animegamefanatic: It indeed would be nice for the turtles to have a grandmother/mother-figure in their lives, as April serves as their big-sister-figure and sometimes (or at least in some episodes) their motherly-figure. But we shall see.
= TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2003 =
= THE GIRL AND THE TURTLE P2=
In the sewers, Master Splinter had taken his children to the sewers, where he intended to keep his next lesson instead of at the Lair's Dōjō like usually.
Earlier this week, Master Splinter had chosen one of many chambers in the sewers. Albeit it was rather small one, it was still spacious for Splinter and the Turtles to train.
There was a platform in the other end of the room, where led the set of stairs and the room was enlightened with the few sewer lamps in the walls above. On both walls of the room were several tunnel pipes leading in various directions, and which ran labyrinthine over, past, or across each other.
It was a veritable labyrinth that one could easily get lost in, but since they had spent their entire lives underground, the Turtles and Splinter have had explored and mapped the sewer tunnels throughout the city - from the home turf to safer ones, closed ones and isolated ones that were classified as dangerous -, so they knew the entire sewer network like the back of their hand without fear of getting lost.
But despite their vast knowledge of directions, they - or mostly Donnie in her suitcase - still carried maps of the city's sewers just in case.
"Alright, Sensei, I'll pay up." Raph said, confused of why Splinter had brought them here. "What are we doing here?"
Once Splinter had walked to the middle of the room, did he turned around to face his children.
"Today, our exercise is based not only on you working as a team, but also on our territorial instincts." Splinter started.
"In other words, "capture the flag"!" Mikey guessed with excitement.
The turtle in orange happened to love it when the idea of some exercises was based on various games (or at least he thinks so), because they always grant him an opportunity to demonstrate his own skills and brag about them in his siblings' faces.
"Argh! Not that "capture the flag" thingy again!" Raph groaned.
Dom, Donnie and Arcee shared their brother's feeling out anticipation that Mikey starts to play those immature games of his on them again for his own amusement and then brag of his successes afterwards.
However, for their fortunate, they were spared from that when Splinter corrected his son.
"No exactly, Michelangelo."
"Huh?" Mikey gasped, surprised and disappointed.
"Whew!" Raph, Dom, Donnie and Arcee sighed in relief.
"As you all know, fifteen years in the sewers of New York has imprinted almost every tunnel and pipe, every turn, every turn, every corner, every longer or shorter, faster or slower route into our heads, which is why we surpass humans in knowledge and sense of direction down here." Splinter explained.
"We sure do, Sensei. Down here, we're the kings! ALL HAIL, MICHELANGELO!" Mikey cheered.
However, Master Splinter's staff immediately landed onto Mikey's head to knock some discipline into younger turtle.
"Ow!" Mikey yelped, touching his head.
"You asked for it, Mikey." Donnie said sarcastically.
"Ahem!" Splinter cleared his throat, getting his sons attention. "While what you said is true, Michelangelo, don't forget that the advantage of our regional knowledge down here does not extend to the surface, where our range of motion is greatly limited to rooftops and dark alleys. Besides, the world up there is full of unfriendly areas that you have no knowledge of, but your enemies do. It gives them a home advantage that they can use against you.
"So our lesson today is to improve our instincts and sense of direction…" Leo started when the realization hit him.
"...not only in the territories familiar to us, but also in the territories that are completely strange to us, most importantly those of our enemies' territories?" Mary finished.
"Exactly, Leonardo and Marietta. Our enemies may believe they have home advantage against us, but sometimes even that can be their undoing if we follow our instincts and sense of direction in a completely strange environment." Splinter said.
"But it can also be the case in areas we know better. If our enemy has a numerical advantage over us, they can cover a lot of ground even here, right Sensei? Arcee asked.
"Which is exactly why we are here, Artemisia." Splinter said. "That is exactly where working in the teams comes."
Splinter then tapped his staff to the floor with such of force that one could feel slight vibration underfoot. Instinctively, the turtles lined up before their master, standing rhythmically straight. From Splinter's left to his right, first came Donnie, then Dom, then Mikey, then Arcee, then Raph, Louie, Leo and finally Mary.
"Now I'm going to split you all into two teams and then send you into one of those opposing tunnels. Your task is to try and defeat each other while navigating in the tunnels, and to do that you have to work as teams and use your instincts and awareness of your surroundings to your advantage. Remember though, you all know the area, these tunnels and how to navigate here, and you're aware of each other's skills in stealth and combat, but not each other's thoughts. So I believe that taking each other by surprise won't be as easy as it sounds."
"I don't think so, Sensei." Raph scoffed. "If Mikey gets to be in the other team, I'll have him in no time." the turtle in red bragged, pointing his thumb at Mikey with.
Offended, Mikey shot a glare at his brother. "Oh, yeah? Well, if that's the case, you better worry about how long you'll last before I get you by surprise." he shot back.
"I'm with Mikey here." Louie said, as he glanced at Dom. "Dom is such of loud-breather kind of guy that it is so easy to find him in the dark."
"Hey!" Dom snapped, not taking kindly of his brother's words. "You better not get caught in my net, Louie, because if you do, I'm gonna give you an old school spanking!"
Louie, unconcerned of his brother's threat, blew a raspberry at him in response.
"Children, enough!" Splinter snapped, banging his staff to the floor again.
Raph, Mikey, Dom and Louie immediately ceased their quarrel and straightened up before their master.
However, although rarely seen in their usually strict and serious master, a mischievous smile crept to Master Splinter's lips as he stroked his chin beard in his thoughts. It looked like he had plan to teach his four sons the whole point of today's lesson.
"Actually, I think I have to thank you four for speaking up first." Splinter said calmly and knowingly.
Confused by their master's words, Raph, Mikey, and Louie exchanged glances asking for an explanation, though none of them could say what Master Splinter had in mind except Dom, who could anticipate it from Splinter's demeanor, tone of voice, and words. And the thought of it almost made his heart to jump out of his shell and into his throat.
"Oh, shell... please no!" he begged under his breath.
However, Master Splinter ignored him because his mind was already made up.
"Raphael... Michelangelo... Domenico... and Lorenzo. You four shall be one team." Splinter declared, pointing his staff at each of his sons upon saying their names.
Shocked by Master Splinter's decision, the three turtles' jaws just dropped and their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, while Dom merely facepalmed himself.
"WHAT?! ME?! WITH HIM?!" Raph, Mikey and Louie exclaimed in unision, with Raph and Mikey pointing at each other and Louie pointed at Dom though he didn't respond in kind.
"SHELL NO! NO WAY!" all three turtles exclaimed in refusal to be paired with one another.
However, their defiance of Master Splinter's decision earned them a whack on top of their heads from his staff, though he spared Dom from such.
(WHACK!) "OWW!" Mikey gasped.
(WHACK!) "AGH!" Raph whined.
(WHACK!) "YEA-OUCH!" Louie yelped. "I think I just got bumb to my head!" the turtle in black whined as he and his brothers put his hands over his head.
Splinter them put his staff down after disciplining his three sons, though the strictness remained in his voice when he spoke up.
"I will not take "no" as an answer." he said. "Besides, this should be a perfect opportunity for you to try to learn working together if you wish to defeat your brothers and sisters, who will make the second team."
Hearing that, Leo and Donnie made the high-three, while Mary and Arcee fist-pumbed each other, confident that they can win this one together, which seemed obvious as there was no tension nor runwillingness to work together between them unlike the other team.
Splinter then gave his children a serious look. "And before we start, here are four rules."
He then lifted his free hand up and opened his palm, showing his children his thump and three clawed fingers.
"Rule number one: Work as the team, as a unit, not as a indivituals. Otherwise your enemies can pick you all, one... by... one. And remember, the more you lose, the more weaker you become." Splinter said, lowering his pinky.
"Rule number two: Stick to the shadows. Because when you're in the strange and hostile territory, you must remain within shadows and undetected as long as possible." Splinter added, lowering his middle finger.
"Rule number three: Use stealth more than direct action. The fomer can keep you hidden prolonged time, while latter can give in your location." Splinter said as he lowered his thump, leaving only his forefinger left.
"And rule number four: All those who fall victim to your ambush from either team, regroup in here. The first team which all members have been eliminated has failed, while all remaining members of the second team have succeeded. But then there will be a double times extended hours of stealth and teamwork training excercises awaiting for the first failed team." Splinter finished.
Donnie, Mikey, Arcee, and Louie gulped nervously because the extended training excercises would significantly limit their free time, which they wanted to spend doing whatever they wanted. However, it filled Raph, Dom, Mary, and especially Leo with a steely determination not to fail.
"Well, my children, are you ready?" Splinter said.
"Yes, Master Splinter!" the turtles said in unison.
"Good." Splinter said, before he pointed with his staff at the tunnels on his left. "Raphael, Michelangelo, Domenico and Lorenzo, you go to these tunnels.
Splinter then turned to the tunnels on his right. "Leonardo, Donatello, Marietta and Artemisia, you go to these tunnels."
Splinter then turned back to his children, and then banged his staff hard against the ground once again.
"HAJIME!"(1)
With that command, the turtles bowed to their master before dividing into their respective teams and moved into the tunnels, leaving Splinter alone in the chamber.
"And one more thing!" Splinter called out. "Choose one of your own to lead your teams here!"
With that, Splinter turned around and calmly walked towards the stairs before climbing them up to the platform. Once reaching to the top of the stairs, Splinter turned around and sat down cross-legged, patiently awaiting for his children's progress.
In the tunnels, Leo, Donnie, Mary and Arcee heard Splinter's last words loud and clear, before smile crept on Leo's lips when the turtle in blue noticed everyone looking directly at him with knowing smiles on their faces.
"Are you guys thinking what I think you're thinking?" Leo asked from his brother and sisters.(2)
"I guess they're thinking what you think they're thinking, bro." Mary said, nodding her head at Donnie and Arcee.(2)
"And if I think they're thinking what I'm thinking..." Arcee started.(2)
"...Then why we should be thinking of it." Donnie finished.(2)
The turtles' knowing smiled went even wider when they all realized that they were all thinking the same thing.
"Lead the way, bro!" Donnie, Mary and Arcee said in unision, choosing the elder to lead them.
"Well, Fearless Leader, you got any strategy we can use to defeat others?" Arcee asked eagerly.
Leo smirked at Arcee before the turtle in blue immediately began to conjure up a strategy to use the darkness of the tunnels and familiarity with the area as an advantage against their brothers' team. Although Leo came up with the ambush strategies, he had to turn to Donnie for information on the perfect locations to execute them, as Donnie had a superior knowledge of the area that went beyond their own. Taking all of this into consideration and putting two and two together, Leo quickly hatched a plan in his mind and told his brother and sisters every detail before assigning each of them their own roles to carry it out.
As Leo went through the plan a couple of times to make sure everyone knew exactly their own part, they came upon a two-story intersection where there were two overlapping tunnel entrances on each opposite wall of the tunnel, both of which initially led in the same directions until they came across with several sharp turns and rounds to the left and right while passing several side tunnels along the way, including one or more openings in the floor/ceiling of the tunnels that connected the tunnels together.
"Alright! You guys know what to do! Now go!" Leo ordered.
All said and done, the turtles split up. Donnie and Arcee went to the lowest opposite tunnels, Arcee to the left and Donnie to the right. Leo jumped to the tunnel above of Arcee's while Mary jumped to the tunnel above of Donnie's.
The game was on!
However, while the teamwork appeared to work with this team, the same couldn't be said about the other team.
Louie, Raph, Dom and Mikey had at this point found the dark tunnel leading to the dead end, where they had huddled together to plan their strategy to outsmart and outmatch the other team.
However, the brothers began to argue about was who was going to lead this team.
"Alright. Listen up, guys, and listen very carefully. This is what we do. We're gonna..." Dom said, until he was quickly interrupted by Raph.
"Hey! Who said you're the one in charge here, Dom?" Raph said.
"Because I'm the oldest and smartest and..." Dom started, until he was quickly interrupted again by Louie.
"You? Smartest? And what does that make us, then? "Stupid"? Was that what you were going to say? Wasn't it?" Louie said accusingly, leaning closer of Dom's face.
""Least smartest"." Dom said as he pushed Louie away from him, making the turtle in black to roll onto his shell. "That's what I was going to say."
"Yeah, sure you did." Raph challenged. "Besides, you're fourth-eldest after Leo, me and Mary."
"And your point is?" Dom questioned.
"My point is that as the oldest turtle in this team, I'm the one who should be leading." Raph explained shortly.
Dom stared at Raph with flabbergasted look on his face, not quite sure was Raph actually serious or was he just kidding.
"You're kidding me, right? You?" Dom said in disbelief, pointing at Raph with his finger.
"Yeah. What about it?" Raph said with the shrug.
"YOU? HAH!" Dom scoffed and accidentally - or on purpose - smacked Raph across the face with the back of his hand, causing the turtle in red to stare at him wide-eyed, taken aback by his blow.
"DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH, RAPH" Dom almost cried. "Didn't you listen the Master Splinter?! This was supposed to be about stealth, not going headfirst into brawl like you always do! You're not fit to be the leader with your "strike first, ask later" philosophy!"
"Well, jokes on you, Dom!" Raph shot back, tapping the beak of Dom's nose with his finger. "Aside of your boring and outright useless diplomatic methods, your overcautiousness will lead us to the humiliating defeat for sure!"
"You're one to talk, bro." Dom snapped back, swatting Raph's hand away. "Your own impulsiveness, stubbornness and impatience is what usually puts us into jeopardy."
"You're lame and too wussy to be the leader!" Raph shot back. "You'd crack like the nut from the pressure."
"You're irritably hot-headed jerk, who definitely doesn't deserve to be the leader." Dom shot back.
Raph's eyes widened from the brief shock of such of comment, before he narrowed them in anger.
"Take that back! And I am worthy to be a leader!" Raph almost growled, getting into Dom's face.
"No I won't! And no, you're not!" Dom growled, banging his forehead against Raph's - no matter how childish this was.
"Yes, I am!" Raph argued.
"No, you're not!" Dom argued back.
"I am!" Raph argued.
"You're not!" Dom argued back.
"Yes!" Raph argued.
"No!" Dom argued back.
"YEEEESSSS!" Raph shouted.
"NOOOOOO!" Dom shouted back.
Gritting their teeth, both Raph and Dom glared daggers at each other, trying their best to stare each other down, though they were both equally too stubborn to back down when it came to the leadership of this team and their own views of each other's qualifications for it.
"Guys, guys, guys! Chill out, will you?!" Mikey said, jumping between his brothers and trying to push them away from each other.
"We're not getting anywhere here!" he tried to reason. "If we can't come to an agreement on this, we won't beat the other team. And remember what comes afterwards: a double times extended training hours for who knows how long for all of us!"
Both Raph and Dom turned from each other to their youngest brother, realizing that he was right about that.
"Mikey's right. This is stupid." Dom said eventually, turning back to Raph. "We need to get our team organized and quick!"
"Right." Raph said before the turtle in red cautiously peeked around the corner into the tunnel that led back to the chamber.
Even Raph knew that if they just kept arguing here over the leadership of this team, they'll be nothing but wasting the precious time and also giving the other team a better chances to beat them in their own turf... and Raph definitely wasn't in the mood to let Leo, Donnie, Mary and Arcee to win and then brag about it to their faces.
And so, without wasting any more time deciding which of them should lead, Raph went into leader mode - or something similar in his own way - and began to hatch a strategy on his own.
"Okay, guys. This is what we shall do. We're gonna..."
However, he was quickly interrupted by Dom, annoyed that Raph had just assumed the role of leader for himself even though nothing had been agreed about that.
"And... who made you the boss here?!" Dom protested.
"Me, of course, doofus!" Raph said over his shoulder. "And I just got a great plan to outmatch them, so I'm expecting you guys to follow my lead."
"And what will that plan be, Raph, if may I ask?" Dom questioned, before saying the next words with open sarcasm. "Something like "Simple as that, bro. Let's just go kick some shells in good old turtle style" kind of the plan?"
Dom then scoffed dismissively. "That is a terrible plan, just barely worthy of the title of king in the long sad history of terrible plans!"
Raph turned to him and narrowed his eyes into irritated glare. "Oh, yeah?! Well, you didn't come up with any better plan yourself." he growled.
"That's because you started questioning my abilities as a leader!" Dom snapped back.
"Well, of course I did! Maybe just for your own sake!" Raph snarled. "Face it, bro! You would've been a lame leader anyway!" he added rudely.
"Coming from a guy who listens to his muscles instead of his brains, if he does even have any." Dom retorted, tapping Raph's temple with his finger. "And that's what makes you even worse leader."
Glaring daggers at each other, Raph and Dom then resumed their intense staring-each-other-down contest until Mikey popped next to his quarreling brothers, though neither paid attention in him, as they were too occupied with each other.
"We'll compromise. I'll lead the team." the turtle in orange volunteered confidently, putting a hand over his chest.(3)
However, this earned him the fiery glares from Raph and Dom as they turned from each other to him as swiftly like the crack of the whip!(3)
"NO YOU WON'T!" both turtles in red and black declared in unison.(3)
Mikey was left stunned and taken aback by his brothers' outburst even if he hadn't done anything... except volunteered to lead the team. However, instead of backing down, Mikey put his hands on his hips and shot the dirty look on his brothers.
"Well, good thing that you two can at least agree about something here!" Mikey retorted sarcastically. "But anyway, if all three of us have already voted ourselves, then I guess its up to Louie to decide which one of us shall lead."
"PFFT!" Dom scoffed at the idea. "Louie would never follow any of us, Mikey! He'd rather run out on his own instead falling under our leadership, that's for sure!"
"Or more likely, not under YOUR leadership, Dom." Raph corrected. "We're all well aware of the arguments between the two of you on many issues. You always tell him "don't do this" and "don't do that" and you always scolding him for whatever he does."
"Yeah! You two are just like me and Raphy-boy all the time! I'm always getting under his shell and always end up getting physically reprimanded over whatever I do." Mikey agreed, wrapping his arm over Raph's neck and pulling him closer that their cheeks were pressed against each other. "We're all the same, like that "like two shells, kind-of-a-thing" stuff."
"Shut up!" Raph snapped before rudely pushing Mikey away from him, hard enough to make him fly off his feet onto his shell to the floor.
"Hey!" Mikey yelped, offended by the act.
"So I say Louie would rather fall under my leadership than yours, Dom. After all, just like Mikey said, me and Louie are just like two shells." Raph declared, Using Mikey's whole "two shells' thing for his own favor
"But that wasn't what I..." Mikey tried to protest but was quickly silenced when Raph gave him a warning glare, making Mikey nervously wave his fingers at his hot-headed brother.
Raph then turned back to Dom. "So I believe it's obvious, cocksure, unquestionable and so on, that I am the leader. So you better get used to it, Dom, or you can just lick your fingers in defeat."
"No it's not!" Dom shot back. "It's not up to you to make a decision based on mere assumptions. Besides, we haven't even heard Louie's opinion. And while I don't usually expect that much from Louie, I think we should at least hear him out. Everyone here has already given their opinions on the matter, except Louie."
Dom didn't wait for others' to either approve or disapprove his suggestion but immediately turned to Louie.
"Well, Louie. Shall we hear your voice on this...?" Dom said almost boredly.
However, he quickly cut himself short when his eyes landed on the spot where Louie was supposed to be.
The only problem was... Louie wasn't there.
"Um... Dom? Where's Louie?" Mikey questioned, rubbing his head upon noticing their brother missing.
"I don't know! He was right there a moment ago?" Dom said, baffled.
After the moment of thinking, the realization hit him like a meteorite impact on Earth.
"He just ditched us and went on his own, just like that?!" Dom exclaimed.
"Well, what does it look like." Raph said with the shrug.
Dom threw his arms up in the air and shouted loudly in frustration. He should have guessed that Louie would do something like this instead of working with them as a team.
"ARGH! THAT LITTLE SHELL-FOR-BRAINED THORN IN MY SHELL!" Dom exclaimed irritably, before he turned to Raph. "Look what you did, Raph! You distracted me long enough and allowed Louie to get away!"
"What?!" Raph exclaimed, taken aback. "What do you take me for, some sort of babysitter?! Why didn't you look after him?! You're the one who's babysitting him all of time!"
"Ugh! Why am I even wasting my time here arguing with you, bro?!" Dom groaned before turning away and moved out of the dead end into the tunnel.
Raph and Mikey peeked around the corner and watched after him, confused by the turtle in white's actions.
"Um... where're you going, Dom?" Mikey questioned.
"To look for that idiot, Mikey!" Dom said over his shoulder. "And you two are coming with me! Like Master Splinter said, this is the perfect time for us to practice teamwork if we're going to find that shell-for-brains!"
"But what about the other team?" Mikey reminded. "Shouldn't we be worried about them picking us off one by one out there?"
"Well, in that case..." Dom said, as he turned to his brothers. "We can always use the STEALTH and SILENCE in order to remain undetected while trying to find Louie."
With that, Dom continued onward, not bothering to sit and wait whether his brothers followed him or not.
"Well, then that leaves Mikey out." Raph said with his usual snarky sarcasm. "He never has the patience to stay silent for more than five-ten seconds."
With that, Raph came out of the tunnel and followed Dom, leaving Mikey behind to stare after him with dumbstruck look on his face.
"Hey! Comes from the guy with no patience to stay put." Mikey exclaimed, offended by Raph's words, before he came out of the tunnel and rushed after his brothers. "Wait for me, will ya?!"
Led by Dom, the three turtles walked down the tunnel for a while until they came to the first intersection that led from this tunnel to both left and right. Although the turtles knew these tunnels well, they had no idea which way Louie had gone after ditching them. Dom tried to think like Louie for a while, but it was quite difficult for him because he never thought like more carefree and daredevil turtle.
So, Dom ended up randomly choosing the tunnel that led to the right and motioned for Raph and Mikey to follow him.
They followed that tunnel for a while, walking past several side tunnels on either side.
On their way, they needed to stop occasionally to see if Louie had left any trace of him that they could follow: footprints, for example, since the bottom of the tunnel was covered in mud and slime (which they hardly cared about), and their search was somewhat aided by several sewer lamps dimly illuminating the area. But even with that, they found no trace of their brother.
No one knew whether Louie had chosen to go in the opposite direction and Dom had ended up picking the wrong one, but it was clear that Louie was now moving in stealth mode, and careful not to leave anything in his wake.
However, they could not go back to check on the matter, but continued onward.
Suddenly, Dom's and Raph's sixth sense kicked in and they stopped, looking around, though absentminded Mikey accidentally bumped into Raph's shell, causing the latter to shove him away in annoyance.
"What is it?" Mikey questioned.
"Shh!" Dom hushed, silencing his little brother before speaking in whisper. "Others are close by, already stalking us."
Hearing that, Mikey grew nervous and stared anxiously left and right.
"Oooohhhhhhhh! I know that it's just them stalking us, but to be honest, I hate to be stalked MYSELF like this!" Mikey trempled.
"Quiet, Mikey!" Raph hissed, before he turned to Dom. "So, what now, leader?"
"Got it!" Mikey said with thumbs up, until he quickly realized what Dom had just said.. "Wait? Peeled eyes?! EWWWW!" the turtle in orange gagged in disgust.
"Shut it!" Dom hushed sharply, before he turned to Raph. "And Raph? Watch our shells from the middle, and keep your own eyes peeled."
"Yeah, whatever." Raph shrugged.
"Stop saying that!" Mikey pleaded, feeling shivers running down his spine at the thought of peeled eyes.
Led by Dom, the turtles entered the dark tunnel and moved cautiously forward, looking around for their siblings' possible ambush.
Dom kept his gaze pointed forward, while Raph watched his shell and paid a quick peeks into the tunnels branching off from this one, while occasionally glancing back to make sure Mikey was in constant alert... and didn't fall behind. And Mikey, struggling to maintain his composure, kept his eyes mostly in the direction they had come from to make sure they weren't being followed, but also looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't too far behind his brothers.
And all the while they called for Louie with low voices in order not to reveal their location to the others.
"Louie?" Dom called with low yet sharp voice.
"Louie, where are you?" Raph called quietly.
"Louie? Helloooooooo!" Mikey called with soft voice.
However, if Raph had looked a little further into the dark tunnel he had just searched through, he would've seen a glimpse of the figure in the darkness, moving fast and without making a sound in the same direction they were in the adjacent tunnel.
And when Mikey and Raph turned away from each other for a moment, another dark figure descended from the ceiling in Spiderman-style and remained hanging there upside down between the turtles in orange and red. However, the figure immediately rose back up and vanished as Raph and Mikey - sensing something behind them - turned back towards each other.
"Louie?" they both said in unison, though saw nothing except each other.
However, both turtles could've sworn they saw something moving above them, but when they looked up at the ceiling, it was already gone.
Raph and Louie then kept moving down the tunnel, but remained in high alert nonetheless and glanced constantly and suspiciously up at the ceiling in case such of occassions happened again. On their way, the two turtles walked past the large pile of mud and slime on the side of the tunnel, into which they didn't pay any attention.
But if they had, they would have realized that the pile was actually the third dark figure that had camouflaged among all the mud and slime. The moment Mikey and Raph had gone and were out of earshot, the figure rose slowly up from the floor and stared at the turtles.
Dom, meanwhile, had gone far ahead of his brothers, not even noticing that they were lagging behind, and had just reached the other end of the tunnel.
stepping out of the tunnel, Dom found himself from a tall but narrow chamber with more tunnels on the right side and almost closely adjacent archways for two stories, which were separated by the railed catwalk. In the other end of the chamber, the road turned to the left.
Then, when Dom wasn't looking, the end of a long staff emerged from the next tunnel he was about to pass, lightly tapping twice against his shell before being pulled back into the darkness.
"Wha...?" Dom gasped from this and turned around to the tunnel to see who was it. But all he could see was darkness.
Dom assumed almost immediately that it was Louie hiding in the tunnel, playing tricks on him, so he put his hands on his hips and stared into the darkness with unamused look on his face.
"Oh, very funny, Louie." Dom called out. "Guess you didn't understand the point of this whole thing, that we were supposed to act as a team against the other team and not the other way around! You weren't supposed to go alone- HEY!"
The turtle in white was suddenly cut of when someone lunged at him from archway behind him and pulled him into the tunnel's darkness.
Silence fell upon the chamber again, but only momentarily.
Raph and Mikey then came around the corner to the spot, but were left confused upon noticing that Dom was suddenly gone.
"Dom?" Raph called, confused.
"Domenicoooo!" Mikey called. "Now where did he went?"
Raph shrugged, having no answer to that.
However, both turtles were alarmed when they felt a gust of wind on their necks as something suddenly dashed past behind them. Raph and Mikey turned around to see who or what it was, but saw nothing. Raph pulled out his Sais and prepared himself for possible ambush while Mikey moved nervously behind his brother's shell for cover.
"Chicken." Raph snarled at his youngest brother's cowardice.
"Can't help it, bro!" Mikey defended. "This is just like in those horror movies where some people get trapped in a dark house haunted by evil presence for a long and scary thunderstorm night, with an ugly but spooky monsters lurking in the dark places, waiting for the right moment to strike and snatch their victim to their horrible deaths!"
Raph rolled his eyes in annoyance at Mikey's gullibility. "Oh, boy! You have watched too much movies, bro." he said with the facepalm.
Suddenly, while both turtles' attentions were elsewhere, another dark figure landed behind them gracefully and without making the sound from above.
Mikey's head jerked up when he heard the faint thumps of feet landing on the muddy and slimy floor and turned around to see what it was. His eyes went wide and he let out the silent gasp when he saw a figure standing right there, glaring at them menacingly with its glowing eyes, legs spread wide and hands raised above its head.
Mikey tried to warn Raph, but the figure dashed forward and clamped its hand around his mouth to silence him before diving headfirst into a hole in the chamber's floor, dragging Mikey with it, without Raph's notice.
"I'm gonna have a little talk with you about your wild imagination once this is... over" Raph said as he turned to Mikey, only to notice that he wasn't there anymore.
"Mikey? Mikey? Where did you goofball go? Mikey?" Raph said, looking around but saw the turtle in orange nowhere.
"Great. Just great. The good old turtle-luck is kicking again." Raph muttered to himself as it dawned to him. "The whole team got picked off, one by one. All but me! Just great!"
Since he was the only one left, Raph didn't care about stealth anymore, seeing it pointless at this point. And so, Raph let his voice out from the top of his lungs.
"GO ON! BRING IT! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! I'M RIGHT HERE, RIGHT ON THE PLATE! COME ON AND GET ME! I CAN TAKE ALL FOUR OF YOU AT ONCE!"
As his voice echoed in the chamber's walls and in the tunnels, nothing happened for a moment, but Raph remained ready for anything nonetheless.
Suddenly, Raph heard faint but growing and approaching whizzing sound behind him, until out of instincts, the turtle in red leaned backwards to avoid just narrowly two spinning fans that flew towards him. But after dodging them one time, the fans came back for him like boomerangs, though Raph managed to avoid them again by jumping over them with the barrel roll.
Landing on his feet, Raph then saw movement out of the corner of his left eye and turned towards the archways, raising his Sais up as the next figure emerged and attacked him. Raph managed to catch its' weapon's blade with his Sais, but the attacker almost immediately jumped over his head to the other side. Raph turned swiftly around only to see that the figure was already gone. No doubt disappeared into the tunnels in front of him.
Raph didn't get time to catch his breath, however, when the third figure emerged and swung its long staff at his head. Though the figure missed when Raph ducked his head down, it spun around and somersaulted to Raph's other side, before it then jabbed him hard in the lower part of his shell with its staff.
"AGH! HEY!" Raph yelped and turned around to face his attacker, only to realize that the figure was already gone, much to his frustration.
A fourth figure then unexpectedly leaped out of the hole in the floor where Mikey had been dragged into and flew high into the air, holding a pair of swords. The figure then swung his blades down at Raph as he fell down, knocking Sais away from theturtle in red's hands before kicking him in the chest, sending him flying to the floor.
Raph looked up, but noticed that the figure was gone... once again. But knowing that they were still there, Raph got quickly up and picked his Sais up from the floor.
But instead of preparing for another round, Raph realized that he was at a disadvantage and too exposed in here, and that he needed a better defensible position to fight back. So, albeit begrudgingly, the turtle in red chose to retreat into the tunnels.
However, the figures stepped out of the darkness to give chase. One with the swords ran after Raph into the tunnel, while the second one with the fans jumped down from the ceiling and followed the first one, and the third with the wooden staff jumped from the upper tunnel to the second story's archway and vanished in the darkness.
However, as the fourth figure with the bladed staff was about to follow the others, a pair of chains flew out of the darkness from behind the figure and quickly wrapped around its' ankles before pulling the feet from under, causing the Figure to let out a surprised yelp and fall face first onto the muddy and slimy floor.
SLPATS!
The figure raised its head and spat mud and slime out of its mouth in disgust, until the chains around its feet suddenly began to pull the figure backwards along the floor towards the hole where Mikey had been dragged earlier.
The figure tried to grab onto anything solid or dig both its hands and fingers into the floor to keep itself from being dragged away.
However, the muddy and slimy floor made such an attempt impossible and pointless, as the figure helplessly slipped over the edge and disappeared into the hole.
Meanwhile, Raph ran down the tunnels in attempt to lose the pursuers: First he took the first turn into the left tunnel and ran along it for a while before turning right at the next turn. He later turned right at the third turn and then right again at the fourth, before turning left at the fifth and continuing foward along the tunnel.
However, halfway down the tunnel, Raph stopped as he noticed a crack in the ceiling that led to a dark space above the tunnel, and was wide enough for him to fit through. So, after the moment of thought, he considered it a perfect hiding place and possible vantage point to take his pursuers by surprise, if they happened to pass by here.
Raph then jumped towards the crack and flipped through it into a dark space, before positioning on the edge, shrouded in shadows, and remained to wait for his pursuers.
And so, he waited and waited.
Waited and waited.
Waited and waited.
Waited and waited.
Waited and waited.
However, after 50 long minutes with no one of his pursuers passing by, Raph was starting to get both impatient and frustrated.
"C'mon! What's taking you so long? Where are you, anyway?" the turtle in red growled in impatience.
However, Raph suddenly felt someone or something gently, albeit teasingly, patting him in the right shoulder, pulling his attention away from the crack.
"Huh?" Raph gasped and looked over his shoulder into the darkness.
However, his eyes went wide when he noticed someone standing right behind him.
"Here." said the familiar voice from the darkness.
Raph tried to turn around to fight back, but before he could do anything, he felt the the wooden staff whacking him hard in his plastron shell, nearly knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying through the crack, until he landed with the SPLASH to the muddy and slimy floor, dropping his Sais from his hands.
Moaning in pain and defeat, the mud and slime-covered Raph tried to get up from the ground, until dark figure dropped down through the crack and put the left foot over Raph's plastron shell, pinning him to the floor. And to add the insult to injury, the figure put its staff's end against Raph's right cheek and pinned his head to the floor. Raph tried to struggle, but it was no use.
"Giving up?" the figure asked teasingly, rolling the head of his staff against Raph's cheek, causing Raph to let out a slightly painful moans.
Raph really didn't want to admit that he was defeated just because he was caught off guard, his wind knocked out and pinned down to the ground, but his opponent left him with no much of a choice but to just accept his defeat.
"Ah! Okay, okay, okay, okay!" Raph exclaimed, clearly frustrated and moody over his defeat. "I'll give up! I'll give up! You happy?!"
Smirking victoriously, the figure took its leg off from Raph's chest and stepped aside, allowing Raph to get up.
"Very well then, off you go, good boy." the figure teased.
The turtle in red growled as he shot a dirty look at the figure, before he picked up his Sais from the floor and began making his way towards the chamber. The figure followed Raph's going until he had disappeared behind the corner.
"Three down, one to go." the figure said proudly, before he turned to the other end of the tunnel. "Now, to find the last one."
However, when the figure was right below the crack...
"No need to. He's already here." the voice said from above.
The figure looked up in confusion, but was unable to do anything before a pair of hands suddenly reached down and grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him bodily off the slimy floor. The figure let out the surprised yelp when he was pulled through the crack, vanishing into the darkness.
###
Raph emerged from the tunnel to the chamber where Splinter was waiting on the platform, still surly over his defeat.
There, he saw his team members, Dom and Mikey leaning side by side against the wall beneath the platform in Master Splinter's left side. Both the turtles in white and orange looked to be in no better mood than he was. Mary was also there, leaning against the wall beneath the platform on Master Splinter's right, and she too looked quite surly.
This came as a big surprise to Raph, as Mary was one of the best fighters in terms of skill, agility, flexibility and spiritual level, although she still remained in his and Leo's shadows.
Raph then turned to Mikey and Dom. "So, you guys got caught then." the turtle in red said dryly.
"I got ambushed from behind when I was alone in the chamber. At first I thought it was Louie playing tricks on me, but when I realized it wasn't him, it was too late. And if you hadn't fallen behind, I wouldn't have walked right into their trap." Dom growled as the turtle in white was in a bad mood.
"Hey, I already told you, Dom! We got distracted in the tunnel!" the turtle in orange said. "Besides, I got ambushed in that chamber too! Got dragged into that dark hole from behind before I could've even blink my eye."
Mikey then turned to Raph. "How about you, Raphie-boy. I though you could last a little longer than we did."
Raph was about to answer, until he was cut off by the familiar voice that belonged to one who beat him in that tunnel with the crack in the ceiling.
Raph was about to answer, until he was cut off by the familiar voice that belonged to the one who had caught up with him and ambushed him in that tunnel that had the breach into the dark space over the tunnel.
"I caught him up in that dark room above the crack in the tunnel's ceiling." said the voice. "You guys can see that from the black line-like bruise he has in his plastron shell."
Raph, Mikey and Dom turned towards the tunnels on Master Splinter's right and saw Donnie walking slowly out of the shadows, his Bo-staff resting on his left shoulder and his sulking head hanging low from his shoulders.
"But who am I to brag about it if I got bested by my own methods." Donnie added as he walked over to Mary. "How about you, Mary? How did you got caught?"
Mary snorted at the question. "I was dragged into the hole by the chains wrapped around my ankles right after Raph was all that was left...or presumably was as there was no sign of a certain "fourth" member of your team." the turquoise turtle added, turning towards Raph, Dom, and Mikey with a dirty look on her face.
The turtles in white, orange and red turned to each other once they realized who exactly was behind of Don's and Mary's defeats... as well as the fact that whose fault it was that they were all caught.
"LOUIE!" they all growled under their breaths.
"That sneaky shell-for-brains ditched us for the only reason: he used us all as the bait to lure us into looking for him in order to lure the other team out so that he can take them down himself... while the other team took us down one by one." Dom snarled.
"No fair!" Mikey said, equally annoyed with Louie.
"Well, his luck won't last long now that he's all alone in there with Arcee and Leo." Raph growled before punching his palm in anger. "But when he steps out of those tunnels, I'll teach him a lesson about ditching his team members and using them for his own gain!"
"You'll have to wait your turn while I'm done with him first, Raph." Dom said, swearing to give Louie the piece of his mind, but otherwise gave Raph the firm nod in agreement. "Unless Leo catches him first and, hopefully, hurts either him or his oversized ego. So far, none of us has ever managed to catch Leo by surprise."
"I hope you're right, Dom. I hope you're right." Raph said hoping Louie would get a big dose of his own medicine.
###
Meanwhile, in the other parts of the tunnels, Arcee ran down the tunnel looking for Raph, until she arrived to the star-shaped intersection that led into eight different direction. The turtle in pink looked cautiously left and right, glancing at each entrance individually, before she quickly picked the tunnel in between of one and two a clock and ran into it.
Arriving at the next turn, Arcee stopped suddenly like to a wall when she caught some noise echoing in the narrow space of the tunnels.
The splashing sounds like in the rhythm running footsteps on a muddy floor of the tunnel. Not too close but not too far either. And they sounded quite faint, meaning that their owner was apparently heading away from her location.
Listening closely, Arcee tried for a moment figure out where the echoes of the footsteps were coming from, until ended up assuming they came from the left tunnel.
Arcee then turned to the left to follow the footsteps till she arrived to the third turn, where she turned left again, guiden by the echoes.
Then Arcee turned again left, before turning right and then proceeded to run down the tunnel to its other end, where she found herself in another narrow chamber, where left few tunnels to left, right and forward.
From there, Arcee continued to the tunnel on the right and after running along it for a while, she turned left at the next turn and continued along that tunnel too until she reached a new intersection, from which three other tunnels led in three different directions.
Arcee then focused on listening for the echoes of footsteps to locate them, but this time it proved to be hard to tell where they coming from as they sounded to be coming from every tunnel, even from the one she had just came of. It was like her target was running circles around her location like shark for the prey stranded to the water, turning the hunter into hunted.
Then, all of the sudden, the steps and their echoes faded away... and there was a grave silence that fell over the intersection.
Without losing her nerve due to the eerie silence, while holding her fans at ready, Arcee looked around and into the darkness of each tunnel in turn, awaiting for her formerly-stalked-now-stalking prey to reveal itself, expecting it to attack from any direction when she wasn't looking.
However, Arcee didn't think to check the ceiling of the intersection, because right up there, a dark figure was hanging in the pipes going along the ceiling, staring down at Arcee standing in the middle of the intersection with in the darkness glowing eyes.
And then, seizing this perfect opportunity to take Arcee by surprise, the figure let go of the pipes and let himself fall freely down and towards his prey, who was completely unaware of the figure falling towards her, and was getting closer…
...and closer...
...and closer...
...and closer...
...and closer...
...until the figure's feet hit the muddy floor right behind of Arcee's shell.
However, nothing came upon Arcee afterwards of the figure's landing, though the small thuds and faint splashes of the mud and slime caused the turtle in pink jump in sudden fright, before jumping away from whoever had landed behind her back and turned around to face it with her fans.
However, nothing happened, as the figure just stood there where it had landed, straight and still like the lifeless stone statue, with its hands raised up in the manner of surrender.
Arcee looked at the figure in confusion. It had obviously tried for the surprise attack from above and was very near to success. Then why it had just frozen in place like that without doing anything?
However, with the closer look, Arcee noticed that there was the third figure standing next to the second one, who was holding the sword with both hands in perfectly still horizontal position and stretched out forward that the blade's tip was almost pressed against the second figure's throat, daring it to move even an inch or suffer the consequences.
The figure held at sword-point seemingly got the message and stood still, without moving an inch.
Arcee then then took out a flashlight and turned it on, illuminating the intersection immediately before pointing her flashlight at the figures in front of her, revealing their identities.
One with the sword was none other than her big brother, Leonardo.
Leo was momentarily blinded by Arcee's flashlight, forcing him to remove his left hand from his Katana's handle to cover his eyes from the light with his left
The turtle in pink then turn her flashlight at the figure next to Leo, revealing it to be the missing turtle from the second team, Lorenzo.
Louie had his chin up as the Katana, glowing in the flashlight's light, was brought up a little higher along the turtle in black's throat and pressed almost against his green skin, leaving only a few inches of space in between.
Louie blinked his eyes when the flashlight's light hit his face, before clamping them shut and turning them away from the light
"Louie?" Arcee gasped.
"Mind to take that off my face, Arcee?!" Louie impatiently requested.
Arcee immediatly turned the flashlight away from her two brothers, pointing it towards the walls and the ceiling.
With the light gone, Louie glanced sideways at Leo with the frown, as the turtle in blue still held him at sword-point.
"Agh! Blasted!" Louie cursed in exasperation at being caught at the perfect moment. "I was so close to catching Arcee by surprise, and yet I never even saw you coming, Leo."
Leo smirked teasingly. "Wasn't difficult to track you down after Donnie and Mary had suspiciously gone missing after Donnie took Raph out, probably because of your handiwork." the turtle in blue remarked before lowering his sword.
And once the blade was gone from his throat, Louie gasped for breath what he hadn't even noticed he was doing while having Leo's weapon's ice-cold blade pressed on his throat.
However, Arcee quickly pointed her flashlight at Louie again, the look of surprise in her face quickly switched into annoyed frown. And when the flashlight hit him again, Louie covered his eyes wth his hand to block out the light.
"I thought it was Raph I was pursuing in these tunnels, yet it turned out to be just you." Arcee said, her voice sounding more accusing rather than surprised anymore.
"Yeah. So?" Louie shrugged indifferently.
The smile disappeared from Leo's lips too, and his look turned into a serious scowl. "And we didn't see you with him, Mikey, and Dom, as you should have per Master Splinter's instructions. Did you just run away from them to go on solo, even though this was supposed to be about working in team?"
"Well, what do you think, Leo?" Louie said with the eye-roll. "Raph and Dom were too busy of bickering about each other's competence as leader, so I left before the argument could've escalated. Just ask from them. Those two idiots know better than I do."
"I intend to, Louie." Leo promised, before he put his sword away and firmly grabbed Louie by his left shoulder.
Arcee grabbed by his right shoulder while pointing her flashlight forward to light their way back to the chamber where the others were waiting.
"But you too get a chance to explain your reasons for going on solo against Master Splinter's instructions. And don't expect him to be happy about them." Leo added.
"Well... at least I'm not alone in the boat of failures." Louie said with the shrug as Arcee and Leo escorted him back into the tunnels and towards the chamber and others.
TO BE CONTINUED...
TRIVIA
1) = Splinter in 2003 series never said Hajime, unlike Splinter in 2012 series whenever he and the turtles were training, so I decided to add that one just this once.
2) = The turtles, at least Leo's, Donnie's, Mary's and Arcee's "thinking-riddle" is the reference to the similiar - though slightly changed - scene from the episode "Return To New York, Part 1", where the turtles went through the thinking-riddle about them all thinking about the same thing, regarding to the Shredder's belief of them being dead and thus being ill-prepared for their attack.
3) = The reference to the similiar scene from the episode of the 2012 series' "New Girl In Town", where Mikey innocently voted to lead the team during of Leo's and Raph's heated argument about Leo's leadership skills and Raph constantly questioning them, only to be glared down by the two.