Two weeks later, Randall's wrist was still healing, but with Mikey now well enough to do real training again, the family realized they needed to get away from the city for awhile. They also had yet to show Randall the farmhouse.
Randall was a little hesitant about going back to the country.
"It's not like the swamps down south, Randall." Don said. "It's nice and peaceful. There are no alligators, though there are wild animals. That's why we try to stay close to the house and we do go camping sometimes. I'm sure you'll like it up there once you get to know the place."
"We'll see." Randall said. He had never camped before when he was young, but he had camped from his life in the swamps. He had had to learn to survive. Maybe he could learn something more from the turtles.
…..
While the turtles were preparing for some relaxation time, the Foot had been telling about real weird forces that were happening with the turtles many times. The Shredder didn't like fairy tales or when his men failed him. But the night the orange banded turtle was nearly done for, they had seen something never seen before with him.
A big lizard that had defeated them too. It made the Shredder curious.
"Find this lizard then." The Shredder ordered.
The ninjas would follow his orders no matter what or they knew what would happen.
…..
The turtles, Splinter, Randall, and April and Casey headed up to the farmhouse. April was driving her own van. Don drove the Battle Shell.
"What's the name of the town the house is near?" Randall asked.
"Northampton." Leo said.
Don had made Randall his own special chair to be in. He, just like the others needed to be secure in the seats for safety.
Randall saw some of the scenery in the back from the front and out the back of the truck. He was seeing some houses right now, knowing it was a town. They were going through Northampton now.
Then they got back to the country. Randall had not missed country life.
When they got to the house, the turtles all got out excitedly. Mikey had Klunk too, in a cat carrier. Klunk was okay with traveling really. Randall was the one that got out last, not ready to be back in the country.
They planned on staying at the house for a few weeks. Randall's wrist would finish healing in that time too. And they wanted to show him what camping was like.
When he got out of the truck, Randall hadn't expected to see such a big house. But, given there were so many of them, they all would need their own spaces.
They went into the living room from the front entrance. A real big room. A fireplace and the stairs to go upstairs was in there.
Randall was given a tour of the place. April and Casey had their own rooms. The turtles and Splinter all shared the attic area. There was a guest room. An infirmary in case of serious injuries. And a couple of bathrooms.
Then there was a tour of the barn. There was a silo outside too and that was where the basement was by, should there be severe storms.
"Nice place this is." Randall said.
"It used to be my grandma's." Casey said. "Now I own it."
"And his mom sometimes stops by. She knows about the guys too. Don't worry. She's tough, but she's likeable once she knows you." April said.
"Are we expecting her?" Randall asked.
"Not that we know of." Leo said. "She'll keep your secret though. She kept ours."
"We are also friends with a girl back in New York too, called Angel." Mikey said.
"A kid?"
"Yeah. She's a teenager, near our age. She knows how to take care of herself." Raph said.
Randall was definitely hoping she wasn't a toddler. He wondered if that was that little girl's real name he had kidnapped so long ago.
"Does she accept reptiles?"
"She is our friend, so yeah." Mikey said. "We were the only ones she could come to for help to find her brother when police wouldn't."
"Where was he anyway?"
"You call yourself a monster right?" Leo said.
"Yeah." Randall said.
"Well, her brother went down into a underground lair on Wall Street where there was truly a REAL monster. Some kind of alien. We had to face him. He was a huge one." Leo said.
"There are giant monsters where I come from too."
"Yeah, but do they knock you out and feast on your mind?" Mikey asked.
"What?" Randall questioned.
"He tried to traumatize us in our dreams." Don said. "We were lucky we came out of it. But he had all these tentacles that it was impossible to beat him just to try to fight him. He would know of your worst fears."
If scares would still work, Randall knew this one would be welcome in his world for sure.
"What happened?"
"I took care of him with a meteor spear." Leo said. "He was evil. He could have easily done the same to you, if you were with us at the time, Randall."
"Have you ever had to fight the dead? He also powered that too." Mikey said.
This was one weird conversation when that came up. He must have been one powerful monster.
"Did you ever see what he looked like?" Randall asked.
"Yes. He looked like a cross between a red dragon, an octopus, and a scorpion." Leo said.
"Well, there are some monsters in my world that do have tentacles and breathe fire like the dragons I've seen on TV." Randall said.
"The monster didn't breathe fire. But he was one hell of a fighter." Raph said. "And he nearly took us all out if Leo hadn't killed him."
Randall knew the turtles were fighters if their lives were threatened. He really didn't want to pursue this conversation, as it creeped him out.
After that, they all went about their businesses. Randall was going to be allowed to have the spare guest room, unless of course, Casey's mom showed up.
When the unpacking was all done, April and Casey went back to town to get some food supplies. The turtles and Splinter did a little training to stretch their muscles after the trip. Randall just watched. But he too stretched his own muscles.
"How close is the nearest neighbor?" Randall asked.
"One lives a ways over that way." Don answered, pointing west. "But stay away from there. He has a dog and he does video tape. We can't take chances of being seen."
"I know."
"Just that Mikey once wandered too close to his place." Don said.
"And he did sick his dog on me. I got away from it though." Mike said.
"And there was a lunatic monster hunter out here to find something we didn't think existed." Don said.
Randall didn't like the sound of that.
"We took care of her though. We made sure she was a laughing stock that she lost her TV program and all that." Don said.
Randall relaxed. He didn't want to deal with any monster hunters. Avoiding hunters down in the swamps was bad enough.
"How long were you guys out here?"
"Just long enough for me to heal from injuries sustained in a fight with Shredder and his Foot clan." Leo said.
Randall knew Leo was a tough turtle to beat. His skills were like perfect.
"How could they hurt you? The way you fight, Leonardo, you are hard to beat."
"I'm not invincible. I was far outnumbered." Leo said. "But I would give my life to protect my family. I was never going to tell them where my family was. But I got thrown through April's window and they found us."
"And Shredder blew the place up." Mikey said.
"The Shredder is relentless. And he's also the biggest coward. He has no honor. He lives to kill anything on site practically." Leo said.
"Anyone who doesn't side with him." Splinter said.
Everyone knew that Randall might meet him sometime. And Randall may not have a shell like the turtles, but he could move fast enough that he might be able to hold his own in a fight. And his climbing ability and invisibility gave him good chances of staying away too.
After everyone left after training to go find something to do, Leo called Randall to him.
"Randall, please come here."
Randall went over to him.
"I know your wrist is still healing, but I wanted to say this to you. Not many people can do this, but I know I can. I want to test your ability to sneak. Try it with me first and we can try on the others later sometime."
Randall thought this would be easy.
"You don't have to use your invisibility. I can just turn my mask around." Leo said.
"Alright. But you can't use your swords."
"I wouldn't. Let's begin."
Leo turned his mask around. His swords were sheathed.
"But why do you want to do this?"
"Because, sometimes, you can't always trust your eyes." Leo said. "It's a way to test your other senses."
Leo just stood there, neutral.
"Are you ready?" Randall asked.
"Yes."
Randall knew how to be stealthy. It was one of his specialties. He smiled.
He got down on all eights. He got close to one of Leo's legs behind him.
Leo quickly turned around and Randall jumped away. Leo heard movement and he tried to follow it.
"You were behind me first." Leo said.
"Yeah, now where am I?"
"To my left."
"Good."
Randall moved again. This time he stood up.
Leo sensed he was behind him again. He rushed a hand out and got Randall in the chest.
Randall was surprised. Leo was good at this.
They continued to practice. Leo tagged him a few more times.
When it was over, Randall knew that Leo was really good. Usually no one had ever sensed his presence that well. Leo would probably sense things really good even if he ever went blind.
The family had actually watched it from inside the house too.
Randall didn't like that his stealth was ruined, but not many others could sense him.
"Don't be mad, Randall. It was only testing. And there are a few out there that have strong senses like me and Splinter. The others have yet to master this. But this is just something to take into account like if you were to be against any Foot ninjas. Some of them are really lethal. Like the Foot Elite. Even they might be able to sense you being invisible. I just wanted you to be prepared for it." Leo explained.
The more he heard, the more Randall knew he didn't want to go up against these ninjas. How could these humans be so powerful? But he knew humans were dangerous in all forms.
Soon, April and Casey returned and the test was over.
Leo did have a point though to be prepared for.
The test had all been on open ground this time, but later, they would try this in the woods and such. Randall knew he was harder to reach up in the trees. But he later got to see how acrobatic the turtles were even in the trees.
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