Chapter Text
Wind rushed through Usagi’s fur as he sprinted across the New York rooftops.
“This is humiliating!” Usagi whined as he jumped onto the next building. His thoughts were racing through his head.
I should be doing something seriouser – is seriouser even a word? – Who cares, what matters is the fact that I should be doing something that benefits the clan. I’m the best, albeit only, samurai in the entire Foot Clan, so why is Master Shredder sidelining me? My friends get to accompany Master Shredder during his negotiation with that local crime boss. What am I even patrolling for? We’ve basically defeated all our enemies; no one is standing in the way of Master Shredder’s ‘Big Plan’ – whatever that is.
Usagi slowed down, already fed up with this embarrassing mission. He knew his friends would mock him when he got back. As he slowed down, he realized that this building had a parapet on the roof, standing just a bit above Usagi’s waist. It was the perfect place to take a short break. He smiled as he jogged over to the parapet, which was overlooking a bright, bustling street with civilians too engaged in their own lives to realize a mutant rabbit was watching them. Shorter buildings littered the other side of the street.
There was no one with Usagi, so no one to berate him for taking an ‘unnecessary break.’
“The Foot Clan is full of huge pricks…” Usagi groaned, his eyes sweeping over the street below for any possible threats. The Foot had taught him the importance of staying vigilant, although most of the lessons hurt.
Usagi straightened when he heard obnoxiously loud voices in the distance.
“I’m literally better than all of you guys combined!” One voice cackled, “That’s why I’m the brawn of the team. I could basically solo all of you at once!” Usagi had nothing better to do, so he tuned into these voices’ conversation.
A high-pitched voice responded with, “That’s all bull and you know it!”
“Let’s just do this patrol quickly, we have school tomorrow!” This voice sounded anxious.
Usagi was now thoroughly invested in this conversation. He had already learned that these kids were around his age because of their voices' pitch and the fact that they were going to school. Not only that, but they seemed to be patrolling, which was an odd thing for human teenagers to do.
“Stop being a stick in the mud, Leo. We’re all basically acing our classes!” The original rough voice shot back.
Now, Usagi had a name for one of the voices, Leo, the anxious one.
“You’re not,” the anxious voice – Leo, mumbled.
“I agree with Leo, I have homework tonight.”
The voices grew louder, hinting at the fact that the teenage boys were getting closer to Usagi’s building.
“I say we do a backflipping contest!” This voice was new, and although the sound was a bit rougher, Usagi could tell it was the youngest of the group.
The highest-pitched voice responded with, “That was so out of pocket.”
“What? I’m bored, and this patrol is stupid!”
Why don’t they just go home? They’re teenagers; they don’t have an obligation to patrol the New York streets. Usagi thought as he leaned deeper into the cement parapet. He was so tired and only wanted to go home, but if he went home now, the Foot would realize he didn’t take his patrolling duty seriously.
“One backflipping contest wouldn’t hurt, plus I would have the opportunity to shove it in all of your faces when I win!” the rough voice said.
The voices grew even louder, and it was now clear to Usagi that they were coming from the row of buildings across the street. The buildings on that side were positioned uncomfortably, leaving a large gap between two of them. On Usagi’s roof, a wide building blocked most of his view of the right side; all he could see was the gap and then the continued buildings to the left.
“I’ma go first!”
In almost an instant, a green blur jumped over the gap. Although the backflip was clean and precise, proving that these kids had received some level of training, it also had its own stylized flair.
Usagi’s jaw dropped when he got a good look at the boy; his skin was green.
The boy wore little clothing except for a bright orange bandana and regular ninja gear. Being part of the Foot Clan, Usagi could tell that this boy’s gear was handmade and unprofessional. The most confusing part, however, was that this boy was a mutant, like him. Obviously, Usagi was a rabbit, and this boy was a turtle, but his point still stood.
Before Usagi could fully wrap his head around the fact that there were other mutants, another turtle backflipped over the gap. This turtle wore a purple bandana and had a bo staff strapped to his back. He also had glasses that miraculously stayed on his face throughout the entire movement.
Another turtle backflipped over the gap, this one broader and in a bright red mask that covered the top of his head. This boy’s backflip was low, unlike the orange turtle, who specialized in verticality. When the red turtle reached the other building, he rolled into a clumsy somersault, his friends—brothers? - quickly moving out of the way.
Usagi could have sworn by the amount of distinct voices that there were four boys, but only three had jumped the gap.
An anxious voice piped up from the turtles’ original area, “This is childish! We should all be heading home now.” The voice – Leo – paused before realizing no one was going to interrupt him, “I don’t want to be late to school tomorrow because you guys are too tired to get up on time!”
“Lame-o-nardo strikes again…” the red turtle groaned as he stood up from the ground.
Usagi heard the hidden turtle stomp his foot down in disapproval, most likely angry about the nickname.
“Leo, Eastman High School is not that strict, especially since we saved the city!” The purple turtle made the obvious movement of rolling his eyes. “Just do the backflip, it’s pretty fun!”
The Leo turtle groaned and ran up to the edge of the hidden building, jumping over the gap and into Usagi’s view. This turtle wore a bright blue mask, coincidentally, Usagi’s favorite color, and stylized his backflip into a flash kick.
Time seemed to slow down as Usagi stared at the pretty turtle. He wasn’t the tallest of his brothers, that would be the red turtle, but he seemed to be the eldest. Mainly because the blue turtle kept instructing his brothers in almost a paternal tone, the turtles obviously did not listen.
When Leo landed, his brothers immediately made fun of him. The red turtle walked up to Leo and loudly exclaimed, “That was the basic-est backflip I have ever seen!”
“Basic-est isn’t a word,” the purple masked turtle cut in before letting the red one continue.
“Anyways, I think I totally won!”
The orange turtle huffed indignantly, “No! I had way more pizazz!”
The three turtles began to bicker about the rightful winner while Leo stood off to the side. He looked disappointed, which was a funny thing to think about. However, Usagi did feel bad for the cute turtle. Personally, he believed that Leo’s backflip blew the other turtles’ ones away. Sadly, he couldn’t voice his concerns without looking like a stalker.
Usagi subconsciously started mumbling angrily. All Usagi wanted to do was stand up for the turtle; it was obvious he wasn’t going to do it himself. Unluckily for Usagi, Leo somehow heard his mumbling and began frantically looking around. The turtle’s vigilance would, most likely, make even Master Shredder proud.
The blue masked turtle’s eyes suddenly landed on Usagi, forcing him to drop onto his stomach, hiding behind the parapet for cover. Leo had probably seen him, which was honestly embarrassing.
Usagi patted down his ears to make sure that he was completely hidden by the parapet. Although he could no longer see the lanky turtles, he could still hear them.
Leo broke the confusion, speaking quietly and quickly, “We need to go, now!”
The other turtles groaned, unhappy about their fun being ruined by their anxious brother.
“Leo, I know you completely lost, but don’t be a sore loser! It’s just sad…” Now that Usagi could place the turtle’s voices to a face, he could tell that this was the orange one.
“I’m not!” Leo immediately defended himself, “I’m being completely serious, we need to leave.” Leo paused, most likely checking the building where Usagi was currently hiding. Leo’s voice dropped to a low whisper that Usagi’s ears could barely make out, “I think someone’s watching us.”
Thee turtles broke into hysterical laughter. As their laughing fit died down the red banded turtle broke up the giggles, “I know we like totally saved the city and all, but I don’t think we’re that important!”
“Why won’t you guys believe me!” Leo whisper yelled, “I’m going, you can either stay here and get jumped or come home.”
The turtles remained silent, cementing the fact that they were not willing to leave with their brother.
Usagi felt a bit bad for the turtle, Leo obviously meant well, he just did not know how to communicate effectively with his brothers. Although Leo was technically right, their clashing personalities made it hard for the turtles to take their paranoid brother seriously.
“Suit yourself, but you could come to that new pizza place with us,” the red turtle suggested, easing the tension and gaining sounds of agreement from his probable younger brothers.
A long pause filled Usagi’s ears as he desperately rejected the urge to stick his head over the parapet to see what the turtles were doing. Like the old saying, curiosity killed the cat, it would definitely get Usagi into a fight he wanted no part in.
After another agonizing minute Leo grumbled out a “fine” and Usagi waited for their conversation to continue,
Once he began to hear the padded sounds of their feet running across the cement rooftops Usagi lifted his head. He observed the turtles, with their backs towards him, run smoothly over the New York buildings. Presumably in the direction of the new pizza restaurant that the red one had mentioned.
With the turtles now gone Usagi was able to fully stand up. His legs stung and his back ached from the prolonged crouching position, but he could care less. Usagi’s mind was racing, his thoughts continuously circling back to the teenage turtles.
A harsh crack of thunder shook Usagi from his daze. He had thought that there would be no storms tonight. The thunder had begrudgingly reminded him of his leader, Master Shredder.
Usagi knew what the Shredder wanted, and it was perfect. It was not every day that their goals aligned so perfectly.
The Shredder had been talking about the turtles more and more over the past months, and although Usagi never thought he would ever actually see them, he understood the Shredder’s obsession. The Shredder feared they would intervene against his glorious plans for world domination. He also seemed to have an odd, one-sided rivalry with their father, the rat.
None of that mattered, though. The important fact was that Master Shredder would, most likely, welcome his idea of spying on them. It would be a win-win situation. Shredder would get his information and Usagi would get friends his age. Sure, it will probably suck to betray them in the long run, but that’s future Usagi’s problem.
It should be easy considering how lightly they took the prospect of Usagi stalking them, and how they blurted out the school they went to. Although, he could easily find information like that online. They saved the city from Super Fly, (or was it Super Duper Fly?) it would not be too hard to enroll in their high school and casually befriend them with his mutant charm.
All Usagi needed to do was bring his case to the Shredder and he would be set. The Shredder did not respect him, so he may have to work through his friends to be assigned the mission, but Usagi knew he could do it.
Who wouldn’t stalk the turtles, they were celebrities after all.