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The day had started off normally enough that Hamato Yoshi was still shocked at the cruel twist of fate he was dealt. Today was November 15, Miwa's third birthday. Ever since the little one had learned to speak, she had been begging her father for a pet, and today was the day he was going to oblige his daughter's wishes. Leaving Miwa with the young woman across the hall to babysit for a couple of hours, Yoshi left the small apartment he rented to go to the pet store. He had been quite relieved that all four of the turtles that Miwa had wanted were still available for sale.
"Papa! Them! Them!" Miwa chanted, bouncing up and down while she pressed her face against the glass.
"Turtles, Miwa?" Yoshi asked, looking at the small plaque that read 'Diamondback Terrapins.' "Wouldn't you prefer a dog or a cat?"
"No!" Miwa huffed, stomping her little foot in annoyance, just as her mother used too. "石亀!"
Yoshi sighed and straightened his back. "Alright, Miwa. For your birthday, I will get you a turtle."
"No! I want all of them!"
"You want all of them?" Yoshi repeated, bemused.
" はい! One, seven, two, four!" Miwa counted the turtles behind the glass. "They're a family! We can't just take one!"
On that, Yoshi couldn't have agreed more, so he saved enough money to buy all four of the turtles his daughter had wanted. One of them had even been marked down on price, based on his small size, which left Yoshi with some money to spare. The youngest had been marked down because they weren't entirely sure the little one would survive long.
The shop had printed off the turtle's information, and Yoshi had been rather surprised they kept track of the turtle's birthdates. The eldest, and biggest, was born on August 14, 1997, the second was December 19, 1997, third, October 22, 1998, and the smallest one, was July 13, 1999, only a few short months ago. Yoshi didn't particularly care about their birthdates, but Miwa would want to celebrate them. So, Yoshi decided to hold onto their papers, sliding them into his pants pockets.
Yoshi left the shop with the four turtles placed in a glass bowl with sand, water, and a little plastic palm tree. The bowl was large enough to support all of them for now, but Yoshi knew that he would need to buy a bigger tank soon. Terrapins were aquatic turtles, which meant he needed to keep them in a tank with clean water readily available. Hopefully these turtles could help him teach Miwa about responsibility.
Contemplating wether or not he had enough money left to buy some ice cream for Miwa, Yoshi bumped into a strange man. He was a Caucasian man dressed in suit and tie. When Yoshi had tried to apologize for bumping into him, the man did not respond, or even look at Yoshi. The cold state of the man gave Yoshi an uneasy feeling. Despite knowing Miwa was waiting for him, Yoshi decided to trail after him from afar.
The man turned into an alleyway and met up with another man that was identical to him. Yoshi watched them exchange an strange, cyan-colored, glowing substance in a glass canister.
A squeak of a rat beneath Yoshi's feet got him caught by the twins. He silently cursed himself for his stealth being rusty after two years of no practice of ninjutsu.
"Go no further." Said the first man, as they approached Yoshi. "This place is a place where you are not allowed to be in this place."
Yoshi turned to retreat back into the city but found two more identical men behind him. "We have been seen in the place by you, so this is not a place that will be left by you."
Seeing no other choice, Yoshi did his best to defend himself from the four men, while trying to protect his daughter's new pets.
However, during the fight, Yoshi had knocked the strange canister of liquid from one of the men, causing it to explode over him.
The pain was immediate, and Yoshi couldn't help but double over. He writhed on the ground in agony as his bones snapped and twisted inside of his skin, growing and changing. Blood poured from his fingers and toes as his nails sharpened and grew. His tailbone burst from his backside, vertebrae sprouting from nowhere. His body felt engulfed in flames, growing hot and wet with what he could only feel was blood. The last feeling that Yoshi could bare before he passed out was that his teeth were changing, falling out with newer, shaper teeth were replacing them.
By the time that Yoshi came to, night had fallen. His body was still in pain, but he believed he could still make it back to his apartment.
"Pfft!"
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Yoshi made out four small shapes on the ground around him, laying in the dried substance that had caused him to loose consciousness. At first, he hadn't realized the turtles had changed, but when one of them rose to his hind legs and waddled toward him, Yoshi gasped in shock. Another one had joined the first, walking slowly like a baby taking their first steps.
Yoshi tried to back away from the strange creatures, but when he noticed the third turtle laying over the fourth, he stopped. He watched them for a bit, their bizarre behavior beginning to reveal their worry. The two that were moving toward him began to motion at the other two, chirping in... Concern.? The third had been nudging the fourth with his nose, and it was at his point that Yoshi realized the fourth turtle was not moving.
Hesitantly, Yoshi scooped up the smallest turtle, holding it in his hands. The baby turtle was cold to the touch, though Yoshi was uncertain if it was normal or not. Holding the small creature, he began to rub the back of the turtle's shell with two fingers. This turtle's shell had four distinct, orange rhombus patterns stacked on top of each other down the center of his shell. Maybe he hadn't noticed it before, but Yoshi was certain that the turtle had a regular shell before he had past out. After about a minute, the turtle began to wiggle his little legs. Letting out a small sigh, Yoshi set the turtle on his ripped pants.
The other three turtles gathered around Yoshi, sniffing and chirping at the orange one.
Eventually, Yoshi had stood to return to his apartment, only to make the most terrifying discovery. His hands were now only with four fingers, his body was covered in fur, and he had a tail. Yoshi wasn't sure what he was now, but he was no longer human. He collapsed in fear and devastation, dropping all four of the turtles in his arms. He was hyperventilating and screaming in despair, clawing at his body, desperate to remove the brown fur and find his own skin again.
Even more time had passed, and perhaps Yoshi passed out again, but he eventually calmed himself down enough to remember where he was. The four creatures surrounded him, each nuzzling to him as if they were trying to sooth his emotions.
"Oh, little ones," Yoshi whispered, stroking the head of the turtle with a shell that was now blue. "What has become of us?"
Yoshi found an abandoned water tower on top of one of the many buildings in New York. A large hole on the side of the tank must've been responsible for it to have been abandoned, and Yoshi peered inside of it. It was empty of all contents, but it was as good a place as any, for now at least. He placed the baby turtles down in an empty cardboard box he found in the alleyway. They were all asleep now, and Yoshi figured this was a safe enough spot for him to leave them. Covering the hole with a spare sheet of metal, Yoshi tried to find his surroundings. His only thoughts now, were on his daughter.
He had no idea how Miwa would react seeing him as he was now, but he refused to loose his daughter. Once he found his apartment, he scaled the side of the apartment building and in through an open window in a free apartment. His apartment was a floor below this one, but it had to be close to midnight now. Quickly and silently, he made his way down the stairs and towards his apartment door.
Cheryl, the woman who was watching Miwa, was standing in her own apartment, talking on the phone while his apartment door was wide open. "No, Karen, I haven't heard anything from him. He left this afternoon and he hasn't been back or called. I don't know what to do! He's got this little girl, and she's all alone right now."
Sneaking past her, Yoshi crept through the dark apartment towards Miwa's room. Her nightlight was shining under her closed door, but she was likely asleep. With a deep breath, Yoshi opened her door and entered the room. "Miwa, wake up." He whispered.
"Papa?" The little girl yawned. "Are you home? With the turtle-" Once her eyes saw him looming over her bed, she began to scream.
"Miwa, Miwa, please calm down!" Yoshi tried to shush her. "It's your Papa!"
"Papa! Papa! Help! Yokai!" She wailed, hiding under her blankets.
"Miwa!" Yoshi backed away from her. "Please, don't cry little one." Staring at his hands, he bit down on his lip. Cheryl must've heard her by now, he had to get Miwa out of here before she came back.
Back in Japan, there was a song that Tang Shen would always sing to Miwa to get her to sleep. It was a song that Yoshi only ever used to help Miwa stop crying.
"小鳥は とっても 歌が好き, 母さん 呼ぶのも 歌で呼ぶ." Yoshi began to sing.
Miwa stopped screaming when she heard the words. She was still sniffling and trying to breathe through her tears, but she tilted her head to the side, something she always did to show she was listening to her father.
"ぴぴぴぴぴ ちちちちち, ぴちくりぴい."
"Papa?" Miwa asked.
Nodding slowly, Yoshi knelt down beside her and finished the little nursery rhyme. "小鳥は とっても 歌が好き, 父さん 呼ぶのも 歌で呼ぶ, ぴぴぴぴぴ ちちちちち, ぴちくりぴい."
Miwa almost instantly leaped into his arms. "Papa!"
"Yes, Miwa, it's me." Yoshi placed his hand on her head, afraid to do more in fear he may scare her again.
"Papa, why do you look like that?" She asked. "You scared me!"
"I am sorry, Miwa. I'm not sure what happened, but we need to leave."
"Leave?"
"Yes. We're going to play a game, get all of your favorite things and put them in your suitcase, okay?"
"はい!"
As Miwa did as she was told, Yoshi called to Cheryl from across the hall, thanking her for watching Miwa and promising to leave her money under her door the next morning.
Slinking through the darkened streets of New York, Yoshi made his way back to the water tower he, his daughter, and their pet turtles had been living for almost a month now. Yoshi thanked the stars that this winter hadn't been nearly as cold as the others he and Miwa had experienced while in New York. Ever since they had to flee their old apartment, Yoshi had caught sight of the men that had turned him into a Yokai, with strange technology that they were using to hunt for him. He had managed to escape them for now.
Miwa was looking at the pictures in her favorite picture book with the blue-shelled turtle while the other three turtles sat on a blanket. The orange one was cuddling with Miwa's teddy bear, Kuma, the red one was sleeping on her back, and the purple one had one of Miwa's old pacifiers in his mouth.
"Welcome back, papa!" Miwa greeted him.
"Yes, hello, Miwa, turtle creatures." Yoshi greeted them all. He opened his bag and pulled out some take-out containers from a 24/7 Chinese food restaurant Yoshi was able to pay for with his savings. He was lucky that the teenage employee didn't seem to have a problem with dropping off the food in a dark alleyway. "I have brought us food."
Miwa put down her book and raced to grab the largest bowl of noodles while the turtles climbed over each other to get ahold of whatever they could. Nothing was left for Yoshi but an egg roll, so he reluctantly took small bites to savor the food while it was there.
Miwa watched her father looking at the picture of her mother with a frown on his face. "What's wrong, papa?"
"What terrible deed did I do in a past life that such a curse has befallen me?" He muttered to himself.
"Don't you like being a rat, papa?" Miwa frowned at his sadness.
Yoshi sighed running his hand through the dark brown fur that now coated his body. He couldn't explain his disgust with what had to him to Miwa, not without scaring her more than she already was. "Not a lot, no." He decided.
As the turtles played with the empty food containers, Miwa cuddled up to her father, snuggling into his fur.
"So, what are their names today?" Yoshi asked, gesturing with his tail towards the turtles, causing Miwa to giggle. Almost everyday since they had them, Miwa changed the names of the turtles.
"That one is Aoi!" She pointed at the turtle with the blue shell. "The red one is Haruto, purple is Touri, and orange is Kouki!" She told him proudly.
Yoshi watched Aoi grab the sheath of his small katana. "You know, the red one is a girl, Miwa." He reminded her.
"Oh! Then Akane!" Miwa announced.
Yoshi smiled and shook his head, "Are we just naming them after colors now?" He asked with a small laugh.
A purple light beamed through the small holes in the water tank, causing Yoshi to freeze. Acting fast, he threw a blanket over the portable lamp they used for light and motioned for Miwa to be silent. Though she looked scared, she did what she was told and covered her mouth. He held her close as he listened for the machine to leave. However, just when it seemed that the machine was leaving, Kouki let out a large belch, which caused all the children to begin laughing.
Yoshi leaped through the make-shift door, drawing his katana in a swift motion, cutting down the floating orb, falling to the street below. Panting heavily, Yoshi looked around the rooftop, making sure that nobody had seen him before he went back to his discovered shelter.
"Papa?" Miwa whispered, looking up at him.
"We must leave this place. It is too dangerous. We must find another haven to hide." Miwa frowned but began to help her father pack their few belongings without a word.
With everything they could get, Yoshi placed the turtles back into the cardboard box, counting three. Looking around, Yoshi spotted Kouki raiding the empty food containers. "No, no food now." He said, grabbing the orange-shelled turtle and placing him into the box with the others, "We must go."
Once they went down the fire escape, Yoshi placed the box and suitcase into an abandoned shopping cart and helped Miwa into it as well. With a deep breath, Yoshi pulled up the hood of his father's old kimono, which luckily still fit his new form, and walked out into the streets.
Crowded as ever, Yoshi was able to walk down the street with relative easy. If he kept his hood up and his newfound tail wrapped around his waist, nobody gave him a second look. That was, until the box began to make sounds of muffled laughter. Leaning over the box to whisper to his daughter and turtles, Yoshi said, "Be silent. Look to me, never be heard, never be seen."
The turtles looked to Miwa, who smiled at them, but held a finger to her lips.
Making his way towards a stairwell to the subway, Yoshi noticed the figures of the strange men. He hid around the corner.
"Kraang has all Kraang re-scanning city sector. Kraang will find mutants quickly." Said one of the three.
Yoshi watched them from around the building they hid behind. He waited for them to leave, but when they began to spread out, he took off running. Yoshi ran through the streets towards an old train tunnel he knew was abandoned. It was a place that fellow homeless people were constantly chased out of, but it was all he could think of for the time being.
How much longer could he risk staying in New York? Yes, he had food available on every street, but there were millions of people. Sooner or later, he would be spotted, sooner or later, they would run out of money. Perhaps he needed to flee, but where to?
Once they reached the train tunnel, Yoshi knelt down to rest.
"Papa?" Miwa whispered to him.
"Stay put, Miwa." Yoshi answered, "I just need to catch my breath. How are the 石亀?"
Miwa struggled to turn around so she could peer inside the box but she giggled after a moment. "Sleep!"
"You should sleep too, Miwa." Yoshi told her as he suppressed his own yawn. "The sun'll be up soon."
"We're supposed to sleep during the night, papa." She replied, rubbing her tired eyes to keep them open.
"I know," Yoshi sighed.
"Mutant organism."
Yoshi turned to find a group of the strange men surrounding them. Behind him, he heard Miwa whimper as Yoshi got to his feet. There were five of them in total, which wouldn't be much of a problem, if it wasn't for the odd weapons they were holding. Resembling a gun, Yoshi could only guess what those things were capable of.
"Come that which is known as quietly. Surrender, mutant." Said the one in the front, all of the weapons now trained on Yoshi. "Resistance to Kraang is futile."
"We shall see." Yoshi replied, holding his hands up to defend his daughter and pets.
The first shots from the weapons were fired, but as luck would have it, these men were poor shots. Even with his rusty ninjutsu skills, Yoshi was able to easily dodge the strange purple bullets that were fired at him. Quickly enough, he managed to disarm three of them. Using his opponent's own strength against him, Yoshi threw him over his shoulder and into a steel beam.
Instead of the expected blood, or even the sound of broken bones, Yoshi found the skin of the man peel off against the cool metal. Instead of muscles or tissues underneath, Yoshi found a metal endoskeleton staring back at him. The eyes of the man, which had been brown a moment ago, flashed an uneasy shade of purple.
"何？機械 ?" Yoshi exclaimed.
Before he had a chance to contemplate further, three of the apparent robots, rushed Yoshi. He could still easily defend against them, but now the resistance of his strikes made sense, now that Yoshi knew he was up against robots. Leading them down the tunnel and away from the cart, Yoshi found a tossed away broom, and used it to knock his opponents away.
However, just when he was certain he was going to win this, the robot with the exposed parts grabbed Yoshi from behind and flung him easily into the shopping cart. Yoshi heard Miwa scream.
"Give that which is known as up," Said one of the men, picking up the gun-looking machine again. "And Kraang will reduce pain to minimum."
Struggling back to his feet, Yoshi saw a bright flash come from behind him, blinding the robot with the gun. Shooting a look to the cart, Miwa was holding Touri, who held an antique camera. Quick on his feet, Yoshi reached into the cart and grabbed out his old nunchaku. Though he was a bit surprised to find he had also pulled out Kouki with it. Tossing back Kouki to Miwa, Yoshi managed to disarm the men again, and took off with the cart before they could gather their guns again.
As he ran threw the less populated streets of New York, Yoshi spotted a building under construction that connected into an alleyway. Using three Kunai, Yoshi took out the supporting beams of the base as he ran underneath them. Mere seconds after they had cleared them, the building collapsed onto the robots pursuing them.
After a couple more blocks, Yoshi found a storage unit that had been unlocked. "This will do... For now."
Finally, Yoshi was able to rest as Miwa helped him unpack their supplies into the empty space. She watched her father as he swept the dust and cobwebs into a corner before he collapsed in exhaustion.
"Papa!"
Yoshi looked at her but smiled as Touri managed to turn on their portable lamp, giving them some more light. "Very good, Touri." He said.
Placing his hands together and closing his eyes, Yoshi tried to meditate before he took a rest. Until he felt his body begin to grow heavy, his ears being pulled on, and his kimono growing wet. "It appears meditation is out of the question for now." He sighed, trying to pull the turtles off of him.
A small tug on his kimono drew Yoshi's attention back to Miwa, who held Kouki in her arms. The smallest of the turtles held out a half-eaten granola bar that Yoshi had forgotten was in the bottom of his bag. Kouki giggled at him and shook it.
With a small chuckle, Yoshi took the bar from the orange-shelled turtle, "Thank you, Kouki."
"No!"
"Hmm?" Yoshi looked back at Miwa in surprise. "What's wrong?"
"His name isn't Kouki." She said, matter-of-factly. "Doesn't fit!"
"You chose that name, Miwa?" He reminded her.
"I don't like it!" She huffed, crossing her arms as the orange one chewed on her jacket sleeve. "None of them!"
With another sigh, Yoshi gave into his daughter's wishes with re-naming the turtles again. "Then what should we name them?" He asked for what felt like the millionth time.
"Hmm..." Miwa pursed her lips together as she thought. "You name them, papa!" She decided.
"I suppose," Yoshi's ear flicked as the red one tried to use it to pull herself onto his head. "But if I do, we will not be changing them again." He warned her. "They need to learn how to respond to their names, and we can't teach them that if continue to change."
"Okay!" She beamed at him, though Yoshi wasn't sure if she fully understood what he meant.
Yoshi stood after he placed the three turtles down on the floor and crossed to his bag. After digging through receipts and wrappers, Yoshi found a book he had bought on one of the first weeks in New York. 'HISTORY OF RENAISSANCE ART'.
"When I was a child, I wanted to be an artist." He told Miwa as he came back to where they had all gathered. "So, it seems appropriate to name them after the masters of my favorite period in art: the Renaissance."
"Ren e's ant?" Miwa tried to say.
Patting his daughter's head, Splinter turned to a page in the book that held four names, four of his favorite artists; Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, and Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. The turtles climbed all over the book, looking at the pictures Splinter flipped through.
Miwa couldn't read Japanese yet, let alone English, but she looked at the pictures with their pets, her eyes constantly shifting from the page to the turtles, as if watching for their reactions to the images. After about twenty minutes, three of the turtles had brand new, permanent, names.
The eldest of the turtles, the one with the blue shell was now Leonardo. The third eldest, the purple one, was Donatello, and the little orange one was Michelangelo.
"Papa, what about 赤?" Miwa asked, pointing to the red one, who was standing on one of Raffaello's paintings.
Gently moving the turtle, Splinter flipped through a few more pages before he found who he was looking for. "Artemisia Gentileschi was a female Italian painter," Splinter explained to Miwa, "Though some of her works were violent, I enjoyed the beauty of her skilled hands." The page he had found was definitely not for one as young as Miwa, so he instead closed the book before she could see the painting. "How does 'Artemisia' sound?"
"Misia!" Miwa cheered, hugging the turtle tight to her chest. The little turtle clicked in her arms, though Yoshi doubted she would bite Miwa.
"Alright, time for sleep." Yoshi said.
Miwa pulled out some of her clothes to lay down on, while Yoshi took off his robe to cover her with.
"Papa," She yawned, "Tuck them in too!"
Yoshi looked at the turtles trying to nuzzle into the robe with Miwa. "Tuck in our pets?" He asked her.
"Not pets," Miwa said as her little eyes fluttered shut. " 私の兄弟..."
'Your siblings, hmm?" Yoshi mused as he laid down himself. "Rest," He said to them all. "For I fear we will not be able to elude our trackers for long." He added quietly to himself.
About a week had past with the Hamato clan living in the small storage unit. Their days were spent sleeping, while at night, Yoshi would leave to hunt for food. He knew Miwa wasn't a fan of eating from other's garbages, but Yoshi made sure anything he got was fully packaged and sealed to keep the food from mixing with the other trash. If Yoshi got lucky, sometimes he'd be able to steal food from delivery drivers who were inattentive, or those who weren't quick enough to their doors to grab what they had ordered. Yoshi was taught that stealing was wrong, but he quickly realized he need to save his money in case he needed to buy something that the family desperately needed, like medicine if the need arose.
Though it wasn't much, Miwa and her turtles continued to keep upbeat spirits despite their predicament. It seemed that Donatello was bright, listening to Miwa describe pictures to him, as well as putting things together like he was trying to make something new out of their garbage. Michelangelo seemed to have a bottomless pit for a stomach, but he always tried to share his food if he noticed Yoshi didn't have much to eat. Artemisia was rather aggressive as she tried to play with the younger two turtles, which left Leonardo constantly wedging his way in-between her and the others.
Miwa had asked her father if he thought they would learn to talk like they could. At first, Yoshi didn't think so, but he was quickly learning that these turtles were no longer normal ones. Their ages ranged from toddlers to infants, though they all seemed a bit more mature than that of a human baby, so Yoshi wasn't sure when they would start to speak, if they could.
Yoshi began to practice his ninjutsu again, despite having vowed he would give it up when he came to America with Miwa. It was the only thing that could truly calm his nerves from everything that had happened in the past month and a half. He had told Miwa to continue her lessons from the books he had bought her, but after a while he noticed she would watch him. After a couple of days, she began to try to imitate her father's movements, which lead to the pet turtles to try to copy her.
Yoshi had be amused, but then he considered something he vowed to Tang Shen he wouldn't do. He promised his late wife that he would give up ninjutsu and would give Miwa a normal life, but that was no longer a possibility. Not with a 213cm tall rat man as a father and four turtle 'siblings', as she called them. Perhaps if he taught her all he knew, she would at least be able to protect herself in a new and dangerous world they had found themselves in. And if her 'siblings' wanted to try for themselves, well that wasn't all bad. Training with Saki had made Yoshi that much stronger, after all.
"Miwa, if I promise to teach you the ways of the Hamato clan, will you promise to keep up with your schooling?" He asked her.
"はい!" Miwa bowed to him, like she had seen him do to the framed picture of her mother.
"Very well." Yoshi smiled down at her. That meant Yoshi just needed to scour New York for school supplies. He would find a balance between what needed to happen now, and what he had promised his beloved Tang Shen. Hopefully, she would be able to forgive him for going back on his word.
Awoken from their slumber, Yoshi scrambled to grab ahold of Miwa and the turtles once the robotic men had found them. They must've followed Yoshi back from his previous trip out of their hiding spot.
"That which is known as rodent mutant is hard to contain." Stated one of seven robots, several of which no longer using a human disguise.
"Then that which is known as rodent mutant will be exterminated." Answered another one.
As they fired at him, Yoshi had little time to throw Miwa and the turtles into the shopping cart before he took off. Seeing no other choice, Yoshi decided to triy to loose them in the empty subway station. With no ramp, Yoshi jumped on the back of the cart and rode it down the steps to the subway, Miwa and the turtles giggling as they bounced down the stairs. He was barely fast enough to jump in front of the cart, stopping it seconds away from spilling out onto the tracks.
"Again!" Miwa cheered, a chorus of agreement chirps coming from the turtles.
Yoshi had no time to respond before he noticed the robots had began to descend the stairs as well. "Keep quiet." He said to them as he pulled the cart behind him, retreating further into the subway.
"Kraang is having hard time finding mutants and human."
"Yes, Kraang. The tracker that is the DNA tracker is insufficient in that which is known as underground."
Yoshi's ear twitched backwards at their exchange. Despite being several yards into the darkened tunnel, Yoshi could still hear them clear as day. Perhaps, being a rat wasn't all bad, and finally, he had something that could work to his advantage.
Tucking the cart safely away and motioning for Miwa to keep herself and the turtles quiet, Yoshi purposely drew the robots' attention. He used his new abilities to scour the wall of the subway and hid above one of the lights.
"Kraang has spotted mutants," Said one of the robots without the disguise. "Move metal buttocks, Kraang."
As the robot approached, Yoshi leapt from his perch, smashing the robot into pieces before it could alert the others. The clang of the metal clattering over the tiles brought the others towards him, but Yoshi took his spot again. He threw a Kunai further into the tunnel, drawing them deeper and out of sight.
Yoshi returned to the cart and began to try to take it back up the stairs.
Despite her little body trying to stop, Miwa began to giggle again, causing the turtles to giggle and babble in delight.
"Shh," Yoshi hushed a bit harshly. "You must be quiet, like ninja!" He grunted, trying to pull the cart, but it refused to budge.
Clicking at Yoshi, little Donatello leaned over the cart, bringing Yoshi's attention to the back left wheel. As Yoshi tried to pull the cart up the stairs, the old, broken broom turned makeshift bō had gotten caught in the wheel. "No, not now!" Yoshi groaned. They weren't in a position that it would be safe for him to let go of the cart, unless he wanted it to go clattering back into the danger in the tunnel below. But, he also couldn't get the cart to a safer position, not with the wheel stuck as it was.
Wrapping his tail around the hand rail, Yoshi tried to pull the bō free from the wheel. He had almost managed to shake it free when he heard Miwa's panicked cry and Artemisia's aggressive clicking. At the same time, he heard mechanical whirring form behind him. Yoshi's ears flattened against his head as he turned to see one of the strange, floating machines his robotic hunters had been using to search New York for him.
Yoshi turned to face the new threat, but the moment his tail released it's hold on the hand railing, the cart began to roll back down the stairs. The bō snapped from under the weight and Miwa and their turtles rattled downwards faster than Yoshi could reach for it.
"No!"
Miwa did her best to hold the turtles in her tiny arms, but as they were ricocheted against the stairs, Artemisia was flung from the cart. The red-shelled turtle hit the pavement with a dull thud that Yoshi could hear from the top of the steps. Her little frame didn't move as the cart continued on it's way, now on a course of a dead-end collision with Artemisia.
And it did hit her, completely running over the front of the baby turtle, before it crashed into the turnstiles.
"Misia!" Miwa cried in horror, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Yoshi bounded down the steps, landing on his knees mere feet from the turtle, that was now laying in a small pool of blood. As Yoshi moved to pick her up, Artemisia groaned, the emerald green eyes welling up with tears that she refused to let fall. From what Yoshi could examine in their dire circumstances, Artemisia was injured, but it seemed that she hadn't been as injured as Yoshi had feared. The top of shell as well as the front of her plastron, just over her left shoulder had been cracked away, splinters of the broken broom digging into her skin between the shell and the plastron.
Yoshi saw red, but he pushed it down enough to calmly approach the shopping cart. Handing Artemisia to a shaking Miwa, Yoshi pulled out two Sai from his weapons' bag.
He leapt at the machine, not caring that the blades and guns were fully drawn on him. Stabbing into the top of the machine, Yoshi used his downwards momentum to shatter it against the tile stained in his daughter's blood.
"It's okay, Misia." Miwa whimpered, trying to pull the splinters from the turtle.
Artemisia hissed at her, ducking into her shell.
Leonardo nosed at her, clicking to try and draw her out. Michelangelo and Donatello also began to chirp at her, comforting her.
"You are fine, little Artemisia." Yoshi said, gently running his fingers down the center of her shell. Another hiss from inside the shell made Yoshi sigh, "Still full of fury, I see."
With the sound of more footsteps approaching, Yoshi quickly pulled out a clean sock from his suitcase and handed it to Miwa. "When she comes out, get as much of the wood out of her that you can, then hold this over her wound."
Miwa whined at the blood already over her hands. "Can't do it!"
"Your sister needs your help, Miwa." Yoshi said, "It's your job as her big sister to protect her."
That got a positive response from the toddler, who nodded and sniffed down her sobs.
Once again, Yoshi took off down the rails of the subway with the cart. As Yoshi ran, he found the subway connected into the city's sewers, which was laid out like a maze. The robots may not have been able to track him down here, but if there was one thing rats were good at, it was navigating mazes. The sewers offered Yoshi the ability to move throughout the city unseen, a place he and his family could hide, and where his children could grow. All he needed to do was get rid of his pursuers, and find the perfect place to set them up.
Taking out two more of the orb machines, Yoshi noticed Leonardo trying to help him, trying to lift his katana towards his father.
"Be careful, Leonardo." Yoshi chuckled at him.
Coming into a large clearing, Yoshi smacked one of the robots into the large pool of water below. He watched the unsettling purple light of the robot flicker and fade from beneath the water. He leaned against the cart, looking over his shoulder to see Miwa had finally coaxed Artemisia out of her shell. Now that the cart was still for a moment, Miwa was now picking at the splinters in her skin. While Artemisia was still hissing and jerking away in pain, she refused to retreat back into her shell.
Yoshi closed his eyes and listened for more of their attackers. They couldn't be completely safe until he was sure he had dealt with all that knew he was down in the sewers. Droplets of water leaking from the pipes, the groaning of metal.
His daughters... His sons... Yoshi hadn't realized it at first, that he had changed his view of the little turtles. Despite only wanting to see them as pets, it wasn't until Artemisia was hurt that he knew they were more. They were his children now, Miwa's siblings. Shen had always wanted more children, while in the beginning, Yoshi hadn't even wanted one... Now he had five children. Two daughters and three sons. Four turtles and a little girl.
Opening his eyes, Yoshi had been surrounded by dozens of the robots.
"Kraang will dispose of rat mutant, but take little mutants."
"Kraang understands. Kraang will exterminate and capture as Kraang commands."
A shift in the cart caused Yoshi's eyes to quickly snap behind him. Miwa and Leonardo had propped up the katana so that the handle was centimeters from his fingertips.
Yoshi drew the weapon, unsheathing it and held it up for all to see. "Never!" He said firmly. "Beasts from beyond this world, you want these mutants? Here! I will give them to you!"
The robots charged him, but Yoshi was faster than they were. Slashing four in half in quick secession, Yoshi jumped over the cart to attack the machines coming for his children. Five, six, seven, ten, twenty, one by one Yoshi continued to cut down the enemy, but it seemed that for every one he defeated, another would come in it's place.
"Kraang, attack for Kraang!"
Even so, Yoshi refused to back down. He could hear them now, the children cheering for him. He could taste his victory, the freedom for his family. This was his chance to claim these sewers as their own. For the remaining members of the Hamato clan.
"Papa!"
A robot in disguise had reached the cart, trying to pick up Miwa. The little girl flailed against the robot's grasp, punching and kick as well as she could. Her turtle siblings did their best to come to her aide, bawling up their fists to hit the robot as well.
"Leave them be!" Yoshi hissed, taking the robot's head off in a single swipe. However, the propulsion of his body being launched into the robot's, the cart was knocked backwards and into the water below. "No!" Yoshi screamed.
Miwa swam as best she could back to the side of the pool, but as the cart sank, none of the turtles resurfaced.
"Stay there, Miwa!" Yoshi instructed her, as he dove into the murky water.
Yoshi followed the submerged Kuma as it took on water, and found the cart at the bottom of the pool. All four of his turtle children were trapped underneath the cart, desperately pulling at the bars. Yoshi did his best to try and free his children, but found their prison unwilling to budge. His eyesight began to blur as the oxygen in his lungs began to run out. With a final cry, Yoshi planted his feet against the bottom of the pool and lifted with all his remaining might.
When Yoshi came to, he laid in the middle of a clearing that seemed to be a connecting point between the subway and the sewers. He was sopping wet, but he was still alive. He coughed up what felt like enough water to fill the ocean, before he was able to collect his thoughts.
Leonardo, Artemisia, Donatello, and Michelangelo were seated in front of him, chirping at him. Yoshi groaned when something was splayed over his back but when he noticed the long black hair, he realized it was Miwa.
"ごめんなさい, papa!" Wailed the little girl. "I came with you!"
"It's okay." Yoshi panted, "You're okay. We all are," He added, looking at each of the turtles. "Thank you, my children. You saved me."
