The Hamato Lily

Mascot Melee ♤

Lily looked at all the different types of paint that lined the shelves. Mikey had said that he was running low on some paints, but she couldn't remember which colors. She was tempted to just ask him, but Donnie told her to call if she had a question, and the background chatter would more than likely be heard, and her brothers were ridiculously nosy. As she contemplated her options, her phone pinged with a notification, April had sent her a meme. After taking a quick look, she went back to looking at the wall of paint.
"Need some help young miss?" One of the store attendees asked.
"Not unless you can read minds," Lily joked, turning to face the man.
He smiled knowingly, tapped a cloaking brooch pinned to the left of his employee badge, and said, "The red, black, and gold paints are really popular today, better grab some before they run out."
Lily grabbed the colors and said, "Thanks!"
"Just doing my job," he said, turning down a different aisle.
After getting some snacks for herself and her brothers - making sure anything for Raph was peanut-free - she went to one of the empty checkout lines. The clerk was an elderly woman with a southern accent.
"Why hello dearie!" She said, scanning Lily's items, "I saw you looking real close at some of the snacks you grabbed, got any allergies?"
Lily explained, "Not me, but my oldest brother, he's allergic to peanuts."
Once all the items were scanned, the clerk said, "That'll be 20 dollars and 78 cents."
Lily placed the money in the clerk's hand and grabbed the plastic bag that held what she bought and left the store, waving goodbye. Once she made sure her personal items were secured, she started making her way through Times Square. There had apparently been a recent surge in pickpockets in New York, and it's better safe than sorry. Looking at all the different Mascots, she noticed one that was slightly suspicious. It was a plain gray hippo, but the back was raised in odd places, almost as if it... was covering spikes. Sighing to herself, Lily followed the hippo, making sure she wasn't so close that it appeared suspicious. Shortly after she started observing, the hippo bumped into a man, knocking off the head and revealing exactly who she thought it was. What surprised her was that one of the pedestrians beside her was staring at Raph and smiling.
"What's making you so happy?" Lily asked, trying her hardest to keep her tone conversational.
"Do you not recognize that mascot?" She asked, and when Lily shook her head, she pulled out her phone and pulled up... a meme of a hippo with a turtle head that had cookies coming out of its butt.
Lily stared at the screen for a moment before questioning, "Why is that popular?"
The woman's phone rang and she ran off.
Walking into an alley, Lily made her way back to the lair.
Once she was home, she set her bag on the kitchen counter. Grabbing one of the snacks she bought for herself, she went to her room. Sitting on one her extra fluffy pillows, she opened the bag of trail mix. Munching on the treat, she looked at the small black lizard that was curled on her side. It was slightly bigger and more detailed than before. It was a little odd, but she'd seen weirder. Pulling out a spool of thread and a sewing needle, she grabbed one of her skirts that had a small tear that needed repair. Threading the needle, Lily began to stitch the fabric back together. One spot was thicker than she expected, and the needle ended up piercing a layer of skin. She immediately jerked her hand away and checked her finger. Strangely, it bled black instead of red. Curious, she drew a small arc on one of the walls. It pulsed, and began growing, with other colors swirling throughout it. Before long, there was a full sized door on the wall. Taking a deep breath, Lily stepped through the door.
The first thing she saw was a giant rock climbing wall. There were several inkmasters there, some climbing, others were standing at the base of the wall with nets spread out between them. Most of the people climbing didn't have a harness or anything similar that would keep them from falling, which would explain the nets.
"Excuse me," Lily said, approaching the nearest person, "Can I do some climbing here?"
The person looked at her and pointed her to an almost empty area. There were only two people there, both with name tags, one said "Annie, She/Her" and the other read "Quinn, He/They" they both were very welcoming.
"There are wrist guards, which help your grip, helmets, self-explanatory, and the harness, which will prevent you from falling if you slip," Annie said, before Quinn added, "Though we do also have nets for those who are overconfident in their flight abilities."
She nodded and started putting on the equipment. The wrist guards had colored holes and shifted to fit her three-fingered hands perfectly. Snapping the clasps of the harness shut, Lily noticed that there were no cords attached. Looking up, she saw a sign that said "Wildshape wall climb". She sighed to herself and started undoing the clasps.
"What are you doing?" Quinn asked.
Lily pointed at the sign and asked, "Does that sign mean you have to use your wildshape?"
"Yep, it's used for training the newbies, this year, only one needs to," Quinn paused, recognition flickering across their face, "You're the newbie who ripped off a chunk of somebody's flesh!"
Lily nodded and Annie launched into an in-depth explanation on how to bring out a person's wildshape. After two hours, the wings and tail had returned, and Lily felt like her shoulders had been torn apart.
"Alright, let's figure out what animal you are. Quinn, please pull up the list."
While the two were discussing, Lily got a bit bored, and so decided to release a small plume of fire. Her throat burned, but it wasn't as bad as when she first got her wildshape. After coughing a few times, she cleared her throat and saw Quinn and Annie staring at her.
"Dragon?" Quinn asked, voice flat.
"Dragon," Annie confirmed in the same tone.
"Dragon?" Lily asked, "What do you guys mean by that?"
"Two words," Quinn said, "Fire Breath."
Before she asked, Lily noticed that Annie's hair was smoking and singed. Pointing at the burnt part, she wordlessly asked if it was her fault.
"Occupational hazard," Annie smiled as she patted at the parts of her hair that were still smoldering, "Believe it or not, you are not the only one who caused damage today, and most ended in a bigger mess than your's."
Lily smiled apologetically and went over to the wall. By the time she reached it, three people had fallen onto the nets and immediately started climbing again. Taking a breath, she grabbed one of the stones and began to climb. She moved slowly, her eyes scanning the wall each time she pulled herself upward. The further she climbed, the harder it was to keep a firm hold. The stones became smooth, or small, or were spread out. When she reached for the next stone, she flapped the wings to keep herself from giving up. Before she could get a grip on it, she slipped. Instead of falling, or staying in place, Lily began to float upward. It was very slow, but she was moving up all the same.
"Woah," She breathed, before squealing and wrapping the wings around her.
She then heard a snapping sound, and she started falling. After a minute or so, her feet were back on the ground. Flapping the wings in excitement, she had to suppress a gasp as she flew almost a foot off the ground.
"Is that as high as you can fly?" A rude voice said.
Turning around - a harder feat than expected in the air - Lily saw that it was the same guy as before. He had insect wings and his eyes looked like they were in kaleidescopes. He didn't have any equipment on, not even the wrist guards, which everyone else was wearing.
"Are you not going to put on the gaurds?" Lily asked.
Ignoring her question, the guy asked, "What are you, a mutant?"
"Basically, yeah," She chirped, "Also, do you know how to stop flying?"
He scoffed and said, "You don't know?"
Lily summoned her ribbons and lowered herself to the ground, letting the wings droop behind her, "That works."
The guy was rambling on about something or other, but Macaw knocked him out again.
"Macaw, good to see you!"
"Yep," She said, spinning her frying pan, "See you later."
Lily waved goodbye as she dropped off the gear. Once she drew another door, she went back to her room.

I'm going to make the next chapter focus on either the ink realm, or Lily's  escapades on the surface, but I can't decide which. Please leave your vote and maybe even some promts or suggestions in the comments.
Until next time!