Remember [Book 1]

42 - Mikito

With Splinter’s order, the boys charged at one each other. It failed completely. Leo tripped over Donnie's staff because he tried to swing it like a Katana. Raph caught himself in Mikey's nunchucks. Mikey spun Leo's Katanas in the air and jumped out of the way as they came down. He even fell to the ground. Donnie was the last one standing but couldn't figure out how to work Raph Sais. He eventually poked his chin, making him cry out and drop the weapons.

“Yame!” Splinter called out. He took a step toward the boys. Naomi's elbow nudged me, making me start giggling. April even started chuckling as well. But as soon as Splinter shot us a look, we stopped.

As Splinter ordered the boys that this was how they were to fight from now until the rat told they could switch back, April grabbed my arm to get my attention. She was dragging me away to the main room. Naomi was right behind us.

“What're we doing, April?” I asked her. She seemed pretty stoked about something.

She stopped and turned around to face us two mutants. “How much do you wanna bet that they're gonna switch weapons when they come back from their next mission?”

“What are we betting?” Naomi asked, her arms crossing.

“Our choice of TV for a day.” April crossed her arms as well, and even added a little hip to the side just to prove her point.

I raised my hand, “But there's three of us. What about a third option?”

They both looked at me. “Are you taking a neutral ground?” April asked me.

A small pause as I thought about it. I then smiled and shook my head, “Nah. I think they'll do as Splinter says. He's strict when it comes to lessons.” I rocked back on my heels.

“I think they'll switch back,” Naomi shrugged. She went and sat on the couch. “Did you not see Raph trip over himself?”

“Hey!” an angry voice snapped from the dojo doors. Looking over, the boys were done with training for the moment. Raph had a chuck pointed at the lizard. “You try nunchucks and see where they get you, then you can judge.”

“I'll still judge,” Naomi scoffed. “You guys are years in advancement. Shouldn't you have trained with these weapons before now?”

April finally uncrossed her arms, retrieved her Tessen and added to the conversation, “Yeah! Even Splinter and I did some test runs with other weapons before he gave me this.”

Raph growled and stomped off to a corner of the main room where he started practicing with the borrowed nunchucks again. The others went their own separate ways as usual. Mikey, however, was the only one that stayed in the main room.

“Dudes,” he said as he sat down, “You would not believe who we saw tonight!”

Naomi guessed, “Batman?” We all turned to her. She looked at me then turned to the tv. That meant nothing more would come out of her for a while…

Our attention once again turned to Mikey. “I wish,” he told the lizard. She simply gave a sly smile. “But, no. We saw Pulverizer again!”

“Really?” I asked. “What's he doing since the last fiasco?”

“He joined the Foot,” Raph’s voice from the corner spoke up. He didn't sound too happy. Not that I could blame him. A good guy joining the bad guys? Had trap written on it. For me, at least. “Said he wanted to ‘hone his skill’ after a night with us.” The original Sai wielder scoffed. “Took to a dojo--”

“A Bradford Dojo!” Mikey interrupted him. “The worst kind of dojo there is!” I smiled as Mikey huffed and crossed his arms like a child. He was so cute when he got huffy.

Raph rolled his eyes whenever I turned back to pay attention.  “Whatever. Foot found him, wanted him to join ranks, yada yada yada.”

“Well…” I said cautiously. “At least he's trying to get training.”

Donnie walked in, “But with the bad guys? The Foot? And with the rank of Ashigaru-Sha? No. It's no place for him.”

As soon as Donnie said the foreign word, I looked at Naomi and whispered to her, “What does arigamuya mean?”

“Ashigaru-Sha,” Naomi corrected me. Her tail flicked. “And… I don't know. Ask Donnie, Leo, or Splinter. But let me know what it is when you find out.”

I grunted with such a lame answer. Donnie had continued his rant with Mikey. Not sure how or why, but he stepped up and defended my statement. The two just bickered. I wanted my answer, still. Clearing my throat, the two stopped and looked at me. Even Raph and April turned. All the eyes looking at me made me look down a little in embarrassment. I hated being put on the spot!

“Uhm… What does that word mean?” I asked.

“What word?” Donnie asked back. “Dolt? Fragile? Left?”

“The Japanese word!” I told him. “Arimagula.”

Donnie straightened up a little, “Ashigaru-Sha.” Another correction on my part. “It means cannon fodder.” As soon as he said it, I nodded. I knew what it was now. He seemed to take my nod and end the explanation there. It was only a matter of seconds before him and Mikey got into their argument again.

Turning on my heel, I left the two boys to go to the only lizard left in the lair. When I returned, her blue eyes returned up toward me, expecting an answer. “Apparently it means cannon fodder,” I told her. Naomi blinked but didn't ask more about it. Now this just seemed odd… “Wanna go and watch more Jerry Patter? At least while the others are arguing over weapons and that Pulverizor guy?”

A smile was shown on her usually calm demeanor. I took that as a yes! The two of us made our way to the TV where it was still free. Mikey was coming in from the kitchen with a pizza box in his hand. That meant we needed to put the movie on now! Naomi got the message as well and the two of us put the movie on. Mikey sat on the floor between the couch and TV. His eyes were glued on the magic spells being casted on the screen. I had the feeling I'd hear more about this later, whether on a mission or elsewhere.

After a while, the movie was nearly over. A T-phone dinged. Five pairs of eyes traveled to where the sound had come from: Donnie. He didn't seem to care. Instead, he answered what we were thinking. “Text message from you know who.”

“Why are you getting text messages from the evil one?” Mikey gasped. He raised his arms rp where his hands were by his head. His fingers moved to make him look scarier. “He'll use his Avocado spell on you!” Beside me, Naomi placed her head on her palm. Under her breath I heard her correct the turtle.

Donnie, completely unphased by his brother's comment, shook his head. His attention drifted to Leo and Raph instead. The other two turtles went over to the staff wielder. Knowing mine, Naomi’s, and April’s chances of going, I decided to keep my nose out of their business. I got up to change the disc to the next movie while Mikey got up to join his brothers.

As usual, they soon left. It was only a small plan that I heard but that was apparently the plan they were going with. Me? I was fine watching movies. They had different weapons and the whole nine yards. Kinda didn't want to go through that. No thanks! The movie started and I snatched up the pizza box Mikey left. Only one slice left. That was surprising.