Outside of Leo's Room...
"My sons, and April, how was your evening? Did it went as well as it was planned to be?" Splinter asked the four teens, smiling in hope that their plan to simply hang and not get into any fight for just one night has gone successful. However, from the look of anger on Raphael's face, a confused Michelangelo, an uncertain Donatello and an upset April, tells the humanoid-rat that their plan wasn't as it was supposed to go. Rather than to say something out loud or explain to what happened, Raph scoffed out a small "Yeah, right..." before making his way towards the dummy and release some of his anger out on. Mikey, not sure on what to say, rubbed the back of his head with his right-hand and stared down to the floor.
"Uh... Sort of?" He said, though he knew that wasn't really the best answer to tell Splinter. April, still feeling upset and a little hurt, let out a deep sigh and folded her arms in front of her chest, staring down at the floor. Having a gut feeling that he's not going to be of any help on talking and wanting to be sure that his eldest brother has indeed returned to the Lair, he quietly excused himself from the group and made his way towards the kitchen. Seeing as he the only one who was gonna have to tell his father, Don finally gave him an answer.
"Not exactly, Sensei." He answered, his Mahogany-brown eyes flashing emotions that tells the humanoid-rat that their plan to get Leonardo to hang out with them wasn't a success at all. "We had a little problem, while we were heading for Murakami-san's noodle shop." Immediately, fear came into the eyes of Master Splinter and has gone into his overprotective state.
"What has happened? Did any of you gotten hurt?" His heart gave out a shutter when he realized that he hasn't seen his eldest-child within the group and immediately had a horrifying feeling that made him too afraid to almost not ask the one question that nearly had him experienced one of his worst fears. "Has Leonardo try to go off on his own?" April can tell from the tone of his voice and the worried look on the fifty year-old's face, that the question he asked about Leonardo is something serious and should give him the right to be afraid if the answer to it was 'yes'. Luckily for him, it isn't going to be the answer or reply he's going to get.
"No, Sensei, he didn't. We saw him going down a manhole after getting his food to go in a box from the noodle shop, which means he probably locked himself inside his room for some alone time." Donatello reassured, putting up both of his hands in front of him to signal his father to stay calm and to not do anything drastic. "And no, none of us has gotten hurt. We just gotten into a fight with a human gang who calls themselves the Purple Dragons. There are only three humans in the gang and weren't that much of a threat, so we've taken care of the problem." Unfortunately, to disagree to his brother's claim, Raphael gave the dummy a roundhouse kick and knocked it off the hook, forcing it to land roughly to the ground.
"Except you're forgetting the part where Leo didn't finish the job on giving their leader a painful lesson on beating up a blind-man, and allowed the Purple Dragons to leave!" Not bothering to pick up the dummy and putting it back on the hook, he made his way towards the group and turned his gaze to stare at his father. "He showed weakness, Sensei. Those guys only understand one language: Fists." He then held out both his fists in front of him, as if to prove a point to his theory.
"What about feet?" Mikey asked, as he made his way back to the group, with the styrofoam-box held in both his hands to show the others that the eldest turtle has returned to the Lair and put their worry at ease. Trying not to let out his anger on his brother for asking a simple question that also adds to what the Purple Dragons also uses to fight or understands besides their fists, the hotheaded turtle let out a deep sigh.
"Yes, Mikey, they understand feet."
"That would make them Bilingual." Don pointed out, acting and being his smart aleck-self when one of his brothers makes a single mistake into their claim.
"Argh!" Frustrated, Raph slapped both his hands on both sides of his head, as if to physically show his brothers how angry he is about the conversation. "The point is we can't go soft on them!" It wasn't a complete hunch, but both Don and Mikey can tell that Leo's talk with their hotheaded brother is still going on through his mind and is most likely fueling the fire and belief to wanna take the humans down as a fairing punishment.
"To show mercy is not soft, Raphael." Splinter calmly told his second-eldest son. "It is a sign of true strength." His words didn't seem to make the red-masked turtle any better or calmer, more annoyed that he's hearing fighting isn't a good way to display dominance and anger rising that his father isn't on his side to what he's speaking from his mind.
'Seriously? First Leo, lecturing me that we can't act like ruthless as the Purple Dragons, and now Master Splinter is stating Leo's choice is right? How is letting your opponent go show that you're stronger than they are?' "But, Sensei, they're criminals. This is war!"
"A Daimyo of the sixteenth century once said, 'in times of peace, never forget the possibility of war. In times of war, never forget compassion.'" A small pause of silence went around the group, till Raph spoke out what he thinks to what the Daimyo of the sixteenth century's words feel to him.
"I'm guessing that guy lost a lot of wars." To demonstrate his theory, Splinter swiftly brought his cane up and thrusted it towards the hothead turtle, having the tip of the jade-crusted cane to stop only centimeters away from the throat of Raphael's snout, forcing a gasp of breath when he thought he would be brought down by his sensei, along with having Michelangelo, Donatello and April to backing away from the red-masked turtle in thought of being next. Emerald-green eyes looked up into the reddish-brown eyes of the humanoid-rat, staring into the gaze that held no anger or threat to the teenager.
"You see? Mercy." He then pulled back his cane from his son, only to actually whack him in the arm, as punishment for not truly taking his Words of Wisdom to heart.
"Ow!" Raph yelped out, bringing his right-hand to nurse the dull ache in his left-arm that he knew will probably bruise for a good while. Not wanting to gain another whack from the cane, the turtle decides to speak as calmly as he could to have Master Splinter realize his brother's choice on letting the Purple Dragons go is a mistake. "Okay, look. Compassion is great. But the Purple Dragons are not going to leave Murakami alone, and Leo probably won't have us go out to look for their hideout to teach them a lesson."
"And besides that, how are we gonna track someone down when we can't talk to anybody?" Don added, also feeling that they need to make certain that the humans gets the message to leave Murakami alone, with or without Leonardo's say into what they should do or not do. April knew that the results of the guys going after the Purple Dragons may not go well as they'll want it to go as, but with their leader locked away inside his room and will most likely refuse to have them look for the three men, the teen decides to take matter into her own hands and help out the three remaining turtles.
"Leave that part to me, guys."
At the Tidal Wave Fresh Fish...
"Excuse me, sir." The owner of the Tidal Wave Fresh Fish, who was simply sweeping away the dust that was collected all over his store's floor, ceased his sweeping and turned to see the redhead teenager standing behind him. "I'm looking for the Purple Dragons."
The chinatown-fishmonger is obviously of Chinese descendant, who appears to be around the same age-group as Murakami or a little bit younger than the noodle shop owner. He has black-hair, wears a grey-shirt that hangs over his thin-form and a low bib overall pants.
From what April has gathered and heard from the street, the fishmonger had been cited with the Purple Dragons, always carrying a large envelope that he always hangs over to the three humans as if exchanging it to prevent something bad from happening to him, and the gang has always struck over to the shop for many nights before going anywhere else, leading to suspicious that their hideout is close by to the Tidal Wave Fresh Fish store. With that being said, there was no doubt in her mind that he should know where the hideout it. Unfortunately, like many people when attacked by gang activities, the fishmonger prefer to not say anything about the Purple Dragons.
"I don't know what you're talking about." April could hear the lie in his voice and the fear held within his brown-eyes, that she couldn't really blame him for lying just so he doesn't get targeted by the gang if they were nearby or heard that their hideout is being given away to some adolescence, school-girl.
'Okay, April, time to put your Kunoichi-skills to the test... I sure hopes this works.' She thought to herself, looking around to be sure she doesn't see anybody nearby to hear in on their conversation and taking a quick glance at the top of the rooftop across the street to see other turtles watching her from below and Raphael giving her a thumbs-up to tell her it's safe for them to continue on."Don't worry, I can protect you. I'm an undercover cop." If she were on her own, she would've face palmed herself for making up such a lie that's too obviously unbelievable. 'An undercover cop? That's the best I could come up with?! There's no way he's going to buy that!'
"You look like you're sixteen." The fishmonger stated, having doubts that the girl can actually protect him, let alone be an actual undercover cop she claims to be.
'Just stick with the lie; best to try and confuse him or convince him that I am a cop, than change the story and get him suspicious.' "I know. I'm really good at this."
She then placed her right-hand on the frozen fishes surrounded by ice, being displayed on how fresh and ready they are for people to come and buy them, which she then accidentally leaned in a bit too much over the fishes and forced most of the fishes to slide out of the ice and onto the pavement of the sidewalk. Blushing in embarrassment, she let out a nervous chuckle and gave him an apologetic smile, though she almost looks as if she meant to do that in order to prove that she's 'really good' at acting and being an teenager in disguise. Nevertheless, he needs to know if she truly claims to be a cop.
"Let me see your badge." Immediately, April finally caught her break and perfect excuse to convince the man she's claiming to be a cop.
"Are you crazy?" She questioned, acting a bit uncomfortable that he would ask to see her badge where anybody around would be able to see her do it if she had a badge. "I can't carry a badge. That would blow my cover." 'Please, take the bait. Just please, take the bait, already!'
"I suppose that makes sense." An answer to her prayers and a major relief that her plan has worked, April put on a smirk on a smile as the fishmonger told her what he knows about the Purple Dragons and their whereabouts.
Unknown to her and to the turtles, a few pair of eyes and ears had been observing and listening in on the conversation, with one of those pairs of eyes, after the adult told the girl where she would be able to find the place where the gang hangs out, swiftly and silently made its way into a storm drain and makes its way to the one being it knows that'll want to know what's going on.
Back at the Lair; Leo's Room...
The fifteen minutes mediation session has really helped the turtle to calm his mind and with the outside of his room also gone death silent, Leonardo took this peace and quiet moment to draw into his sketchbook. To the turtle, it's been much too long since he drew into his book, because he now has the role and responsibility to lead his brothers into battle with the Kraang and Foot Ninjas. Now with his brothers and April out of the Lair and Splinter most likely meditating in the Dojo or could possibly be eating the Pizza Gyoza he brought home, the turtle in blue went to drawing one of his artwork.
At this very moment, he has nearly completed the background of New York City. The background and the outlining of the buildings are of black and grey, with the lines of the clouds being drawn out with the black and using the grey as a certain-shade coloring. Once he has finished the background and the shading, will he then use the only two colors into the picture.
You're not worried about the guys out on their own in the city? What if something happens to them?
Usually, when being mentioned about his brothers probably causing mischief and would need his help, Leo would let loose a growl and would bang his head against the wall to distract himself from the anger building up until he let out enough of his anger to control the rage building up inside of him, which usually ended up with his forehead bleeding and having to go to the bathroom to wash away the blood off his face and mask. However, since the meditation has helped him to calm down, he simply let out a deep sigh and continue on with coloring some of the building grey.
'They can take care of themselves if they get into trouble,' he thought to himself. 'They don't need me around all the time to solve their problems, like back when we were younger. Besides, they're probably out to continue their time to have fun that I've already had them miss. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if they went back to Murakami-san's Noodle Shop to get more Pizza Gyoza.' Just by thinking of the name of the pizza dumplings the noodle shop-owner made cause his stomach to growl for food, though it also made his stomach feel a bit sick from the thought of it being the very food his brothers crave for.
You may be right on that, but that doesn't mean that it won't happen. Father made you leader, so that you would not only lead your brothers on the battlefield, but to also to protect your brothers and to watch over them.
The color pencil in his hand lifted off of the paper, shaking and nearly to the point to breaking in half from the turtle trying to not let his anger consume him.
'Sensei may have made me leader, but he did not made me be their keeper.' He let loose a growl and his eyes narrowed with disgust from the thought of the word that reminds him that he can never gain his freedom, even if he and his brothers were to take care of one of the few actual reasons he can't leave his family. 'In fact, I don't have to always be their for them if I don't want to when I know that they can take care of themselves.'
Pup not incorrect; Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother can't always have Pup be there for them in times of trouble or peace. Kins no longer pups, despite still being too young to be off on own, and have been trained by Alpha to defend and protect selves... Alpha may have placed Pup as leader of team and to protect Kin, but did not place Pup to keep constant eye on Kins when not engaged in battle.
Leo smirked at the words his instincts just said to him, bringing him some ease and comfort that at least somebody, even if that somebody isn't a person but is either a voice or an actual instinct, understands what he's getting at.
'And this is why I prefer to listen to my instincts much more than my conscience, especially when the situation isn't involved to an actual fight.' He then placed the tip of his colored pencil back on the paper, quickly shading in the side of a building before his conscience will once again blind him in rage with another of its suggestions or words of wisdom.
Sorry for trying to make you see reason and see which is the best decision for you to choose, for the sake of your family and their safety.
Setting both the color pencil and sketchbook down, Leo stood up from his bed and made his way towards the other side of his bedroom, standing in front of the dresser that stood in front of the wall that held no pictures or posters. As quick as a whip that lashes out onto its victim, he brought his right-hand out to form it into a fist and punched it against the wall, leaving a small crater into the hard surface of his wall.
'And by "best decision", you mean keep me in place to prevent me from gaining my freedom and to be forever bound to the Pack.' He thought to himself, pulling his hand away from the dented hole in the wall and letting his blood from the wound on his hand to spill and drip onto the floor. "I knew that I should've left the Pack before I finished recovering from the fight with the Albino Crocodile I had five years ago, rather than staying here and to be constantly watched over by the guys and Sensei." He whispered softly to the empty silence of his room, letting loose a low growl that slowly grew into a low snarl.
You know very well why you didn't leave them back then!
'Uh, yeah, because you wouldn't stop guilt-tripping me that I'm hurting my family and will wound them even more if I runaway again, while I'm still healing, and that it was my fault Raphael nearly gotten himself killed by the Albino Crocodile!'
Which is true, for he wouldn't have any reason to be in the Crocodile's territory if you didn't leave the Lair!
And just like that, after hearing the last sentence, Leonardo could no longer hold back: He snapped.
"SHUT UP!"
Just like that, his patience broke and with no thought or thinking, the turtle bashed his head against the wall of the crater, hard. The dent in the wall grew and new cracks were formed into the brick-cement wall from the powerful force Leonardo used to have his head be able to damage the hard-structure of the wall. With now both his hand and head bleeding and a major crater in the wall caused by both head and hand, the turtle remain trapped in his own little world within his room. Gasping for breath to calm his raging heart and feeling the stream of blood coating his mask and straps and staining the floor and dresser with his red-liquid life of blood, he pulled his head away from the crater he made and pulled up the top drawer of his dresser. Inside, laid a few extra spares of blue-masks and a bunch of rolled up straps, which he held on to for just in case the mask and straps he wears were to ever tear off or hold something that would worry his family and give away what he's been doing without their consent.
Letting out a major deep sigh, he reached for a blue-mask at random and grabbed for a smaller-roll of straps, while closing his eyes to prevent blood from getting into his vision and, after removing it from his face, used his now blood-stained mask to wipe away the blood off his face and the floor, before applying it to the wound to make the bleeding stop sooner.
"You don't have to keep reminding me on what almost happened, when I was able to prevent it from happening." He whispered, breathing through his mouth than his nose, for wanting to avoid smelling the scent of iron his blood carries. "Even if it was me that had Raph to invade the Albino Crocodile's territory, at least he was able to escape and not sustain any form of injury from the croc's claws or fangs."
Even so, you still brought him to danger and at this very moment, your brothers are probably going to get spotted and Father will-
'Do you want me to snap, again?' Leo interrupted, his anger once again building up and his patience already reaching its breaking point. 'Keep this up, and I'll go on a rampage and get another lecture from Sensei for interrupting his alone time.' Silence followed suit and immediately, the anger died down. 'Thank you...' He didn't need to wait long for the bleeding to finally stop and after wiping away any more traces of blood on his face, he wrapped the mask around his right-hand and then put on his new mask over his face. "Now, if there are no more interruptions..."
Tap! ~Scrape~ Tap! ~Scrape~ Tap! ~Scrape~
Leo almost didn't hold down a groan when the sound of his door shaking from somebody on the other side prevented him from going back to drawing.
"And of course, that's too much to ask." He muttered, slowly making his way towards the door. "What is it, you guys? I'm not in the mood for whatever plans you guys want to do?" 'Also, when did they get back? I didn't hear them come in and they're always noisy when returning to the Den... Maybe I was too focused on the conversation I was having with my conscience or perhaps it was tending to my wounds that distracted me from hearing them out... God, I hope they didn't listen in on my conversation.'
Tap! ~Scrape~ Tap! ~Scrape~ Tap! ~Scrape~
The sound the door was making, rather than the usual heavy knocks from his brothers or their usual shouting behind the metal-door, sounded like small but sharp-claws scraping into the hard materiel, which the turtle knew it doesn't belong to any of his brothers or his sensei.
'If it ain't the guys, nor Splinter, and that kind of tapping can't actually come from April... Then who's that knocking my door?'
"Leo! Danger! There is danger! Hurry!" Leo knew instantly who that voice belongs to and, with no sound of his sensei nearby or the arrival of his brothers and April to return from the surface, the blue-masked turtle opened his door just enough for the owner of the voice to come in, which turned out to be a rat that Leo knows very well in the sewers.
"Seafra*! What are you doing here? Is there something going on with the Colony?" He questioned the dark-brown and white rat, who looks to be having trouble grasping the right words to tell the turtle why he came to the Lair. Holding out his uninjured hand, Leo allowed the rat to climb into his palm and be lifted up to get on the turtle's left-shoulder and rest on his dark-smooth skin.
"Colony no danger! Leo's Pack in danger! Brothers in danger!" He exclaimed, still trying to get his breath back but already starting to breath easier. Leo's eyes narrowed at what his little-friend just said, even when the creature hasn't regained his breath.
"What do you mean that the guys are in danger?" He then stared at the door, still left open only wide enough for rats or smaller to be able to get into his room. "Where are Valerio* and Kyra*?" Once the rat finally caught his wind and no longer gasping, did he finally gathered his thoughts to what to say.
"They're following your brothers," the rat answered. "While scavenging for food from the tunnels, we saw your brothers and a human-girl heading for the surface, without you accompanying them. We knew you would be with them against your will when your Alpha orders you to keep an eye on your brothers, but when we saw you not with them, we knew and sensed that you stayed at the Den to calm your anger, so we followed." The rat then sat up, sitting on its hind-legs and cocking its head to the side to show confusion. "They said something about finding Purple Dragons. Do you know what they mean about finding purple, mythical creatures?" Just hearing the name that ticked him off earlier tonight raised the fire within his heart and allowed the anger he had to spike back up.
"Nani (What)?" He growled, which the rat knew from his tone of voice that he and his siblings were right that Leonardo's brothers are in danger, along with having to greatly make the turtle mad as heck. "They're above the surfacing, looking for the Purple Dragons, at this very moment?" The fur on Seafra's back slightly spiked up, feeling the cold chill going down his back in knowing what he's about to tell the humanoid-wolf/turtle isn't going to make him very happy at all.
"Well, uh... Actually, Leo... A human senior of a fish store told the human-girl your brothers were with and... Well, told them where the Purple Dragons are hiding at."
Ten Minutes Later, at the Old Chinatown Tattoo Company...
"For all the arrogant, stupidest decisions they have to make...!" He snarled to himself, skidding to a halt and standing on top of the roof of a building that's right next to where his rat-friend told him where his brothers are told to where the gang hangs out. Panting out to catch his breath, his eyes scanned out the area, mostly at the shadows, for any signs of his brothers or a gang member of the Purple Dragons.
Before you do anything when you find your brothers, why don't you try and calm dow-?
'"Calm down"? You want me to CALM Down?!' He yelled in his thoughts, baring his teeth and letting out growls of frustrations when he couldn't find any sight of his brothers in his vision. 'Have you forgotten what Seafra just told me?! My brothers ignored my words, disobey my order, to not go after the gang, and are most likely making things worse if they'd already found the Purple Dragons hideout! What else?! April helped them on their little scheme to teach the humans a lesson for beating up a person, which she had no business or right to butt in with our mission!'
She's now a Kunoichi, which makes her part of the team and an active member of the mission.
'She's just a trainee, meaning she isn't a Kunoichi! Let alone an actual member of the team!'
Even if she is a trainee, she's still a Kunoichi and is part of the team, whether you accept that facts or not!
'And who said that she's part of the team?! If I recall, for the past several weeks, Master Splinter has never allowed her to come into our missions when in fights with the Kraang or the Foot! He keeps her within the Lair whenever we're off fighting for the city to train her and the only time she does interact into the mission, is during recon or for entail!' He then stomped his foot into the edge of the roof, forcing part of the drip edge that's been installed to the edge of the roof to loose some of its shank nails and to bend in an odd angle. 'From what I see, she has the usefulness as a carrier pigeon!'
Pup, despite She-Pup not truly proving self and Pup not having any more reason to trust She-Pup April, She-Pup has neither passed or failed test. Yes, what She-Pup did is downright rebellious and irresponsible, but was able to be great use to Kins by getting information, without blowing cover or acting suspicious to the human who told She-Pup where the Curl-Tail humans have been spotted. Even helped out on some fights from previous fights.
Leonardo's eyes narrowed from what his instincts has informed of him, distracting him from part of the anger he has bottled within the depths of his heart and soul for so long for a brief moment to think about what his instinct has informed him about.
May not be part of test She-Pup April must pass to earn trust, but does show sign She-Pup be of great use to Pack, once She-Pup completes training and allowed to fight along side Team. Until then, Pup must be patient with She-Pup and give time until She-Pup pass or fails the test.
Now in his trains of thoughts, Leo stared up to look at the sky, where the stars stood out dimly in the night sky and the crescent moon giving off little lighting of the twilight day. The wind blew against his face, which the turtle took in a deep breath that calmed his mind and cooled his abnormal body heat from his caged anger of his entire being. The turtle knew that his instinct is right, that he must give the human more time and wait for her to pass or fail his test before he truly judge her of her actions, but that didn't mean it has solved the problem on what his brothers did and are doing at this very moment.
"Leo! Over here!" A small voice called out, drawing the turtle out of his moment of thoughts to see two rats, a pure-white rat and a blackish-grey rat, waving for him a few buildings north-east from where he stood, in front of a rooftop water tower.
'We'll talk about this later. Right now, just keep quiet on the conversation and I promise to not go hard on my brothers when we get home.' With that being said and not carrying if anybody were to see, Leonardo ran on all four over the tops of the building and soon stood in front of the two rats who're siblings to Seafra. "Valerio, Kyra, my brothers aren't at the tattoo place that Seafra informed me they would be at from what the human had told April where the Purple Dragons would be at. Where are they?" The white-rat, a little female, ran up his arm and sat on the right-side of his shell, for he still stood on all four just in case his brothers are in another location that could be far away from where he's at.
"They were here, Leo." She informed the blue-masked turtle. "A slim human, who wears black-leather clothing and has purple mythical creature on arm, came out of tattoo shop and went into abandoned Fortune Cookie Factory."
"Your brothers followed the human and went inside of building, just a few minutes ago, but they'd not came out of building." The blackish-grey rat, a male, cut in to the conversation, as he now stood on the ledge of the roof they stood on and pointed a paw towards the building across from where they are. "Soon after they went inside, strange humans who all wore black clothing that even covered their faces and had red-bandana with a foot-symbol on their forehead burst through the factory from both sides of the building."
In front of the building, is a big sign that has a giant fortune cookie in the center of the sign and covered in dust, meaning this place hasn't been of use in years. 'Killer Cookie, Fortune Cookie Co.', the words spelled out. Leonardo doesn't know much of this place, but he had heard rumors from the pigeons and crows that the Fortune Cookie Factory was immediately condemned after the company had failed the health inspections when rats were found in the building.
At the front of the building, the turtle could see a big hole has just been made in one of the windows, a sign that tells him his brothers caused the hole to appear. leaning in over the ledge and placing both his hands on the ledge beside Valerio, he can hear crashing sounds and grunts of pain coming from inside the building, along with the sound of metal striking and hitting against steel or wood collapsing and breaking from brute force slamming into them. Leo's eyes narrowed and, after taking in a few sniff at the building, let loose a low growl when he caught the scent of the Foot Ninjas, Bradford and the Brazilian human, slowly turning into a snarl of rage when his hearing would catch the sound of his brothers grunting or groaning in pain.
"Anybody else from the Colony in there, or are you two and Seafra the only ones who followed my brothers?" He asked, hoping that none of his rat-friends are caught in the middle of the fight and getting hurt at this very moment.
"Nobody else came with us. We were the only three to investigate what your siblings were doing." Valerio answered, eyes also narrowing in anger towards the turtle's brothers for coming up such a stupid plan that'll get them killed if the eldest-brother doesn't do something to save their lives, again.
"The rest of the Colony are still within the sewers, and are scavenger group are still out searching for food at the alleys." Kyra added, nuzzling her little-head against Leo's right-cheek and hopping into his left-hand when he brought it up to place her off of him.
"Good," he grunted. "You two head on back to the Colony, and be sure to warn the scavenger group to not go to the Fortune Cookie Factory." He reached for one of his Katanas, Musashi, and tightened both hands on the hilt and clenching his teeth together. "I'll take care of the Foot." Valerio and Kyra stared at one another, knowing that it wouldn't be wise to not do as their reptilian-friend told them to do if their lives would be on the line if they were to join him in the fight or get in the way. And so, without the turtle having to look, both rats turned to leave. Before joining her brother to go down a drainpipe, Kyra turned back to stare at her friend.
"Be careful, Leo." She spoke softly to the blue-mask turtle and soon vanished within the drainpipe as a shortcut to go down the building, heading for the Colony to pass on the message to her family.
Now standing on the ledge and his hands keeping a firm grip on Musashi, Leonardo made no hesitation to prepare himself to launch himself through the hole of the window and, when catching the sound of a blade being raised in the air, didn't hold back on his strength when he swiftly went through the hole and now stood in front of Raphael, blocking two sets of Butterfly Knives held by the Brazilian human.
"Leo!" Raph cried out, trying to catch his breath while leaning against the conveyor belt that stood behind him to get air back to his lungs.
Not bothering to reply back to his brother, Leonardo simply kept his attention on the human in front of him and, using just enough of his strength, shoved him back, forcing the Brazilian to skid backwards to the second conveyer belt. At that moment, two Foot Ninjas came down from the upper-floor and aimed their swords at the blue-masked turtle, who immediately grabbed for Kamiizumi and blocked both attacks at both sides. He then pushed his blades down, thus forcing the ninjas to lean down with their weapons, and then thrust himself forward, jabbing both hilts of his blades against the humans' throat and forcing them to the ground to catch their breaths.
"Well, look who finally decided to join us." The Brazilian human stated, picking himself off the conveyer belt and twirling his Butterfly Knives like Raph would do with his Sais. Seeing the two ninjas won't be getting back up until they can catch their breath, Leonardo turned his attention back to the human he pushed away from his younger-brother and himself. "We were just wondering when you would be joining your brothers to their deaths, after you would tell us where your master is." The blue-masked turtle glared at the Brazilian human, letting loose a low growl at the mentioning of his sensei and planning to take the lives of his brothers.
They came to the Purple Dragons to figure out where to find you and where to look for Father... Your brothers just handed themselves over, without bothering to check or see if the Foot would actually show up.
'Well, of course they just handed themselves over; they were too focused on wanting to teach the Purple Dragons a lesson on beating up Murakami-san and to be sure they get the message to leave him alone, that they didn't even bother to head my warning that the gang is allied with the Foot Clan or to even use their senses to be sure the gang was completely alone.' "What business do you have with our sensei, human?"
"The name is Xever, turtle." The Brazilian, now known as Xever, corrected his new opponent. "And what our master has in store for your sensei, is his fate ready to be sealed, like it should've been fifteen years ago." His Butterfly Knives once again twirled within his grasp, the blades ready to slice and rip open flesh or block attacks however their user wants them to be used as. "Prepare to become turtle soup, Reptilian."
'Oh? He likes to do insults, does he?' Leo let out a smirk, knowing exactly what to say to the human before him. 'Okay, I'll give you an insult or two that he won't ever forget.'
"We'll see about that, Macaco*" Bradford, who had pinned both turtles to the conveyer belt, turned his attention away from his opponents and stared awestruck at what the blue-masked turtle just said to Xever. And speaking of the Brazilian, his eyes widen at the last word to the sentence his opponent just referred to him as.
"...What did you just say to me?" He questioned softly, slowly tightening his grip on his Butterfly Knives. Leo, seeing the reaction, simply snickered.
Pup has Brazilian human walking into trap. Keep it up, Pup. Get human more angry to have rage blind him.
"You heard what I said," he answered. "Since you decided to come up with an insult for me, I thought we should keep it even by giving you an insulting name, too. And hey, it was either that, or Macaquito* and you're way too tall to be called that, unless you used to be a Macaquito when you used to be a child."
Raphael, who finally caught his breath and holding off a Foot Ninja by using his sais to grab hold of the ninja's sword, simply stared in confusion at what his brother just said to Xever, while Donatello and Michelangelo chose to take the opportunity to break free from how distracted their enemy is at the moment. The human before Leo began to take the bait on getting angry, as he grind his teeth together and his trembling from the extending tightening to his knives in his hands. Xever no longer sees a reason to hold back or to play games with the turtles, for he's now seething in rage and, after kicking two of the Foot Ninjas aside, charged at the turtle.
"Como você se atreve (How dare you)!" He blurted out, jabbing both knives towards the turtle, who caught the two knives by crossing his Katanas together in front of him and simply leaned back against the conveyer belt, keeping on the smug grin on his face. "WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO MAKE A MOCKERY OF MY PEOPLE?!" When he leaned in forward to push down as much as he could for his Butterfly Knives to try and sink into flesh, basically the turtle's face, Leonardo caught him off guard by using both knees to lift the human off the ground and flinging him towards the wall.
"Hit a nerve, did I?" He questioned the Brazilian, who got back to his feet and taking in raging breath like a bull at a rodeo would do when ready to kill whatever in front of it moves. "Well, if you don't like me calling you by either of those names, then how about Tifuti*? Does that sound a whole lot better to you?" Xever ceased his deep rage breathing for a full two-seconds, then he let out a roar cry and charged at the turtle.
"I'M GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE, MUTANTE (Mutant)!"
Xever got on the conveyer belt and leap into the air, the blades of his knives aiming down to tear into Leo's arms to prevent the turtle from defending himself while he's withering in pain and at his mercy, until a great force swiftly rammed into him and sent the both of them towards a stack of crates. Said mass that rammed Xever to the now destroyed crates, turned out to be Raphael, who rolled himself off to the side and grabbed for his fallen Sais, while trying to get back up and fight off against three Foot Ninjas. Donatello and Michelangelo, who had been able to free themselves from Bradford's grip, were now being pinned into the wall by a couple of Foot and waiting for Bradford to reclaim his hold on the two youngest-turtles, which they're still making it hard for him to do from them breaking free from the ninjas' hold and twirling their weapons all around them to shield themselves from the enemy's grip.
The Purple Dragons, who are covered in bruises and having a few scratch marks that bled on their skin, merely hid themselves behind the giant wooden figure and watch the fight continue on. One of the Purple Dragons, the one Leonardo had allow to leave Murakami's noodle shop after pinning him in defeat, held gaze of fear when their eyes met each other's gaze, thinking that the turtle is going to come after him and his group, like his younger brothers just did before the Foot came to assist Bradford and Xever.
Usually, when he sees an enemy, Leo would make no hesitation to attack those who are the cause to harm his family and/or innocent people. However, because the human had showed his submission to the leader in their last encounter at the noodle shop and isn't the actual threat at this very moment, the turtle knew picking a fight with him and his gang won't stop the battle anytime soon, which isn't turning out so well for the three younger-brothers.
'We can't stay here any longer,' he thought to himself. 'The guys are getting too tired to keep going and, judging from the bruises they're getting, won't be able to defend themselves much longer.' At that thought, he made a quick beeline towards the three Foot overpowering the hotheaded turtle and rammed all three of them against the wall, forcing the hilt of Musashi into jabbing a Foot's right-shoulder to dislocate the bone and thrust his left-knee against another's leg to damage it just enough to give the ninja a broken leg.
Pup, get Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother out of Purple Dragon den, then stay behind to fight back and hold enemies off, to allow Kins to make it back to Den.
No! Get your brothers and leave the fight! There's too many of them and you can't hold off both Bradford and Xever on your own! You can barely hold one of them off on your own the last time you fought them, let alone the both of them at the same time!
'I'm going with my instinct's plan; I don't run from fights that has my family's life on the line, even if the odds are against me.' Leo thought to himself, as he turned his attention to Xever, who slowly came out his dazed-state from the shattered wood-pieces of the crates he still laid in.
NO! You must leave with your brothers! NOW! If you get captured, your brothers will come after the Foot! And if that happens, they'll probably end up getting caught in the Shredder's trap, which will then force Father to save you all and end up getting himself killed!
'My brothers may be idiots to come up with a stupid plan to attack the Purple Dragons, without scoping the area for Foot Ninjas, but they no better than to go against my orders once I tell them to head back to the Lair and to not comeback for me, while I hold off the enemies.'
Which they'll then ignore your orders, like when you told Raph why you wish to not find the Purple Dragon's hideout in the first place, and the four of you will still be held captive until Father shows up! Either way and whichever choice you make, will end up putting the whole family in danger!
Leo kneeled beside Raphael, who kept on insisting that he's alright and can keep fighting, while glaring up towards the upper-floor of the factory when he heard Mikey and Don letting out cries of pain when Bradford finally grabbed them and thrust them down to the bottom floor and on top of the conveyer belt.
Deep inside, you know that you and your brothers are losing the fight. If you four wish to see another day and if you want to be a day closer for your freedom, then put aside your instinct to fight and leave the battle until you four are completely prepared for it.
He wasn't too thrilled that his conscience is making him give up a fight and to not even try to give his brothers enough time to get away from the fight, but he knew that it was right. As such, even if he despises it with all of his hate, the turtle must listen to his conscience.
'Chikushō (Damn it)!' He cursed out in his mind. 'Why, in situations like this, does my conscience have to make me become so weak?!' "Turtles, fall back!" He called out to his brothers, sheathing up Musashi and Kamiizumi and helping Raph to his feet, who had to use the wall on his right to keep him up, before launching himself in the air and giving Bradford a good old mid-air three sixty kick to the face. The force of the kick was strong enough to send Bradford hurtling towards the new group of Foot Ninjas that made another hole in the building and land at an alley, giving the turtles the perfect chance to make their escape.
"We're giving up? Again?" Raph questioned his brother, catching a Foot's sword with his sai and doing a crescent kick to force the ninja to the ground. "You kidding me?!" Placing the injured genius turtle over his shoulders and getting Mikey to get on the back of his shell, who had to wrap his arms and legs tightly over Leonardo's chest and abdomen area of his plastron, the blue-masked turtle turned to stare at the red-masked turtle and give him deadly glare.
"Raphael, if you want to live long enough to properly yell at me, then clamp your beak shut and get us out of here, before I personally shut your beak up for you!" He yelled, keeping a firm grip to keep Donatello over his shoulder with both his hands and sneaking a quick glance on Michelangelo to be sure he doesn't start sliding off of his body from behind. Seeing that he has no choice but to listen and obey his brother's command, Raphael lead them up the stairs, at the same time barreling in to any Foot that chose to get in his way and soon had them out of the building by jumping through the hole in the window that he and his younger-brothers made when they chose to make their appearance by charging in.
"Hey! Stay and fight, você covardes sangue frio (you cold-blooded cowards)!"
Xever's voice called out to the turtles, angering the blue-masked turtle into almost ditching his brothers to continue the fight with the Foot. However, because he's carrying two of his brothers on his back and shoulder at the same time, it's already taking up a lot of his energy to keep up with Raph and to not stumble back or to the ground when pushing himself to leap over the gaps of the buildings and landing on to the next rooftop. Leo would've gladly handed Don or Mikey over to Raph, which he's thinking on handing Mikey over because on how heavier he is than Don, but the red-masked turtle is already having trouble to keep himself steady and to not let his body collapse in mere exhaustion.
Skidding to a halt to catch his breath and letting Raph to lean over the ledge to get a few moments of breathing, Leonardo scanned his eyes down at the alley below them, immediately catching the sight of a manhole-cover, their ticket back to the Lair.
"Raph, Mikey! Manhole-cover, down below!" He gasped out, removing his right-hand, that's been keeping Don's legs from kicking his and Mikey's head or sliding his shoulders, to tap the orange-masked turtle and signal him to get off his shell.
"Ah, good! Finally!" Raph grunted out, sliding Mikey's left-arm over his own shoulders to help him down the fire escape ladder, while Leo chose to jump down from the ledge of the roof, landing on the hard pavement of the road and wincing from his legs taking a major impact from the heavy deadweight of his purple-masked brother. Shaking the pain off, the turtle stood over the manhole and kept an eye out for any humans that would dare to come there way, until Raphael finally removed the cover and all four of them made their way inside the sewers for the Lair.
TBC...
I'm going to be skipping a few episodes and going on with other episodes into the stories, with some of the skipped episodes to be recorded into Leo's Journal or mentioned later on into the story (or not be mentioned at all, give or take). Also, I have no idea what that giant wooden person that the Purple Dragons have are called (may need some help on that, or will take me awhile to figure it out).
Seafra*: Seafra is Irish for "Peace from God".
Valerio*: Valerio is Italian and Latin meaning "Valiant".
Kyra*: Kyra is Latin, American and Greek that means "Light".
Macaco*: The Argentinians call Brazilians "macacos" (monkeys in Brazilian Portuguese language) because they are more racially mixed. Specially used in soccer confrontations [I don't like, nor support, Racial Slurs, but I have to get Leo to make Xever angry by calling him something that gets on his nerve].
Macaquito*: The Argentinians call Brazilians "macaquitos" (little monkeys) because they are more racially mixed [Again, need Leo to make Xever angry, despite my disproval of the racial slur].
Tifuti*: Black Brazilians. Word for "#*&&*%" in Brazil [Trust me, you don't want to know what this word means and I advise you to never, and I mean NEVER, NO MATTER WHAT, use this word at all (And that goes for the other words before this one!).].
Sorry for the long wait you guys and for my story seeming a bit off; just been tired a lot and have to finish up the first part of college. Also, my mom's been pestering me on what classes to take for next semester, and both she and her boyfriend won't shut up about the driving/getting license/car issue; it's really giving me a headache, getting on my nerve and I'm about ready to snap (I hate cars, don't like driving [I also get nervous when behind the wheel, especially when it's a shift gear] and prefer to get around places by either foot, bike or horse. However, living in the mountains that's twenty to thirty minutes away from town by car, isn't gonna allow me to do either of the three options).
R&R