The Chinese girl left her dingy apartment and headed down the street at night. She carried a battered backpack and her clothes were slightly worn. She made her way to the local college and entered using a keycard and code.
When she entered the lab Professor Rice was already there waiting for her, “Right on time, as usual.”
“Thank you for the extra credit work, Professor,” she smiled, “and the recommendation. You have no idea what this means to me.”
“It isn’t often one finds such potential in one so young,” Rice tilted his head. “And to think, you are only in your freshmen year of high school, and already at the level of some of my grad students.”
She blushed, “Thank you, Professor.”
He picked up a small vile of a strange glowing substance, “Let’s get started shall we?”
She nodded and the professor held the vile out for her.
She reached out for it, “What is it?”
“Something I have been tasked to perfect and now in need to test,” he answered dumping it on her hand. “It might be a tad painful.”
Her eyes went wide as she let out a blood curdling scream.
**
Master Splinter watched over the Turtles as they moved through their katas. Raphael and Leonardo silently competed with one another, again. After they finished their required katas, Splinter paired them up to do some weapons training.
Raphael was paired with Donatello and the genius Turtle sighed, “Great.”
The two sparred with Raph playing with Donatello, who was just waiting for the hothead’s end move. But the past few months of fighting with the Foot Clan, the Purple Dragons and the Kraang had honed the tallest Turtle’s skills and he managed to land a painful blow.
Raph yelped in pain while Donnie smiled in triumph. Raph lunged in earnest, but his temper got the better of him and Donnie landed another blow. “Someone’s getting sloppy,” Donnie teased.
Raph turned for another attack that Donnie was able to avoid. Keeping a clear head he was able to best the enraged Turtle over and over. Throwing his sai down, Raph lunged at Donnie, who simply fell back flipping Raph over him. The hothead landed hard on the floor drawing an eruption of laughter form his brothers.
“Who’s on the ‘B Team’ now,” Mikey teased before laughing. “You,” he added pointlessly, laughing some more.
“That is enough,” Splinter’s voice boomed. He looked down at Raphael, “It seems that your temper is your worst enemy today, my son. You would not have fallen so easily if you had maintained your composure.”
Raphael remained on the floor with his eyes down, “Hai, Sensei.”
“You may go,” Splinter dismissed them.
Raph got up, collected his sai and ran from the dojo. He passed through the common room without stopping and continued into the sewers. He ignored the calls of his brothers as they taunted him. He just wanted to get away from them for a while.
He ran without caring where he was going and didn’t stop until he was lost. He wondered until he found a ladder that led topside and climbed up to find out where he was. He emerged to stand right in front of a college and was about to turn and go, but stopped when he heard a woman’s scream.
He ran to investigate and saw the Kraang pulling a girl into a van. So he did what any decent Turtle would do and ran to her rescue. With the element of surprise on his side he was able to get in, break a few Kraang droids, grab the girl, and get out. She held his carapace as he ran to the nearest manhole.
He put her down to remove the cover and had her go in first then followed after. Once his feet were on the ground he picked her up again and ran through the sewers putting as much distance between them and the Kraang as possible.
By the time he finally stopped he was sure that he was lost again. He finally looked down at the girl in his arms, “Now don’t freak out….” He stopped when he saw that she had green skin. Gently he put her down and looked her over.
She appeared to be a lizard of some kind, but she had sort black hair. “Are you okay?” he managed to ask past his shock.
She nodded her head and looked down at her hands, “I lost a finger from each hand.”
“So, you were human?”
She looked up at Raph with owl like eyes. “I can’t believe you’re real,” she said in awe. “My brother’s told me about you, but I thought that he was mistaken.”
“Your brother?”
“Sid,” she answered him as if he should know who that was. Raph shrugged so she clarified, “He’s a Purple Dragon.”
“Your brother’s a Purple Dragon,” Raph crossed his arms over his plastron. “Which one?”
“The big one,” she answered.
He glared down at her, “So… are you a Purple Dragon?”
She shook her head quickly, “No. I’m a freshman at the high school, or was.”
“A student, huh. Do you know April O’Neil?”
She nodded her head, “She’s very popular.”
Then it dawned on Raph to ask, “What’s your name?”
“Um… Lisa,” she answered bashfully. “What’s yours?”
“Raphael.” He looked up at the nearest ladder, “Let me see where we are, then we can head home.”
“Where’s home,” she asked as he climbed.
“In an abandoned subway station,” he answered looking down at her and getting a clear view down her top. He felt himself flush. She wasn’t as thin as April, but she wasn’t fat either. More voluptuous and Raph found that quite appealing. He cleared his throat and made his way back down, “I know where we are now so let’s go.”
“Can we, maybe, go see my brother first,” she asked timidly. “I don’t want him to worry.”
Raph looked at her ready to say ‘no’, but when he looked into those pleading almond eyes he found himself saying, “Sure.”
**
Lisa told him where they could find her brother and he led her to the warehouse. She walked right up to the door and Raph grabbed her arm. She looked at him and smiled, “I’ll be fine. They know me.” She shrugged, “I bring them dinner sometimes.”
“I’m gonna stay up in the rafters, just in case,” he told her letting go of her arm.
“That’s fine,” she smiled. “I won’t be long.”
Raph ran along the side of the building until he found a way in. By the time he got in, Lisa had already reviled herself to her brother and the other Dragons. Sid looked genuinely upset to see her like that and wrapped his arms around her saying, “I’m gonna get that guy.” He pulled away and looked down at her, “We’ll figure something out for you.”
She smiled at him, and Raph found his heart skip at seeing that smile. “I’ll be okay,” she told him. “You know those Turtles you told me about?” He nodded in response. “Well,” she continued, “one of them saved me and I will be going with him.”
“That’s interesting,” Dogpound said coming around the corner. “That is some useful information. Think he’d come to your rescue again?” He reached down for her and she screamed.
Without thinking Raph jumped down planting his foot on the back of Dogpound’s head. The giant dog fell to the ground with a whimper while Raph leapt off him to land on the ground. “Yes he would,” Raph answered before running up and grabbing Lisa. Sid simply stepped out of the way and let Raph run past. As he passed Raph looked up at Sid’s face to see worry written all over it. Raph nodded and a smile spread across Sid’s face.
Dogpound’s roar of anger followed Raph out the door.
**
Back in the sewers, Raph led Lisa to the lair and helped her over the barrier. “I’m back,” he announced, but there was no answer. “Guys? Master Splinter? April?” He stopped and looked around, “Where are they?” He reached down and grabbed his t-phone out of its pouch, “I didn’t get a call.”
Lisa looked around, “This is nicer than I was expecting.” She walked over to the pool of water, “I like the tire swing.” She looked around some more, “Oh! Who likes Space Heroes?”
“My brother,” Raph answered walking over to her. “Let me so you around.”
He led her to the dojo and as soon as she entered she gasped in awe, “Wow, look at that tree! This is so pretty.” She looked at the weapons and training gear. “My brother said that you could fight.”
Raph shrugged, “I’m not one to brag, but I’m pretty good at ninjutsu.”
“Really?” she smiled. “Can you teach me?”
“I’m sure I can so you a few moves,” he found himself flexing a bit. He cleared his throat, “First you need to find your center.” He placed his hands on her and found his heart quicken as he stepped up close. Swallowing hard he continued his instruction. “Balance is important. Without it you would end up… um… falling a lot.”
“That makes sense,” Lisa nodded looking at Raph.
“Yeah,” he managed to say past the lump in his throat as he looked into her eyes.
She placed her hand on his arm, “You’re strong. You managed to knock down that large dog man and carry me like I was nothing.” She kept her voice just above a whisper.
“I work out,” he whispered without thinking.
“Raphael,” Splinter’s voice broke their trance.
Raph’s head snapped around to see April and his family watching him. Mikey had a take home bag of food in his arms. Raph stepped away from Lisa suddenly finding the floor interesting. “I rescued her,” he explained.
Splinter walked up to Lisa, “Welcome to our home, young miss. My name is Splinter. I am Raphael’s father and teacher.” He gestured to the others, “These are his brothers, and April.”
He eyes went wide, “My… my name’s Lisa.” She cleared her throat. “I was mutated not too long ago. I was human.”
Splinter tilted his head, “As was I, a long time ago.”
Leo and Don flanked Raph. “Welcome to the club,” Donnie chuckled as Splinter and Lisa swapped stories.
“Club?” Raph whispered back raising an eye ridge.
“You have a crush on her, don’t you,” Leo teased. “I really wouldn’t have pictured her as your type.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Raph snapped
Leo shrugged, “She looks like she’s a nice girl.”
“Leo’s right, Raph,” Donnie added. “She doesn’t look like the kind of girl that would be attracted to a brute like you.”
By that time Lisa was laughing at something Mikey had said to her. Leo leaned in, “Welcome to the club of having a crush on a girl you can’t have.”
Raph’s heart sank as he watched Lisa placed her hand on Mikey’s shoulder as she continued to laugh.
