Chapter 15:
Bad News

When all of the needles were out of his neck and the partier was back on his feet they decided to have a late supper…with the Furious Five. “Come on my fellow fighters - let’s grab us some grub.” The orange turtle said before rushing out of the door and into the hall.

“We better follow him.” Donatello suggested to the other five in the room with a shrug, and followed. As they were walking the red masked man and the red vested woman watched them head to the kitchen. The two looked at one another and then nodded: silently agreeing to a truce…for now. When the nine got in there the green skinned fighters knew what to do.

“You guys just sit tight. We’ll fix some food for ya.” The blue swordsman said as he and the others walked closer to the cabinets. With silent awe they watched as it seemed that they were training even by making them food. They first tossed four out of five some rice balls.

‘Looks like the lady still doesn’t like how we got the title of this Dragon Warrior. Fine by me.’ The sai carrier thought before he tossed the cups to the counter: mouth up. As they flew threw the air to the counter Don was able to pour the right amount of warm water into each glass as they flew by. As the other half finished up the tea the one in orange began to talk about a wolf they served.

“Yeah, so I’m like, “Fine, you may be a wolf, you may be the scariest bandit in Haijin Province but you’re a lousy tipper so you’re no match for TURTLE TITAN!” The chucker shouted before sporting a traditional hero pose.

“Really? So, how did you get out of there alive?” Crane questioned after the story was done since he wanted to know how the fight went. This caused him to become a bit nervous, but he decided to op to tell the truth.

“Actually…I was only thinking that stuff. Raph was the one who showed that cranky canine the door.” The youngest of four said after putting a small bamboo stick in one of the cups.

“After scaring all of the other customers half to death.” The responsible one informed with crossed arms. The warrior in question just gave him the usual ‘I don’t care’ glare. Deciding to keep the ball rolling the brainy one found a big plate, put the glasses on it, and then handed it to Michelangelo.

“Order up. Hope you like it.” The orange turtle said as he gave four out of five their tea…or at least their best shot.

“This is really good!” The insect exclaimed after taking a small swig of the tea given to him. This surprised the young one since he never really help make the tea - just deliver it.

“No, come on. You should try our dad‘s Tea. He actually knows what he‘s doing. The rest of us follow orders” The party animal said since he did not believe the master’s words.

“What do you mean? This is amazing!” The snake said as she drank a sample of her tea through the straw device provided. The young one heard her comment, and smiled; liking that his crush dug how he made tea.

“Wow, you four are good cooks.” The flyer said as he chomped down his third rice ball. Donatello became bashful at that comment because he was the one that found the right ratios to make the ultimate rice ball.

“I just wish I had more of your tea.” Mantis said and was greeted at the sight of his cup being refilled by the oldest of the four.

“Tigress, you’ve got to try this stuff.” The simian fighter said to the one that was eating her own meal and did not seem too interested in the lone fifth glass.

“It is said that the Dragon Warrior can survive for months at a time on nothing but the dew of the ginkgo leaf and the energy of the universe.” The feline said while picking up her plate and started to eat it’s contents with a pair of chop sticks.

“I guess our bodies don’t know that we’re the Dragon Warriors yet. We would need a lot more than dew and universe juice.” The ninja at the table commented to the five, but one had to say something else.

“Speak for yourself Mikey. All I need to survive his a glass a water, and something to punch.” The one in red said to all, but was glaring at the tiger before him as he was leaning against the counter across from her.

‘Things are getting tense. Have to do something to lighten the mood.’ The fourth thought before an idea hit him. “Hey guys, check it…” He said to the group before lowering his mask down to his nose, and also grabbed a couple of bowls from the cabinet.

“Oh brother!” The angered one said as he slammed his right palm to his forehead since he knew what the young one was planning. The five just watched curiously - wandering what he was doing.

“Master Shifu.” He finished his earlier comment and then started to impersonate said small mammal. At first four out five were enjoying the show…even his brothers for a time until the eight fighters saw said man in the doorway.
“Mikey.” The eldest whispered before and his brothers stood straight and bowed while the five just stared at the door wide-eyed.

“He’s right behind me, isn’t he.” The impersonator questioned since the last time his brothers bowed like that one of the Tribunal instructors was standing right behind him. The ninja turned saw that it was the animal he was impersonating and placed the bowls on his chest as a way to hide his props.

“You think this is funny?” Shifu questioned in them in a shouting tone. “Tai Lung has escaped and you’re acting like children.” He issued to the nine of them causing the bane of Shredder to question it.

“What?” The four questioned with different tones, but they all meant that they were interested in the fighter coming at them.

“He’s coming for the Dragon Scroll, and you four are the only ones who can stop him.” The red panda said to the turtles, but mostly directed it at the young one beside him. As soon as the ninja heard that the objects on his chest fell off.

“And here I was saying that you have no sense of humor.” Mikey said after a forced laugh. “We’re gonna…stop Tai Lung.” He added, but slowly stopped when he saw the seriousness in the master’s eyes. “What? You’re serious? And we have to…?” He said before stalling a bit and then finished with, “Master Oogway will stop him, like he did before. After all he is the turtle!” The partier shouted with his hands reaching to the heavens.

“Oogway cannot!” He shouted up at the young ninja before calming down and saying in a mellow tone, “Not anymore.” The last comment got all of their attention, and the eldest saw the stick in his hands.

‘Master Oogway’s staff…so he passed on similar to how grandfather passed on.’ Leonardo thought since both men gave their students great wisdom before passing to the higher plane.

“Our only hope now are the Dragon Warriors.” Shifu said to the ones in the room, and knew that the news was not going to go over very well.

“The turtles?” Tigress questioned; still wondering why he was putting so much faith in these new warriors.

“Yes, the turtles!” He shouted back up at her since he knew that his daughter would take this news the hardest since he had seen she has given him 110 percent.

“Master, please, let us stop Tai Lung. This is what you trained us for.” The feline said after standing up from her chair, and tried to persuade him to let them do the task.
“No! It is not your destiny to defeat Tai Lung. It is theirs!” Shifu said and gestured to the four in question, but he saw that the one beside him was missing. “Where’d he go?” The teacher questioned and glanced around, but saw nothing.

“You mentioned: destiny and fighting evil, so he’s probably running like a madman to the stairs.” Raphael said casually before seeing Shifu race to that location, and as he did that the Five also left.

‘I can’t do this! I can’t do this!’ The young one thought as he girly screamed all the way to the stairs along with putting his mask back over his eyes, but before he could reach them his latest teacher barred his way.

“You cannot leave! A real ninja never quits.” The red panda said holding the staff out toward the fleeing man. The turtle said nothing, and tried to leap over him. Only to have his ankle grabbed by the cresent hole on the staff, and was slammed on the ground.

“Come on.” The teen shouted before standing up to face his fellow fighter. “How am I supposed to beat Tai Lung? I can’t even beat you to the stairs.” The slacker explained to him.

“You will beat him because you are one of the Dragon Warriors.” Shifu said to him while walking closer to his student.

“You don’t believe that. You never believed that. From the first moment we got here you’ve tried to get rid of us, or at the very least - me.” Michelangelo countered back and got hit by the staff for each of his sentences. He tried to run to the stairs due to the opening, but had his feet swept from under him.

“Yes! I was.” He admitted to the now on his shell turtle. “But now I ask you to trust in your master as I have come to trust in mine.” He explained; believing that if he said that then the young turtle would be more cooperative.

“You’re not my Master. And I’m no Dragon Warrior.” The orange one said in a serious tone as he got back up to his feet. This angered the teacher to see cowardes in a man that showed such determination before.

“Then why didn’t you quit?! You knew that I wanted you and your brothers gone, but you stayed.” Shifu questioned the young man before him.

“Yes, I stayed. Even though you tried every tactic known to get rid of someone because I thought you Shifu - the greatest kung fu teacher in all of China would be like my father and the Ninja Tribunal and change me into being not me.” He said and was about to finish, but was interrupted by the man before him.

“But I can change you! I can turn you into the Dragon Warrior! And I will!” The teacher shouted up at the ninja who was not sporting a sad smile.
“Thanks for the words Shifu, but just because I could pass a few tests will not mean that I won’t be lazy anymore. It won’t mean that I will focus on the true path: or that I deserve to be called a Dragon Warrior. I’ll still just be a shell of a goofball.” Michelangelo said before falling to his knees. The two remained silent not knowing that they were being watched.

‘I will make you proud of me.’ Tigress thought as she saw the sight below her. The orange furred beauty was about to leap away until a throwing star buzzed past her - from below. ’Who did?’ She thought before looking down and on the ground stood the red turtle. Despite just ignoring him she leapt downward to see what he wanted.

“Look. I’m no fan of scumbags like Tai Lung either. I’ll help you take him down, but we gotta exercise just a little restraint.” The angered turtle said to the female fighter after she landed and stood up right.

“Save it! You don’t know what you’re taking about!” She shouted back at him: angered that he sounded what she was wanting out of fighting the feline.

“Try me.” He said back to her calmly. It was then the tiger could see that he really did want to help her, so she decided to meet his offer.

“It all started at a local orphanage several years ago…” She started to say and spoke of her meeting with Shifu and everything since their first encounter until right now. “So, don’t tell me what to do, or what to do against Tai Lung.” She said after her tale was done. He walked up to her, since he gave her space to walk around, and decided to give her some friendly advice.

“Just be careful. Your anger could take you down. Make you act just like him. My father once told me: a true warrior finds balance in all things.” He said as he slowly walked up to the fellow fighter for good. She heard him out, and actually found it as an ironic statement.

“Balance, huh?” The tiger fighter questioned with crossed arms.

“Well, ya know, as much balance as a couple of hot headed whackbags like us can manage.” The turtle said back to her with crossed arms as he saw her point, and knew that the same talk he gave to Casey would work on her too.

“Me? You’re the only whackbag around here, Raph.” Tigress said back to him while using the abridged version she had heard his brothers use, and for some reason she felt okay of using it.

“Hey, I’m not half as crazy as you.” He said back to her as he also gave her a light punch to the shoulder.

“For a turtle fighter - you are totally nuts.” She said back, and felt herself actually becoming happy, and happy is something she did not need at the moment.

“Well, I’m not the…” The red turtle started to counter, but was forced to stop due to the fact that she was able to touch a specific nerve point that put him to sleep. She then gently placed him on the ground, and then resumed her plan of proving herself.

“This is what you trained me for.” Tigress said after leaping all the way from the tip of the palace the one of the rooftops in the valley. She then began to rooftop leap to get out of town, but as she did that four others followed her.

“Tigress!” One of the followers shouted out to her causing the woman in question to glance over and saw that it was the other four members of her team.

“Don’t try and stop me.” She ordered to them: believing that her teacher had sent them to retrieve her, but the feline was surprised when she heard the answer to her order.

“We’re not trying to stop you.” Viper said to her female friend as they were all racing to the same spot.

“What?” The feline questioned: making sure that she heard correctly.

“We’re coming with you!” The scintillating serpent explained to the senior fighter. The cat to her left and got a thumbs-up from Monkey, and similar signs from Crane and Mantis. With that the five continued on their quest to stop Tai Lung.

Copy Rights:
TMNT, and the others, are owned by Eastman/Laird and Fox Box.
Kung Fu Panda, and the others, are owned by Dreamworks.