Living With Turtles (TMNT 2012 Fanfic)

Chapter 36: Repeat

"Punch, dodge, kick. Punch, dodge, kick."

Dalilah told herself the strategy every time she fought, hoping a repetitive practice would help her slow progress in ninjutsu.

Today, her training took place at night. The dojo gave off an eerie feeling when it got dark, but Dalilah wasn't bothered by it. As she battled against an older girl from the Foot, who she soon learned was named Kayla, Dalilah came to realize her constant attacks were very predictable, especially after Kayla managed to maneuver herself to pin Dalilah against the wall.

"Nice job," Dalilah complimented as Kayla released her. Dalilah held out her hand, expecting Kayla to return the gesture that was typically repeated after a battle. Bradford had told her it was usual to be courteous to your opponent following a friendly fight.

The older girl, however, simply exited the dojo without a word, not sparing a glance back at Dalilah. This left the beginner kunoichi puzzled, but she shrugged it off.

"Have you learned something today?" a voice questioned behind Dalilah, making her jump and turn around quickly.

"Yes, Mr. B," Dalilah replied swiftly, using the shortened version of the name he'd told her to call him. "My moves are too predictable."

"Correct. How do you plan on fixing this problem?" Rhazaar continued.

"Um..."

"This is your main issue, Dalilah. You know what the problem is but you cannot think of a way to solve it," he bluntly informed. Dalilah frowned.

"It isn't that I can't, but I don't know what to do. I haven't learned enough yet," Dalilah defended, hoping her teacher wouldn't be angry with her defiance.

"Yes, you have, but you refuse to listen when you're taught," Bradford replied gruffly. Dalilah sighed quietly, frustrated that she wasn't living up to her teacher's expectations. She was kept locked up with the Kraang her whole life, after all. Why did he expect her to be perfect?

While living with the aliens forever made Dalilah very tolerant, she grew to despise the Kraang. They treated her like an animal that was being held for experiments; which, in their eyes, was exactly the case, and that just fueled Dalilah's feelings. However, the Kraang had given her a decent education, for reasons unknown to Dalilah.

Maybe they wanted to see what would happen when they kept a human in a cage since they were born, she wondered.

As far as she was aware, Dalilah had been born in or near TCRI and held there her entire life. She didn't know who her parents were, but by eavesdropping she learned that her last name was Simmons. Dalilah had no idea where she came from, but she was determined to find out. That was part of the reason she'd left the Kraang for Shredder; she could escape their alien clutches and have the freedom to track down her family.

There were only two problems: her ninjutsu training, and that Dalilah didn't know where to look.

Thoughts of finding her unknown family distracted Dalilah from her training, and was often the reason she failed to properly imitate Bradford; she wasn't listening to him, and the double-mutant knew it.

"Apologies," Dalilah murmured, making an attempt at a civilized excuse.

"Learn to focus," Bradford remarked before he turned sharply and left Dalilah alone in the dojo.

Pouting, Dalilah made her way over to the practice dummy and began practicing new ways to take out an enemy.

"Punch, dodge, kick," she muttered sarcastically, attacking the dummy in a random matter as she tried to get a solid, unpredictable strategy down.