A few weeks passed and the five turtles Rykardo, Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey were out on patrol along with their two human friends April and Casey. The turtles and humans all jumped across a rooftop but Casey slipped a little and Raph had to double back to help him up. The others halted waiting for them and Raph and Casey were both exhausted after Raph had helped Casey from falling from the rooftop.
"I think we should take a break for a while." Leo said.
"Yes please, I'm still getting used to this whole ninja experience." April sighed while sitting down.
"Same here, you guys are too fast for us humans." Casey agreed.
"Oh okay, sure we'll go slow for you guys." Raph teased while baby-talking to Casey.
Casey growled at Raph about to punch him but Raph easily caught his friend's fist and squeezed a little bit but not too hard, although Casey still groaned a little in pain and Raph let go of his fist chuckling. 'Sometimes I wonder if Casey really is a fighter, he acts like a child sometimes' Rykardo thought. He then heard a weird noise and immediately looked around for the source his instincts telling him that something was wrong and Rykardo could almost guess that him and his friends weren't alone.
"Rykardo are you okay?" Leo asked in worry.
"Guys... I don't think we're alone here, something seems familiar about who I'm sensing." Rykardo said.
"Like what, the Easter Bunny?" Raph taunted.
Rykardo ignored Raph's reaction and continued looking around. 'This is not a good feeling I'm having, someone is definitely stalking us' Rykardo thought. Then a loud thump of someone landing from somewhere high was heard and everyone turned around seeing Shredder standing there with his one knee on the ground and he was facing down from landing. The turtles, April and Casey all immediately took out their weapons and Casey put on his hockey mask confusion of the armoured human being here written on his face.
Rykardo glared darkly at Shredder while gripping his hand on the handle of his katana and Shredder looked up straight at them before he forced himself on both his feet and the claws of his gauntlets came out before he went into a battle stance.
"You turtles thought that you could escape me forever, but now your lives will end tonight and this time I will not fall until you do first." Shredder said.
"Ha! But there's seven of us against you physco!" Casey laughed before charging at him.
"Casey wait!" Raph yelled, but he was too late.
Casey turned his shoes into skates and skatted forward at Shredder and took a swing at him. Shredder easily dodged the swing of Casey's hockey stick before he swiftly cut him on his back making Casey groan a little in pain but he skatted around Shredder and shocked him with the shock wave on his glove hitting Shredder right on his chest, making Shredder scream in both anger and pain. Shredder soon fell down to his knees groaning as the electricity continued sparking through him and he completely fell on his face and the electricity stopped.
"Heh. He wasn't as tough as he looked." Casey chuckled all proud of himself.
'Shredder is stronger than that, there's no way that Casey's weapon worked' Rykardo thought. By then Shredder began laughing maniacally making everyone get more tensed and Casey turned around in shock before Shredder grabbed him by the throat and tossed him to the wall making Casey hit the wall hard and immediately falling unconscious. Rykardo, Leo, April, Raph, Donnie and Mikey all charged at Shredder at once all of them swinging their weapons at him. Unfortunately Shredder was very quick and he dodged most of their attacks only receiving a few cuts on him.
Shredder first knocked April out by kicking her on the head and cut Raph on his cheek, swung his blades at Donnie getting him on the shoulder and arm, cut Mikey on his chest before tripping him and punching the younger turtle on the back of his head. Once again Leo and Rykardo were the one's facing Shredder and they both swung their katana blades at Shredder cutting him on both his arms. Shredder grew angry and swung his blades at Leo giving him a small cut on his neck before Rykardo charged from behind close to stabbing Shredder on his back but Shredder grabbed Leo by his shell and threw him at Rykardo both turtles falling down.
'Dang it, Shredder is way too tough, how are any of us going to even get out of this battle alive?' Rykardo wondered. He gently pushed Leo from on top of him and forced himself up feeling blood trickle down his arm and he looked over seeing a deep cut on his shoulder. Rykardo looked around seeing cuts on everyone else as they lay unconscious on the ground bleeding.
"Do you now see what kind of treachery you've committed? They are going to die because you made the wrong choice by choosing our enemies over your clan Rykardo, their blood is on your hands." Shredder said in a low, dark tone.
"They're not my enemies! You are! For years you've been telling me lies just like how you've done with Karai! Karai is Splinter's daughter and I'm no longer your little pet!" Rykardo snapped his ocean green eyes slitted in anger.
"Then there are no more chances for you to make up your mind traitor." Shredder replied.
"I've already made up my mind, I'd rather be treated like a hero in their eyes other than a heartless monster like you." Rykardo growled.
Shredder growled in anger before he charged at Rykardo yelling in a battle cry while Rykardo charged at him. Both ninjas swung their blades at each other the blades hitting as one missed an attack and blood spraying the ground after every cut that was caused on one of them from the other. Rykardo and Shredder continued on fighting and Rykardo swiftly cut Shredder on his shoulder making him grunt in pain. Shredder glared at him underneath his mask and went to stab Rykardo but the turtle quickly moved away only receiving a tiny cut on his belly and he blocked an attack coming from Shredder.
Shredder then sweeped his legs at Rykardo tripping him and Rykardo fell on his shell on the ground while dropping his katanas from his hands and Shredder pinned him down by putting his foot on his chest to hold Rykardo in place. Rykardo growled at Shredder before the evil human pointed his blades at Rykardo's throat complete disappointment and hatred written in his mixed colored eyes and Rykardo showed no fear knowing that he did the right thing by leaving evil behind and choosing goodness over darkness. And even in the end he'd remain good no matter what.
"It's time that I taught you a lesson that you'll never forget." Shredder said.
"Go ahead, I'm never choosing to be evil again." Rykardo hissed.
Shredder thrusted his blades up ready to finish Rykardo off until he was suddenly tackled by someone and Rykardo immediately got up on his feet feeling confused to who did that until he could clearly see that it was Raph who was facing Shredder blood coming from his cut on his cheek and from the corner of his mouth. 'Right on time Raph' Rykardo thought in relief.
"Stay away from my friend Shredder!" Raph demanded his voice deep in anger and his emerald green eyes slitted.
Shredder charged at Raph both of them fighting against each other and Rykardo picked up his two katanas and charged at Shredder to help Raph fight him. Shredder grew even more angrier and he viciously cut Raph on his neck making large squirts of blood come out spraying on the ground and Rykardo charged at Shredder attempting to stab him but Shredder whipped out of harm's way and stabbed Rykardo on his chest before he kicked him to the ground again and threw Raph down making his shell hit the wall of a rooftop shed and Shredder approached Raph about to finish him off.
"Leave them alone now Shredder!" A voice yelled from on top of the water tower.
Rykardo looked up at whoever spoke and his heart leaped in joy the second he could see that it was Splinter who came to help them. Splinter jumped from on top of the water tower kicking Shredder to the ground making him tumble before he immediately regained his balance and charged at Splinter both of them fighting like two predators. Rykardo tried to keep himself awake and forced himself up on his feet, but his heart beat was slow and his vision was switching to being focused and unfocused until he felt dizzy and fell back down on his side the image of Shredder and Splinter fighting the last thing he could see before hearing Splinter's voice call his name and Rykardo passed out from the pain and darkness taking over him.
Rykardo woke up to the sound of someone crying and he forced himself up after regaining consciousness and he could smell the stench of blood like something had died on the rooftop, but something did. 'What's going on? Why are the guys surrounding something?' Rykardo wondered while seeing Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey surrounding something. Rykardo approached his friends until he halted his eyes widened in complete terror and his heart felt like it jumped in his throat at the sight. Splinter lied on the ground on his back with a giant wound on his stomach and blood was pouring out of it the dark red liquid staining on his robe.
Rykardo couldn't see that Splinter was moving at all which proved that he was dead and tears immediately leaked from Rykardo's ocean green eyes and he kneeled down next to Raph at one side of Splinter's body while Leo was holding the rat up in his arms endless tears going down his face like two little waterfalls and Leo was mumbling words that Rykardo couldn't hear clearly. 'Splinter is dead? No he can't be! This has to be a dream! He can't be gone now we need him! If he's dead than Shredder has a better chance to killing us!' Rykardo thought grief piercing his heart.
The five turtles remained at Splinter's lifeless body while April broke into tears hugging Casey tightly for comfort and Casey hugged her back rubbing his one hand up and down on her spine. The turtles and humans calmed themselves down a little before Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey gently hauled Splinter up and carried him to the Shellraiser that was just pulled up by Metalhead who drove it. Rykardo could guess that Donnie called Metalhead there but his heart still ached at the sight of seeing his best friends being so upset about their master's death.
~Time skip~
The next morning came and Leo, Rykardo, April, Casey, Raph, Donnie and Mikey all stood at the tree outside of April's farmhouse where they buried Splinter. The turtles and humans still didn't have any bandages on their wounds yet because they were too busy cleaning up Splinter's body and burying him. Leo held Splinter's emerald cane in his hands and he approached the gravestone that they carved and setted it on the side of it before Mikey kneeled down to the dirt pile of where Splinter's body lay buried in the dirt.
'I'm so sorry Master Splinter, if I had stayed awake I would've been able to help you against Shredder, by then no one would be dead, or as a matter of fact that would be me lying in that hole, I deserve death more than you did' Rykardo thought while trying to fight back any tears from coming out. He then noticed Leo walking off into the woods and Rykardo followed him feeling curious where he was going and a bit worried that Leo could start blaming himself for Splinter's death even though it wasn't really his fault. Rykardo only wanted to help Leo make sure that the guys stay together even though they'd just lost their sensei. But Rykardo did promise himself that he'd get back at Shredder for killing Splinter.
(Sorry if this chapter made some of you sad, I honestly forgot to put a warning on top but honestly I put this story on hold because I was just feeling a bit sick but I'm doing perfectly fine now. Anyway hope you liked how intense the battle was even though Casey and April didn't really do much. Hope at least some of you liked this chapter a little bit and there's a couple more on the way. See you all in the next chapter bye! And RIP Splinter 😢🐀)
(P.s. the video below represents how lost and hurt that Leo feels from Splinter being dead.)
(Hopefully Rykardo will be able to help the turtles get through with their grief. 😢)