animegamefanatic: Oh, yes. L. J. Alcatraz is under Mr. Nosy's employ... or just another customer to whom he has lend some money for his rapping business. This is indeed gonna bring a big trouble for Louie and Angel in the future chapters. And, OH YES! Louie really pushed Stockman's, Hun's, Shredder's, and Tatsu's buttons with his rap show!
= TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2003 =
= THE GIRL AND THE TURTLE PART 2 P3. =
A little later...
Both Louie and Angel had unanimously decided that it wouldn't hurt to accept offered ride home from L.J. Alcatraz just this once...after the man apparently didn't take his defeat too personally but rather accepted it with humility and respect for Louie for besting him.
And so, the turtle in black and Angel had entered in Alcatraz's limousine, where they sat side by side next to Alcatraz and his dancer girls, "Turquoise", "Red", "Blue", "Green", "Pink" and "Purple". And once inside, Angel told her home address to Alcatraz, who in turn informed his limousine's driver to take them to Angel's home.
And while they drove towards Angel's place, Angel and Louie took their moment to marvel the interior of Alcatraz's limousine.
The limousine's interior truly was one of the many demonstrations of Alcatraz's wealth.
There were colorful zebra stripes gradient patterned seats in L-shaped row around of a diamond glass-topped table standing in the middle of the limousine's crimson-red floor, and the table had a row of cutouts that formed the letter A on the surface of the table, and above of which there was at least three on-turned disco balls, which gave a multicolored lights in the small space. In front of the seats and the table, in the left side of the limousine, was was a transit limo cooler and bar almost the length of a limousine, above of which was a hidden desk opened, and on which stood more than a dozen different rap-trophies that Alcatraz had won in the past rap gigs, which were stored in the glass cases, and above them were put hang on the wall the pictures of Alcatraz himself on his gigs from which these awards were received. And on the other side of the limousine, there was a gleaming CD jukebox and a large widescreen TV, under which was a hidden gun shelves with glass cases, inside of which was resting a collection of the gold plated hand-guns, shotgun, and machine gun.
"Wicked cool." Louie awed as he fed his eyes with the interior of the cabin.
"We're in the great L.J. Alcatraz's limousine? No way!" Angel said with an awe as well.
"Impressed, my friends?" Alcatraz asked, as he was sitting in between of two of his dancer girls, Blue and Green, with his arms rested over their shoulders while resting his right leg over his left... though eyeing the two with the well-hidden suspicion and calculation. "Nothing lavish, if you ask me."
His words of all of this not being "lavish" got both Louie's and Angel's attentions, and they stared at Alcatraz with wide-eyed looks as if he'd just said something unbelievable.
"NOTHING LAVISH?!" both Angel and turtle in black gasped aloud.
"Are you kidding, man?!" Louie questioned, perplexed. "This is way more than even I could've expect your famous limousine to look like from inside!"
"Dude? You're way too hard on yourself. All of this is lavish! Maybe a little too lavish if you ask from me." Angel deduced while looking around.
Angel eyed at everything that Alcatraz had styled his limousine with, from the diamond glass topped table to the poles of the pole dancers surrounded by lights, from the heavy jukebox to the gold plated weapons hanging on the wall. All of this stuff before her very eyes looked to be very expensive.
"All of this must have cost you a lot of money, sir." Angel added.
"Only a small and rather insignificant fortune." Alcatraz replied with the indifferent scoff and shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, with the huge fortune I possess, I could make ten similar limousines like this, and maybe even better than this, fully and heavily modified both from inside and outside, which in fact I have already done."
"Ten more limousines that are way better than this? Cool." Louie added.
"Indeed." Alcatraz said, as he turned to Louie. "So, man. I am very impressed by the way you beat me at my own game on the stage. Where did you learn to rap like that, or do you have some innate or natural talent, perhaps?"
Louie shrugged his shoulders. "Well. I'd pick a two latter ones as an answers, sir. I've self-learned to rap ever since I was five... by watching many of your rap gigs on TV and listening to many of your rap recordings on CD."
"Really, man? A fan for a decade?" Alcatraz deduced.
"Indeed." Louie replied with the wink. "And by the way, my name is Lorenzo, but you can call me Louie if you want."
"Very well... Lorenzo." Alcatraz said with the nod, before he turned to one of his dancer girls. "Bring me some champagne for our newest friends, if you be so good, ladies?"
Two of the dancer girls, Pink and Purple, then got up from their seats and walked up to the limousine's cooler, where Pink took out the bottle of champagne while Purple took out from the glass-doored shelf the set of champagne glasses, one per each person sitting around the glass-topped table. Then they put everything on the shiny round silver plate hed by Purple, with the champange bottle in the middle and the glasses standing in the ring around of it, before they came back to everyone and put the plate on the table before Alcatraz.
After the dancer girls had sat back down on their respective seats, Alcatraz immediately grabbed to the bottle and took it off from the table, before the rapper made the cork to pop out of the mouth of the bottle, and then he began pouring champagne into each glass before handing one glass to each of his dancers. Alcatraz then handed the last two glasses of champagne to Louie and Angel, who both gladly accepted their own glasses with the grateful nods before Alcatraz took the last glass for himself.
"And what about your friend here, Lorenzo?" Alcatraz asked as he leaned against the back of his seat and took the sip of the champange. "What is your name, young miss?"
"Angel. Angel Bridge, sir." Angel answered humbly.
"Angel Bridge, eh?" Alcatraz repeated while nodding to himself - though mostly to himself, as he'd got the confirmation that she was the girl Mr. Nosy was talking about earlier. Alcatraz stared at the purple-haired teen keenly for a moment, before he smiled and reached out his hand to shake hers in greeting. "Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Bridge."
"Thank you, sir." Angel said, accepting Alcatraz's hand and shook it.
Alcatraz then pulled back and turned back to Louie, who was just about to take the sip from his glass. "So, Lorenzo... am I right to assume that you and Angel here are...?"
Louie almost sipped his champagne down the wrong throat in surprise after hearing this, giving him a momentary coughing fit. When it passed, both the turtle in black and Angel, who was surprised as well, turned to stare at Alcatraz with wide-eyed expressions, as they both realized what Alcatraz meant with what he was about to say.
"What?! No, nonononono!" Louie quickly said in denial.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Angel said, waving her hands in front of her in denial as well.
"What are you saying, man?!" Louie asked with perplexed tone.
"It's not what you think, sir." Angel added with the shy chuckle.
Alcatraz stared at the two for a moment with the raised eyebrow, wondering if he'd just said something wrong or what they were both blabbling about.
"We know what you mean, man, but it is not what it looks like. You see, me and Angel here..." Louie said, looking at Angel sideways while pointing his thumb at her with the awkward smile on his lips.
"We have only just met a few weeks back. It's way too early for that kind of the stuff for us... if at all." Angel added in, waving her right hand in dismissive manner, while rubbing her neck with her left sheepishly.
"Yeah, we're not that far with our relationship yet." Louie added, through he couldn't help but feel his cheeks beginning to darken a bit when he paid the sideways glance at Angel for a short moment before turning away.
"So, so far as we're concerned, we two are just friends. That's all." Angel added, nodding her head towards Louie, while looking at him for a short moment with the corners of her lips curved up into a small smile.
"Yeah. Just friends." Louie added.
"Just friends." Angel repeated.
"Uh-huh, sure..." Alcatraz muttered out loud, not sounding very convincing from the two's hasty clarification that they were not "the thing" and that so far they were just friends with each other because of the looks and smiles their were giving to each other, but he didn't linger about that matter for long before he changed the subject.
"So, Lorenzo... I kinda couldn't help myself but to notice that while you were doing your rap show, you mentioned a few names of the few particular people from the New York's underworld you created your rap about... in a rather mocking way towards all of them." Alcatraz said in an interrogative manner.
"Yeah... so?" Louie shrugged.
Alcatraz stood up from the back of his seat and leaned closer towards Louie and Angel, resting his elbows on his knees, before he gave Louie a narrowed look and looked at him sharply.
"You do know of whom your rap made fun of, right?" Alcatraz asked with low voice. "This Hun, the leader of the local gang of the Purple Dragons?"
"PFFT!" Louie scoffed as if Alcatraz had just made some ridiculous joke, waving his hand dismissively. "That sausage-fingered stegosaurus-brained lardbutt that leads those cabbage-brained teddy bears? Ain't a big deal!"
Angel chuckled lightly at Louie repeating his rap lines meant to ridicule both Hun and the Purple Dragons, before she held her hand in front of her mouth to hold her laughter back back as Louie continued.
"And what about this... this... Whoever this... what was that name again... that... Maxter Pox-man, the name was?" Alcatraz continued, though he struggled to remember Stockman's name right.(1)
"It's Baxter Stockman?" Louie corrected and said the name for him. "That glasses-headed geecko who brags and babbled about his oversized ego, while his geniousness loses catastrophically to my Bro'ra Donatello's?"(1)
New wave of laughter came out of Angel's mouth, what she was uncapable to suppress... again.
"And then this... whoever is this Tatsu guy the third act of your rap told about." Alcatraz continued, though he apparently didn't know about Tatsu very well either.
"Just some scar-faced douchebag, who suffers from serious issue of musophobia. Old acquaintance, who found himself thrown into the trash can like yesterday's garbage... twice." Louie explained with the shrug
Angel laughed now a little harder, shaking her head and holding from her stomach and she squirmed on her seat.
"And then this..." Alcatraz was about to say, but was cut short when Louie spoke over his words.
"The Shred-dude?! Mr. Leader of the Stinky Feet-Clan got crushed into pancakes under the water tower, so he simply cannot do anything except rage in his grave." Louie quoted, with the deep voice that made him sound almost like the Batman.
Angel laughed now so hard that she bent over and slammed her hand down on the glass-topped table repeatedly.
"AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ENOUGH! ENOUGH! ENOUGH, LOUIE! I'M GOING TO DIE IN LAUGHTER HERE!" Angel lauhed.
"Already, Angel-cake?!" But I never even got to Mr. William Dandelion yet!" Louie exclaimed in a mock surprise.
Alcatraz immediately raised an eyebrow when he caught two words from Louie's mouth: one being him calling Angel affectionally "Angel-cake". A cake? Louie just called Angel a cake? As if in a term of endearment or affectionate slang? As if Louie was attracted to the girl next to him, and that it was way more deeper than what they both were letting on... despite both of them claiming just a few minutes ago that there was nothing like that between of them, that they had just recently met, and that they were just friends with each other. However, before he could've got into that matter further, his mind was quickly brought back to the present when Louie began to quote his rap lines about William Dandelion.
"The rotten dandelion? That's Mr. William, who launders in his laundry company his vast millions of dirty money he got by cheating in Monopoly."
"AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Angel laughed so hard that she almost fell off her seat.
"WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWO! THAT'S FAR ENOUGH, YOU TWO MEDDLING SNOOPERS!" Alcatraz exclaimed loudly with the sharp voice and teeth-gritting frown on his face, as he slammed his fist against the glass-topped table enough to shake the champange bottle and the glasses on the table, and almost making them to topple over.
All of the sudden, Louie and Angel, who almost forcibly managed to get her laughter under control, turned to stare at Alcatraz with the wide-eyed expressions. Both of them were rather surprised by Alcatraz suddenly snapping at them like that, and even more surprised to hear him to call them "meddling snoopers".
Even his own dancer girls were staring at their boss with the wide-eyed and mouth-gapping expressions on their faces.
"I beg your pardon, sir?" Louie asked with raised eyebrow, not sure if he'd heard him right.
"Sheesh! What's got into you, sir?" Angel questioned.
Alcatraz's frown quickly melted away when he realized that he might have just slipped too much out of his mouth to arouse some suspicion. And so, in an hasty attempt to salvage the situation to de-escalate the two's suspicions, Alcatraz pulled back and quickly calmed himself.
"Uh... I... Ahem! I-I meant... umm... I, uhh... Huh, huh, huh! Hmm!" Alcatraz mumbled as he cleared his throat awkwardly before continuing with the clearer tome.
"What I meant to say to you two is... that I think you two seem to be having ran afoul with a quite plenty of umderworld's people like those Purple Dragons, who have no a soft spot for the people they deem as "meddling snoopers" who poke their nose too curiously into other people's affairs that don't belong to them. Alcatraz explained.
"Oh?" Louie said, still not sure if that was exactly what Alcatraz was meaning about, but quickly deciding to let the matter pass.
"It's not big deal from my part, sir, because that's kinda everyday of my life, or more precisely every night to run into guys with bad intentions on the street before I give them a little smackdown treatment." the turtle in black said. "And before you ask that one particular question, which answer is clear "no". No, I am not some undercover cop or a secret private detective, if that was what you were thinking about."
"Didn't think so, Lorenzo." Alcatraz assured. "So, you take yourself as a vigilante then, eh?"
"Well, you can say that again." Louie said simply.
"Why are you even telling us this, sir?" Angel questioned, somewhat interested. "You mean that you yourself have ran afoul with some shady men from the underworld too?"
"Well, being a gangsta rapper means it's quite everyday to run afoul with a lot of rivals you keep making throughout of your lifetime, while also trying to appease the shady big shots from which you lend a lot of money to keep your rapping business on running, while trying at the same time not to run afoul with the law and the cops. But it is not a big deal because that's the life I chose to myself and I'm proud of it." Alcatraz told them, crossing his arms and lifting up his chin proudly.
Angel nodded her head in understantment, for Alcatraz's words reminded her of her time as a trainee and almost a new member of the Purple Dragons a couple months ago.
"Well, I once got meddled with some bad people too, and I definitely wasn't proud of it, 'cause they almost hurted someone I care about." Angel said, recalling how the Dragons threatened to kill Casey for infiltrating their lair to get her out of there... and largerly for interfering in their business.
"That's when I ran afoul with them for helping my friend to escape their clutches." Angel added.
Alcatraz nodded his head in understandment... though it was mostly the facade to hide his smirk for another confirmation to Mr. Noisy's information about Angel's involvement with the Purple Dragon gang, until she defected to some hockey-masked vigilante, who was possibly that "friend" she was talking about, and who was rumored to be in the league with some... freaks.
"It is for this reason that I must give you two this word of warning, Mrs. Bridge. Because such of people who don't want snoopers meddling in their affairs will always find ways to get back at whoever they hold the most grudge against... and the best way to do that is by targeting the people you care about the most."
"Well, we've seen that happening before, alright. Some dudes almost jumped on her and her grandma in a dark alley a few weeks back, so I gave them a little PAM!" Louie said, puncing his palm hard to make his point. "Their sore butts are definitely screaming at them to think twice, or thrice, before they come to mess with the people I care."
"You really should've seen how Louie handled those guys." Angel added with the smirk.
"I might believe so." was all Alcatraz said, while secretly recalling Mr. Nosy telling him about some turtle-like freak that beat up his guys sent to fetch Angel on his boss' orders.
Alcatraz looked at Louie with the well-hidden suspicion, believing him to be that meddling non-human but a turtle-like freak Mr. Nosy was talking about, only in the disguise to fool the other people about his true identity.
Angel then looked out of the window, and saw that they were at her place already.
"This is our stop, sir." Angel told to Alcatraz.
Alcatraz nodded to Angel and instructed one of his dancer girls, Purple, to tell the limo driver to stop here on the side of the street - but quietly and secretly instructed her to tell the driver to write down Angel's home address once they've stopped and then come back with the note - before he gently shooed Purple off to fulfill her task.
Once Purple was off, Alcatraz turned back to Louie and Angel.
"Well, my friends. This is where we must depart." Alcatraz said with the dismissing voice
"Until we meet again when we next time come to see personally your another rap gig." Louie said with the nod.
"And since we managed to get tickets to the very first seats tonight, you will definitely see us in the front row of the audience." Angel added.
"Yeah, right." Alcatraz said with the shrug and short chuckle. "I think we will meet again much sooner than any of us could expect."
As the limo pulled to a stop on the side of the street, Alcatraz got out of his seat and opened the door, allowing Louie and Angel to jump out. After they had stepped out, Alcatraz followed them afterwards to face the two one last time.
"Thank you for the ride, Mr. Alcatraz." Angel thanked politely.
"Yeah, thanks for the sweet ride, dude." Louie thanked with his own polite manner.
"You are most welcome, dude." Alcatraz said with the smile, lightly punching Louie in his shoulder, before he shook hands with Angel. "And you too, Ms. Bridge."
However, Alcatraz's smile soon left his lips and he took on a more serious look on his face before he placed his right hand on Louie's left shoulder and his left hand on Angel's right shoulder - and unnoticed by both the pig-tailed girl and the turtle in black, he secretly attached to their clothes a pair of mini microphones, which he had fished out of his pocket when Louie and Angel had turned their backs on him while stepping out of the limousine.
"Just remember my word of warning, you two. You better try not to meddle with the affairs of the underworld that don't belong to you, or they will come after you with all kinds of dirty methods they got." Alcatraz notted.
"Note taken, sir." Angel said with the serious nod.
Alcatraz nodded in kind with satisfaction - or short of - before he turned to Louie. "And you, Lorenzo, try not to provoke the big shots of the underworld to take a retaliation against you or the people you care about for ridiculing, mocking and making fun of them in the public."
"And what they are going to do about it? Ask for getting their butts kicked again? Works for me." Louie said with the carefree scoff.
"Just promise me that you won't push your luck with this. Can you do that?" Alcatraz asked seriously. "Promise me you won't do that anymore, with the rapper's honor."
Louie stared at Alcatraz with the serious face for a moment, before he just gave a shrug in "Ah, what the heck" manner.
"Alright, with the rapper's honor, whatever." Louie said, holding his hand up to seal his promise.
Satisfied with Louie's pretty lightly and not so seriously made promise, Alcatraz tapped the turtle in black's shoulder couple times in congratulatory manner, before he let go of their shoulders and stepped inside of the limousine.
However, after Alcatraz had pulled the door close behind him, he opened the door's black window and leaned on the frame with his right arm.
"Well then, Lorenzo and Angel Bridge... goodbye then... and see you around. Ciao." Alcatraz said, before making his left hand to look like a handgun, which he pointed at the two and with "PFFFFT!" he made it look like he fired a shot at the two.
Alcatraz's limousine then took off and drove away into the night, leaving both Louie and Angel to look after its go until they couldn't see it anymore.
"Well, that was one hell of the guy." Louie commented with the smile.
"You can say that again, Louie." Angel agreed, before she turned to face the turtle in black.
The two simply stared at each other in silence for a moment before Angel spoke first.
"Well, Louie, I had a very lovely evening tonight, if I say so myself." she said to the turtle in black, laughing at the ironic fact that she was the one who had chosen as tonight's activity to go to Alcatraz's rap concert.
"Well, first of, it should be me who said that quote because you were the one who asked me to come with you to the rap concert in the first place." Louie joked. "And secondly, I had it as well."
Angel giggled and shook her head, amused by Louie's joke again.
"Well, umm... Good night, Lover-Boy." Angel wished.
"Good night to you too, Angel-Cake." Louie wished in kind. "I'll see you again with the new activity two night later."
However, after having wished their good nights to each other, neither one of them moved to their separate ways. They just stood there in silence while still staring into each other's eyes with the small smiles - Louie had to take his sunglasses off for that - almost as if they were both waiting for one of them to say something to the other first.
Angel then turned her gaze slightly away from Louie, and began to rub her right arm with the other a little shyly. In fact, she didn't want their night together to end just yet, and wanted to ask Louie something.
"Well, since it's not yet too late... Louie... "Angel began, trying to work up some courage to tell him what she wanted to say. "You're not probably in the hurry to home just yet, so... would you... want to come... visit inside my place... for a moment or something? We could have some... hot chocolate and... waffles with ice cream and strawberry jam. My grandma would like for you to pay a visit. If that's okay with you?"
Angel gave Louie a hopeful look, hoping that he would accept her invitation.
A small voice inside of her told her not to push her luck, becaue there was always a possibility for Louie to decline the offer... but all the same she hoped that he would accept it.
She was not ready to wish good nights to Louie, or ready for him to leave back his home in the sewers just yet.
Louie's eyes went wide, caught off guard and taken aback by Angel's honest invitation to have him at her place for just a little longer and have a hot chocolate and waffles.
"Hot chocolate and waffles with ice cream and strawberry jam?" Louie questioned eagerly, to which Angel nodded her head inconfirmation, while the purple-haired and pig-tailed teen girl offered the turtle in black both the hopeful and at the same time the kindest and sweetest smile she ever could.
"Wow. Well, I... uh..." Louie muttered nervously, charmed down to the core by that look in Angel's eyes, and that sweet smile on her lips - not the mention about her beautiful face that left him completely spell-bound - that the turtle in black's cheeks began to get darker toned again. Rendered almost speechless, he began to shyly rub his neck with his hand while trying to come up with something to say.
The turtle in black, however, quickly regained his composure and began to think it over. He was more than just tempted to accept her offer to come to her place and spend time with her just a little longer.
However, he quickly remembered that there was supposed to be another training session with Master Splinter tomorrow, starting quite early in the morning and that Splinter had required everyone to be there well-rested.
A quick look at the nearby clock post told Louie that it was pretty late already, as it was almost about three o'clock in the morning.
Though disappointed by the fact that he had to decline Angel's offer to get back home so that whe will be well-rested for tomorrow's training, Louie hid it with the polite facade as he cleared his throat and turned back to face Angel.
"Well, for one hundred percent I would love to come by but tomorrow I happen to have another training session with Master Splinter. So sorry, Angel Cake, but I have to decline it." Louie explained both politely and apologically. "But as Master Splinter always says, a ninja must be ready for anything."
"Oh." Angel said, all of the sudden overcome with disppointment.
Louie saw that too, so he quickly added in. "Besides, after two days, it is my turn to choose our next night's activity, and I think that I already have a specific one in mind." the turtle in black said, tapping his temple with his finger. "I know you'll love it." he added with the teasing sing-song voice.
Though still feeling disappointed, Louie's teasing voice helped her to pull herself together and give Louie a smile.
"Well, if you say so, Lover-boy, I'm looking forward to it." Angel said with the light chuckle. "Good night, Louie. See you in two days then."
"Gladly." Louie said, stepping back until he spread his arms wide and gave Angel a light bow. "Sweet dreams, Mrs. Bridge."
Angel smiled and shook her head in amusement of Louie's bow to her, until she turned around and headed towards inside.
On the way to her door, Angel's head started to fill with mixed thoughts so that he couldn't decide what would be the right feeling at this very moment: Was she supposed to feel awkward for inviting Louie over only to be turned down by him, even if Louie did so politely? Or feel like a complete idiot for pushing her luck too far in her naive hopes? Or maybe feel herself surprisingly bold enough to at least try and ask Louie to come, by whether he'll accept it or not.
The latter seemed more reasonable though as she recalled the look on Louie's face which told her enough that the turtle in black was very tempted to accept her invitation… and maybe she would have if it wasn't for that training session with Master Splinter.
Yes, with Master Splinter.
Although Angel had only heard from Louie about his father and master, this Master Splinter, but never met him in person just yet, she couldn't help but to feel both happiness and a forcible touch of envy towards Louie for at least having a father in his life, while her own father left from her life all too soon in that car accident. A depressing thought and the feeling of loss that lingered in the darkest corner of her mind hadn't left from her head even after gaining new friends and close of sibling figures in her life, if not ever.
However, Angel brushed the thought from her mind immediately as she reached her door, took out the key, put it into the lock and opened the door to enter.
But as she was about to enter, Angel stopped at the doorframe and glanced back at Louie over her left shoulder. The turtle in black was still standing there where she had left him, watching her go with a reassuring smile. Despite her disappointment at Louie turning down her invitation, and the brief depression it had indirectly caused, Angel at least took some solace in the fact that Louie had stuck around until she had gone home instead of just disappearing into the shadows the moment she turned her back like usually.
Angel smiled back at Louie and gave him a light wave with her hand, before she then entered and closed the door behind her.
The moment the door was closed and Angel disappeared into her house, Louie's smile instantly turned into a disappointed frown. Groaning loudly, the turtle in black punched the air with his fist in frustration and disappointment with himself.
"Oh, shell!" Louie sweared. "I cant believe it! Angel cake wanted to invite me over for hot chocolate and waffles... to be with her just a little longer... and I can't believe I had to be such of shell-for-brains to blow my chance... just because of the next training early tomorrow morning! Whatta bonehead you actually are, Lorenzo! Totally bummer you are!"
Slapping his hands over his face, already regretting for turning down Angel's invitation, Louie then turned from Angel's home and began to walk towards the alley - the same alley where they had parked the Battle Shell to bring Angel back to Ellie after saving Casey the Dragons' Lair - where he had left his Shell Cycle.
Louie then climbed into the saddle of his bike and, accelerating the engine, the turtle in black took off into the night, heading back to the warehouse and home.
###
In the next morning in the Lair's Dōjō, Leo stood straight and ready in the middle of the orange carpet, while his siblings were standing outside of the carpet, surrounding the turtle in blue from all seven directions, their eyes on him and weapons ready in hands, while Master Splinter was observing his children's training from the ledge in sitting pose.
Their today's training was called by their Sensei's words Man'naka no kame, meaning in English "Turtle in the middle": One turtle stands on the carpet and prevents the other turtles from taking the ground on it by defeating him.
And of course, Leo was the first one to be the turtle in the middle, either by his own volunteering or by Splinter's choice.
"Hajime!" Splinter called, beginning the training.
Mikey, who was standing in one corner on Leo's left, charged at him first while spinning his Nunchucks, while Leo drew out one Katana and readied himself.
As Mike ycame came, Leo swung his sword with both hands at him, but Mikey leaped over it and somersaulted onto his feet behind of Leo's shell. Turning back, Mikey charged again and swung his left Nunchuck at Leo but missed when he bowed his head down before drawing out hs other sword. Mikey spun around and attempted to bring his right Nunchaku down on Leo, but Leo caught it with his crossed swords before spinning around and trying to sent a kick at Mikey with his right foot. Mikey, however, hopped backwards and onto his hands to avoid Leo's kick. But when he pushed himself off the ground and back on his feet, he was immediately met with another kick from Leo with his left foot that hit him in the chest and sent him flying off the carpet and against the pillar.
"Mikey! I keep telling you you need more practice! Can you put the chips and the remote control down once in a while and focus in practicing your ninja skills a bit more?" Leo asked, unable to help but lecture his younger brother for being so easily defeated.
Donnie, who was standing in the corner behind of Leo's left shoulder, charged and swung his Bo staff at him, though Leo blocked it with his Katana without even looking at him.
When Leo turned to Donnie, the turtle in purple began to whack Leo with the blunt end of his staff, though Leo dodged each attempt relatively ease. Leo then moved out of the way as Donnie tried to whack him again but missed. The brainy turtle then turned back to Leo and swung his staff at his feet to sweep them from under, but Leo flipped over Donnie's staff. Donnie then spun around and tried to whack Leo again, but the turtle in blue blocked the attack with both of his Katanas. Leo pushed him back and then tried to slash Donnie with his swords, which Donie blocked with his staff. However, the turtle in blue then raised his right foot high and out it onto Donnie's staff, pushing it down, before he literally jumped on it and flip-kicked Donnie in the face with his other foot, sending the brainy turtle off the carpet and onto Mikey.
"Donnie, your form is good but you're too predictable. Ninja's sometimes need to improvise." Leo lectured.
Raph, who was standing in the corner behind of Leo's right shoulder, charged on his turn and tried to slash Leo with his left Sai, but Leo spun around and out of the way before he swung his left sword towards Raph, which the turtle in red blocked with his sai. Leo turned around again and swung his right sword at Raph, who ducked his head down and under it.
Leo backed away from Raph a bit, and both the turtles in blue and red stood there in the standoff for a moment.
Raph then pulled his right Sai to his left and attempted to swing it back towards Leo, but Leo kicked it away with his right foot and ducked his head down as Raph tried to slash him with his left Sai, spinning around. Raph and Leo then attempted to strike each other with one's right sword and one's right Sai, but ended up to lock their weapons together, until Raph forcibly wrestled the Katana out of Leo's grasp, sending it into the air. Trying to take an advantage of Leo's momentary surprise, Raph tried to slash him with his Sai, but Leo quickly recovered and blocked it with his left sword, before he punched Raph in the guts with right straight, knocking him slightly back. Unfazed, Raph tried to slash Leo again, but Leo ducked under it again. And as Raph turned to him again, Leo was already upon him and kicked him in the chest with his right foot, sending Raph off the carpet and onto Donnie.
Leo then caught his lost sword from the air in his right hand, before he turned to downed Raph.
"Raph, did you ever heard the saying "mind over muscle"? What counts is the daily training of your mind, not brute force." Leo lectured.
Arcee and Mary, who were standing in the opposite edges of the carpet on Leo's both sides, charged at Leo at the same time, with Arcee going for the legs with her Tessens and Mary going for the head with her Naginata.
But as they closed in and swung their weapons at Leo at the same time, the turtle in blue jumped off the ground and curled up into a ball with his arms and swords crossed against his chest, legs bent over them and head lowered down and flipped around, as Arcee's Tessens flew under him and Mary's Nagina flew over him without even touching him.
After uncurling himself and landing on his feet, Leo turned to Arcee who charged at him and began to swing her Tessens towards him wildly and repeatedly, surprisingly forcing Leo to back away towards the edge of the carpet. From there, however, Mary charged at him while spinning her Naginata over her head before the the turtle in turquoise swung her weapon towards Leo from his right side while he was distracted by Arcee's attacks. However, Leo blocked Mary's Naginata with his left Katana, prompting Mary to pull her weapon back and try again from his left side, but the blue turtle blocked Mary's Naginata again with his right Katana. Mary pulled her weapon back but this time tried to strike Leo from above, but Leo blocked this attack as well by raising his crossed swords above his head. However, Mary didn't notice that Leo's backing away from Arcee's attacks and towards her had forced her to back away to the edge of the carpet. Arcee then pulled back before making the leap towards Leo and swung her Tessens at him, but Leo ducked his head down at the same time as he flipped sideways in the air, putting his feet against Arcee's stomach as she flew over him and then kicked his sister away, sending her flying into Mary and thus knocking them both off the carpet.
"Mary and Arcee, your teamwork was admirable but there were many faults in our Divide and Conquer technique. You were not taking each other into account enough, neither your surroundings, that's what turned your technique against you." Leo lectured his downed sisters.
Dom, who was standing in the edge of the carpet in front of Leo, charged at Leo on his turn.
Dom began swinging his Tonfia alternately towards Leo with a fast pace and windmill-like movements, aiming to either jab or whack Leo in the head, but the turtle in blue blocked the turtle in white's weapons with his swords relatively ease - which almost bored him - while backing away towards the other end of the carpet. When they were standing near the edge of it, Dom attempted to whack Leo with both of his weapons at the same time, but Leo blocked them with both of his swords before he spun around and roundhouse kicked with his left foot his brother in the shell, sending him flying with the somersault off the carpet and onto his shell net to his other defeated siblings.
"Dom, you didn't hold back this time, which is good, but you were just too hasty and desperate in your attacks to concentrate, which left your guard open." Leo lectured as he put his swords away.
Leo then heard heavy footsteps coming towards him from behind and with it a growing heavy breathing before they stopped like to a wall. However, Leo quickly cartwheeled to his left and out of the way just as the last turtle, Louie, landed on his spot and slammed his Butterfly swords into the ground, which were meant to hit Leo from behind. Louie then stood up and turned back to face his brother, but remarkably slowly, and on top of that, he was distracted by him starting to rub his eyes with his hand and shaking his head as if trying to keep himself awake, but because of that, he was immediately met with kick from Leo into his, which sent the turtle in black off the carpet and onto both Raph and Donnie.
"Louie, if that was meant to be a surprise attack, you were as sneaky as a rhino charging towards you." Leo criticized.
"Sorry, Leo." Louie said tiredly, until he let a pretty loud yawn out of his mouth no matter how hard he tried to suppress it.
This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by both Leo and Master Splinter.
"You okay, bro? We've only been sparring for less than an hour, and you look pretty tired already." Leo commented, slightly confused.
"Nah, it's nothing, bro. I'm fine!" Louie said, waving his hand dismissively yet tiredly, until he let out a small yawn, which he just barely managed to suppress.
However, out of all of his brothers, Dom was the most skeptical about Louie's claim of being fine, as he got up from the ground and turned towards the turtle in black.
"Well, it doesn't look like it, bro." the turtle in white said firmly, hands on his hips and a searching look on his face and he stared at Louie with his narrowed eyes.
"I have seen how you've been faring during of this one hour of training, Louie. You're slower than usual, you tire easily even in the simplest move, you're yawning constantly, you're drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness and your concentration is impaired... And heck, you even got bags under your eyes!" Dom listed, pointing his finger at the slightly visible bags under Louie's eyes.
"No, I don't!" Louie protested, folding his arms and scowling at Dom with his eyelids half-closed, offended.
"Uhh... you kind of have those bags right there, bro." Mikey pointed out, seeing the bags with his own eyes.
"No one asked for your opinion, Mikey!" Louie snapped lightly, giving the turtle in orange such of deeply narrowed scowl that warned him to remain quiet or else, before the turtle in black turned back to face Dom. "And no one asked for your opinion either, Dom."
"I don't care whether my opinion is asked of not." Dom claimed. "And if you claim to be fine, then how come you look so exhausted today, as if you didn't sleep well last night?" the turtle in white questioned.
"Two words, okay?" Louie asked, holding up two of his fingers, before lowering one at the time. "One: I'm perfectly fine, thank you! And two: that's none of your business! That's it! End of the story! Can we continue now?"
However, Dom was not convinced by this. "Then why do I get the feeling you didn't get enough rest last night before training as Master Splinter instructed? What were you actually doing then if not resting?"
"I have rested!" Louie protested irritably. "And like I said, my resting times aren't even yours to worry about, Dom! And besides, what you take yourself for? Some kind of green non-commissioned Gestapo?"
"Guys, enough!" Leo snapped as he came in between of his quarreling brothers.
The turtle in blue turned first to Dom, demanding him to back down with the stern look, which the turtle in white did begrudgingly. Leo then turned to look at Louie with the stern or rather skeptical look, hinting that he neither wasn't too convinced by his brother's claims that he was just fine, but he didn't press on that matter for long.
"If you really feel just fine, Louie, then we can go back to our training without further interruptions." the turtle in blue said.
"With the pleasure, just as long as it keeps him off my shell." Louie said, glaring directly at Dom.
Then, my children, let us continue with the training." Master Splinter called from his spot, where he had been observing the entire scene between his two quarreling sons, while looking at Louie in deep thought, as if he neither wasn't entirely convinced that his son was in very good shape and clear-minded this morning.
To see it himself, he pointed he clawed finger at Louie's direction. "You, Lorenzo, shall be the next Turtle in the Middle, if you please." he said.
"No problem... Sensei." Louie said non-too-worriedly to him.
However, Splinter could very clearly see the bags under his son's eyes and that his eyelids were drooping heavily. Louie even almost drifted into sleep on his feet, but he quickly snapped out of it and, blinking his eyes, he shook his head to get the sleep out of him and his mind clear. And when he was on the verge of yawning again, he just barely managed to stop himself from yawning.
But unfazed by this, the turtle in black, walked slowly but confidently onto the carpet and stood in middle of it as tall and ready as he could, after he had rubbed the sleep out of his eyes one more time, while the other turtles, with Leo taking Louie's place, stood ready around of him.
"Hajime!" Splinter then ordered, his eyes keenly on Louie and eager to see his progress in this state.
However, as the other turtles charged at Louie one at the time, everything went well for the turtle in black at first until it took a sudden turn from good to worse.
While Leo preferred sparring with siblings before taking them down, Louie went through the initial part of the training like he wanted it all over sooner rather than bother sparring with anyone, which was evident that he didn't even brother to pull his Butterfly swords out of their scabbards.
First he dodged Donnie's attempt to jab him when he came from his left, before he seized the weapon with his left hand and then uppercutted it off Donnie's hands with his right fist, before he turned around and jabbed the staff blunt end into Donnie's stomach, causing the pained grunt to escape from the turtle in purple's mouth and making him to back away while holding his stomach. Arcee came from his right and tried to swing her Tessens at Louie, but Louie dodged the attack by crouching down and moved Donnie's staff, which was still in his hands, behind the turtle in pink's legs before sweeping them from under, making Arcee to fall over. Dom and Mikey then charged towards Louie from the front, with Mikey getting to Louie first and swung his right Nunchuck at him, but Louie countered it by swinging Donnie's staff at him, capturing Mikey's Nunchaku around it by the chain, before he whipped both of their weapons' towards Dom, whacking him in the head and disorienting him for a moment. With Dom distracted, Louie turned around and swung the staff towards Donnie, pulling surprised Mikey with it and tossing him into Donnie, knocking them both off the carpet and down.
Then, after he had brushed off the pain from the blow Louie had inflicted on him, Dom let out an irritated snort before he charged at Louie and began to once more deliver the series of fast and windmill-like whacks on his brother with his Tonfas. Louie managed to block most of his brother's attacks with Donnie's staff before the turtle in black kicked Dom in the leg, knocking it out from under him and causing the turtle in white to fall on his one knee. However, as Louie was about to finish off his fallen brother, Mary suddenly and without Louie's notice jumped onto one foot on top of Dom's shell, spun around and then kicked Louie in the chest with her other foot, knocking him back. Leo then attacked Louie next, swinging his swords over his head and down at the turtle in black. Although slightly disoriented by Mary's kick, Louie tried to raise Donnie's staff up to block Leo's swords, but Leo quickly reversed the direction of his swords before they could land on the staff and swung them from below against the staff violently, knocking it out of Louie's hands before kicking him in the chest, knocking him back. And finally, Louie was unable to do anything before Raph charged into him like a frenzied bull, and snatched him off the carpet into his arms.
"HAAAAAAAA-YAAAAHHHH!" Raph roared as he tossed Louie into the air with all his strength, making the turtle in black to land onto his shell at the bottom of the ledge, right beneath of Master Splinter, who glared down at his son with disappointed look on hus eyes.
"I know... didn't went well. I lost my ground on the carpet and failed my lesson... again." Louie groaned, as he slowly got up from the ground.
Master Splinter let out the sigh as Lorenzo turned to face him, while the other turtles came up to them and lined up behind of Louie.
"Perhaps your brother is right, Lorenzo." Master Splinter said. "You indeed look a very tired and your concentration on your training is drifting."
As a forced demonstration to prove this, Louie let out another yawn from his mouth, this time without even borhtering to try to suppress it, and rubbed with one hand his eyes to get the sleep out of them. And once it passed, Louie turned back to his Sensei.
"Maybe you're right, Sensei. I'm feeling pretty tired anyway." the turtle in black said, finally admitting to himself that he indeed was pretty tired and beat to focus on his training properly.
Dom let out the scoff, annoyed that Louie never took on his advice, never, but he takes it rather from Master Splinter than from him.
"Yeah! You always agree to that when it comes from Master Splinter, but never from me!" Dom complained aloud.
However, the turtle in white was immediately silenced when Splinter gave him a narrow look and held up his staff pointed at him. Gulping, Dom bowed his head down to his master and went back in line.
Master Splinter then turned back to Louie. "Maybe it's the best for you, my son, to go and get some rest for yourself." Splinter suggested, gesturing his hand towards Louie's room in the upstairs.
Louie looked up at his room, before he turned back to Splinter. The turtle in black saw no reason to argue with his master on this, and he didn't even have the strength to it right now after his argument with Dom and after getting his shell waxed. And so, Louie put his palms together and bowed to Master Splinter.
"Thank you, Sensei." Louie said softly.
Master Splinter returned to his son's bow in kind, but very briefly, before he all of the sudden whacked his staff hard against the floor next to him.
"SNAP!"
Such a loud and sharp sound made both Louie and the other turtles to wince slightly.
"However..." Master Splinter continued with the stern voice and he looked at his son strictly. "After you've rested today, we'll resume your training for the next couple nights to get you back in the schedule! And I do not want to hear any complains or arguments about this. Is this clear, Lorenzo?"
Louie was taken aback by this kind of terms his master dictated, because having to train with him for the next couple nights to get himself back in the schedule would mean that he is unable to go out with Angel two days later, especially now that he had come up with something really nice activity with Angel the next time they meet.
But as Master Splinter just said that he won't take any complains or arguments about his newest instructions considering about his training after he had rested enough for today, Louie saw no point in even trying to argue with his master now that his mind was made up.
And so, disappointed, Louie resigned himself to the option of calling Angel as soon as he could and informing her of these new instruction, before suggesting that their next meeting would be postponed until four nights later.
With that in mind, the turtle in red bowed his head slightly to his father. "Very clear, Sensei." he said humbly and respectfully.
Satisfied with the answer, Master Splinter allowed Louie to leave with the wave of his hand, and the turtle in black began to head towards the upstairs and his room to make the phone call to Angel and then get some needed rest.
The other turtles looked at their brother's go with either neutral or sympathetic looks on their faces, but Dom's own look on his face was anything but neutral or sympathetic... as he was still rather suspicious of Louie and his doings of late.
###
Four days later, tonight.
In Angel's place, Angel, wearing over a turquoise-coored motorcycle jacket this time instead of her turquoise hoodie and the fingerless gloves and an happy smile on her face, exited out of her room and walked past the living room, where Ellie was sitting in the couch reading a newspaper, and headed towards the door.
"Well, you're going out again with that nice turtle boy, Angel?" Ellie asked as she glanced at Angel over her shoulder.
"Yes, grandma." Angel said as she halted and turned back to Ellie. "And he said that tonight he had planned something very nice. I can't wait to see what is it."
"Well, have fun then." Ellie said and was just about to turn back to her newspaper until one thought came into her mind.
"Oh, and by the way, Angel." Ellie called. "You could ask that polite young man to visit us again sometime. He was quite nice to talk to last time he visited us."
Angel couldn't help but smile at her grandmother's request, totally agreeing with her, especially when her smile got even broader when the thoughts about Louie filled her mind... that her own cheeks began to feel warm and turn into pinkish, that she had to turn away from her grandmother to hide them from her.
However, a very idea of asking Louie again to visit at their place to spend some time with both her and her grandma... and maybe even with her brother, Ryan, if only Louie agrees to meet him in person... just made her feel so happy.
However, she was quickly snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of the approaching bike's engine, before it stopped right in front of her door, a sign that Louie was already here like he'd promised.
"That's him. I gotta go now." Angel said and was just about to rush towards the door, until she quickly halted and turned to look back at her grandmother over her shoulder. "And maybe I can ask Louie to visit again when I got time."
"Good." Ellie said smiling, before she turned back to her newspaper. "Now, go on. Don't keep him waiting out there."
"I won't. Bye now." Angel said, before she opened the door and went outside.
There, Angel saw Louie waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs - or at least next to them - while sitting on the saddle of his black and avocado green Shell Cycle, wearing a black and green motorcycle jacket and his helmet on.
"Hi, Louie!" Angel greeted as she descended down the stairs. "Let me guess, you were planning to take me on the bike ride tonight."
"Actually, a little more than just that, Angel-cake." Louie corrected with the grin from behind of his helmet's windshield.
"Oh, really?" Angel asked, teasingly surprised, as she reached to the bottom of the stairs and walked up next to Louie. "And what might that be, if may I ask?"
"You'll see as soon as we get there, but first, we have to make a small detour elsewhere. Now hop aboard." Louie said, gesturing with the wave of his hand to his saddle.
"And before I forget, I got something for you." the turtle in black added, before he took out the turquoise-colored helmet with the purplish angel-like wings on its sides, and held it out towards Angel. "A little gift for you, Angel-cake."
Angel let out a surprised gasp and stared at the helmet in Louie's hand in delighted wonderment.
"A helmet? You brought a helmet? For me?" Angel asked.
"Sure!" Louie said in confirmation. "I found it still pretty much intact in a junkyard a while back, fixed it up a bit, made sure it was the right size, which it was, and painted it and the wings on it according to the colors you like to wear... so that I can eventually, and finally, give it just for you."
"Aw, Thank you, Louie." Angel said, touched, before she took the helmet from Louie and put it on her head - which happened to fit in her head just perfectly - before she climbed onto Louie's bike.
"Hold on." Louis cautioned, and Angel took a firm grip on his shoulders, before the turtle in black revved the engine and took off to the streets driving the two of them off.
However, little did the two of them know that they had been watched from the shadows nearby.
At least four ominous cars - one shiny black, second crimson red, third amber and fourth silver-white, were parked at the entrances to the alleyways near Angel's place, peeking far outside enough that the shadowy people in the driver and passenger's seats could see what was happening on the street.
In the shiny black car, one shadowy figure in the passenger's seat had been watching Louie's and Angel's leave from the latter's place via binoculars.
"The freak just came." the figure said with the smooth voice, as he put the binoculars away and exchanged looks with the driver. "We better call to the boss."
The figure then took out a phone and dialed the number, making the call, before he then put the phone over his ear.
It took a moment of silence when the call was responded.
"Boss? It's here." the figure said into the phone and someone in the other end of the line. "That strange freak... it just arrived at the Bridge's residence. That thing and the girl just went somewhere on the bike ride. Should we give the chase and then capture them both?"
There was a moment of silence, before the figure's boss responded.
"No!" was the answer. "Just follow them, don't stall them! I want to know where exactly they are going for the boss' plan to work."
"What?" the figure said, confused. "But Boss, we're better prepared this time. It's just one freak against over dozen of heavily armed guys in the cars. We can take him down easily with sheer numbers and heavy armament now that the element of surprise is on our side this time."
"And how did that ended up the last time for you and your boys, tell me?" the boss snapped in responde, before he added the next lines with the venomous sarcasm. "Oh, yeah! You all got your sorry carcasses handed over to you by one freak, single one freak, despite your guns, your numbers and your so-called professionalism!"
"Maybe, boss, but that was because we were caught off guard back then, and..." the figure recalled, but he was quickly silenced by his boss who spoke harshly over his words.
"SHUT YOUR TRAP, YOU IMBECILE!" the boss shouted, making the figure to wince and grimace with worry.
The boss then let out the sigh to calm himself down before he continued.
"This freak is more than meets the eye. Not just skilled and sneaky as you told me, but also very elusive. Unlike with the girl and the old lady, we haven't been able to track it for a few days, which means the freak may have already found the microphone in his clothes and become more cautious... and it might have already warned the girl too about the michrophone in her clothes. Which means that this must be done with care and precision." the boss explained.
"Well, they didn't look very cautious over here, if you ask from me, boss." the figure argued. "Maybe he hasn't noticed the microphone yet, but is using a different clothing each time time."
"Despite that, we'll follow the extreme precaution to ensure that the boss' plan works properly, and your part in it is to follow that thing and young Mrs. Bridge to wherever they are going! And don't you dare to lose them nor to get caught by them, unless you want to end up as a sheep for the next slaughter, you imbeciles!" the boss in the other end of the line threatened, scaring the figure into submission.
"(Gulp!) V-Very well, boss." the figure relented, gulping nervously. "W-We'll follow them."
"Good! Report to me immediately once you have found out their heading." the boss ordered before ending the call before the figure could've said "Yes, boss".
After the phone call ended, the figure made it quick to spread the word to the crimson red car's driver and passengers and ordered them to follow them to track down Louie and Angel, while ordering the amber and silver-white cars to remain in their positions and keep watching the Bridge's residence with an keen eye.
With that, the shiny black and crimson red car moved out of the alleyways and drove off after Louie and Angel.
TO BE CONTINUED...
TRIVIA
1) = Reference to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 series, where everybody... well, almost everybody, misspells Baxter Stockman's name.
The training part of this chapter is based on one of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 Mutants Nightmare clip, where the turtles are training.
This chapter was originally gonna be longer, but I decided not to keep you waiting and moved the last part that is on works for the next chapter.