The Turtle Charm

Boss Babes

"And so, since then it's been training day in and day out. I barely have time to do my research and only somehow managed to convince him my job was important," I gave out a yawn, "I mean, I don't really mind learning ninjutsu. It's kind of cool, but I had the impression Splinter was a little more...laissez-faire when it came to training. He seems to spend most of his time watching commercials anyway..."

"Well...he used to be pretty easy-going, and still kind of is." said April who I was walking beside. She somehow convinced me to hang out with her and another friend. "Honestly, he was borderline neglectful towards the guys, but he changed...somewhat when he learned the Shredder was a real threat. Like, he really started driving the guys to get better since then."

"But when they are back in the lair, I see the guys chilling half the time..."

"To be fair. They've been doing the ninja thing longer than you. I'm sure Splints is just trying to catch you up to them."

I sighed, "But am I really warrior material? I don't really know how to feel about this. I mean, my main goals consist of breaking this curse and finding a way home," I said then after a moment of silence, I asked, "I am curious. I've heard a lot about you're role on the team and seen you against Ghost Bear, but you never seem to go on missions or out patrolling with those guys...why is that?"

"Well, things slowed down after Shredder," she said, "Then came my senior year and I was busy preparing for college...and as much as I'd like to help the guys out now...well, I'm just a little too busy trying to get my journalism degree," she shrugged, "What I've learned though has come in handy when I'm writing investigative pieces for my school's paper though."

"I guess I can understand that. I'd probably be stressing over Senior year if I was home right now too..."

From the distance, I heard a girl yell, "April! Over here!" The girl who was named Cassandra Jones, and likely related to Future Casey, waved us over at a cafe. When we reached her, she asked, "Who's this? I thought you were bringing that Tina girl?"

"Actually, I am Tina," I said smiling, "Valentina Tortuga. Actually, I recently lost some weight."

At her confused look, April said, "Babe, remember when I told you about Tina's curse?"

"Yeah? So..."

"It lifted a little."

It took Cassandra a moment to process it before she said, "Oh!"

"'Babe?' Are the two of you dating?" I asked, my shipping senses tingling.

The two girls gave each other a smile as they took one another's hands. "For about a year now," said April.

Excitement welled within me before I burst out saying, "Oh my gosh! The two of you are so cute together!" 

After my little shipper heart settled down, we ordered coffee and sat at a table outside. "Anyway, I'm kind of glad you gals invited me out today. It's been kind of overwhelming, living with so many guys..."

"I get you," said April, "I love the shit out of them. They're like my brothers, but sometimes you just need some gal pals."

Cassandra nodded. "When I was with the Foot Clan, there were other girls, but I could never really get along with them. Then it was hard to really bond with the girls in my Brownie Clan since they only saw me as an old lady. They called me 'Grandma CJ.'"

"Wait, you were part of the Foot?" I asked.

"Yeah...my parents kind of pushed me into ninjutsu and to join a clan, but honestly, I love hockey. You can imagine how mad they were when I told them I dropped out of the Foot for it."

From there, I learned more about Cassandra's past as an antagonist to the turtles and her decision to switch sides in the battle with The Shredder.

I also learned April's backstory as their friend. "So when I was 13, I found Raph breaking down in an alleyway. He was trying to be more independent by going on a trip to the surface by himself but got lost and scared. I was shocked at first but decided to help out by taking him home. Later, Splints and the rest of the fam tracked him there. Since then, the turtles have been my best friends."

"Interesting," I said, "You really are some of the badest boss babes I've ever met."

"What about you?" said Cassandra, "You're pretty cool, too. I mean, you could turn into the turtles. Plus I've heard you shattered that Krang key, right?"

"Eh. It's all thanks to this cursed earring though," I said pointing to where it dangled.

"Is it really a curse though? Maybe you've been looking at it the wrong way. It gave you great power. What if it's all destiny or something?"

My eyes widened before I sighed, "Even if that's the case. Then that makes the earring cool, not me. I'm just an average New Mexican chile farmer."

"Somebody help me!" screamed a child being shoved into a car, "A stranger is trying to kidnap me!" The kiddnapper proceeded to rush the kid in head to the drivers seat.

The girls and I were quick to jump in. Cassandra poped the tires with suriken even before the driver was able to rush off while April got the kid out of the car. The kidnapper got out and pulled out a gun, but before he could fire, I was behind them twisting their arm up. As the gun fell out of their grip, I slammed them into the car's hood and used their own belt to bind their arms before knocking them out.

The surrounding crowed broke into cheer and aplause. Soon afterwards the police arrived to arrest the kidnapper and we had to go to the station to talk about what happened for testimony. It took a while, but as soon as we were able to leave, we were tired and decided to hang out another time, parting ways.

Back in the lair. I found some time to myself to read the latest book I found on jewelry with animal transformation abilities when I got a group text lead by April. It was a link to a trending video of the earlier incident. One of the hashtags was: #BossBabeSquad. Then a second message said: Look's like Splint's training is already paying off. You didn't even use the earring's power. Looks like you're not quite the average farm girl.

Then Cassandra chimed in, saying: We made an awesome team! Let's do this again sometime!

My heart seemed to stop for a second. Then I smiled to myself. Maybe this training was at least good for something.