punkish furball – What up, dudes? ^.^
Words to Ponder:
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Chapter 11
Chris Bradford hesitated before he entered his sensei's chambers for the second time tonight. He loathed to tell him bad news, but the Foot Clan's latest recruit allowed their prisoner to escape. Shredder would not be pleased. Xever, who accompanied him to make this report, was no more enthusiastic than he was.
Bradford took a deep breath and straightened his posture before he entered the audience chamber. As expected, Shredder was inside peering into the dark streets of New York City, completely occupied by his thoughts.
"Master Shredder?" he called out.
"Yes?" Shredder answered without facing him.
"Forgive me, sensei, but it seems the prisoner has escaped."
Abruptly, Shredder turned to him. "What?"
"I told you it was a mistake letting that fool guard her," Xever uttered before Bradford could explain. The canine hybrid was quick to retort.
"I didn't hear your objections before!"
"Silence! I've had enough of your failures," Shredder shouted. He paused and called out, "Karai!"
Soon after she was summoned, the kunoichi appeared in the doorway and sauntered into the chamber with her usual, nonchalant air.
"Yes?" she answered, her tone flat.
"It seems that Hamato Yoshi has begun training a female ninja of his own along with the Turtles," Shredder told her.
Karai briefly quirked her eyebrows, mildly interested. "Has he?"
"We had her in our custody, and she has escaped our lair. I want you to detain her again. Do not fail me."
Karai smirked. Hamato's new student could prove to be just as entertaining as the four she already encountered. There was only one way for her to find out.
"Don't worry, Father. I won't."
-O0o0O-
Raphael sighed as he paced in front of his bed, carefully considering what he was about to say with his audience patiently waiting for him to begin.
"I know you've been worried about me going out so much lately, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was going or why," he began, shrugging his shoulders, "I guess I wasn't ready share her yet. Kagome, that is. That's the girl I've been going to see." He paused and softly smiled before speaking again.
"She's a little weird, but I really like her. She's about a year older than me and pretty, very pretty," he quietly admitted, "She's fun to be with too, smart, funny, warm…" The smile on his face grew.
"She's not that good at martial arts, but we're working on that. It's actually kinda fun. Kagome's really gotten better since we've started. She could probably beat Donnie or Mikey if she tried. But, even if she couldn't, she's stubborn enough to keep trying until she passes out. Believe me, if that girl wants to do something, there's no stopping her."
Raphael paused and leaned closer, whispering his next words. "I still want to keep Kagome a secret from the others. I didn't tell them about her, but I know I can trust you, Spike."
When his pet turtle made a small gurgle in the back of his throat and took another bite of his lettuce, Raphael gently tapped the top of his head, grinning.
"I think you'd like Kagome too," he confidently stated, "We're supposed to hang out this weekend. Maybe I can bring you with me to meet her."
Spike dropped the lettuce leaf, carefully chewing the small section he bit off.
"You're right. I should ask her first."
Raphael jumped when he heard a loud banging at his bedroom door.
"What?" he bellowed, irritated.
"Dude, what are you doing in there? Are you going to stay and talk to your pet turtle all night?" Michelangelo replied from the hallway.
"No!" Raphael shouted as he opened the door, "What do you want?"
"Leo's got something to show us," Michelangelo answered, jerking his thumb in the direction of the den, "It's about you know who!"
Raph sighed and gave Spike one final pat before following Mikey to the living room. Leonardo and Donatello were there seated around the latter's laptop on the couch. Mikey plopped down beside Donnie while Raphael chose to stand behind them.
"Bout time you showed up," Leonardo quipped when he saw Raphael from the corner of his eye.
"Yeah, yeah," he retorted, crossing his arms, "So what we got?"
"A few hours ago, April emailed me several links to new posts to her blog within the last few days. All of them are Kraang sightings," Donnie explained as he scrolled through the images, "After I determined the location of each incident, I plotted them on a map of the city."
He pulled up a different window to show the map. There were over three dozen red dots marking where the Kraang were spotted. The marks seemed sporadic at first glance, but, upon closer inspection, two distinct clusters could be identified.
"As far as I can tell, these locations have nothing in common even the ones they frequently visit. Either way, they must be up to something big."
"So what's the plan?" Raphael asked.
"I say we start where the most sightings are then work our way out," Leonardo suggested, "We have a lot of ground to cover, so it would best we divide and conquer."
"Sounds good," Donatello commented as he closed his computer, "Teams of two or every Turtle for himself?"
"Two and two should work," Leo decided, "Donnie, you're with me on the east end. Raph and Mikey, you cover the west."
Raphael groaned when Michelangelo stood and slung an arm over his shoulder. "Alright! The dynamic duo is back together."
"I move for a new partner," Raph dryly uttered.
"Not a chance," Leo countered, smirking, "You can make it work."
"Aw! That's not fair," Mikey whined, "What's wrong with being my partner?"
"Would you like the list alphabetically or in order of increasing annoyingness?" Raphael asked, sarcastic.
"Come on! I'm not that bad!"
"Alright, guys, there's no time for games," Leo interrupted, "Let's gear up and move out!"
The Turtles regrouped and made their way to the surface. Once they were topside, they broke into the assigned pairs and departed to their appointed rendezvous points.
"How's it look, Donnie?" Leonardo asked once they made a bit of headway, "Are we close?"
"Hold on," he replied and paused to survey the perimeter through his telescope.
"We've made it, and we're in luck. The Kraang are en route. Estimated time of arrival is four minutes."
Leonardo nodded and took a look for himself. He picked out two groups of the alien race: one traveling the streets and the other keeping watch on the rooftops.
"I guess we have to split up again. Ready, Donnie?"
"Ready!"
-O0o0O-
Kagome quietly panted as she ran across the rooftops, trying to put as much distance between her and her former entrapment as possible. The Pulverizer—she couldn't refer to him as anything else because he refused to give her any other name—managed to bring her to the top of the building without being detected before he returned his post. Kagome was worried about the odd shinobi but couldn't dwell on those sentiments for long. She had to continue running despite her misgivings and the burning in the soles of her feet.
Suddenly, Kagome came to a complete stop and jumped back, landing on her bottom. In front of her, a kunoichi slowly removed her blade from the concrete, stabbing the spot where Kagome once stood. When she was back on her feet, the ninja sheathed her blade and removed her mask, smirking.
"So you're Hamato Yoshi's student," she began, her tone condescending, "You're not what I was expecting, but tailing you turned out to be more trouble than I thought it would be."
"Really?" Kagome replied, wearing a crooked grin, "In that case, think you could let me go? I'm obviously not worth so much trouble." She cringed when excitement lit up the kunoichi's golden brown eyes.
"And ruin all the fun? Not a chance."
"What if I told you I actually don't know where to find Hamato Yoshi?" Kagome asked, trying to gage the kunoichi's reaction. She seemed different from Shredder's other followers she met thus far, so it was possible she could worm her way out of this situation with reason.
"Nice try, but I already saw your every conversation with your turtle boyfriend. The two of you are so cute together. Reading it literally made me sick to my stomach."
The kunoichi reached into one of her weapon holsters and produced Kagome's cell phone. She then tossed it at her feet, breaking it upon impact. Kagome grimaced. Her words got her out of one jam, but they wouldn't do so again.
"Besides, if you actually don't know where he is," she continued, "I'd have no reason to bring you back to the Shredder in one piece."
"I guess you have a point."
Kagome instinctively reached for her tanto as she slipped into her battle stance. She was out of her league and outmatched by the female shinobi in every way, but she could buy enough time to escape. Her eyes widened when she discovered the weapon was missing.
The kunoichi smirked before she removed Kagome'sconfiscated weapon from her side and waved it in her hand, taunting her.
"Looking for this? You really are a pathetic excuse for a ninja. The only thing you seem to be good at is running away. Exactly what I'd expect from Hamato's student." The ninja returned the blade to her holster and drew her own sword.
"Before I take you out, my name is Karai," she announced, "I thought you'd like to know since names apparently mean a lot to you." She paused and chuckled.
"What was yours again? I totally forgot."
"It's Kagome."
As soon as she finished speaking, Karai charged. Kagome barely had time to dodge the attack but managed, her eyes wide as the blade nicked her arm and drew blood. Karai was relentless, coming at Kagome with blow after blow. She sustained several injuries but none of them were too serious.
"Stop running away!" she yelled.
Before Karai could press the offensive, a strange pink beam of energy whizzed by the two of them, causing them to cease their fight.
"What the hell?" Kagome uttered. It seemed there would be no end to surprises tonight.
"It's the Kraang!" Karai exclaimed, recognizing the unexpected attack, "That means the Turtles should be close."
'Turtles? She must mean Raphael and his brothers,' Kagome deduced, 'But who or what in the world is the Kraang?'
Karai turned away from Kagome and braced herself for a more threatening opponent.
"Heads up. We're about to have company. Your beating will have to wait."
"Lucky me," Kagome mumbled, waiting for the new enemy to appear.
Strangely enough, an odd mixture of identical, dour businessmen and strange robots gathered on the top of the roof, all wielding laser weaponry straight out of science fiction. In the rear, a division of them gathered around a large, mechanized cannon.
'What the hell?'
"Kraang has seen you in this place so leaving this place is something that will not be done by you now that you have been seen Kraang in this place," one of their party announced as he and the others readied their guns.
"Oh really? Bring it on!" Karai declared.
With absolute precision, she took out the front line of androids, slicing them to pieces with ease. Kagome chose to hang back from the fighting and watch. To her disbelief, once the droids were destroyed, small, pink creatures with beady green eyes and wrinkled forms emerged from the metal casings, scurrying away on a series of slimy tentacles.
"Kraang, use the weapon made by Kraang to be used on the ones called the Turtles on the ones who are not the Turtles in this place," one of the robots shouted, his voice garbled as Karai attacked him.
'This does not look good,' Kagome surmised as the remaining robots prepared the cannon they brought. Karai dismissed the obvious danger and charged on without fear. Panicking, Kagome sprinted ahead of her and stopped her assault.
"Karai, get down!" she shouted.
"What do you think you—?"
Karai was cut off when Kagome dashed in front of her and held out her hand in the path of the impressive blast the Kraang fired. When it made contact, the energy dispersed around the small barrier she erected. She winced as the energy fought to push her off balance but continued to stand her ground. Karai watched, amazed with both Kagome's display of power and her readiness to protect her. When the attack failed, the remaining droids began to advance.
"The weapon made by Kraang is not working on the one in this place."
"Kraang must take the one in this place to another place. In that place, Kraang will find out why the weapon does not work on the one in this place."
Kagome took a deep breath and lowered her barrier before she held out her arms and positioned them as though she were holding a bow, her stance practiced to near perfection. Closing her eyes, she extended her energy and reverted back to her spiritual training from a time she nearly forgot.
'Concentrate, pull back—' she recited Miroku's instructions in her mind.
"—and hit the mark!"
When Kagome released her fingers, a line of pure purifying energy surged forth and exploded in a bright burst. The Kraang were instantaneously reduced to ashes and their robotic bodies fell to the ground.
"It worked!" Kagome cried when she lowered her hands, "I can't believe it actually worked!"
She suspected that whatever the Kraang were, they certainly weren't human or anything that shared a natural connection with this world. By that logic, they should have been susceptible to her purifying energies. It wasn't the first time she relied on her intuition to help her in battle.
Kagome turned to Karai and held out her hand. The kunoichi was still kneeling on the ground. She did not seem like she wanted to resume their fight.
"Karai, you're not hurt, are you?" Kagome asked, smiling.
Karai looked at Kagome then her outstretched hand, her expression unreadable. She then stood to her feet and leapt out of sight. Kagome let her hand drop and looked in the direction the ninja disappeared in. She tried not to feel offended, realizing she was lucky Karai suddenly decided to leave without taking her with her.
"You're welcome," she said to herself nonetheless, pouting.
Kagome turned to her left when she heard more sounds of combat the same ones she heard from the Kraang. Ahead of her, she could see more of the droids attacking what appeared to be a large turtle, overwhelming their opponent.
"Raphael!" she breathed, her body going cold with worry.
Kagome ran toward them as fast as she could, fear and adrenaline fueling her urgency. When she reached the building, she jumped and clung tightly to the ledge, scrambling to the top. As soon as she was back on her feet, Kagome began again, her eyes trained on an imminent attack to the turtle's back with the same type of cannon they used before.
"Watch out!" she shouted.
When she reached the battle, Kagome shoved the turtle out of the way as hard as she could. In the process, she took his place and was hit with the beam full force. She cried out as her flesh burned and sizzled, the pain greatly surpassing the ache in her strained muscles. She fell forward on the turtle, clutching the edge of his shell in her hands. He awkwardly supported her with his hands resting on her arms without saying a word.
"Who is the one who interferes with Kraang while Kraang is fighting one of the ones called the Turtles in this place?"
"Kraang does not know the one—"
"Give it a rest already!" Kagome interjected, frustrated with the unknown race and their confusing manner of speaking.
After pushing herself away from the turtle and onto her feet, Kagome groaned, feeling her body grow numb. She expended far too much of her holy energy on her previous attack. There wasn't enough remaining to produce another direct assault without the aid of a physical medium. Then she spotted a sword laying on the ground from the corner of her eye.
"I'm gonna borrow this!" she cried and rushed to retrieve it.
Once she had the katana in both hands, Kagome plunged it into the rooftop, releasing what remained of her power. She hardly pierced through the concrete, but the resulting wave destroyed the Kraang exactly as it did before. With the threat finally gone, she felt her muscles give way as her mental rush wore off. As soon as it did, pain began to pulsate from her abdomen to every part of her body.
"What just happened?" the turtle behind her asked, thoroughly confused.
Kagome looked up at him and smiled as she tried to stand using the sword for leverage, "Well, I think the two of us just won, don't you?"
Upon closer inspection, Kagome realized this was an unknown turtle wearing a blue mask instead of Raphael's red one and his weapons of choice were two katana, the one she used to prop herself up and the other strapped to his back.
'I finally got to meet one of Raph's brothers after all.'
Before the conversation could continue, Karai appeared and confidently strode toward them. She was most likely watching the entire confrontation from a secluded hiding spot.
"Hey, Leo. Way to have a girl bail you out of trouble," she said, speaking in the same condescending tone as she did before. Kagome assumed she always sounded like that.
The turtle, Leo, narrowed his eyes at her sudden appearance. "What are you doing here, Karai?"
"Don't worry. I didn't come to see you," Karai clarified and shifted her eyes to Kagome, "My business is with your friend."
Kagome moaned as Karai unsheathed her blade, a much shorter weapon than the one she used before.
"Are you still trying to take me back?" she asked, exasperated.
Leo quickly stood in between her and Karai, wielding his remaining blade with a firm look in his eyes. "I won't let you hurt her."
Karai rolled her eyes and said, "Give it a rest, hero."
She sheathed the weapon and threw it at Kagome's feet. It was her tanto.
"I really hate owing other people, so consider my debt repaid," Karai stated, "I won't let you go so easily next time. Until then, see you around."
When Karai completely vanished, Kagome released the katana fell to her knees, clutching the wound on her stomach with tears pricking the corners of her eyes. Leo immediately dropped down next to her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Kagome answered, grimacing, "I just thought she would never leave."
When she fell forward on Leo's chest, she quietly admitted, "Okay. Maybe I'm not so fine. I'm only a little tired." As her eyes slowly closed and her breathing turned shallow, Leo panicked.
"Hold on!" he told her, "I promise I'm going to help you. You'll be okay."
Leonardo sheathed his swords and scooped the barely conscious girl in his arms before pulling out his T-phone. He called Donatello as he traveled back to the lair with his unusual cargo in hand.
"Donatello," the turtle said when he answered the call.
"Donnie, what's your position?" Leonardo asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
"I'm few blocks from where we split up."
"And how's everything on your end?"
"There were only three Kraang droids in the van I followed, so I had it all covered," Donatello replied, "but I ran across something very strange during my pursuit."
"You can tell me about it later," Leo interrupted before Donnie could give him any more details, "I need you to meet me at the lair as soon as possible. I need some first aid."
"No problem. Are you okay, Leo?"
"Yeah. Well sort of. I'll explain it once we get home."
"Okay. Meet me in my lab as soon as you get there."
"Got it. Thanks, Donnie. I owe you big time."
-O0o0O-
April groaned as she came to lying on the floor of Subarashii Tabemono and placed a hand to her aching head. It ached as all of her memories of the events leading up to this point rushed to her mind. She quickly shot up and looked around. The Foot Clan had long since retreated, leaving her and the blind shop owner unconscious and, luckily, unbound.
"Murakami-san!" she shouted, searching for him.
The blind man made a loud grumble from behind the front counter at the sound of his name. April was instantly by his side.
"Don't worry. I got you," she said as she hoisted him off the floor.
He vehemently shook his head. "Kagome…please find Kagome."
April nodded. "I'm on it."
Once she helped Murakami into the nearest seat and deemed unharmed, April pulled out her T-phone to call for help. If the Foot Clan had Kagome, she couldn't save her without help. Donatello was the first one she called; he always answered for her. This time, she didn't receive an immediate response.
'The line's busy,' she thought as her heart sank. She tried the three other turtles and again received no answer.
'They must have found something while they were on patrol,' April mused, 'Master Splinter is the only other one I go to for help, but…'
Splinter coming out of hiding was exactly what the Shredder would want to happen. But if that was his plan, why take Kagome? It made absolutely no sense. There was no connection that could lead one to the other.
'I have to focus on helping Kagome right now. After all; she was brave enough to go with the Foot Clan for our sake.'
"Murakami-san," April began, "I'm going to find the guys and see if they know what's happened. Then we'll find Kagome together. Please wait here until we come back."
She hated making this request, knowing exactly how it felt to sit on the sidelines when someone you loved was in danger and out of reach. However, it couldn't be helped. There was nothing Murakami could do.
"Be careful, April-chan," Murakami stated, "You and Kagome must return safely."
"We will," April assured him and ran out of the shop as fast as she could, hoping she made it to Kagome in time.
-O0o0O-
punkish furball – I told you this meeting was going to be a doozy, but it's not over yet. Also, this chapter had a very special shout out to one of my favorite characters in the TMNT-verse, Raph's adorable pet turtle Spike! Of course, he's not so adorable anymore.
Until next time, TCB! X3
(revised 04.19.2014)