I'M SOOOOOORRRRRYYYYYY . I'm a Year 3 in school now so I've been swarmed with homework ever since the start of school, so I couldn't find time to post the new chapter. Originally supposed to be the last chapter, I decided to split it into two because of it's length (and to leave you guys in suspense), but I've already done a part of the last chapter, so updates would be soon I hope. This is the second last chapter since I decided to break off another chapter from this one, and please read and review.
One month, it soon became apparent, could be both a very long period of time and yet, also a short one. The time where it was a long stretch of several slow days was when her injuries (Her abdomen now bore a large scar where The Shredder had previously stabbed her) were throbbing painfully after she accidentally over exerted herself, or when she found herself on the ground, lying in a painful heap when she had used too much force for a task as simple as walking. Ren struggled enormously with her limited capabilities at the start, having quite taken for granted and now deeply longing for her previous strength. She was often reduced to a ball of cursing at a corner of Raph's room, having just failed at something she could have completed easily before, now due to her serious injuries, and almost endangering another part of her body (usually her left leg or arms) by threatening to break the closest thing to her out of frustration- only barely managing to stop when Don once again warned her (now not even bothering to look up from what he was doing) that by hurting herself more, she would be steadily lengthening the amount of time before she could face The Shredder and possibly revoke Master Splinter's permission to do so. She would then hover between venting her anger out or heeding Don's advice, and would finally chose the latter after a few more seconds of indecision, then turning away and stalking into Raph's room, muttering darkly under her breath. It became such a frequent happening that everyone had gotten used to it, and Don would be able to time his warning perfectly- exactly two seconds after Ren failed at her current task at hand- usually characterised by the sound of something breaking or a loud grunt of pain- when Ren cautiously tried to go back to her training regime and, as mentioned earlier, found herself lying in a painful heap on the floor.
"I hate this. I feel weak. Useless. Helpless," Ren spat. She was seated in the room with Raph one day, after her hundred and sixty-seventh spectacular failure. She had even grown tired of trying to vent her frustration by breaking things- not that she had ever gotten to that stage, and now sat restlessly, attempting to alleviate her gloom by tossing her sais up and catching them easily. However, at her sixth throw, her hand fumbled with the catch and the sai fell to the floor with a clatter. For a while, utter silence reigned in the room as both stared at the fallen sai on the ground. Raph braced himself to stop another tantrum from Ren- her temper had become frightfully close to the surface these days at her inability to do just about everything and anything. Ren, however, gave a large sigh and huddled into a ball. Since the start of the month, an unspoken peace seemed to linger between them, the duo were both rather comfortable and contented in each other's presence- even if neither of them was speaking (Mikey did enough talking to last them several more months whenever he came to bug Ren and tease Raph some more.)
"I'm growing weak." She mumbled, hugging her knees tighter to herself.
"Nonsense," Raph dismissed, searching for a way to cheer her up. Now, it became rather obvious that the key to Ren's normally bright and confident self was her strength- a result from her constant training since young, which had raised her skills and stamina to the peak; an undeniably great feat for her age. Not just plain brute force, but her skills in handling weapons- her strongest trait. Yet it had its downside- Ren had come to depend so much on her two strongest traits that without it she became unstable. And now, her strength was limited and her skill, deeply blunted by her injuries. Ren was easily robbed of her two strongest traits simply through a considerably brief skirmish with The Shredder- in which she had been unable to injure him severely even then, and that further heightened her deep hatred towards the man.
"Look, you aren't strong just cos' of your training and skills. You're strong cos you're you- determined, headstrong and the user of twin sais. Stop trying to exert yourself before your injuries heal- do it slowly at the very least." An idea dawned on Raph. "Try meditating with Leo and Master Splinter. They'll give you all the spiritual talk and make you feel better. I think." He ended with a mutter, rather spoiling the "professional" aura he previously radiated, much to Ren's slight amusement. She tilted her head to one side to contemplate his words.
"Thanks."
Raph gave a vaguely undecipherable grunt (though to Ren, she knew it was the turtle's way of saying "Don't mention it"), but he still turned away slightly to hide the small grin on his face. Ren's next words, however, snapped him back into attention soon.
"I didn't tell you, but Sa- I mean, The Shredder," Ren's deferential habit of calling The Shredder "Saki-sama", or, as English would have it, Master Saki, was fast evaporating, though there were a few times when she slipped back to her old habit when not thinking. "He said, he said he was aware of our meeting and relationship since the start. He had a Foot Ninja to observe me from afar when I went out on the first day. I think." She frowned and fingered her sais hesitatingly, realising that she had somehow picked up Raph's habit of tagging the words "I think" to the back of her sentence whenever she was uncertain. "Anyway, I didn't feel any presence when I left, but then, I could have missed it. I was pretty excited about going out after all. He also said that since the first time I went out, he knew about all the ongoings- that the only day he didn't know anything was on the day I got hit by the bomb, cos there were too many of us and the Foot Ninja would be noticed." Ren stopped, not sure if she should continue or not. She had prolonged the moment of telling Raph all this. It seemed... wrong. That during their conversations at night, a Foot Ninja had been in the shadows recording their conversation, enlightening The Shredder about every single information they exchanged. That their deep bond- even the unofficial date at the arcade, was forged and manipulated by The Shredder, of all people. She had been disgusted by the abhorrence, and deep down, frightened that Raph might dislike her after all- might consider that their relationship was untrue. Indeed, Raph was silent for a while. He stared down at his own sais with a frown- thinking. It wasn't until he shifted uncomfortably and looked up at Ren did the latter realise she was holding her breath.
"Y-you don't mind, do you?" Ren blurted out, her voice more uncertain than Raph had ever heard before. The fact that Ren had actually stuttered got Raph thinking again- which was rather unusual. As always mentioned by Leo, he was the sort of "Action first, Talk second" guy, a trait which had landed him in more than one sticky situation before.
"So that time we went to the arcade. The Purple Dragons were under him too?"
"Yea."
More silence.
"The Shredder didn't arrange our meeting." Raph spoke out suddenly. "You chose to challenge me when you saw me. You chose to meet me. He may have known, but everything else was my- our choice." He raised his hand, once again, indicating the silver sai charms that twinkled in the light. Almost instinctively, Ren did the same.
"The Shredder didn't create this. He didn't create our bond. We did."
Ren stood up and ran at Raph, and for one wild, split second, the turtle thought she was going to stab him with her sais. However, Ren merely reacted by throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Her head rested on his right shoulder, and for some reason, he felt wetness there.
"Thank you." Her voice came out somewhat muffled. Raph answered by resting a hand on her back and patting her slowly, in a somewhat hesitant motion. It felt warm. Out of the blue, though, Raph caught sight of a flash of orange and hurriedly turned his head to catch sight of Mikey's face split into one large grin. He gave an inward groan.
Nevertheless, the rest of the month went by smoothly (if you ignored Raph chasing after Mikey for a period of two weeks ever since that incident).
It was time. Looking back, Raph almost wished that the one month would begin all over again. Even though the air was charged and tensed, life was still peaceful (albeit that it seemed like a death sentence was looming over them). He had asked Ren before- when the latter's injuries were rapidly healing and she was slowly gaining back her previous strength, as well as an even more refined inner strength, whether she would have preferred her previous lifestyle where The Shredder had not attempted to stop her from going out at night to join them. The orange haired girl had mulled over the thought for a considerable amount of time.
"Well, I know it wouldn't last forever. The Shredder would have found out even if he didn't know from the beginning, and I don't think my body could continue taking all that exertion-" Raph let out something between a snort and a cough. Considering she had so narrowly escaped death, he doubted anything beyond that would actually lay anything more than a dent on her. "-But look at it the other way. If I win this battle, I'll be free. I can become part of your family permanently." And with that, Ren had disappeared to join Master Splinter and Leo in meditation. It was not until she had left did Raph realise the implication of her words.
"... if I win this battle..."
If I survive.
Back then I always came and went from The Foot Headquarters from this building and through that window. I doubt The Shredder bothered to lock it up or anything; he thinks I'm dead." Ren was speaking rapidly- more to herself and Raph than to everyone, though, but the turtles and Master Splinter still caught on anyway. April and Casey were left at the sewers- their job of checking up to see if Oroku Saki had made any moves the week before the ambush, was finished, though they promised to do their best to help in anyway possible while the turtles, Master Splinter and Ren entered the battlefield.
"Are you sure you guys wanna do this? I can be fine alone..." Ren trailed off reluctantly. Now that the day was here, the fact that the turtles and Master Splinter were going to be fighting beside her, that she was going to be bringing them to, possibly, their demise, was starting to become more apparent.
"We're family. And family stick together." Leo answered firmly. Her held his hand out, and the other five placed theirs over his- the final marks of their bond before the battle.
"Let's do this."
Ren went first. Taking a few steps backwards, she ran and jumped from the safety of the building onto one of the window sills of The Foot Headquarters. Ensuring that the others would follow her lead, she eased herself up to the top floor steadily by climbing, using anything in her way to pull herself up- even bricks and other strange ornaments used to decorate the building.
"Do... You... Always... Do... This?" Mikey gasped as he struggled up, spurred on only to avoid the wrath of Master Splinter's walking stick.
"Mn," Ren grunted back, looking rather distracted now. The prospect of returning to her old home- albeit temporarily, had unsettled her slightly. Finally, after much climbing, the turtles collapsed into Ren's old room, while Master Splinter and Ren landed cautiously on the carpeted floor.
"Sometimes I use the front door," Ren said to no one in particular- though she seemed to have recalled Mikey's earlier questions. Mikey looked rather rankled by her revelation.
"Tin Can has a front door and you didn't tell us?!" He hissed in indignation.
"We couldn't have used it in the first place, remember? We have to keep a low profile so they don't notice us!" Don remonstrated fervently, though he, too, was lying in a disgruntled heap beside Mikey.
"O yea, like they're not gonna notice us when we attack them," Mikey muttered darkly under his breath, though he made no further attempts to press the subject. Ren was now looking around the room. Without lights at night time, it was almost impossible to decipher what was where, but she had lived here for a few years. Closing her eyes, she could envision almost every detail perfectly- especially the weapons shelf.
"C'mon. The Shredder should be in his office," Ren snapped, jerking the turtles away fro their attention of the room. Swift but silently, all of them made their way to The Shredder's personal headquarters.
"Want to try a quiet approach?" She whispered questioningly to Raph. It was the strangest sensation, she thought, standing on the other side of the door leading to a battle that may claim your life.
"Worth a shot." Raph grunted back.
Ren lifted her foot slightly and swung it front, smashing it into the wooden door and, yet another time, taking part of the all along with it, such was her pent up energy and strength being released.
"This, is the quiet approach?!"
"Oh come off it. Like Mikey said, it's not like they won't notice us when we attack them!" Though, before they could bicker anymore, their exchange was interrupted by the appearance of the owner of the room.
"YOU?!" The Shredder spat venomously at the sight of the orange haired teenager. "You're a stubborn one, aren't you? Just like your insolent parents!" The taunt of her parents seemed to send Ren over the edge; the next thing she knew, she was flying to The Shredder with her sais in her hand. The Shredder, in his armor, easily returned her blow, calling out his Foot Ninja in between strikes. Sure enough, his loyal ninja troop seemed to materialise out of nowhere, preventing the turtles and Master Splinter from helping Ren. Soon, a full-out battle was raging in The Shredder's quarters, slowly spilling out into the hallway and eventually taking over the whole floor. Ren, at first, tried to keep track of her friends in combat, but not only had that led to a few close shaves, she had failed to identify green or grey in the mass of ninjas and was forced to drop the idea, concentrating, instead, on her current battle.
"Did I tell you how I killed your father?"
Ren ducked from a punch and kicked.
"He fought bravely, I will give him that,"
She deflected one of his blows and punched.
"But in the end, he was still weak."
Her effort of punches and kicks were suddenly doubled.
"He fell in battle, and I gladly plunged my own gauntlet into his throat!"
There was no masking her anger now. Impulsively, Ren slammed her sais in the direction of The Shredder's throat. But the latter, having predicted the move, sidestepped, making her miss. The momentum of her strike carrying her a farther distance then expected- given that she had missed her target, The Shredder raised one of his ironed fists and punched Ren from behind, bringing her crashing to the ground.
"Even after a month, you're still a weakling. A weakling that brought along friends to die with her." The Shredder sneered callously.
"Your end will be like your parents'. Death by my own hands!" Then, brandishing his gauntlet. The Shredder brought down his deathly weapon. However, Ren, who, unlike their last skirmish, had not been injured to the point of an inability to move yet, pushed herself away from The Shredder's range- escaping his attack. The turtles and Master Splinter, she now saw, were being pushed back- a dot of green and grey in a sea of black. More ninjas, this time carrying chains, were appearing, and within mere moments, they had wrenched the turtle's weapons and Master Splinter's walking stick away from them. They were trapped- and helpless.
"FALL BACK!" Ren screamed, indicating the entrance to her room. The Shredder, however, had different plans for the girl and kicked at Ren. Ren sidestepped just in time, but The Shredder's connected punch brought a roaring ring to her right ear. Nevertheless, still running- and obliterating any ninja in her way, Ren reached the turtles and Master Splinter, leading them in the direction of her room. Frustrated, The Shredder snapped a pillar from the building and hurled it at the escaping five, effectively clearing a path for them to retreat in the direction of Ren's room. Screaming in rage, he lumbered after them.
Bolting into the room haphazardly, Ren quickly slammed several large bolts into place, locking the room and barring the ninja from any entrance- for now. Raph stared in surprise at the unusual number of locks attacked to her door. Seeing his look, Ren mumbled something about "Breaking the door" and "couldn't control my strength when young" in between gasps.
"Without our weapons, we don't stand a chance," Leo burst out as he panted heavily. The others nodded their assent, and Ren felt guilt burning inside her. "... Brought along friends to die..." The Shredder's chilling prediction echoed in her head. But now was not the time for that. They were slowly turning to her for guidance- even Master Splinter. She had to come up with a new plan.
"I... Never thought... You guys would lose... your weapons." Ren said, starting to regain her breath. Inhaling deeply, she steadied herself.
"I'm sorry." Raph walked up to her. For a moment, Ren thought he was going to shout at her- yell at her, admonish her for bringing them into this danger, and braced herself for the onslaught. Raph, however, evidently thought differently and placed his arms on her shoulders.
"We're family. Like Leo said, we stick together." His words calmed her.
"Err... Not to interrupt or anything, BUT WE HAPPEN TO HAVE THOUSANDS OF FOOT NINJA OUTSIDE BANGING DOWN THE DOOR!" Mikey screamed hysterically. Snapping back into reality, a sudden thought flashed through Ren's mind.
"WEAPONS!" She shouted in triumph, pulling Raph and gesturing to the others to follow her. Delving a little deeper into her room, she stopped at her weapons collection- her hand was still linked with Raph's.
"You can use the weapons here!" Ren smashed open (as carefully as she could) some of the glass windows and pulled out the weapons that lay inside.
"Nun-chucks, Bo Staff, Double swords, Walking sti- Err... This will do," Following her words, Ren pulled out the weapons whose names' she had recited, managing to produce a metal staff around the size of Master Splinter's walking stick and not even needing to question the prudent and elderly mentor for approval or help. This was her turf, her territory. Her knowledge and skill of weapons far surpassed anybody's; she was proving it outrightly now. The turtles and Master Splinter picked up the weapons she pulled out- each that they were most skilled with. Raph stared at Ren, wondering if she, too, would present a pair of sais for him to use.
"Here-" Abruptly, Ren unhooked both of her own sais and thrusted them to Raph. "I know you can use weapons other than your sais, but you're probably more skilled with them-" She indicated the twin sais that now rested on his hands, "- and I can still use the other weapons to the best of my advantage. A lot more better than you, that is."
"Gee, thanks for the boost in morale." Raph griped sarcastically. But he appreciated her gesture all the same. From Ren, this was the sign of ultimate trust- the fact that she was willing to lend him her precious sais.
"But if I find another crack when you return it to me after we leave this battleground. The consequences will be horrible." Her emerald eyes narrowed at her last words. Raph gulped and nodded, though he could not help sensing her rise in confidence- of which she chose to say "after" instead of "if" when addressing the possible aftermath of the situation. Ren's newfound confidence brought everyone's spirits up- along with their new weapons. Just in time too, as the Foot Ninja broke through the heavily barred door and launched their attack. Raph lashed out with his new weapons, though he craned his neck momentarily to see which weapon Ren was using to her aid, or, as she had said, to her greatest advantage. The answer soon appeared- quite literally- before his eyes.
She was using every single weapon she had collected.
The mass of weapons were now lying by her feet, and, as the Foot Ninja ran at Ren, the orange haired teenager scooped up a pair of tonfas in one single stroke and soundly defeated her enemies in a series of swipes, switching weapons swiftly to use to her advantage as soon as she saw fit. As Foot Ninja swarmed into the room, Ren seemed to lead a sort of bizarre dance of weapons- a blooming cinnabar flower in the midst of the enemy. She kicked, punched, leapt, struck, spun, swung and lashed out with all sorts of different weapons- all the weapons she had ever collected (save for the Bo Staff, Nun-chucks, Metal staff and Twin swords). A waltz of kamas, tonfas, kusarigamas, tekkos and katanas, a song of blades. Nothing, not even Master Splinter, was able to describe the scene they witnessed as the female teenager defeated the entire Foot Clan Ninja with her impressive display of weaponry.
"The Shredder!" Ren yelled as she surfaced from the pile of unconscious Foot Clan Ninja. Regaining their senses (Mikey still stared owlishly in awe at Ren, only broken when Raph grumpily rapped the side of his head to wake him up), the six of them raced out of the room, only to run into (not literally, thankfully) The Shredder himself.
"You have defeated The Foot Clan Ninja? I would have expected nothing less than the daughter of the legendary blacksmith," The Shredder's voice seem to announce a smirk. "It was a good idea for me to allow you to explore more about weapons after all."
"DON'T SPEAK AS IF YOU ARE MY FATHER!" Ren spat as she prepared to strike with the sais Raph had returned to her. She had promised. She would kill him, using the very pair of sais her father made for her. However, The Shredder stepped forward and grabbed her by her neck, resulting in the teenager furiously stabbing at his arm with her sais. The Shredder merely tightened his grip to prevent Ren from moving, easily deflecting the turtles and Master Splinter's attempts of forcing him to release his grip.
"Weren't you the one so interested in battling me? Well, YOU HAVE YOUR WISH NOW!" The Shredder snarled, lifting his arms and throwing Ren back into her room, before entering the room himself. The turtles and Master Splinter, who had been knocked back by his earlier assault, rushed to stop him, but The Shredder was prepared to seal the entire room. Hurling a small device into the air- the device which soon proved to be the same one the Mob Boss had produced and thrown at them, it exploded, bringing down a large part of the roof crashing to the ground- a wall of debris that could not be cleared or passed. The room (despite with a certain part of the roof gone) still remained intact- but well and completely sealed. The Foot Clan Ninja's bodies were blocking the window. There was no escape. This was a battle to their last.
Ren fought with her instincts- punch, kick, dodge, punch, duck, kick, kick, step sideways, neither giving way nor pressing on. It frustrated The Shredder, who was maddeningly intent on crushing her once and for all.
"I never did find a use for this, Ren," The Shredder hissed, suddenly producing a glass flask filled with green liquid. The antidote. Ren surveyed it emotionlessly, though her eyes were wary. What was The Shredder's plan? Almost as if he had read her mind, The Shredder leapt forward and made an attempt to unleash an upper cut, but Ren dodged back in time. However, his move soon proved to be a feint as he sprung up and sprayed the green liquid over her eyes.
Ren screamed as she fell to the knees. Her face seemed to be melting... And after a minute, the melting stopped, only to be replaced by pitch black darkness. She tried to open her eyes but found that she couldn't. Her eyelids were glued shut. She couldn't see.
She was blind.
She never heard nor saw The Shredder's next move until it was too late, where she felt the gauntlet tear at her face, followed by the warm sensation of blood.