It's been nearly a month since the attempt of the Kraang Invasion, where Leo nearly lost his life holding back Kraang Prime. The turtles, Casey and I have still been hiding down in the sewers for what seemed like an eternity now. I feel like I should live with my dad again. He'll be lonely with no family, plus the sewer stinks- and I can't do my online schoolwork with no wi-fi.
I don't want to admit this, but I'm scared. Scared that Karai, a member of an evil team called the Footclan, will try to kill me once more. Scared that the Kraang, robot aliens from another dimension, will return and use me for my DNA- also destroying our sacred earth. If I go out into the open again, I'm afraid I won't get a second chance.
Yet this time, I trust the turtles to stop both of them, because I'm tired of it. I just want a normal life- is that too much to ask? My father wants me to be educated, I'm going to go to the school grounds tomorrow hopefully without seeing another Kraang nor Footbot in my life.
12/10/2013
There was a snap as April shut her brittle journal and laid back on the concrete sewer stairs, muddled by the tornado of thoughts pivoting inside her head. As long as the turtles put an end to this pandemonium, her life would flip back to what a normal high school girl's would be.
The turtle's small TV droned on in front of her, the audio usually breaking out due to the device's age. However, it was the only thing that seemed alive in the dead, empty air of the underground cave. The only source of light was Mikey's ice cream lantern which was isolated from the snapping, strangling hands of shadows underground. It was creepy being by yourself in a dark area. The turtles were outside checking for any remaining Kraang (even though it was daytime), Casey was out at school, and Master Splinter was meditating in his room like the usual.
The television's screen flashed as a badly-drawn man sliced an ugly pink alien in half. It was the show Leo was obsessed with- Space Heroes.
"Huzzah!" The man cheered, waving his arms in the air. Unfortunately, the celebration was cut off by the alien's yellow blood suddenly spraying him from top to bottom with a splat. The man grimaced and wiped his hands on his tight yellow shirt.
Gross. April squinted her blue eyes while her stomach did a flip. I can't believe Leo actually likes this show.
Just then, a whole crowd of the pink aliens crowded around the bewildered man. Uh oh, April thought ruefully.
"You, human." What appeared to be the leader of the group- bigger and more intelligent-looking, wriggled it's way to the front. "If you join our clan, you will receive 100,000,000 crystals."
Without hesitation the human's mouth hung open and he whooped. "Shut up and give me the money!"
Abruptly, when he joined, the man mutated into one of the pink aliens- pink goo was shooting out his body, and alas he melted into a gigantic alien pooled with slime. The transformation was ever so grosteque and stomach-wrenching.
A few more people appeared out of nowhere, and a particularly gaunt one rushed over to the transformed man's side. "Captain Ryan!" He panted. "What happened to you?"
The captain who was just a messy bunch of slime on the floor shook his near-indistinguishable head solemnly. "I have learnt one valuable lesson today, assistant: if you hang out with weirdos, you become a weirdo."
April's heart felt a pang when the scene reminded her of her own life. The yellow-shirted girl immediately grabbed the control that was on the left of her, and turned the noisy thing off. A thick blanket of silence cloaked the air around her with an ominous feeling. At that moment, the redhead felt a chilling sensation at the back of her spine, sliding up and down.
Somebody was watching her.
She whipped around. There stood a lanky, pale green figure in front of the sewer lab. The moment she met the creature's gaze, it jumped, startled, and immediately leaned against the wall. It posed it's ginormous hands behind his egg-shaped head, eyes jittery behind a purple bandana. "H-h-hey April." His voice was soft and had a nervous edge to it.
That was Donatello- one of the turtles. He was always skittish around her and she knew why: it was just a little crush which she didn't have time for. His feelings would soon fade anyway as that's what all teens do. "Hey Donnie!" she greeted back with a genial grin. Then, confusion sparked within her. "I thought you were with your turtle brothers on a patrol...?"
Donatello blinked, and returned her smile. "Well, they are, but I'm here alone to work on something." His red-brown eyes bored down at the tattered book that sat in April's lap. "So.. um... writin' in your journal?"
April sighed, following his gaze. "Yeah.. and I've been wondering for some time now.. when are you going to defeat the Kraang?"
The turtle's head tipped with confusion. "Well, I'm making a new invention called the 'Turtle Mech' that's like a robot from Super Robo Mecha Force-"
Ah, yes. Donnie was the brains of the turtle team; hacking the Kraang's secret labs, building inventions like the 'Shellraiser', a van who had crazy-cool weapons, learning how to make retro-mutagen, and overall, the team wouldn't survive without him.
"-But it'll at least take me another three months of non-stop work to finish it-"
"Three months?" April's voice echoed with astonishment. She didn't know whether she'd be murdered by the foot or kidnapped by the Kraang in three whole months. "What does the Turtle Mech even do?"
"It has a grapple hook, it can shoot lasers, it has a shield-"
All of a sudden a assertive voice rang out behind them. "Donnie, not that Turtle Mech again.."
April rotated her head around to see another turtle mutant with a blue bandana shoot an annoyed glower at Donatello while vaulting over ticket sensors. Two other mutant turtles trailed not far behind. "It takes way too much time to build," he complained.
"Plus, it takes the whole point out of being a ninja," a shorter turtle with a red bandana added gruffly.
The smallest freckled mutant with an orange one yawned, stretching his shoulders, happiness radiating from his presence. "Yeah Donnie, when are you ever gonna make an infinite pizza-making mech?" The red-masked turtle's swift blow to the shoulder was enough to shut him up.
All four of these mutants were the turtles April hung out with in her everyday life. The lean, green creatures were the heroes and watchers of New York, only that nobody knew who they were because they were also Ninjas. Street ninjas, to be exact. The team originated from the mutation from a green ooze named 'mutagen'. Strange enough, it wasn't made by scientists, it was made by the Kraang- aliens out of this world with technology probably millions of years ahead.
"Mikey, ninjas need to be light and fast. Eating too much pizza wouldn't help," the blue masked turtle reasoned as he placed a hand on his hip. His name was Leonardo- brave, patient, and the leader of his brothers. Only that his brothers didn't have any respect for him.
The turtle with the red bandana rolled his eyes and slumped on the low stairs of the sewer, opposite to April. "Yeah, yeah. Nobody asked, O wise leader," he scoffed. The hot-headed turtle's voice resembled bark scraping on stone. He was the one who would throw the most tantrums and bash anyone he met- the one and only Raphael. The reptile was the muscle of the team, but April was sure he had a soft side to him- he had a normal pet turtle named 'Spike' that he would talk to as if it were his own baby, which would usually wonder around the sewer all day eating leaves.
The freckled turtle with wide eyes skipped over and plopped down next to April. Michaelangelo hadn't really matured past the age of six. Just as Donnie did, he oogled at the journal which she held for a very obvious reason- it was hers.
"Watcha writin' about?" His voice was squeaky and glimmered with light-heartedness.
April awkwardly shuffled her journal underneath her arm, glancing away. "Not sure if it's any of your business..." At that second, she hesitated. Maybe she had kept her thoughts locked inside her for too long. Maybe it was time to tell the turtles.
The redhead took a deep breath. "Guys.." She stared at her lap. It's time I moved back to my apartment." She heaved every boulder out.
"No!" Donatello retorted instantly. "You can't!"
All four turtles stared at her in a mixture of confusion and protest. A stab of guilt met April's heart, but love for her father and a desire to be normal repaired it. Mikey bounced up to his three-toed feet. "Did you forget how dangerous it was out there?"
Raph stood up and stomped his way toward her, seemingly leaving a trail of thrashing flames. "Are you blind? Both the Foot and the Kraang hate you- maybe the alien freaks are back in business! You can't just a ask to die!"
April fixed him a piercing blue glare. Who did he think he was? "My father needs me. And furthermore, I'm not a turtle like you. I don't live in the sewers. I'm a human-"
"-Part Kraang," Donnie's interruption was sudden. He shrunk with a fearful chuckle under April's domineering glare. Yes, she had Kraang DNA which explained her mind powers that the leader, Kraang Prime had. So?
"-But I'm still human. I don't want to be in the sewers- I need to be with my family."
Leo hopped down the stairs of the sewer to join the conversation, musing aloud. "Why don't both you and your father stay in the sewers? That way both of you are safe!"
The teenage girl knew that he was making an effort to calm her down, but her stubbornness was uncontrollable. Frustration flamed inside the pit of loneliness living inside April. "You guys don't get it. I-" She packed her duffel bag and headed to the exit, chin lifted. "-I just want a normal life, like a normal teenager." She paused and tilted her head back subtly. "Bye, guys..."
A low voice startled the high school student from behind. "April."
April's human-kraang hybrid blood froze. Splinter- master of the four turtles, master of ninjitsu, master of meditation, and also, a huge mutated rat in a kimono.
Great. A lecture.
"April, out there in the streets of New York, every second you spend there is perilous." The rodent's pink claws were soft as they rested on her shoulder. "You will stay down here until we know for sure that the Footclan and the Kraang aren't a harm to you any longer."
April emitted a long breath, but unable to emit her feelings of solitude, grief, and indignation, a sad melody of a song nobody would understand. She mentally slapped herself for not knowing that she couldn't have escaped without Master Splinter knowing first. He was a sensei and a father to the turtles, and many years before, a noble Japanese 'Hamato Clan' member by the name of Hamato Yoshi.
Yoshi had a foster brother named Oroku Saki who was abandoned in a tragic war that ended in flames, an infant orphan. Their relationship was true and brotherly until the rivalry over a woman named Tang Shen snapped it in half without mercy. Saki burned with envy when Yoshi and Shen got together. Just as Saki was about to kill Yoshi for stealing his love away, Tang Sheng sacrificed her life for him. Oroku Saki then set the house on fire, leaving her dead with her baby daughter Miwa.
Or so thought.
Oroku Saki had taken away Miwa and had raised her as his own as 'Karai'. He planned to raise her into a member of the FootClan which he was leader of. When Yoshi fought his way out of the hungry, evil flames, everything he had left was gone.
Hamato Yoshi then travelled to New York City for a new start in life. After adopting four baby turtles, Kraang disguised as humans dropped a mutagen canister onto him and the turtles, mutating them all by DNA. The last thing Yoshi had touched was a rat, thus mutating him into a rat. The last thing the turtles had touched was the pet shop owner's DNA, thus making them humanoid turtles.
That was fifteen years ago.
April switched her mind back to the present- him forcing her to stay wouldn't be allowed. "Master Splinter, I can't just spend the rest of my life here cooped up in the sewer. I haven't even tasted fresh air in two weeks! And guess what?" A wave of sadness washed over the ginger, diminishing the fire of indignation cracking beneath. "..None of the other kids in my school are like that."
The gentle giant's empathetic eyes dived into hers- gentle yellow pools of compassion glimmering with wisdom. "April, you're not an outcast. You are special." He pointed in the direction of his turtle sons. "See, they are definitely not normal, yet they have saved this whole city countless of times." The rat placed his closed claws onto the middle of his chest, written with nobility. "The safest thing to do now is accept who you are."
After a few heartbeats of hesitation, April shook her head. It wasn't their decision to make. It was hers. She could appreciate all the times they saved her, but it was time she had learned to stand on her own feet now. "Sorry, Master." She speed-walked toward the exit with furrowed eyebrow and crossed arms. It was a hard choice. But they couldn't tell her what to do.
"Bye, April?..." Mikey's wistful yet befuddled voice echoed behind her through the caved circular walls of the underground sewer.
The ginger reached the ladder and started to climb. Ray's of effulgent light filtered through the manhole like the first rain on a dry wasteland- welcoming and energetic. Up there was light. Up there was freedom. Up there was family.
***
A slender female ninja gracefully sat on an intimidating tall black chair. The sharp furniture was placed on the end of an extended, eerie aisle over water. The glass ceiling was triangular and reflected the distanced scatter of barely-visible stars flickering in the dead night sky.
An enormous mutated dog with red shorts and gold fur lumbered in front of her, baring his wide set of honed teeth. "Sitting on your father's chair, Karai?" The sound that rippled from his voice box scraped on the edges of her ear, deep and menacing.
Karai smirked and posed one leg on top of the other, sprinkled with elegance. This clumsy dog didn't scare her. "As you already know, my father put me in charge while he's in Japan. So I'm your boss now."
The dog mutant, named Bradford, grumbled like an old man.
Karai continued. "And while my dad's gone, we only have one target to focus on." The girl squinted both of her eyes, rage scintillating inside her just thinking of the freak's name. "April O'Neil."
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