Author's note: "Hello there! My deepest apologies that my story has been in stall for several months now since the last time I updated. I've been a quite busy lately, not just with trying to come up with the story for the new chapter that focuses on my OC characters, which is both long and complicated process compared to writing the story based on the ready story already, but also with trying to focus on my own life as well as writing several other stories I've came up with lately but not yet published. Anyway, I finally got the first part of my original chapter ready, so enjoy.
My first original chapter is Lorenzo-focused & Angel-focused chapter.
Under the Manhattan Bridge, Lorenzo was seen standing next to Angel Bridge, who had discarded her street clothes since her first encounter with the turtles and the incident between Casey and the Purple Dragons, except for her pierced rings in her ears and on her right brown, and was instead wearing the turquoise hooded sweater and crimson pants.
However, the situation they were in wasn't quite pleased. Two mafia thugs were roughly holding Angel's arms behind her back. One thug with small mustache and clean haircut was dressed in a turquoise suit, black cravat and the reddish-brown fedora-hat, while the other thug with hooked nose was dressed in the brown suit, green cravat and the golden fedora-hat.
The other two thugs had seized Louie by his arms. One of them was short, overweight and slightly hunched yet tough and gruff-looking thug with thick eyebrows and shaven face, and who was wearing in thick brown woolen coat and small grayish-brown bowler hat, while the other younger-looking thug was dressed in the orange pants, blue shirt, black coat and greenish hat. The thugs had also relieved Louie from his Butterfly swords as they weren't seen in his scabbards and his Manriki-gusaris were missing from his belt as well.
My name is Lorenzo, and I do have a habit to get myself into trouble sometimes, whether it be either with my brothers, mostly with Leo or Dom, with Master Splinter, or mostly with myself and my desires for the daredevil stuff. Usually I don't even mind about it putting myself into harm's way.
Both Louie and Angel try to break free from their captors' grips, but Angel's case captors forcefully hold her still and one of them even ruthlessly twists her arm to force her to stop struggling. Louie, however, doesn't easily submit to his captors and struggles against their grips way more persistently, giving the thugs a hard time to keep the turtle in black still.
Except, that this time, there's more than just my own life hanging in the balance.
As Louie keeps struggling, the slender thug in the black coat and ash-grey fedora hat steps forward and strikes Louie in the head with the butt of his machine gun, which knocks Louie's head to the right. Stunned by the blow, Louie falls to his knees to the ground, with his head hung limply on his shoulders.
Angel: "Louie!"
Angel tries to get to Louie to help him, until a tall and bald-headed thug with small mustache and in the silver-grey suit and wearing a red cravat and black bowler hat takes out the gun and puts its barrel against Angel's left temple, threatening her to stay where she was. Slowly, and shaking off his slight dizziness from the blow, Louie liftes his head up and turnes to Angel and the thug who's holding her at gunpoint.
Thug: "Keep struggling, creature, and your little adorable friend gets her brains blown out."
Louie glares at the thug with narrowed eyes, before he worriedly turns Angel, who looks back at him, fearing more for the turtle in black rather than for herself.
You remember Angel Bridge? She's the human teen girl whom me and my fellas met a while back while being in the odds with the Purple Dragons. She and I were just spending a plentiful time together, like how the human teens like to do when they're... well, you know... until we found ourselves in the odds with this new gang of thugs.
Camera shows the whole scene from a short distance and from the ground level in front of Louie, Angel and the thugs, until the right leg of the new guy in the polished shoe steps in front of the camera, making the thugs, Angel and Louie to turn to him.
But these guys ara not some slow-witted and clumsy low-life punks like the Purple Dragon losers, but rather professional henchmen of some underworld criminal organization, who have a thing or two tricks in their pockets to get rid of any potential "snoopers".
Louie glares up at this new guy, who was apparently the leader of these band of gangsters. He was a rather large, muscular, broad-shouldered and slightly hunched guy, who had thick arms, large hands and there was a singluar hair growing in the back of his hands and along his arms. His eyebrows were nearly as thick as a gorilla, he had a shaven round face, protruding lower jaw and he had a remarkably large, broad, and round nose. He was dressed in the checkered blue-white shirt and a fine dark purple suit with the polished shoes and red black-spotted bow tie. And to finish his outfit, he had a small dark blue bowler hat on top his head.
The guy was Mr. Nosy, the same guy who had paid the visit at April's Second Time Around shop during of Mikey's and Arcee's chase after the former's superhero career. He was flanked by two other thugs, one of whom on Mr. Nosy's right appeared to be Japanese-American guy wearing a red coat and a black wide-brimmed fedora hat while other one on his left was an American chubby-cheeked guy in the black coat and black cap, who had put his hands in his coat's pockets.
Mr. Nosy smirks evilly at Angel and Louie, before he turns to the other two thugs, one with the yellow jacket and brown hat and the other one in the turquoise-white striped suit, brown fedora hat and slightly wrinkled face, who were standing in either side of the orange concrete mixer machine that was turned on and was mixing the wet concrete inside of it. And in front of the machine was standing two square concrete pans... deep and wide enough for the feet of the human, or the turtle, to fit in.
And I guess that the only way to get out of this happens to be, as these good-for-nothing punks like to say, two tickets to the bottom of the river.
(The camera screen pulls away from New York City with couple light beams waving above the town. Then a four green letters forming the word TMNT towers over the city.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES"
(The screen rises to the edge of the roof, on which is standing eight green shadowy humanoid creatures with the turtle-like features, and who were individualized by the colors of their ninja masks: Leonardo (Blue one), Marietta (Turquoise one), Raphael (Red one, who was bending down), Domenico (White one), Artemisia (Pink one), Lorenzo (Black one, who was crouching down), Donatello (Purple one) and Michelangelo (Orange one). Then, as the light beam passed them, all eight turtles leap off the edge of the roof.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF"
(The screen then splits from right to left into four narrow screens.)
"ONE, TWO"
(In the first one, Michelangelo is holding his Nunchucks in the air. In the second one, Raphael is holding one Sai above his head while pointing the other downwards.)
"THREE, FOUR"
(In the third one, Donatello is holding Bo-staff in front of him. In the fourth one, Leonardo has crossed his sword-holding arms over his chest.)
(TURTLES!)
(Leonardo is seen fighting two Foot Ninja wielding Naginata-spears. The turtle slices both ninjas weapons' staves in two with his swords before kicking both one by one away.)
"MUTANT CHAIN REACTION"
(TURTLES!)
(Donatello is seen driving a Sewer Slider down the sewer tunnel, before the turtle in purple turns to smirk to the camera and holds a thumb up.)
"LIVIN' UNDERGROUND"
(TURTLES!)
(Raphael is seen making couple of flips; one over the fence and one towards the screen, before he delivers the kick at the camera, blackening it for a second.)
"NINJUTSU ACTION"
(TURTLES!)
(Widely grinning Michalengelo is seen standing on top of the Battle Shell that's speeding along the street, while spinning his Nucnhacku wildly in the air.)
"IT'S A SHELL OF THE TOWN!"
(As the turtle in orange leaps off, the Battle Shell flies in arc over the street before landing back to the ground. Then its back doors open up and two of the turtles, Raphael and Lorenzo, rocket out of the car in the backs of red and avocado green bikes before skidding them sideways to a stop.)
(In the alleyway, next to the blue armored car, the eight turtles crouch down before leaping to attack towards the camera, with Michelangelo taking the lead and kicks the screen with his foot.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF"
(The screen splits into two horizontal screen: the upper screen shows a blue-masked face with into a glare narrowed eyes while lower screen shows eight turtles standing in line in front of Master Splinter.)
(In the next one, lower screen shows a purple-masked face with lightly frowned glare while upper screen shows Master Splinter swinging his wooden staff down at the couple of attacking Mouser-robots.)
("ONE!")
"LIVE BY THE CODE OF THE MARTIAL ARTS"
(In the third one, upper screen shows a red-masked face with the deep frown, while the lower screen shows Hun leading a group of silhouetted Purple Dragons from the ablaze background towards the screen)
(In the fourth one, the lower screen shows a orange-masked face with the soft stare, while the upper screen shows Hun sneering at the camera, before he throws a punch towards it, blackening the screen for the split second.)
("TWO!")
"NEVER FIGHT UNLESS SOMEONE ELSE STARTS"
(April O'Neil is then seen winking at the camera from the cockpit of the helicopter with the rope hanging from its undercarriage, which she flies past of the blue tower with the Japanese style palace on top of it. On top of it, two turtles, Donatello and Domenico are seeing battling six Foot Ninja on the edge, until they're knocked off the building. Falling down, Domenico grabs from the helicopter's rope with one hand and grabs with his free one from Donnie's hand, cutting his falling, and they're both lifted up in the air.)
("THREE!")
"ALWAYS STICK TOGETHER NO MATTER WHAT"
(In the dark alley, the eight turtles are standing shell to shell in middle of the bright spotlight, while they're surrounded by the dozens and dozens of in the darkness standing and heavily armed Foot Ninja that keep coming from the darkness and rooftops above of the alley. The turtles fearlessly demonstrate their skills with their weapons before taking their respective battle stances.)
("FOUR!")
"IF ALL ELSE FAILS, THEN IT'S TIME TO KICK BUTT!"
(Screen rises up to the tall buildings.)
(Artimesia jumps from the left with her legs bent under, while spinning around and swinging her sharp Tessens around, and at the same time Michelangelo jumps from the right. With the smirk on his face, the turtle in orange makes the flip in the air while spinning his Nunchucks wildly.)
(Then, Donatello jumps from the right, spinning his Bo-staff with his left hand while swinging it over his head before grabbing it with both hands and bringing it down hard. At the same time, Marietta jumps from the right, spinning her Naginata in her right hand, before spinning around and sending a horizontal slash with her weapon's blade forward.)
(Then, Domenico jumps from the left, spinning his Tonfas in his hands before thrusting his right Tonfa forward like a stabbing movement. At the same time, Leonardo jumps from the right with his Katanas crossed, before he pulls them to the sides as he delivers the kick forward with his foot.)
(Raphael then jumps from the left and crossed his arms in front of him before pulling them back, making his Sais to flash. Right after him, Lorenzo jumps from the right, holding his left Butterfly sword in front of him and his right Butterfly sword over his head, before swinging them forward to slash with them the air in front of him.)
(Angel jumps from the left after the turtle in black and shoots the punch towards the screen with her left fist. Then Casey Jones, wearing the Hokey Mask over his face, jumps from the right and whacks the screen with his hockey stick.)
(Leo, with swords in hands, is then seen landing onto one ninja's back, knocking him down.)
(Donnie is then seen whacking another ninja off his feet and out with his Bo.)
(Raph is then seen blocking the third ninja's kick with his left arm while holding his Sai in his fist.)
(Mikey is then seen punching fourth in the face with his right fist while holding a Nunchuck.)
(Marietta is then seen kicking the fifth in the chest while holding her Naginata up.)
(Domenico is then seen back-handing the sixth with his left hand's Tonfa)
(Lorenzo is then seen blocking seventh's sword with his left hand's sword while thrusting his right towards the ninja as if to stab him in the chest)
(Artemisia is then seen with her arms crossed in front of her white holding her opened pink Tessens in her hands.)
(Raph is then seen again, this time surrounded by several Foot Ninja, until he spins himself around with his hands clenched into fist around of his Sais' hilts spread out, knocking all ninjas away from him.)
(Cut to the wide shot, where seven silhouettes of the turtles are seen running, jumping and flipping along the rooftops, water towers and chimneys, as the camera follows them. One of the turtles swings over them by the chain with one hand like Tarzan.)
(Then two narrower screens appear to above and beneath of the rooftop screen, showing the repeating line of turtles in blue's and purple's masked faces above and the line of turtles in red and orange's masked faces beneath, moving to the opposite direction.)
"I LOVE BEING' A..."
"I LOVE BEING' A..."
"I LOVE BEING' A TURTLE!"
(The turtles then land to the ground in front of the building. Leonardo is in the middle, Donatello, Marietta and Domenico are in his right side while Michelangelo, Lorenzo and Artemisia are in his left side. All seven then ran towards the camera that moves between of Leo's legs.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES!"
(Then, Raphael races over the building in the back of the bike and jumps off it towards and past the camera.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF:"
(The screen splits into four narrow screens again, this time from left to right.)
"FIVE, SIX"
(In the first one, Marietta is pointing her Naginata's blade at the screen. In the second one, Lorenzo is holding his Butterfly-swords upside down in his arms, while holding the left one horizontally in front of his face and right one over his head.)
"SEVEN, EIGHT"
(In the third one, Domenico is holding his Tonfa-holding arms crossed over his chest. In the fourth one, Artemisia is holding her right hand's Tessen opened in front of her face, partially covering them behind of her weapon, while pointing with her left closed one at the screen.)
(TURTLES!)
(Marietta is seen standing in the dead end of the alley, spinning around while spinning her Naginata with her hands in front of her, before she pulls it behind her shell-back and holds her left hand forward as two two hands, one holding a knife and one a fire-axe, appears from both sides of the screen.)
"AT NIGHTFALL, WE'RE COMING"
(TURTLES!)
(Lorenzo is seen riding on top of the subway car, with his Butterfly swords sunk to its roof. And as he approaches the camera, the turtle in black pulls his swords up and jumps forward towards the camera and kicks the screen into black.)
"OUT OF MANHOLE"
(TURTLES!)
(Domenico is seen stabbing with his left and then his right Tonfa at one practice dummy in his right to the head, knocking it back. Then he turns around and spin-kicks the other dummy in his left in the head with his right foot. Then the turns around and whacks the camera with his left Tonfa.)
"BEWARE, THE BADDIES!"
(TURTLES!)
(The screen pulls back, showing Artemisia skating with the pair of pink roller skates along the rooftop as she is being chased by the dozen Foot Ninja with the swords. Four more ninjas appears from the sides of the screen, chasing after the skating turtle in pink. She peeks over her left shoulder at them, smirks and then picks up the pace, skating into the camera.)
"MUTANTS NINJAS ARE ON THE MOVE!"
(Arcee then skates towards a pretty large ninja with the sword held up and ready to strike (with her pursuers' running feet showing in the sides of the screen). However, as the Large Foot Ninja tries to strike at the turtle in pink horizontally, she grabs from both of his wrists, spins around and throws him over her shoulder at her pursuers. The ninja flies towards the camera face-first.)
(Arcee then turns around and somersaults over the edge of the building. The screen then moves down in front of with the wooden boards boarded doorway, before the Battle Shell - with Domenico in the driver's seat and Marietta in the passenger's seat - smashes through it, allowing the turtle in pink to land onto its roof.)
(Screen then turns to the back-doors of the Battle Shell as it is chased by two Foot Ninja on motorbikes, until the back-doors fly open and Lorenzo jumps out with the barrel-roll, landing on his shell to the street, somersaulting back to his feet and then lunging at the ninjas, knocking them both off the bikes as he flies face-first at the camera.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF"
(The screen splits into two horizontal screens again: the upper screen shows a turquoise-masked face with lightly frowned glare, while lower screen shows Artemisia, Leonardo and Marietta in the snowy woods, staring at the five silhouetted canine-like humanoid beings with various colored face-paints (dark purple, light blue, crimson, silver and green) standing in line. They all hit their fists with their fist before bowing to each other.)
(In the next one, lower screen shows a white-masked face with deep frown while upper screen shows the silhouetted canine-like humanoid with white fur and dark purple face-paint. Wielding a single Kama in its right had, the figure fights two hunter-looking men with the hunting rifles: kicking away one standing front of it with the left foot before elbowing the second one standing behind the back in the face with its right elbow. The figure then turns around, snarls ferally at the camera before slicing the screen in half with its Kama.)
("FIVE!")
"WE'LL ALWAYS FIGHT AGAINST THE EVIL!"
(In the third one, upper screen shows a black-masked face with the wide eyes, while the lower screen shows Lorenzo and Angel standing back to shell-back in middle of the ring of the silhouetted enemies.)
(In the fourth one, the lower screen shows a pink-masked face with the soft stare, while the upper screen shows Louie and Angel turning to each other and taking each other from hands, before the turtle in black swings the girl around him in the air. As Louie swings Angel towards the camera, she kicks the screen with her foot.)
("SIX!")
"WE COME, STRIKE HARD, AND VANISH INTO NIGHT"
(A next shot shows two buildings standing next to each other, until Donatello and Marietta appear from the left side of the screen and jump over the gap between the buildings (with Marietta pole-vaulting over the gap with her Naginata). Then four turtles, led by Leonardo, followed by Raphael and Artemisia and lastly Domenico, are seen rushing forward along the streets, weapons in hands. Michelangelo and Lorenzo are then seen following them right behind: the former by zipping along the rope with his Nunchaku and the latter by swinging by the chain like Tarzan while spinning the other one wildly around with his free hand.)
("SEVEN!")
"AS A TEAM, WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE EACH OTHER'S SHELLS."
(In the next shot, we see all eight turtles standing under the light in the darkness, with their backs turned to the camera as it pulls away from them. As they all turn around to the camera, they draw out their weapons and take their individual battle-stances, ready to face whoever is standing in front of them.)
("EIGHT!")
"AND WE'LL NEVER LEAVE OUR BUDDIES BEHIND!"
(Out of darkness appears Baxter Stockman, with the black eye-patch over his right missing eye, glaring menacingly at the camera while being surrounded by the dozens of menacing-looking Mousers, snapping their jaws. Stockman points at the camera with his finger as if ordering the attack and the Mousers lunge forward, snarling menacingly.)
(Camera moves to the right, showing Tatsu backed up by the group of Foot Ninja behind him. The scarred man draws out a sword from his X-shaped scabbard in his back and raises it with both hands up and next to the scarred side of his faces, pointing its tip at the camera while glaring himself darkly at the camera.)
(Camera moves then to the right again, this time showing a strange female creature with the pale yellowish skin, huge red eyes, long elf-like pointy ears, slightly hooked nose, shoulder-length black hair and wide grin that shows her mouth full of sharp teeth. She was dressed into black dress and a hooded cape, dark-blue and white-stripped pantyhose, ruby-red elf-like slippers and a long and slithering elf-like black hat. With the mischievous grin on her face, the creature waved its hands over, followed by the glowing aura and the flow of glowing various-colored stars in her left hand and the various-colored lightnings in her right hand, as if it was the magic.)
(Camera moves to the right once more, this time showing a mobster-like barrel-chested man with the thick eyebrows, mustache, double chin and tidy haircut. He was dressed in the blue shirt and a red black-spotted cravat, over which he wore a mafia-like olive green suit with the golden stripes. He had a same style pants and the shiny black-tipped brown shoes. He wore on his head a grayish-brown fedora hat and he had a cigar in his mouth. Backed up by several tough-looking guys in the mafia-like suits and fedora-hats - all armed with various guns or melee weapons - the man took the cigar out of his mouth and, with the nasty sneer, he pointed with his finger forward.)
(The screen turns back to the turtles, showing Donatello whacking several robots away with his staff while Raphael lands on one, crushing it, while stabbing his Sais through of two other)
(Domenico then moves to stab with his left Tonfa in one ninja's guts, before he turns around and whacks with his right one in the second ninja's chest, knocking him away, after which Artemisia slices the third ninja's staff in half with her Tessens before spinning around and kicking him in the chest with her left foot.)
(The strange pointy-eared creature then flies over to strike them with the magical lightnings, only for Marietta to pole-vault with her Naginata towards the creature before she lands a kick to her right side, knocking the creature off the air.)
(Three mafia thugs: one in the white shirt, black cravat, turquoise suit and reddish-brown fedora-hat, second one in the black shirt, green cravat, the brown suit and with the golden fedora-hat and third large, muscular, slightly hunchbacked, broad-shouldered and big-nosed guy with the thick eyebrows, shaven face and protruding lower jaw, who was dressed in the checkered blue-white shirt, red black-spotted bow tie, dark purple suit and a small dark blue bowler hat on top his head, rushed towards the turtles, only for Michelangelo to snap-kick away the turquoise-suited thug in the left, while Lorenzo kicks the brown-suited thug in the right in the guts before the big thug in the middle ends up being kicked away by Leonardo, who then spins around before crossing his swords in front of his face.)
(Cut to the wide three-leveled shot, where two silhouettes of two turtles are first seen running along the sewer pipe: One turtle is on foot while another turtle is skating along the pipe's rounded walls.)
"I LOVE BEING' A..."
(Screen moves upwards to the street level, where three silhouettes of three turtles are running along the streets: One is running on foot down the street, while second one is riding on the bike and third one is hopping along both the driving and parked cars' rooftops.)
(Then two narrower screens appear to above and beneath of the rooftop screen, showing the repeating line of turtles in turquoise's and white's masked faces above and the line of turtles in black's and pink's masked faces beneath, moving to the opposite direction.)
"I LOVE BEING' A..."
(Shot moves upwards again, to the roof level, where two silhouettes of two turtles are either jumping or pole-vaulting along the rooftops.)
"I LOVE BEING' A TURTLE!"
(Three turtles (Raphael in the left, Leonardo in the middle and Domenico in the right) are seen running towards the camera along the streets. Then Artemisia and Michelangelo jumps out of the open manholes, landing on their feet to the street and join the run next to Raph and Dom. Then they're joined by Marietta and Donatello, who land down from the rooftops to Leo's both sides. All seven then run towards the camera that moves between of Leo's legs.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES!"
(The camera then moves up towards the building with the full moon glowing behind of it, showing Lorenzo jumping off the building and towards the camera, spinning the chain wildly above his head before throwing it away and then swings by it over the camera in Spiderman-style.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF:"
(A small square screen then appears from the left, showing Leonardo's shadowy yet calm-looking face. Another appears next to it from above, showing Donatello's shadowy yet determined-looking face.)
"ONE! TWO!"
(Third appears from beneath, showing Michelangelo's shadowy goofy-like face. Then the fourth appears from the right, showing Raphael's shadowy yet fierce-looking face with the gritted teeth.)
"THREE! FOUR!"
(A fifth square then screen then appears from the left, showing Marietta's shadowy yet calm-looking face. sixth then appears next to it from above, showing Domenico's shadowy yet deeply frowning face.)
"FIVE! SIX!"
(Seventh appears from beneath, showing Lorenzo's shadowy wildly hilarious-looking face. Then final eights appears from the right, showing Artemisia's shadowy yet determined-looking face with the smile.)
"SEVEN! EIGHT!"
(TURTLES!)
(All eight turtles are seen jumping down from the tall blue tower with the red Japanese palace style on top of it, which towers over all the other buildings of the town. With the weapons in hands, the turtles spin in a circle (First Leonardo, then Marietta, then Raphael, then Lorenzo, then Donatello, then Domenico, then Michelangelo and finally Artemisia) as they fall towards the camera)
"THERE'S NO ONE BETTER"
(TURTLES!)
(In the ledge of the same tower, that is above of the Foot symbol in middle of the bright light blue circle, the Shredder is seen staring down after them, as his black cape floats in the blow of the wind and the lightning flashes in the sky behind him. The camera moves closer of his helmet-covering face, before the Shredder turns towards the camera and raises his left arm with the gauntlet armed with two sharp claws.)
"WATCH OUT FOR THE SHREDDER"
(TURTLES!)
(The turtles are then seen standing in middle of the rooftop. With the weapons in hands, they briefly demonstrate their weapons-skills before taking their individual fighting poses: Donatello is seen standing in the middle, pointing his staff's end at the camera, while Raphael and Lorenzo are standing in his right, Marietta and Michelangelo are standing in his left and Domenico, Artemisia and Leonardo are standing behind of them.)
"THEY'RE LIKE NO OTHERS!"
(TURTLES!)
(The turtles are seen riding or skating on the various human equipment along the underground tunnel: Donnie is in the lead, wheeling with his purple-gray foldaway bike as he rode past the camera. Artemisia followed him afterwards on her own turquoise tuned dirt-bike, waving at the camera. She was followed by Leonardo on foldaway kick scooter with the blue board, hopping over the handlebar with his hands. He was then followed by Domenico on the white-tuned road bicycle, who made the high backward flip over the camera. After them, Raphael and Artemisia were roller skating along the wall of the tunnel with their red roller blades and pink roller-skates. Lorenzo then skated after them with his oversized green and black skateboard pair of rocket boosters and he was followed by Michelangelo, who skated along the tunnel's wall with his orange skateboard, going higher and higher along the wall before he jumped off it, landing in front of the camera with the smirk before skating away.)
"THOSE TEENAGE SIBLINGS!"
(First Donatello, then Domenico, then Leonardo, then Marietta, then Raphael, then Lorenzo, then Michelangelo, and finally Artemisia landed onto the rooftop with weapons in hands.)
"ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!"
"FIVE! SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT!"
(Either spinning or waving their weapons, the turtles then charged forward towards the camera, with Leonardo taking the lead and slashing his swords forward.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES"
Then the logo of "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES" appears, with the silhouetted figures of the eight turtles with the glowing eyes behind of it.
"TURTLES! TURTLES!"
= TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2003 =
= THE GIRL AND THE TURTLE P1=
Week after Mikey's and Arcee's misadventures after the former's chase for his superhero career, the turtles had all gathered to the common area to watch TV from the array's multiple screens. Leo was sitting on the armchair, Raph was leaning against the column next to Mary, who was sitting in the foot of the column while leaning against it as well. Arcee, Mikey and Louie were sitting on the couch (with the turtle in black sitting in it upside down) while Dom was leaning on his arms to the couch's back. And finally, Donnie was lying on the sun lounger.
Today, the turtles were watching the latest news coming from the New York's police department, where had been cathering a large number of people: both civilians and the news reporters, who were held back by the number of police officers. The chief of police department was standing on top of the stairs leading to the lobby of the NYPD building along with several other high-ranking officers, and he didn't look pleased at all.
Reporter Alex Carlin was seen in every screen looking at the camera while holding the mike near his mouth.
"This is Alex Carlin from the Channel Six News. We're today here at New York City's Police Department, where there is quite a lot of commotion going on, and for good reason." Alex reported, before he turned to look towards the doors of the police department, where the cameraman turned his camera.
The doors were then flung open, and out of the building stepped the group of three people. The trio consisted of three mafia-gangster-like people, of which the first guy in the middle of the trio was a quite striking guy with his aristocratic appearance, snobbish pose, variegated clothing but otherwise with his intimidating presence or notorious reputation.
Camera moves to the right once more, this time showing a mobster-like barrel-chested man with the thick eyebrows, mustache, double chin and tidy haircut. He was dressed in the blue shirt and a red black-spotted cravat, over which he wore an olive green suit with the golden stripes and had a dandelion flower attached to the left side of his suit. He had a same style pants and the shiny black-tipped brown shoes. And finally, he wore on his head a grayish-brown fedora hat, which too had some dandelion flowers attached to it. He looked head to toe like a gangster boss, a shady businessman and the runer of multiple businesses (some of which were illegal no doubt) and the underworld criminal mastermind. Definitely the guy no one would like to come across and least to be in his bad side.
The other guy walking on his right was Japanese-African man with shaven face in the blue suit with dark purplish-blue stripes and brown fedora hat. He walked the middle-guy out of the police department building while holding with his right hand the people back and away from his boss (though that wasn't much of necessary as many people and most of the reporters kept their distance from them), while holding his left hand under his suit as if he had something hidden in there. Whatever it was, the bodyguard possibly didn't want it to be seen in the public, and definitely not this close of the police department.
The other guy on the gangster's left was a slender and half-bald elderly man with long hooked nose, long white hair, light pale greenish skin and circular eyebags under his eyes. He was dressed into a black lawyer-suit with greenish edges, along with the small glasses on, and was carrying the black suitcase with him. He was possibly this big gangster's personal lawyer, but he looked crooked, dishonest and pretty much corrupted and who would be ready to do anything to turn the court trial case to his client's favor against the high payment, whether it be honest or dishonest one.
"As you can see..." Carlin continued as he turned back to the camera. "Here comes William Dandelion, the infamous mob boss of New York and at the same time the founder or owner of many businesses around New York city, and most notably the head of the city-wide laundry company. He was arrested a last year after an anonymous caller had claimed having found the evidence of Mr. Dandelion committing felony counterfeiting of money, with a wad of counterfeit money having found in his possession. However, he has been released from pre-trial detention today as no evidence has been found to support the charges of counterfeiting money against him, not even after the police has searched his companies and properties twice for the further evidence. Here we see him now being walked out of the police department by one of his personal bodyguards as well as his personal well-known lawyer and cousin, Dimitri Dandelion, who has been present in the several previous trials, defending Mr. Dandelion in this case."
As the gangster guy, named William Dandelion, was about to walk past the displeased police chief, he stopped in front of him and turned to him as if to say something as a goodbye.
"Thank you for your hospitality, chief. " Dandelion wished with sarcastic accent that sounded British, before he took the offered (or ordered) cigar from his Japanese-American henchman's hand, put it in his mouth and lit it. To add the insult to injury, Dandelion blew the first smokes in the chief's face, making him cough a little.
"Though next time I hope you have arranged for me a luxury cell, along with the first class amenities and service. My only lament is that it is gong to be a long, very long time until I return here?" Dandelion said sincerely.
"Just get out of here, Dandelion, before I'll take the pleasure to throw you back into the holding cell myself." the chief demanded as he waved the smoke off his face.
"With the pleasure, chief. Do say "hello" to your wife and kids from me?" Dandelion requested before he kept walking with his companions.
Dandelion and his companions then walked down the stairs before they reached next to Alex, who was still announcing the news of this event to the camera at the feet of the stairs. Before walking pass him, Dandelion walked slightly away from his companions to the reporter and gently tapped him on his right shoulder to get his attention.
Alex gasped slightly at the sight of the mob boss standing right in next to him.
"Mind if I borrow the mike for a moment... Alex Carlin?" Dandelion requested politely, before he suddenly snatched the mike from Alex hand before he could've said anything in approval or againsts the request.
And then, Dandelion pushed Alex out of his way as he turned to the camera and lifted the mike closer of his mouth.
"Good afternoon, New York. This is William Dandelion, the head of DLC (Dandelions' Laundries company) on live TV. I'd like to say that while I know that many of you might not agree of setting me free because of someone's falsely assumed charges against me for counterfeiting of money under the public's and the honorable law's nose... just because I was caught with the counterfeit money in my possession what I didn't even knew I was holding in my posession. But I want you all to understand that I'm an honest businessman, the pride of the Dandelion family, who just wants to wash your laundries for you and nothing more. The Dandelion family has always earned our vast fortune through of hard, honest and law-abiding work, and not some shady businesses that could involve something so dirty and outrageous, such as these accusations against me. If they were proven true, that would not only ruin my family's very name and reputation, but also lead my laundring company into the bankrup and to be shut down. If that would ever come to pass, where are you then going to wash your laundries. I'm also thankful for my luck that my release came just this week, so I can return home to celebrate my birthday with my beloved family. And finally, the next time such baseless scenarios arise again in the future, I hope those little snoopers and wanna-be detectives will either learn something from today or investigate the case further to find out the truth before jumping headfirst into conclusions without any proper knowledge or evidence of whether the allegations of me as some immoral good-for-nothing dirty scoundrel and underworld crime lord are true or false. You can try if you want, but remember this motto that runs in my family: Dandelions always end up winning the case. In other words, en garde, and have a good day, New York City."
With that, Dandelion handed the mike back to Alex before he and his companions kept going. Both Alex and his cameraman followed Dandelion's going through of the crowd and all the way on the street standing pitch-black limousine. He was awaited there by two other henchmen: one was the short and slender guy with small thin mustache, blue pants, black suit and wide-brimmed black fedora hat on his head, and the other guy was tall, muscular and broad-shouldered guy with the bald top, black pants, reddish-brown suit and small dark-brown defora hat.
The red-suited henchmen then opened the door to let Dandelion, his lawyer cousin and the Japanese-American henchman in the vehicle before he and the other henchman get in themselves, and then the limousine hit to the street and drove off the police department.
In the Lair, after watching the news, the turtles had their own thoughts about this whole thing. Some of them were folding their arms, others shaking their heads and others were just lying lazingly on their seats.
""Dandelions' Laundries Company", right!" Raph scoffed with disbelief and disgust. "As if we haven't been through this same too-good-to-be-true crap before, with some low-life crook pretending running some phony company for the good thing while hiding something under the nose of the grasp of the law."
Most of the turtles nodded in agreement, remembering well how Baxter Stockman had months ago claimed his Mousers to be meant for the good thing, and how did that ended up?
"I agree with you, Raph." Louie said, while he turned to sit upright on the couch. "Baxter Stockman too claimed his Mousers to be meant for the good thing a few months ago, remember? And how did that ended up?"
"Yeah. Those nasty little rat-exterminators turned out ot be the super-nasty turtle-exterminators." Mikey said, recalling their many encounters with the Mousers that almost cost them their lives.
"Uh... Mikey? I think you're forgetting something here" Mary called, getting Mikey's attention. "Remember what purpose that whacko scientist even build those robot cockroaches in the first place? Hmm?"
"Hmm...?" Mikey muttered, as if he had completely forgotten for what Stockman had build his robots in the first place, until it quickly hit him. "Oh, yeah! And they also turned out to be super-nasty and illegal cleaners of the bank vaults."
"And don't forget the Garbageman!" Louie let out. "You guys still remember how he used to run that Landfill company on that island in middle of the city's harbor? That too was supposed to be good not just for this city but also for this country."
"Only to turn out in the end that that crazy fatman was using the human slave labor to maintain his business' running, and even threatened to expand his so-called "empire" to further around to the world and not just within that island." Raph said.
"I wish I could forget that creep, even if he is gone now." Mary added with an angry tone and her arms crossed over her chest.
The turtle in turquoise hadn't forgotten what horrors the Garbageman had put many people through, especially her friends: Jack, Ann and little Olivia, just to seek the roots for his evil plans and turn the entire world into his twisted image of the empire.
"Well, at least we got that Stinky Pete's desk cleaned and office sacked." Mikey reminded the others. "Now our friends on the street and on that island can live without fear and we do not need to worry about such of garbage empire he boasted so much about."(1)
"And speaking of "cleaning..."" Dom said as he kept leaning on his arms on the back of the couch. "Just like Stockman, this Dandelion guy might be hiding something... something what he doesn't want to public know. I can feel it under my shell that there is something fishy going on with his whole laundries company."
"As the old saying says: There's more in that than meets the eye." Arcee said, nodding her head in agreement.
"True, but you guys heard what Alex just said, din't you?" Donnie said from his sun lounger as he pointed his finger at Alex as he was still on screen. "Alex said that the police hasn't found anything, even after two searches through of Dandelion's company's property, that could prove with one hundred precent of his direct involvemet in the alleged counterfeit despite the charges against him. So technically, with the lack of evidence, they cannot put him behind bars, at least not for long time."
"Even if he was caught with dirty money in his possession?" Mikey questioned. "Shouldn't that be the evidence enough to send him straight to the jail, Donnie?"
"Well, of course the possession of counterfeit money can lead straight to the arrest, but it requires many things to be clarified first before the case can lead right away to the prison sentence. Donnie said.
"Such as?" Raph inquired.
"Well, such as whether the holder of the counterfeit money had any criminal intentions, a criminal backstory or any links to the such of illegal activity or whether the holder was even aware that the money he possessed was illegally forged." Donnie explained. "This can often happen with the people who have been found with counterfeit money in their possession, which they didn't even know was counterfeit until when it is too late.
"Just like Dandelion here." Louie reminded. "This anonymous caller Alex was talking about had found dirty money in his possession... and yet this is what ended up happening." the turtle in black added as he gestured at the televisions.
"Sounds kinda dope to me." Mikey responded as he collapsed to the couch.
"You read my mind, bro." Dom told to his little brother, before he turned to Donnie: "I found out somewhere, Donnie, that possession of counterfeit money means two to ten or even twenty years in a cage. And Mr. Dandelion here happened to have a dirty cash in his pocket, and yet he got out of the jail after one year as if for the good behavior."
"Like I just said. That sounds dope." Mikey added.
"Maybe so, guys, what are you gonna do about it? That's just how the federal law works. Besides, you saw that cousin of his, right? He is Dimitri Dandelion, and he is the best amongst the most best lawyers in the whole country, a member of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, who has never lost any criminal case before a jury either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney." Donnie explained to his siblings. "He is the reason why Dandelion was found innocent, as he was the one who acted as his cousin's defender in court and - if I say so myself - ingeniously convinced both judge and jury that surely one of the customers must have paid his laundry bill with the wrong money and that the payee had something wrong with his eyesight, just like Dandelion, as his own eyesight isn't so great either, that he needs the glasses to read, which made him unable to distinguish real money from the fake."
"Well, then take this guy to an ophthalmologist for treatment for his eyesight or get her better glasses so she can see even further than even the blindest bat in the world." Louie suggested.
"Or how about giving some slack and compassion for the people with the poor eyesight, bro?" Dom demanded with the scowl at the turtle in black, before he turned back to Donnie. "But what if all is not as it seems, Donnie, even in Dandelion's trials. You know that people have been very suspicious of William Dandelion and his so-called "honest" laundry company because he happens to be the head of the Dandelion Mafia family."
"Yeah, how do we know if her whole company is just another cover story for the shady dealing out of the public's eyes and for other criminal underworld activities." Mikey said, agreeing with Dom's suspicions. "All the money he had gained to build this company is most likely made by preying on the unsuspecting customers or desperate entrepreneurs for their money... only to prey on more people for their moneys."
"And, you know, how do we know whatever he has done to all those entrepreneurs or customers who have owed him a significant amount of money but are unable to pay it back? Those people have probably gone through in Dandelion's name something very similiar like what Casey, for example, went through when the Purple Dragons torched his family's store due to his Old Man's unwillingess to pay for them... and they even silenced him forever for telling to the police." Louie added.
"And then there is this Dimitri Dandelion. He is this guy's cousin, the family, the same flesh and blood. Of course he would act as his defender in court because of the family relations. And how do we know if he had secretly in behind the scenes bribed both the judge and the jury to convince them not find this guy guilty and send him to spend a long time in jail?" Raph added, showing a great deal of suspicion towards the court decision to relieve Dandelion from his charges only because they were played into the Dandelion cousins' hands.
"And I say, who cares?!" Louie exclaimed, before the turtle in black flipped onto the table, knocking over almost everything that was put to stand on the table.
Louie then turned to his siblings in the slightly hunched posture and with his legs spread wide on the table, looking at them with the confident and smug look on his face though speaking with the dramatic tone when he said his next words regarding William Dandelion and, of course, himself.
"The Underworld of New York City is a dangerous place for the unwary, gullible and unsuspecting people who are constantly preyed on by the low-life street-thugs, violent criminals and dangerous mobsters. Out there, its the wolf-eats-sheep law, and when the criminal underworld is on the hunt, they will mercilessly erase the weak from the face of the Earth. However, the lower underworld is even more dangerous place, because it shares the space with the criminal underworld. However, there will be the only one to stand in the way of the criminal underworld, only one who strikes terror into the black hearts of any criminal, no matter how hardened they are. And when they don't see it, when they least expects it, BAM! Lorenzo, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, comes out of hiding, with his blades flashing in the light of the moon, and will destroy them without the mercy!"
As Louie kept boasting about like the narrator of some ghost story around the bonfire at the dark night, majority of his brothers and sisters, save for excited Raph and Mikey, looked at their brother with unimpressed looks.
"And so says I, Lorenzo, that when me and this William Dandelion's paths cross up there, I will destroy him for simply being the bad guy behind the scenes! I'll shave his mustache away! I will leave the sweet mark of my foot into his bottom! I will wreck every last piece of his evil company to the level of the ground! I will..."
However, Louie was cut short when Donnie suddenly stood up and put his left hand over the turtle in black's mouth to shut him up while grabbing his left arm with his right hand.
"Alright, alright, alright, Louie. Thank you for making up your point but that's enough. Don't make this overkill, will ya?" Donnie pleaded.
"Too late, Donnie. He kinda already made it overkill." Dom said with the annoyed eye-roll.
"Party poopers." Louie muttered as he hopped off the table and sat back to the couch.
"Oh, come on, Donnie! He was just getting to the best part here!" Raph groaned. "Of beating the crap out of William Dandelion and bringing his evil company down."
Donnie turned to his hot-headed with his hands on his hips and scowled down at him. "Of you guys are way over of your heads with this whole "William Dandelion is a bad guy" stuff. You're almost addicted to wanting to be right about that, so I'll say it one last time: There is no evidence to prove the charges of money counterfeiting against this guy are true, even if he was found having some of it in his posession, and it has already been made clear in the latest court trial that this guy is innocent and is just tryiung to run the Dandelion family's company. So get finally over it, guys!"
"Innocent until gets kicked in the butt and gets thrown into jail, says I!" Louie countered.
"Isn't that said more correctly "Guilty until proven otherwise", bro?" Arcee corrected. "
"Whatever, sis." Louie said with the disinterested shrug. "I only care about kicking this bad guy in his sorry bottom."
Donnie facepalmed himself in irritation. "Oh, please, guys. You're all behaving like taking candy from a baby is such a severe crime, as rude as it is though, that it will lead you getting hundred years in prison sentence."
"Hey...!" Raph suddenly said, getting everybody's attention. "Then that means that some homicidal whacko, who starts a crazy shooting spree in a crowded place and kills a pretty number of people without any apparent or sensible reason, gets only ten days jail time."
Raph chuckled heartily at his own joke, into which Louie joined with the humorous laughter of his own. However, the other turtles shot at the laughing turtles in red and black a rather wide-eyed looks and disturbed scowls, particularly Dom, Donnie, Mikey and especially Arcee, who didn't like the dark humor in Raph's joke.
"RAPH!" Arcee chided, jumping up from the couch and staring with disbelief and disgust at her brother. "That's a nasty thing to say about!"
"HELLO-OOOO! Where or when did my dear sis lost her sense of humor?!" Raph shot back sarcastically.
"Probably got it flushed down the toiled." Louie added with the smirk.
Both Raph and Louie resumed their laughter after Louie's joke, making Arcee to scowl at the two.
"Knock it off, you guys!" Leo said firmly from his armchair, staring warningly at Raph and Louie with his narrowed eyes. "That was really dry joke, Louie. And there was definitely nothing to laugh about in yours, Raph."
"And that wasn't even what I tried to tell you, Raph!" Donnie said, annoyed by Raph's sarcastic responde.
"Whatever, Donnie! I don't care 'cause I'm not even interested to hear!" Raph exclaimed, already frustrated and irritated with the whole point of this argument.
"WILL YOU GUYS PLEASE SHUT YOUR TRAPS?!" Mary exclaimed, as the turtle in turquoise lifted up the remote control. "I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING FROM TV IF YOU KEEP HAVING A QUARREL OVER THIS WHOLE SILLY THING! There's something after the news what I want to watch, SO I WOULD KINDLY ASK YOU GUYS TO BE...?
However, Mary was not allowed to finish her sentence when all of the sudden...
Master Splinter's staff flew towards the common area like the javelin and hit directly the remote control, knocking it off the turtle in turquoise's hand - but skillfully hitting to the button that caused all TV-screens to go off - before the remote landed on the table as if it had never even been picked up.
"HEY!" Mary gasped, surprised by this.
"Hey, what happened?!" Donnie asked as he turned to the TVs
"What's going on?!" Arcee questioned.
"Where did the screens go?!" Louie whined.
"Did the TVs go fried again?" Dom questioned.
"AAGGHHHH! Somebody killed the TVs!" Mikey screamed girly.
"Relax, goofball." Raph said before smacking Mikey in the top of the head.
"Ow! Hey!" Mikey cried, scowling at Raph while rubbing his head with his hand.
"Someone just knocked the remote out of Mary's hand with a thrown stick... which was a pretty neat throw and perfect aim for the on/off button, I must admit. That was pretty cool move." Raph said almost admiring the staff's direct hit on that one particular button in the remote control.
"And no wonder, Raph. There's only one around capable to make such of well-aimed throw." Leo said seriously as he got up from his armchair and looked over his siblings heads, prompting the rest of the turtles to turn one by one to the direction where Leo was looking at.
They saw Master Splinter standing at the Lair's Dōjō site and in middle of one of the rugs, staring towards his children at the common area with rather disapproval look on his face while his hands were resting on his hips.
"Children!" Splinter called. "I think it's time for you to take a break from television for the rest of the day and focus more on your today's training session."
Aww, man!" both Mikey, Louie, Raph and even Mary groaned/whined in unision.
"But Sensei! You said that we can have the morning for free!" Raph reminded.
"There was just this one TV-show that I wanted to watch! Can't I watch it before the training, Master?" Mary pleaded.
"Pleaaaaaaaaaase! Just the little more free TV-time, Sensei! Pleaaaaaaaaaase!" Mikey pleaded pitifully with puppy dog eyes as the orange clad turtle knelt in his seat on the couch and leaned against the back, with his head resting on top of the back and his arms crossed hands hanging out in the air.
"You have all spent almost the entire morning in front of the televisions. Watching too much TV has a negative effect on your minds and can impair your concentration. And both impaired mind and concentration can be as treacherous enemies as your real enemies." Splinter said, lifting up his right hand and waving his finger up, denying his children's requests.
Mary closed her eyes and let out the defeated sigh. Usually she relished of training, both mentally and sphysically, just like Leo does, but she also really wanted to watch that TV-show right after the news.
"And so, I suggest you childrenpull yourself up from the couch and get over here, so that we can begin today's lesson." Splinter said, gesturing his children to head towards the Dōjō.
With that, Leo headed towards the Lair's Dōjō site, followed closely behind by Donnie, Arcee, Dom and lastly Mary. Only Raph, Louie and Mikey lounged behind for a moment.
"Oh, man!" Raph groaned, collapsing onto the coach and face-palming himself. "Is it already the forenoon?"
"Yup. The whole morning came and went, and we didn't even notice." Louie said as he stood up from the couch, followed by Raph.
"ARGH!" Mikey groaned in defeat and let himself to limply collapse off the couch to the floor.
"Get up, you slowpoke!" Raph growled, annoyed. "Don't make me to kick you up from the floor again."
"Then go ahead and leave me here to die!" Mikey whined, not wanting to move the muscle to get up and join the others to the class.
"No way, Mikey!" Louie said. "You'll come along even if we have to drag you there."
And with that, the turtle in black grabbed from Mikey's right leg, while Raph grabbed him from his left. And then Louie and Raph began to drag their lazy brother by his legs along the floor, going first behind of the pillar in the common area's left corner and then walking down the ramp to the lower level of the floor.
Luckily for both of them, Mikey offered no resistance by grabing on anything available or kicking at them, though all the turtle in orange did all the way to the Dōjō was to "torture" his brothers' ears and try their patience further with him by whining like the baby.
"Whine, groan, moan, cry and complain all you want, but we're not gonna let you get away from this. If the rest of us have to endure all the sweat drops and muscle aches caused by hard training, then you get permission to endure it all as well." Louie declared.
"Sure you can endure the few hours without TV, shell-for-brains?" Raph deadpanned.
"I can't live without TV even for the few seconds!" Mikey whined as his brothers kept dragging him.
"Well, then you better to think of a backup plan if Master Splinter comes up with an idea to keep you down in line..." Louie said, as the mischievious smirk crept on his lips. "By either forbidding you from watching TV for the next few months or the rest of the year. You definitely can't live without TV that long now, can you?"
Before Louie and Raph could see it, Mikey had swiftly drawn out his Nunchucks before swinging them around the turtles in black and red's legs before pulling from them, catching them by surprise as the turtle in orange swept their legs from under them and sent them flying onto their shells to the floor, but not before letting go of Mikey's feet and tossing them upwards.
And with Louie and Raph down on the floor, Mikey, thanks to his brothers for lifting his legs and lower body up in the air, leaned bodily onto his hands which he had pressed against the floor before pushing himself up and hopping onto his feet in between of his downed brothers.
"Not if I can do something about it." Mikey declared with the smug smile on his lips as he put his nucnhucks away. "Now get up, you slowpokes! I'm not gonna drag you two to the Dōjō 'cause I don't wanna be late." the turtle in orange added as he walked away, leaving his brothers behind.
Both turtles in red and black groaned slightly as they climbed off the floor, with Raph glaring daggers at Mikey behind his shell.
"One day I'm gonna get that goofball. And when I do, I'm gonna..." Raph growled, punding his fist against the floor.
"You better save some piece of him to me, bro." Louie growled as well.
###
Meanwhile, up in the surface, in the living room of some house with the familiar address, a teen girl with the purple-dyed hair and which was tied into ponytails, Angel Bridge, as her name was if you remember, was sitting on the couch while watching from the TV the same program what the turtles were watching back in their Lair.
Angel watched with keen interest of the live broadcast of William Dandelion's release, and the look on her face wasn't any different than the turtles. Even she was very suspicious of the nature of what was happening on TV and in front of the police department, as well as Dandelion's sincere innocence to the alleged charges of counterfeiting money.
"Good afternoon, New York. This is William Dandelion, the head of DLC (Dandelions' Laundries company) on live TV. I'd like to say that while I know that many of you might not agree of setting me free because of someone's falsely assumed charges against me for counterfeiting of money under the public's and the honorable law's nose... just because I was caught with the counterfeit money in my possession what I didn't even knew I was holding in my posession. But I want you all to understand that I'm an honest businessman, the pride of the Dandelion family, who just wants to wash your laundries for you and nothing more. The Dandelion family has always earned our vast fortune through of hard, honest and law-abiding work, and not some shady businesses that could involve something so dirty and outrageous, such as these accusations against me. If they were proven true, that would not only ruin my family's very name and reputation, but also lead my laundring company into the bankrup and to be shut down. If that would ever come to pass, where are you then going to wash your laundries. I'm also thankful for my luck that my release came just this week, so I can return home to celebrate my birthday with my beloved family. And finally, the next time such baseless scenarios arise again in the future, I hope those little snoopers and wanna-be detectives will either learn something from today or investigate the case further to find out the truth before jumping headfirst into conclusions without any proper knowledge or evidence of whether the allegations of me as some immoral good-for-nothing dirty scoundrel and underworld crime lord are true or false. You can try if you want, but remember this motto that runs in my family: Dandelions always end up winning the case. In other words, en garde, and have a good day, New York City." Dandelion said on TV.
"En garde, and good day, indeed." Angel scoffed. "Just buy your time all you want, jackass. But you'll end up behind bars one day, sooner or later."
Angel's grandmother, Ellie Bridge, was sitting on the couch as well, in the opposite side compared to her granddaughter's, and she looked to be somewhat troubled over these news about William Dandelion's release from the police's custody.
"I can't believe that man is released from the prison." Ellie said worriedly. "The streets of New York will not be safe as long as that man is on the loose, that's for sure."
Although Ellie has never had anything to do with New York's criminal underworld like her granddaughter had, she was still worried that one day it might find its way into their home.
After all, high-ranked gangsters sometimes used to send the brutish henchmen coming storming into the homes of innocent citizens if they were somehow connected to or were deemed as the threat to their affairs as "witnesses"... or to simply just to get rid of them for their selfish gain. And the henchmen were often very rough-handed, relentless and won't hesitate to use even the cruelest methods to fulfill their employees' wishes.
"Indeed, grandmother." Angel said, as she sat up from the couch, walked towards the window and looked outside to the empty streets. The teen girl looked more of determined rather than afraid of what could come now that Dandelion was released.
"And under that whole "Dandelion's Laundries Company" bullshit and acting like an honest citizen with the charming and charismatic tone before all those cameras, he can keep whatever criminal activity he is really up to hidden from the public's eye while they're playing them all like fools." she added almost spitefully.
"Maybe so, dear." Ellie said as she turned her granddaughter. "But sadly there is nothing what we can do about it?"
"Maybe not, grandmother. But there are always someone out there to put such of jackasses like Dandelion back to their rightful places." Angel said in matter of fact, not looking away from the window.
"I know, dear. But you heard what they said in the news." Ellie reasoned. "They have no evidence to find this man guilty for the charges he was arrested in the first place. So the police. So the police have no authority to detain him for a long time."
"I'm not talking about police, grandmother, and I'm definitely not talking about trying to find any evidence of bring him down for good. We already saw where that led to in the TV. Straight to the big heap of wasted time and resources, and now Dandelion is on the loose again." Angel gently argued, briefly glancing back at her over her shoulder.
"No. I'm talking about someone else who may try to - and will - look further into this guy and his operations and stop him... with their own right of course." the teen girl added, as her gaze into outside hardened slightly as she clenched her hands into fists.
Ellie looked at her granddaughter with the quirked eyebrow, briefly confused of what she was talking about, until it quickly dawned to her.
"You mean those new "friends" of yours you just met lately?" Ellie questioned.
Some time after Casey and the turtles had returned Angel back home a few weeks ago after that skirmish at the Purple Dragons' Lair, Ellie had been trying to fish for information about where Angel had been or what she had been up to while she was away from home. Of course, Angel couldn't tell her grandmother or the rest of her family (her brother Ryan mainly) the whole truth, especially the part where she had considered joining the Purple Dragons' street gang and their law-breaking "businesses" and thus got Casey into a really bad mess that almost cost him his life...and she couldn't tell at all to him about the turtles because of the promise he made to them not to tell anyone about their existence.
And so, Angel, not wanting to worry her grandmother or be reprimanded by her for her wrong choices if she had found the truth, had had to modify the story a bit: She had ended up telling her grandmother that after she ran away from home without leaving the note, she had met and befriended a group of vigilantes working as crime-fighters in their own right, with Casey being a part of their club, and had joined them in their hunt of the Dragons for the time she was away from home. and to stop their efforts.
She had also merged that one night's failed heist - when she had unofficially met the turtles and when Casey had found out her attempt to join the Dragons - and Casey's capture while trying to save her from the Dragons' box-ring match into another made-up story, in which Casey had got captured in their attempt to stop the Dragons from robbing the store, hence his bruises and injuries, which had forced her and her new vigilante friends to go to the Dragons' Lair to rescue him from the Dragons' Den.
Of course, Angel's story had a few unwanted side effects. Her grandmother, of course, had had to scold her not only for her sudden running away from home without a word, but also for getting meddled with some reckless hooligans who think they are above the law, and especially for how Angel had recklessly risked her life by going with these youngsters to wrestle with the worst street thugs known on the East Side of New York. Angel, however, had defended the turtles, though without revealing their true identity to her grandmother, by telling her that they weren't some hooligans like the Purple Dragons but really good guys who hated the Purple Dragons and other law-breakers as much as anyone else... and that if it wasn't for them and Casey, she wouldn't have ever came back home.
Although still upset by the kind of things her granddaughter had been in during of her absent, Ellie couldn't help but feel at least a small sense of gratitude towards Angel's new "friends" - as Angel hadn't told her where these rather mysterious friends were from, where they lived, what they did or what they even were - for at least taking care of her dear Angel, despite the fact that she still felt a slight disapproval towards their vigilante campaign against the New York City's criminal underworld outside of the law and authority.
"Yeah. My friends and..." Angel confirmed, until she quickly held her next words back.
In fact, Angel would've liked to add herself too into that "someone else", because she too wanted to go with the turtles to go after Dandelion when his increasing criminal activity would catch the turtles' attention and provoke them to interfere his affaids. After all, she and they, they made the good team when they rescued Casey from the Purple Dragons' lair, even if her role was merely as their agent/scout, guide in and finally a side-kick, while the turtles did most of the work and other action.
Not that they did underestimate her confidence in herself and her assurance that she can take care of herself, but they kept her out of most of the action only because they didn't want her to get hurt or worse. That partially left Angel touched by their care for her even if they hadn't known each other for a long, but also a little annoyed for being treated as if some fairytales' damsel in distress.
However, Angel had quickly decided against of mentioning herself being one of those people who could stand in Dandelion's way, because that could only lead into more reprimention from her grandmother, who had already given her a quite long "talk", about her getting involved by her own free will into the affairs of her friends' dangerous yet exciting vigilante stuff. She really did not want to go through of that same talk for the second time... if ever again.
"If someone can stop Dandelion, whatever he is up to, that's them, alright." Angel said proudly, as she finally turned away from the window and leaned against the wall to look at her grandmother.
Once again, Ellie took on that same familiar frown of disapproval that Angel had seen a few weeks ago when she had told her grandmother certain details about the turtles.
"Don't you think that to be absurd from them to take the law into their own hands, even if there is the real law enforcement officers to ensure the peace and order in the city?" Ellie questioned, the frown never leaving her face.
"Yeah. So?" Angel said, giving gave an indifferent shrug.
"So... how I can trust that you weren't planning on doing something like that yourself?" Ellie added.
Angel was taken aback by her grandmother's words as her eyes shot wide open. How could've her grandmother know that she had planned on going after Dandelion with the turtles if she'd never even said it out loud.
"Grandma? What are you talking about? You would think about something like that about me?" Angel said, trying to save herself from the situation by faking oblivious and hurt by Ellie's words, pushing her luck further by recoiling in partially real and partially faked surprise and putting her hand over her heart.
Ellie, however, gave Angel a firm but certain look that only told her granddaughter one thing.
Don't even think about or try fooling me.
"Angel, what have your parents told you about lying to your old grandmother?" Ellie started first with the warm and gentle parental repremention over the child's dishonesty or misbehavior, until she switched it back into serious tone concerning the matter at hand.
"I may be old, but I'm not fool. I did see your reaction right after you mentioned your friends being this someone else who may and will try to stop Dandelion with their own right. And you also cut yourself off before you could've finished your line." Ellie said, and after the short break, her next words hit right and true.
"You were going to run from home again and join with those friends of yours to hunt down Dandelion whenever he gives the reason to that, right?"
Angel let out the sigh, knowing that she had been caught. However, she didn't say anything, instead stared at her grandmother in silence and with the defeated frown on her face... which Ellie, however, took as a yes.
"Honey. I'm seriously worried about you for wanting to spend time with these people. Of course I'm happy if you finally get friends of your own, but you should be careful about what kind of group of people you get yourself into." Ellie added, as her frown turned into worry.
"They're just vigilanties, not some low-life street gangs, drug addicts or criminals. Why are you so against them, grandmother?" Angel questioned.
"Because I'm worried for your safety, dear, and for the potential fact that you may get a bad impression or even the bad influence from these people, vigilantes or not. You were really lucky to be able to return home safe and, more importantly, alive, after your days of Dragon hunting." Ellie said.
"Actually, it was only thanks to my friends, not sheer luck, that I was able to return home safe and alive, Grandma." Angel argued back. "And they also did most of the action last time while keeping me out of the way while I acted merely as a sidekick and gave them assistance to bring the Dragons down."
Ellie gave her granddaughter a rather suspicious look after Angel said those words.
"You sure put a quite a worrying amount of faith in these strange friends of yours, dear." Ellie said, unconvinced.
"You have no idea, grandmother." Angel said, as she walked back to the couch and sat next to her grandmother and took her by her hands assuringly.
"You don't even know these guys the way I do, even though I spent time with them just for few days. Besides, they have done a lots of favors for this city many times over in the past months, even before I actually met them, without asking nothing in exchange." Angel added, looking her grandmother in the eyes.
"I don't know, sweetie." Ellie sighed, feeling still uncomfortable of her granddaughter hanging out with such of people who just throw themselves willingly into danger just like that and take the matters of law from the police into their own hands.
"They are the good guys down to the core, grandmother. And as much as I hate to be left into sidelines like some helpless sidekick, I do value their noble intentions and great deal of care for the wellbeing of mine and the innocent people of the city, yours included. I trust these guys with my life, and I'm asking you to do the same thing with me, grandma. Do you trust me?" Angel asked with the look, that was mix of assurance and hopefulness for her grandmother to trust in her words that neither the turtles are a bad impression for her, nor they are the bad guys here.
Ellie gave Angel that unsure look, which told her that her grandmother was still a quite uncertain if she could trust her granddaughter's words about her mysterious friends. But Angel's honesty, sincerity and firm reassurance - including the facts that she could trust to her own family member and that, if it was true, that her precious Angel was safe and sound thanks to them - made Ellie, after a moment's hesitation, soften towards Angel's friends by some degree.
"Well, if you say so, sweetie, but..." Ellie said, until something just came up into her mind.
She immediately recalled Angel telling her that she didn't know these mysterious friends the way she did. In fact, her granddaughter was actually more than right about not knowing these friends at all since she's never even seen them in person before. This fact aroused a certain curiosity in her.
"But how come that me and your brother have never ever got a chance to meet these friends of yours before?" Ellie eventually asked. "You call them your friends, but you never talk much about them outside of their actions in the presence of me or your brother. You have not told me who they are, where they are from, what they do and so on"
Ellie kept a small break before she continued, while Angel looked at her with the neutral expression on her face... though she was slightly taken aback by her grandmother suddenly changing the subject by starting to ask about the turtles.
Lucky for her and the turtles, Angel had actually prepared herself for the moment when her grandmother would start to ask about her mysterious friends... and she knew that she couldn't tell even her much to anything about the turtles... because of that promise to keep their existence as a secret.
"Have you ever even thought about inviting them over here to visit one night, honey? If they really are what you have say they are so far, I think I'd like to at least meet them... as my gratitude for keeping you safe, of course." Ellie said.
Angel swallowed, though not the lump of nervousness but just to clear her throat, so that she could tell her grandmother what she had planned for few weeks to tell her without revealing too much about the turtles' identity to keep her promise to them.
"Well, not really, grandma." Angel said neutrally. "You see, my friends, though they are friendly people, they're rather a quite concealed group and do not easily trust to the strangers. It took some time from me too to earn their trust. They told me that they prefer to operate in secrecy and from the shadows, and therefore they do not agree to reveal themselves except extremely rarely, for their own safety, because they too know very well the risks of their vigilante activities. They also told me that they do not want to put anyone else into such of risks they're taking, which is why they kept me away from most of the action."(2)
"Ohh. So your friends are so secretive?" Ellie inquired.
"Yes." Angel confirmed. "But I'm not supposed to say much or anything at all about them, because they made me to give them my word that I wouldn't tell anyone about them, even to the people closest to me, like you and Ryan."(2)
Angel then let out a saddened sigh, as she quickly turned away from Ellie before leaning on her knees with her elbows.
"But something tells me that I may have said a bit too much about them already... even if I shouldn't have." she said and bowed her head low that it was like hanging from her shoulders, with her gaze fixed down to the floor.(2)
Ellie looked at her granddaughter and began to feel a little guilty if she had made her to tell too much about her mysterious friends to whom she had promised not to tell anyone about them and who, despite their secrecy and apparent distrust towards the strangers as Angel had said, had probably placed as much faith and trust in her as Angel had placed in them. And now Angel seemed in her eyes and in her thoughts to be very worried of having possibly betrayed her friends' trust, thus deeply afraid of losing her friends just because of this, her only friends in a really long time because she never really had any good friends her age before and after her and Ryan's parents died.
Not wanting her granddaughter to lose her only good friends, now that she once had them for a long time, because of her, Ellie decided to play along with Angel and her friends' secret games for their friendship's sake, before the older woman gently placed her hand on Angel's shoulder, making the teenage girl turn her gaze from the floor back to her.
"If you're worried that this will ruin your friendship with your new friends, don't be, my dear. You can trust that your secret will be safe with me." Ellie said with reassurance. "And you don't have to tell your friends that you told me a little about them. I say we keep this whole thing as our little secret. What do you say?"
It didn't take long from Angel to smile warmly and then give her grandmother the nod of agreement...
"However, though you don't have to tell them this right away, but when you feel you're absolutely ready, you should invite them over sometime, as my earlier suggestion and offer still stands." Ellie quickly reminded.
"Just tell them that they have nothing to fear for their secrets because I'll keep them safe with me since I'm your family and worthy of their trust, and that I'd just like to meet them and thank them personally for keeping you safe during your runaway trip out there."
"Well, I can't promise anything yet, Grandma, but maybe with a little convincing, maybe I can." Angel said with the assuring smile.
However, Angel felt a little guilty for lying to her grandmother about that, because for her to meet the turtles in person face to face would be both unlikely and inadvisable. The turtles would hardly agree to meet her grandmother due to their secrecy- and stealth-based lifestyle, and her grandmother would not react very well if she ever found out that her friends were really a giant on two legs walking and talking turtles.
Though she wasn't planning to arrange their visit over to meet her grandmother right now... and possibly not for the very long time... but maybe one day, who knows.
Ellie then looked at the wall clock and took the note of the time.
"Well, I think it's time to go shopping at the store." Ellie said before she got up from the couch and headed for the door to her apartment, but not before she turned back to Angel. "Would you like to come along honey? I'd be nice to have your help in carrying the shopping bags."
"Sure, grandmother." Angel said, not minding about accompanying her grandmother to the trip to the store at all.
The teen girl then got up from the couch and followed her grandmother towards the door, preparing for the shopping trip.
TO BE CONTINUED...
TRIVIA
1) = Reference to the Stinky Pete, the antagonistic character from Toy Story 2
2) = Angel's worry about breaking her promise to the turtles is pretty pointless since she technically didn't break it. The promise made between the turtles and their human allies (April, Casey, Angel, Professor Garey and the Homeless) is mostly based on the protection of the former's existence, their identities and location of their Lair, not so much on their actions in stopping and fighting crime. And besides, Angel didn't tell her grandmother the whole truth about the turtles being both turtles and ninjas, just some group of vigilanties on the streets to further protect their identity.
