Rooftop Surprises
Days have passed and the nights have grown quiet. The turtle brothers were on one of their nightly patrols when they decided to stop and catch their breath on one of the buildings west of Chinatown. They had bored and disappointed looks on their faces as they barely found any action. Leo looked out to the city with his arms crossed and serious eyes. Donnie looked around with some binoculars. Mikey sat on the edge of the building. And Raph leaned on a wall with arms crossed and a face full of impatience.
"I can't believe this!" Raph complained. "Yet another night without bad guys to bust!"
"I know, dude. Nothing but the occasional robber and whatnot." Said Mikey.
"Ditto, the Foot are still inactive, no purple dragons or even the triads have been out for a few days now." Donnie said as he continued to search through the city with his binoculars.
"Maybe they all went on a weeklong vacation and went to bars and whorehouses to get drunk and bang girls, haha... ow!" Mikey said only to be smacked upside the head by Raph.
"No. It's most likely that they know of Ben and the other Four Stars. They are being very cautious about a group of mystical mutants running around the city. So it's unlikely they'll engage in a lot of criminal activities at this time." Leo said.
"Good point. But speaking of the Four Stars, we met them all, except one." Said Don.
"Yeah. Isn't that the uh, which is it again? The Black Tortoise I think he is?" Asked Raph.
"Yes, Raph. We need to be on the lookout for him too. And my gut tells me he's somewhere in the city." Said Leo.
"But how are we gonna find him?" Asked Mikey. "New York is huge and he's in people's clothes most likely. It's like trying to find a chameleon in a jungle. Or a needle in a haystack."
"But he IS here, Mikey. And he'll pop up eventually." Said Leo. "I can feel it."
"Though you may never know if the Foot suddenly pop up too, Leo." Said Donnie. "I got a gut feeling they'll show themselves too eventually and we need to keep our senses open for that too remember?"
Leo sighed.
"Yes Donnie. I know." The fearless leader said.
Little did the turtles know that they were right about the Foot. On a building far from the brothers a squad of ninjas dressed in black and grey wearing the red symbol of the Foot clan were watching the four mutants. It has been many months since they last appeared. After the wedding of Casey and April, the eldest foot officers felt that Kahn has failed his clan too many times and was unworthy of leadership and they ultimately decided to depose him and voted to have another to take his place as Leader of the Foot clan since the Utrom Shredder has long been exiled to space and the Cyber Shredder destroyed when he and the foot crashed the wedding of Casey and April. They decided on a man named Tatsu, who became one of the clan's best warriors and was the drill instructor in training new initiates. He eventually became one of the Foot Elite until he was chosen to replace Kahn. As Leader he commanded the Foot with an iron fist and still trained recruits occasionally. Students who showed exceptional skills and passed their classes were personally handpicked by Tatsu himself to go on dangerous missions to prove themselves worthy of officially becoming Foot ninja. Anyone who failed, were killed.
Five of the ninjas were recruits. And seven were their supervisors. The initiates do not have their foot insignias on their uniforms as they were not yet deemed worthy of joining the Foot. They seemed curious as well as excited.
"These are the enemies you spoke of, masters?" Asked one recruit.
"Yes, these creatures have been our sworn enemies for many years." Answered one supervisor.
"Ha! These sideshow freaks? There's just four of them and twelve of us!" Boast another initiate.
"Silence! These freaks are the ones who defeated our dear lord and master, the One True Shredder!" Scolded a second supervisor.
"What they lack in numbers, they make up for in skill and experience." Added a third.
"Use what you all learned in the dojo to survive the battle. Fail, and not only you are proven unworthy of joining us, you would also be unworthy of life!" Warned a fourth scaring the initiates a little knowing full well if they failed their trial, they would either die by their enemies hands, or be executed by their masters.
"Some of us will fight alongside you, but YOU must do most of the fighting." Said the first supervisor.
The Initiates turn to each other.
"We gotta plan this right to fight the freaks, guys." Said a third recruit.
"Yeah, but how?" Asked a fourth.
"Two of you will go for the one called Leonardo while the rest of us each will attack the rest of the turtles." Said the fifth initiate, who sounded feminine. "Raphael is mine."
"Excellent strategy, young one. As I recall in the dojo, you were the best in your class. And had the rage and power to match the one called Raphael's. Yet yours is more controlled and focused than his. He will find a challenge in you." Said the second supervisor.
"And sending two of your classmates against Leonardo is wise as well as he is the most skilled of his brothers." Said the fourth.
"Whenever you're ready initiates, we will engage." Said the third before turning to the last two supervisors. "You two stay here and watch for intruders and witnesses."
The two supervisors simply nodded.
The turtles were growing restless and are already bored.
"Alright, guys. Let's call it a night." Leo said.
The turtles agreed, but as soon as they prepared to go back home, Leo's suddenly widened and turned around to catch a shuriken. The leader throws down the star and he and the rest of the turtles took out their weapons.
"What the fuck!?" Shouted Raph.
"Who hit us?!" Demanded Mikey.
Just then, a group of Foot ninja appeared on the rooftops. The ninjas took out their weapons and faced their enemies.
"Of course it would be the Foot." Said Donnie as he held up his Bo staff.
"Uh dudes is it me? Or is some of them missing their logos?" Asked a confused Mikey.
Leo narrowed his eyes as his youngest brother saw what he meant.
"Those guys must be Initiates. And this confrontation must be their right of passage." Deduced Leo.
"Right you are, freakshow." Said one of the initiates. "And just because you're more skilled than us doesn't we're too scared to try and draw our first blood!"
"Agreed, I'd rather die trying to achieve my first kill than cower in disgrace and be executed as punishment." Said another rookie.
"Such devotion in people so young. A shame it'll end badly for them." Thought Leo.
"Attack!" Said one of the Foot supervisors.
A recruit with twin tonfas faced Mikey. Another with a Kusarigama went after Donnie. The female foot confronted Raphael with a single sword. And two recruits faced Leo with swords.
The Foot facing Leo held up their blades locking eyes on their target.
"Remember, he's the leader. So he got to work together." One of the rookies told the other. "Go slowly on the right."
"Oh his ass is mine!" The other recruit said before foolishly jumping into the air to bring down his katana on the eldest turtle.
"Tim, no!" Shouted the wiser student but it was too late.
Leo saw the attack coming and intercepted the rookie midair and cut off his right arm, making the latter drop his sword in agony and leaving him vulnerable to a deep slice to the back, mortally wounding him, and making him drop to the ground.
"That dumbass!" The other recruit said angrily before turning to face Leo.
"Useless!" Snarled the supervisor taking part in the fight with Leo.
Both foot ninja then engaged the leader. The rookie surprisingly put up a good fight, making smooth and precise swings keeping Leo on the defensive while the former also performed a few good counters when Leo attempted to strike a few times. It was even more difficult for the turtle when the supervisor fought along side the rookie.
Donnie wasn't having it easy either. His opponent's Kusarigama bypassed most of the brainy turtle's defenses and struck him in the back with the ball end multiple times. And the supervisor providing aid wasn't making anything easier. Though Donnie did finally manage to sweep the legs and struck him on the sides a few times.
Mikey was doing ok against the rookie with the tonfas. The youngest turtle used his agility to dodge the strikes from his opponent and a supervisor and traded back with attacks from his own with his nunchucks, but the ninja turtles out to be really good at blocking and countering. Mikey eventually managed to struck the recruit in the face several times after struggling in the fight.
The rookie battling Raph was doing quite well against the hothead. They both grunted and shouted angrily as they fought, their rage almost matching the each other's. They briefly locked bladed until the initiate head butted Raph, forcing him back. The female recruit raised her sword at Raph but the hot head managed to block with his sai and counter by kicking her back. The supervisor accompanying her swung his blade several times but the turtle dodged and stabbed him in the side and knocked him out with the butt of one of his sai. The rookie got up and glared under her mask at what just happened and let out a yell while rushing with her sword. They clashed blades until the rookie's katana got caught in one of Raphael's sai and after a moment of struggle, the sword breaks, followed by a sai uppercut to her head knocking her down. But the tip only managed to catch her mask off her face, leaving a vertical cut on the left cheek.
The girls face revealed the woman to be Caucasian with really short blonde hair. Raphael wasn't too surprised as he fought female ninjas before, especially one particular Kunoichi that was raised by the sworn enemy of the turtles himself. Raph leaned in to his downed opponent. He couldn't help but respect her.
"Say, for a newbie, you got both the guts and the skill to give me a hard time. Not to mention your temper reminds me of me." Raph said. "Heh, in another life we probably would've been the best of pals. It's just a damn shame you're one of the bad guys."
Suddenly, the woman's eyes snapped open and before Raph could react, the initiate immediately reached into her belt and slashed horizontally across Raph's plastron, leaving deep, bleeding wounds. The lady got up on her feet. What the woman pulled out from her belt was a Tekko Gaki claw with four blades and it was dripping blood from its sudden use. The rookie took out another claw and rubbed the blades together a couple times before giving Raphael a malicious smile.
"Yes, turtle. A real damn shame indeed." Said the woman.
Raph gave a hard glare at the ninja woman and Raph took a stance with his sai at the ready, trying to ignore the injury on his chest.
"This is it, Jennika. Focus! You can win this!" Thought the Kunoichi as she raised her claws in a fighting position as she got ready to take down the turtle.
Meanwhile, the two foot supervisors who were on guard duty were enjoying the fight.
"Looks like these newbies might pass this test after all." Said one ninja.
"Yeah. Can't say the same about one who rushed at Leonardo. Fool was always brash for his own good." The second one said. "Jennika on the other hand, she has this fire in her. A fire that allowed her to pass our classes and be on par with the one called Raphael here. She will survive this trial for sure."
The other ninja agreed. Suddenly their heads were suddenly slammed together from behind knocking them out. The sudden attacker stepped out from the shadows to watch the battle.
The figure was wearing a black jacket, black pants, black scarf, and a black beanie. Only his eyes are visible which are dark grey. The stranger narrowed his eyes at the battle.
"So this is some kind of ninja fight, huh? Don't know who or what those green ones are but something tells me they're the good guys." The stranger said taking out an object which extends into a spear. "I gotta help them."
At the battle, the fight wasn't going well for the turtles. They were starting to get tired. All covered in cuts and bruises. For a group of recruit ninjas, they were trained pretty well.
"Raph, you ok?" Leo asked his brother in concern.
"I'll live. I've been hit with worse." Replied Raph.
"For a bunch of newbies, they're pretty damn good." Said a panting Mikey.
"Yeah, but something tells me this is a test to be the next generation of the Foot Elite or something." Said Donnie. "Otherwise they wouldn't be this challenging."
"Hey, you gonna talk all night or are we gonna finish this?" Shouted one of the recruits.
The turtles prepared themselves for one more round but before anyone could do anything, several of the initiates and supervisors were knocked backward to the ground by a swinging spear. The stranger in black landed between the turtles and the foot, with the figure facing the latter pointing his spear. Both sides were shocked by this sudden appearance of this individual.
"And just who the hell are you?!" Asked one recruit.
Looking back at the turtles, the stranger decided to reveal WHAT he was. He took off his jacket and beanie, revealing himself to be a humanoid almost pitch black tortoise. His scaly leathery skin was black as well as his shell which was also round. His neck was slightly longer than those of the turtles. Both the turtles and foot ninja became even more shocked at his true appearance.
"What?! Another turtle freak?!" Exclaimed one of the initiates.
The ebony reptile took offense to this and glared.
"Turtle!? I'm a tortoise!" The mutant angrily corrected him. "The Black Tortoise."
So the Foot Clan are finally back! And for a rite of passage it seems. Which they are doing pretty well surprisingly. Find out exactly how and why in future chapters!
Also among the initiates was the blonde chick with the claws named Jennika, and if any of you read the IDW comics, then you should be familiar with her.
And the Black Tortoise has appeared and joined the fight! How will this go? We'll find out next chapter!
This is MergingEmperor7, bowing out.