Family is Forever

Mystic Mayhem: Part 2

{A/N: Photo above is where we left off in part one, and to give you an idea of what caused the 'awkward pause'; The monsters' names are Garm & Freki; The dog-like creature is Mayhem, so even though April hasn't named him yet, that's what I'll refer to him as from now on}

Aria's POV:

There's an awkward pause before Leo dons his signature grin as he gives the monsters one of his annoyingly 'infamous' one-liners.

Leo: "So... You guys from Jersey?"

Mikey and I both turn to him with an annoyed look as we both simultaneously respond.

Mikey & I: "Really, Leo?"

He turns to us with a nervous smile and a shrug of his shoulders.

Leo: "What? I can't make a joke in the middle of the craziest thing ever? That's how I cope."

The turtles & I then enter our fighting stances as we draw our weapons for battle. Donnie with his tech-bō, Leo with his katanas, Raph with his sais, Mikey with his nunchucks, and me with my tessen.

Raph: "Whatever. This is our chance to finally use these babies. Weapons ahoy!"

Donnie: "We agreed to reserve 'ahoy' for ship-based adventures, pal, please."

We all leap into action. We each have our own catchphrases, and now's my chance to try out mine.

Me: "It's ninja time!"

The bad guys start running towards us as Donnie steps forward with a confident grin.

Donnie: "Guys, I got this."

Then, he extends his staff to reveal jets on both ends as he spins it around before throwing it towards our opponents.

Donnie:"Fibonacci!"

April: "Dog thingy!"

Unfortunately, the engines start to sputter as the staff spins out of control, getting higher and higher into the air. Just then, Mayhem hisses before generating a blue portal to teleport to and from the staff. He then teleports directly above Donnie, drops the staff through the portal, and teleports back into April's arms.

Donnie: "Hey, it plays fetch."

It takes him a quick second to fully grasp this new piece of information, before turning to face April.

Donnie: "And it teleports, which is..."

His look then turns to pure shock & awe.

Donnie: "Oh, my gosh, it teleports!"

Me: *chuckles* "I'm beginning to like this thing."

Then, I throw my tessen at the monsters, only for them to snatch it from midair and break it into two pieces.

Me: "No!! Come on, dudes! Not cool!!"

I try to put on a brave face, but I can't help but feel a twinge of disappointment. When the five of us were given our weapons by our father, something about his tone of voice made me feel like he was referring to me directly through a speech he had rehearsed several times. To paraphrase, he told me that the tessen was made for a kunoichi who was 'pure of heart', 'brave in the face of adversity', and 'truly understood the meaning of family & togetherness'. We all had a sense of pride about each of us that day, but for me, it was the best & biggest moment of my whole life.