Somewhere on the beach, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Shini, and Mikey had set up three stands for a fund raising idea of Fluttershy's, "Thanks for helping with the Crab Adopt-a-Thon, everyone."
"No sweat, Flutters." Mikey said, as he was playing with a crab, before it pinched his finger, "AH!" he screamed, as he ran around flailing his hand with the stuck crab on it.
Rarity spoke up, "It's not a problem at all, Fluttershy. My whole life has been leading up to this moment!" she revealed she had dressed a crab up to look pretty, "Voila! Crustacean couture!"
Pinkie popped in dressed in a makeshift crab costume, "Ooh-la-la! Let me help!" Pinkie tried putting a tiara on one of the crabs, but it kept trying to pinch at her, "Ow! Ow! Actually, how about I help us away from the crabs?" she backed away from the crab pen.
Suddenly Rainbow's stomach growled, "Hey, I'm getting hungry."
"Me too." Mikey agreed.
Shini spoke up, "How about I grab us a snack from the shaved ice stand? Only an hour till it closes."
"Good idea, Shini." Pinkie smiled.
"Be back in a bit." Shini hurried off.
"Ah, that's my girl." Mikey smiled, as he watched her leave.
At the Shaved Ice Stand, Shini had gotten shaved ice for Mikey, herself, and the rest of them. She looked at the icy treats smiling, "Perfect." she was about to head back to the others until she saw a little boy who was also having shaved ice accidentally made his slip off the cone and was ready to burst into tears. Shini smiled, and took one of the shaved ices and handed it to him, "Here you go."
The boy stopped whimpering and took it with a smile, "Thanks, miss." he left.
Shini smiled, and was about to head back to her friends, until a flock of squawking seagulls kept flying down at her one by one hoping to snatch the shaved ices, "Hey! Back off!" he tried shielding the shaved ices from the birds. Unfortunately, two of the seagulls manage to snatch two of the shaved ices.
"I still have three left. I need to protect them with my life," She stepped on the sand only for the heat from it to burn her feet, "Ow! Hot, hot, hot, hot!" she got back on the shady steps, "I need to get across to my friends. But how?"
"Incoming!" a little girl called as her beach ball rolled over to Shinigami.
Shini smirked, and called to the little girl, "Thanks!" she jumped onto the ball and rolled around on top, "I could be a circus star." she giggled, before noticing some beach umbrellas. Getting inspired, she flipped onto one and jumped onto the others before getting a little more spring in her last jump to fly up and hang onto a kite.
"Ha-ha!" she cheered, until the kite broke and she plummeted.
"Shini!" the girls cried, as she landed before them perfectly.
"Stick it." she posed. Mikey and the girls clapped.
"Nice one." Rainbow clapped.
"A perfect ten!" Pinkie cheered while holding a ten score card up.
"You made it, girl." Mikey said.
"Well, barely. You wouldn't believe what I had to do to get here without letting these melt." she motioned to the remaining shaved ices.
"Right on time. I hate to say it, but these crabs are getting awfully..." Rarity began, as Rainbow cut her off.
"Don't."
"... crabby!" Rarity complained.
"And she did it." Mikey told Rainbow.
"Aw. They're hot, poor things. If only we had a way to cool them off." Fluttershy said in concern.
Shini looked down at the sweating crabs, and then at the two shaved ices she had left. Being the good person she was, she sat them down in the crab pen, "Here you go." the crabs started eating the shaved ices to cool down.
"That's sweet of you, Shini." Pinkie smiled.
"Thanks. But I am sorry," she apologized, "I wanted to get enough for each of us."
"No worries, Shini. I got this." Rainbow zipped off and came back with a while new tray of shaved ices for them.
Shini looked in disbelief, "Why did you let me go get them if you could've done that yourself?"
"I didn't want you to think you were useless." Rainbow answered, as she passed the shaved ices around.
"Well, thanks." Shini smiled, as they all sat down and enjoyed their frozen treats.
Rarity spoke up, "So, Shinigami, if I may be so bold to ask. But how did you know Karai?"
"Rarity's right. We know next to nothing about you aside from being an old friend of Karai's from Japan." Fluttershy added.
"Were you involved with the Foot clan even back then?" Rainbow asked.
"I wasn't," Shini answered, "In fact, I was the only thing in Karai's life that had nothing to do with the Foot."
"Care to tell us?" Mikey asked, as the girls listened.
Shini seeing how curious they were about her, decided to explain, "Well, when I was just a little girl I was living in an orphanage in Japan."
"An orphanage?" Pinkie gasped.
"You mean you don't know your parents?" Fluttershy put a hand to her mouth.
"Unfortunately. At the orphanage I was isolated and ostracized by the other children who felt I was too different from them. Sometimes they would even mock me. Call me freak, and other names. But I didn't take kindly to it, so I retaliated and left them in tears. Unfortunately that got me into a lot of trouble. And I was regarded as the Orphanage's problem child. The people there warned me I wouldn't get adopted until I shaped up. But I didn't need to shape up. I needed others who wouldn't judge me without even trying to understand me. Knowing I would never find it there, I escaped that child's prison."
"I ended up on the streets stealing whatever I could to survive, living wherever I could, and yet I felt more miserable than ever."
"Oh, darling." Rarity said in consolation.
"Then one day my life changed forever," Shini continued, "One day this old man dropped a simple 5-yen coin. I picked it up and planned to keep it, but looking back at the old man something in me told me it wasn't right. So I returned it to him. He sensed honesty and goodness in me and took me in. He trained me in the art in ninjitsu so that I could defend myself. The days with him were happy, and I felt like I was finally wanted by somebody. But the good times eventually came to an end. These Yakuza goons were shaking him up for money, but when he refused to pay they killed him."
"Oh, snap." Mikey gasped.
"My stars!" Rarity gasped.
"I watched helplessly as he died before me. But something in me snapped. I don't know what it was but I knew for certain I did not want to be weak anymore. So I attacked and defeated them using the moves I was taught. The Yakuza was arrested, and I was alone. I promised my master on his grave I would continue to get stronger for him and myself. For years I continued to hone my own ninjitsu skills, while also taking up magic and illusions. That's how I earned my reputation as a witch girl if you will."
"Logic." Rainbow admitted.
"So how did you meet Karai?" Fluttershy inquired.
"I was on a nightly run when I happened upon Karai fighting some more Yakuza goons. She didn't look like she was going to survive all of them so I jumped in and saved her. Afterward she and I argued about how she had it under control, while I gloated and mocked about how it didn't look like it through my eyes. Oh, Karai was so adorable when she got angry. She actually fought me in return. To my surprise her skills were on par with my own. I lost our match, but she spared me. She could also see I was a worthy opponent and made me feel important. She told me she was working with a ninja clan and offered me a place. I declined feeling I was more of a soloist. But still we'd meet up from time to time to have fun and smack around some more punks. At least we did until she told me she was coming to America to help her 'father' if you will."
"Yeah. Shredder." Rainbow crossed her arms.
"I stayed behind here for months honing my own skills and busting up other crooks and helping people in my own ways. You might even say I became Japan's beloved vigilante." she posed.
"Huh. I guess that's why Donnie never found your name in any criminal databases in the world. Because you were never a criminal." Mikey realized.
"That's right. Then when Karai came back to Japan she had a lot to tell me. She told me the truth about Shredder, Splinter, her mother, even her own mutant powers. At first I was shocked and sorry for her, but then she offered me a chance to help her in starting the new Foot Clan you all learned about. So here I am now, helping an old friend fulfill her dream to raise a Foot Clan with honor and loyalty. And let's not forget... Friendship." she winked.
Mikey and the girls smiled, as Pinkie embraced her, "Oh! We're so glad to have you as a friend, Shini!"
"You're one awesome Witch Girl." Rainbow smirked.
"You may not have had such a happy beginning, darling. But your story was written by someone who is truly worthy of our friendship" Rarity added.
"Thank you, girls. I'm glad I have such good friend aside from Karai."
"Selfie time!" Pinkie cheered, as she gathered, Rainbow, Rarity Fluttershy, Shini, and Mikey together. Shini smiled at the picture, and reminisced about her life form beginning to the present time.
'I am lucky to have friends like them.' she thought to herself.