~ Chapter 17 ~
I sighed and wiped some sweat from my forehead. "Dang, how can Donnie do this? It's tiring."
April glance up from our machine. "I dunno, but at least we're doing something."
Irma pushed up her glasses. "According to these blueprints...the 'battery' of this machine is a ooze called mutagen."
I nodded. "You've seen my powers, right Irma?"
Irma nodded her head. "You were flying in the air when I discovered the turtles!"
"Well, the mutagen is what gave me those powers and what turned the turtles into mutant turtles."
Casey grunted. "So how is Red a mutant if she never got gooped?"
Donnie frowned. "She was born a mutant, Jones."
Casey stood up. "I know I said we were cool but I didn't know that, turtle."
"Oh, a wise guy!"
I made my katana appear. "Both of you better shut the shell up before this blade is sticking out both of your heads!" I snapped.
"Jeez, sorry." Casey grumbled and sat back down before continuing working on the machine.
"Hey, Nick?" April asked.
I glanced up from wiring some stuff. "Yeah?"
"Your voice...its different."
I shrugged. "I'm just talkin' like I should be."
Irma tapped her pen to her chin. "I think that red button goes...on the bottom...right?"
Donnie's eyes fell flat. "You're holding the paper upside down."
Irma's eyes shot open. "What? Ugh..."
April chuckled. "Are you half asleep again?"
She rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Huh? No..."
I smirked. "I think you meant 'Huh? Yeah...'."
Irma pouted. "I haven't had sleep in, like, almost five days!"
"Why?" Casey asked.
Irma blushed. "Well..."
Raph walked inside the Donnie's lab. "Mind if I borrow Nick for a sec?"
April nodded and smirked. "As long as you give her back."
I stood up and followed Raph as he went into the hall.
"What's up?" I asked.
He sighed. "That was a risky thing you pulled a few hours ago."
"What was?"
He crossed his arms. "Killing yourself. It didn't even cross your mind that I couldn't figure out your powers. I could've just freaked out."
"But you didn't!" I said.
"You seriously need to think things through."
I scoffed. "Me? You're sounding like Leo!"
Raph raised an eyebrow. "Your getting mad."
"No I'm not!"
"Yeah, you are. You just yelled at me!"
My face grew red. "I'm not mad!!"
Raph crossed his arms. "Okay, what's bothering you. Getting mad out of the blue ain't normal."
"Nothing is bothering me...honestly!"
"Your upset about something."
I paused. "How..?" Then I gasped. "You're using my feeling reading powers..!"
Raph nodded. "It comes in handy. You need to talk about it?"
I turned away. "Shredder wasn't talking about me."
"What do you mean?"
"When he said, 'I'll avenge you, my daughter,' he wasn't talking about me. He was talking about Karai, Miwa."
Raph sighed and rested his hand on my shoulder. "Why is that bothering you?"
"Because!" I yelled. "I'm his daughter, not Karai! Karai has Splinter, even as a serpent! Shredder is my dad, he should at least acknowledge me!"
"You're jealous of her!"
"No I'm not! Shredder just cares more about her, so why am I so important to him?!"
"Maybe," he shifted uncomfortably, "because he has plans for you?"
I glared at him. "He had 'plans' for Karai and look what happened! She's a mutant serpent running around the city! I'm already a mutant too, due to him."
Raph sighed. "I should just go. Donnie said..." He paused. "Don't forget about Bandit either, Nick."
I blinked. "Huh?"
"His feelings, be more concerned for him. Max passed away and then you stabbed yourself in the stomach. His face was horrified."
This ticked me off. "Who made you the Feelings Doctor?!"
Raph scoffed. "Seriously? I'm trying to be nice and give you advice...and you insult me?!"
"Hey," I snapped. "I didn't ask for Bandit to like me, the same with you!"
Raph's eyebrow twitched with irritation. "Maybe some people or mutants can't really help to fall for the 'amazing' Nick Oroku!"
I gritted my teeth. "Well I don't care about anybody's feelings! Not yours and not Bandits!!! I don't care if he likes me or even liked me! I don't care that he's a mutant, I actually liked him better as a normal turtle!"
Raph stared at me in shock. "Wow, maybe you are like Shredder." He turned and left.
My blood boiled. "Get back here, Hamato! I'm not done with you!"
A shadow passed past my eyes and I heard the splashing of feet in the nearest sewers tunnel.
My heart thudded against my chest in worry. "Oh no, what did I just say?!"
I ran to Max, "Where's Bandit?!"
Max tapped her chin. "I swear I just saw him..."
I sighed and ran towards Clover. "Bandit?! Where is he?"
Clover frowned. "Uuuuh, I dueled him in video games a half an hour ago, he went somewhere so...I dunno."
"Why? What happened?" Max asked.
I tugged on my mask nervously, "I-I said something's I shouldn't have...about him and I think he was listening..."
"Well, what'd you say?" Clover asked, tilting her head to the side.
I kicked the couch. "Stupid...stupid stupid stuff."
"But what?"
"I said I liked him better as a pet turtle..."
Max gasped. "Why?!"
"I don't know! I was mad, okay?"
"That doesn't give you an excuse to say that!"
I growled. "I'll head to the surface to look for him."
Max nodded. "I'll check the lair."
Clover sat down. "I'll check the game console, maybe he got sucked in!"
I smacked the back of her head and Max crossed her arms.
"I mean...I'll check the sewer tunnels!" She corrected and ran out of the lair.
Frowning, I sighed. What a cruddy friend I am...
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
I ran along the rooftops, looking everywhere.
This would be so much easier by flying, I thought through my head.
I looked for anything that would clue me in if Bandit had gone through here. No pizza crusts (he hates that part), no Purple Dragons laying around, unconscious, nothing. I was ready to give up hope.
Then my eyes spotted a moving figure...
Bursting with speed, I ran towards it. It had to be Bandit, it had to be!
My feet got knocked out from under me and I gasped. I landed on my, well Raph's, shell and grunted.
A thick, silver thing whipped around, hissing covered up the honking of cars and the sirens of cops.
I scrambled up and pulled out my katana I had put on Raph's belt.
The hissing stopped and a figure stepped out.
"Karai..?" I strangled a yelp. "I mean Miwa...I mean...you!!!"
Karai or Miwa or whatever you want to call her, slowly opened her eyes and straightened up, looking at me. Her eyes glowed an luminous green.
"Hello, Nick."
My eyes narrowed. "You're...human?"
She nodded and looked down at herself. "How's my father?"
Slowly, I put my katana away. "Uh, Splinter is fine...a little worried about you, I mean, we all are."
Karai sighed. "I was stupid...wasn't I? Thinking I could go against Shredder and defeat him."
"Yeah, it was pretty dumb..." I glanced at her suspiciously. "What happened to you and being a serpent five seconds ago?"
"I dunno, after I was mutated...I just...transformed. After a new days, I can turn into human willingly."
My eyes lit up. "That's awesome! You can come back to the Lair!"
Karai looked down at her feet. "No, I can't. Father...I don't want to hurt him..."
"B-but Donnie has a batch of retro mutagen ready for you! It's seriously in his lab as we speak!"
"Even so, I can't risk hurting him. He's my father and I've hurt him enough."
"Y'know, I actually met your mom after I ran into you for the first time."
"Oh...about that..."
I blinked. "What?"
"Nothing..."
I raised my eye ridge. "What? Honesty, tell me."
"Just...never mind."
I frowned. What was she holding back from me..?
'My precious son...'
"It has something to do with my mom, doesn't it?" I asked.
Karai looked even more guilty. "I'm sorry about her death..."
I looked down. "I-it's okay..."
"Katrina, Elana, TigerClaw...they're all after you after Leroy reported to Shredder about you guys switching bodies. Elana and Katrina have teamed up too..."
I shuddered. "That's a bad pairing."
Karai nodded and looked at the night sky. "I never imaged something like this happening, me going against Shredder, finding out who I thought was an enemy is a friend, getting mutated, all of it."
"It wasn't your fault. Shredder kidnapped you as a baby."
"Maybe so...but I still made your guy's lives miserable..."
"Nah, we do that all by ourselves!"
Karai had a faint smile. "So...what are you doing up here? Patrol...alone?"
I shook my head. "I'm looking for Bandit."
"The turtle with a black mask?"
I nodded. "Yeah, have you seen him?"
"Sorry, no."
"Oh..."
Just then...Karai tensed up and cried out in pain. Her skin began to become pale and in a flash...she became her serpent self.
I scrambled back as she hissed at me and slithered away.
"Karai..." I muttered. "I'll get revenge for you...I promise."
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
After searching for another hour, I headed back, miserable.
I slumped down in a chair and covered my head in my hands.
"Hey, Nick." Bekka came by me and noticed I wasn't in the best of moods. "What's wrong?"
I sighed. "Bandit is gone because of me and I think Raph is mad at me..."
"Since when did Bandit go missing?"
"At least an hour and a half," I groaned.
"He could be anywhere..!"
Suddenly Donnie ran out of his lab. "M-my batch of retro mutagen is gone..! It was for Karai too!"
I looked at Bekka and she looked back at me. "You don't think he..."
"...stole Donnie's retro mutagen? But why?!"
'...I actually liked him better as a normal turtle!'
"Bandit..!!" I called out. "COME HERE!"
A crash came from the Dojo and Bekka and I ran to it (Bekka obviously got there before me...).
I slid open the doors and my heart dropped.
In the middle of the Dojo, waddling through a batch of retro mutagen, was a small, dark turtle by a large black mask.
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Only three more chapters left!!! 😱
Will Bandit remain a normal turtle? Will Bekka, Leo, Raph and Nick get their bodies back or will they forget who they really are?
~ Myranda