The Ninja Witch

Before the Beginning

Prologue

Ashton dropped his backpack onto the floor of his apartment. Stretching with a loud yawn, he walked into his kitchen and made himself a sandwich for dinner. The silence of the apartment disturbed him but he didn't turn on the tv or any music. Just sat in the silence. Not long after he finished his dinner, a ringtone sounded through the apartment. He grabbed the turtle shell shaped phone with a grin and answered the call.

"Hey, wassup Dee?" Ashton asked, walking into his room with his phone to his ear.

"We're about to go on patrol, are you and Casey going to be joining us today?"

Opening his closet, the boy grabbed a change of clothes and tossed them on the bed. "I will, don't know about Jonesy. He had a meet after school, might be tired out."

"Shouldn't you have had a meet too, then?" Donatello asked. "Last I checked, you two played hockey together. It's what you two are practically known for at school according to April."

"I uh, got another detention. It got me kicked off the team," he muttered. He quickly changed into his patrol clothes - a dark, long sleeved pink shirt under a baggy, black t-shirt and a pair jeans, along with a belt to fasten his weapons to and his signature pink bandana - before grabbing a case from the bottom of his closet. "Meet you guys on top of my building?"

"You know it, and you should probably expect a lecture from Leo. He overheard the detention thing."

"Ooh, fun. See ya then, Don," Ashton rolled his eyes at the sound of a 'Leo Lecture' before hanging up. He opened the case to grab a pair daggers Splinter had given him. They were small, the blades only about as long as his hand, and fit comfortably in his hands. He quickly attached their holsters to his belt and slotted them in before grabbing his old baseball bat from the closet. While he normally went out with hockey sticks, much like his childhood best friend Casey Jones did, he had his hockey sticks taken away when he was removed from the hockey team. So his baseball bat from their little league days would have to do.

After fastening his bat to his back, he opened the window and climbed out onto the fire escape. He quickly scaled the side of the building and climbed onto the roof, waiting for his friends to show. He passed the time by flipping his daggers and sitting on the side of the roof people watching.

He was alerted to his friends' arrival by the four signature thumps on feet on the roof. Ashton turned around to see four turtles, each wearing a different colored mask. April O'Neil, his classmate and friend, was a couple rooftops behind, struggling to make the jumps as easily as the others. She practically collapsed on the rooftop, waving half-heartedly at Ashton before sitting down.

"Hey dudes, and April," he waved at his friends happily, climbing to his feet. The smile fell off his face when he saw Leonardo, the leader's, put out expression. "Listen, before you say anything-"

"How did you get detention again?! That's the third time this week, Ashton!" Leo criticized. "Did you get in another fight?"

"No! Well, sorta," Ashton rubbed the back of his neck. "They were tryna pick on some other kid and when I stood up for 'em, they came after me." The boy tugged his sleeves down, drawing the purple-clad turtle's attention.

"Asher, how bad was this fight?" Donnie asked.

Raphael eagerly butted in. "Yeah, did you whoop their butts?"

"I didn't throw anything at them, just let me toss me around. I didn't want to risk my hockey career. But then I saw Jonesy coming around the corner and knew if I didn't throw a punch, he would. So I dodged a swing and tripped 'em so they'd run into the lockers. Some teacher saw and all the blame got put on me. Didn't even bother checkin' the security cams before doling out detention," Ashton explained.