//------------------------------// // Two Sides Meet // Story: Equestria Ninja Girls and the Crimson Thief // by Wildcard25 //------------------------------// Sometime after Sunset made the call, the group waited in the lair, until they heard the sound of someone entering. They looked over to the turnstiles at the lair entrance to see Bebop and Rocksteady enter. "How's it hanging, friends?" Rocksteady greeted. "We came over as soon as you called," Bebop said, as he slid over to the group, "So what can ol' Bebop do for ya'll?" "Well, Bebop we need your help in catching a thief." Sunset began. "Ooh, catching the very thing I used to be employed as. And somewhat still am. So who're we after?" the warthog mutant asked eagerly. "Are you familiar with the thief, Carmen Sandiego?" Leo inquired. At that moment Bebop's eyes widened beneath his goggles and squealed in shock, "Carmen Sandiego? Here in the Big Apple?!" "So you do know her?" Fluttershy asked. "You betcha. That girl's almost as good as I am. But I still have victory in style." Bebop combed his mohawk back. "I say it's a close tie." Rarity replied. "We had a run in with her last night." Twilight explained. "What happened?" Rocksteady asked. "We were trailing her last night while out on a run and found out she was busting up a deal going down by Stockman and a certain third party." April answered. "What sort of deal was Stockman up to?" Bebop asked. "He was selling mutagen to the buyers." Raph answered. "That is not good." Rocksteady said in surprise. "We know." Rainbow said. "But I found out Carmen may not be a bad thief as whatever the criminal database makes her out to be." Sunset said. "What are you sayin'?" Bebop wondered. "Carmen actually steals from other thieves and returns the goods to where they belong." Mikey explained. Bebop was surprised, "Wow. I was not expecting that." "So wish for us to help capture her?" Rocksteady asked the team. "Not so much capture." Karai replied. "We wanna help her, but we figured she won't stay still and listen to us like that." Donnie explained. "So we need some help in keeping her still long enough to hear us out." Applejack said. "So will you help us?" Fugitoid inquired. "You know it, G." Bebop answered. "Da, we is in!" Rocksteady added. "Thank you." Sunset said. "And we also gotta get all that mutagen back." Rainbow put in. "Luckily we can track it," Donnie held up his tracker, "And luckily for us, this says that it's still in the city. At least for now." "Then we should find it and recover it before it's shipped out of the city." Fugitoid said. "So let's get to work." Leo said, as they started to plan. As nighttime rolled in, the ninjas were out on patrol, as Donnie was checking the tracker, "We're almost there." they stopped on a roof top to see a factory below them. "That's the spot?" Twilight asked. "According to the tracker, all the mutagen from last night is in there." Donnie explained. "Anyone in there, April?" Applejack asked the redhead. April concentrated, "I'm sensing a few people in there." "So let's go." Shini said, as they were about to move, only for April to concentrate again. "April?" Rarity asked. "Looks like our guest has shown up." she replied. The group quickly blended into the shadows while Bebop held Rocksteady closed and activated his invisibility field. Carmen landed on the roof top and looked around before spotting the factory, "I'm here, Player. This is where they're going to pick the mutagen up." "Too bad they're not going to be the ones picking it up." Carmen nodded, "Everyone in position?" Zack and Ivy were currently waiting in a getaway car in the alley, "We're here, Carmen." Zack answered. Shadowsan who was currently staking out TCRI, answered, "I am in my position. It doesn't appear VILE is staging any other heists on TCRI." "Good news for us." Carmen said, as she was about to head down only for a ninja star to hit a pole she was close to. Carmen saw the ninja star with the Hamato clan symbol, and turned around to see the turtles step out of the shadows. "Carmen Sandiego." Leo greeted. "You know me?" Carmen asked in surprise. "Your reputation precedes you even among us turtles." Leo continued to act all cool while Raph kept himself from making a gagging sound. "So what do you boys want?" "Just to talk." Donnie answered. "I see..." Carmen began, until she threw a smoke bomb blinding them. "Hey!" Raph called. "Sorry, but I don't have the time," she answered, "Zack, Ivy, get the car running." She slipped away, only to come face to face with Applejack, "Sorry, Sally, you ain't going anywhere." Carmen got defensive and engaged Applejack pitting her own combat training against her ninjitsu training. As Carmen maneuvered around A.J, she snatched the girls hat before kicking her back. She looked the cowgirl's hat over, "Nice hat," she took her own hat off and tried Applejack's on before looking at her reflection in her compact mirror tracker to check her reflection, "But it's just not me." she tossed the hat back to Applejack, "Later," she dropped down an alley and got in the back seat of the getaway car, "Punch it, Zack!" Zack burned rubber and sped off, as the group watched from above, "They're getting away!" Karai called. "To the Party wagon!" Donnie called. "But the mutagen." Twilight reminded him. "You guys go, I'll secure it." Pinkie said. "What?!" they asked. "Pinkie, you can't honestly think you can..."Rainbow was cut off. "Don't argue! Just go!" she shouted. "Alright, let's move!" Leo ordered, as the turtles and Rainbooms headed for the Party Wagon, Karai and April got on one of the Foot motorcycles while Shini and Fugitoid got on the other. Bebop and Rocksteady followed by roof top, with Bebop zipping across the air. As Zack drove, Ivy spoke to the thief, "What happened?" "Those turtle boys and those girls showed up." "How'd they know to come to the exact spot?" Zack asked. "Obviously they're after the mutagen as well." Carmen theorized. "So now what?" Ivy asked. "We'll throw them off before heading back to the factory." Zack looked in the side mirror seeing the Party Wagon and two motorcycles following them, "Looks like we got a tail. And a nice one too. Wonder who their mechanic is?" "Focus, bro!" Ivy chided him. Zack nodded, and focused on driving trying to pull away from their pursuers. Meanwhile at the factory, Pinkie Pie snuck in through a broken window and ninja'd herself down while avoiding the VILE agents on patrol. She smirked before throwing a smoke bomb blinding them. Pinkie moved through the smoke and knocked out all the agents. "Wow, for agents working for a secret crime syndicate, these guys aren't so tough." She said to herself, before spotting someone trying to sneak around through the shadows. She whipped out some Hamato shurikens and tired to nail the spy. The spy dodged, before stepping into the light to reveal Paper Star, "Impressive." she said. "Wow, how did I not notice her?" Pinkie asked herself. Paper Star smirked, "Ooo, I like the color pink... Who are you supposed to be?" "I'm Pinkie Pie!" she introduced herself. "What a cute name... I'll make sure they write it on your tombstone!" Paper Star threw her paper shurikens, and the party girl narrowly dodged each one. "Ha! Not a scratch on me!" Pinkie boasted, only for one of her curls to fall off, "Aah!" "You should run now..." the assassin threw more shurikens at the girl, who jumped, flipped, and cartwheeled around to avoid them before grabbing a chair and shielding herself with it. Pinkie got a look at the shurikens to see the material, "Wow! I didn't know paper could be so deadly!" she tossed the chair aside, "But you're not the only one with unusual but effective weapons!" she took out her sprinkle shaker. Paper Star got a good look and laughed, "Sprinkles? Just what do you expect to do with those?" she threw more shurikens. Pinkie poured some sprinkles in her hand, "I'll show you!" she threw the sprinkles at the shurikens. The sprinkles exploded destroying the shurikens in the process. Paper Star was surprised, but regained focus, "Not bad. But there's plenty more where those came from!" "Same here!" The two jumped around all over the place, throwing their shurikens and sprinkles at each other, neither one landing a hit. Paper Star eventually ran out of paper on her person. Pinkie Pie smirked, "No more paper!" she shook her sprinkler, only to look and see it's empty. "And no more sprinkles!" Paper Star countered, as she charged at Pinkie and threw some punches and kicks. Pinkie dodged and deflected them before she flip-kneed the assassin off her feet.. "Did I forget to mention I also know ninjitsu?" Pinkie asked, before pulling out her weapon and swung the weight down at Paper Star, but the VILE agent dodged each hit, before she grabbed the chain and yanked the party girl, swing her into a wall. Paper Star tried to land a punch, but Pinkie spun to avoid it. "Let's dance!" Paper Star beckoned her. "After you!" Pinkie answered, as the two scream and charged at each other. Meanwhile out in the streets the ninjas were still in pursuit of Carmen and her getaway car, "Mikey, I'm starting to think your plan is dumb." Raph told his brother. "She obviously has trust issues, Raph. Kinda like you." Raph frowned. "Leo, we're losing them!" Donnie cried, as Zack was pulling away further. "Oh, no we're not! Come on, Jones!" Rainbow grabbed Casey's wrist, activated her geode and sped out of the vehicle pulling Casey behind her while he activated his skates. "Rainbow, I'm gonna be sick!" Casey said sounding nauseous. Zack looked in the mirror again seeing Rainbow running after them with her magic speed, "Whoa! You weren't kidding, Carmen, that rainbow haired girl is actually gaining on us!" "Can you lose them, Zack?" the thief asked. "Oh, you know I can!" Zack started evading the two and sped up putting the pedal to the metal. "Whoa! That dude's a metal driver! But he's never met Casey Jones! Swing me up there, Rainbow!" Rainbow Dash swung Casey forward and he grabbed the driver's door, "What the?" Zack asked, as he looked out the open window. "Goongala!" Casey declared, while jabbing his taser at Zack knocking him out. "Zack!" Ivy cried. "Ah yeah!" Casey cheered, as he hung on. "Hey! No one does that to my brother!" Ivy called, as she punched Casey making him let go of the door and tumble away, "That'll teach him." she tried to grab hold of the wheel. "Excuse me?" Ivy looked to her left seeing Rainbow running along side the car, "I think this is your stop!" she kicked both sibs out and hit the brakes, stopping the car. Luckily for Zack and Ivy they weren't hurt. Rainbow looked back, "Now as for- what the?!" she saw Carmen already launched her grappling hook and yanked herself out of the car. "Too slow!" she said, before going up to the roofs. Rainbow Dash growled and hits the steering wheel in frustration, "Dang it!" As the Party Wagon and cycles pulled to a halt, Sunset puled out her phone, "Bebop, Carmen's on the move up top. You and Rock follow her!" Meanwhile, after escaping from Rainbow Dash and Casey, Carmen lands on the factory roof, "Slick move, Red. Bet they thought they had you, huh?" "You know it, hey wait?" Carmen looked through the skylight seeing Pinkie Pie and Paper Star going at it. "What is it, Red?" Player inquired. "I don't believe it! It's Paper Star!" Zack and Ivy who regained consciousness and escaped the turtles before they could grab them overheard on their comlink and hurried for the location, "And she's fighting one of those girls!" Shadowsan overheard the situation and hurried to the location as well, "And it looks like she met her match." "So, what are you gonna do, Red?" Player asked. Carmen smirked, "I think I'll give her a hand." Paper Star pinned Pinkie before Pinkie pinned her. Then the two reached a grapple and struggled against each other, until Carmen crashed through the skyline. Paper Star looked up just in time for the crimson thief to nail her with a sharp kick, knocking her out. "Ooh, that's gonna leave a mark." Pinkie cringed. Carmen looked over at the party girl, "You okay, kid." Pinkie smiled, "Yep, thanks for the help." "Anytime," she shot her grappling hook to the ceiling, "See ya!" she pulled herself up. "Wait! We just wanted-" the lady in red already slipped out the window, "... to team up. Aw candy corn!" she crossed her arms. As Carmen made it up to another rooftop, she spoke to herself, "Got to get all that mutagen out of there before pick up." suddenly she jerked forward as if something bumped her. The thief looked around seeing the place was deserted, only to once again feel something bump her from behind. Carmen calmed herself and waited, before she spun around and did a spin kick to reveal Bebop whose invisibility field deactivated. "Oh, man, I hate it when people see through my camouflage." Bebop grumbled. "Whoa, who brought the bacon?" Carmen quipped. "Pig jokes, ha-ha," Bebop laughed sarcastically, "So the famous Carmen Sandiego, we meet at last." "And you are?" "Call me... Bebop." he shook his hips. "Amusing. I assume you're with the mutants who've been tailing me tonight?" "Got that right. Now if ya don't mind, we'd like to have a word with you." Carmen smirked, "Catch me, and maybe we will." "You'll be sorry." Bebop answered, as he launched an energy mohawk at Carmen who dodged. As Bebop started firing lasers from his gloves and belt, Carmen kept dodging for her life, "Where'd this guy get a suit like that?" she ended up backing into something big. She looked up to see Rocksteady who swatted her to the ground. Bebop quickly fire glue shots at her legs, "Ugh, glue?" she asked. "That's right. You ain't goin' nowhere now." the master thief explained. "Carmen!" Zack and Ivy called, as they made it to the roof, but stopped in place at the sight of the two mutants. "Whoa, a pig and a rhino mutant?" Ivy asked in shock. "Da! We is the Bebop and Rocksteady." Rocksteady introduced them. "Well, we is the Zack and Ivy." Zack said mimicking Rocksteady much to Ivy's annoyance. "You ok, Carm?" Ivy asked. "Oh, never better." Carmen answered sarcastically. "Look!" Zack gasped, as they looked over and saw the silhouette's of the turtles, their friends, and Rainbooms before they dropped down before them. "Good work you two." Leo told the duo. "So now that we got her, can we talk?" Rainbow asked her friends. Before any could answer, Shadowsan stepped out of the shadows and stared down at the turtles, "Who is that?" Donnie asked. "With a face like that he looks more emotionless than a Kraang's human body." Mikey joked. "I heard you ninja fight well, but I shall be the judge." he beckoned them to come forward. "Oh, lookin' for a beat down?" Raph asked, "That's fine by me." he charged in. "Raph, wait!" Leo called, as Raph engaged Shadowsan. The former VILE Faculty member dodged Raph's attacks, before disarming him of his sais and kicked him aside. "He's good." Donnie gasped. "No kidding." Mikey agreed. "We'll take him together." Leo instructed, as the three attacked Shadowsan. The ninja man fought all three dodging each attack, while delivering some of his own. When he gained some distance, Leo spoke to his brothers, "Whoever he is, he fights on the same level as Splinter." Shadowsan spoke, "You all fight in the style of the Hamato Clan, am I correct?" Leo was taken aback by his question but answered, "Um, yes." "And I assume you and your friends are members of the Hamato Clan itself?" Sunset answered, "Yes. Our master was a former member of the Hamato Clan who trained us in the style making us official members." Shadowsan squinted at the group until sighing. He turned to Carmen and the sibs, "They mean us no harm." "Seriously?" Carmen asked. "That's what we've been trying to tell you." Twilight said. "Then why'd hockey boy shock me?" Zack motioned to Casey. "I just wanted to slow ya down." Casey answered. "Hey, guys!" Pinkie called as she arrived. "Pinkie!" the girls rushed over to her, "What happened with the mutagen?" Twilight asked. "The Earth Protection Force arrived and recovered it." Pinkie explained. The turtles sighed in relief, until Rarity noticed one of her curls looked cut clean off, "Darling what happened to your hair?" "Oh, this crazy paper throwing girl almost got me. I made it by a hair." she laughed. Carmen spoke, "What happened Paper Star and the agents you fought?" "She woke up and managed to escape with the other agents. I tried to stop them, but they were too quick." she explained with a pout. "You did your best, sugarcube." Applejack comforted her. Carmen spoke, "If someone can un-glue my feet I'll talk," Leo used his ninja knife to cut her feet free form the glue, "Thanks." Leo nodded before speaking, "My name is Leonardo, and these are my brothers. Donatello. Michelangelo." "What up?" Mikey greeted, only to get smacked in the head by Raph. "And Raphael." Leo finished. Ivy raised a brow at their names, "Seriously? Italian names for ninjas?" "Our father was really into Renaissance painters." Donnie explained. "And he's a rat." Mikey put in. Team Carmen looked confused by that last part, until the rest introduced themselves, "I'm April O'Neil. This is Karai and Shinigami." "And I'm Casey Jones." Casey posed. "You've already met Bebop and Rocksteady." Leo continued. "We sure have." Carmen replied. Fugitoid spoke up, "A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Sandiego and company. My name is Professor Zayton Honeycutt. But you can call me Fugitoid." "Wow they really do have a robot." Zack gasped. "Cyborg is the correct term," Fugitoid replied, "I still have one piece of me that is human." the top of his head opened up with his brain levitating up. Team Carmen was shocked, as Zack got closer, "Oh, man. This is so freaky it's cool!" "And I thought that kinda stuff only happened in movies." Ivy said. "Anyway," Sunset spoke up, "We're the Rainbooms." "Rainbooms?" Carmen couldn't help but chuckle. "Hey, it's an awesome name." Rainbow argued. "I'm not judging." the thief replied. "My name is Sunset Shimmer. This is Twilight Sparkle. Rarity. Rainbow Dash. Applejack. Fluttershy. And I assume you've already met Pinkie Pie." "Yeah. She helped me against Paper Star." Pinkie explained. "Thank you for that," Twilight told the thief, as Spike barked, "Oh. And this is Spike." Spike scampered over to the group and stood by Carmen's feet. Carmen smiled and got down to pet him, "Well, hello to you too." "Aw, he's so cute." Ivy said, as she scratched behind his ears. Carmen looked back to the ninjas, "Well, since you know who I am. Let me introduce you to the rest of team Carmen. This is Zack and Ivy." "Hey there." Zack greeted. "Hi." Ivy greeted. "My mentor, Shadowsan." Shadowsan bowed his head to them in respect. Carmen held up her phone to reveal Player, "And this is Player." "Whoa, you weren't kidding, Red. Real mutant turtles." Player gasped. "Wow, you have someone living in your phone?" Mikey gasped, only for Raph to smack him in the head. "So how did you guys know about me?" Carmen asked. "We'll tell you all you need to know, but we should go elsewhere." Leo answered. "Got anyplace in mind?" Zack asked. "You could come to our place," Mikey offered, "We got pizza." Zack's eyes lit up, "I'm sold." "Then lead the way." Carmen told the ninjas as they headed off. Meanwhile in a warehouse in the city, Paper Star was contacting the faculty to report, "So you not only let that whole shipment of mutagen be taken, you were almost bested by a mere girl?" Maelstrom asked in disappointment. "I know it sounds as bad as it does, but this girl was not normal," Paper Star explained, "She was not only trained in ninjitsu, but she was able to make sprinkles explode." "Exploding sprinkles?" Countess Cleo asked dryly. "Well, they looked like sprinkles. Maybe they were just mini explosives that looked like sprinkles." Paper Star second guessed what she saw. "It doesn't matter. We must contact Stockman and see if he can lift us some more mutagen." Maelstrom said. "And what if he can't?" Coach Bunt asked. "Then we'll have to steal it ourselves." Maelstrom squinted his eyes.