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Rumi was really starting to regret choosing New York as their vacation. Yeah, Bobby did say that it would be easier to blend in after that ‘alien invasion’ thing that happened a couple of months ago. Mira swore it was real, but seriously? Rumi could believe in demons because, well, they had just fought the king of demons, but really, aliens? Come on! There had to be a line somewhere. Anyway, yes, she was also happy that Zoey was very excited about going back to the States. But, Gosh! Wasn’t this a bit much?
The girls ran through another street, as hundreds of people chased behind them. While they ran, more and more people started to join in. Irritated, Mira threw a can she had found somewhere on the floor at the swarm.
“Mira!” Rumi shouted.
“What? You’re lying if you tell me you don’t also want to do that.” Mira retorted back as they ran down another street, though it only seemed to grow the swarm even more.
“We appreciate all the love! But can we dial it back a little?” Zoey yelled, making a shaky air kiss at the crowd. Rumi knew she was also at her limit. Damn it, where did everything go wrong?
They were having fun a couple of hours ago!
— — — — — —
couple of hours earlier
— — — — — —
“Come on, Rumi! Time Square is having a tech event today!” Mira shoved a poster into Rumis' fresh out of the shower face.
“Yeah! And there’s even a petting zoo section!” Zoey shoved another poster into Rumi’s face.
Rumi pushed the posters away. “Like I said before, we can’t just go to Times Square! We’ll get spotted!”
“But– pleassseee!” the two got together, showing their most biggest puppy dog eyes. With a deep sigh, Rumi let her towel fall from her head and land on the couch.
“No, I’m sorry, but this is a vacation–”
“Yeah, this is a vacation, so shouldn’t we do the most we can? Ahhh! Look at that tech. And look! They even have a cosplay stall!” Mira cut in, with her hands shoving the paper closer, showing a photo of someone beautifully dressed up as Tanjiro at the corner.
“Yeah, Yeah!! Look at these cutie pies! They just want us to pet them look look!! Wait, omg, they have a street art competition!” Zoey cut in, though she got herself distracted when she saw the street art competition notice. She shoved the poster back. The eyes of the cute little animals were big and overly edited.
Rumi was in a losing battle as she looked at the posters, her resolve fading, as her own thoughts started to think about the possibilities. Biting it down, she glared at the posters… and lost, again, those overly edited eyes, and the beautiful cosplay of Tanjiro.. is is too much!
“Ugh, fin–”
“YAYY!!!” the two cheered, already running out the door. They got stopped by Rumi, dragging them back inside.
“Our disguises!” she stated. The two pouted a little; they really didn’t want to hide, but it was better for them.
“Oh yeah, those..” The two changed their direction to the walk-in closet, followed close behind by Rumi.
After they got changed, all of them rushed to Times Square; Rumi had a sleeveless lavender colored hoodie, the hood being up, along with some ripped jeans that had slight pastel embroidery of stars on them, for shoes she had simple white Nikes. After the battle with Gwi-ma and her friends' acceptance of her, she has gotten more confident with her markings. Mira was wearing her mellowed pink cap with rose-gold chains hanging from the flap, with a black tank top underneath a pink crop top, along with a matching black and pink skirt with more rose-gold chains attached and knee-high black boots. Zoey wore a yellow crop top under a teal jacket, also with the hood up, and some pairs of open-heeled pants, and blocky platform white sneakers; everything had a lot of pins, stickers, and drawings she had put on, herself.
The three were stunned by all the stalls and the wonderful cosplays. Rumi especially almost fainted when she saw a beautiful Nezuko cosplayer. Mira thankfully helped her get a photo. Sadly, they found that the art competition and tech stalls weren’t going to open until a little later, so now they were stuck walking through Times Square. As they walked, they couldn’t help but find that many of the people were dressed in some kind a green-ninja cosplay, sporting one of 4 colors: blue, purple, orange, or red.
“Are they from a show?” Zoey whispered, leaning into the two, looking at one cosplayer who was in a blue mask with red, poorly painted stripes underneath it, doing a dramatic speech, something about ‘magic hippos’.
“Don’t know.. And what’s with the green body paint? Are they trying to be lizards?” Mira responded.
“Let’s not judge guys, it can just be from some fandom we haven’t heard of yet.” Rumi yelled-whispered, though she was also slightly weirded out by the amount of people dressed in that strange cosplay.
“They're dressed as the ‘Mad Dogz!” a bright voice cut in their whispers, making the girls jump. They didn’t even hear anyone get close to them! They quickly turned around, hands up in mock karate poses.
What faced them was a small boy who looked about 14, maybe older? He was about 5 feet, though slightly smaller, with medium-length black tightly curled hair, with an orange ribbon tied with a cute bow that was keeping up half of his hair with a puff with the rest touching his shoulders; some strands of hair had colored beads. He had dark brown skin, with lighter freckles that were in a winning battle on his face. His eyes were a beautiful light blue. With a goofy open smile on his face, showing a gape between some of his teeth. He was cute; he gave vibes of a small animal.
He was wearing a black sleeveless turtle neck and cargo pants, over them were black knee pads, they would have been invisible if it weren’t for the faces; one a cute smile and the other a zig-zagy frown with x shaped eyes, and black boots; everything had neon orange accents, along with a '90s esc racer jacket, mixed with neon colors that weren’t too flashy or too much, it was just right. He also had a lot of blocky necklaces and bracelets, and his nails were painted as well, though most of his hands were wrapped in black wrappings going under his jacket sleeves. Those accessories were in every color of the rainbow, excluding black and white, but especially red, yellow, blue, and purple. He had straps connected to a strange oval-shaped thing that had an orange zig-zag-shaped V symbol on it over the left side of his chest area on his turtle neck. And it would all be finished with a black gas mask wrapped around his neck with another zig-zag pattern on it.. This time, it looked like a weird smile. He, like Zoey, also had a lot of pins, stickers, and drawings on his clothing.
“H-huh?” Zoey quietly said, resting her arms, along with the two others.
“Ah, sorry.. I must have surprised ya! But you three were talking about the cosplayers, right?” the boy said, not once losing his brightness. The girls responded with a nod.
“Well, they're cosplaying the ‘Mad Dogz’!.. You three do know who the ‘Mad Dogz’ are, right?” The girls shake their heads. The boy giggled. He didn’t seem all that mad that they didn’t know, which relieved the three. They had been through so many hardcore fans to expect anything less, so it was refreshing to find such an open-minded one.
“You want to know about them?” the boy said, smiling now, rocking on his heels; hand behind his back, making him look younger than he probably was.
“Yeah!” Zoey yelled, throwing a fist in the air, now a smile equally as bright on her face... The two others just smiled back, also nodding.
“Well, in New York, there’s this urban legend of a group of vigilante ninja that call themselves the ‘Mad Dogz’, oh, oh, but get this, they're said to be mutated turtles!” The boy said the ‘mutant turtle’ part with jazz hands.
“Really, turtles? Aren’t turtles literally known as some of the slowest animals? How can they be ninja?” Mira cut in, rolling her eyes and leaning on her hip.
“Mira..” Rumi and Zoey shot a glare at Mira.
“Did you not hear the part where I said mutant?” The boy’s smile faltered a bit, but then went back to his bright smile.
“Mutant?” Rumi pited up.
“Yeah, mutant! About two or three years ago, mutants started to arise on the streets of New York, and well wreak havoc.” The boy's smile showed a bit of guilt, but it was quickly hidden.
“Anyway, the four mutant turtles have become famous on the streets of New York because of their crime-fighting! And how much they helped with the whole… um.. Invasion.” The boy’s smiles started to fade when he got to ‘invasion’; he seemed to have realised he had said more than he wanted to. Though Mira didn’t really seem to notice.
“Wait! Are you talking about the alien invasion thing that happened a couple of months ago?! So it wasn’t just an advertisement stick!?” Mira shouted, seemingly really involved in the conversation.
“Umm…” the boy stopped rocking, now just nervously rubbing his arms, flinching at the word ‘alien’.
Before Mira could ask more questions, Rumi covered her mouth. Mira, surprised at the movement, glared at Rumi, who only returned the glare tenfold, signaling to the boy. Mira's eyes rose as she realised she might have gone a little far.
“Oh.. sorry.. Sensitive subject.” Mira said, though her tone didn’t really show it. The two knew she meant it, but they knew other people might not realise that.
Rumi raised a hand to place on the boy's shoulder, about to explain.
“No, no, it’s fine, I know she meant it.. She’s actually just like my older brother!” The boy's bright smile returned; it almost blinded the girls. The three girls all suddenly have the urge to protect this ray of sunshine at all costs.
“Oh… that’s good!” Zoey said with her own smile. Just then, she noticed the gas mask wrapped around the boy's neck.
“Wait! Are you one of the street artists participating in the art contest!?” she excitedly said, jumping and clapping her hands.
The boy's smile grows, somehow more than it already had. “Yeah! My name’s Michelangelo by the way, though you can just call me Mikey!”
“Okay! Mikey! Could you please tell me your username? So I can follow you? Well, if you have an online platform that is...” Zoey nervously laughed as she brought her phone out.
“Oh yeah, I do actually! It’s OrnateBoxArtist!” Mikey happily replied.
Zoey’s jaw dropped as she went to face Mikey. She suddenly grabbed both of Mikey’s hands, bringing him close into almost a hug.
“OMG!!! Your OrnateBoxArtist!? Omg omg omgg!!! How did I not notice??? You have his art all over you!!” Noting all the pins, stickers, and drawings on Mikey’s clothes. She picked him up, spinning around excitedly, screaming her head off. Everyone around them just went by like it was a normal day. New York, what a town, am I right?
Rumi and Mira quickly help separate Zoey from the now dizzy but happy Mikey.
“So.. you know him, Zoey?” Rumi said, holding Mikey steadily by his shoulders.
“Know him!? He’s the one I told Bobby to commission for ‘Golden’s album cover!!” Zoey exclaimed, not realising what she had just spilled. Rumi and Mira quickly cover her mouth.
“Wait.. Golden?” Mikey suddenly stood up straight, looking at the three in more detail now. The three girls froze under his gaze.
“Oh mi gosh!!!” Mikey said in a whispered yell as he brought his hands to his cheeks to squish them, making an O shape with his mouth.
The three girls readied to run, but just then they heard laughter, looking back at Mikey.
“Don’t worry, I won’t spill the beans.. So that’s where I saw you guys from.” Mikey said with a smile.. The three girls let out a collective relieved sigh.
“Thank you, Mikey, oh, and also for your art.” Rumi said, bowing at Mikey.
“No, no, it’s fine! Man, what a coincidence!” Mikey waved off her bow with both hands.
“What are you even doing here anyway?” Mira said, holding Zoey down with a hand.
‘Oh yeah! I was at the event, but I need inspo, you know? So I left and was walking around until I saw ya’ll talking about the ‘Mad Dogz’!....Wait, OMG, I totally forgot to tell—Oh, shell!!!” The boy's eyes widened in a panic, getting his phone from his jacket pocket, rapidly tapping away. He seemed to have found something he really didn’t like as his eyes darkened and his lips thinned. His face was that of a kid who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The girls looked at him with concern.
“Um... Mikey? You okay?” Zoey raised her hand, reaching for Mikey’s shoulder.
“Hide me.” Mikey quickly said going to hide behind the girls.
“Huh?” the three collectively said.
“Hide me … please?” Mikey said with a shaky voice, as his eyes became wide, pleading.
The girls melted at the sight, going to hide Mikey from the crowd. After a while of looking around, and finding well.. Nothing. Rumi went to face Mikey again.
“Um… what are we hiding you fro–”
“MICHEALANGELO!!!”
The girls collectively jumped again at the booming voice, as Mikey ducked under them. They all went rigid as they finally saw a towering figure storming at them. Damn, he was humongous! How did they not see him before!?
The towering figure stepped closer, coming into full view. He looked to be 7 feet! No, no.. 6’10 maybe? He was the tallest human they had ever seen! Again, the girls raised the question of how they didn’t see him earlier. And he wasn’t just tall, he had a full build! Like he just came out of a gym! He looked like a mountain! He had long black Marley twists, the ends dyed in a dark red, two twists coming out under a red do-rag, one on either side of his face, the long ends of the do-rag tied into a…floppy bow? The rest of his hair fell behind him; it was long, it was down to his waist, even lower, and he also had beads in his hair, but they were bigger than Mikey's, three on each side; they were the same colors Mikey had, adding a green.
He had the same turtle neck with the cargo pants combo like Mikey, but this time with red accents. He didn’t have anything over them, fully showing off his biceps that were bigger than the girls' heads. He had some elbow protectors, and his wrists were wrapped in the same black wrapping, but the left side went up all the way to his bicep, making it look like he had a one-sleeve. He also had that strange oval thing, too, but this time it was more of a belt lock that was placed to the side of his torso. Though the belt went long behind him, making it look like he had a tail. He had many bandages all around his body; they had cute heart patterns on them, which, that and the bow kind of dimmed his intimidating presence, but not by much.
Though his crossed arms, frown with that sharp, snaggled tooth returned the intimidation…he seemed to have been in many fights... The girls looked at the claw-marked scar over his right eye, that eye a little clouded, his nails were also painted, a crimson red, though some of it seemed to have chipped off from overuse. There was also a scar on his left shoulder, though most of it was covered by the turtle neck. His skin was lighter than Mikey’s but still a soft brown, and he didn’t have cute freckles like Mikey did either; he had dark green eyes.
The Girls ended their analysis of the man, remembering that Mikey wanted them to hide him, was it from this man? They quickly got into a defensive stance with Mikey in the middle. The man seemed to loosen his own stance at that, though his frown grew and his brows furrowed.
“He looks like the CEO from those Y/N fics.” Mira whispers, her fists up. This instigated a small laugh from Mikey and Zoey.
“Let's just protect Mikey, ok?” Rumi said, though she didn’t refute that statement.
“Mikey.” the man said in a stern tone, startling the girls back to facing him.
Rumi coughed, getting closer to the man, and gosh, getting closer to him really put that height difference between the two into full display. “Sorry, Sir, but we need you to leave Mikey alone.” She said with full confidence, crossing her arms, she had faced more scarier things before, plus he was a human!
The man now looked confused at the girls, then at Mikey, who was hiding behind them. He let out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. The girls couldn’t see, but Mikey had a mischievous smile on his face. The man's shoulder slumped, and he now had his hand on his hip.
“Michael…” The man glared at Mikey, but this time Mikey glared back, and the girls watched the two... They were stuck like that for a while, like they were having a full conversation through that one gaze.
“What are they doing?” Zoey said, confused.
“I don’t know…” Rumi responded, also very confused.
After a while, the man seemed to have given up on whatever they were doing. He picked up the three girls in one go, as if they were just a couple of grapes! “Excuse me” he said. He placed them aside and picked up Mikey, putting him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Hey!! This is cheating!!” Mikey yelled, kicking his legs and hitting the man with his arms, though they just looked like light punches compared to the man.
“What is happening?” Mira said, looking at the scene with disbelief.
“I don’t know.” Rumi responded, equal in her own disbelief.
“Hellpppp” Mikey pleaded again at the girls, showing his puppy dog eyes. The girls shook out of their stupor and went to the man, holding him back.
“Hey, he asked to be put down!” Zoey said ready to throw hands. The two others, also equal in their resolve. As they readied themselves for a fight.
The man sighed again, putting the scowling boy on his shoulder down. He looked like a tired parent.
“Sorry.. Um…” His tone was wayy soft now.. Yeah, that totally stopped his intimidating presence in its tracks. He looked at the three, narrowing his eyes, “hunterx?” The girls froze. When did he realise that? He just met them! Though the man whispered, making sure not to say their name out loud. So it wasn’t that bad, “I’m this Gremlins' older brother...” he bonked Mikey's head softly, giving him a slight glare.
He looked back at the girls, his frown replaced by a soft smile. “Thank ya for taking care of him. See, he left without telling me, and Raphs get kind of protective of my brothers, you know?….. Oh yeah, the name's Raphael.” The three girls chose to look over the use of the third person.
“Ah…you're welcome.” Rumi said with a bow, though it was quickly stopped by Raph.
“No, no, it’s fine, no need to bow...” Raph started to walk away, Mikey following closely by his side.. He looked up at his brother, making grabby hands, and Raph responded by picking him up again, this time just letting him sit on his shoulders, his legs dangling on either side of Raph’s head.
“Oh, so they are brothers.. huh?” Zoey said, as she and the others watched the two go…
“Hey, are you three coming?” Mikey waved back at them.“Come on! The petting zoo areas should be open now! We’re going to walk past them on the way!”
“Really!?” Zoey quickly ran to them immediately when he said petting zoo. The two others shrugged and also followed.
“Yeah, and since Raph here likes those little rascals, we’re going to stop by!” Mikey said happily, patting his brother's head.
“The art com is also going to start soon.” Raph adds, looking up at his brother, who was holding Mikey's legs to make sure he didn’t fall.
“So, you're the gentle giant type, huh?” Mira cut in, looking up at the now lightly blushing Raph, who was picking at the bandage on his chin.
“Yeah! He only looks scary, but he's literally the most nicest person in our family!” Mikey said, putting a hand on his heart, he seemed to be proud for his brother.
“..oh, then what are you?” Rumi said, smiling up at the boy.
“I'm the cutest ofvyy!” Mikey said as he kicked his legs... Though they were just hitting Raph's chest.
“Mikey.. Stop that..” Raph said, holding Mikey’s legs tighter to stop them from hitting him more. Mikey responded with a sheepish ‘sorry’ before he got out a pen from his jacket pocket. It looked like a normal orange pen, but one side had a chain that connected to a spiky little ball. He started to fidget with it.
“Ohh… cool pen!” Zoey said, her hands behind her back as she looked at the unique pen. “Where’d you get it?”
“Oh, my brother made it for me!” Mikey said happily.
“Raph made it?” Mira responded.. She didn’t really believe Raph had small enough hands to make that.
“Oh no, Raph didn’t make it… It was Donnie.. Err.. My other little brother…” Raph quickly responded.
“Yeah, Donnie made them!” Mikey cut in, “he makes a lot of things for us! He also made Raph’s brass knuckles!” Mikey almost jumped off Raph with the excitement he had, but Raph kept him down; he seemed used to his brother's antics.
“Sick..” Mira said with a nod, she glanced at his hands, not finding them. “Can I see them?”
“Oh yeah!” Raph took two brass knuckles out of one of his pockets on his cargo pants, showing them to the girls.
They were an obsidian color, but they didn’t seem to be made out of obsidian; they had spikes. The spikes seemed to be made with some other material, as they gleamed like diamonds and were red.
“Ohh…” The girls looked at them with awe. It was clear that they were made really well. And with deep care.
“Can I touch them?” Rumi asked, pointing at the knuckles. Raph smiled and nodded, handing Rumi one of them.
Rumi expected the knuckles; they were heavy and big, but that made sense with who their owner was.. But they were amazingly made.. With a closer look, they could see a circular symbol cut into five triangular pieces, and with smaller circles inside them, on the inside of the knuckles.
“Those are amazingly made! You said your brother made them? Donnie?” Mira looked at the knuckles with excitement.
Rumi smiled at Miras' rare moment of amazement. “Is your brother a blacksmith?” she asked the brothers.
The brothers smiled at each other, “No, actually his an inventor. He’s really into all that techy stuff.” Raph said.
“He makes a lot of tech for us! Though his personality is more of a ‘Mad Scientist’...owww” Mikey add some finger wiggling, making it sound spooky.
“Give me his number!” Mira cut in, a mad scientist who has an interest in tech? Oh, she so needed to be friends with him.
Rumi gave the knuckles back to Raph. “he does seem really interesting.. Is it just the three of you?”
“Oh no no, we have another brother.. Donnie and him are actually twins .. We call them the disaster twins!” Mikey said with a laugh at the name. The group started to walk again.
“Ahh, Twins!? Do they do that Twin Telepathy thing?” Zoey cut in.
“Yeah!! They think they can hide it, but I know they could mind mel–” Raph covered Mikey's mouth, and the girls watched the interaction with confusion.
Raph looked at the girls, then faced away, starting to walk quicker. “Um, their twins… their weird.. Leo is his name, by the way… he should be with Donnie right now. Actually, where are they right now?” Raph stopped walking, looking around.
Mikey pried Raph's hand off his mouth. “They went to the tech event to set up Donnie's stand!” Raph just responded with a ‘Raph sees’
“Wait, is the tech event open now!?” Mira piped up.
“Oh no, Donnie just likes being the first one to set up.” Raph said with a laugh.
Finally, they made it to the petting zoo section. Mikey immediately jumped off Raph, as Raph rushed inside the small gate they had set up, The workers seemed to recognize him as they handed him a bag of animal food. Raph slowly sat down in the middle of the small area as he fed the small animals. Zoey also quickly joined, getting a bag and sitting next to Raph.
“aww!! “ Mikey snapped photos of Raph as he brought his hand to his heart, looking incredibly proud.
“Dr. Feelings is so proud… so much progress.” he muttered, putting his phone away.
“The art com isn’t going to start for a few more minutes, don’t you guys want to go in too?” He said, facing the others with a hand on his hip.
“Oh no, I’m fine.” Rumi shook her hands with a smile. She was content with just watching the small animals.
“Animals fear me.” Mira stated bluntly, “Anyway, you said your brother’s at the tech event, right?” Mikey nodded, and Mira immediately turned around and headed towards the event, but was quickly being brought back by her shirt collar.
“We need a plan! We can’t just split up Mira...” Rumi firmly said, with a sigh, she looked at Zoey, calling her over.
Zoey came over, a bunny in her arms, “Yeah?”
“We’re going to the Tech event, you wanted to see the art competition, right?” Rumi asked.
“Yeah! It’s going to start in...” Zoey took out her phone, looking at it. “Omg it’s going to start in 5 minutes! Gosh, I wanted to participate...” Zoey started to sulk.
“Oh, you wanted to participate? I can get you in! I know the competition hosts!” Mikey said excitedly. Zoey hopped the fence, putting the bunny back into the enclosure, hugging and spinning Mikey again.
“Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!” she screamed, startling the animals a little.
After she finally put Mikey down.“No problem!... after all, they owe me one..hehe” Mikey had a sinister smile on his face, but he quickly covered it. “Any way… It’s over there, come on!”
Mikey and Zoey started to walk away, but both of them were stopped by Raph and Rumi…. When did Raph get out?
“We need a plan!” “You are not going alone!” they said to their respective person.
The two looked at each other, then laughed. Raph brought Mikey to the side to talk to him. Rumi, bringing Zoey to Mira.
“let’s find a place to meet after we’re done with our own thing, okay?” Rumi said.
“It can be Times Square.” Zoey cut in.
“It’s going to be too crowded…” Mira stated.
“Yeah, then maybe um..” Rumi couldn’t really think of anything; she didn’t really know much about New York.
“You can just come to the Art event!” Mikey pited in, he and Raph seemed to be done with their own conversation… gosh, how are they so quiet!?
“The art event?” Rumi questioned.
“Yeah, it’s going to be lit up since it’s gonna go into the night!” Mikey smiled, rocking on his heels again.
“And Raphs will be there too, if you're worried. Someone needs to keep this artist from getting into trouble.” Raph ruffled Mikey’s hair, who shoved his hand off, grumbling, with a pout.
The three laughed as they nodded to each other. “Okay, Zoey, you can go with Raph and Mikey to the event. Mira and I will go to the tech event, remember–”
“Give hourly updates…” Zoey finished Rumi's speech, giving her a ‘I have heard this more than I want to’ look.
“Ah ha..” Rumi gave a glare at Zoey.
“Yo, how can we find your brother?” Mira spoke up, looking at the brothers.
“Purple.” The brother stated in unison as they and Zoey headed to the art event.
Mira and Rumi looked at each other with confusion; they started to walk to the tech event.
“Purple, what does that even mean?” Rumi stated.
“Don’t know, but we’ll find out, let’s go!” Mira cheered, grabbing Rumi's hand as she started to run to the stalls.
‘This wasn’t so bad’ Rumi thought back then… oh honmoon how wrong she was.