Times with the Turtles

A New Friend

Ruby woke to the smell of pizza. Her eyes snapped open and she sniffed deeply, her stomach complaining for food. Her eyes perked up and her tail twitched. She stood, following the smell through the training room toward the kitchen. There she found the food the turtles had laid out for her. She looked around, noticing that they weren't anywhere near. She walked closer and moving as if she were trying to hide from someone, and looked at the delicious looking food. She began to drool slightly. She then found a note on the table hidden by the food and she read it:

"We have left to do some patrols. The cameras have blind spots. Eat as much food as you like."

-Splinter

Ruby glanced at the food, reread the note and then looked at the food. She smiled, sat down, and began eating. The cheese, pepperoni, Hawaiian, and chicken pizza all looked so good. She went through a bowl of fruit and then started on the Hawaiian pizza.

About an hour late, Mikey burst into through the door, "Is she awake yet?" he flung his nun chucks onto the weaponry wall and went to check the couch. He found it empty, "She must be in the kitchen." He said when he came back.

"That would be probable, seeing as she was starving." Donny said, putting his staff up.

The five went to the kitchen and saw Ruby still hard at work with eating. Two pizza boxes were on the floor and two bowls of fruit and vegetables were empty. She stopped and looked at them with a sort of blank look.

"Do you guys want some?" She asked, "I'm not going to eat all of this." She smiled a bit.

"Are you sure?" Leo asked as he sat down with the rest of them.

She nodded and was about to start eating again when she looked at Splinter, asking, "Did you all escape shredder's dungeon too?"

There was a bit of confused silence.

"Uh.........What do you mean by "shredder's dungeons?" He said cautiously.

"Well......It's a building where shredder keeps all his........um.......experiments. He puts animal DNA mixed with a green ooze in people he's taken off the streets." She put her pizza down, "but, every once in a while, he has to invade and kill.........in order to get people." She shook her head and sighed, "Anyway, you all seemed like that's what happened to you."

Splinter shook his head, "For us, it was the opposite way around." He linked his hands together and placed them on the table, "Can you tell us how you came to be here?"

Ruby bit her cheek and nodded, "Since I'm here. I was taken from my home about 6 months ago. They took me to an abandoned construction site and down underground to a secret sort of base. It was dimly lit and actually not very big. There were holding chambers with just a bed and, if you're lucky, a window. There was a big room in the center of the building where they hold the experiments. I got a room right across from the doors leading to that room. Every night, the same screams of pain and fear. If I looked in through the door windows, I would see people, dressed in surgical costumes, pinning down people and injecting them with different types of substances and watching them transform before my eyes, some not living through the process. I was sort of left there for a while, looking at what they were going to do to me. About a week later, the door was opened by the people from the room across the hall, blinding me a bit from the harsh light they were carrying, seeing as the lights did nothing to light the dark corridors, and dragged me toward those accursed doors. I thought I was going to die. I passed out from panic before they even put me in the chair. I woke up finding myself back in my cell and possessing the tail and ears." Ruby paused, seeming bothered by all she said. Her ears were laid back against her hair and her tail was twitching nervously. She took a deep breathe, as if gathering courage, and continued, "Shredder stopped by to look me over, see if I was strong enough, or had the will to live. He said nothing. He just glared at me and muttered things to the guy in charge of the place. He left and I was left alone for at least a month. I got the usual stale bread and dirty water. One day, the warriors burst in and bound me, sliding a blindfold over my eyes. I don't know where they took me, or how long it took, but they threw me into this arena. Stands filled with the foot clan members lined the high walls. I wasn't even given any instruction before shredder walked in, but this time, he wasn't wearing any of his usual armor. He was.............wasn't quite human anymore. He reminded me of a werewolf. His eyes were a yellow gold, his body covered in black fur. His claws, rigid sharp and his teeth, gleaming. On his chest, the fur was naturally colored grey to look like the foot clan's symbol. He looked at me right in the eyes and said, "You have been seen unworthy for this clan and now you must die. The plan I have in mind does not have weaklings like you getting in the way." The crowd cheered him on and nearly deafened me." She paused again, scaring herself.

Splinter held up his hand, "That is enough for now, the rest can be told tomorrow, it is late." He stood, "Boys, prepare one of the spare rooms for Ruby."

"Yes master Splinter," they said in unison and left the kitchen. They chose the room right in between the kitchen and the TV room. It was empty of course. Leo went and fetched an extra mat from one of the rooms they use as a storage closet.

"That's rough, what she went through." He said as he laid it out on the right side of the room.

"No kidding," Donny said a blanket draped over his arm, "According to my calculations, shredder has been at this for at least a year, if he looks the way she described him. I don't like this at all."

"I still think we shouldn't trust her." Raphe said with a tint of anger, "Why should we believe anything she says? It could be a trap that shredder laid for us."

"The reason I trust her Raphe is the same reason why I trust you all." Splinter said walking in, "She has a strong and honest spirit about her. Shredder did not see that and I think that was his mistake. Do not think she would lie about such a tragic experience. Now, get to bed."

The four left for their rooms and the silence settled over the hideout like a blanket.

Ruby poked her head out of the kitchen, "I hope I'm not causing any problems."

"No, he is usually like this. Not very good at adapting with new things." Splinter smiled softly, "Sleep now, you need it."

Ruby nodded and went into her new room, closing the door softly and crawling into bed.

Splinter chuckled, "She will be good for the boys, a new friend to help them learn." He went to bed himself and the lights slowly turned off, letting the darkness take over and the night singing its melody.