ROTTMNT OC Story - The Rise of Sophie

Part 4: Ok Sophie: Let's be Warriors

Timeline: The Day of "S1 E6: Shell in a Cell"

Sophie leaped out of the portal from New York, making a graceful pose as she gently touched the ground. "Finally, it only took a few tries but I stuck the landing," Sophie said to herself.

She looked around, back at the world she loved to be in and took in a deep breath. She wouldn't say it out loud, but this was kind of her happy place. She loved the lair but her brothers could be...a lot and all their stuff around the place gave her a weird sense of claustrophobia. However here, Sophie could finally breathe and she quickly made her way to meet Draxum.

Upon the hill, Draxum waited for Sophie, right on time as usual. She bowed in front of her mentor, before picking herself back up. She was more than ready for training, all day her brothers had been talking about some wrestling match, and she was just waiting for them to go so she could be here. Ready and focused, she looked at him. 

"We've been training for a while now, let's try something different," Draxum suggested, gesturing his gargoyles to wait and watch from the sidelines, "I want you to use what you've learned and try to strike me while I attack you."

"Uh, are you sure I'm ready? I mean I don't know if I'm-" Sophie was cut off.

"You talk too much child. You must get out of your own head if you want to be a great warrior for the yokai people," Draxum shouted, ready to start even if she wasn't.

Draxum made the first move swiftly, using his seeds, vines began to sprout and shoot at Sophie. Instantly she jumped back and looked around at the little room she had to fight in, there was only a split second before she would be caught.

Sophie thought about all the ways she could get hurt, and they caused her to panic. As she dodged the best she could, one of the vines hit her, having her slam to the ground. She shook her head, took in a deep breath, and let it out. She had to focus on how to strike Draxum down.

Boom! It came to her!

In Lou Jitsu's  Firey Fists of Fire, Lou Jitsu used his environment to his advantage. He would kick the branches of nearby trees and shoot them at the goons at the bottom, Sophie looked around and saw the growing garden of flowers near the side of the hill. They were green with glowing bulbs in the middle, and with some smoke bombs, she could create a distraction.

Using her fans, she propelled herself up and to the garden and motioned her hand forward to blow the bulbs out of the flowers and be carried with the wind. Together they made their way back to the top of the hill, barely missing the shooting vines. She smacked the bulbs to the ground near Draxum, balls of light blinding him to the bottom. Sophie smirked to herself and took out the smoke bombs in her pouch and did the same maneuver.

Draxum looked up and then around, it was hard to see at the bottom and when he looked to the top Sophie was gone. Looking around, he tried to listen for her or anything at this point. He had to be quick on his feet too and shot a vine in a random direction. Sophie then emerged from the smoke and used the vine as a bridge to her opponent. She jumped into the air, about to use her fans to knock Draxum down.

Then boom, a rushing pain came over her hand. Instead of flickering her wrist, Sophie lost her balance and fell to the ground. The smoke cleared, and what remained was Sophie on her knees, rubbing her hand. She had to bite her tongue from crying, not because of the pain but the embarrassment. While she waited for yelling about her bad performance, Draxum reached for a handout and helped her up from the ground. 

"Dang it, sometimes the pain comes and goes at the worst time," Sophie sighed, getting up from the ground, "I wish it would just stop."

"That is one thing training cannot improve, but you can try to learn from it," Draxum suggested, looking down at her hand.

"Try to think about what you did beforehand, how you moved your hand. Then think about how you could fix it, so you don't overwork your hand," he suggested, taking her hand to examine it.

Sophie smiled slightly, looking down from her hand to Draxum's eyes. He was right, it would only take practice and whether she liked it or not, the pain was a part of her. She would do better to change what she had to do than fight it and 'power-though.'

"Yeah, you're right. You really know your stuff. Master Splinter is great at fighting, but sometimes he forgets I'm not like my brothers," she explained, shrugging slightly, "I still think today was a bit of a bust though."

"Not entirely child, you did improve tremendously today. You finally got out of your head and almost bested me. I haven't seen a warrior spirit from anyone except one man..."

The sounds of the Battle Nexus filled his head as he looked back at Sophie, sometimes in the right light, she looked just like him. He let go of her hand and shook his head dismissively. 

"but that was many years ago."

The turtle picked up her fans, and then looked at her phone. It was time to go, she looked to Draxum and bowed to him.

"Thank you for your wisdom, I can't wait to train again," she said before hugging him. 

Sophie then ran down the hill to where she would draw her portal home, Draxum turned away, he wouldn't watch her go. His plan was still in motion, but today he was proud that she almost bested him. 

She made it home, walking into the lair, a loud voice echoed the lair, "SOPHIE!"

Uh oh, that was Raph. He would ask a million questions if she didn't hurry. She quickly ran to her room and threw off her gear, moving her scarf to her head. Raph busted in as Sophie kicked the box under the bed. 

"You will never guess who fought, Ghost Bear!" Raph excitedly, before tilting his head, "what happened to your shoulder?"

Sophie looked over, a bruise had started to form where Draxum got her, quickly she blurted, "I fell out of my bed trying to reach for my book. You know I inherited Leo's laziness."

"Oh, okay, anyways here's what happened," Raph started before describing the whole night, and how cool/not cool Ghost Bear was. 

Sophie nodded her head as she listened, but deep down she felt guilty for lying yet again to her brothers. Although if Draxum's lessons got as intense as tonight, it would be harder to keep secret.