me: hello readers! This chapter is a mixture of the 2012 episode 'The Gauntlet' and the 2003 episode 'The Shredder Strikes Part Two'. It also has my own unique twist. Enjoy!
June 2nd… 2012… New York City… Foot HQ… 11:53am…
(Shredder POV)
It has been days since I sent Bradford and Xever to find the turtles hideout and with it, Hamato Yoshi and maybe the other Guardians. But since they have failed and haven't returned to me, I can only assume that they are either dead or cannot face me for the fear of death as a punishment. I will find and defeat the turtles myself and then after that, Hamato Yoshi and the other Guardians. I knew it would take me a while before they were found, I am even willing for this to take years if necessary. I have time.
At this time though, I came across some luck as one of my Foot soldiers entered my shrine atop my tower, no doubt with information I can use.
"Masutā, watashitachiha buraddofōdo to ekusubā o mitsukemashita. Karera wa genzai,-gai no Cheesebite kōjō ni iru." (Master, we have located Bradford and Xever. They are currently around the city's Cheesebite Factory.)
"Sugureta. Nokori no subete no yunitto o atsumete kudasai. Watashi wa kame ya Hamato Yoshi kokorozashi to wa nani no chansu mo toranai." (Excellent. Gather the rest of all available units. I do not want to take any chances with the turtles or Hamato Yoshi.) every time I speak, I will want what I say to be carried out.
"Hai, Masutā Shureddā." (Yes, Master Shredder) the Foot soldier replied and afterwards, he exited the shrine to carry out my orders.
"I am no fool. I will not confront those two. Only tail them. If the turtles have an objective, they will surely be found eventually by Bradford and Xever. When they do, I will be there to finish what they cannot."
"Hehehe… so confident it will work, Saki. I wonder if you got that from me?" another voice was in the room, but I wasn't fazed at the way it spoke to me. If anybody else spoke like that to me, they would surely lose their head.
"You have given me many things, Ch'rell. Your confidence was not one of them." I am well acquainted with Ch'rell. So well in fact that he is the only one who can speak however he likes to me. After all, we are two sides of the same coin.
"Of course not. But need I remind you that the Utroms and the Guardians aren't the only thing in this city." Ch'rell said. I am all too aware of what else is here in this city.
"I know. The Utroms and the Guardians are here because the Kraang are also here. Wherever there are Kraang, the Utroms and Guardians will not be far behind. It was the same in Tokyo." I replied, which made me think about Karai. I know that I can count on her to keep things going smoothly in Tokyo and also juggle fighting the Guardians and the Kraang. But that matters not to me.
"I also care little for the Kraang. But they will prove useful to us later. For now, though…" I knew Ch'rell's thoughts just like he knew mine.
"Yes. Hamato Yoshi and the Utroms and Guardians come first." And with that, I walked other to the glass casing containing the armour set. It was time once again.
4:14pm… Fish Market…
Locating Bradford and Xever was a simple task. Even with my metal armour on, I was till virtually undetectable as I hid in the shadows that the daylight provided. A real Master can scour the shadows in broad daylight and not be detected with little to no effort. Bradford wore his street clothes so as to not stick out from the crowd of people around him. Surely those two have realised that they can't evade me forever once I learned of their failure, if they haven't, then I will teach them through pain. I watched from afar, atop a rooftop building as those two simpletons bought dinner from a fish salesman down on the street below.
"That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Present company excluded." Bradford said to Xever as the latter fished out a… fish that I haven't bothered to learn anything about. Xever handed the fish over to the salesman for him to chop up.
"So, we have a problem." Bradford said.
"No, you have a problem." Xever said back at Bradford,
"We've both failed Master Shredder. Don't you know what kind of punishment we'd receive from him from a failure like that without at least some good news to go with it? Don't you know what happened to Dr Stockman?" Bradford said. I knew that Xever knew what happened and he grimaced at the thought of me doing the same to him. He growled, mostly to himself,
"If I had the opportunity, I would crush those turtles like bugs!" Xever said and it was then that Bradford's phone rang in with a new message. No doubt from one of his unit members. Bradford flipped open his phone and read the message, which made him grin. "What is that?"
"Opportunity." He said and as their lunch was chopped up and presented to them in a bag, they left the market. But not before Bradford clumsily walked into a dog that he somehow didn't notice was right behind him. I thought I taught him better than that.
9:23pm… Wolf Hotel
It has been five hours. Five hours and the best those two could do was track the turtles to a hotel and then engage them after they had fought against the Kraang. The Kraang have built an enormous contraption of sorts on top of the hotel, most likely without anyone noticing. I would have engaged them myself but the actions the turtles were using had caused me to stop, and listen. I saw the turtle in the purple mask opened a panel at the bottom of the device, and he nearly paled.
"Uh oh." The purple masked turtle said,
"Uh oh? Donnie, you said you knew how to do this!" the blue masked turtle said in response, he was agitated.
"I didn't count on a design this complex, Leo." They are bickering during a mission. Amateurs.
"Th-They're aliens from another dimension! What did you expect? A big round ball with a lit fuse that said 'bomb'?" at the word 'bomb', I had really thought that Bradford and Xever would stop what they were doing. And upon closer inspection from where I was hiding, the bomb was filled with the Kraang's mutagen.
"No! But this is- "but then the purple masked turtle was interrupted by the turtle in red,
"Boy, I sure hope this argument goes on for another four minutes and fifteen seconds!" using sarcasm in the middle of a time ticking bomb and then hitting your companion during a mission? Definitely foolish.
But not as foolish as Bradford and Xever. I know they had heard that the device on the hotel roof is a bomb. As the turtles, particularly the one in purple, scrambled to try and figure out how to disable the bomb, Bradford and Xever revealed their presence on the roof. Those two morons. I would like nothing more than to destroy my enemies, but I would not be a victim of the Kraang or idiocy in the process. I would rather be alive to see my enemies suffer and die. The turtles split, the turtle in purple stayed by the contraption to try and disable it, while the other three turtles engaged Bradford and Xever.
(Normal POV)
Mikey launched the first attack on Xever, he launched himself forward with a hook punch to the head, but Xever countered by ducking underneath and then picking Mikey up wrestler style and then throwing him down onto the floor and then backflips away, with Leo in pursuit. When the two were close enough, Xever launched a round kick to Leo's head, who then blocks the kick,
"You guys picked a really bad time for this!" Leo said as he glared at Xever, and then pushed him back. Xever quickly regains his footing,
"Oh, sorry for the inconveinience. When would you prefer to breathe your last breath?" Xever responded and as he attacked with a jumping side kick, Leo blocked with the hilts of his twin katana.
"If that thing goes off, it'll wipe us all out!" Leo all but announced and from across the roof, while Bradford and Raph were trading blows, Bradford had enough time to respond to Leo's words,
"I would rather perish in battle, than return with nothing!" Bradford said and then swung down on Raph's head with his single katana, Raph responds by jumping back and bouncing off the roof's water tower and attacked with a knee thrust. The attack connects directly into Bradford's face, who holds it in response and was momentarily dazed. Raph then turned to Donnie who was still trying to figure out the bomb,
"Will you hurry up and defuse the bomb? We're dealing with a couple of nut-jobs here!" Raph shouted at Donnie as if it would hurry up his thinking but all it did was make Donnie snap at him,
"BE QUIET!" he snapped before going back to the device and then Raph and Bradford clashed again, katana to twin sai. And as Leo and Mikey attacked Xever on both sides, Xever responded with a split kick that hit both off them back. Leo regained his footing but Mikey fell onto his shell. Bradford broke the stalemate between him and Raph by using his free hand to grab Raph's head and then threw him across the roof. Raph slammed into a wall on the edge of the roof, shell first. He then had to quickly duck and rool out of the way as Xever came flying in with double front kick. Raph dodged and Xever hit the wall. Xever then bounced off the wall and continued his assault on Raph with a flurry of fluid kicks. Raph backed up and blocked each kick before he jumped and backflip up onto the top of the Kraang bomb. Xever gave chase.
During this, Mikey and Leo were fighting against Bradford. He was at a distance away at some point during the fight and decided to charge at Mikey with the force of a charging rhino. Mikey respond by flinging the kusarigama chain at him from where he stood, but his efforts only resulted in Bradford dodging each attack as he got closer and closer and then when Mikey withdrew the kusarigama chain extension back into his nunchucks to attack with them, Bradford rammed into Mikey with his shoulder which also rammed him into a steel pole behind him. Mikey momentarily had the wind knocked out of him. It only took Mikey a second to breathe again, just as Bradford started swinging his katana down at Mikey repeatedly. Mikey dodged to one side the first two times and the third time blocked the katana with his nunchucks, and Bradford then tried to overpower him. He didn't get a chance to as Leo jumped into the air and swung his katana down at Bradford's head. Bradford saw this coming however and quickly responded by turning to Leo and blocking his strike before swinging his katana and pushing Leo back.
Meanwhile, "Okay, down to two wires. Which one do I cut? Black? Or green?" Donnie said as he held a pair of wire cutters and sweating nervously. And why not? If he messed this up, he would set the bomb off early and kill everybody on the roof, in the building and a large portion of New York and killing tens of thousands of people in the process. From afar, Mikey heard Donnie's question and made the mistake of making a suggestion whilst he was fighting,
"Go for the green!" he said before getting a strong punch to his jaw from Bradford. Just a few more seconds and the bomb would kill everyone anyway.
"Eh, why not?" Donnie said almost defeatedly and hastily cut the green wire with cutters and to his surprise, the bomb became disabled. Donnie was surprised and relieved at the same time that he couldn't help but smile at this accomplishment.
"GUYS! Guys! Mikey… was right about something!" Donnie said before bringing his steel staff out and ran atop behind the building's giant neon name to help Leo and Mikey against Bradford and leapt high into the air, as he came down he bounced off Bradford's head and landed behind him. He then struck Bradford's shoulder with the steel staff before he raced off atop the now disabled bomb to help Raph against Xever.
As Raph fought against Xever, the glow that the mutagen inside the bomb glowed and illuminated the combatants, Xever was so busy concentrating on Raph that he didn't see Donnie approach from behind until Donnie hit him over the head with his steel staff. Dazed, Xever became helpless as Raph thrust his knee into Xever's gut. From then on, Raph and Donnie steadily pushed Xever back.
From the other end of the bomb, Leo and Mikey had taken control of the flow of the fight away from Braford. Case in point, Mikey had just smacked Bradford over the head with his two nunchucks, he then ducked down to allow Leo and his twin katana to charge at Bradford, who could only block the two swords with his single katana but was still being pushed back and losing ground.
Eventually though, Bradford and Xever were pushed back in such a way that the two were now back to back and because of the bomb's narrow area from which to fight on, they had run out of room.
"You are worthy adversaries. But the fight is ours. Lay down your weapons." Leo said in a comically heroic fashion and raph held back a groan as he knew that Leo got that line either from Space Heroes or was influenced by it.
"Never!" Xever said as he glared at the turtles in front of him. Bradford held his katana up in defiance.
"You don't have a choice. You've lost." Leo said but then Bradford did the stupidest action that he would regret quickly.
"If I'm going down…" he looked to the large bomb, he, Xever and the four turtles were standing right next to breakable glass that helped contain the mutagen. Bradford however didn't know that. "…I'm taking you with me!" he then stabbed the glass container with his sword and the reaction from the four turtles was immediate. The four backed away fast as the glass cracked and then smashed apart, spilling the mutagen contents all over Bradford and Xever and washing them off the platform. Without the mutagen, the bomb powered down completely. The four turtles jumped from the platform and landed on the hotel roof.
"So, to sum up; we kicked the butts of the Kraang and Shredder's top henchmen, while also defusing the bomb and saving the city." Leo said triumphantly and feeding off the overconfidence of his three brothers as they also did the same with each other.
"Yeah, we're not overconfident!" Raph said with a cocky grin.
"We're just that good." Leo said and with that the four turtles began to leave the roof, celebrating their victory early, but…
"Your skills are impressive." Another voice rang out on the roof, stopping the turtles in their tracks, the four ninja's turned their attention to the top of the water tower where the voice was coming and there they saw the nightmare that was the Shredder, in his full armour set. His announcement was followed by himself jumping off the water tower and landing on the hotel roof. "But they will not save you." The Shredder said in tone that meant he was here to kill. The four turtles looked on at the Shredder, to say their confidence turned into nervousness was an understatement.
"Oh man… do you think that's… The Shredder?" Donnie asked hesitantly and nervously,
"Well it's definitely A Shredder!" Raph replied.
"I am not surprised that my enemies are in fact mutants. You are not the first creatures I have encountered. And you will not have been the first creatures I have killed." The Shredder said and at that he raised his hand as a signal, then, either from out of nowhere or from the shadows around them, the turtles suddenly found themselves surrounded by a whole legion of Foot ninjas (ten that they could see, there were probably more). The four ninja turtles readied their weapons again, and something told them, they may not get out of this battle unscathed.
"Foot Ninja, attack! Kill them!" The Shredder ordered and on command, the whole unit charged into battle against the turtles, and the turtles likewise did the same against the Foot. Leo was the first to attack, as two ninjas came in to attack him, he responded with a quick jump split kick to their chests and sent them staggering onto their backs. Donnie from another part of the roof, had just countered a Foot Ninja's slashing sword by spinning behind the ninja and striking his back with his steel staff. Raph had locked blades with another ninja, and undid the deadlock by thrusting a side kick into the ninja's stomach. Meanwhile, Mikey was standing face to face against three ninjas, he spins his nunchucks, ready to fight them, but he did not see the Shredder attack him, from behind, the Shredder jumped into the air and launched a flying side kick into Mikey's right side which sent him skidding across the roof on his shell. Leo was busy fighting against the same two ninjas he had previously knocked away and he too didn't notice the Shredder in time until he felt a strong kick to his shell courtesy of the Shredder. Leo was momentarily knocked away but he quickly regained his footing. Donnie was also busy fighting against two ninjas in front of him, he also didn't notice the Shredder approach him from behind until he grabbed Donnie from his steel staff and his shoulder and threw him across the roof. He landed on his back and at that point, another Foot Ninja jumped into the air and intended to finish him with a katana slash down onto his head. Fortunately for him, Raph appeared and block the katana with his sai,
"Watch your back, Brainiac!" Raph said,
"Isn't that what you're for, Raph?" Donnie replied and then had to defend himself as two more ninjas attacked him, and at that point Raph had disarmed the Foot ninja of his katana, but then the Shredder jumped in front of Raph and attacked. The two blocked and attacked each other, Raph with his twin sai and the Shredder with his bladed gauntlets. One moment later however, the two stood a foot apart and Raph took the initiative to thrust his sai forward and the Shredder's head, but the Shredder countered by blocking with both his bladed gauntlets and then shoved the sai down so that raph's face was exposed, he then thrusted a side kick into Raph's face and sent him flying back until his shell hit the hotel's electronic neon sign, the sign sparked at the damage and Raph was given a nasty one second shock throughout his body.
"RAPH!" Leo shouted out in concern for his brother before he had to fight against three ninjas. They stood next to the disabled bomb when they attacked each other. Two of the ninjas attacked leo from the front and before either could land a strike, Leo skipped in and side kicked one of them away and then blocked the other's katana strike to his head with his twin katana. He slashed his katana in an arc, pushing the ninja back and then as the third ninja came in to attack, Leo performed another split kick, the kick connecting to their stomachs and pushing them back. Just then the Shredder leaped into action against Leo, but Leo saw him coming this time and used his twin katana to block the Shredder's left bladed gauntlet, but had to duck and roll back as his right bladed gauntlet came in for a swipe at Leo's neck. Leo succeeded in dodging the attack and all the Shredder did was create a massive gash in the side of the disabled bomb, the damage making it spark. Donnie saw this happen from afar and realised what this meant; the electronics inside the bomb were still active, and without the mutagen, the bomb was just a regular bomb that could still destroy the building they were on. The Shredder cared little for this and charged at Leo, he took another swipe at Leo's head and missed again as Leo dodged by ducking and rolling under the swipe and the blade damaged the bomb and it sparked some more. Leo then attacked with his katana but the Shredder easily kicked him with a round kick to Leo's plastron and sent him skidding across the roof on his side, much like he did with Mikey. The sparks that emanated from the bomb however, caught the Shredder's attention and he realised that some of the sparks weren't getting out and he quickly leaped away from the bomb.
Then, there was an explosion. Not big enough to catch everyone on the roof, the turtles and the Shredder were still on the roof but far away from the blast so as to not get caught in it, and they along with a majority of the other Foot Ninjas were unharmed. The blast however had set fire to the building's roof. The fire covered most of the roof, but the Shredder was still willing to fight the turtles.
"Foot ninja, evacuate!" the Shredder ordered and on command, the Foot ninjas disappeared but he stayed behind. He stood from one end of the roof and the four turtles gathered to each other and faced him from the other side. The Shredder and the turtles charged at each other, but for the turtles it was to no avail, for as soon as they were within attacking distance, The Shredder jumped into the air and kicked Leo and Raph away in a split-second attack. Donnie was next and tried to attack with his staff, but the Shredder simply grabbed it and then bashed Donnie over the head with a spinning back fist and knocked him over onto his shell. As Donnie was down, the Shredder extended his blades with the intent to finish him, but Mikey in response threw his kusarigama chain and the chain and hook wrapped itself around the Shredder's gauntlet and pulled. The Shredder was not that surprised and yanked the chain and Mikey towards him, and as Mikey flew, he was helpless as the Shredder thrust a strong round kick to Mikey's plastron and sent him flying. Mikey wasn't done though, as he skimmed across the rooftop, he found time to throw some shuriken at the Shredder before disappearing over the edge of the burning roof. The shuriken flew but Shredder blocked with his gauntlets. At that point, the fire grew more intense as it consumed more of the building and not just the roof but the upper floors as well. At this point, the building's fire alarm sounded throughout the air, as well as the sounds of people panicking and rushing around inside the building. The Shredder didn't care however, but the fire alarm distracted him for a second and it gave Leo and Donnie enough time to attack, Leo attacked first, the Shredder reacted but it was too slow as Leo raced across the Shredder and his twin katana connected with his breastplate (no damage), and then Donnie raced from the other side and following up Leo's attack, he struck the Shredder across his head (along with the helmet he was wearing) with his steel staff and although there was no damage to the helmet, the Shredder still felt it. At this point, Mikey reappeared on the blazing roof next to Raph.
Leo came in at the Shredder from above intending to slash at his head, but the Shredder catches him and then slammed him shell first onto the roof, and with the fire weakening the roof, it cracked. With Leo on the ground, the Shredder chose then to finish him and readied his blades, but Donnie stopped him by swinging his staff down onto Shredder's armoured head. Again, the helmet was undamaged by the Shredder still felt the attack. He turned attention from Leo and to Donnie, he then grabbed Donnie's head, who didn't react quick enough, and threw him into Leo. The two turtles landed in a mess of limbs and Shredder once again readied his blades to finish them. But at that moment, Raph came flying in out of nowhere and tackled the Shredder from above and began relentlessly pounding his fists into the Shredder's head and face, and even though the Shredder felt each blow, but they didn't even slow him down as he stood back up with such force and speed that Raph staggered back but as he did so, Shredder turned and attacked raph with such speed that he was a blur.
The next thing Raph knew was that there was a sharp pain in his left shoulder as the Shredder stabbed him through his plastron and digging into the shoulder with one of his bladed gauntlets. Raph was too tough to scream but did manage a painful yelping noise as his blood started dribbling from his wound. The Shredder then retracted the blade, causing more blood to flow out of his wound and Raph kneeled down from the pain giving Shredder enough time to grab and throw Raph over his shoulder and then slammed him into the floor, further cracking and damaging it. As he readied his blades again to finish off Raph, Mikey once again threw his kusarigama chain at Shredder, and the hook and chain once again wrapped itaelf around his bladed gauntlet, this time however, Mikey threw it from atop the hotel's neon sign, he then dropped down behind the sign and as he went down with one end of the weapon, his weight brought the Shredder up to the sign. When Mikey landed on the floor, the Shredder momentarily found himself stuck and hanging high next to the sign. But then he slashed part of the neon sign with his bladed gauntlet, destroying it and unable to stop gravity, the slashed off part of the sign fell toward Mikey. Mikey let out a surprised scream before the partly destroyed sign landed on top of him. Lucky for him, his shell protected him, but it still hurt like hell. His three brothers rushed to him and used their combined strength to lift the destroyed but still heavy sign up, giving Mikey just enough space to crawl out. The four turtles stood battered and bruised and in Raph's case bloodied as well, but they were defiant against the armoured ninja as he sliced through the chain keeping him up and landing at a distance away from the ninja turtles. The Shredder readied his blades again but as he approached the turtles the building finally started to crumble around all five of them.
"NO!" the Shredder shouted as the destruction of the roof caused him to be separated from his kill. Though the turtles weren't exactly lucky either, the cracks and the destruction split them up in three different directions.
"GUYS! GET TO SAFETY!" Leo shouted out in a bit of a panic but then after he did so, the flames spread even further and completely cut him off from his three brothers. Leo backed away from the flames as best as he could, but in his battered and exhausted state, he didn't notice that he was backing to the edge until he tripped over the edge and plummeted down of the burning building. Leo screamed as he fell from the building, he would've surely been killed in the fall if the combination of his hard shell and a conveniently placed truck below hadn't been there to cushion what would have been a death fall. The shunt of his shell hitting the truck smashed the truck in, bending in completely out of shape and the pain that came with it was immense, but that was so much better than being dead, but at the same time it caused Leo to slip into unconsciousness.
The flames and the destruction of the roof separated Donnie and Mikey from Leo and Raph, and the flames only grew more intense. With no time to think this through, Donnie and Mikey jumped from the edge of the building and they too began a long fall to the ground below. Donnie got probably the best landing out of his brothers as he fell down towards a lamppost and though he used his steel staff to hook onto the top of the light, though that didn't stop him from screaming as he fell towards it, but as tried to hold on, his tired and beaten state couldn't hold on long and he lost his grip on his staff and he continued to fall to the ground. Luckily for him, his second fall wasn't as high and though he fell and screamed as he did so, the fall didn't kill him as he hit the ground. It hurt, but he was alive and conscious.
Though Mikey jumped from the same edge as Donnie, he had no lamppost to save him from falling to his death. It was then that he improvised his own rescue, as he fell, he was near the wall of the burning building and to potentially save himself, he used the hooks of his kusarigama chains and stabbed them into the wall, but that didn't stop his fall, only slowing it. The hooks left jagged and scarred lines down the wall of the building, slowing down his fall and when he couldn't hold on any longer, he was then just around ten or so feet off the ground and though he landed on his feet, the momentum of the fall meant that he landed hard and Mikey let out a painful scream as he felt something break in his right foot, which made him tumble onto his side, clutching his injured foot as he lay there on the pavement.
The flames had backed Raph to the edge of the building that would lead him into an alley, and with no time to think of a way to escape the flames uninjured, Raph down to the alley below. Raph had the fortune to grab onto the fire escape (ironically), but as he gripped the railings with both hands, the pain in his bleeding shoulder and damaged plastron flared throughout the rest of his body, he let out a pained yelp and he inadvertently let go of the railings as a result. He reacted quickly though when he grabbed a hold of another railing below with his right hand and this time, no pain in his shoulder. He then carefully levered himself onto the fire escape, clutching his bleeding shoulder as he was now on the fire escape, but he moved quickly as the blaze of the building grew too intense now.
?
The alley the four turtles walked through was foggy, dark, eerie. The four were battered and beaten and looked as though they moved to try and hide. As they neared the corner that would lead them to the street, Leo signalled for them to stop,
"Shredder could be anywhere, guys. Stay frosty." Leo said,
"FYI, frost can't accumulate unless below freezing except for- "Donnie began to ramble on about the science of frost and cold, which annoyed Raph who was standing behind him,
"Maybe he has an 'off switch' somewhere?" Mikey asked and on cue, Raph slapped Donnie on the head, effectively ending the rambling with Donnie letting out an 'OW' as a result.
"Found it!" Raph said as Mikey giggled, but the laughter and the smiling stopped at the sound of an all too familiar voice,
"And I found four pathetic turtles, with only seconds to live." It was the voice of the Shredder but the darkness of the alley combined with the frost made it sound like he was everywhere.
"Wouldn't want to be them!" Mikey said a bit ignorantly.
"We ARE them!" Raph corrected and the four turtles brought out their weapons and scanned the area to find the source of the voice. Mikey nervously backed away, lightly spinning his nunchucks but then the Shredder suddenly appeared behind him and grabbed him by the shoulders and with a surprised yelp, Mikey was dragged off and out of sight in the frost. The sound along with one of his nunchucks sliding to his brother's feet got their attention.
"Mikey!" Donnie shouted and then charged at the Shredder with his steel staff, but as he attacked by swinging the staff down upon the Shredder, he countered by sidestepping and then thrusting a strong punch to Donnie's face, the punch connected and Donnie was sent flying across the alley, only to be stopped by the Shredder suddenly speeding behind him and then thrusting a side kick to his shell and propelled him forward and Donnie landed face first on the ground. He then turned his attention to the two remaining turtles.
"Raph, take him down!" Leo ordered as he and Raph charged at the Shredder. Leo attacked from the ground while Raph ran along the wall to attack from above. Leo attack did nothing except earn him and few punches to his head and then getting kicked away, then as Raph jumped from the wall and used gravity to propel him, he pointed his twin sai down onto the Shredder. But it was no use as Shredder smacked the sai away with his gauntlets, he then let out a series of quick jabs to Raph's plastron before thrusting a final punch into his plastron that sent him flying across the alley and into the darkness that the frost provided, screaming as he flew away. Leo ran after his brother but no result as Raph vanished behind the thick blanket of frost, his screaming stopping as he did.
"NO!" Leo shouted, after that, the nightmare got worse as the night sky turned red, Leo looked about trying to find the Shredder but he was gone, his demonic laughter echoing throughout the alley. Suddenly, Leo felt a presence behind him and when turned to face him, he was sent flying across the alley as Shredder slashed his plastron with his bladed gauntlets. Leo scrambled to get away but he ended up backing against the wall, fear evident on his face as the Shredder approached him, eyes as red as a demon and the blades of his gauntlet scratching the wall ah he approached to kill Leo.
"There is no place you can run, no place you can hide, where I will not find you. You think you are ready to face me?" Shredder's voce bordered on demonic as he approached Leo and when he was within distance, Leo let out a scream as the Shredder sliced at him.
"NOOOOO!" the scene has changed and Splinter was in his bedroom, meditating, though his meditation had somehow turned into nightmare. But then, Splinter realised that it was more than just a nightmare; it was a vision. His sons needed him.
"I must find my sons!" Splinter said to himself, and with that, he grabbed his jade cane and strapped on his katana (his sword was a bit more refined than Leo's, and where Leo's sword guard was square shaped, Splinter's was round), and raced out of the safety of the Lair to find his sons.
9:31pm… Wolf Hotel…
Though Donnie was in pain, at least he was still moving. He slowly stood up and the sounds of pained moaning and groaning that Mikey was making, caught his attention.
"Gee, I can't take you anywhere, Mikey." Donnie said as he tried to lighten the mood. They had just got beaten down by the Shredder, so he thought he may as well try.
"Hey! Come on, dude. I'm hurt, be nice!" Mikey said as he continued to clutch his foot. Donnie knew something was wrong but now was not the time or place to examine the wound.
"Come on, grab a hold." Donnie said as he lent Mikey his staff to lean on. Mikey took the staff and used it to steadily stand. He then wrapped his arm around Donnie shoulders to stabilise himself. The two then walked away, but they noted that the building was still full of panicking humans. They could do nothing to save them from the burning wreckage as the building crumbled in on itself. As the turtles walked away, they could help but feel partly responsible for not being able to stop the Shredder from igniting the building. As they rounded a corner into an alley, they turned their heads to the building,
"Dude…"
"Uh oh…"
The two looked on as the Shredder simply walked out of the blaze like it was nothing to him. The image solidified in Donnie's mind that the Shredder couldn't be human.
"Tell me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing…" Mikey whispered, as he didn't want that nightmare knowing where he was.
"I wish I could, Mikey." Donnie replied also in a whisper. The Shredder was now completely out of the blaze and into the street outside. He raised his hand and on cue, the group of ninjas that he brought with him all appeared and kneeled before him.
"Find the turtles, they cannot be far. Do not allow them to escape." The Shredder ordered, but before the Foot ninjas could carry out their orders, the sounds of police, ambulances and fire trucks sounded in the background and approached the building. "Grr… Foot Ninja, disappear! Report to me when you find them. I want to make sure that they are dead." And with that, the Shredder and the Foot Ninjas scattered into the shadows and as if on cue, police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks surrounded the burning wreckage.
Leo awoke from where he was sprawled on and the first thing he noted was that he was in a lot of pain. He tried to shake it off, but the pain was too much. He should thank his shell and the truck that he landed on later. Right now, he was more concerned with moving and regrouping with his brothers. Leo could only let out grunts and moans of pain as he tried to move, but his slow and pained movements made him fit the stereotype 'turtles are slow'. Eventually though, he managed to crawl to the edge, though his movements were slow and clumsy and as a result, when he reached the edge of the truck, even gently lowering himself down proved too much. He landed on both feet on the pavement but the pain was still too much and he keeled over on his hands and knees.
"C-come… on… Leo… … … y-you… c-can… get… … aw…ay… … … just… ig…nore… the… … … pain…" Leo was giving himself some pep talk and even to him it sounded pathetic with him grunting and breathing in pain in between words, he still steeled himself to get to the safety of the shadows, even if he had to crawl there. Leo should've known it wouldn't be that simple because five seconds or so later, he was surrounded by six Foot ninjas and he was in no condition to fight them.
"…oh… shell…"
The building was crumbling with innocent people still inside, and though Raph was lucky that the fire escape was there for him to save himself from the fall, he still couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for it because they couldn't stop the Shredder from starting the fire, even if it was unintentional. Raph didn't know it, but between himself and his brothers, he was the least injured from the fall, as he was still capable of running, and fighting even though the blood was running down his plastron from his stab wound.
"I gotta move. Who knows what's going on with my bros right now?" Raph said inside his head and then he proceeded to exit the alley and find his brothers. He had just walked out of the alley and onto the street, he could hear sirens from police cars, ambulances and fire trucks around the corner, but that wasn't what he was concerned with, for as soon as he walked out of the alley, the first thing he saw was Leo on his hands and knees and surrounded by Foot ninjas. Leo looked badly hurt and in no condition to fight. The Foot ninjas drew out their weapons and Raph saw what this meant,
"Like shell they will!" Raph brought out his twin sai and charged in to rescue Leo. The Foot ninjas were so focused on the beaten and badly wounded turtle on the floor in front of them that they never saw Raph coming for them until he clobbered one of them over the head with the hilt of one of his sai.
"Hey, Leo. I'm no expert but that doesn't look like a fighting stance." Raph said as he pointed to Leo who was still on his hands and knees because of the pain but he managed to look up at Raph.
"Ha… and … ha…" Leo said weakly but thanks to Raph all of the remaining ninja's attention was on himself now and not Leo. Five Foot ninjas versus an injured Raphael? Still easy. The ninjas attacked and Raph quick to respond, as one ninja jumped up to swing his katana down onto Raph's head, he countered by jumping up to meet the ninja head on, and slammed the hilts of his twin sai into the ninja's stomach, thrusting him back and onto the pavement. As he landed, another ninja took another swipe at his head with his katana, and Raph responded to that by ducking under the swipe and using a low spin kick to the ninja's lower legs, and though the ninja jumped up and out the way, Raph saw another opportunity and thrust the hilt on one of his sai into the ninja's gut as he came down, thrusting him away just like the other ninja. Another ninja came in next and tried to stab Raph in the head with one of his twin daggers, but Raph countered by sidestepping and bashing the ninja over the head with hilt of one of his twin sai (three times). The ninja slumped over like a sack of potatoes, out cold. Then, the other two ninjas that he knocked over early, sprang up onto their feet. Now it was four on one. Raph charged at them and the ninjas were a little unprepared for it, giving Raph the opportunity for a clean strike, and he took it. He first disarmed onr of the ninjas of his katana and then grabbed his head and forcefully smashed it against the side of the truck, hard. The ninja fell to the ground and was unconscious by the time the remaining three attacked. As one of the ninjas tried to slash and Raph's head in a downward swing with his katana, Raph responded by launched himself forward and struck the ninja twice in the head with the hilt's of his twin sai before thrusting a front kick to his gut, launching him into the wall behind him, just then one of the remaining ninjas got behind Raph and wrapped his arms around Raph and pinned his arms down and then his one remained companion intended to cut and slash him with his knives, but Raph countered this by thrusting a straight rising kick up into the attacking ninja's jaw and then repeatedly thrusting his elbows into the other's ribs. The ninja ended up letting go after the eighth elbow to his ribs before Raph thrust one last elbow into the ninja's face. He was out cold by the time he hit the ground. Then the last and final ninja once again charged at Raph, but as he swung his knives down, Raph sidestepped and then hammered the hilt of his sai onto the ninja's head. Six ninjas down. And the only reason why there was blood on the ground was because Raph's wound dripped it everywhere during the fight.
Raph placed his twin sai back into his belt before approached Leo, who during the scuffle, had managed to sit himself up against the side of the truck. By then the building that was on fire next to them grew more and more intense.
"Come on, Leo. We gotta get you out of here." Raph said as he placed Leo's arm over his shoulder and used his other arm to help straighten Leo up as he helped him up.
"…oh… so, you're… leader now?" Leo said weakly and also jokingly.
"Given that you're in no shape to order me around now, yes." Raph said and then gently moved Leo away from the chaotically burning building.
"… got… to… find the… others…" Leo said weakly,
"I know, bro. Hopefully, they haven't got the same issues we have." Raph said as he hoped to whatever higher being that Donnie and Mikey were alive and okay.
Speaking of Donnie and Mikey…
The two, because of Mikey's bad foot, they made slow but steady progress away from the crumbling hotel. They were in the middle of an alley when,
"Mikey, look." Donnie said in a whisper and pointed up ahead. In the direction they were going, at the other end of the alley, they saw a few human shadows coming their way and although it could be curious or concerned humans coming their way, with their luck it was probably more Foot ninjas. Donnie quickly scanned the area and noticed a fire escape up on one side of one of the buildings.
"Mikey, up there." Donnie pointed to the fire escape and Mikey nodded in agreement. Although he had a bad foot, he could still use his other good foot to help bounce the two of them of the ladder. And they did so, and from above, they saw that it was indeed more ninjas looking for them.
Back to Leo and Raph…
In another alley, Leo and Raph had taken refuge in the shadows of the alley, and unless someone had night vision, they would not be able to see them as they seemed perfectly camouflaged in the darkness. Good thing then the two Foot ninjas who just entered the same alley didn't know this as they were oblivious as they stood side by side in front of the very same shadows that concealed Raph completely.
"Koko demonai." (Not here either) one of the ninjas said,
"Karera wa sudeni hanarete iru to wa omowanai?" (You don't think they got away already?) the other replied and in that instance, the two were unpleasantly surprised when a pair of three fingered green hands grabbed each of their heads before unceremoniously slamming them together. The two fell to the ground completely knocked out.
"We have now." Raph said as he quietly stepped back into the shadows to check on Leo. Leo in question was sat upright against a wall, still hurt but breathing normally. Raph took that as a good sign. He crouched down to Leo so that they were face to face.
"Leo, how are you holding up?" Raph said and then thought how much of a stupid question that was once he said it. Leo thought that too, but decided to humour him anyway,
"… peachy…"
Leo was in no condition to help himself, let alone Raph as well, which would have been helpful as a pair of hands reached out from behind Raph. They grabbed his shoulders, surprising him and then pulled him back. "WHAA!" was all Raph could manage before he wrenched himself free of the grip on his shoulders and turned to smash in the face of who dared to try-
But behind him was Master Splinter and when Raph saw him, surprise and relief filled him.
"Master Splinter!" Raph said out loud in which Splinter shushed him to be quiet. Now Splinter could see the conditions his sons were in; Raph looked bruised in a few places with a very noticeable stab wound in his left shoulder, and Leo looked badly beaten, like he just survived a war.
"My sons, I had a feeling something awful had happened to you. It appears my feelings were correct." Splinter said and then crouched down in front of Leo. "Where are Donatello and Michelangelo?" Splinter asked.
"We got separated, I don't know where they are. We've been hiding from Foot ninjas." In the condition that they were in it was no surprise to Master Splinter when Raph said this.
"Come, we must get you two to safety." Splinter said and then helped Leo up.
"But what about the others?" Raph asked.
"I will find them, Raphael." Splinter said and Leo and Raph were relieved at his words. After a few moments, the three slowly walked to a manhole cover in the middle of another alley. "Raphael, take Leonardo down below. I will follow soon with Donatello and Michelangelo. Do not come back up, and stay below." Master Splinter ordered and although Raph wanted to protest, not only would that be stupid to try and argue with his Sensei but also because Leo wouldn't be able to fight for himself. He was on bodyguard duty, and so he obeyed orders.
"Hai, Sensei."
Back to Donnie and Mikey…
Although the two ninja turtles were slow, they had managed to get onto a rooftop across the burning building. From above, they could see that the police had barricaded the area to keep the ever-growing crowd of people from getting too close. They also saw fire trucks and fireman frantically trying to contain the blaze and numerous emergency health nurses and doctors helping the people who escaped and ordering for more ambulances to come by as there were too many hurt and dying. This was the result of the Shredder's actions for trying to kill them and their brothers and from the look of things, he didn't care of who was caught in the crossfire. The two turtles were so caught up in the scene before them that they almost didn't hear their own names being called out to them.
"Sensei!" the two said together and then slowly walked to over to their Sensei. Master Splinter also walked towards them and when they met in the middle of the roof.
"Are we ever glad to see you, Sensei." Mikey said,
"And I am pleased to see you too, my sons." Master Splinter replied,
"Where are Leo and Raph?" Donnie asked,
"Waiting for us. They are already in the sewer. Now come, before we attract unwanted attention." Splinter said and they didn't need to be told twice but as for Mikey,
"But… all those people…" as Mikey took one last glance at the chaos behind him, Splinter placed his hand on Mikey's shoulder,
"I know, Michelangelo. But there is nothing that we can do for them." Master Splinter looked solemn as he said this, the fire of the hotel already brought back painful memories for Splinter because of the Shredder and now, the Shredder has once again ruined more lives. "As you have probably seen, the Shredder cares not for those who are in the crossfires of this folly. And to think, even now we do not know why…" Splinter was brutally honest about this. There was no way around it for the scene before them. The three then steadily walked away from the chaos behind them, though the two turtles looked more downtrodden.
10:02pm… The Lair…
Once all five got back to the Lair, the extent of the damage they suffered became more noticeable once they were safe in their home now. But today saw not one, but two failures. What started as a hunt for a mutant pigeon named Pete had then led to a failure to rescue Kirby O'neil, finding out about the mutagen bomb from said rescue mission and disabling it, to getting thoroughly beaten by the Shredder, which left them scratched, scarred, bruised, beaten. Raph had a stab wound in his shoulder and was sitting at Donnie's newly makeshift lab where Donnie was stitching up, Mikey held an icepack to his foot (turns out it was just a light sprain) and was just sitting on a chair, but Leo received the worst of it and was being treated by Splinter, the two were also inside the lab but Leo was lying on a bed that Donnie had prepared for himself, and Splinter had to use a lot a healing ointment on practically everywhere on Leo's body. And yet despite this…
"You are all very lucky." Splinter said,
"I think we can define that word differently, Sensei." Raph said almost dejectedly but at the same time, he felt angry at this level of defeat.
"Few have ever faced the Shredder and lived." Splinter said as if to prove how lucky they were.
"He was just so strong and fast." Mikey said, and without his bright signature smile, he looked and sounded gloomy.
"It's like he was everywhere at once. And it's like he knew what we were going to do half the time." Donnie said as if trying to comprehend how bad they lost tonight.
"I suppose that's what years of experience can do, Donnie." Raph said gloomily, "You were right, Sensei. About earlier. There are just some things… we're not ready for." For Raph to say this when he was the one who was supposedly ready for anything just proved how beaten he truly felt. Leo thought the same thing and would've said the same thing, but he felt too badly hurt from falling into a truck to try and attempt to speak, lest he sounded more pathetic than his wounds would've had him look.
"Perhaps. But none of that matters now. It is clear now that the Shredder is a problem that will not go away. So, prepare yourselves, my sons. For as of this moment… we. are. at. war." It was a foreboding moment at from that moment on, the turtles realised that things were bound to get even tougher for them now.
11:22pm… Foot HQ…
"Nani mo?" (nothing?) the Shredder growled. He had just entered the shrine on the top floor and was still in his full armour. Six Foot soldiers were with him and all kneeled before him as they delivered the news.
"Omo yo, watashitachiha zen shūi o sagashimashita, karera no chōkō wa arimasen." (Master, we have searched the entire perimeter, there is no sign of them), one of the Foot soldiers replied. At this, the Shredder looked ready to kill anyone in the room who would dare deliver to him more bad news, seeing this, another Foot soldier quickly added in,
"Dakedo! Karera wa mukizu de nigenakatta yōdesu! Watashitachiha, tatemono ga hōkai shite kara akai masuku no mono ga shukketsu shite iru koto o shirimashita. Mata, aoiro no torakku ga torakku ni ochikonde, jūshō o otta." (But! It appears that they didn't escape unharmed! We have learned the one in the red mask was bleeding since the building collapsed. Also, the one in blue fell into a truck and was seriously wounded as a result.) the soldier said, thinking this was good news. But to the Shredder, it wasn't good news as it was evident from the way he kicked the soldier across the shrine as a response.
"Orokamono! Watashi wa teki o shinikakete hoshī! Karada ga mitsukarimasendeshita. Shitagatte, karera wa ikinokorimashita. Sore wa karera ga tatakai kara kaifuku shi, karera ga modotte kuru koto o imi shi, karera wa watashi no soba no togedeari tsudzukemasu! Dakara watashi ni oshietekudasai. Soko kara yoi nyūsu ga arimasu ka?" (Fools! I want my enemies' dead! No bodies were found, therefore, they survived and that means that they will recover from our battle and they will be back and they will be back and they will continue to be a thorn in my side! So, tell me, what good news is there from that?), the Shredder roared, which made the Foot soldiers cower as they then knew what would happen next. Moments later, all six were on the ground, badly beaten.
"Kame wa watashi ga dekiru koto o kanjimashita. Hakai o mita. Karera no kokoro ni kyōfu o daka serunoni jūbundearu koto o negatte imasu. Anata no 6-ri ga chōdo omoidasa reta to iu kyōfu. Iku! Soshite, warui nyūsu o watashi ni ataeru tsugi no hito wa, supaiku no ue ni atama o mochimasu!" (The turtles have felt what I am capable of. Seen the destruction. Hopefully that will be enough to install the fear into their minds. A fear that the six of you have just been reminded of. Go! And the next person to give me bad news, will have their head on a spike!) the Shredder announced in a fit of anger, and the Foot soldiers didn't need to be told twice as they all scrambled away and out of the shrine. Now alone, the Shredder removed his helmet,
"Hehehe… a little bit harsh there, don't you think? Making them feel the ire of your failure." It was that voice again. Ch'rell.
"I am in no mood for your witty words or your words in general, Ch'rell." The Shredder said but Ch'rell just laughed,
"Oh? And what are you going to do about that? It's not like you can kill me for it! That would mean you would be killing yourself too!" Ch'rell said before laughing his sickly sounding laugh that echoed throughout the shrine.
?
The room was dark but the lights from above were pointing down onto the floor where a lone man was kneeling. He had blue coloured hair that was tied up behind his head and spiked out. He wore a grey trench-coat, a pair of sunglasses, a black shirt underneath, a pair of black trousers, a pair of black boots but most noticeable was the gold pendant around his neck that had the symbol of the Hamato clan. As he knelt down, four more lights shone on four figures, all looked human expect for their eyes which were a ghostly grey.
"Report, Guardian." One of them said.
"Masters, tonight was not a good night. The Shredder has defeated the turtles at Wolf Hotel." The man said as he looked up to his Masters.
"This is unfortunate."
"What of their…"
"Status now?"
All of them seemed to share the same sounding voice and it seemed that each one knew what the other was thinking.
"Masters, the Shredder was unable to finish them. With the help of fellow Guardian, Hamato Yoshi, the turtles escaped." The man said.
"This is good news."
"Continue your…"
"Observation, Guardian."
"And do not engage the turtles until Guardian Hamato Yoshi feels that they are ready." all four said at the same time and with his orders, the man they called Guardian left the room.
me: hey there! Hope I didn't confuse those who are new to the show but hardcore fans will know who Ch'rell is. And for those who don't, I will not spoil it for you! Anyway, hope you liked it, and hope you like the next chapter! Until then!