Burning Passion: A ROTTMNT x OC Story

Episode 4: Friendly Fire

NOTE: This episode is a bit longer than the others, so buckle up, and enjoy!

-

-

-

The day before the duel, it had already been announced by Big Mama. Posters about it were displayed everywhere, and it really did draw in every yokai in the Hidden City... mostly. Every slot was filled and there weren't any left. Luckily, the turtles managed to get some tickets in time.

Carmen has been up training all night. Her face filled with rage, and the desire to win her upcoming duel with Leo. Her head had been lit up the whole time, her attacks were getting more and more aggressive to the point that her knuckles were bleeding. She finishes up once daylight gleamed on her face, her punching bag obliterated from all the punches.

...Meanwhile with Leo, he slept like a baby. His brothers had a little talk with him last night...

Donnie sighs exasperatedly, pinching the space between his eyes. "Nardo, you can't be serious. Asking her out right after fighting her?"

Leo grins smugly and puts his hands on his hips, like he said the smartest thing ever. "Uh, yeah? I can totally tell she's into me. I mean, my charms are irresistible." Raph, Mikey, and Donnie stare at him with a look of doubt.

"...Any-way..." Leo clears his throat, "You guys don't have to worry about me! Like I said, I've got it all planned out."

Raph rolls his eyes, unable to contain his disbelief. "Yeah, right. And what if she turns you down? What's your backup plan, hotshot?" Leo scoffs in annoyance and crosses his arms over his plastron.

Mikey jumps in, "Yeah, Leo, what if she's still mad at you? What if she smacks you in the face instead of saying yes?" He spoke whilst standing on Raph's shoulders.

"She's not gonna turn me down! I'm–"

"Leo, you're delusional if you think she's into you. You need to show her that you genuinely care, not just throw cheesy pickup-lines." Donnie interrupted, his voice stern and serious.

He genuinely doesn't want Leo to mess this up nor make a fool out of himself. Judging by how annoyed Carmen looked when Leo fell in the Battle Nexus, she definitely hates him already, Donnie observed.

Leo's smug grin drops to a frown, his eyebrows pulling together as he looks down to the ground. He thinks about it for a second, but refuses to agree to the idea. He decides to use it as his 'backup plan'.

"Yeah, alright, fine. You're right, Don." Leo spoke out with a subtle grin that had a hint of mischief in it.


Back to the present, "I hate him!" Carmen snarled as she furiously splashed water on her face from the sink. She has been grumbling curses and insults for the past few minutes. She went to her bathroom straight away right after destroying her punching bag. Trying to calm herself down, she takes slow breaths and continues washing her face.

She sighs heavily, slowly looking back up to the mirror. "...You can do this." She whispered as she put her finger on the mirror, "You can do this– I can do this!" Her voice squeaks as she talks to herself.

"You totally can." A voice suddenly spoke out from behind, Carmen jumps and quickly spins around.

"Jenni!" She yelped, her eyes shooting open at the sight of Jennika leaning against the door frame. "Big Mama's asking for you." She spoke sternly as she crossed her arms. Carmen rolls her eyes and scoffs, walking past her and purposely bumping her shoulder. "I got it."

Jennika sighs and grabs Carmen's wrist, holding her back. "Wait."

Carmen huffs, "What?"

"...I'm sorry."

She pauses then pulls her hand back, "I know."

And just like that, she walks out of the room, irritated by everything and everyone. She leaves Jennika in the room, who narrowed her eyes at her and clenched her fists. They couldn't stand each other ever since that night. Carmen and Jennika had lots of arguments, although none of them ended like this. It wasn't all just banter nor some shenanigans, it was real personal. To Carmen, atleast.

As the elevator went up to the luxury box, the doors split open. Carmen steps out of the elevator and sees Big Mama by the balcony, waiting for her. She takes a deep breath and then starts walking towards Big Mama, standing beside her. Her hands fidget with one another, a bit nervous about what she has to say to her.

'Why'd she call me over now?
Did I do something wrong?
Is she throwing me out?
Is she gonna LOCK me up?
Was I t–'

"Fayer." The spider yokai spoke in a stern voice. Carmen jumps a bit in surprise, "Y-Yes?" She slightly stuttered out.

"...Do your best, dear." Big Mama subtly grinned at her, giving her a kind look that's almost hard to believe. 'Why is she acting so oddly nice?' Carmen thought to herself as her overthinking intensified.

She nods and gives her a smile back, "I will." She puts on a determined look on her face, feeling confident about today.

Thanks to Big Mama, she surprisingly calmed down. Being praised by Big Mama, and especially by others, felt reassuring to Carmen. It was a way to let Carmen know that she's doing great.

Usually, Carmen would wait in the luxury box until her match was next, but she decided to wait backstage. She doesn't go backstage often since some fighters her age would try to... hit on her. She is quite attractive after all, and she knew. Carmen tries her best to not lead them on. That's too cruel.

As she waits backstage, inspecting her weapon and twirling it around, a yokai walks up to her. "Hey." They spoke nervously,

"Hey?" She glanced up from her weapon, "C-Can I... er..." Their hand points at a piece of paper.

'Oh, they're asking me for my autograph. Okay..' She smiles kindly and grabs their arm, pulling it slightly close. "Yeah, sure thing! Y'got a pen?" The yokai's face brightens upon hearing what she said, feeling overjoyed.

"Mhm!" They frantically dig into their pockets and quickly hand the pen over to Carmen. She starts signing the paper and then hands it back over to them. "There you go." Her lips curve into a sweet smile as she looks at them with genuine kindness. There were times like this that were tolerable and wholesome, she loves meeting fans like this. At first, she thought she was gonna get hit on with some cheesy pickup-line, but ends up with a kind fellow asking for her autograph. Carmen liked this interaction a lot.

"Hey! Security!" One of the yokai guards yelled, chasing the yokai who asked for her autograph. They quickly flash Carmen a smile before running out of the backstage, escaping the guards. Carmen's eyes follow them as they retreat from the scene, shocked.

At the same time, Leo walks into the backstage, carrying his odachi over his shoulder. Their eyes meet and his face lights up, both in joy and mischief.

"Carmy!! Heeyy! Over here!" He yelled as he waved his arms around like a lunatic.

"Oh, god..." She grumbled whilst she pinched her nose bridge.

Every single yokai in the room looks at the both of them, they start to whisper and giggle as the scene occurs. A small flame appears on top of Carmen's head as she lets out an exaggerated sigh.

Leo struts up to her and pulls out a chair, sitting beside her, "Hey, Carmy. Just thought I'd come here early." He spoke with that same stupid smug grin.

"Great. This is just great." Carmen avoids his gaze as she crosses her arms. She scowls.

"Say, is it hot in here? Or is it just you?" He chuckles,

"Wow, a cheesy pickup line that I've totally never heard of before! How original."

She rolls her eyes and grits her teeth, clearly tired of hearing that same stupid pickup-line. It's always the same.

"Okay, okay, okay... How about this?" He clears his throat, putting his finger up, "Did you just come out of an oven? Because you're too hot to handle."

"That's just worse!" She takes a quick glance at him but quickly looks away.

Leo lets out a sigh, blowing his lips. "C'mon, Carmy. You gotta give me a chance here." He's not taking no for an answer.

She scoffs and turns her head to look at him with a scowl, unable to contain her irritation.

"Turtle boy–"

"It's Leonardo." He interrupted,

"...Okay, Leon, whatever you're tryna do here– it's not gonna work. You're not the first mutant slash yokai to pull something like this on me."

Leo scoffs then laughs, doing a limp wrist gesture. "Oh really?–" Carmen pulls out small pieces of paper that have people's numbers written on it. From guys, girls, yokais, and mutants. Leo's eyes shoot open and he mouths the word 'Wow.' He actually thought he was one of a kind, but he's just like everyone else it seems.

"Really." She puts the papers back into her pocket, crossing her arms over her chest.

Leo's smug grin fades, and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn't expecting Carmen to have evidence of all the failed attempts by others to impress her. His confidence wavers for a moment.

Leo straightens his posture, trying to regain his composure. "Okay, so maybe I'm not the first to try, but that doesn't mean I can't be the one to succeed!" he says, his voice more determined now.

She chuckles and playfully pinches his cheek, "Your optimism is adorable." her face drops to an unamused facial expression but with a cocky smirk. She huffs and crosses her arms yet again.

He grins widely again and rubs his cheek where she pinched him, "You think I'm adorable?" He speaks in a teasing voice, trying to mess with her again.

Carmen's cocky demeanor quickly vanishes as she sputters and looks at him with widened eyes, "Wh– do I think– what?! No!" her cheeks glow a faint shade of red.

"Ohohoho! Did I strike a nerve?" He says with his voice slightly high-pitched as he chuckles amusingly, clearly having fun with her.

Carmen groans exasperatedly and stands up, grabbing his strap then bringing their faces close to one another. She grits her teeth as she says, "Listen here Leonardo, I'm not gonna let myself lose to a scum like you."

"But–" He tried to speak up. She tightens her grip on Leo's strap, her eyes staring intensely in his. "Tease me all you want, I don't care! Because I'm not gonna go easy on y–!" Her voice gets louder and louder as her head's flame flickers in irritation, before getting interrupted by the voice of the announcer, echoing the start of their duel.

Leo stumbles back on his chair as Carmen pulls her hand away from his strap. He looks up at her in fear and awe as he rubs his strap. 'She's... literally hot-headed.' He decides to keep quiet for his sake.

Minutes later, they both arrive in the Battle Nexus arena, facing each other. Carmen scowls at him as her head ignites. Leo smugly grins at her as he flourishes his odachi around. The tension between them is palpable as they gaze strongly into each other's eyes. Their intentions are completely different; one burns with the urge to bring them to their knees, whilst the other thrives to impress and win their heart.

"I meant what I said." She snarled.

"Looking forward to it, doll." He winks at her.

'Ugh! He's so gonna get it!' Once the announcer says the signal for the fight to begin, Carmen directly does a sweep kick to knock Leo's balance. His eyes widen in shock as he falls to the ground, yet he swiftly rolls over and frantically stands up. his odachi clashing towards her just in time for Carmen's blades to shield her. She grunts frustratedly, rapidly attempting to slash through his odachi over and over, causing him to stagger a bit. She takes her freehand out and readies her index finger to shoot– quickly, he does a roundhouse kick towards her torso, causing her to miss her shot. 'Fuck!' She immediately takes a step back and assembles her two-dual blades back into scissors form.

Leo whistles in awe, "Impressive! You built that?" He chuckles as he leans against his odachi.

Carmen scoffs and rolls her eyes, ignoring his compliment as she twirls her scissors towards him, increasing its speed. He blocks her attacks with his odachi, then smoothly slides past her, boosting himself up then landing another roundhouse kick on her, this time on the side of her face. Once she turns around to face him, he does another kick. She groans in irritation then swiftly spins her scissors back around, the blades cutting his skin. He grunts in pain, the second he opens his eyes again she grabs one of his shoulders then hits his stomach with her knee. Carmen elbows his face.

Leo scowls and immediately grabs her arm, flinging her across the arena. She lands on the ground with her knee grazing the floor, like usual. "Why do I always get flinged?" She grumbled, rolling her shoulders. Carmen stands up and readies her blade to fire bullets, but then notices he is not in sight. Her eyes darted around the arena, confused. 'Where is he?' Out of nowhere, he portals right to her side and pounces on her. Her eyes shoot open and she shields herself with her blades instinctively, 'What the hell?! Portals?' Her thoughts screamed, clearly not expecting this attack.

He grins widely at her as he has her pinned down to the ground, he looks like he's about to say something, but she quickly kicks him off of her. She boosts herself up and charges towards Leo, their weapons clashing against each other once more.

Her head's flame suddenly roars as it gets even bigger, pushing more force into him, causing him to stagger backwards. Leo makes another portal in between them, making her fall into it. She lets out a yelp and falls face-first into the ground, "Auughh! God– dammit!" She says in a strained voice, propping herself up.

Leo chuckles and kneels down, tilting her head up by her chin. "Looks like y- ow!" The tip of his fingertip gets burnt, forgetting that her entire head is on fire. Carmen takes the chance to headbutt his forehead with all of her strength, bringing him onto his knees. Now she chuckles and kneels down, tilting his head up by his chin.

"You think you're better than me? Is that it? You think you're some–" She pins him down, "–hotshot!?" her teeth grits in anger.

With their faces inches away from each other, Leo can feel the heat emitting from her burning face, he can see the anger surging through her head's veins. It starts to sting him slightly as he winces in pain. Carmen scowls at him as she keeps his face still to keep eye contact.

"You..."

She trails off, her gaze softening and her grip loosens as she notices the look on his face. The look of fear written all over his face. She hated it.

'Oh.'

Her eyes darted between his two eyes, realizing how messed up this is.

'Wait, why am I doing this?'

'Why do I hate you so much?'

'No... no, no, no, no–"

She lifts her head up and looks around the arena, the crowds of people watching and Big Mama in the luxury box. Her gaze quickly flicks back to Leo who's now regaining his composure.

Carmen lets out a sigh of frustration and pierces her blades into the ground next to the sides of Leo's head. She gets off of him and angrily walks off to the exit, leaving Leo laying in the arena confused. The announcer calls it off as a tie.

The crowd gasps and they start murmuring and whispering among themselves, confused and upset about the outcome of their duel. Whilst Raph, Mikey, and Donnie look at each other in concern. They've been watching the whole time.

Once Leo and Carmen's duel comes to an end, Leo finds himself sneaking off the Battle Nexus entrance and following Carmen secretly, sneaking and going behind each corner. He's curious as to why she left the arena just like tha, leaving everyone's questions unanswered. They eventually end up in the Grand Nexus Hotel, walking through the hallways. 'What's Carmy doing here?' Leo thought to himself as he followed behind her. He needed to talk to her after what just happened. Something was off.