Moments Chapter 5: Mayhem

Rise April Challenge 24: Rebirth

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The yellow of the setting sun was painted over by the swirling pink of the hole in the sky. The wind whistled past Leo's ear as he listened to the young voice coming from his comm.  

“Just tell me when you’re home free, and I’ll pull the plug!”

Casey’s voice rang in his ears as he looked up at the hulking steal encased monster and the endless void of suffering just on the other side of the gate, marching towards him. Towards the city. Towards the world.

Towards his family.  

Maybe that shouldn’t be as high on his list. Maybe a real hero would do this for the world. But Leo isn’t a hero. Leo is selfish, arrogant, and a screw up.

But if there's one thing that Leo could consider good about himself, it was this: he was loyal and he loved his family more than anything. So, screw it.

“Casey, listen to me.” He says, not taking his eyes off the Krang. “When I get to the other side, you close that door.”  

He knows what he’s asking from the kid. Knows he is asking him to pull the trigger, to kill him. Leo knows he could have lied, could have told him to close it without telling him that he was still on the other side. But Casey shouldn’t have to live with the guilt of thinking that it was an accident, that Leo had a chance of making it out and Casey somehow screwed it up. He deserves to know that it was Leo’s choice. That there was no other way out.

“What? Sensei, no!”

Leo tunes out his response, his explanation, to focus on the enemy in front of him. He knows the way it will go, knows the words.

It feels like he’s already said them a thousand times.

Raph’s panicked voice brakes through his concentration. He’s begging, pleading, trying to reject what is happening, to demand and hold all of existence down so that is has no choice but to compile.

Leo did the same when he was dragged away by the escape pod.

He says something, a joke he forgets before it’s even out of his mouth. What he’s really saying is “I know this hurts. I know you’ll hate yourself for this. But you’ll live. You’ll be ok after a while. And that’s all I want.”

He stares at the end of everything he loves, and, with his body and mind collapsing inwards on itself like a dying star, he brings forward his Ninpō and rases his blades.

It’s a pitiful fight that’s over before it starts. But he feels his first blade in the void of the prison behind him and digs the one in his hand into foot pining him down.

“What you fail to understand is I missed on purpose.”

His Ninpō flared and he teleported deep into the prison.

In the moments between the disappearance and reappearance, Leo could swear that he could feel the weight of thousands of despairing eyes burn into his soul.  

The Krang tried to fight him, tried to run back towards the open doorway, and Leo knew he couldn’t keep him there for long.

“Casey, please.” He pleaded.

This is a plea that he knows, one that sings in his blood. Hamatos have always been forced to sacrifice everything for their family, for the world. And they always died the same way: begging their loved ones to understand. To forgive them for not coming home.

The portal closes, the Technodome explodes.

Leo let’s go of his hold and waits for death.  

-

Mikey opens a portal and saves him. He comes home.

But Leo is still waiting for death.  

He sits in his med bay cot and listens to the beeps of his heart monitor and waits for it to stop. He feels each breath and waits for it to be cut off.

Nothing happens.

It doesn’t feel real. He thinks back to when the Krang’s anger was trying to crush him, when it rained hits down to try and crack open his shell and rip apart whatever was inside.

He hadn’t been alone. He could feel them, watery eyes that watched with despair, hands that reached out and tried to hold him, voices that thanked him and whispered to him that “Anata wa hitori ja nai.”  

As he hugged the photo of his family to his chest and smiled, he felt a sense of familiarity well up in him. As if he had already done this 1000 times over. But it wasn't him, no, it was spirits that gathered around him. That could do nothing but reach out for him as he waited to die.

Leo wonders how many of his family sacrificed themselves for the ones they loved, how many died for some cause. How many deaths did it take to carve the knowledge of sacrifice into a bloodline?

But Leo hadn't died.  

He began to cry. He let the tears flow freely and he cried. Because even if his heart had never stopped beating, he still felt like he had died. Like whoever he was had disappeared into that dimension and left him a broken body to return to his family.

But that wasn’t true, he was alive. Scared and beaten and broken, but alive.

Why? Why him?

Out of everyone, out of all the souls that had reached out and shared his pain, why was he the one to come back home?  

What had he done to be brought back while they were mourned?  

No one answered.

After a minute Donnie would walk in on Leo still crying. He would grow stiff and reach out and grab his hand. Leo would cling to it and sob that he was sorry that he hadn’t listened to them, that he had put them in danger for his ego, that he had almost made them lose him.

Donnie would just cling right back and soon began to cry in turn, begging Leo to never do that again. To always be safe and with them, and Leo agreed.

Thus, Leo returned to life not with fire and ash but with tears and sobs. Nothing would be the same, nothing would be the way it was before, but they would always love each other and nothing else mattered.

Prev - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.\

@nickelodeon Bring Back Rise

Rise April Art Challenge: Day 7 Nonsense

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Ao3 link: here

(I was sick yesterday, so I had to skip that day’s prompt. I might try again at the end of the month. Please enjoy.)

The sound of fake lasers and explosions are just barely audible from Leo’s spot on the couch. It’s late and he doesn’t want to keep anyone up with the sounds of Jupiter Jim’s saving the world. Besides he’s watched this movie so many times he can resight it by heart.

It’s just getting into another of the long action seance since when his phone’s alarm starts blaring. Leo feels himself slip into doctor mode the second he hears it. The slider stands, shutting off the alarm, and heading to Mikey’s room.

His littlest brother, for all his claims that he can take care of himself, had decided to razzmatazz a little too hard and had ended up with a concussion. Leo had taken on the responsibility of waking the little orange one up every few hours. His insomnia was acting up again anyways, so it wasn’t so bad.

Entering the room, Leo blinked when he saw the empty bed. There was a moment of panic, before he turned and saw him on the other side of the room staring at the wall above his bed. It, like the rest of the room, was covered in bright colors and paint. But there was nothing more than that. Leo walked over to his brother and squatted next to him.

“Hey, bud. What you doing?” Mikey turned to him; eyes unfocused but with a soft smile.

“I’m tracking the goldfish.” He slurred. Leo blinked. Ok, that wasn’t great.

“Ok... I’m going to ask you some questions, alrighty?” Mikey nodded. “Ok, what year is it?” His little brother paused for a moment, then turned to Leo with absolute confidence and said:

“The one that’s bee like, but without the pink sickness.” There was silence, then...

“Oh, boy Mike. This is worse than I thought.” Mikey blinked and stared at his brother before continuing with his concussed rambling.  

“Do you think that you can see lines that have never been there? Or will never be?” Yeah, Leo needs to stay with Mikey till the others wake up.

“I don’t know.” Leo answers, deciding that he can deal with a little nonsense while he waits for everyone to wake up.  

“I don’t think I can. But Donnie can see jumps even when nothing moves so maybe we can if we look the right way.” Leo just nods and leans against the wall.

The next few hours are filled with Mikey talking about a whole range of topics. Some of which Leo can’t understand even a little, things like: bell heads, blanket laws, the power of purple elephants. But some of the things that are mentioned are worrying. Like when he says that Leo should never ever be called Green, with a look of such fear and grief on his face. Or when he whippers that he doesn’t want to crack into dust. It thankfully doesn’t last long, because he’s always running off on another tangent by the time Leo is trying to sort out what is being said.  

In a few hours the rest of the family will be up to help, and in a few days, Mike will be right as rain and when Leo brings up what he said the younger will just be confused and say that he can’t remember saying anything like that. After that, it will fade from their memories and will never be thought of again.

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Ao3 Link: Here

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge. And take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for other submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

Guess I know what I'm doing next month!

@nickelodeon please bring rise back.

I know, I know we’re only in July but…

𝑰'𝒎 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝑻𝑴𝑵𝑻 𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕!

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒔𝒌? 𝑬𝒂𝒔𝒚. 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝑻𝑴𝑵𝑻 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒙 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒔 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 @𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒐𝒏 𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑬 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 3 𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆.

𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆! 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆! 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒘! 𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐𝒔! 𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈!

𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒆!

Rise April Challange Day 3: Casey And Casey Jr

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Ao3 Link: here

!TW! Talk of Grief and Loss !TW!

Casey Jones doesn’t remember his mother well. He doesn’t mind too much; he’s lost so many people over his short life. Everyone in the future had, and he's still trying to get used to the idea that isn't normal here. So, he's kind of grateful that he only has vague and blurry memories of her. It means that he doesn’t have much to grieve for.  

He knows that’s shitty to say, but he thinks in his circumstances it’s fair. He’s lost so many people, he’s lost everyone, his whole world. Yeah, it was shitty, coated in blood, grime, and krang flesh. But it was his. He was born into it, it helped make him, and it held everything he had ever loved.  

Master Michelangelo, with his flowing movements and soft sparking magic lifting him high enough to see the world bathed in unworldly light and color that only the two of them could see.  

Commander O’Neil, hugging him with scared arms with a quite “Try to keep up, Jr.” Diving into battle, smiling with bloody teeth as she tore apart burning metal machine.  

The quiet and lonely shrine with a huge, spiked shell that hung on the wall with a pair of cracked purple goggles with red and blue lenses on the table below. Where his family always gathered before a mission, just sitting and holding each other, with hushed ‘I love you’s and ‘be safe’s on their tongues.  

And of course, Master Leonardo. Who had tried so hard to be a father to him, even though he was fighting a war that he knew he was losing, even as he held the lives of everyone on his shoulders. He had tried so hard to be a father that he always said Casey deserved.  

He had lost all of them.  

So... yeah. Casey was grateful that he didn’t have another person to morn.  

But... his mom was here. Alive. And he had to keep himself from panicking because he had time to figure out what to say when you're meeting a version of a mother you had never really known. He thought he had time. He didn’t.

-

Casey Jr sits ramrod straight on his spot on the couch, across from the intimating woman across from him. His mom (mom, mom, MOM!) Stares across from her with sharp eyes and narrowed in what looks like anger, and Casey's mind is very split on this.  

One half of his brain is just screaming that she’s here and alive and real! Not just a story, or a memory that he isn’t totally sure he didn’t just make up. She’s really sitting across from him, and he can see his eyes and hair on her face. And somehow this is the most earth-shattering thing that has happened to him. Or at least the only part of this disaster that he can process.  

The other half of him is trying to decide what should happen now, what he should do or say. He isn’t given the chance to figure out because she speaks first and Casey Jones the Second hears the first words he ever heard his mother say.  

“Do I need to start a collage fund?”  

It’s... it’s absurd, and out of nowhere, and said with such seriousness that it makes Casey break down into laughter that shakes his whole body. He bows over trying to get enough air into his lungs because this is so stupid and chaotic and that probably (is) the best thing you could say in a situation like this. What is his life?  

“No-No!” He says between laughs. “I don’t think-” He breaks into more laughter. “I don’t think I need that.”  

He continues to laugh as she stands, hesitates and then marches to the seat next to him, sits down just as straight as Jr had a moment ago, and stiffly hugs him to her side. He wheezes through his laughter.  

“What-what are you doing?” Casey manages to hiss out.  

“I have been told that mothers are meant to comfort their children when they are crying.”  

Crying? Was he- Oh... yes, he was. At some point his laughs had begun to turn into sobs, and tears had leaked down his face. Everything had just hit him all at once, and he just... couldn’t anymore. He leans down and wipes his nose and eyes, and just breathes.  

“Sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”  

“It’s alright.” Cassandra (Mom? Casey Sr?) responds, still holding his shoulder.  

It takes a miniate before either of them can do anything other than look over each other, looking over every similarity and difference. Then Mom (Cassandra?) meets his eyes and with a stone face asks what Casey thinks she’s been wanting to since she saw him.  

“Can you tell me how I die?” The time traveler looks away.  

“What makes you think you did?” He doesn’t think he can look at her right now.  

“Because I would not be so foolish or weak as to let my son travel through time!” She says it like he just insulted her, and he wants to argue but...  

“Infection.” He answers. “Which is impressive considering that when you were found you had one arm missing and had been impaled at least 5 times. You lasted about a week after that.” It’s easier to say than he likes. There is silence. Then:  

“I am... happy that I did not abandon you.” He turns to his mom, and she doesn’t look at him, staring past him and he makes a realization. That this whole conversation is as hard and awkward for her as it is for him, and he doesn’t know why it took him so long to realize that. Hell, they're almost the same age! He smiles and faces her completely, pulling on the quiet patience of Master Leonardo.

“I know that this is insane, and neither of us had time to really think about it. But if it helps, I don’t think we need to decide what or how we feel right now.” She pulls a face at the talk of “feelings,” but does relax slightly.  

“Very well. Until we become comfortable with the reality of this situation. Would you be amenable to the title of my brother? I... am uncertain of being refired to as a mother.” Brother? That could work. Casey grips Cassandra’s hand.   Yes, it's Cassandra for now. Maybe for forever, but that would be ok too.

“Sounds good.” 

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Please check out @zee-rambles as the one who came up with this challenge. Also take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge​ for more submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

Rise April Challenge 21: Jokes

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Leo had a sly smile as he approached Casey from behind, who was sitting on the couch with Mikey watching TV.  

“Hey, man.” He said, leaning over and wrapping his arm around Jr. The time traveler looked up with a bright smile.

“Hi Leonardo. How are you?”

“Oh, I’m wonderful, my friend.” Leo said, eyes mischievous. “Say, I was wondering, what do you call a baby butterfly with whiskers?”

Casey tilted his head in confusion, while Mikey's eyes widened, and he sat up straight. A look of fear on his face.

“Leo don’t-”

“A cat-erpillar.” 

Mikey fell back and groaned in annoyance, while Leo erupted with laughter. “Oh, that was a good one.” Leo brushed away a tear.

“But... caterpillars don't have whiskers.”

The two brothers stared at Casey for a moment, and Casey just stared back. Then his eyes went wide with realization.

“Oh, because cats have whiskers, and caterpillar starts with ‘cat.’ Cat-erpillar.” He started chuckling and giggling. “I get it! That's pretty funny sensei.”

Leo’s eyes went wide, and his face fell with shock. Then he lit up like a sunrise. Mikey saw this and began to wave his arms around in a panic.

“Leo, wait-”

“Oh, this is going to be fun!”

“No, it won’t! Leo, please-”

-

The next time they were eating pizza with the family. Leo smiled and bumped Casey’s shoulder with his own.

“Hey, kid.” He said and Casey looked up. “I saw this really cool chimney for sale and was thinking about buying it.” Jr furrowed his brow, while everyone else went stiff with concealed panic.

“Why would you want to buy a chimney? We live underground.” Leo waved his hands dismissively.

“Not important to the story. I thought it was going to cost a lot it turns out it was-”

“Nardo, please!”

“-on the house.”

The table erupted in groans and there was a bang as Raph dropped his head to the table. Casey just nodded at his master's words.

“Well, that was nice of them.” He turned and took another bite of pizza, then stopped mid chew a look of deep thought on his face. Then, he spit out the bite as he started to laugh.

“OH! On the house! Because roofs are on top of houses.”

“Ah, there you go.” Leo said, slapping Casey on the back. “See guys, he gets it!”

“This is going to be a thing, isn’t it?” Donnie asked, unenthusiastically and already knowing the answer. Leo just smirked back.

“Of course, it is.”

-

Leo and junior were sitting by themselves on a rooftop, when Leo turned to his friend.

“You know, I used to have this friend with kind of messed up feet.”

“Really?” Casey asked, turning to face him.

“Yeah,” Leo said, leaning back. “He would always stand super crooked and would always have to keep rocking back and forth to keep standing up.” Casey's face pinched in sympathy at the thought.

“Did it hurt him?”

“Naw, it was mostly just annoying or uncomfortable. Eventually, his doctor recommended that he at these new orthopedic shoes, and he kept saying that they weren't for him, but he did end up getting them and now he...”

Leo looks Casey straight in the eyes as he finishes his sentence, looking like the cat who had caught the canary. “...stands corrected.”

Casey just smiled back at the smug face.

“That's good for them. I'm happy they found something that works.”

Silence. Then-

“Wait a sec! Mater Leonardo-”

“HAHAHHAHHA!”

-

“Casey!” Leo called, and Jr quickly bolted over worried.

“Leonardo, what is it?” He found him standing by the closed bathroom door. Leo looked over and smiled.

“I need your help.” The turtle said, stepping back. “The door is jammed.”

And, indeed, sitting on the door handle was a jar of jam.  

“Ok, I’ll try and open it” Casey said politely, walking over and picking up the jar. He was already pushing down on the handle before he looked at the label on the jar and froze.

Leo burst out laughing and nearly fell over, gasping and bending over with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Casey just furrowed his brow in confusion, mouthing the words over. Then he straightened up, looked at the laughing turtle and began to giggle himself.

“I don't think that was as a good as the others.” he said, still chuckling.

“Oh, come on! That was a great one!” Leo said, taking the jar from Casey and leaving to return it to the kitchen.

-

“Hey, Leo?” Casey asked from his seat in the back of the tank.

The slidder smiled at the use of the nickname, instead of “sensei,” or “master.” It was nice that the kid was starting to relax around him.

“What up, Jr?” He responded and looked back. The kid was shifting back and forth anxiously. He then shyly looked up and cleared his throat.

“What do you call a dog that can do magic?”

The rest of the tank froze and stared in shock at the time traveler. Was he about to...

“I don’t know,” Leo said casually, not really taking in the question.

“A Labra-cadavrador.”

Leo’s head finally caught up to the conversation and his eyes went wide.

“Did he just...?” Mikey asked.

“No,” Donnie said. “He couldn’t have.”

Before the shocked discussion could go any further, Leo launched himself out of seat and tackled the human boy with a hug, laughing and squishing the boy tight.

“That was so good, kid!” He cried joy overwhelming him at the thought that Casey could relax enough for him to joke like that. The kid trusted him, the kid was joking! Leo had never been prouder.  

“You deserve around of a-paws for that one.” The slidder said, still hugging the kid tight. A round of groans echoed in the car. “Don’t listen to them, Casey. That joke was paw-some!”

“Stop it! No more!”

“Sorry, Mikey,” Casey said, rubbing the back of his head from his spot in Leo’s arms. “Can you, uh, fur-give me?”

“Donnie, open the window. I’m jumping out.”

“Wait, no! I really am sorry! I’ll stop!”

“Would you care if I joined you, Angelo?”

“WAIT! NO, SIRS-”

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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge, and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.

Everything GREAT About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem!

Hey, Rise fans!!! Please go comment on this video asking for a Rise movie review.

They have a large platform, so we can get more people into the fandom and more people to ask @nickelodeon to bring it back!!

On it!

Alright soldiers, let march!

Quick announcement!

Before my phone runs out of battery and I have to go back to studying for finals.

I am purposing MUTANT MAY.

For this month, I’m asking that my followers, or anyone that is interested, to stream the Rise Movie, and an episode of the show, at least once, per day!

Let’s get those numbers up! Let’s confuse the people into saying, “Huh? Why is this trending? Again?”

Stream it while you clean, while you’re in class, while you’re asleep. The more it’s watched, the more it will appear on other people’s feeds as well!

I SO want to troll the big corporations! Let’s do it!

Voice Acting is so good!!!!

every comic weaver drops is a gift, go to twitter/com/tg_weaver for more of this stupid ass shit. 

Spread

spread the word! we're getting dead boy detectives renewed no matter what

THERES A WATCH PARTY ALL DAY TODAY AND TMMR!!! just put it on in the background if you dont have time to actually watch it and rewatch rewatch rewatch!! netflix needs to know we need this renewed

END THE CANCEL STREAK

Rise April Challenge 22: Father

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here !TW! Implied Depression and Self Hatred !TW!

There’s nothing that triggers it. There isn’t a grand event that snapped all the pieces into place, it just hits Yoshi one night as he lies in bed waiting for sleep.  

I’m a father.  

It hits the man like a train. His body stiffens like he’s back in the arena and about to be attacked and he jumps up, sleep gone from his mind.  

I am a father. I have children.  

His hands shake and he tries to remain calm. But his mind is filled with his few memories of his mother. Soft, gentle, loving. Gone. Gone from his life in a second. Leaving him to grow up without her. She never saw him earn his first colored belt in martial arts, she never had talked to him about his first crush, or been there for his first audition, or to help him pick out a ring for the person he thought he would spend the rest of his life with.  

She was just gone. And part of Yoshi hates her for it, for choosing some sacred duty over her own son. He was a child. Did she really think that some story from an old dusty book would be a good enough reason for him to accept being abandoned?  

It hurts.  

Yoshi hasn’t admitted that to anyone in years.  

Not when his mother left, not when Grandpa Sho only called him up after years of silence to demand he quit his career as an actor to follow his “destiny,” not even when the women he had loved had lied to him and tortured him for spectacle.  

But now, in the dark of the New York City sewars, rat hands clamped over his mouth in shock at the idea of being a father, Yoshi lets the pain take hold and cries.  

He cries for the first time in what felt like years, breaths coming out in hiccups, and he tries to hold himself together. But it’s a losing battle.  

God dammit! How had anyone ever thought he was a powerful warrior? How could anyone look at him and see a champion? A star? Not that anyone would think that now. Not with a naked pink tail and shaggy, dirty fur.  

Whatever he had once possessed that made anyone think he was worthy of admiration was gone, burned out of him with his humanity.  

And then, the world had decided to give him 4 sons. Decided to make him a father. Why?! Why did those wonderful, amazing boys have to get him as a father? Surely, they deserved better. They deserved better than a vain movie star that only cared about his own fame. They deserved better than a chained-up beast made only to spill blood for others entertainment. They deserved better than a sewar rat, that couldn’t even stop crying over a death that happened years ago.  

They deserved better than him.

-

Yoshi doesn’t remember falling asleep that night, but he still wakes up the next morning. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next.  

He does his best not to be bitter over the fact that his eyes still open every morning, because he is a father. His sons need him. But as they get older, they start to need him less and less. So, he pulls back from them.  

Because they deserve better.

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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.