Work Text:
As he watched Casey fall towards the portal, as the image of his little brother getting torn apart by his own power replayed in his mind, he threw his nephew one final grin.
Then he turned around and readied his katana.
Hounds. Lots of them. A few mechs. One was already not the best, so multiple?
He allowed himself a determined smile before slicing a lunging Krang hound out of the air. Another one jumped at him, jaw unhinged an abnormal amount, and he used his arm to block its bite before throwing it onto the cracked ground.
He threw a glance towards the portal to see Casey crossing the threshold and disappearing into the orange.
Then he returned his attention back to the fight.
He knew it was a losing battle; for all his lying to himself and others, there was no way he’d convince himself he’d make it out of this alive. It might’ve been a breeze if he still had his ninpo, but that was sealed a long time ago. And he was wounded. There was a deep gash in his side. It would probably start bleeding as he fought more, but the adrenaline was numbing the pain.
He cut a deep gash into the leg of one of the mechs with the sound of metal screeching over metal. It was deep enough that the metal that remained buckled, bringing the mech down. Temporarily, at least.
He managed to dodge a laser beam, letting it incinerate a few of the hounds. The smell of burning alien meat yanked at his senses, but he tried his best to ignore it, thinking of the next move to make, the next path to take.
He wouldn’t be winning this battle.
But he’d be damned if he let himself go down easy.
He leapt up and stabbed his sword into the biggest mech’s chest, up to the hilt. His little brother’s death replayed in his mind again. His hand tightened around the grip of his katana, around the waving purple and red masks tied around it.
He felt a familiar flame.
…Now? Really?
He pushed away the thoughts.
That would be for later.
He let it grow.
He let it push against its prison.
He let it strengthen.
He let it burn .
He loved his family.
He loves his family.
A war cry tore from his throat as the world blazed blue.
The energy that exploded from his body vaporized the Krang around him, melting the mechs into slag. He quickly got off and away from the one he had his katana embedded in, watching it collapse to the ground in a puddle of molten metal.
He stood there, breathing heavily. He brought his katana up, and saw that the runes engraved into them were glowing.
He hadn’t seen them glow in years.
Giddy with anticipation and excitement and hope in a way he hadn’t been in so long, he sliced his sword through the air.
A portal opened. Crackling with neon blue energy.
He walked through.
And appeared somewhere else.
“YES!” he crowed, throwing his arms into the air, one organic, one metal. “SUCK IT, KRANG!”
The giddiness faded away. A dull ache began radiating from the injury in his side as the adrenaline began wearing off and his situation began setting in.
A ninja’s greatest weapon was hope.
He just threw his last hope through a portal back in time.
So what did he have left?
His ninpo, apparently. His katana. An injury.
Nothing else.