“Ah. Fancy seeing you here, Yoshi San.” The tiger said.
“Ha! Nice monkey suit, Splinter.” The dog creature mocked.
“What are you three doing here?” Splinter demanded, narrowing his eyes and keeping his arm in front of Celestia.
“Vizioso informed us that you’d be here tonight.” The fish answered.
“So you come to ruin my date?” Splinter asked.
“We only came here to finish you off. For Master Shredder.” The tiger said, taking out a sword.
“This is bad, isn’t it?” Celestia muttered.
“Stay behind me.”
“Oh, and what have we here?” The fish asked as he slinked over to her. “Is this your date, Splinter? She’s a real beauty, isn’t she?”
Celestia yelped and backed away before Splinter punched the mutant fish clean in the jaw as hard as he could, which caused the fish to fly a few feet away and collide into a wall.
“Stay away, Fishface!” He demanded.
“His name is Fishface?” Celestia asked with a chuckle.
“It was Michelangelo’s idea. He also gave him the name Dogpound, then Rahzar.” Splinter answered, pointing a finger at the dog creature.
“Enough talk! Fight us!” The tiger declared, charging towards Splinter.
Celestia and Splinter quickly jumped out of the way before the sword could strike either of them. They crouched down and hid underneath a table.
“What are we going to do?” Celestia whispered.
“You need to stay here and hide. I can handle them.” Splinter answered.
“But you’re outnumbered.”
“I have beaten them all before. Do not worry. Just stay here and out of the way. I will take care of this.” He dug into his pocket and took out the Butterfly Knife and the throwing stars; he put them into Celestia’s hand. “Take these, just in case.”
“But what—”
Before Celestia could even finish her next sentence, Splinter took off his shoes, tore off his tie, got out from under the table, and started to fight the three mutants. Celestia watched in awe; she had never seen combat like this before. She then felt the tablecloth shift; she turned and saw that it was her sister.
“Luna! You’re okay!” Celestia quietly cheered.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Luna said. “But what I really want to know right now is what’s going on with your date. What is he doing?”
“Trying to protect us.” Celestia then spotted Splinter’s shoes on the floor next to her and got an idea; she picked them up.
Splinter was dodging every single one of the oncoming attacks until Fishface kicked him hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and making him fall to his knees. Tiger Claw, Rahzar, and Fishface stood above him with smug looks on their faces.
“That’s it. You lose, rat.” Tiger Claw scoffed.
“Get away from him!” Celestia’s voice yelled.
The four mutants turned their heads to see Celestia standing on the table with the Butterfly knife in one hand and her other hand clutched tightly into a fist. Fishface, Rahzar, and Tiger Claw paused, then laughed at her.
“You have got to be kidding.” Fishface chortled.
“What are you gonna do?” Rahzar taunted.
“Get her!” Tiger Claw shouted before he and his companions charged towards her.
“Celestia, no!” Splinter shouted.
At that moment, Celestia jumped into the air as high as possible and kicked Tiger Claw in the face as hard as she could just as she threw the Butterfly Knife at Rahzar’s face. Then she ran in a different direction before Fishface started to chase after her. Luna then emerged from under the table and threw something at the mutant fish; it was Splinter’s shoes tied together. They hit him hard in the chest; he slowly turned his head to glare at her.
“You will pay for that!” He snarled before running in her direction.
In a mild panic, Luna ran in a different direction, hopping on tables and chairs trying to get away from the scaly mutant.
“Do not fear.” Splinter said. “To a ninja, anything can be a weapon. Use whatever is at hand!”
Celestia nodded and picked up a microphone stand from the stage while Luna picked up some empty metal trays from the buffet table. As they fought, Dr. Warren could only watch in terror from behind the loud speakers.
“This is a total disaster.” He muttered. “All my plans, everything is ruined… all because of those freaks.” His eyes shifted to Splinter and Celestia who were fighting off Tiger Claw together; his eyes narrowed in anger. “…All because of him.”
“Hey.” A deep, craggily voice from behind him said.
Warren froze and reluctantly turned around to see Rahzar standing over him with a wicked smile on his face. Warren’s eyes widened in horror.
“Uh… hi.” He said before he was lifted off the ground.
“You’re the host of this party, right?” Rahzar asked.
“Well, not exactly. More like a supervisor of a sort, you know.” Warren said, trying to remain calm.
“Perfect.”
“…Why don’t I like the sound of that?”
Celestia and Splinter were so focused on Tiger Claw that they didn’t even notice Rahzar running away with Dr. Warren in his sharp grasp. However, Luna noticed; she kicked the mutant fish off of her and ran out of the ballroom to Warren’s rescue.
“Hey! Put me down! Put me down, you-you… whatever you are!” Warren demanded.
“Let him go!” Luna shouted as she ran after him.
“Ugh, another one?” Rahzar groaned before Luna hit him in the face with a sign.
“Warren, run! Get help! I’ll take care of this guy.” She said, trying to sound confident.
“Are you kidding me, Luna? This thing is practically TWICE your size, it’ll slaughter you!” Warren objected.
“So? I’ve faced worse things than this, believe it or not. I can fight just fine!”
“We’ll see about that.” Rahzar taunted as he charged at her with a claw raised.
Luna dodged Rahzar’s sharp claws and fangs as best as she could until he finally cut her arm and threw her against the wall. Rahzar turned back to Warren and picked him back up.
“…Nice move.” Warren said.
“Thanks.” The mutant said.
“Just one question… what are you supposed to be anyway? A dog, a man, a mandog? What’s the deal with you?”
“Yeesh, do you always talk this fast, pal?”
“Some days are better than others.”
The last thing Luna saw before slipping into unconsciousness was Rahzar running away with Dr. Warren. Then she felt her shoulder being shaken; she slowly opened her eyes to see her older sister standing over her in her pajamas with a worried look on her face.
“Luna, are you okay?” Celestia asked.
“What-huh…?” Luna said groggily, sitting up; she realized that she was in her hotel room bed with bandages wrapped around her arm where Rahzar had cut her. “What happened? Where are the other mutants? …Where’s Yoshi?”
“Yoshi… left not too long ago. And the other mutants got away.” Celestia replied before giving her sister a hug. “I’m just happy to know that you’re okay. I’m so sorry.”
“What for? You didn’t tell those monsters to come here.”
“But… they came because of Yoshi. He knew them already; they must work for Saki.”
“Who?”
“Uh… never mind. I’ll tell you later. Right now, I just want to get some sleep. We’ve all had a long night.”
“Okay, sure… but wait. Where’s Dr. Warren?”
“Warren?”
“Yes. The last time I saw him… that giant dog thing ran off with him!”
“What?”
“Yes!”
“Well… don’t worry. I’ve already called the police and told them about those creatures that attacked us. I hope they find them, and Warren.”
“And you didn’t tell them about Yoshi?”
“He did nothing wrong, Luna. He tried to protect us, for Pete’s sake. Why can’t you just try to accept him?”
Luna remained quiet and looked at her arm before lying back down in bed; she turned away from the window. Before turning off the light, Celestia looked at the balcony to see Splinter standing there. He gave her a sad smile before disappearing into the night. She quietly sighed and laid down in bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I still say this is a bad idea.” Fishface said to Rahzar.
“Look, I know it’s risky, but this guy could be really useful to us.” Rahzar retorted.
“You do know I’m standing right here, right?” Warren said as he and the two mutants stood outside the door leading to a dark bedroom. Two more mutants, a warthog named Bebop and a rhino named Rocksteady, were standing guard.
“Master Shredder wishes to see you.” Tiger Claw said to Warren, emerging from the doorway.
Gulping and taking a deep breath, Warren stepped into the dark room and stood in front of the bed. The Shredder himself was laying in it; he was hooked up to some kind of strange machine.
“Identify yourself.” The Shredder said weakly.
“Uh… my name is Howard Warren and I was just kidnapped from a party by your little friends here.” Warren said, referring to Tiger Claw and the others.
“He and Bradford have told me you have grown to dislike Hamato Yoshi.”
“You mean that guy in the rat costume? Oh yeah, definitely don’t like him.”
“What if I told you he is not in costume?”
Warren froze. “Wait… what are you trying to tell me?”
“I mean, what if I told you… he isn’t what you think he is?”
“So… are you saying… he’s just like your mutant friends?”
“In a way, yes.”
“…Celestia brought a REAL MUTANT to a party? A six-foot tall, Mickey Mouse Wanna-Be?! She picked HIM?! She fell for HIM over ME?! Oh my gosh, I cannot believe this!”
“It would seem he has wronged you as well.”
“Yeah… I guess he has. What’s your point?”
“The point is… I say we work together, bring down Hamato Yoshi and his vile family once and for all. That way, we both get what we want. I can finally have my revenge and you can get the woman of your dreams. What do you say, Doctor Warren?”
Warren paused and scratched his chin in thought; he always thought Celestia was attractive and with Splinter in the picture, he’d never have a chance. But if he could get rid of the rat, then she would belong to him. He stood in silence for a moment before looking back at the Shredder and offering his hand to him. Shredder gladly took it.
“We have a deal.” Warren said with a wicked smile.