Prologue
The match struck, instantly igniting a flame. One by one, Splinter raised the match up and into the various lanterns hanging from the tree, allowing the flame to spread its warmth and glow. "Join me, my children," he said as he finished up. "For tonight, I have something special to share with you."
With the last lantern aglow, Splinter quickly extinguished the flame and turned his attention to the five youths sitting before him. Four turtles, wearing blue, red, purple, and orange masks respectively. And one cat sitting on the other side of the orange-masked terrapin, her own pink mask secured around her neck like a bandana.
"Ooh!" Mikey exclaimed, waving his hands excitedly. "Presents, Sensei?"
"Shh! Quiet, Mikey!" Raph hissed at his brother.
Jade gasped excitedly. "Are you gonna tell us another story?" she asked, beaming. "Oh! Is it a fairy tale?"
"Cool!" Donnie said as Splinter sat down in front of them. "I love story time!"
"I wanna learn more about Japan, Master Splinter," Leo said, an eager grin on his face.
Despite his amusement, Splinter shook his head. "Not tonight, Leonardo," he said. "I have told you before of how we all came to be together...But I have not told you everything." That immediately piqued the children's interest. "Our journey together has not been an easy one, but it could not have happened without fate, courage, and great purpose. The world we live in is very dangerous. We have many enemies in the city above. My duty is to teach you all I know. One day, you will need to choose your own destiny. But tonight, I want to tell you the rest of our story."
OoOoOoO
The cool night air brushed against Splinter's face as he hurriedly jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He could barely feel the large bag's weight against his back. Despite his exhaustion, he kept going.
"My children. When you were very small—smaller than you are now—things were different. I had many different tasks back then. Finding food, staying in the shadows, hiding from people that would not understand us."
It didn't take long for him to come across an alleyway, dark and devoid of any humans. Perfect. Splinter quickly flipped himself over the building's edge, lowering himself until he could jump and grab at a nearby clothesline. The clothesline did a good job of helping him descend until he was just a couple of feet above the ground. Splinter released his grip and touched down, allowing the clothesline to snap back into place once he was on the ground.
Lowering himself slightly, Splinter sniffed the air a few times. Still no humans nearby. But the faint odor of something edible reached his nose. His first instinct was to check the discarded boxes and bags on the concrete beneath him, but when those turned up empty, he turned his attention to the nearby dumpster.
A year ago, he would've been disgusted at such a thought. But now, he couldn't afford to turn his nose up at anything edible. Without a moment to waste, Splinter threw the lid open, doing his best to ignore the nauseating smells as he dug through the piles of trash. Luck was on his side, as he found himself placing some unopened snacks and half-eaten takeout containers in his own bag. Splinter gave them a quick sniff to make sure none of it was toxic or expired, and was relieved when he found none of that.
"While foraging one night, I encountered the strangers responsible for our transformation."
The sound of sudden movement made Splinter whip around, seeing two men wearing familiar black suits at the alley's entrance. One held a weapon, while the other had a flashlight in his hands, the pink glow penetrating the darkness at the alleyway entrance.
Whatever Splinter had been reaching for a second ago was immediately forgotten. The mutant rat gripped his bag tightly and vanished into the alleyway's shadows at inhuman speeds.
"Kraang must capture that which is known as mutations," one of the men spoke. His voice was identical to the others that Splinter had encountered just a few nights ago. Just as flat and monotone. "Kraang must study specimens and destroy specimens. Kraang must be safe on planet called planet Earth."
After what felt like ages—when in reality, it was only a few seconds—the light's pink glow disappeared with a click, and Splinter watched from his position halfway up the building as the two men walked away. He let out a silent breath he didn't realize he was holding, and didn't leave until he was sure they were gone, keeping his eyes narrowed at the alleyway's entrance.
"I did not know what they were at the time, but they were certainly not human. Our new enemy had technology I had never seen before."
Splinter climbed back to the top of the building, jumping up and quickly yet cautiously making his way across the rooftop. Halfway through, however, he paused, his ears twitching as he sniffed the air once more. He made a sharp left turn and hastily sped off. And perfect timing, as a large silver and pink orb, one roughly the size of a beach ball, floated up to the roof and hovered around. It's warping hum reached Splinter's ears, the rat having lowered himself into a small gap between this building and the next.
A few nearby pigeons were startled by his sudden appearance, and flew up to the roof. A mechanical whirring filled the air as soon as they did so. And only seconds later, a loud noise—one that could only have been the sound of a weapon being fired—filled the air for a second. The cooing sounds that one of the pigeons was making a second ago stopped, as burnt feathers quickly fluttered down into the gap, just a foot or two away from Splinter.
The mechanical whir sounded a second time, and Splinter could hear the warping hum start to move. Thankfully, it was moving away from his current position. Once the humming had faded into silence, Splinter made his move and pulled himself back onto the rooftop, making his way across its surface.
The rest of his journey was mercifully uneventful. He soon made his way to the abandoned water tower atop a nearby building. Splinter swiftly yet quietly pushed the makeshift door, a large piece of metal, out of the way and stepped inside, making sure to reposition the door once he had done so.
Allowing himself to finally breathe in relief, Splinter crouched down, instinctively finding the nearby lamp and turning it on. A warm yellow glow cut through the otherwise dark water tower. Splinter turned the knob on the side of the lamp, intensifying its glow, and soon found the tower's five other occupants.
All of them were clustered together in one area, on top of a sheet of cardboard. The freckled turtle was sleeping on top of a teddy bear that Splinter had found yesterday, while the dark green one was laying on his brother's shell. The leaf-green turtle was sitting upright with his back turned to Splinter, as if keeping a silent vigil over his brothers' slumbering forms. Jade was on the other side of the sleeping duo, using a marker to make scribbly lines and messy doodles on the cardboard bed. And finally, the olive-green turtle was laying on his side nearby, messing with some kind of small, cylindrical object, while suckling on another one like a pacifier.
The moment the light touched their forms, Jade and three of the turtles looked up. They immediately abandoned whatever they were doing in favor of cooing and babbling at the tall, familiar figure that stood over them. Jade pulled herself up so that she was standing; at the same time, the dark green turtle jumped on the freckled one, as if to wake him up, which he succeeded in doing, while the olive one held up his cylindrical object to show it off.
"Yes," Splinter said, lowering the bag to the ground and removing his hood from his head. "Hello, little ones." He crouched down to open the bag, drawing the five's attention to it. "I have brought you food."
As if he had spoken a magic word, all five of them clumsily made their way over to him. Splinter dug out the containers and opened the bags, placing them on the floor for the five to scrounge through and grab. Once he was sure they had all grabbed something and were blissfully munching away, Splinter lowered himself to the ground with a sigh.
He reached into his robe and pulled out an old black and white photograph, looking over it forlornly. It was the one taken the day his daughter Miwa was born; his beloved Tang Shen stood next to him, holding their newborn daughter. His heart ached every time he thought of them.
Tearing his gaze away from the photograph for a moment, Splinter glanced down at his hands, now thinner than they had been a few days ago and accompanied by claws. "What terrible deed did I do in a past life that such a curse has befallen me?" he whispered to himself, lowering his hands to the ground.
Splinter wasn't sure how long he sat there, his thoughts swimming through his head, before he felt something on his legs. He raised his head to see Jade, a half-empty bag of graham crackers in one hand as she tried to pull herself onto his leg, making it clear what she wanted. A soft half-smile replaced his frown as Splinter reached over and lifted the one-year-old feline up, twisting her around so that she could sit on his lap. Jade made a small noise of contentment and went back to munching on the graham crackers. Several crumbs fell onto her torn up and filthy dress, as well as Splinter's robe, but the toddler happily swayed her new tail nonetheless.
By all accounts, Splinter should have been cautious. In the few days since their transformation, he had felt his new rat instincts begin to take over, almost becoming a second nature to him. And he had no doubt that it was beginning to happen to Jade, if her new purrs and the way she'd sway her tail to indicate her mood was any clue. She was a feline, while he was a rodent. A natural predator and prey.
But she was still Jade. Still the same curious, cheerful little toddler that Splinter had found roaming the streets just a few months ago.
Jade wasn't even done with her meal before the leaf-green turtle crawled over to the duo. Instead of trying to pull himself onto Splinter's lap like the feline had, he went for the small katana that was sheathed and secured to Splinter's waist. His small, three-fingered hand against the sheath, glancing up at the rat with a big, innocent smile. And Splinter couldn't help but smile back.
"As I watched you five continue to grow, I wondered what you might become, and if there was a safe place for us in this world."
Unfortunately, their peaceful dinner proved to be short-lived. A familiar hum reached Splinter's ears. His body sprang into action before his mind could comprehend it, placing both Jade and the leaf-green turtle back with the other three turtles, who all looked at him in confusion. Splinter unsheathed his katana, surprising the five little ones, and pressed his back firmly against the wall next to the door.
A whirring sound pierced the air, this one more akin to an electric hum than the previously mechanical one, and a purplish-pink light hit the water tower, going through a couple of the small holes on the sides. Splinter stilled himself, while the turtles and Jade made small, confused noises as the light passed them over, huddled together for safety.
The whirring continued for several more seconds, then finally vanished along with the light. Splinter heard the hum begin to retreat, and allowed himself to relax with a quiet yet heavy exhale.
That was, until one of the turtles, who had been digging through the last of the takeout containers, belched loud enough for the sound to echo through the tower.
The hum stopped retreating, and a mechanical whirring hit Splinter's ears.
Splinter immediately kicked the sheet of metal off the wall, hitting the machine with many limbs and sharp objects dead on. It seemed to stumble in the air, and Splinter took the opportunity to jump through the open hole and grab onto the machine, avoiding the pink blasts it tried to fire at him and wrestling it to the ground. Splinter slammed it onto the rooftop, and wasted no time in stabbing his katana through the top of its 'head'. Oily black gunk burst from the 'wound', and the machine died down within seconds.
Panting, Splinter pulled the katana out and stood up, looking around to make sure that thing didn't bring any backup. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he rushed back to the water tower, finding all five of the tiny mutants huddled together, safe and sound.
"We must leave this place," he told them, not caring that they could barely understand what he was saying. "It is too dangerous. We must find another haven to hide." Without another word, Splinter grabbed a nearby box and opened it up, placing the four turtles inside of it. He closed up the box, then turned his attention to Jade, who wouldn't be able to fit in the box with the others, placing her inside the bag like a carrier and making sure she was secure.
Splinter pulled his hood back up, before slinging the bag over his back and grabbing the box.
Minutes later, Splinter found himself walking down the street, pushing an old grocery cart in front of him. The bag and box had been placed in the cart. Not far into his journey, Splinter caught the sounds of whimpering and babbling coming from the bag and box respectively. The rat paused to open the box's lid and bag's flap. The four turtles immediately looked up and babbled loudly in excitement, while Jade, who had started to become fussy in the bag, halted her whimpering to look up at the familiar rat.
"Be silent," he instructed all five of them, quietening them down. "Look to me. Never be heard. Never be seen."
It seemed to work for now. Splinter quickly closed the box and bag again, and continued on his way. He stopped just above the entrance to a subway station. However, just before he could descend down the stairs, he spotted two familiar shadows approaching from below.
Splinter gasped, feeling his heartrate pick up as he turned the cart and bolted across the street to a nearby alleyway. Once they were out of sight, Splinter peered back through the entrance. Sure enough, three of those men appeared at the top of the stairs. "Kraang has all Kraang rescanning city sector," he could hear them from here. "Kraang will find mutants quickly."
One of the men held a strange device in his hands, and a pinkish glow emitted from it. Whether it was a weapon or some kind of scanning device, Splinter chose not to find out. He hurried to the other end of the alleyway, which opened onto another street, and ran down it with the cart. He didn't stop until he came across the entrance of an old building, placed directly below some train tracks. Panting heavily to calm himself, Splinter checked up on the turtles and Jade, who were starting to grow sleepy and even dozing off now. He allowed himself to exhale in relief, and allowed himself into a sitting position.
"Remaining focused even at rest will keep you sharp. There is always a quiet before the storm. Always."
"Mutant organism."
Splinter's head spot up, finding five of those men walking towards him, each carrying a weapon in hand.
"Come that which is known as quietly," the man in front said. They stopped, pointing their weapons at him. "Surrender, mutant. Resistance to Kraang is futile."
Brown eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare as their owner stood up, positioning himself into a fighting stance. "We shall see."
The train blared overhead, and over the noise, Splinter could hear Jade start to cry and hiccup softly, threatening to turn into full-blown wails. The men seemed to take that as their cue to start firing blasts at Splinter, who dodged effortlessly and barreled towards the men, knocking each of them to the ground with ease.
Splinter ripped the weapon away from the final man's hands, hitting him in the chest harshly and throwing him over his shoulder. The man hit a nearby light pole face-first and collapsed to the ground. But then his head lulled to the said, facing Splinter…and showing the metallic, blue machinery and vivid pink orb where his flesh and eye should have been.
The calm within Splinter was broken, his eyes widening in shock. "What?!" he gasped. "Machines?"
The sound of movement made him turn to see that the other four men had gotten back up, not looking the least bit exhausted or injured.
Oh. Oh.
The men attacked again, this time using the same physical assaults that Splinter had used barely a minute ago. Despite his years of training, Splinter found himself being pushed back by these…inhuman things. Thinking fast, he spotted a nearby broom and kicked it up into his hand, yelling as he swung and hit the first three that tried to attack him.
But he wasn't ready for the fourth one to slam the butt of his gun against Splinter's face the moment the rat turned towards him. Splinter grunted in pain as he stumbled back, dropping the broom and hitting the cart before falling to the asphalt. He pulled himself back into a squatting position, and looked up in time to see the last man pointing his fun at him.
"Give that which is known as up, and Kraang will reduce pain to minimum," the man said. Splinter gasped. And all the while, he could hear the little feline continue to cry from the bag.
But by some miracle, at that moment, one of the turtles jumped up from the box with an excited coo. He pressed the button on the old camera he had been playing with, and a bright white light flashed from its bulb, momentarily stunning the man and forcing him to hide his eyes.
Thanking God for the opportunity, Splinter grabbed one of the weapons from the cart, a pair of nunchucks, and pointed them at the man. The man recovered from the flash and looked back up at Splinter, only to lower his gaze in confusion to the nunchucks. That's when Splinter noticed the weapon was a bit…heavier than usual, and followed the man's gaze to see the freckled turtle hanging from one end of the nunchucks by only his mouth, suckling on the handle's end like a bottle.
Two more of the men quickly recovered and aimed their weapons at Splinter as well. All three of them started firing again. Splinter placed the nunchucks and baby turtle back in the box, and used the cart like a battering ram to knock one of the men down, sending him tumbling several feet.
Splinter ran down the street with the cart, the men still chasing and firing away. Spotting some tall scaffolding at the end of the street, Splinter had one hand push the cart while the other grabbed a few kunai from his pockets. He threw them at the scaffolding, making sure to hit certain spots. Immediately, the structure began to creak and groan, but it wasn't until Splinter had already passed through it and the men were directly underneath it did it collapse, burying them under a pile of debris.
Splinter wasn't sure how long he continued running, but he knows his journey ended as he stumbled upon an abandoned warehouse. He managed to force the gate open and stumbled inside, the bag on his bag and the box under his arm. "This will do, for now," he panted.
Splinter let the four turtles out and pulled Jade, who had never stopped crying, out of the bag. Her ears were flattened to her head and tear rolled down her furry cheeks. Splinter held her close, shushing the toddler and rubbing her little back. It seemed to work, as her cries quieted down and she snuggled up against the rat's chest.
As he soothed her, the turtles took this opportunity to explore their new 'home'. The leaf-green turtle crawled around curiously. The freckled one had found an old roller skate and was happy riding around on top of it…until the dark green one yanked on the string attached to it, flipping it over and knocking his brother to the ground. The freckled one seemed unbothered, though, and merely picked up the screwdriver he had landed next to with his teeth.
While the leaf-green turtle also took the new object from his brother, swinging it around like a sword, the olive one discovered the cord to a small desk lamp. He looked back and forth between the end of the cord and a brown one plugged into a nearby wall. You could practically see the lightbulb going off in his head, and he plugged the two ends together. The desk lamp lit up, prompting the other turtles to stare at it in awe, while the olive turtle babbled joyfully at his victory.
Smiling, Splinter lowered himself into a sitting position, placing the now calm Jade onto his lap and patting the olive turtle's head. "Very good, smart one," he praised. Once that was said and done, he removed Jade from his lap and got into a meditative position, ready to concentrate and focus inwards…
…Which only lasted about five seconds, as three of the turtles—the leaf-green, dark green, and olive ones, particularly—had taken it upon themselves to climb up his robe, curiously inspecting the material and the rat attached to it.
"It appears meditation is out of the question for now," Splinter sighed.
He looked over to find Jade and the freckled turtle just a few feet away. The former was sitting down and holding the latter in her arms like a doll, while he nibbled on a half-eaten sausage he had found. Jade had a smile on her face as she nuzzled her cheek against the terrapin's head, making him laugh out loud at the tickling sensation. And Splinter couldn't stop himself from laughing softly at the sight as well.
The rat's laugh seemed to catch freckled turtle's attention. He squirmed in Jade's arms, prompting the feline to release her grip so he could toddle over to Splinter. The freckled turtle raised the sausage up to the rat with a babbling coo, obviously an attempt to share his treat.
The smile on Splinter's face widened. "Thank you, young turtle," he said. Then, the smile faded as a realization hit him. "I suppose you all need proper names." He stroked his newly-acquired beard in thought. Jade was the only one who had a name so far, having been the word she endlessly repeated when Splinter found her a few months ago. It didn't feel right for only her to have a name and to called the others 'turtle' all the time.
Splinter placed the other three turtles back on the ground, then turned to the cart. He picked up one of the items inside: an old book on the Renaissance Arts.
"When I was a child, I wanted to be an artist," he said, sitting back down and leafing through the pages. "So, it seems appropriate to name you after the masters of my favorite period in art: the Renaissance." As if they understood him, the four turtles cooed and babbled again. Splinter stopped at a certain page, one displaying summaries of four famous artists. "Perhaps then, you will grow up to be something great."
As if on instinct, all four turtles took to a certain corner of the book, while Jade watched them curiously from Splinter's side. "I will name you…" Splinter started out. "Donatello." He pointed to the olive turtle, who gained a thoughtful look on his face.
"Michelangelo," next was the freckled turtle, who stuck his tongue out playfully.
"Raphael," the dark green turtle, who Splinter swore started giving him a smirk.
"And Leonardo," and lastly, the leaf-green turtle, who beamed up at him.
Seemingly satisfied that they now had names, the four turtles started playing together again, making happy little noises as they crawled over the book and each other. Jade made a similar noise and toddled over to the younger mutants, patting Donatello's little head as he climbed over Michelangelo.
It was getting late. Splinter crafted a makeshift bed out of a wooden crate and some blankets, and placed the four turtles inside of it, each of them either yawning or already dozing off. Splinter switch off the nearby lamp, then turned his attention to Jade, who was sitting a couple of feet away and looking drowsy. She wouldn't be able to fit in the crate. Lowering himself onto a mattress next to the crate, Splinter picked up Jade and placed her against his chest again. If there was one thing Splinter had learned about Jade during the past few months, it was that she was a little cuddle bug.
The feline looked up at him, her innocent brown eyes meeting his own, and Splinter couldn't help the pang in his heart. Miwa would have been about Jade's age by now. He brushed his fingers through her soft auburn hair, miraculously still on her head after her mutation. Whenever he saw her, saw the turtles, he saw little Miwa.
He couldn't give these children over to those…men? Machines? Whatever they were, Splinter wouldn't let them near these innocent children. Their lives had barely even begun. And Splinter wasn't going to let it be snatched from them.
"Rest now, little ones," Splinter said in a gentle voice, watching as Jade started to doze off. "For I fear we will not be able to elude our trackers for long."
OoOoOoO
"Aww, we were so cute back then!" Mikey's voice broke through Splinter's concentration, interrupting the story. "Especially me. Gotta love the freckles!" He giggled despite himself. "Can you tell us more about the cool robots you fought, Sensei?"
"Stop interrupting, Mikey," Leo snapped at his youngest brother. "I'm really into this story!"
Raph, however, started laughing. "I always knew Jade was a crybaby!" he howled, prompting the feline to puff up her cheeks and glare at the red-masked turtle.
"I am not, Raphie!" Jade snapped, clearly upset. Raph stopped laughing and returned Jade's glare at the nickname; while Mikey mostly used it affectionately, he and the others would also use it teasingly.
"I actually remember plugging that lamp in," Donnie spoke up, halting the small feud between the siblings. "Man, I really was a baby genius."
Raph rolled his green eyes. "Whatever," he huffed, then looked back up at Splinter. "Does baby Raph start kicking butt?" Man, he wished he could remember like Donnie did.
"Pay attention, my children," Splinter instructed, sighing in exasperation. "This story has a purpose." The five drew their attention back to their father and teacher. "Now, I will resume."
OoOoOoO
"Our days were spent sleeping, while nights I would hunt for food and take care of you."
If one were to look in the abandoned warehouse, they'd be greeted by the sight of little Michelangelo being smacked repeatedly on the head by Raphael, whom Leonardo was trying in vain to pull him away from the smallest turtle. Barely a foot away, Jade was sitting down, squeezing Donatello in her arms like a teddy bear, while he was busy looking over a wooden spoon he has found earlier.
Splinter headed into the warehouse, making sure to close the gate behind him. He walked over to the five children, corralling them together in one spot and fishing out the freshly-made Chinese takeout he had grabbed earlier. Using chopsticks, Splinter fed them the noodles, watching in amusement as they tried to climb over each other to steal the others' dinner.
"When I would practice ninjutsu, I noticed the five of you would try to imitate me. At first, I was amused. But then I considered…a possibility."
Leonardo was the one who tried to mirror Splinter's movements the most, which was what initially drew the rat's attention to the five children. Near him, Raphael and Donatello were wrestling, trying to take each other down. Jade spun around, giggling as she swatted at the air. And Michelangelo kicked at an invisible opponent, jumping in the air and landing on his bottom with a surprised squeak, drawing the other four's attention to him.
Splinter lifted Michelangelo up, letting the smallest turtle rest against his shoulder and rubbing his back, which the terrapin seemed to love. A tug at his robe made Splinter look down, seeing that Jade, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello had made their way over and were looking up at him with pleading eyes.
Chuckling, Splinter crouched down. It took a bit of maneuvering, but he eventually managed to get Jade onto his shoulders and the turtles into his arms. "My little ones…" he said in a soft voice, hearing all five of them coo happily.
…And it seems that fate chose that moment to throw him off guard again.
Because the wall behind them suddenly exploded, a plume of purple smoke filling the air.
Jade flattened her ears against her head, letting out a piercing wail and placing an iron grip on Splinter's own ears. The rat ignored the stinging of his ears as he backed away from the wall, turning to see several of those men, some of them out of their 'human suits', and a couple of those even missing that blue covering, standing there with blasters.
And…were those brains in their stomachs?!
"No!" Splinter gasped as Jade continued to wail and hiccup on his shoulders.
"That which is known as rodent mutant is hard to contain," one of the men said.
"Then that which is known as rodent mutant will exterminated," another one spoke up.
They started firing at Splinter again. The rat wasted no time in bolting over to the cart, not bothering with the box or bag as he hurried placed the turtles and the wailing Jade inside. Splinter ran as fast as he could, feeling his heart hammer in his chest as he pushed the cart in front of him, grateful that it was nighttime. Less humans risked seeing them.
As Splinter raced down the street, within the cart, Jade was still sobbing as she held her ears. Despite the bumpy ride, Leonardo wriggled up next to her, clearly trying to hug the feline. Her wailing stopped and she sniffled as she glanced down at the leaf-green turtle.
Splinter quickly looked around for any possible escape route, and found one in the form of a subway station entrance. He hurried down it, half-regretting his decision as the cart bumped with each step, sending the five mutants inside tumbling around, and ended up having to jump in front of the cart to stop it once they reached the bottom, preventing it from falling into the tracks.
Thankfully, all five were okay, and Jade had finally stopped crying, now squeezing Leonardo in her arms as if he were her favorite stuffed animal. But they weren't out of the woods yet. Splinter pulled the cart away just as some of those men descended the stairs.
"Kraang is having hard time finding mutants," one of them said.
"Yes, Kraang," another spoke, his voice more robotic than the previous ones. "The tracker that is the DNA tracker is insufficient in that which is known as underground."
"Finally. Something that could work to our advantage. Within these tunnels, I could choose the battleground, where I could strike hard and fade away into the shadows."
Relying on his stealth and sense of misdirection, Splinter was able to lure one of the men—the Kraang—into one end of the station, were he effortlessly destroyed its suit. And while the others were distracted by the destroyed robot, Splinter grabbed the previously hidden cart and started to pull it backwards up the stairs.
The turtles and Jade all giggled at the jumping sensation, clearly thinking they were playing a game or on some kind of ride. Splinter raised a finger to his muzzle and shushed them. "You must be quiet, like ninja," he said. Once they were all silent, he went back to trying to pull the cart up…only to discover that it was stuck on something. Grunting in frustration, Splinter looked down to see that one of the weapons, a Sai, had slipped out of the cart and snagged itself in the bottom of the cart, essentially making it impossible to move.
"No, not now!" Splinter whisper-shouted, panic filling his chest. Keeping on hand on the cart, Splinter crouched down to grab at and hopefully dislodge the Sai. But as he did, he heard little Raphael start growling, and followed the dark green turtle's gaze to see one of those silver and pink machines from before. It opened itself up the moment he laid his eyes on it, revealing its elongated limbs with sharp ends.
Splinter placed himself between the machine and the cart. And as that moment, the loosened Sai came undone, falling to the side and sending the cart down the stairs.
"No!" Splinter yelled as his whipped around, reaching for the cart. Whether he was too slow or the cart was too fast, he wasn't sure. Regardless, Splinter's hand missed the cart's handle by mere inches, much to his horror.
The cart jumbled, tossing the turtles and cat around, and Raphael was sent flying out of it. The dark green turtle grunted as he tumbled down the stairs before finally hitting the platform floor, landing on his front. The cart, however, didn't stop. It jumped one last time near the bottom step, and Raphael screamed in surprise as it neared him and shut his eyes, bracing for impact. One of the wheels hit his shell, making him yell as it bounced off of him and kept going. The cart only stopped once it hurt the turnstiles.
Splinter ran to Raphael and crouched down to pick him up, desperately praying to God that the little turtle was at least still alive. And it seems his prayers were answered and more, as Raphael sat up in Splinter's hand, proudly displaying the Sai that he had somehow picked up, much to Splinter's immense relief.
Though Raphael didn't come out unscathed. A piece of his plastron on his upper left side broke off, leaving a jagged space behind.
And at that moment, Splinter saw red.
He calmly placed Raphael back in the cart next to his siblings. The machine hovered behind him, crackling with electricity. And without a moment's notice, Splinter grabbed both Sais and charged at the machine with them. He released a furious yell as he mercilessly ripped it apart.
Back in the cart, Michelangelo whimpered and curling inwards, as if trying to hide. Leonardo, Jade and Donatello were around him, cuddling up against him in a comforting way. Raphael, however, was happily shadowboxing away as he watched Splinter fight, much to the astonishment of his four siblings.
With one last mighty yell, Splinter stabbed both Sais into the machine at once, and it met the same fate as the first one. Sighing, Splinter headed back over to the cart, placing the Sais back in his pockets.
"You are fine, little Raphael," Splinter said to the laughing turtle, gently patting his head. "Still full of fury, I see."
The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps made Splinter glare over his shoulder, and he quickly took the cart onto the tracks, running through the darkness of the subway tunnels and disappearing into the sewers.
"Our fight was not yet over. But this time, I would make them come to me. Besides being unable to track us, I began to realize what these sewers could offer. The ability to move throughout the city unseen. A place to hide and grow. And time to pass on what I had learned in my other life."
A few more of those machines were easily taken down with a few kunai. As he ran, Splinter looked down to see Leonardo standing up, holding one of the katanas in his little hands. "Be careful, Leonardo," he cautioned. He spotted one of the robots at the end of the tunnel, weapon raised at him.
Gritting his teeth, Splinter rammed the cart into the robot, taking it down with him in what looked like an empty pool in a large room. The robot barely had time to hit the ground before Splinter took the katana from Leonardo's hand and stabbed it through the robot's skull, shutting to down for good.
Panting to calm himself, Splinter closed his eyes. He could hear the dripping of water all around him. It was almost…harmonious.
His thoughts drifted to his younger self, to the ambitious young man he used to be. To Tang Shen and little Miwa. And finally, to the four baby turtles and the toddler cat that now resided in his care.
"I used to wonder if I had the discipline to be a proper father. For any family. In the darkest part of our journey, I wondered if I would have another chance to be both. I wanted to be both."
Opening his eyes, Splinter found several of those Kraang robots surrounding him.
"Kraang will dispose of rat mutant," one of them said. "But take little mutants."
"Kraang understands," one of the 'naked' robots responded. "Kraang will exterminate and capture as Kraang commands."
As it spoke, Splinter's grip on the katana became white-knuckled. "Never!" he declared. "Beasts from beyond this world! You want these mutants?" He raised the sword up. "Here! I will give them to you!"
The Kraang charged at him one by one. And one by one, Splinter took each of them down, slicing their metallic bodies into ribbons as the five little ones watched in awe. He wasn't going to let them anywhere near his children.
"Kraang!" one of them cried out as Splinter jumped back up to the upper platform of the room. "Attack for Kraang!"
"This would be our Thermopylae. A final stand to claim these sewers as ours."
As Splinter fought, one of the Kraang approached the cart. But he never got the chance to take it occupants, as they started whimpering and protesting, effortlessly grabbing Splinter's attention.
"LEAVE THEM BE!" he yelled, jumping and tackling the Kraang droid, hitting the cart as he did so.
Adrenaline bursting through him like a firework, Splinter slammed his head against the droid's own, forcing it to release its grip on the rat's wrists. And with one final shout, Splinter plunged his hand into its stomach and ripped out the squealing, brain-like creature.
Splinter didn't notice at first where exactly he had pushed the cart to. He was too preoccupied with keeping this last Kraang down.
He did, however, look up when the five started crying, and realized in horror that it had gone towards a nearby opening in the wall, which essentially acted as a waterfall to a lower part of the sewers.
And the moment he looked up, the cart tipped over the edge.
"NO!"
Time seemed to slow down as the cart was plunged into the dark waters below, dragging the five little mutants down with it.
Splinter dove into the waters, desperately searching for the little ones, praying that he would find them. Just when it felt hopeless, Splinter spotted that teddy bear floating for just a moment before it sunk into the waters. There! Splinter swam over to that spot and dove in, following the toy into the depths.
It didn't take long for him to find the cart, upside down and at the bottom of the pool, with all five children trapped underneath it.
Splinter tried desperately to lift the cart up. But he could barely get it to move. The water suddenly started moving, pulling everything towards an opened tunnel on a nearby wall. Splinter looked down at the children, seeing the desperation in their innocent eyes, and yelled as much as his lungs would allow as he gave one final yank and pulled the cart off of them, tossing it towards the opening.
Splinter grabbed all five children, holding them tightly as he allowed the current to drag his fatigued body towards the opening.
And then, nothing.
Splinter wasn't sure how long he had been out. But the next thing he knew, he was lying on his back, groaning softly as he floated down the waters. It took him a moment to realize that the four turtles were around him, swimming and guiding him through the tunnels as a team.
And it also took him a moment to realize that Jade was lying on top of his chest. Shivering and whimpering, but otherwise okay.
They finally reached a platform, and Splinter wasted no time in placing the five children on the dry ground. He heaved himself up, only to collapse once he was on the platform, panting heavily. Immediately, Jade and the turtles hurried over to him, pressing their little hands against his face and head.
And Splinter hugged all five of them close.
"Finally, in this isolated, secret chamber, we were safe."
OoOoOoO
"And that is how our first great adventure led us home," Splinter concluded his story, smiling at the starry looks in all five children's eyes.
"Now," the rat continued, standing up. "Now, I have a gift for each of you as we continue our journey. Although these are mostly from your own choosing, it is clear to me they chose you."
Splinter started with Leonardo. "The katana. A royal Samurai weapon, for those with courage and keen skill."
"Hai, Sensei!" Leo said.
Next was Raphael. "The Sai. For fierce and fearless warrior, who will always fight the hardest for his family."
"Thank you, Sensei," Raph said.
Next, Donatello. "The Bō staff. For a thoughtful soul, and a peaceful heart."
Unlike his brothers, Donnie was less than pleased. "Aww, man. A stick?"
Next, Michelangelo, who had managed to sneak some popcorn during the story, and tried to hide it once Splinter got to him. "The nunchaku. Because…uh…they are perfect for you."
Mikey nuzzled his new weapons against his face, clearly happy with the results.
"And finally," Splinter said, approaching Jade, who stared up at him eagerly. "The Tessen. For the warrior who will always be there to protect her family." He fanned out the black, metallic weapon and crouched down. "I had hoped to one day pass this down to Miwa. But now, Jade, I want you to have it."
Jade took the weapon from Splinter's hand, admiring it with wide eyes. She snapped it shut and grinned up at him. "Thank you, Sensei."
Splinter stood back up, and motioned for the five to do the same. "My children, it is time for the next level of your training to begin. Are you ready?"
Let me tell you a story.
The 2k12 series came out when I was 11, just as I entered middle school. It quickly became my number one obsession. I tuned in for every episode, drew fanart, read and wrote fanfiction…TMNT really was the first fandom I entered. And honestly, it was one of the few things that got me through the worst years of my life (my faith in God being the main thing).
And during those years, I created my first real OC: Jade. I won't lie, I was projecting myself onto her. I wrote and drew her going on the adventures I wanted to go on, hanging out with the characters I wanted to hang out with. For me, it was a good outlet with everything happening around me, even if the fandom was pretty toxic at the time.
Then, at 13, my family moved and I transferred to a new school. I was around people who were understanding, both adults and kids (I have mild autism, which greatly affected my ability to properly interact with others and essentially made me a target for bullies at my old school). My negativity started to vanish. And I still continued to obsess over TMNT.
However, time has a way of changing things. I entered high school and started to 'grow up'. My tastes and interests changed, with me being more involved in anime and manga. And as my interest in anime/manga grew, my love for TMNT started to dwindle. I stopped catching up with the episodes (aside from one episode in Season 4, but that's it); stopped writing fanfiction and drawing fanart.
And finally, I officially left the TMNT fandom at 14.
Flashforward to now. I am 21, in college, and after years of repeatedly chasing the wrong things and facing issues with my mental health, I'm now back in my old TMNT obsession, and have decided to use it to shine the light of God in this dark world. I am NOT here to tell you what to believe. But I am here to tell you that you're still loved and that there's hope no matter what.
And now, I've decided to reboot my old OC Jade, who has gone through so many complex changes over the years that I barely recognized her. I just want to have fun and tell a few stories with her.
Anyways, without further ado, let's go!
What do you think Jade really is? Some kind of experiment? A being from another dimension? An alien? Something completely different? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
