Midori
By Kali Gargoyle
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Chapter one
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15 years ago…
"Sweetie, I'm so sorry, but the doctor said there was nothing we could do."
The little girl sniffled and looked down at the tiny creature sitting at the bottom of a glass bowl. "But, I don't want my Dori to die."
The mother knelt down to hug her child, providing some comfort. "I know, baby. But listen, Chet's mom is taking him down to the pet store soon. You could go with them."
"I don't want another turtle!" the girl screamed. "I want my Dori!"
It hurt to see her dear daughter so distressed. She patted down the soft curls on the girl's head and ushered her out the door. They stopped at the apartment next door where the mother quickly explained to the other woman, and an agreement was made. The mother knelt down again.
"Okay, baby, you're going to go with Chet and his mommy now. If you see a pet you like at the store, you get it, okay?"
The girl nodded.
The mother waved as the three left, then returned to her own apartment to find her husband pulling on a rubber glove. "And just what do you think you're doing?"
The man reached into the glass bowl. "Getting this thing out of here."
"But it's not dead yet!" the woman argued.
"But it will be soon. The stupid thing doesn't have a chance you said it yourself. We'll just flush it and get the bowl ready for whatever she brings home next."
The woman shook her head. "She's not going to like this."
"She'll get over it."
***
Present day…
Leonardo held his position against the wall. He and his brothers had come to this part of town on a scavenging mission, to get supplies after agreeing that they were putting too much of a burden on April. And just their luck, they ran into the Foot, starting up trouble again.
They had brought the fight into this abandoned building to avoid unwanted attention. They'd had enough publicity to last a lifetime, and had been thoroughly punished for it. They'd fight the way they always did, in the shadows.
"Don't these guys ever give up?" Don muttered as he deflected a blow with his bo.
"Doesn't seem like it," Leo answered. "But neither do we."
"Yeah!" Raph called out, throwing himself fully into the fight. "We'll give 'em a one-way ticket back to whatever rock they crawled out from."
Mike twirled around his nunchaku, keeping a few Foot at bay. "I think it's time to consider a career change, dudes," he told them.
Leo clashed blades with one member and was a bit disappointed that they hadn't used their down time to get any better. It was no sweat beating these punks and it was over before they knew it.
Leo surveyed the damage and sighed. "Let's go home."
Not one of the four noticed the pair of eyes watching them leave. After they left it moved its gaze to the fallen soldiers. It kicked one in the shoulder to wake him up. The ninja moaned as he opened his eyes and looked up at the creature standing over him.
He panicked and backed away, preparing to defend against an attack. But the creature just stood there. It finally moved, simply pointing to an open doorway. The ninja stayed where he was, too shocked to move. The creature growled and lunged forward. Several of the other Foot rushed immediately out the door. Others stayed put, staring at the creature.
It lunged forward again, grabbing the ninja by his shirt and tossing him towards the exit. He scrambled to his feet and ran, followed by the others.
Midori turned back into the shadows. She hated trespassers.
***
The Turtles didn't return home until nearly dawn. Their trip had taken them far from home because Donatello had insisted on getting parts from one specific dump, and they couldn't talk him out of it, or let him go alone.
They all felt totally wiped, except for Donatello, who was practically giddy as he dumped his new toys onto his work bench.
Splinter looked over from the television. "Welcome home, how did you fare?"
Don waved around one of his new components. "We hit paydirt!"
Raph groaned and plopped down on the couch. "Yeah, you did maybe. The only thing I got out of this trip are new blisters and a good fight."
Splinter's ears twitched. "The Foot?"
"Who else?" Leo replied, handing Mike his bag.
"But we showed them!" Mike added, demonstrating some moves. He hit a lamp with one of the bags and barely caught it before it hit the ground. He righted it with a sheepish grin before heading into the 'kitchen' which was simply an area set aside where they had a stove, oven, 'fridge, and other things you'd find in a kitchen, mostly stuff Don had salvaged and rebuilt.
Splinter noticed a distant look in Leonardo's eyes and questioned him about it.
"I just have this nagging feeling that we missed something."
Raph let out a laugh. "You're just being paranoid, Leo. We can take anything they send our way, and dish out more."
Leo still worried.
***