SOMEONE TO RUN WITH
Summary:Michelangelo is always the comic relief, always the one to say some catchy one-liner that makes his older brothers chuckle. While that's all good and well, for once he just wants to be taken serious. So when a human teen with a family lineage that hides a dark ancient secret falls into the lives of the turtles, Michelangelo finds a possible kindred spirit who's just trying to make their own existence recognized.
Disclaimer: I do not own THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES! All recognizable characters are the property of (I believe) Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird (correct me if I am wrong). Any and all unrecognizable characters are the sole property of my continuously expanding imaginative universe. Their theft can and may possibly result in punishment through nasty juju via wicked voodoo into the insanity of repeat episodes of Americanized Inu Yasha on Adult Swim! (Yeah, how you like them apples?!)
Rating: T
Warnings: Mild language and violence, teen angst, and some scary situations. Further warnings will be posted on a chapter to chapter basis when necessary!
Author Note: Yet again I have introduced the dreaded OC into the pre-existing universe of a beloved childhood memory of mine. Oh the agony! Well, for maybe some, but not me. This is for my personal enjoyment, my 'playtime' in the TMNT universe, so thusly there will be no set period in the time-line as to when this story may or may not take place. If any at all, it'll borrow some minor references to the 2007 TMNT movie.
ALSO! Some themes for this story have been somewhat gleaned off the anime/manga series NARUTO created by Masashi Kishimoto, and thusly I would like to give him his credit where credit is due, and this will be pointed out in the various chapters they may appear within.
Chapter
One
Chaotic Intro
"Good news is, there's a bunch of Foot ninja getting the snot kicked out of them!" - Michelangelo,TMNT
A chill wind swept in off the bay waters, washing in over the night scape layout of Manhattan, its bitter kiss promising that winter snow was not far behind within the next few months even though it was already October. While the remaining crowds began to disperse from the streets, pulling their coats tightly about themselves to block out the chill cold, the city still remained ever alive with activity. Taxis ferried passengers through the mind numbing maze of streets and traffic lights, delivery services were returning back to their home base of operations respectfully, the street side stores were beginning their nightly rituals of closing out as the employees having worked eight hour shifts, were ready to go home and call it a day.
While the hubbub of the city continued to thrum with its own endless soundtrack, there were others out and about that were not retreating home for the night and calling it a day. In fact, their day had seemingly just began...sort of.
On the far west end of Manhattan, mixed within the the dark and dank warehouses of the bay harbor, commotion outside of the daily and nightly work spent there, was stirring up a new track to the nightlife. A scuffle had broken out within the alleyway between two massive warehouses used for storing freight containers brought in off tankers and cargo barges. The sounds of feet shuffling across the damp, slimy concrete mixed within time to the dull thuds of exchanged blows. Out from the mouth of the alley facing the dark waters of the ocean, a body clothed in black fatigues shot out from the pitch shadows back first and crumpled to the ground after crashing into a pile of empty cargo crates.
Several more bodies of similar appearance were tossed out of the alleyway in the same manner as the first, each one landing in the same vicinity of the first to go before them. None of them appeared to be getting up any time soon, which was probably a good thing for them as the sounds of the fight seemed to escalate in the alleyway.
"These dudes just don't know when to quit!" He laughed aloud, hands skillfully twisting the pair of nunchaku about in fast spinning arcs that popped several more of the black shrouded bodies in either the face/head region or somewhere in the chest. Each one hit fell backwards, gasping for breath or cradling their faces that now reeked with intense pain as their noses were possibly broken. "Heads up!"
From the other end of the alleyway, several of the black shrouds rushed forward in an opposite direction, their body language shouting intent to physically harm someone. However, their attempt failed as they fell to their knees, arms wrapping about their stomachs as they did so, bodies withering on the unforgiving pavement from a form of pain they had never experienced prior to this. "No kidding." She muttered, a rather unamused tone sailing out through her words. "Coming your way Mikey!"
Normally, a fight was nothing odd in the rough parts such as these at night. Most would merely shrug it off as rival gang fighting or a "meeting" gone bad, passing by in car or by foot without a second thought while somehow making a mental note to call the police whenever the nearest phone became available to them. Most of the time, night security at the harbor would chance upon the fight, go in shouting and send the combatants scattering to the four winds. However, tonight's scuffle was anything but "normal". A well known fact of the city, or anywhere for that matter, was that anyone wearing black normally did so for three reasons – number one starting off the list as the said dress code of goth and the "emo" crowds that many teens were being pulled into thanks to pop culture, number two coming in at the well known dressing secret of many women looking to slim down their figures without going through the hassle of going to a gym and cutting out sweets from their diet, and number three having newly arrived as the professional look of employees working high end jobs.
Now, outside of those three main reasons of sorts, someone walking around dressed head to toe in all black, and especially in the style of "ninja fatigues", was a huge oddity in the city of Manhattan. With black masks complete with fiber optic eye filters hiding all chance of identity from view and red bands tied about the brow, it was safe to say that these were neither overweight women or self-absorbed teens being tossed about the alleyway between warehouse twelve and warehouse eleven (or so they were numbered with large fading red paint blocks). Another raise for concern was who it was these guys happened to be fighting, as they too were nothing short of odd in their appearances as well.
After all, it's not everyday you get to watch a human-sized turtle walking about on two legs, let alone fighting with a weapon of Asian origin on a master skill level, and an equally odd dressed human wearing a porcelain animal faced mask tear through a group of guys dressed like ninjas in some dark alley in Manhattan. Things like that aren't a normal occurrence in any city, state, or country for that matter!
More and more of the black shrouded gang seemed to appear from every nook and cranny of the alleyway, gaining a numbers advantage of the two they were trying to bring down. However, the combined teamwork of the oddball pair caused a rather annoying bump in their plans, especially as the more human looking of the two ran towards the walking talking anthropomorphic turtle, stepping high on the last bound to plant their left foot into the cupped and lowered hands of the turtle who then used an amazing amount of force to push up and swing his hands backwards over his head. The animal masked human shot out over the turtle, hands dipping into the two small pouches sitting on the back of either hip and retrieving a kunai knife in their grasp.
Twisting through the air with aerial skill, the animal masked fighter dove long into the black clad men rushing in through the open mouth of the alleyway, arms swinging out in a forward criss-crossing slash as they zipped right down the middle of their line and parted them like the Red Sea. Landing in a kneeling slide, the masked fighter stood up almost immediately and looked back over their shoulder. Eyes of dark grey stared out through the dark slits carved into the mask to form the angular grinning eyes of the mask, and watched as over seven of the shrouded men fell to the ground in a motionless heap.
However, in sacrifice for such a move, the turtle had placed himself out in the wide open for a chance attack that those in black did not hesitate to take. Several of them rushed the turtle, spearing their shoulders into the hard belly shell that protected his front, and continued to run while shoving the giant reptile off his feet and straight through the wooden back wall of warehouse twelve. Their efforts were not wasted, as the blow sent to the turtle sprawling backwards across the warehouse floor amongst the remains of the shattered wall. Regaining his breath and sense of balance rather quickly, the turtle kicked his legs around, spinning himself on the otherwise annoying back shell connected to his body and popped back up to his feet. With several quick flicks of his wrist, the turtle popped the men in black running at him with his nunchaku, sending them reeling and cursing in Japanese.
"Ha! I'm one lean, mean, green machine! Whatcha!" His battle cry of sorts, was nothing short of comical, but as he tossed an expert punch and several kicks at the swarming mass pouring in through the hole his body had created, the turtle only laughed as he dished out further blows knowing that his help was just on the other side of that broken wall.
A violent rumble shook the ground quickly, many of the men in black swaying and stumbling over themselves in response as they had not expected an earthquake. Fortunately enough for the city, the rumble in the ground was no earthquake, but unfortunately for anyone stuck outside with the animal masked fighter, their bodies were sent crashing through the rest of the warehouse wall, leaving the building in a shuttering and unstructured stance. Thick pillars of stone jutted up through the ground and pushed the black clad fighters through the wall and further into the warehouse before pulling back into the ground and left no trace of their existence behind.
The brief pause in battle allowed the turtle to glance over at the retreating earth pillars, along with the surrounding men in black who went completely stiff as the earth pulled back in on itself. "Right on!" The turtle cheered, a fist pumping into the air above his head in response to the masked fighter's entrance into the warehouse as well, picking their way over the splintered mess of wood with several precise steps before once again engaging the men in black who rushed up at them. The turtle returned to fighting as well, nunchaku swinging left and right before he crouched low and swung out his leg to kick the feet out from beneath his opponents.
The fight seemed to be an endless onslaught against the strange duo, and thus is was noted by the masked fighter who seemed to be growing rather frustrated with their slow progress. "We're not even near a Foot hideout! Where are they all coming from?!" The masked fighter shouted over to the turtle, who seemed to taking the fight with about the same enthusiasm now as his partner was.
"Good question! But I'd rather ask the questions after we've beaten the snot out of these guys!" The turtle shot back while grabbing a guy by the back of the neck as he ran at him, using the momentum set up to turn about and toss him headlong into the open mouth a cargo container. The force of the entry caused the doors to swing shut and drop the locking handle down into its cradle. "Oh yeah! He shots, and he scores!"
The masked fighter jabbed their elbow into the stomach of an approaching man in black, forcing out his breath before twisting around with a roundhouse kick to the temple. "You're starting to sound like Raph!" The turtle's partner grinned beneath their animal faced mask, hands coming before them to form several seals before holding one for tiger. A red aura started to radiate out around their hands, flames feathering out as they had been summoned and molded through contact with the air. Sucking in a deep breath even while a mask obstructed their face, the fighter breathed out in one long exhale making sure that it tunneled over the tiger seal. Carrying the flames that had grown, the fighter's breath forced the fire to literally explode out in one massive stream that sent a whole group of seven flailing backwards.
Another long exhale, and again the fire shot out at the men in black, burning away the fabric of their fatigues and eating away at the masks and headbands tied about their faces. Feeling a change in the temperature, the turtle chanced a quick glance back over his shoulder and grinned like a little kid on Christmas morning as he caught sight of his partner flame broiling their opponents. Even as he watched the fiery display, the turtle swung his nunchaku this way and that, picking off any of the men in black trying to come up on him.
With many of the guys in black on the ground or running away in retreat, the masked fighter stood rather proudly in their place, hands set on their hips and smiling beneath their mask. The turtle took a moment to clap for his partner, excited at how quickly they had dispatched with a vast majority of their enemy, even the ones he had been fighting decided to high-tail it out of there. Looking over at the turtle, the masked fighter caught sight of one last strangler who was attempting one last attack on the turtle. "Mikey, watch out!" The masked fighter called out while their hand dipped once more into the back pouch on their hip. A kunai was pulled out and then slung forward all in one quick motion, causing the turtle to jump and duck off to the side while his nunchaku swept out and backwards by accident.
The heavy wooden pole end of the weapon caught the guy in black, square in the face and sent him tumbling backwards letting the kunai sail right over him and continue on towards the back of the warehouse where the control console for the operating cranes. The razor sharp tip of the kunai dug deep into the panels, cracking buttons and shattering the thin metal face plate. Immediately sparks started to spit and hiss around the embedded kunai. The masked fighter made a strangled noise in their throat before scrambling over to their turtle friend and stood speechless at his side staring at the sparking mess that threatened a rather unpleasant ending to their night.
"Wow, that was an awesome throw!" The turtle commented happily, clapping his friend on the shoulder in praising gesture to their skill.
Staring wide-eyed through the slits in their mask, the fighter gawked in what seemed like personal horror at the mess in the back as it started to spit out more than just electrical sparks from itself. "You idiot!" The fighter shouted while turning around and grabbing the turtle by its shoulders, after which they then proceeded to shake him quickly. "Do you have any idea what I just hit back there?!"
"Uh, something expensive?" The turtle asked while looking rather dizzy from having been shaken by his partner.
Before the fighter could yell anything else at the turtle, the sounds of mini explosions caused both to go still and slowly look over towards the now sputtering control console. Both muttered a synchronized 'uh-oh' before exchanging looks and then ran for their lives out the nearest hole in the warehouse. Their feet and legs worked double time to get them as far away from the warehouse as possible, both leaping up towards the roof of the nearest low sitting building that they came across just as the control console in the warehouse finally overheated and gave up a large explosion that took out the remaining three walls and collapsed the tin shingled roof. Both the turtle and the masked fighter came to a stop, sliding a few steps across the slick roof top they were on top of, and looked back to watch the warehouse go up in one big fireball wreathed with black smoke.
"Uh...how about we just blame the Foot for this and call it a night?" The turtle asked, eyes glued to the burning mess they had just escaped.
The masked fighter nodded, hands coming up and pushing the animal face up on top of their head. "Mikey, I couldn't agree more." The tone of voice was freed up from the muffled confines of the mask, and with the mask removed, the oval shaped face of a young woman somewhere in her mid or late teens stared out at the burning wreck almost a good half a block from them. Her grey eyes were narrowed slightly, giving her a studious glare that the natural shape of her eyes seemed to further provoke.
The turtle, being called Mikey by his human companion, grinned down at her. "Then let's get the shell out of here then!" He cheered while throwing his hands up into the air, a massive grin on his face as he looked down at his female friend. Both turned around and jumped off the far edge of the roof, landing down in yet another dank alleyway and started making their way home. "Hey, hey, Sara! Can we stop and get a pizza on the way home?"