Sorry, it has been a while.
Update: Sorry, apparently the format was all screwed up. Hopefully this is better.
XXX
Chapter 7
Jayden made his way down the fairly empty sidewalk to a nearby restaurant. It was his turn to pick up the chicken broth for Raph. Since the incident, Raph hasn't really been able to keep down anything solid so broth was the only thing he could eat.
Those that were out and about were in a rush to get home. Jayden took a quick glance toward the sky. Dark clouds began to roll over the city and he could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. He picked up the pace a bit until he made it to the building that read 'Tropical Lounge' in big, lit up letters. The Tropical Lounge was one of the most popular island themed restaurants in the area, probably in the whole city, so naturally when Jayden stepped through the door he was immediately greeted with a large group of people all waiting to be seated. A majority of the restaurant's walls were made of bricks, but they handled the blandness by hanging and placing plenty of fake palm trees and various other plants to give it a bit of an island feel. There was one wall that had a very detailed painting of a beach on it. It was the same for the upper level of the restaurant.
Jayden had to squeeze his way through to make it to the kitchen. Waiters and waitresses were moving in and out quickly to accommodate the needs of the customers. He moved into the kitchen and stood off to the side so he wouldn't be blocking anyone. He did a quick search until he found the owner in his white chef jacket. "Uncle Mike." he called out.
Mikey looked up from what he was cooking, called one of his fellow chefs to take over for him and made his way over to his nephew with a plastic bag in his hand. "Hey there, J."
"Hey, busy as usual, I see."
"Of course, I have to keep my loyal customers happy." he handed over the plastic bag with a container filled with chicken broth. "This is for you."
"Thanks." he started to make his way out only to be stopped.
"Hey, how are you holding up?" Mikey asked.
Jayden froze when he heard that. It seemed that he wasn't safe from being asked that question. "I'm fine, Uncle Mikey. Why do you ask?"
He studied him for a second before shaking his head. "No reason." he stated right before Leilani walked into the back.
"Alright." she sighed. "I'm done for the day." she took off her blazer and tossed it over her shoulder. She was the manager so she was one of the people out front with everyone else. She gave Mikey a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you at home."
She made her way to the back door with Jayden following close behind. "Later Uncle Mike." he called back to him. Mikey waved and got right back to work.
Leilani opened the back exit that led to an alley and stopped in their tracks when they noticed how the weather had turned. Thunder rumbled loudly overhead and thick drops of water pelted the concrete relentlessly.
"Welp, I should've seen that coming." Jayden said as he looked out at the storm.
"Wanna ride?" Leilani offered.
"Yes please." he answered without hesitation.
"Alright, let's go." she quickly ran out of the building toward her car and Jayden followed.
…
Warren and Leo were closing up the dojo for the day. Warren was always willing to help out anyone in his family especially Leo. He wanted to try and reduce the level of stress Leo was feeling in any way he could. Leo took notice of this about a year ago, but never really said anything about it.
Warren had just finished mopping up the mats when Leo spoke up. "You know as much as I appreciate you helping out all the time, you don't have to do this every day. I don't want to take away from your own personal time."
Warren shrugged "I know, but I want to. I just feel like you could use an extra hand and besides..." he reached up and ran a hand through his purple tipped dreads "it's not like I have much to do anyway outside of school, so I don't mind."
Leo gave him a small smile and lightly pat him on the head. "Thanks."
"No problem, Uncle."
"Let's head out, we're all done here." Leo shut the lights off and made his way to the main lobby where only two pairs of shoes remained. Leo slipped his on and waited for Warren to do the same. As he did so he opened up the front door only to be welcomed by thunder and rain. In the darkness off to his right he could've sworn that he saw something else, or someone else run into the alley closest to him. Something didn't feel right. Leo quickly shut the door and turned to Warren, who was ready to go.
"Is something wrong?" Warren asked unnerved when he noticed the worried look on Leo's face.
Leo stayed silent for a while as if he was listening for something. He really didn't like this feeling in the pit of his stomach. "We're gonna have to be quick about this, I'm gonna lock this place up and we gotta make a break for it. Stay close okay." Warren nodded his head slowly. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but if it made Leo act weird then he wasn't going to question it. "Ready?" Warren nodded his response again. "Go." he ordered and made his way out of the building, quickly locking up before making his way to his car. The pounding rain instantly soaked them. He sped up as he made his way down the sidewalk only to be cut off by a black clad ninja. It was the Foot.
The ninja wasn't alone, he had a couple friends with him that surrounded the adult and the teenager. "What do we do now, Uncle Leo?" Warren asked, scared. All his martial arts training never really prepared him for something like this, for a real fight against real ninjas.
Leo had to act quickly, he really had no time to think. He looked off to his right and noticed an alleyway. Warren followed his gaze and nodded, understanding what he was going to do. Get through the maze of the alleyway and find a manhole cover. "Run." he ordered. Warren sprinted into the alley with Leo followed by the ninjas hot on his tail. He kept running along the alleyways until he hit a dead end with a manhole cover right at their feet. Jumping in right now wasn't the smartest idea because they'll see, so he had to wait. "Stay back, Warren." Leo ordered. Warren backed himself against the wall and waited.
The ninjas attacked the cornered people, but Leo was ready. The Foot soldiers were no match for the ninja master. One by one he took them all down until there were none left standing. He turned to Warren "Go, now."
Warren quickly moved the manhole cover out of the way and hopped in and waited for Leo to follow. As they made their way to the lair Leo quickly took out his phone to call his wife, but got cut off when it rang. "Jeez." Leo sighed before answering. Warren's rang around the same time.
"Hello." Leo answered.
"Leo!" the stressed and panicked voice of Don came from the other end. "It's the Foot, they're back."
"I know, Don." that leader like tone resurfaced in an instant. "Listen, just focus on getting to safety."
"I am. I have Stephanie and Ethan and we're at the lair now. Please tell me that Warren is still with you."
"Don't worry, Don. He's fine, we're on our way to the lair right now." he paused for moment to let relief set in. "Try to get a hold of Mikey. He's still working. Let him know what's happening. If you can, try to get to Leilani, Nicole and Luke."
"Right, be careful Leo."
"Yeah, you too." and with that they hung up.
"Uncle," Leo turned to Warren and noticed the look of worry etched on his face. "It's Uncle Raph, he's gone."
XXX
I'm just gonna leave this chapter like this because why not.
Enjoy
Read and review