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Leo spun to the side, raising his odachi to meet Shredder’s gauntlet. Two beats later they both jumped back, perfectly in time with the music Shelldon was blaring.
It was true. Mamma Mia really did match with any fight.
Leo spun at Shredder, telegraphing his odachi attack. Shredder blocked it with ease. Leo used the opening to slam his foot into Shredder’s midsection, forcing the man back.
And, due to the weirdness of dimensional travel, this Shredder was a man, not a 500 year old feral demon.
There were some definite advantages to him being a man. Like the fact that Leo’s kick actually moved him. And that he probably couldn’t survive a tanker ship thrown at his head. Leo moved 'Mikey with a tanker' into his ‘plan M’ slot.
There were also some disadvantages. Like the fact Shredder entered this fight with an entire army that he could tactically command. Or that it took more than fire or handkerchiefs or tickle spots to distract him.
Leo shook his head. The time for analyzing had passed. Now was the time for fighting. But the Shredder had already taken advantage of his lapse in focus.
And while Leo saw the raised gauntlet heading straight for his face before the attack landed. He didn’t have time to parry. All he could do was raise his arm, and spin away.
Leo shot backwards. He felt the warm liquid on his arm. And despite knowing it was coming, he wasn’t able to brace himself for the white hot pain that erupted a beat later.
He hoped the blaring disco music drowned out the sound of his scream.
He spared a glance backwards. It must have because Raph was still one rooftop away holding his Tonfas in balled fists. If he had heard, he’d already be rushing in.
And while Raph’s mystic weapon was fantastically overpowered in a one on one fight, it did have some weaknesses. It made him a very big target, with only two eyes and a finite amount of attention. Against an army armed with guns and bows and coordinated by Shredder’s lieutenants- they’d shoot him down before he ever got close.
Off to his left were Bebop and Rocksteady, the warthog and rhino mutants that Draxum could have had if he didn’t waste his time working for the foot. They had started the fight confident, completely unfazed by the turtle tossing one liners at Shredder. Rocksteady leaned on his hammer while Bebop ran a hand through his purple mohawk as they took bets on how long Leo would live.
Now their demeanor had changed. And where they were was enveloped with a frenzy of spinning purple hammers and fire.
Leo raised his odachi. He met Shredder’s gauntlet. His injured arm burned, but his other was strong enough to keep the strike from landing.
Leo directed Shredder’s momentum downward. He landed a kick on the exposed skin of Shredder's upper arm. He used Shredder’s distraction to move backwards and put more distance between the two of them.
The rhino and warthog weren’t the only problem. On his right were Rahzar and Fishface, who had a name worse than Meat Sweats. Leo really wished that he could have been fighting them instead.
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Dead Fish.
Pops would be so proud when he found out that not only did they use a fish as an impromptu weapon, but they used an enemy fish as one.
But Leo wasn’t in a fight against Fishface. He was fighting Shred Head who was not letting him get the distance he wanted.
Didn’t he know that the odachi is a longer range weapon than the katana? And he was being so rude not giving Leo the space he needed to use it to full effect.
Shredder caught Leo’s odachi between the blades of his gauntlet.
Leo spun to free it. Shredder sliced at Leo’s side with his free hand.
Leo released his odachi.
The nails on chalkboard sound of the gauntlet raking his shell reverberated through Leo’s body. It temporarily drowned out the pulsing background of ABBA music.
Leo continued his spin grabbing hold of his odachi. The new angle let it slip free easily. Leo jumped backwards again.
He definitely scuffed his shell with that trick. But it was better than adding even more stripes to his arm.
Speaking of stripey warriors. Tigerclaw was behind the Shredder, his jetpack lifting him into the air.
His face was covered by orange and blue fur. And although sounds were still drowned out by ABBA music, Leo could feel the angry cat hisses deep in his soul.
Tigerclaw shot up into the night sky. This time there was not a purple satin jacket to take the fall.
Pain exploded from his bad arm.
The back of his head slammed into concrete.
Leo saw stars.
When he blinked some of the stars disappeared, some remained high in the night sky, and some fell down as burning green fabric.
Shredder loomed over him. His boot was placed against Leo’s chest. His gauntlet at Leo’s throat.
ABBA still blared over Shelldon’s speakers.
“How does it feel, turtle, to fail so completely?” Shredder said, loud enough for Leo to easily hear him over the upbeat music.
Leo’s chest heaved under the Shredder’s boot. He struggled to draw in a full breath. Leo pressed the tip of his odachi into the ground below himself. He didn’t have the leverage to launch an attack. Both Leo and Shredder were keenly aware of that fact.
“Tell me freak,” Shredder said, pressing his gauntlet to Leo’s throat hard enough to draw a thin line of blood. “Did that rat of yours ever even get around to teaching you to be a ninja?”
Leo smirked.
Shredder pressed his boot harder into Leo’s chest. “You are an embarrassment to all ninja. An idiotic showboat who can’t even find a shadow to hide it.”
“You know what they say,” Leo said, breathless but never losing his smirk. “If you can’t find your own shadows, store bought is fine.”
Leo fell.
Shredder toppled forward into a fist made of hard red light.
An electric blue portal deposited Leo out of Shredder’s range. Not that he was worried about Shredder attacking at the moment. Shreddy had much bigger things to worry about.
Literally.
Raph slammed his constructs hand over the Shredder, knocking him prone and cracking the rooftop.
“Steranko! Zeck! What are you waiting for?”
ABBA was cut off by a blast of electronic static.
Next a short staccato tone played and Donnie’s monotone voice followed.
“We’re sorry the backup that you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please make your request at a later time.”
Donnie stood over the pair of mutants leaning on his bo staff. The head of it, which was still transformed into a rocket, rested on the center of their chests.
“Xever! Bradford!”
An expertly flung Fishface knocked Shredder off balance.
“Now, Lou Jitsu never made a movie where he used dogs as a weapon,” Mikey said smiling and wrapping his kusari-fundo around Rahzar. “But I can improvise.”
Mikey easily flung the other mutant at Shredder.
Before Shredder was able to call Tigerclaw’s name, the tiger hit the roof with a thud and a groan. His jetpack was still impacted with burning green fabric. Tiny claw marks covered his face.
In one swift motion, a now jacketless, April grabbed Tigerclaw’s net gun and fired, trapping him.
She gave Raph and Shredder a peace sign while she held Mayhem curled against her chest.
“April!” Raph yelled, the fear in his voice spurring Leo to his feet. “Get Leo out of here!”
She nodded. Leo squeezed the hilt of his odachi in his good hand.
“Donnie, Mikey, with me.” Raph continued. “We’re ending this fight, Mad Dogs style.”
Leo wanted to join them. But he knew they could handle this now, and Raph had made it very clear that he needed to leave. Besides, April was at his side already.
“Can you portal us?” She asked. “Mayhem used up all his poof juice getting that Tiger dude to hit himself in the head.”
Leo nodded and they landed several rooftops away. April tore a strip of fabric from the bottom of her shirt. Leo sucked in air past his teeth when she applied pressure to his arm, but he didn’t say anything.
They both watched the fight in tense silence. Leo’s fingers twitched against the hilt of his odachi. He would be ready in a nanosecond if his brothers needed an escape.
They didn’t.
Shredder couldn’t stand against Raph’s enlarged form. None of his attacks could cut it deeply enough to even touch Raph.
And with all Shredder’s lieutenants tied up or unconscious. It was easy work for Mikey and Donnie to keep the foot henchmen from using ranged attacks against Raph.
Still Leo wished he could be there. He was good at deflecting ranged attacks with his portals. But instead he was benched. His head throbbed and his arm matched time with shooting pain.
“Tonight could have gone a lot worse,” April said softly.
Leo spared a glance at his arm. “It could have gone a lot better too.”
“You say that now. But we both know in a few hours you will be milking that cut to get your brothers’ attention.”
Leo laughed. “You think I’m going to wait a few hours?”
“And getting Donnie to play that ABBA music was an excellent touch. Really helped sell the whole ‘I’m so over confidentent I can handle the army solo’, con.”
“It was mainly to cover any sounds you, Mikey, or Donnie made while you took down your targets.” He said, shrugging his good shoulder. “But I won’t lie. The start of that fight, watching him get angrier and angrier at the disrespect, was a nice bonus. What would have been really excellent was if i’d actually managed to beat him to disco music.”
“You would have had to wait until we finished. If he started to lose any earlier he’d have called for backup and revealed the whole plan. You may have lost the fight. But the battle,” April said, gesturing to a triumphant Raph who had just knocked Shredder deep into the Hudson river. “Is as much your victory as it is ours.”