sort of armor at around her arms and legs, and at her temples. She stared at them blankly, her eyes glowing the same haunting blue as the monsters it encountered before, the same blue as Sir Malachi's.

"How about you surrender?" With every word tiny flames dropped from her lips. "Begone, the princess is mine."

"April," Leo raised his hands in a soothing gesture, "we don't want to hurt you."

April threw back her head and laughed, her shining red hair spilling down her back. As she did a torrent of flames ripped loose from her throat, scorching the far wall of the cave.

"Hurt me? Little turtle, you should worry more about yourself."

Sensing that April was not in her right mind Leo took a step back.

Mikey on the other hand couldn't have looked more excited, apparently their human friend turning into a dragon hybrid was the highlight of this little trip. As his eyes raked over her form, the hyper-active turtle bounced from foot to foot with excitement.

Meanwhile, Donatello just continued to stare at the girl confusion. While this explained…some things, the whole situation wasn't making a lot of sense.

April… was a dragon. April was THE dragon?

"If April's the dragon…" Donnie said slowly glancing up at the glass orb. "Then who's…"

As if on cue the bundle of cloth within the orb began to shift. From within the confines a livid green face came into view, its eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Don't say anything."

He couldn't help it. Really, he couldn't. With a clatter Donnie's staff fell to the stone floor, with his knees soon following. Helplessly he clutched at his sides, trying desperately to maintain control, but failing miserably. Think of pi. Think of the periodic table. Think of anything.

It was futile though.

Finally Donnie gave up, surrendering to his own overwhelming desires.

"Bwhahaha."

Donnie was not alone in his laughter. On either side both Mikey and Leo collapsed into their own fits of chuckles and giggles. Mikey lay curled up on his side, his weapon abandoned beside him.

Within the bubble Raph was helpless to do anything but glare and sulk. Folding his arms across his chest he was could do little but try to set his brothers on fire with his mind. Quite unsuccessfully mind you but he did try.

The effect was underwhelming as he was wrapped from head to toe in a lacy pink ball gown. It was truly a thing of beauty with its white lace and seemingly endless petticoats. The whole ensemble even had a crown and matching shoes. Which was actually pretty impressive considering the size of mutant turtle feet.

"Ha, ha, very funny."

Furious Raph struck the glass surrounding him but it had no effect.

Seeing the distraction of the potential rescuers, dragon April scrambled up the pile gold, wrapping herself around the bubble as best she could.

Wings spread wide, she hissed at them again.

"The princess is mine." April growled possessively.

The scene might have been frightening, if it hadn't been so completely ridiculous. As it was, April's declaration only served to increase their laughter. Even normally serious Leo was in tears as he watched the scene.

It took a few minutes but the trio eventually managed to get themselves under control.

"Hey princess," Mikey managed to choke out, wiping a tear from his eye, "look on the bright side. You finally got April's attention."

Okay while I did like the episode Mazes and Mutants I had some serious beef with her being the damsel in distress all the freaking time. I LOVE April. In my books she is totally awesome…flawed but awesome. She would not be some freaking princess guarded by the dragon. She would BE the motherf***ing dragon. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my story. Sorry I was gone so long I hit summer vacation and my brain totally shut down. I have been working on some prompts for Raphril Week though and I'll be posting them soon. That's all for now this is Big Sis signing off.