The Adventures of Azure Turtle

One Fateful Day

Chapter 3: The Discovery

By Azure Turtle

Disclaimer: Azure is my own created character. Please do not use him without my permission. All TMNT characters belong to Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman, and Mirage Publishing.

I’m just a fan who wants to express my enthusiasm for the TMNT through fanfics. Please don’t hurt me.

I was lost in the darkness again. I once feared the darkness and the strange things that would be lurking within, but now, it’s like an old friend. Strange, how I became comfortable with something after being exposed to it for so long. The silence still terrified me, but I embraced the darkness. It kept my greatest fears hidden from view, and I appreciated this favor. I knew that the darkness wouldn’t last forever. It would eventually fade away, and everything would be made visible. I was eager to discover the kind of situation I had gotten myself into with these “mutant turtles,” yet I feared that very discovery. For weeks I had searched for them; they were my sole purpose of continuing to live. My goal had been achieved, but I no longer had a purpose in life. “What do I do from here?” I wanted to scream into the darkness. “Tell me! What do I do now? I found them. Now what?” I screamed again. Silence was the only response I received. “Sal, I’m lost without you…I wish you were here to guide me.” The silence remained. “Dad, I miss you…”

As if on cue, the darkness began to swirl and take on a different shape. I knew what was happening. That dreaded moment of discovery was on its way. Colors flashed within the darkness as my old friend slowly faded away. The darkness no longer had enough strength to fend off the light. Everything was slowly becoming visible. My senses came rushing back to me with the force of a flash flood. In an instant, the darkness was gone.

I blinked once. Twice. A third time for good measure. I found myself staring at a concrete ceiling. I struggled to move, but my body ached all over. I looked to my left and noticed a beat up desk. A messy stack of papers stood on top, and an old wooden chair sat snugly before it. I assumed someone was a fan of writing. I noticed a small teddy bear sitting next to the stack. It was dirty and had one blue button for an eye. It smiled weakly at me.

I groaned in pain as I turned to my right to see what else was in the room. Much to my surprise, my gaze was met by a giant green turtle. He was sitting on a small stool, and his eyes stared back in shock from behind a red mask. My jaw dropped, and my mind searched frantically for something to say. Nothing but the cursed silence escaped my lips. The green turtle sat with his mouth agape as well. We were both at a loss for words. Suddenly, I let my emotions get the better of me, and I began to weep. The red-masked turtle stood up from his place of vigil and slowly approached the bed. He didn’t take his eyes off of me for a second, but I noticed that his gaze changed from shock to confusion.

“Hey…you okay?”

He spoke. I recognized his voice. He was one of the voices from the dark. I continued to weep. “It’s true! There are others like me!” I thought.

“What the hell’s wrong with you, kid?” his gaze changed from confusion to one of slight impatience.

I took a pause from my sobbing, and before I knew what I was doing, I had jumped out of the bed and clung on to the giant turtle, crying on his shoulder.

“Hey! Get a grip!” the red-masked turtle protested. “And would you stop with the water works already?” he frowned. “Quit it!”

I still clung to the turtle, shedding tears as he vehemently protested and tried to pry me off of him. I heard a small bang as a door flew open. I looked up in time to see three more giant turtles come rushing into the little room.

“Raph, are you okay? We heard yelling and…” a turtle with a purple mask began, before pausing with a look of surprise on his face.

“Looks like our visitor has awakened,” another turtle said with a small smirk. This one wore a blue mask, and he looked somewhat amused.

“Hehe, and it looks like he found a new best friend! Aww, that’s so cute of you, Raph!” the third turtle laughed hard while holding his gut, the orange tails of his mask fluttering about as he doubled over in laughter. The other two that came in with him laughed as well. I suddenly realized that I was still clinging on to the first turtle I saw. I looked up at his face, and he returned my gaze with a look of annoyance.

I quickly let go of my grip and stepped back. I sniffed a few times as I wiped the tears from my eyes. “I…I…I’m sorry….” I managed to squeak in between sniffles. The red-masked turtle looked down at the wet spot on his shoulder with disgust. He shot an angry glare at the other three, and they stopped laughing. The turtle wearing an orange mask put a hand over his mouth and tried his best to stifle a snicker.

“Do I look like a tissue to you, kid? Next time, use somethin’ else to absorb your flood of tears,” the angry turtle walked over to a small table and took a white towel from its resting place to wipe himself off.

The orange-masked turtle grinned evilly. “I’m surprised that you could absorb tears, Raph. You’re usually so dense.” The other two snickered in response.

“Sit on a sai and rotate, Mikey,” the fourth turtle snapped.

I looked around with worry, when I started feeling dizzy. I sat down on the edge of the bed. My body still ached from the beating I received earlier. I hung my head low, partly in shame for my actions and partly in response to my dizziness. The turtle wearing blue approached me and knelt down in front of me.

“Are you all right? How do you feel?” he asked me gently. I looked at him square in the face, and he gave me a reassuring smile. I took a deep breath.

“I’m okay, I think…I’m sore all over, and I feel like I’m gonna faint,” I replied weakly.

“You were hurt badly, and you’ve been asleep for two days,” the blue-masked turtle said with a concerned look.

“Two days?” I gasped. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t feel like I was out for that long. The turtle in front of me nodded.

“For a while, we were worried that you wouldn’t make it, but I’m glad to see you’re okay. We’re all glad to see that you’re okay.”

I looked up at the two turtles by the door, and they nodded in agreement. I glanced at the one I had bear-hugged earlier, and he seemed to be indifferent about the whole situation.

“By the way,” the one in front of me began, “I’m Leonardo. He’s Donatello,” he pointed to the turtle wearing purple, who smiled back at me, “Michaelangelo,” he pointed to the one in orange, who grinned and gave me a thumbs up, “and I believe you already met Raphael,” he pointed to the turtle clad in red, frowning at me from the corner of the room.

“I’m Azure,” I said shyly.

“Hey, that’s a cool name, lil’ dude!” Michaelangelo said with a smirk.

“Um…thank you,” I meekly replied.

“There’s a lot we would like to ask you, Azure,” Leonardo said, as he stood up, “but it’s apparent that you still need some rest.”

I nodded. Then my stomach let out a loud growl. I blushed.

“Hey, he’s hungry!” Michaelangelo exclaimed. “We’ve still got some left over pizza in the fridge. Do you want some?”

“Uh….”

“Aw c’mon, don’t be shy! Anyone within a ten-mile radius would’ve heard your stomach! I’ll go get you a few slices and be back in a jiffy!” With that, Michaelangelo ran out of the room.

“Yes, he’s got a point. You haven’t eaten in two days. If you get some food into your system, you’ll heal a lot faster,” Leonardo said. He patted me on the shoulder, but I winced in pain. He quickly withdrew his hand and apologized. “I’m sorry!”

“No, it’s okay,” I quietly replied.

Donatello chuckled. “You don’t have to torture the poor kid, Leo. Hold on, I’ll get some aspirin. That should help ease the pain a little.” He walked out of the room.

Leonardo smiled apologetically. He obviously didn’t mean to hurt me. I was still worried about this whole mess. They seemed like a really friendly bunch, except for Raphael, who continued to brood in the corner of the room. He didn’t seem too pleased about getting laughed at earlier. I felt really embarrassed about letting my emotions get the better of me, and I hoped that he would forgive me later on.

I figured that I would be safe for now, and that these turtles weren’t my enemies. I just didn’t know what to do next. “Where will I go once I’m healed?” I wondered. “I don’t think I can stay here with these other turtles. I already feel out of place.”

The smell of something delicious derailed my train of thought. Michaelangelo came bursting into the room with a plate of three pizza slices. He approached me, and the irresistible scent of pepperoni invaded my senses. He held the plate before me, with a triumphant smile. “I warmed them up in the microwave!”

I licked my lips in anticipation. I could have drooled at the site of the hot, melted mozzarella slightly spilling over the edge of the plate. I muttered a “thank you!” before devouring the delectable morsels.

The three turtles stared at me in shock, as I licked my fingers, savoring the last taste of the pizza.

“Oh my God,” Raphael exclaimed, shaking his head. “And I thought Mikey had a black hole of an appetite.”

Michaleangelo laughed. “Hey lil’ dude, you and I are gonna get along just fine!”

Leonardo chuckled as Donatello came back into the room. He looked at each of us with a question in his eyes. “Okay, what’d I miss?”

“Dude, you missed the pizza. Azure ate it all in one bite!” Michaelangelo started laughing again.

Donatello smirked. “Then I guess you’re ready for some aspirin.” He gave me two pills and a glass of water to wash it all down. I smiled with appreciation before taking the pain-relieving drug.

“Thank you…all of you,” I said with gratitude.

“No problemo,” Michaelangelo winked.

“You should get some more rest,” Leonardo stated. “It’s my turn to watch over you, so I’ll be sitting right next to you if you’ll need anything.”

“Uh, Leo…is that still necessary? I mean, the lil’ dude seems harmless,” Michaelangelo looked over at me.

“I know, but looks can be deceiving.” Leonardo turned to me. “No offense Azure, but we’ve got to take every precaution. Our nemesis, Shredder, has done numerous things in the past to try and trick us. We just need a little time before we can determine whether or not you work for him.”

I merely nodded. I didn’t understand what exactly was going on, but this Shredder guy sounded dangerous. I figured that mutant turtles were bound to get enemies, probably because no human would be able to understand us. They fear the unknown.

Raphael spoke up from his corner of the room. “It’s about time you listened to one of my ideas, oh fearless one. Remember, I was the one who suggested we watch over the kid. You, on the other hand, were willing to accept him without any caution. I say we still can’t trust him.” He glared at me before exiting the room.

Leonardo groaned. “Don’t worry about him. I don’t sense any evil from you, but Raph’s right. We have to take caution.”

“Woah, you actually admitted that Raph was right for a change?” Michaelangelo grinned.

“Hmph. Just don’t go telling him that. It’d inflate his ego tenfold.”

“Yep, and we don’t want that happening now, do we?” Donatello chimed in with a smile.

“No, we don’t,” Michaelangelo replied. “He already thinks he owns the TV. That reminds me, Ace Duck’s show is gonna be on soon. I better plant myself in front of the tube before Raph decides to watch something boring. It was nice meeting ya, Azure. Hope we can hang out later.” He grinned again and gave us a little wave before walking out.

“I guess I’m off too,” Donatello said as he walked towards the door. “April told me that her stove needed to be fixed, so I’ll be out for a little while. Take it easy, Azure. And if Leo starts telling you any of his boring stories, Mikey is just outside of this door. He’ll make Leo stop.” Donatello winked.

“What! My stories aren’t boring!” Leonardo protested.

The other turtle laughed before closing the door behind him. I was convinced now. These turtles were “good guys.” They weren’t involved with that black-clad freak I ran into at the sewers. I was still somewhat confused about my current situation, but I relaxed a little. I knew one thing for sure. They weren’t here to kill me. I looked at Leonardo, and I guess he could tell that I had so many unanswered questions.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe here. The Foot Clan doesn’t know the location of our lair, so you’ve got nothing to fear. Just get some rest. We’ll all have a long talk once you’ve healed a little more, and I’m sure we’ll both get the answers we’re searching for.”

“Thank you,” I replied. I lay down on the bed and struggled to find a comfortable position. Leonardo walked over to the stool that was previously occupied by Raphael and took a seat. I settled down when Leonardo spoke up again.

“So, do you want me to tell you any stories? It might help you fall asleep.”

I turned to look over at him. “Are they really that boring?”

His eyes widened in surprise. Then he started laughing. “Heh, you catch on pretty quickly! Keep that sense of humor, Azure, and I think you’ll be able to deal with all of us. Even Raphael.” He grinned. “I think we’re all going to get along just fine. Now get some some sleep, or I’ll tell you a story of how I discovered my inner sanctum while meditating.”

“Okay, okay!” I smiled. I started to lose consciousness and my old friend, the darkness, came creeping back to me. “I made a wonderful discovery today. Life is starting to look appealing again,” I thought, before drifting off into a deep slumber.