Chapter 5
"We're here…" I said to the girls as I pulled in to an empty gas station lot overseeing Okinawa.
"Okinawa?" Mari said stepping out of the car. She came around to my side and looked down at the small village like portion of Japan.
"Yeah…" I kind of stuttered out.
"It's… farming land?" Yuri questioned.
"Not necessarily, see that place over there?" I said pointing to a large shop like temple. It had a temple look to it but it was a souvenir shop.
"What about it?" Aki said pulling their bags out of the truck.
"Well, my home used to sit on that part of the land, my father's dojo was where the shop is now," I said looking at Aki.
"So why are we parked here?" Nina asked handing me my staff. I pulled it apart and put the pieces into my boots.
"Because it's farming land, there's really no place to park down there. It'll be safe here," I said helping the girls pull the tarp over the truck.
"Okay," I said and shifted my feet down a path along the Cliffside.
The girls followed behind pulling their hoods over their heads.
"What exactly are you looking for?" Nina half whispered to me.
"First off, monks….. Secondly, a book and an urn," I said to them. They looked to each other a little puzzled.
As we made it down the Cliffside I saw an elder man hovering outside the shop window. He was admiring some blooming flowers in a different array of colours.
"Hello," I said to him. He turned around and looked to me.
"If my eyes deceive me, if it isn't little Alexandria Tomaki," he said with a beaming smile.
"Do I know you?" I asked a little perplexed. The girls shoved in behind me.
"I'm monk Miyatsu," he said again with a smile.
I looked at his attire, normally monks wore red robes and where…. Well bald. This man surely wasn't. He had a head of grey and white hair, a moustache, and wore normal regular clothes, jeans and a t-shirt with a jacket.
"Monk Miyatsu, of Shinto temple," I asked surprised.
"Don't monks usually wear red robes and are bald?" Yuri half whispered to me. I nodded to her quickly.
"Yes my dear, very much so, when the temple was burnt down I ventured out to Okinawa. I now run this shop," he said gesturing to the door.
"Oh, I see…" I said to him. We followed him inside the shop.
"Who are your friends?" he asked stepping around a counter.
"Oh, well they are from Hinto region, I meet them on the way, they are….. friends," I said to him trying to figure out the right words.
The girls seemed interested in the objects hanging from the ceiling and on the shelves of the shop. They each drifted into different sections of the small shop.
I looked to each of them then back to the monk.
"What happened to all the other monks from the temple," I said to him looking at a jewelry stand.
"We all ventured our separate ways," he said noticing my gaze. His eyes followed mine to a small turtle charm hanging off a silver chain, there was two of them. I held them in my hands admiring them. April would definitely like this for sure.
He pulled the chains off the hook and held it in his hands.
"Here," he said passing it to me.
"No, I couldn't possibly," I said touching my hand to his.
"Alexandria, it has been four years since I seen you last, please…"he said placing the charms in my hand.
"Oh, well thank you…" I said.
I pulled the chain over my head and put the other in my bag.
"What brings you back to Okinawa?" He asked looking to each one of the girls.
"Well, I was hoping to see you and monk Akime…. But, I'm also looking for something," I said to him with a deep sigh.
"Maybe I can help you find it, also Akime died a year ago, he was very ill…" he said to me, he shifted around the counter and to a small room in the back.
I slide near the doorway watching his movements.
"Wow, you have a lot of items from the shrine here," I said surprised. I looked around at the objects through the door way, there were ancient sutra's, charms, and even some old training staffs.
"Come in, come in…" he said waving with his hand to me. I stepped through the doorway and on to a mat.
"Your staff, I see it's been modified," he said to me noticing the two pieces in my boots.
"Oh," I said and reached for them. I clicked the staff together.
"Let me see it," he said extending his hands. I passed it to him. He twirled it around his body and examined it.
"Alex, you have been shadow fighting haven't you?" he said to me as he slide a cloth along the staff.
"Yes, I didn't mean too…" I said to him. I sat down on the mat as he examined the staff. He was speaking to it in Japanese and reciting an incantation.
"You know the consequences of shadow fighting," he said looking to me.
"Yes I know," I said remembering all too well the words of monk Akime.
"It will eventually poison your life, and you will have to fight the staff for your life…." He reminded me. I sighed deeply and nodded.
He rested the staff along his lap and reached to his left for a book.
"This is what you are looking for isn't it?" he asked handing me a book with my father's dojo emblem on it. Two snakes intertwined within each other, and the dojo name on the snakes.
"Yes," I said surprised.
"How did you find it?" I asked taking the book from him, I ran my hand over the emblem.
"It was here hidden in the rubble, when I built this place…. I found it," he said.
"However, I have not been able to open the lock on it. It has no key hole and for some reason it does not seem to allow me to open it," he said folding his hands together.
"That's because it needs an incantation to open it," I said to him flipping the book over and looking at the back.
"Monk Miyatsu, do you know what this book is." I said to him with a smile. He looked at me then went back to rubbing down the staff, this time with oil.
"This… this is a diary of my father's life, every single detail he ever thought, did or worked on, all is projects, everything up until his time of death…." I said holding it close to me.
"Oh?" Miyatsu said holding the staff straight up.
"Alex," he said looking around for something. His eyes stopped at a charm, he reached for it where the book was and wrapped it quickly on the tip of the staff.
"This charm has been blessed with holy water from the Shinto temple, it will ward off all evil and subdue all shadows," he said. The staff shook in his hands and bound together. It became one piece again.
"So, I can't use it as two pieces," I said to him as he handed me the staff. I could feel the energy and power of the charm surge through the staff.
"No, never separate it," he cautioned me. He shifted to his feet and came around me to the door. I stood up and followed behind him.
"Miss Alex," Yuri said coming to my side, she had a book in her hands with the words 'kappa' on it. I quickly took it from her and flipped through it.
"No way," I said looking at the drawings of the Edo era. There were pictures of turtles wearing samurai masks and armor, riding on horses, slaying humans and warding off demons. There was also a small well in the back of the book with a covering over it.
"Monk Miyatsu," I said to him and closed the book shut.
"Could I buy this book?" I said to him quickly.
"Do you know what that book is?" he asked coming around the counter again. He came to me and placed his hands over the book.
"There is a legend of four warrior turtles that fought alongside samurais during the Edo era, and…" he said taping a hand to his mouth. He searched around his desk pulling out random objects from a wooden chest he used as a seat. I stepped towards the desk looking at it.
"Ah here it is," he said pulling out a large yellow envelope.
"For your turtle friends," he said. I widened my eyes in surprise, how did he notice them. They froze in their spots and looked at me.
"How… did you know?" I asked him reaching for the envelope.
"Because, your father gave me this envelope, many years ago, before the fire of the dojo. I wandered into his dojo, and he said to me 'you… you have spiritual powers, one day my child will come to you. You will train her and give her this,'" he said to me. I examined the envelope.
"I never opened it, but he said that its contents were sacred, he said you'd know what to do with it," he said again gently pushing the envelope to me.
"Thank you," I said holding the book and envelope close to me. Mari shifted to my side.
"How did you know?" she asked him again.
"Because I know of you, of the four female turtles roaming the countryside, hiding and living amongst us," he said with a warm smile.
"You do not fear us?" Aki asked pulling down her hood.
"No, because I believe in the legends and the stories, therefore there is nothing to fear. However, I am a monk…. Hahaha, I believe in anything," He said with a laugh.
"Monk Miyatsu, thank you so much…." I said to him with a bow.
"Alex, be careful child, the contents of that envelope are being searched for," he said to me tapping his hand to the envelope.
"How do you mean?" I asked.
"A man, many days ago came to my shop…. He was looking for information and asked if I had any information about TGRI. I did not know what he was speaking of and his rambling, so I sent him on his way," he said remembering the man.
I looked at the girls.
"I see, well…. Uhhh thank you," I said to him quickly again.
"You are most welcome my child," he said again as the girls shifted together towards the door. I followed behind them.
"Oh," I said and half turned.
"Was there by chance an urn found here after the fire?" I asked.
"It would've been small and round with Japanese writing on it, it also had a small black pouch with a picture in it," I asked imagining it with my hands.
"Hmmm… an urn," he said thinking. He turned around and went to the back of his shop again.
"Alex, could it be… that the information in that envelope may be the key to what Sachs is doing?" Nina whispered to me while Miyatsu was searching.
I looked to him quickly then back at the girls.
"More than likely," I said quickly.
"Ah, here we are," he said with a smile. He slide open the lid of a small wooden Japanese box.
"There it is," I said with a smile. I gently and carefully took it from him.
"These items I gave you were all that were left after the fire," he said. He then handed me a back with some food, water, Japanese sutras, ninja stars and smoke bombs.
"Thank you, how much for all this?" I asked passing the bag and books to the girls.
"No, no…. nothing for you my child," he said, placing his hands over mine.
"But promise me one thing, do not shadow fight, if you take the lives of more than 100 men with your staff, it will surely take your life," he reminded me again.
"Yes, okay… you have my word," I said to him again.
"Thank you," I said near at the door.
I half ran following behind the girls as we ran up the cliff back to the truck.
"I can't believe our luck," Yuri said sliding the books and the bags into the back seat of the truck.
"We can't go back to Tokyo, not yet… we need to find out the information in this envelope," I said looking at it in my hands. We all shifted in to the truck.
I opened my father's book by saying the dojo name in Japanese. The lock clicked and opened. Everyone hovered around it.
"Oh my god," I said as I flipped through the pages.
"There's everything in here, pictures, drawings of Shredders exoskeleton, the mutagen ingredients, my mom's research, and….. even information on Sachs Lab." I said surprised and shocked.
Yuri took the book from me and skimmed through it.
"Wait," I said hearing my cell phone ring. I tapped my jacket pocket.
"Great," I said looking at the caller ID. It was Vern.
"I wonder what information he got for me, Yuri can you reach into my bag and get my minicomputer?" I asked her as I answered the phone.
"Alex," Vern's voice sounded agitated.
"Vern hi," I said to him fumbling with the computer in one hand.
"Hey, hi. Look I got what you asked," He said. I heard an engine of a car start up.
"However," He started to say.
"Great the guys know," I said quickly.
"Yeah, they do… only because Splinter was talking to all of us about your new female turtle friends," he said a little perturbed.
"They're not…. They didn't hurt you did they?" he added.
"Vern, no… they're friends, and I think I found out more about them," I said to him pushing the envelope between my legs.
"I have the files, I'm sending you a copy right now," he said.
"However, I'm not hiding this from the guys… we think we have a lead on Sachs," he said. I tapped on my computer receiving the file.
"I got it," I said to him as everything started to download.
"Woah, wait… what do you mean a lead on Sachs," I said to him quickly.
"Alex… he's planning something big, the guys are going to call you tonight…. Well Donnie will," he said rather quickly.
"By the way, Raphael and Leonardo aren't too happy with you right now, just a heads up," he said.
"Great," I said with a deep sigh.
"Thanks Vern, I owe you one," I said to him.
"Just make it back safely and we'll talk," he said to me clicking the phone.
"Great," I said to myself turning on the car.
"Is there a problem?" Mari asked looking to the computer as it downloaded the content.
"Yeah," I said with a sigh as I pulled out of the lot.
"Why are we parking here?" Yuri asked me leaning in to the front.
"Because I need to read this information and find out what's in the envelope," I said to them. I pressed my head against the steering wheel. We were parked in a vacant empty lot; it used to be a motel. But now it's nothing but an empty abandoned warehouse on a lot.
Yuri pushed my father's journal into my bag. I slung it over my shoulders.
My computer buzzed, I tapped at the screen but couldn't open the content.
"Great it's encrypted," I said out loud.
"Here let me see," Nina said extending her hand. I passed it over Yuri's head to the back seat.
I shifted in my seat and opened the envelope so we could all see its contents. I pulled out papers, pictures, and a CD.
"What is this?" Yuri said looking through the paper.
"OH MY GOD," I said losing my breath.
They all looked at me.
"This….. this isn't just information on you, and what happened with you, but…." I said taking the papers from Yuri.
"This is information on an army," I said bewildered.
Shredder and Sachs were planning on building an army of mutants, just like Bebop and Rocksteady, and ninja's.
"You mean to tell me, this is information on making more mutants?" Mari said trying to make sense of things.
"Hang on," I said clicking on my phone as it rang.
"ALEX," Donnie's voice sounded frantic.
"Donnie?" I said shifting through papers.
"Are you in Okinawa?" he said frantic.
"Yeah why?" I said to him, tapping the envelope. A vile fell out. Mari picked it up and looked at it.
"GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW," I heard Raph's voice bellow.
"Raph? Why?" I said looking to Mari.
"The files," Donnie talked over him. I could hear Nina trying to tell me something.
"Miss Alex, the files…." She said the same thing as Donnie. I lifted a finger to her.
"What about it Donnie?" I said to him quickly.
"GET OUT OF THERE, get on a plane and get home quick," he said.
"Why Donnie what is it?"I said frantic.
"ALEX, the files… Sachs is," Nina half shouted at me. The guys heard her.
"ALEX, GET THEM OUT OF THERE, GET ON A PLANE WITH THEM RIGHT NOW…." Leo's voice echoed loudly.
That's when the entire truck filled with smoke. I coughed covering my mouth and dropped the phone.
"ALEX?" Donnie's voice shouted through the phone.
"ALEX," Leo shouted.
"Where am I?" I said groggy. I felt my entire head spinning; I opened my eyes and noticed we were in the belly of a plane. I looked around.
"Once we land we take the females, do not harm them…. Leave the girl at their doorstep," a mans voice echoed. I tried to follow the voice but my head was still spinning.
"Hey?" I half shouted.
"Shut up," a voice said to me. I cleared my eyes and looked at the five ninja's in the hanger. I looked around at the girls. They were out cold and tied up. I shifted my arms.
"Untie me, who are you… what do you want?" I said shifting my arms.
"We are heading back to America," a voice said from the cock pit. A man stood up and came towards me. He had my bag in his hands and the envelope. He tossed my bag at me and my staff.
"SACHS," I said shocked.
"Surprised to see me?" he said waving his hands in front of me. I blinked a few times.
"Your new friends won't be harmed," he said. Then his hand pulled a blind fold down over my eyes.
That's when I felt something poke me and I blanked out.
I felt my head dizzy, I woke up in a strange unusal place. It was a laboratory, underground. I looked around and fidgeted with the ropes that bound me.
"Leave the females in the pods, I won't be needing their blood, I have a sample of the mutagen here. We'll use them as bait," a voice said. I shifted my head back and forth until the blindfold fell down. I could see a glass window, and behind it mutants…. Including a metal suit.
"Take the girl to her turtles," another man's voice said. He sounded Asian he had an accent. I couldn't see his face, he was talking to Sachs.
I don't remember anything after that point. I woke up near a garage door, my body hurt and my head was foggy.
"Oh my god Alex," I heard a voice say over me. I blinked my eyes a few times.
"LEO," her voice shouted.
"April?" I said looking at her.
"What happened, are you okay?" she said frantically.
"WHERE ARE THEY, THE TURTLES…. THE GIRLS," I shouted sitting up. I tried to shifted to my feet but couldn't. I felt like something was weighing me down, I didn't remember much of what happened. I assumed we were just kidnapped.
"Don't move your hurt," she said pressing a hand to my side.
"LEO," she shouted again banging at the garage door.
That's when I passed out again.
It seemed like hours had passed I could hear voices around me.
"Alex?" Mikey's voice chimed.
"Mikey?" I said opening my eyes.
"What…." I tried to say. I was so dizzy and felt a sharp pain in my side.
"Don't move," Donnie's voice said.
I looked at him.
"Where are they?" I said sitting up quickly.
"We were going to ask you that…. Alex what happened?" Donnie said his hand touched my forehead.
I didn't remember much, all I could tell him was about my father's journal in my bag, and about encountering Sachs in a plane. I also mentioned a yellow envelope and its contents.
I didn't remember much after that or the lab.
"What was in it…." He asked again. I looked around him to Raph and Leo who were leaning against the door.
"You're mad at me aren't you?" I said to the both of them.
"Alex, don't worry about that… tell me what was in the envelope," he repeated again.
"I'm not sure, it was paperwork, and lots of it, a CD and a green vile of mutagen." I said to him. I shifted my feet off the bed.
"Alex," Raph said from the door.
"You're….. friends," he started to say.
"They may be in danger," he said again.
"Well we have to go find them." I said to all of them. I shifted to my feet.
"Oh no, not you…." Donnie said extending his hands out to me catching me as fell to my knees.
"I have to help them," I said to him.
I could see Leo pacing and talking to himself. April, Vern and Casey hovered near the door.
"Alex, Sachs is planning on resurrecting Shredder and making more mutants," April explained.
"I know, I figured that much," I said to her.
I stood up to my feet and took a deep breath; I shifted to the door way of my room.
"We read the journal," Donnie said holding it up.
"So much information on, everything… it's like Sachs and Shredder had planned for all this," Donnie said again shuffling to his desk. I hovered near my door.
Raph looked at me then shifted next to Donnie as they looked through the book.
"I'm glad your back doll face, I missed yeah… let's figure out where these girl turtles are and…." Mikey said tapping my shoulder, "…. And we'll bring them back." He said again. I smiled at him and patted his head.
"Mikey," I said to him. "Could you pass me my bag please," I leaned against my staff. He smiled and nodded handing me my bag.
I looked around the room for Splinter. He was in his room writing, like he usually does, he tries not to get involved in any of the action because he knows that we can handle it.
I shifted over towards Splinter's room. I reached into my bag for the box I brought back with me.
Raphael noticed me shifting across the room and followed behind me.
"Splinter?" I said standing in the doorway.
"Alex," he said and smiled to me. I came in and sat down on a mat.
"Are you alright?" he asked turning to me. He sat down across from me.
"I brought you something," I said to him extending my hands out to him.
He took the box from me and slide open the lid. He pulled out the urn.
"Alex what is this?" he asked trying to remember.
He opened the little black envelope and pulled out the picture.
"I just wanted to make sure this came back to you," I said to him looking down.
"Alex…" he said softly. I didn't move my eyes from the ground. The urn contained the ashes of his wife and daughter.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry, I know in a few days…." I started to say trying not to show my tears. In a few days would be the anniversary of their death. The death I caused, the death that made him hate me for a long time. I left my father's office window opened in the dojo, after he told me not too, and a stray cat came in. I had turned my back for a second to get them some water and when I had come back, their cage was opened and his wife and daughter were attacked by the cat. I was so upset, I cried for days, Splinter didn't even acknowledge me for months…. Until I bought Yuki and the guys where born.
"Alex…." He started to say. He put down the urn next to him.
"It was my fault it happened, and well I wanted to bring this back for you," I said quickly before he could say anything.
"I was two; I was young and didn't listen to my father when he told me to keep the office window closed." I said to him. I hadn't noticed that everyone hovered around the door.
"It was my fault they died…." I said to him trying to hold back my tears.
"Alex, I had forgiven you years ago, there is no need to blame yourself," Splinter said trying to reassure me.
"That's why when I found out you were all alive, I wanted to see you to tell you, confront you…." I said quickly.
"Alex, the past is the past… I have a new family which you had given me, daughters and sons…. I am happy," he said touching a hand to my chin. I looked up to him.
"I'm still sorry, " I said again.
"I didn't know you had a family before us sensei," Mickey said from behind me. I turned and noticed them all hovering behind us.
"Hahaha, its nothing to worry about, it was a very long long time ago," he said shifting to his feet. He picked up the urn and placed it on his small bedside table.
I shifted to my feet as well and turned around.
"We need to talk," Leo said to me.
I followed behind him and the guys to the dojo. April, Vern and Casey hovered around Donnie's work station examining the journal.
Raph closed the dojo door behind us, and the lights went on. I leaned against the bars.
"I'm not mad," he said not looking at me, he paced around the dojo.
"These girls," he started to say.
"They're turtles, yes Leonardo, they were an experiment gone wrong…. They were the first test subjects of Sachs lab in Japan. He worked there before he came to America," I said sternly.
"He threw them out when they didn't mutate, or change in any way, he didn't have a completed serum by that point, that's why he enlisted my mother's help a few years after when he realized she had created a mutagen as well…" I said again. I twirled my staff around in my hands.
"There not warriors, they can't even defend themselves, they run and hide from people because that's all they know in life," I said again not even giving him the chance to speak. He held his hand up to me.
"I'm not mad," he said again.
"I'm disappointed," he said. I looked at him cautiously.
"You should've told us, and… well in a way yeah, when you told Splinter about them, I felt like you had forgotten about us…" he added. Raph crossed his arms and stood behind me. I felt a little uncomfortable, because of the tension in the room. Raph seemed angry, Donnie was expressionless, and Mickey seemed upset.
"I would never forget about you guys, I wanted to help them because they had gone through what you did," I said calmly.
"No Alex, they didn't go through what we did," Leo said rather abruptly. He was mad I could tell his voice gave that off.
"They have no idea what we've been through, seventeen years Alex and we hid from people underground, not knowing who we were and where we came from, why we were like this…." He said angrily.
"If it wasn't for April we wouldn't be where we are today, out there helping people, amongst people….." he said again shifting towards me. I shifted back and hit into Raph.
"What are you saying? That I did this to you, that I abandoned you and forgot about you?" I said to him my tone was very loud and stern.
"What I'm saying is you decided to help them find out who they are and where they came from but for seventeen years…." He started to say. I clenched my teeth together, I knew exactly what he was insinuating.
"I was a child, I had no choice Leo, I told you all this, I couldn't find you… I didn't know where you where, and not a day went by that I didn't think about you guys," I said trying to hold back tears.
"YOU'RE AN IDIOT LEONARDO," I said to him pushing him away from me.
I turned around and clenched my hands together.
"Leo," Mikey said to him. He came towards me.
"That was harsh man," he said to him again.
"Don't help me," I said to them in a low voice.
"I'll find them myself and help them myself," I said again to them.
"Seems like I'm not wanted here," I said pulling my staff to my side.
"Hey wait Leo didn't mean that," Donnie said grabbing me by the arm.
"Do not follow me, any of you," I shouted at them pulling my arm away from Donnie's grasp.
"Let me tell you something Leonardo, I helped them from the kindness of my heart because I know what you've all been through, I didn't want that for them, I thought maybe you would see that. Maybe you'd see how hard it was for me to hand you over to the man that now wants all of you dead, a man who became a monster and lied to my mother, to Mr. O'Neil and to everyone. Maybe…" I said again. I didn't let any of them see me upset.
"You have no idea the guilt I lived with, so do me a favour, don't follow me," I said to them, and shifted to the door. I opened it and closed it behind me.
April turned from the screens and looked at me.
"Alex?" she said. I didn't look to her and went to my room to change into my ninja outfit.