TMNT: Multi-Dimensional Turtles

Laughter filled the sewer tunnels as voices got closer. Splinter smiled as he heard the voices travel under him, leading into the tree. He was in the kitchen preparing himself some tea. As the voices settled under him, he pulled out a cooking pot and filled it with water before pulling out some more mugs.

“I really didn’t think they would kill off the Captain!” April shouted.

“Oh please, he’ll be back next season,” Raph responded. “It’s like Superman, they’ve killed him so many times now, but he always comes back.”

“Yeah but wouldn’t that make his sacrifice meaningless?” Mikey asked, plopping onto the couch.

Leo turned on the tv, the cable was set to the news. “But there’s no show without him! He’s the greatest! Plus, what about the alien invasion? Sure his crew is safe thanks to his sacrifice, but the world is in danger!”

Donnie pulled out the basket where all the games were kept. “Yeah but I think the rest of the crew is supposed to save the world. What game do we wanna play?” He spread them out.

April sat in front of him, looking through the pile. “Mario kart and party are classics, ooh but I haven’t played wii sports in forever!”

“Raph’s not allowed to play that ever since the ‘bowling incident,’” Mikey said, making air quotes. “Also I really do think they’ll bring the Captain back.”

“Yeah! Besides, it was the dimensional warper that broke and caused the explosion, he might just be stuck in another dimension!” Leo added. “The rest of the crew will find a way to bring him back, then they’ll kick alien butt!”

“Okay let’s say he is in another dimension, do they even have the time to bring him back?” Raph asked. “Or do they even know he’s alive?”

“If no one else is gonna choose a game, we vote for either Mario kart or Mario party,” Donnie told them.

“Kart,” Leo and Mikey said at the same time.

“Party,” Raph and April agreed on.

“Kart it is,” Donnie said, putting it aside. “We can play Mario party later.”

“Who made you the deciding vote?” Raph asked.

“I was the last vote, it just works that way. Sorry you were out voted.” He started organizing the other games and putting them away.

“Besides, Mario Kart is better,” Leo added.

Splinter came down the stairs with a mug in hand. “I’m happy to see you all made it home safely. No troubles I presume?”

“Nope, we’re all accounted for,” Leo told him. “No gangs were in sight tonight.”

“That’s good. I made some tea, and there’s another pot on the stove for hot chocolate if you all would like some.”

“Thanks dad!” Donnie started looking for the remote to change the HDMI on the tv. It was just another interview at the moment, he was barely paying attention to it as Leo and Raph started to argue about what game was better.

“What made you decide to move all the way to New York from your country?” a woman asked.

The man on screen, one of Asian descent from what Donnie could tell, wore a dark purple suit and had his hair combed back. He found the remote fallen in front of the couch just as the man was answering. “Well I felt it would be a great business opportunity, it brought me close to my supporters as well as my competitors. As they say, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

As he laughed, a cup shattered against the floor. Everyone turned to Splinter, who stared slack jawed at the screen. His wide eyes were glued to the man.

“Saki?” he asked quietly.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” April asked, rushing to his side and pulling him away from the broken glass.

“Dad?” Leo questioned as he was brought to the couch.

“You’re not cut are you?” Mikey asked as they started to surround him.

“I- I’m sorry. I’m unhurt, I just…” Splinter tried to look at his sons but his eyes couldn’t focus on them, only the tv. “I never thought I would see him again. Especially not here…”

“Who is he?” Donnie asked.

“How do you know him?” Raph demanded.

“He is… He once was my brother. Not anymore.” Finally he seemed to tear himself away from the tv, looking down with dark eyes.

The room was quiet except for the tv, where Saki continued to talk about his business and his hope for the future. Some sort of technology business. No one was really listening.

Leo grabbed the remote and put the interview on mute, already feeling anger and hatred for the man who could put his father in such a state.

April took Splinter’s hand. “You don’t have to talk about it. We understand if-”

Splinter raised his other hand to cut her off. “No, I should. Of course, I should have known he would come here one day. He is not a fool, he knows I’m alive.” He looked to his sons. “I should have told you my story long ago, as a warning of the Foot clan.”

I grew up in the Hamato clan in Japan. We lived in a part of Japan hidden from the rest of the world. My father, the leader of the clan, had me training from a young age. He was a harsh man, but a good teacher. By seven, I had mastered a great deal of my clan's skills. I was trained in every weapon, and studied hard. Not only would I have to lead my clan one day, but I had to protect it. For we had a great enemy, the Foot clan.”

However, one day my father and my mother, and many people from my clan had left home. A battle took place at where the Foot clan resided. I didn’t know about this until after less than half of the clan returned. My mother was not among the survivors.”

In my father’s arms, he carried a baby. The baby was a two year old, his name was Saki. Oroku Saki, the son of the leader of the Foot clan. My father told me this, then he told me that he will be my brother. I saw no fault with this. After all, the baby did not carry his family’s sins.”

We were raised together, trained together, and learned together. He was given a new family name, the Hamato name. I still don’t know if it was my fathers choice to take me in, or my mothers. However my father didn’t make it a secret that he was adopted, he just hid who his parents were.”

My father was still an angry man, still one harsh with his words. He did not treat either of us well. I tried to shield Saki from his harshness, but I don’t know if I did well. Saki started to grow resentment for my father.”

He had us train every day for long periods of time. Often he would have us spar against one another. We became rivals. My father believed our rivalry would make us grow stronger, and it did.” 

I still tried to keep our bonds of brotherhood strong. I felt we were close for sometime, but eventually my brother grew tired of our rivalry. After all, I had beaten him in most of the fights. And eventually my father started to favor me. Either because I was the better fighter, the oldest son, or his biological son, I couldn’t tell.”

Saki started to become bitter, more quiet. But he still didn’t mind spending time with me, or with Tang Shen. She was…” Yoshi was quiet, his eyes saddening as he took a shaky breath. “She was our friend. Saki’s bitterness never reached her. She was part of the clan and trained with us during our down time. My br… Saki and I both fell in love with her. As we matured, she chose me.”

I tried to keep a good relationship with Saki but his anger grew when Tang Shen and I were dating. He started to resent me but he did his best to hide it. So the night I announced our engagement, when the two of us were alone, we had a fight.”

We’ve had disagreements every now and then, but we have never truly foughten like this before. We fought about how father had treated me better, how I was better at fighting than he, and he claimed that I had taken everything away from him. We had said things to each other that we had not before. I… am not proud of what I said, I couldn't control my anger anymore and I told him he wasn’t even my brother. Regret filled me the moment he left, and ever since then.”

As Tang Shen and I planned our wedding, I saw Saki very little. We planned to have our honeymoon in New York, as she has always wanted to come here. I was hoping to reconnect with him before the wedding, he was my best man after all. But… a few days before the wedding, disaster struck.”

In the time I had not seen him, Saki was seeking out his real family. He had heard whispers of the Foot clan, but it was destroyed. Still, he managed to find out who his true parents were and what had happened to them. Needless to say, he was not happy that the angry man who had raised him had also killed his parents and kidnapped him as an infant.”

No longer was he part of the Hamato clan. Still he stayed, finding remaining members of the Foot clan and their family. Then… he attacked Tang Shen and my home. I was not there at the time the attack had begun.”

When I returned home I knew something was wrong. I went to the main living area as quietly as I could. I found Tang Shen was on the ground and her tessen, her war fan that she used as a weapon, was knocked from her hand. And standing above her was a man wearing a kabuto that I had never seen before. But when he turned around, I saw Saki’s eyes staring back at me.”

I barely had time to ask what he had done before he was attacking me. I managed to grab Tang Shen’s tessen to protect myself. We fought, and it was just like our sparring matches. Of course I had the upper hand, but I could not hurt him. He was my brother. I was foolish.”

He whistled a signal and suddenly we were not alone. I struggled against several foes. I was good but Saki was trained the same way I was. With help, he managed to wound me. Thinking I was down, he lit a fire. But I refused to let him get away, so I chased after him. I was able to knock him out, but I could not deal the killing blow. Instead I ran away before his people could attack in retaliation.”

My home was engulfed in flames. When I had tried to run back in to pull Tang Shen away, the doorway collapsed. I could not get in. All I have left of her is her tessen.”

I could not stay to mourn, the Foot clan were still in the area and I was injured. Before they could attack me again, I ran away. Later I learned while I was licking my wounds, the rest of my clan was attacked. My father was next, he did not survive either.”

With no friends or family, I left Japan with the plane tickets that were luckily in our car. I took whatever I had, which was not a lot, and I built a new life in America. I had a dojo for sometime, trying to pass down my family’s techniques. Until the night I was mutated, and had found you four.” He looked up at them with a sad smile. It was weak and didn’t stay on his face for long.

“I had thought that my troubles were far past me. I never expected Saki to come to New York. I don’t know what he’s planning, but it doesn’t matter. I may have failed my family once, but I won’t do it again. I don’t want any of you meeting him, ever. Although I look different, Saki is no fool, if he meets me he’ll know who I am. If he sees you fight, he’ll recognize the moves I have taught you. I will find a way to protect you, even if we must move away.”

“What?!” Donnie shouted.

“But dad-” Raph tried to protest, but Splinter interrupted him.

“No, it is too dangerous. It is either that, or you’ll not be allowed to leave the sewers without me. We find out where he resides, and none of you will be allowed in that part of the city.”

“So you’re just going to let him chase you away again?” Leo asked. “Kick you out of your own home!”

“If it were just me, I would not run again. But I have a family to protect, I cannot take the risk.”

“But he killed your father, he killed your fiance! How could you just let him get away with that?”

“Leonardo! I will speak of this no more!” Splinter sighed, putting his head in his hands. “This body does not fight as well as it used to. Perhaps it is a side effect of the mutagen, or perhaps it is because I am a rat, but it seems I have aged faster. Not to mention, if he realizes I am here, he’ll assume I will have tried to rebuild my clan. Our clan. He’ll come after you. I will never let that happen.”

“Master Splinter…” April said.

“And miss O’neil, I understand I am not your father and I cannot tell you what to do. But if you can, please try to avoid him and his people as much as possible. I do not want you to get hurt.”

Something stirred behind April’s eyes. “I understand,” she told him.

The air was still warm, despite it being fall. April started classes again and was too busy with homework to hang out, so the turtles decided to just run around the city. Their mask tails fluttered in the wind as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

Leo was in the front, as always, and Raph followed closely behind him. Donnie was behind him, followed by Mikey bringing up the rear. The stars were out tonight, not that they could see most of them thanks to the city lights. But a few managed to shine through the light pollution.

“Nothing beats the surface,” Mikey said, putting his hands behind his head as they slowed down to a stop.

“Fresh air,” Donnie agreed.

“Great food,” Leo added.

“Humans,” Raph growled, his scowl adding to his obvious disdain.

His three brothers groaned in unison, tired of the same old spiel. Despite coming to the surface so regularly, Raph just can’t get past his distrust of humans. 

“Dude, can’t you just chill?” Leo asked.

“Not all humans are bad,” Donnie reminded him, eyes half lidded.

“Like April!” Mikey added with a wide smile.

Raph threw his arms open. “Am I the only one that remembers humans fear us?”

Mikey’s smile became more sly, his brow creasing. “April doesn’t.”

“One human! Not everyone is like her!”

“How do you know? Bet we can make a new friend tonight!”

“Mikey-” Donnie tried to intervene before their brother blew his top. He could see where this was going.

“Seriously?! Do you want to be killed?” Raph cut him off.

Mikey folded his arms and closed his eyes. “Not gonna happen! I’m so lovable, no one would hurt me!” Raph punched his arm “OW! Leo!”

“Enough!” their oldest brother yelled. “Both of you! Cool it, Raph!”

“Me?!” Raph put his hands on his chest. “Tell shellhead that!”

“Me?! You’re the paranoid one!”

“Paranoid?! I should-” Raph took a step forward.

Leo got between the two of them and pushed them back, grabbing their shoulders. “I said stop!”

Raph turned around. “Whatever, I’m outta here.”

“Raph wait!” Donnie stepped forward as his brother ran off, but Leo blocked him with his arm.

“Let him go, he needs to cool off.”

Mikey rolled his eyes, arms crossed again. “Yeah, he’s got a short fuse.”

Leo glared at him. “You didn’t help.”

“You’re paying for tonight's pizza,” Donnie added.

“What? No fair!”

Raph was jumping rooftops again, the buildings were getting shorter so the jumps were easier. He grumbled under his breath as he ran, “Stupid Mikey, stupid Leo.”

He would have continued complaining as he ran to burn off his anger and energy, but a sharp scream caught his attention and he came to a halt. He hesitated before peaking over the edge, praying he wasn’t caught. 

In an alley, a woman was running away as a man in a hockey mask stood between her and three other men. He had a hockey stick in hand, another on his back held in a bag. The other men had their own weapons, one a crowbar, another a chain, and one just held his fists out but there was a glint coming off of his knuckles.

The one with the brass knuckles ran first, taking a swing. He was way too slow, and thankfully Hockey Mask wasn’t as he stepped out of the way, raising his stick. It came down on brass knuckle’s neck.

Chains whipped through the air at Mask, making Raph lean forward to get a better view. He knew he wanted him to win, but for some reason a part of him wanted to get down there and help, and it wasn’t just because he wanted to fight. It looked like fun.

The chains wrapped around the hockey stick, and Mask reached back to grab the second stick as the man with the crowbar charged him. He pulled it out just in time to intercept the crowbar with a loud crack that echoed through the alley.

Mask pulled on the stick that had the chain wrapped around it, making the man stumble forward. He was swiftly kicked right in the stomach before Mask spun around to the final standing man, once again blocking the crowbar. This time he used both sticks, he made sure they were faced inward as he trapped the weapon between the two sticks and tugged it down, also pulling down the attacking man.

The vigilante tossed one of his hockey sticks and punched Crowbar while he was standing back up, knocking him down.

Raph smiled as the fight finished, feeling satisfied after seeing those jerks get what was coming to them. He knew his brothers were right, not all humans are bad, but those three definitely were if they were harassing a lady.

He was going to keep moving, there was nothing here for him anyway, but he stopped and leaned over the edge of the building again when Mask raised his hockey stick again. All three of the guys were still down, and he was standing over one, ready to still do some serious damage.

Normally Raph couldn’t care less what happens to jerks like that, but for some reason he found himself jumping down and onto a fire escape, shouting, “Wait!”

Mask turned around as he reached the alley floor, ready to fight another thug. He clearly wasn’t expecting a short ninja turtle, as he took a step back to fully turn around. “What the?” he asked.

The man he was about to attack pushed himself up with a loud groan, almost making Raph roll his eyes. Mask turned back around and raised his stick again.

“Oh no you don’t,” he threatened, but right before he swung, Raph trapped the stick in one of his sai’s.

“You’re going too far,” he warned, glaring up at him.

“So you’re one of ‘em, are ya?” Mask turned to face him, slipping his stick out of the weapon.

“If you think that’s true you gotta get your eyes checked.” 

“Well I don’t know what kind of costume you’re wearing, but I don’t see any Purple Dragon on you. But that doesn’t explain why you’re helping them.”

Raph squinted his eyes and looked at the three men laid in front of him. Now that he was closer, he was able to see tattoos and embroidered dragons on them. Stupid Purple Dragon gang, they’ve been growing bigger lately and April has felt uneasy walking alone because of them.

Being down here also gave him a better look at this masked guy. His hockey mask was clearly custom made, whether he made it himself or ordered it. It wasn’t the normal oval, instead it was shaped like a skull. Sharpie made out the lines for the teeth on the bottom and asymmetrical nose holes in a skull.

His clothes were a bit ruffed up, patches covering holes in his sweats, a shoulder brace with a pad on it went over a green jacket vest on his left shoulder. His hair was black and all over the place, like he fell right out of an 80’s rock concert.

“I’m helping them cause I don’t like to watch murder,” Raph retorted.

“Then look away!” Hockey Mask swung at him. Raph ducked down and ran forward, twirling his sai’s in his hands.

He went to strike with the pummel of his weapon, but Mask jumped out of the way, dodging by centimeters. He walked to the side, posed for the next attack. Raph saw where he was going, to his other stick.

So he ran to intercept him and the makeshift weapon, this time Mask swung low at him. Raph frontflipped over it, landing perfectly between his attacker and the stick.

“I ain’t as dumb as these other guys,” Raph warned.

“You’re a better fighter too, kid. But don’t get cocky, why don’t you run on home and work on your Halloween costume some more.”

“Says the man wearing the ugliest hockey mask I’ve ever seen.” Raph ran forward, stopping only to block the hockey stick.

Mask twisted his way around Raph, pulling his weapon back and swinging again. “Ugly?! I made this myself!”

Raph blocked the blow again. “That’d explain why it looks so bad.” He caught the next blow in his sai. He twisted it so Mask couldn’t pull it back.

Still he tried, sidestepping low and grabbing his other hockey stick. Raph cursed himself for letting him get close to it. He tried to catch the stick as it swung at him, but it was just an inch too low for his sai, and it ended up hitting him hard enough in the plastron to knock the breath out of him.

“Look kid, I don’t feel comfortable beating up some random teen, so why don’t you get running?” The stranger asked as Raph stumbled back.

“I’m not a kid!” He ran forward again. As a stick swung at him, he caught it in one sai, and spun the other in his hand. With an uppercut, his sai’s pummel hit the masked man on the chin, which was just barely visible.

“Gah! Motherfucker that hurt!”

Raph rolled his eyes. “Uh, yeah, it’s supposed to.” Behind the man, he saw the dragon’s quietly getting up and running off. It was about time.

Just as the last one turned the corner, he slowed and turned around, shouting, “We’ll get ya next time, Jones!”

The masked man, Jones presumably, turned to see them run. “Dammit! Look what you did!”

“Uh, I kept you out of prison?” Raph shrugged before getting back in a fighting stance.

“You let them get away! If they hurt someone else, that’s on you!” Jones pointed at him before turning to run off.

“Wait a minute, we’re not done here!” Raph shouted and gave chase. As they reached the street, he saw that thankfully the purple dragons were no longer in sight, must be hiding. However Jones jumped on a bike, an engine quickly roaring to life before he kicked off.

Raph slowed down to a stop, gritting his teeth. There was no use in chasing him now, but he didn’t have to be happy about it.

~~~

April adjusted her backpack to ease the tension in her shoulders. Today was one of her busier days, three classes in one day. Luckily they weren’t too long, but they all had their own textbooks. Physical ones too, why not just switch over to digital? It makes things so much easier.

Thankfully the campus wasn’t too far away from her apartment, just a few blocks away. It was already dark out, so April was planning on heating up some leftovers and crashing in bed, maybe she’ll even put on a show if she doesn’t pass out immediately.

It didn’t seem like there were that many people out on this side of town. That was fine, less potential pickpockets to deal with. A few shops were already closed, most of the restaurants she passed were still open.

It would be nice if she could get something to eat freshly made by someone else. Maybe tomorrow, she doesn’t have as many classes tomorrow, though she will have lots of homework. After her morning class, she should get started on her research essay. That means looking for resources and organizing her arguments. Maybe even writing the first paragraph if she’s lucky. By the time she finishes that, her second and final class of the day should start. Yeah, tomorrow will be a better-

Someone ran right into April, breaking her out of her thoughts as she kept herself from falling into the street. She turned around, mouth already open to chew them out, but her voice got caught in her throat.

The man had run out from an alleyway, he was pretty skinny but way taller than her. He wore a black denim jacket, his long hair was dyed purple. When their eyes met, his expression changed from one of terror to a desperate smile.

In the split second she got a good look at him, he was grabbing her and pressing something solid against her head. She grabbed his arm which wrapped around her throat and shouted in surprise, trying to pull away from what she could only assume was a weapon.

“Don’t move or I’ll shoot her!” he warned, and April looked down the alley to see who he was talking to.

There was a man in a hockey mask and green vest. A bag was slung on his shoulder, and two hockey sticks were in his hand. He reminded her of the man Raph told her about a few weeks ago.

Around him, there were a few guys on the ground. More concerning were the ones who were still standing and surrounded him. The man in the hockey mask froze and April could swear she could see his eyes widen behind his mask.

“Let her go!” he shouted, taking a step forward. “She’s not part of this!”

“Not another step or her brains will splatter!” The gun was pressed harder against April’s head. She gasped in fear, on the verge of hyperventilating.

All she could do was look at the masked vigilante, not sure what she was asking him to do. The last thing she wanted was for someone to die, including her. She could feel his eyes on her as he lowered his weapons.

“Drop ‘em!”

He did, gaze back on the man holding her hostage. What April wouldn’t give to have her other friends show up.

One of the other men ran up from behind the masked man, raising his arms. April winced as his fists came down on the masked man, hitting right below the back of his neck. The vigilante fell to his knees, catching himself with his hands. But he didn’t make a move to get up.

They were going to kill him. She couldn’t let that happen, she couldn’t let someone die in front of her. April started breathing heavier, thinking of her options. She really only had three. Die, watch someone else die, or…

Biting on her lip, she let go of the man’s arm and raised her hand as fast as possible, hitting the hand that was holding the gun. He pulled the trigger and April screamed as the bullet went over her head.

The blast was deafening, and April felt dizzy as she pushed herself out of his arm. She wasn’t sure what to do now that she was free, but before the man could do anything to her, something came flying out of the alley and hit him square on the nose.

April realized it was a hockey stick, it was thrown like a spear and he was hit with the butt of it. As it fell, April grabbed it right as the heel hit the ground. She swung up as hard as she could, hitting the guy in the face once more.

His gun clattered to the ground just as he fell on his butt, screaming in pain and reaching for his face. April stayed frozen, snapping her head to the alley as the masked man tripped one of the other men before tucking his knees in and springing back to his feet with the other hockey stick in hand.

He smacked the other man in the neck, making him double over and choke for breath. April once again winced in sympathy, but took a step back as the masked man ran for her. She put a hand up to stop him, or maybe brace herself, but he took this opportunity to grab her hand and pull her away.

They started running down the street and it took April a moment to find her voice again. Once she did, she asked, “Wha- where are we going? What was that?! Who are you?!”

“I don’t know, Purple Dragons, not important,” the man answered.

“Purple Dra- the gang?!” She was not excited to run into them again. This is the second time she has, man she just has the worst luck.

There was a loud blast behind them and a bullet flew between the two of them, catching the masked man's crazy hair. April screamed in fear before the man pulled her into another alleyway. He turned at another corner, only to stop. Dead end.

“Shit, shit, okay,” he stepped between her and the entrance.

April looked around for something to do, still holding tightly to the hockey stick. She froze when her eyes landed on a manhole cover.

“Help me!” she told him, running to it and trying to pry it open. It was much harder than she anticipated, the turtles make it look easier than it really is.

“What-” he tried to ask, looking at her from the exit of the alleyway. He groaned before dropping down in front of her.

He grabbed onto the cover and together they got it off in no time. April wrinkled her nose but jumped in without hesitation, grabbing onto the ladder before she fell far. She dropped a few more rungs to make room for the masked man.

He climbed in quickly before her and pulled the manhole cover back on. They quietly climbed down the ladder and reached the concrete landing. When they reached the bottom, April heard him gag at the smell. No matter how many times she was down here, she couldn’t get used to the smell. How the others did it is beyond her.

She still shushed him. Right above them, they could hear loud footsteps.

“Where’d they go!” one of them shouted. “Where’d they fuckin’ go?!”

“Shit, did they go to another alley?”

“Go! Find them! I’ll kill that Jones guy myself!”

There were some more footsteps before it was finally quiet. April let out a breath, relaxing her shoulders. She turned to Jones and gave him a mean glare. Even though the lighting was dim, she got a better look at him now that they weren’t running from their lives. He was taller than her, and had a strong build. There were a few cuts on his arms but they were already drying.

She whisper-yelled, “What the hell was that?!”

“What?” He looked down from the manhole cover.

She gestured up. “That! Why were you fighting Purple Dragons, are you crazy?”

“No I’m not- I didn’t mean for-” he sighed, turning away from her. “Are you alright?”

“I had a gun to my head, no I’m not alright!”

“Are you hurt?!”

April stopped for a moment, letting herself focus on her body. Her lungs and legs ached and her hands were shaking, but that was it. “No, I’m not hurt. Now are you gonna answer my questions? Or are you just gonna keep avoiding them?”

“I think I’ll do the latter.”

“Oh come on, I was held hostage because of you! I think I deserve some answers.”

“They’re Purple Dragons, I don’t think I need a reason to fight them.”

She stared at him with wide eyes before nodding. “Got it, you’re crazy.” She turned around and started looking for some familiar landmarks. “Can I at least get your name?”

“Can’t I get yours first, Miss reporter?” he snapped back.

“April O’neil. Now yours.”

He sighed once more, raising his head to look up as his shoulders dropped. “Casey Jones. So, are we gonna stay here and wait for them to leave the area? Cause that could take hours, and it stinks down here.”

“No.” April took out her phone and turned on the flash. “There should be another way out. I just don’t want to pop out somewhere unfamiliar. Luckily I’m uh, a bit familiar with the sewer system thanks to some friends.”

“What kind of friends hang out in New York sewers? Frogs?”

That made April chuckle a little. “No but you’re not too far off.”

Casey frowned from behind his mask but followed as April started to lead the way. They didn’t walk very far before he felt his hair rise on his neck. There was the sound of four splashes that made him twist his head before wrapping his hand around April’s phone, killing the light.

“Hey-” she tried to argue, but he grabbed her and pulled her close to the wall, shushing her.

“We’re not alone,” he warned.

April held her breath before looking around herself. She saw two shadows, but the harder she looked, the more familiar they were. She couldn’t help but snort in amusement. 

“What? What is it?” Casey asked.

She just pulled herself away. “Oh nothing.”

“Yeah, it’s nothing,” a new voice said from behind Casey.

He jumped and turned around, swinging the hockey stick. It clanked against wood. April turned the phone flashlight to reveal Donnie and Mikey standing behind them. Mikey was smiling, and Donnie was rolling his eyes.

“What the!” Casey shouted and stepped back. “Where the heck did you come from?”

“Hey April,” Donnie greeted, ignoring Casey. “What brings you around here?”

“Yeah, we were just about to come see you when we heard your voice,” another voice behind them spoke up. They turned around to see Leo and Raph, the shadows April saw earlier.

She frowned slightly when she saw Raph scowling, glaring at Casey.

“What’s he doing here,” Raph asked, pointing his sai at Casey. The masked man held his hockey stick tighter.

“It’s you! I know you,” he growled.

“Yeah, and I know you too.”

April went between the two. “That’s enough, we are not fighting down here. I don’t care what you do out of the sewers on your own time, but we’re not doing this right now.”

Leo, of course it would be Leo, was the first to sense something was off. “What’s going on?”

“We were being chased by Purple Dragons, we just barely got away in time,” April answered.

“Purple Dragons again?” Mikey asked. “What is with those guys?”

“I think they’ve gotten bigger,” Donnie said. “Their territory has expanded, but what about the other gangs? Are they stronger now?”

“Okay what the heck is going on?” Casey interrupted their conversation. “Who are these… kids?”

April tried to speak up, but Raph beat her. “We’re ninja, so if you so much as tell your mom about us, we’ll find you and keep you quiet.”

“Oh yeah, I’d like to see you try. If I recall, I won our last fight.”

“Yeah, as if running away is winning.”

“Stop it, both of you!” April told them. “I said no fighting, what part of no fighting do you not understand?! I can’t think with all this yelling. Now let’s just-”

She froze when they heard metal slide against metal. Light cast down from the manhole cover, and someone poked their head in. Once he saw them, he pulled his head up and they heard a shout. “I found ‘em! There’s more now!”

“Goddamn it!” Casey moved to the front. “You guys go, I’ll hold ‘em back!”

“Like hell I’m gonna run away from a fight!” Raph said, moving in front of him as the Purple Dragons started entering the sewers.

“Raph wait!” Leo shouted, pulling out his swords. Casey gave chase after Raph did, and Leo quickly followed.

More than three Purple Dragons entered, they must have gotten back up or their buddies woke back up. Maybe even both.

When April saw the skinny guy who held her at gunpoint, and she couldn’t help but feel satisfied to see he was covered in blood from a nosebleed. Whether she gave him that or Casey didn’t matter, though she told herself that she had a hand in it.

“You should stay back,” Donnie warned before he and Mikey went to join in on the fight. 

She did just that, she couldn’t help but feel useless. Not that there was much for her to do. Raph and Casey were fighting like demons, spearheading the fight. Leo seemed to realize they wanted to fight, so he and his brothers just played as back up. Not letting them sneak up on the two hotheads or go after April.

“Bet I can take down more than you,” Raph egged Casey on, a smile creeping up on his face as he took one of the men down.

“Please, it won’t even be a challenge, short stack,” Casey shot back, smacking someone with the flat part of the hockey stick’s toe.

“I told you earlier, we’re ninja.”

“Kid ninja frogs? Yeah, real frightening.”

Raph hit someone in the face with the butt of his sai. “We’re turtles!”

“And teenagers!” Mikey added as he moved low and hit the back of someone's knee with his nunchuck.

“Okay he might be a kid,” Raph admitted, hitting the guy Mikey knocked over in the back of the head. “He’s only thirteen.”

“Hey! I’m officially a teenager now!”

“Mikey!” Leo shouted, pushing him down before a loud blast echoed through the tunnel. “Pay attention to the fight!”

The man with the gun was the same skinny guy from before. Casey smacked the gun out of his hand, which clattered into the sewage. That seemed to be the only gun in the fight. Raph then tackled the guy to the ground. “That’s my brother!” he shouted before punching the guy.

As soon as he was out cold, Raph got back up and went back to back with Casey. There weren’t that many men left so Donnie and Mikey stood on the sidelines. Leo joined them as soon as he finished the last man he was fighting.

With only two men left, Casey and Raph were the only ones left fighting them. Casey swung his hockey stick up, hitting the guy in the chin. At the same time, Raph punched his dude in the stomach before bringing his fists down on his head as he doubled over.

They both turned to each other and shouted, “I got four!” at the same time.

Casey frowned, “How’d you get four? I don’t believe it!”

Raph crossed his arms. “Well I’m just that good.”

“Yeah right, I have a hard time believing a kid tied with me.”

“Well you better believe it!”

Leo rolled his eyes. “That’s enough, boys.”

Raph huffed and put his sai’s away. Casey put his sticks away before rolling his shoulder. “Oh well, guess you guys fought pretty good for a bunch of frogs.”

“Tur-tles,” Raph hissed. “But you did pretty good too for a meathead.”

“So what do we do with these guys?” He gestured to the knocked out dragons.

Leo stepped in, “We should leave them for the police. That way we get them off the street and no one has a vendetta against any of us.”

“Not that anyone would believe them about you guys,” April said. “How are you guys going to get them up out of the sewers?”

“Well… I don’t think we have to. We’ll just call the police and say we heard a fight coming from a storm drain in the alley.”

“Well, less work for us I suppose.” April turned to Casey, eyeing him under her phone’s flashlight. With better lighting, she spotted a familiar green emblem on his shirt, just barely hiding under his vest on the left side of his chest. It was in the shape of a shield with a book in it and it was surrounded by a leafy wreath. “You should be heading home, if you don’t keep your grades up, you might not be able to play in the upcoming hockey game.”

Casey sighed, “Yeah, I- Wait what? What are you talking about?”

“You go to Eastlaird University, don’t you? I just guessed you played for the hockey team. Do they let you wear your custom hockey mask? Or is that just for vigilante stuff?”

He covered the emblem with his vest when he noticed her eyes bounce to it. “I could be a graduate.”

“You seem too young for that. Besides, you already admitted it. Guess I’ll be going to the next hockey game, Jones.” She walked past him and grabbed onto the ladder, the turtles quickly following her. Mikey and Leo were giggling.

“Nothing gets past her,” Donnie mumbled under her breath.

“Try not to wear anything that reveals your identity anymore,” Leo advised. “If she can figure it out, someone else can.”

Casey waited for them to have climbed up enough before following. Out of all the things he was expecting tonight, this was definitely not one of them.

“If I’m gonna be seeing you guys, can I at least get your names?” he asked once they reached street level.

Raph reached out a hand to help pull him out of the manhole. “I’m Raphael. Big blue over there is Leo.”

“I’m Donnie.”

“And I’m Mikey!” he ran up to him. “I knew there were more humans that wouldn’t hate us! Told you, Raph!”

“The first thing he did when he met me was pick a fight,” Raph argued. “But I guess that was because of a misunderstanding. We can’t all be smart.”

“Yeah you’re not either,” Donnie told him.

“Well, I’m gonna go home and take a shower. Try to forget the smell of sewage. Guess I’ll be seeing you all, fighting Purple Dragons and all that.”

“Don’t be a stranger dude,” Raph told him. “And stay out of jail. That means don’t kill anyone.”

“Yeah yeah, no promises on jail though.”

“Look! It’s an iguana with a top hat!” Mikey pulled it out of the dumpster and shoved it in Raph’s face. The older turtle wrinkled his nose at it and pushed it down. Mikey’s brightly colored nails popped against the old wrinkled skin that had real stitches in it.

“You know that’s taxidermied, right? It’s a real iguana?”

“Cool!” Mikey set it down and dived back in, no longer in Raph’s vision as he continued to search. Something tore inside the dumpster and Mikey gagged, “Oh gross, old food.”

“Yeah you’re gonna find a lot of that in there. Do not eat it unless you want Donnie to go all doctor on you. I will tell him.”

He heard a raspberry being blown at him. “Just because I’ll eat a lot of stuff doesn’t mean I’ll eat random sludge I found in a bag. I’m not that gross.”

“Sorry, I just don’t have faith in you.” He shrugged and looked back towards the street. He waited for the familiar silhouette of the pizza scooter to come into sight. He kept his hood up, a medical mask on, and his red ninja one off.

Coming up to the surface made him nervous, he never liked doing it. Yes the fresh air is nice, but it is New York, how nice is it really? It was only a little better from the sewers. Plus there are so many people, they always call for the pizza to be far away from the busier parts of the city, but Mikey loves to drop by whenever he can convince his brothers.

They’re not allowed to go out without disguises, Raph looks most similar to humans since he’s the only one that doesn’t have green skin. His skin is dark brown, but the red spots, three fingers, and shell are a dead give away that he’s not normal. Mikey has a dark green skin that you can’t really see in the dark, but up close it’s obvious, especially with his yellow spots.

If they actually went to the more active parts of the city, even the night couldn’t protect them thanks to all those billboards and lights. Which is why Raph wants to avoid it as much as possible, and why he really tried to convince the others to tell Mikey to stay. He’ll just have to be able to convince Mikey not to drag him to that part of the city.

Humans are not safe, no matter how much Mikey wants them to be.

“Is the pizza here yet?” Mikey asked. “I’m getting really hungry.”

“Not yet, I’ll let you know when. Just keep searching for… what are you searching for?” 

“Something cool for Donnie. I… may or may not have dropped my phone in the tunnels and I need him to fix it for me.” Mikey popped his head out with a sheepish smile. His mask was bright against his face, making his red eyes pop out even more.

“You really need some wire tied around that thing. How many phones have you broken this year?”

“Hey! I’m only on my third!”

“It’s not even fall yet!”

Mikey groaned, rolling his eyes. “I’ll be more careful this year. My goal is under five!”

“Yeah and Donnie might help with that by giving you an old flip phone, or no phone at all. You gotta be more careful with that stuff, or you’ll never be allowed out of the tree alone.”

“Blah blah blah, whatever,” he went back to searching.

Raph sighed and rubbed his arms, looking back towards the street. He tensed up when a door on the side of the building opened and a woman walked out, carrying a trash bag and looking down at her phone.

“Human, Mikey stay down!” he whisper-yelled, ducking behind the dumpster. He shimmied in between it and the wall, shell scraping against brick. He held his breath and heard Mikey stop rummaging around.

It doesn’t seem like the human noticed them, thank goodness they’re all so distracted by their phones. It has saved them more times than he can count.

Footsteps came closer and Raph’s heart started to race as they stopped in front of the dumpster. He heard a sad sigh and a small “Whatever,” as she lifted her trash bag and threw it in.

It hit the dumpster hard and Raph gasped when he heard a quiet “Ow.”

The human’s feet stopped just as she was turning away. A few quiet seconds passed and she muttered, “What the…?”

Mikey looked up just in time to see the human look in. She had giant red glasses and a yellow beanie on, curly red hair surrounded her dark skin. Her eyes widened when they locked eyes. He froze, holding his breath, and she seemed to do the same.

“Uh… s-sorry,” she stuttered, her eyes jumping all over him. “I uh… what- did you-”

“It’s cosplay! I am uh… a ninja kappa?” Mikey quickly came up with an excuse, waving his hands to show he meant no harm.

“Three fingers. How did you- a cosplay?” she reached in to touch his hand.

“Mikey!” Raph shouted, climbing out from his hiding spot and pointing his sai at the human. She pulled back and took a step away, her hand going to her pocket and she pulled out a pepper spray. “Back off!”

“Me?! You rushed out at me!” she shot back.

“Raph stop! She wasn’t going to hurt me!” Mikey climbed out of the trash, grabbing his brother’s shoulder. The woman’s eyes widened when she saw the shell “Sorry, he’s just overprotective.”

“Overprotective?! She's a stranger! What if she hurts you?!”

“See! Overprotective. I’m Mikey! What’s your name?” He held out a hand to the human.

She hesitated but grabbed his hand. “April. Uh… what are you?”

“What do you mean? We’re human just like you!” he pulled his hand away.

“Uh huh… Sure.” She glanced at Raph, who was still glaring at her. “So uh, where are you from?”

“Sewers,” he answered without hesitation. Raph turned his glare to him. “Uh, I mean, Manhattan?”

April laughed, “Well the city is just as dirty.”

“Prettier though! Man! You’re the first person we’ve ever talked to- outside of the main parts of the city I mean.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “Really? Well, I just moved here so you’re the first people I’ve officially met, aside from my landlord.”

“What’d you move here for?” Raph could see Mikey practically beaming as he talked longer.

“Moved out for college. I should be heading back up though, it was nice to meet you!”

“Yeah, nice to meet you!” Mikey waved as she turned away and started walking back. As soon as she was out of sight, he turned to Raph with a giant smile. “We talked to a human! A real human!”

“We’ve talked to the pizza people on the phone before,” Raph growled. “I don’t like her.”

“You don’t like anyone. I can’t wait to tell the others!”

“What?! No way, they’ll kill me for letting this happen! And you’ll never be allowed to the surface ever again!”

Mikey waved him off. “Maybe if I tell dad, but not Leo or Donnie! Maybe she can be our first friend!”

Raph scoffed. “Yeah right. Friend.”

~~~

Whenever they left the tree, Mikey would try to stop by the same alley to see if April was there. Donnie was interested, and so was Leo, but he seemed more nervous about it. Occasionally Mikey would leave on his own, sneaking out without the others knowing to see her. It took weeks for him to catch her again.

That night he hadn’t snuck out as well as he thought he did. He was climbing down a fire escape near the dumpster, sitting down out of sight. After a few minutes of nothing happening, something heavy hit the fire escape from above. He looked up to see familiar purple leg warmers.

“Did you follow me?” he asked with a huff.

“Did you really sneak out of the lair again?” Donnie asked, making his way to him.

“What do you mean again? This is my first time!”

As his brother reached him, he pulled out his phone to show a video. It was Mikey sneaking down a sewer tunnel, looking around him. Donnie swiped to show another one, and another, and again, and again.

“Okay okay, when did you get the camera system?” Mikey crossed his arms. “And where are they all set up exactly?”

“I had set them up a few months ago. And I’m not going to tell you where they all are, you’ll just avoid them.” Donnie put his phone away. “So, is this where you’ve been sneaking out to? What are you doing here?”

“Remember when I told you about that human we met a few weeks ago? I’ve been trying to see her again!” He turned back to the street. “She has to live nearby, maybe I’ll get lucky again!”

“Have you seen her since?”

Mikey deflated. “No. I hope I will soon, she was really nice! She didn’t seem freaked out that we were turtles! Though I told her it was a cosplay. She was scared when Raph pulled out his sai. Maybe she doesn’t want to see us again. He probably scared her away.”

Donnie frowned at his brother's attitude change. “Hey, cheer up, maybe you’ll see her tonight!” He looked towards the street and saw someone turn into the alley. “Maybe that’s her?”

“Yeah right, she’s not gonna be the first person to show up- oh my gosh it is her!” Mikey jumped up before leaping over the railing.

“Mikey!” Donnie shouted, going down the rest of the fire escape before doing the same.

The human- April, jumped back when Mikey landed. She seemed to recognize him and rushed over. “Oh my god, are you alright?!”

Mikey sprung back up from his landing stance. “Oh don’t worry, it wasn’t a tallfall! And I am a ninja after all. It’s great to see you again!”

April laughed in relief, “Thank goodness, are you sure you’re fine.” She glanced over to Donnie, who straightened his stance and held his breath awkwardly.

“Yeah I am! Oh, this is my brother, Donnie! He’s… also in a turtle cosplay.”

Donnie, still standing stiff, gave her a wave. “Hi?”

April waved back. “Right, the ninja… what was it?”

“Kappa! Japanese turtle monsters, but we’re good kappa!”

“Right, sounds familiar. How old did you kids say you were?”

Donnie slowly walked up to her. “Uh, I’m thirteen, Mikey’s twelve.”

“What? Oh my god, where are your parents? What are you doing out so late? Don’t you know it’s dangerous for you to be out in the dark?”

“I already told you, we’re ninjas!” Mikey took off his nunchucks and swung them around.

“I thought you were cosplayers?”

Donnie interjected, “We are! But we’ve also learned how to use our weapons. Our father is a martial artist.”

“And he’ll go all martial art on our shells if he knows we snuck out,” Mikey added unhelpfully. 

“Uh huh, so it might be best if you head on home before he notices.”

“He won’t notice! We kinda do this all the time. Once he falls asleep, that is, sometimes he stays up late and we can’t sneak off.”

“And your mom?”

Donnie shook his head, “We don’t have one.”

April stopped short. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“No don’t be, we never had a mom. Our dad actually adopted us, we don’t really know the story though.”

Mikey opened his mouth to say something but his (new) phone buzzed. He looked down to see a message from his father. “Aw man, we did get caught.” He showed the message to Donnie.

Donnie quickly checked his own phone to see a similar one. “Guess we won’t be leaving home anytime soon.”

“Man, and just when we ran into you again,” Mikey pouted. “You’re like, our first friend.”

April frowned. “You don’t have any friends your age?”

“It’s too dangerous for us to leave home,” Donnie explained. “We’re um… not from here.”

“Oh… I think I get it. Then here, give me your phone.” She held out her hand. Donnie handed his first, and she typed something in before handing it back. “There, now you have my phone number. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Really?” Mikey bounced on his feet. “Wahoo! First friend!”

“Thanks! It was nice meeting you!” Donnie said, turning to leave. “Come on, if we’re not back home soon, dad will kill us.”

“Stay safe you two!”April called.

~~~

Over the next few months, Donnie and Mikey would sneak out to meet up with April. Occasionally she had food for them, which was great because it wasn’t always easy finding money in the sewers to pay for pizza or any other take out. They would bring home extras for the others, coming up with an excuse.

Leo wouldn’t meet her for a while until he snuck out after them one night, doing the same thing Donnie did to Mikey. He was really curious about the human himself, so he wasn’t as upset, but he made sure not to let Raph know what they were doing.

“Why haven’t you introduced her to me before?” Leo asked. “I need to make sure she’s actually safe to be around.”

“Probably because of that. We don’t need a Raph 2.0 watching us,” Mikey said.

“It also just hasn’t come up,” Donnie added.

“Oh, there she is! April!” Mikey waved over.

She laughed when she saw them, a bag of take out on her arm. “I’m here, I’m here.” Her hair has been growing out, black growing from the roots. She’s been wearing a new jacket too, a bright yellow one. Today her shirt was a Captain Mask shirt, a cartoon they watched. “Who’s this?”

“This is our older brother, Leo!” Donnie introduced.

“Ah, another ninja kappa. Why do you always come in those cosplays? I can’t imagine how much money you spend on the full body paint.” She gave them a skeptical look.

“It’s like our second skin,” Mikey giggled.

Leo looked her up and down, his eyes lingered on her shirt for a moment. “So you’re the person my brothers have told me so much about?”

“And you’re the one brother I had yet to meet. Great to finally do so, Leo. I’m April.” She held out her free hand.

Leo took it, catching sight of a bracelet with lots of charms hanging off. Batman, Spiderman, a lightsaber, a Captain Mask helmet. “So… you’re a nerd?”

“Leo!” Donnie pushed him.

April laughed harder, “I guess you could say that. You don’t have much room to speak though, considering the outfit. All of your cosplays look so real! The details on the shells are amazing, did you make them or commission them?”

“Oh- uh, I guess Mikey and I worked pretty hard on them,” Donnie said, looking anywhere but her.

“Anyway,” Leo interjected. “I see you’re a fan of Mask?”

“Only the biggest.” April opened the bag of take out and started handing it to them. Mikey plopped down on the floor and opened a box of dumplings. “I’ve seen all the iterations.”

“Even the 90’s live action?” Leo questioned.

“Which one? The movies or the show?”

“The show of course, the movies are classics! Not many people know about the show.”

“Probably for the better, but it did have some really good moments and ideas! If only they had a bigger budget and a few more writers.”

Mikey and Donnie exchanged glances, already starting on their food, this was gonna be a long night of listening to these two talk about Leo’s favorite show. They talked about their favorite iteration and characters, the worst plots and the best. The rest of the food was cold long before they made their way back home. Leo was definitely a fan of her.

~~~

Yoshi was no fool, he noticed his sons leaving their home more and more often. Earlier and earlier into the night too, which was making him nervous. Often he would stop them from leaving just to have them wait a little longer, making them nervous too.

Funny enough, Raph never seemed happy to leave. He refused to let the others go on their own though, he was always an anxious boy. Maybe he’s worried about his brothers getting into trouble.

Whenever Yoshi asked what they were doing or where they were going, they would come up with a whole array of excuses. The skatepark, a playground, food run, or just leaving to get some fresh air. It would be normal if they truly were doing these things, but most of the time they seemed to be flustered to have been caught. Leo and Donnie would always assure him that they would be safe, take the normal routes, and stay out of sight. Raph would promise to keep them from the busy parts of the city.

Yoshi still couldn’t help but worry about them. He was too old to leave the sewers as often as them, he would only leave when they were running low on food. Aside from that, most of his energy was put in training them and taking care of them home.

However with how often they were leaving to get food, he had more time to himself to relax. So with nothing to do, and more energy than usual, he followed them out one night. It was easier than it should have been, they were too busy joking with each other to notice they were being followed. He’ll have to have them train with their senses more. They may just be children but just existing is dangerous for them.

He followed them across rooftops on the other side of the street, watching them jump and do dangerous flips one after the other. They made it across each one flawlessly, and Yoshi couldn’t stop himself from feeling some pride. They were turning out to be such good ninjas, better than he was at their age.

Eventually they jumped into an alleyway and didn’t come back out. Yoshi frowned and went to the ground floor himself. Through the shadows on the other side of the street, he barely saw them sitting all over a fire escape. They must be taking a break, but they shouldn’t have been winded so soon. Yoshi has noticed they are stronger and have more stamina than any other human child. Perhaps due to their mutation?

Looking both ways down the street, he waited for a car to pass before rushing across it, running to the front of the building. He was trying to act natural since there were a few other people around. It was an apartment complex with a few stores on the bottom floor, just like the surrounding ones.

He went to the alley on the other side of the building, planning on climbing up the fire escape on that side to get closer to his sons. However there was a group of humans already in the alley, the scent of alcohol and cigarettes coming from them. He could see chains and crowbars near them, a bad feeling formed in his gut. 

Yoshi quickly ducked back behind the wall and went back to his sons, pulling on his hood. His sons weren’t safe here, they should keep moving, he needs to warn them. They were too young to defend themselves!

“Leonardo, Raphael!” he called as he ran into the alley. Those two were the oldest, they were in charge of their brothers when they were out.

All four of them turned to him, eyes peeking over the railing. “Dad?” Leo asked, climbing over the railing and dropping each level until he finally hit the floor. “What are you doing here?”

“Nevermind that, there’s a group of unsafe humans nearby. You shouldn’t stop so in the open!” Yoshi urged, “You need to keep moving, or at least rest on top of the buildings where you won’t be seen.”

“Oh, uh, sure, we’ll do that.” Leo looked up to his brothers, fidgeting with his gloves. Yoshi squinted at him, noticing how anxious he was acting.

Mikey jumped to the last level on the fire escape, leaning off the railing. “Did you follow us?”

“Is a father not allowed to worry about his children? You all have been leaving home more than usual. What is it you do here in this alleyway?”

The brothers exchanged some guilty glances. Donnie spoke up, “Well, uh, this is the spot we order our food to. We like to wait here.”

“You shouldn’t be interacting with humans so much, what if they realize you’re not normal? Besides, we don’t have a lot of money to spare, and we have food at home.”

Mikey frowned. “How do you know humans are so dangerous? Have you ever met any? What if some of them were nice?”

“Michelangelo, I will not argue about this with you. Either get to the roof of this building, or you all are coming home, now. And we will be having a talk when you do.” Yoshi folded his arms and started tapping his foot.

Raph flicked the back of Mikey’s head and they all started to climb the fire escape. They moved slowly, clearly upset. None of them were excited to have that talk with Yoshi , he may force them to tell him what they’ve really been doing.

However they were only able to climb a few flights before they heard a scream come from the street, making them freeze. “Let me go!”

“That’s April!” Leo shouted, already jumping back down.

“Leonardo! Wait!” Yoshi called, but he was already running towards the street. His brothers followed without a word, making Yoshi panic before following them.

Leo turned the corner to see April being held by her arm by one of five men. He didn’t have his swords on him, he often doesn’t because he never thinks he’ll need them, but they were trained in hand to hand combat first.

So he rushed in and jumped kicked the guy closest to him. He wore a jacket with a dragon on the back, twisting around in loops.

“Hey!” the guy next to him shouted, raising his crowbar. This one had a piercing on the side of his left ear and a purple dragon crawling up the other side of his neck.

Leo raised his arm to block the blow, but it never hit him. Instead it got stuck in Raph’s sai. His brother twisted it, tearing it from the bigger man’s grip, before stomping on his foot.

The guy holding April let her go as his friend jumped back in pain. He had a pony tail and there was another purple dragon on him, this time a piercing climbing up his ear. What was with this theme?

Before he could do anything Donnie came between him and everyone else, hitting him in the chest with the end of his bo staff. Piercing dude stumbled back, grabbing his chest.

The other two, one with a dragon on the side of his face and the other with twin dragons climbing up his jacket sleeves, came forward to grab Leo and Donnie. Mikey came in low, hitting him in the stomach with a punch, not even bothering to use his nunchucks. Leo grabbed the other guy’s arm before he could grab him, using all his weight to throw him over the shoulder onto the ground.

The first guy was getting up, but before anyone could advance, Yoshi appeared on his shoulders. He pinched a nerve on the man’s neck, making him fall down. As he did, Yoshi jumped off of him and kicked the man that Raph was facing square in the chin.

Donnie gasped as he was grabbed from behind, and arm snaking around his neck and cutting off his air. 

“Donnie!” April pushed herself off the wall where she was cornered before punching him in the nose. As he let go of the turtle, she pushed him against his shell towards his family and pulled out her pepper spray. The man screamed a curse as the red mist crashed into his face.

Leo pulled Donnie closer to himself before April turned around, grabbing his arm. “Come on!” she shouted, leading the way to the alley way. She put her pepper spray away and pulled out her keys.

“Don’t let them run!” they heard one of them say.

Another shouted, “Stop freaks!”

April reached the door in the alleyway, quickly unlocking it with her key. Everyone ran inside, including Yoshi who was watching her very carefully. She shut the door as fast as she could and locked it behind her. There was a loud bam against the door and an angry shout.

April took deep breaths, her hands shaking as she stepped back from the door. “Fu-udge,” she was about to mutter a curse before remembering the teens in her presence. She quickly turned to them, noticing the rat flinching and trying to put himself in front of them. “Are you guys okay?”

Leo and Raph looked at Donnie, who spoke up first. “We’re fine, are you?”

April nodded, but as she opened her mouth to say anything else, Yoshi spoke first. “Who are you? You said my sons name earlier, how do you know them?”

“Son?” April asked. Then as the realization hit her, her eyes sparkled. “Oh my goodness! You’re their father I’ve heard so much about, it’s great to finally meet you!”

“You… what?” Yoshi turned to the others for answers. None of them looked him in the eyes, finding the stained hallway carpet or off white walls more interesting.

“Wait, did none of them tell you about me?” April also looked at them, all of them looking more and more guilty, even Raph. “I know you guys say he didn’t like humans, but come on! He’s your father! You guys gushed about him so much!”

Yoshi turned away from them and to April as more banging came from the door. “Is there somewhere else we can talk?”

“Uh, sure.” She squeezed past everyone and led them through the hallway. It was quite cramped, only one turtle could walk ahead at a time, Yoshi just barely fit next to Raph. They went up a few flights of stairs before April stopped at a door and unlocked it.

For as small and uncomfortable the rest of the building was, the room wasn’t too bad. It was bigger than Yoshi’s old apartment. Still, the living room and the kitchen were combined, but at least the bedroom wasn’t also combined with it.

“Would anyone like something to drink? I got water, tea, and soda,” April offered.

“We’re good for now,” Yoshi said. His boys looked at him strangely, he has never turned down the offer for tea before. “What was it you said your name was, young lady?”

“Oh, right.” She stopped going through her cabinets and leaned against her counter as the boys got settled, either on the ground or the couch. “I’m April O’neil. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and I have a few myself.”

“We weren’t trying to hide anything from you, either of you, it’s just-” Donnie started speaking, but Yoshi raised a hand to him.

“How long have my boys known you for?” he asked.

April took a deep breath to think. “A few months now, towards the end of summer? I just moved in here and started classes.”

“Ah, so you’re a college student?”

April nodded. “Yeah, just started. Freshman year so… my parents managed to keep me out of the dorms, luckily.”

“I see, and what degree are you going for?”

“A communications degree. I’m trying to be a reporter but, I don’t know, we’ll see how that goes. Oh! But I promise I have no plans of telling the world about, well, you all.” She gestured to them. “I just, I don’t know. Your sons were the first people I’ve met here and it seemed like they needed a friend? It must be hard meeting people while being… whatever you guys are.”

“I told you we’re cosplayers!” Mikey reminded her.

She gave him a look. “Mike, you should know by now I can sniff out a lie almost anywhere. I know you guys aren’t human.”

Raph scoffed. “Then why aren’t you afraid of us? Shouldn’t you be?”

April shrugged. “Should I? You guys seem pretty friendly. I like your company. It’s… nice to not be around so much normal. Though, New York is anything but normal.”

“Well, I thank you for helping my sons,” Yoshi told her. “I have much to think about, and much to discuss with them.”

“I should be thanking you guys for saving me! You all were awesome! Especially you, Mr. Hamato! I know you’re wary around humans, and I understand why. But feel welcome to come back here, okay? Just shoot me a text and I’ll bring you guys up.”

Yoshi smiled at her. “You’re a very kind girl. I won’t stop my sons from visiting you, as long as they tell me about it and any other human friends they have.” He gave them all a look, Leo laughed nervously. “Oh and, there’s no need to call me Hamato. Although it is my family name, I have no ties to who I once was. Please, call me Splinter.”

“It was great meeting you. I can show you to the fire escape, those men still might be out there and I don’t want anything to happen.”

“That would be greatly appreciated. I do not like running into that Purple Dragon gang. Nasty people.”

April laughed and nodded in agreement, bringing them back to the hallway. She opened the window to the fire escape, which thankfully didn’t have an alarm attached to it. They all climbed up, waving their goodbyes.

Raph went last and paused for a moment, giving her a look. “Thanks for helping Don. I guess you’re not the worst human.”

“That means a lot coming from you. Stay safe, okay?”

“You too.” He ducked out of the window and April closed it, watching them leave before heading back to her room.

A week had passed, and Yoshi was doing his best to take care of the strange creatures. They didn’t ask to be mutated like this, someone had to care of them. He got a few books from the library, thank goodness it had a self check out so the people there wouldn’t have to see his mutated form. He picked up a book about turtles, as well as one on parenting. Could this be considered parenting? They were animals, but they acted like human children.

Lettuce was a good choice to feed turtles, so he made sure to buy some, as well as some other foods they could eat, a good mix of vegetables and meat. Leaving the turtles on their own was nerve wracking but he had no other choice. It wasn’t like he could get a babysitter. 

Unfortunately the babies were picky, and didn’t appreciate the lettuce. It didn’t help that it was a few weeks old now, luckily it wasn’t rotten. Still, they didn’t like it as much as they did at first, or maybe they were just tired of the same stuff.

The box turtle- he decided to name it Michelangelo, was refusing to eat it today. Yoshi had picked him up and was trying to hand feed him, but Mikey kept pushing it away and made a disgusted face.

“I know, I know, it’s not fresh,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of money right now, we just have to make due.” It was true that they were going to be tight on money, it wasn’t going to be easy finding a new job as he is now. 

As adorable as the babies were, Yoshi really missed his students and dojo. He had to email all the parents that there will be no lessons this week again, and possibly never again. Maybe the strange goo will wear off? Or there could be some sort of cure? Yoshi wasn’t sure, it seemed unlikely. He couldn’t go to anyone about it either, there was no police or government help. 

Even if it didn’t get him and the turtles killed, he's an immigrant and would be deported back to Japan. As much as he would love to go home, it wasn’t the same, and it definitely wasn’t safe.

Now his life here will never be the same again. Chances are he’ll never see his dojo or students, no parent would be okay with a rat sensei. To help with the money, he may have to sell it.

~~~

Selling the dojo and most items in it bought them a few months. They were able to buy some groceries, though Yoshi has been eating less to support the baby turtles. He was getting smaller too, at first he thought it was because he was skipping meals, but his height was rapidly declining. The babies also seemed to be getting bigger, perhaps it was the strange goo doing this.

He’s been reading more books on parenting and turtles, and doing his best to care for them. Unfortunately, money was still a huge problem. He couldn’t afford rent anymore, and has missed several payments. 

On a slow afternoon, while he and the turtles were napping together, a loud knocking woke him up. It certainly wasn’t a happy knock, whoever they were, they were banging against the door.

Two of the babies had been woken up as well, the sea turtle and red footed tortoise, the latter hissing. Yoshi got up and went to the door, not yet answering. He waited until he could hear footsteps walk away. When he looked through the peephole, no one was there.

He opened the door, hearing paper flutter as he did so. His shoulders dropped when he saw the eviction notice. Sighing, his eyes scanned the paper, this was coming sooner or later. He had three days to leave.

“I suppose it’s time to find a new home,” he told the turtles.

Over the next three days, he went over what he could carry. He had nowhere to go, no one to rely on, so he had to pack light. After all, he will be sleeping on the streets with four mutated creatures, he won’t be able to stay in one place for long.

He took mementos, books, pictures, and weapons he brought with him from Japan. He was still surprised he was able to get those past security, but he wasn’t about to escape unarmed. He took some clothes, food, and anything he needed and could stuff into a duffle bag and backpack.

The babies had grown quite a bit and they wouldn’t be able to fit into the pet carrier anymore. So he put them in the backpack, putting it on so the bag was against his chest. He kept the zipper open, but made sure they wouldn’t climb out.

The streets certainly weren’t luxury, they were cold thanks to the weather and disgusting. They hid during the day, and Yoshi went scavenging at night for any food. His best bets were bakeries, they tend to throw out their food at the end of the day even if it’s still good. He did his best to do so after everyone was asleep, but he got careless one night and went dumpster diving too early.

A woman saw him and screamed in horror, and as if their luck couldn’t get any worse, a policeman was nearby. Yoshi grabbed his things and the babies, making a run for it. Michelangelo stayed in his shell, something he did often whenever he got spooked. The other three peeked out of the bag, and Yoshi put an arm over it to make sure they didn’t fall out.

“Stop! Police!”

Yoshi continued to run, passing by other people. They shouted and screamed as he passed them. Someone shouted, “That way- he’s not human!”

Another shouted, “Monsters!”

Yoshi ducked into an alleyway, looking for some sort of escape. He saw a manhole cover and, with no other choice, went for it.

As the policeman who was chasing him rounded the corner, shouting for him to stop, the manhole cover was already back on and Yoshi was nowhere to be seen. “Where’d he go?” the man asked himself.

Yoshi waited quietly, trying to catch his air as he looked above. If the manhole cover even budges, he’s running. For now he must remain quiet. A few seconds passed, then a minute, everything was still.

Smiling in relief he looked down at the turtles. “Are you all okay?” The three turtles that were looking at him chirped in response. “Michelangelo?” from underneath his siblings, the youngest chirped as well. “Okay, let’s keep moving my little ones.”

They continued down the sewers, the smell was gross and Yoshi had to watch his step. Luckily there was a walkway for them, so he wasn’t wading through sewage. After hours of walking, they came across an opening. Sewage poured into a deep hole, a bridge went across from the hole and pipes ran everywhere. What was most surprising, however, was the giant tree that grew in the giant man made pit. Apples grew from it, but there was no way it was a normal apple tree. Between the cracks in the bark, faint glowing green light oozed out. As if it was mutated, just like them, that was the only way to explain it. 

There was a hole in the tree right next to the walkway. Walking closer, Yoshi could see a lot of space inside, almost as if the tree was hollow. He smiled, no one would find them here. This could be… “Home!”

~~~

Over the next few months, Yoshi would leave the tree during the night to find supplies. He would put the turtles in a box to keep them from leaving while he did, so they wouldn’t fall into the rushing water below. 

He found wood to build a walkway around the hole, and to the bridge. He grabbed any clean blankets and pillows that he was lucky enough to find. Any he found with bugs would be discarded as soon as he could.

He slept in during the mornings but made sure to be up for the day, he didn’t want the babies to be awake while he was out. He also wanted to make sure they had a proper eating schedule, feeding them the freshest food he could find. Most of the time it was stolen food, thank goodness for his ninja training so no one would see him.

Time continued to pass and the turtles became more human-like. The sea turtle was the first to walk on two legs. It was shocking, but Yoshi embraced it and helped her. The red footed tortoise, Raphael, was teething the most. Yoshi made the mistake of sleeping next to him while he was awake, and he ended up getting a hole in his ear for it. He made sure not to sleep with his ears so close to the turtles anymore.

Over the years he got them toys and books, anything to entertain them as he built their home. He carved out a staircase since there was a hole above them inside the tree, leading to a large area. He also collected furniture for the tree, the largest piece being a couch he had found thrown out.

The turtles became more human-like as they grew up. Michelangelo seemed to love drawing with crayons, and the red eared slider, Dontatello, was the first one to talk. It had shocked Yoshi when he did, he was flipping through the pages of a book he constantly wanted to be read.

Soon they were all talking, and Yoshi picked up more educational books to teach them to read, write, and do basic math. More years continued to pass and they grew older, so Yoshi needed to build them separate rooms.

There was a third space above, so that was where the turtles slept. Yoshi had built his own room outside of the tree, and had started on constructing some for the turtles when they were old enough to need their own space. The first ‘floor’ was a living room, and the second was the dining room.

It was an accident when they found out the tree generated energy, it must be because it was mutated. Yoshi brought home a lamp without thinking, and told Donnie it had to be plugged into the wall. Somehow he managed to shove it into the wall of the tree, and to their surprise, it turned on. It made things so much easier after that.

Soon the turtles got their own rooms, the first being the sea turtle. She was the oldest and the tallest, though she seemed to have more of a temper than her brothers, even the red footed tortoise at times who hissed and glared at everything.

It took awhile to connect the dots, and even then, she had to outright tell him that she wanted to be a boy. Yoshi has heard about this before, someone changing their gender, but he wasn’t very familiar with the concept. Couldn’t be weirder than being mutated into a rat and humanoid turtles.

So the oldest turtle chose his name from an old renaissance book, Leonardo. If he decides he’s not really a boy, then that’s fine, but for now Yoshi will raise him as one. After that, he seemed much happier.

As they aged, so did Yoshi. Gray started to appear in his hair, and his vision started to become bad. He has tried to find glasses that helped his vision, but it was hard to do so without going to the doctors. Who knows what would happen if he did.

Michelangelo came up with the idea of them wearing colored headbands after he had mistaken him for Raphael. Both of their shells were dark with orange spots after all, but while Raph had three dark orange spots, Mikey only had one uneven splash of light orange.

When they put on the headbands, it reminded Yoshi of his old students. He decided to train them, his martial arts is his pride so why not pass down the secrets? Besides, this world would not be kind to them, they should learn how to defend themselves.

They started off learning the moves, Yoshi turning their old room into a dojo. He made dummies and trained them with simple movements. Eventually Raph got bored with just dummies, and demanded to spar.

It was a mistake to let him, as he fought against Leo. There was a small accident where Leo kicked him too hard in the mouth, kicking out a tooth. It terrified Yoshi, seeing one of his boys hurt this badly, especially during training. It brought back awful memories of his own childhood, but he pushed them aside so he could focus on the present.

They wouldn’t be able to spar with each other for a few more years.

Before the time came, the brothers learned to use more martial arts tools and skills. Eventually they learned to climb the tree, though they only did so when their father was not home or sleeping. He didn’t like them climbing around outside the tree.

“Hurry up,” Leo whispered.

Mikey shouted as his foot slipped, but he caught himself.

Raph shouted, “Mikey if you fall, you’re never allowed up here again.”

Donnie whispered to him, “Raph if you get us caught, you’re never allowed up here again.”

When they finally got to the top, they laid against the leaves and branches. 

“Look up there!” Leo pointed, there were holds coming from the manhole cover, making rays of light shine down.

“Woah, so pretty,” Mikey gasped. Colors of all kinds came through, faint sounds of the city above following.

“Yeah, it’s great,” Donnie agreed.

“I wonder what’s up there.

Leo answered him, “A big city, remember?”

“Humans,” Raph muttered, frowning as he watched the world above carefully.

“I wish we could go up there.”

Raph sat up, “Are you crazy?! Humans are dangerous, they’re evil!”

“Nuh uh! Captain Mask is good!” Mikey argued.

“That’s a show, and that’s not what Raph meant,” Donnie told him. “I do wish we could talk to some though.”

“But we can’t ‘cause we’re different, humans hate different things, they would hurt us if they knew about us.”

“No they wouldn’t, right Leo?” Mikey asked.

“I don’t know,” Leo admitted. “Some might be good?”

“Yeah, besides, we could beat them up, dad will protect us too!” Donnie pointed out.

Mikey sat up, “Yeah! He’s super strong!”

It was already cold despite it being early fall. The nights were coming faster, the sun was already down for the night. Yoshi walked his usual path after another long day of work. He walked around a puddle, a car drove by, and a rat ran past his feet. It took him a while to get used to those, they are everywhere in New York. Nothing like Japan, how he missed it. When he had first bought tickets to America, it was only supposed to be for a week. He can never return home now.

He couldn’t afford to live in a nice neighborhood. The crime rates in the area were bad, but he was still safer here. The thugs here didn’t know how to fight.

He walked past a broken, barely boarded up window, an abandoned building that people occasionally hid in. Sometimes he would hear quiet whispers, other times loud laughter and the sound of spray paint. What people did in their spare time was none of his business.

But when he heard a loud bang, Curiosity took hold of him. He peeked inside, crouching low to not be seen. Hoping it wasn’t another drug deal, he held his breath.

“These conditions are awful,” a voice said.

“Quit complaining, we’re almost done here,” another replied. Both men were wearing hard hats and orange vests. They were standing in front of a table, but Yoshi could barely see what was on it.

He sighed in relief, they were just some workers. Maybe they’re here to finally tear the building down. That was a bit of a shame, some people used it to hide from the elements. And with the weather getting colder, that would be harder.

Yoshi was going to continue forward when he heard the strangest sentence. “Let’s see if we can mutate these turtles.”

Surely he heard wrong… were they not construction workers?

He peeked inside again as the stranger continued. “The box tortoise hatched a few days ago.” Something glowed in his hand.

“So they’re different ages?”

“Correct.” Yoshi could make out a small vial- no, turkey baster? Not that, it’s smaller, maybe a pipette? Whatever it was, it had a glowing green substance in it, and it was hovering over different kinds of turtles in glass tanks.

Green dropped out. “They’re different ages except for the sea turtle and the red footed tortoise.” Yoshi could hear the turtles chirping loudly now. “They’re two Earth years, only a few days apart.”

Yoshi looked away as the chirping grew louder and hissing joined. The sounds twisted and became drawn out, something deep in his gut knew it was wrong. He wasn’t hearing chirping now, but instead crying. Almost that of a baby's cry.

His eyes grew big and he looked inside once more, seeing the turtles had doubled in size. The smallest- the box turtle, was still absorbing the strange glowing substance. The others had changed completely, they looked less like reptiles and more like… babies?

The sea turtle was crying loudly and the one with red spots put a- a hand against the glass. Almost like it was trying to comfort the other.

Yoshi pulled away from the window. It’s not his business, he shouldn’t be here.

“The mutagen is almost perfect.” He should be leaving now.

Yoshi pulled his hood on further to hide his face. “What should we do with the turtles?”

Walking forward, he tried to ignore the strange men, and the mutants cries. “Dispose of them.”

He stopped. Maybe… no. He turned back the way he came, he’ll find a different route home. Walking in front of the building could be dangerous. It’s not his problem, those turtles were… monsters.

More of them were crying, he heard a reptilian hiss mixed in. Despite that, the cries were so… human. Yoshi walked forward, but each step made it hard to breathe.

He shut his eyes and frowned. “Dammit.”

Yoshi turned around, his hood flying off. He ran to the front of the building and kicked the door open. There the babies were, being put in a large pet carrier. The red spotted one seemed to be the last.

The strange men turned to him, and he realized he was not thinking at all. One turned to him.

“Who is he?” he- it asked! With it facing him, Yoshi could see a strange pink… creature was sitting in the man's chest. No, the man’s face was still, it had to be a robot of some kind. But what is that thing?

The other turned, its coat and vest were also open to reveal another strange pink creature. Both were so wrinkly and small tentacles slid out from the square hole. The robot body held a strange looking gun at him. “A witness,” it answered its companion.

Yoshi jumped with a shout, but he saw something in the corner of his eye. Next to the door were three wooden crates, and on one was a crowbar. He grabbed it and ran, moving back and forth to dodge the blasts from the gun. Pink light shot out at him, but he couldn’t stop to think about that.

The strange creature was able to fire three times before Yoshi reached him, knocking the gun out of his hand. He twisted and kicked, knocking the strange metal body into the table. The pink creature inside it screeched, somehow both animalistic and otherworldly.

Yoshi turned to see the other swung the pet cage back, trying to gain momentum. He gasped before the cage was thrown at him. He caught it, his breath being knocked out of him as it crashed into his chest and stomach. He stayed standing nonetheless and looked up to see the robot body pulling back for a punch.

Yoshi grit his teeth and swung the crowbar forward, it crashed into a glass canister with that glowing green substance before hitting the robot. The top half of the giant vial fell over, the glowing substance spilling everywhere, including Yoshi’s hand. It burned and seeped into his skin. He stared at his hand in horror.

“The mutagen!” one of the creatures yelled.

“Get him!” the other shouted.

Sweat started to cover Yoshi and his stomach and chest hurt. He swayed for a moment before he saw the strange creatures go after him. He turned away from them, still holding the pet cage.

He couldn’t run straight and he bumped into the door, but it didn’t stop him. He could feel his bones shift inside, cracking and popping. It made him nauseous, but if he didn’t get away, who knows what those things would do to him!

He rounded the corner of the building and hid behind a dumpster. His skin felt hot and cold at the same time. Through the ringing in his ears, he heard footsteps. But his vision was going black, so he couldn’t tell if they were running towards him or not. His body continued to shift and all he could do was hold onto the pet carrier.

Breathing was difficult, he needed to be quiet but his body couldn’t get enough air. It was like he was drowning, everything hurt so bad. He tried to hold onto his breath to keep his cries in, but that became impossible. As a last attempt, he bit his lip, but a scream of pure agony still escaped.

~~~

Yoshi felt unusually weak as he unlocked the door to his apartment. He closed the door and locked it, making his way towards the bathroom. It was a small apartment, a single room, small kitchen, and single bathroom. It cost most of his paycheck every month.

He dropped the pet carrier onto the bed and continued forward, opening the bathroom door. Somehow his hand was steady as he turned on the light. 

Fear yanked his stomach down as he saw a horrible monster stare back at him in the mirror. He jumped back and hit the wall, it wore his clothes and had his hair, though messy from a hard day of work. The monster copied his every move, he slid down against the wall, trying to cover his face. But his hands just wrapped around the monster's snout. He looked down, seeing his hands matched the monsters. Covered in dark brown fur, nails now pointed.

He covered his eyes. “What have I become?” he questioned.

He sat there for a moment longer before hearing chirping and small baby gurgling. He opened his eyes and looked towards his room before getting up. “The babies,” he whispered.

They continued to chirp and cry until he opened the cage door. He leaned in to see them. “Hello, little ones.”

The sea turtle was on top of the box turtle's shell, who still refused to come out. The red eared slider was trying to hide its head and stare at him at the same time. The red spotted one was in front of them all, growling at him.

“It’s okay, come on out,” he cooed, trying to be soft.

The sea turtle chirped at him, its fear ebbing away. It crawled closer and Yoshi put his hand out. Without hesitation, it happily crawled into his hand.

Yoshi picked it up and held it like a child, sitting on his bed. It giggled like a human baby, though it was much smaller. The strange creature said this one was two years, yes? The oldest of the four. The red one- the red footed tortoise? Was only a few days younger. They were… they were children.

He sighed, “What am I going to do?” He turned to the picture on his nightstand. It showed a much younger version of himself, his arm wrapped around a dark skinned woman. Both of them were in their martial arts robes. “What should I do, my beloved? I can’t care for them, I-”

He was interrupted by one of the babies speaking. He heard small tapping, and he leaned down to look inside the pet carrier once more. The sea turtle tapped on his face as he saw the other two tapping against the box turtle.

“The orange one,” he whispered to himself before reaching in. As he grabbed the box turtle, the red footed one grabbed his arm and he pulled both of them out, the red eared slider following close behind.

“Shhh, I won’t hurt… it,” he promised. He rubbed against the shell. “It’s okay.”

The other turtles surrounded him, sitting on and around his leg. The box turtle’s head popped out, small yellow freckles adorning its face. It saw him, then giggled.