57Hello everyone this is Writing Avenger 2016
And my name is Author of the Insane, his best friend and co-writer.
We have worked together on countless stories in the past, most notably our various Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universes
However, TMNT isn't the only fandom we participate in. I recently got him hooked on Gargoyles, a cartoon from the 90s that still has a strong fan base even after 24 years.
While talking and exchanging story ideas one day, we came up with a brilliant idea. What would happen if the Ninja Turtles met the Gargoyles?
Considering I already had a Gargoyles story up and running, we decided to play with the idea of combining my AU with Avenger's TMNT AU.
Thus, the story of Shells and Stones was born!
However, I know how popular my Gargoyle story is. Already I have had two different authors get caught plagiarizing my work. Not wanting my friend to suffer from the stigma of being a story thief, I'm just gonna say this right now. The use of my character Willow has been given my permission. More than that, I am helping to WRITE this amazing work of literature.
So we hope this doesn't result in any unwanted legal trouble (as if there's any other kind). So without any further ado, ON WITH THE SHOW!
...
Night time in New York City. Usually bustling with the commotion and business of its citizens. This particular night is no exception, but it came from a very unlikely source.
Atop the massive Eyrie Building, several thunderous blasts rang out across the sky. As the citizens below looked up to see what might be causing it, they saw pieces of debris raining down from the building. The people scrambled to get out of the way as the debris crashed down, cracking the pavement and crushing a few cars in the process. As the police arrived to protect the civilians, a news van pulled alongside the building. Emerging from it was a young woman with red hair and a man carrying a camera.
"Go for it April!" the cameraman told her.
"Right." she replied. "This is April O'Neil for Channel 6 news! I'm standing outside the Eyrie Building downtown where reports of explosions and falling debris have put the city in a panic!"
Looking around, she saw a cop she recognized, Elisa Maza, a detective she had talked to on a few storied before, was talking with one of the other officers.
"I'm going to see if I can talk to one of the officers in charge to find out what's going on!" She continued to report as she got close to her. "Detective Maza!"
Elisa turned around to see April coming towards her.
"April O'Neil, Channel 6 News." She introduced. "What can you tell us about the situation here?"
"Fraid I don't know any more that you do, Ms. O'Neil." Elisa shared. "But I'm gonna need you to move back! There's no telling when something else is gonna-"
Before she could finish, more debris came crashing down, catching her attention. She quickly pushed April and Vernon out of the way as the stone blocks collided with the sidewalk.
"You two ok?" Elisa asked as the two picked themselves up.
"I'm good." Vernon reassured, looking over his camera. "Though the camera's toast."
"That's ok Vern." April reassured. "We can-"
Just then, April saw something that made her go wide eyed.
"Uh, Detective!" April called out. "You might want to see this."
Elisa came over and saw what April saw, a piece of stone with claw marks embedded into it. The sight surprised and baffled them both.
"They look like-" April started.
"Claw marks." Elisa finished. "But what could be strong enough to leave claw marks in solid stone?"
...
Below the streets in the city's sewer systems, four mutant turtles were gathered a secret, underground sanctuary. This small haven resembled a Japanese homestead, complete with a fully functioning dojo. It was there that they were all convened, listening intently to the instructions of their father and master, a one eared rat by the name of Splinter.
"Shuto!" he called out.
All four turtles moved in perfect synchronization, performing the desired move flawlessly.
"Back fist strike!" Splinter called out as well.
The turtles once again moved in perfect harmony, bringing up their right fists for a deadly strike.
"Upper rising block!"
The turtles moved together again, this time bringing their fists up in a defensive position.
"Double kick counter!" Splinter ordered.
They all jumped into the air, kicking twice before touching down again.
"Again!"
The turtles repeated the previous action, beat for beat. As if someone had hit rewind on a video.
"And, finish!" Splinter declared, slamming his walking stick on the ground.
The turtles all gave their master a proper bow in response… then just collapsed all together, completely out of breath.
"Okay." the purple masked one, Donatello, let out. "I can't move."
"Who wants to move?" Raphael, the one in the red mask asked.
"Wake me for breakfast." Michelangelo in orange told them.
"Note to self, buy Mikey some new deodorant." Leonardo, the leader in blue, remarked.
"You have all done well, my sons." Splinter congratulated them all. "I think we shall call it a night for now."
"No complaints here Master Splinter." Mikey spoke.
He gave a small chuckle, then headed off towards his room for some much needed rest. Once he vanished from the dojo, Leo made a beeline for the TV, knowing that it was almost time for his favorite show of all time.
"Alright!" He let out. "T-minus one minute to blast off."
"You know for a fearless leader, you can be a real dork sometimes." Raph remarked, plopping onto the couch and grabbing a magazine.
"You just don't recognize good television when you see it." Leo rebutted.
"I recognize it enough to know that shows like Space Heroes are just stupid cartoons designed to draw in the weak minded." Raph countered, pulling his magazine open with a small snap.
Leo just rolled his eyes in response.
"If you really think that, why are you here?" Leo asked.
"Because I know that you're not gonna get the chance to watch your show, you know why?" Raph informed him. "Because the 11 o'clock news is about to come on, and that means-"
"April's broadcast is about to start!" Donnie shouted, skidding into the living room.
"Bingo." Raph declared, pointing at his purple-banded brother with his eyes still on his magazine.
"Fine." Leo relented, flipping the channel. "Can't really dismiss a TV broadcast of a friend now can we?"
"Especially when it's on the greatest architectural feat in this city!" Donnie agreed.
"I don't see what the big deal is." Mikey let out. "I mean, so some trillionaire decided to move some dusty old castle to the top of his personal skyscraper. Big whoop."
"Mikey, moving an entire Scottish castle here to New York brick by brick and rebuilding it to look exactly the way it did over a thousand years ago is no small feat." Donnie argued. "And between you and me, I'm curious to know why he did it."
"The way I see it, he's just some rich guy with too much money and way too much free time." Mikey remarked.
"Well, I guess we'll find out." Leo announced.
Channel Six news came on, but much to everyone's surprise, there was a title card reading "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties" dominating the screen. The turtles all raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Channel 6 is broken?" Mikey asked.
"Something must be wrong." Donnie guessed, pulling out his shell cell and dialing April. "I just hope April's ok."
The phone rang twice, then it was answered, much to everyone's relief.
"Hey guys." April greeted. "Everything okay?"
"We were about to ask you that." Donnie replied. "Something wrong with the broadcast tonight?"
"Kinda." April admitted. "There was a fire fight going on at the top of the eyrie building. Vern's camera got crushed by some falling debris. And before you ask, we're both fine."
Donnie let out a sigh of relief at that.
"However, I did see something weird on one of the falling stones."
"Define weird." Donnie inquired.
"There were claw marks in the stones." April explained. "And I mean big, deep claw marks. I've never seen anything like it, even during my adventures with you."
"Hmm, interesting." Donnie admitted. "We'll look into it."
"Good luck guys." April told them. "I got a feeling this is going to be a weird one."
"Aren't they all?" Donnie remarked before hanging up.
"Everything kosher Don?" Raph asked, tossing the magazine aside.
"There was some kind of incident at the Eyrie building tonight." Donnie shared. "April's fine, but we've got ourselves a new case to crack."
"How so?" Leo asked.
"She told me something over there left claw marks in some stone." He told them. "And deep ones at that."
"Uh-oh." Raph let out. "This is gonna be one of those nights, isn't it?"
"We better go check it out." Leo announced.
"Called it!" Raph declared.
...
Up in the lobby of the Eyrie Building, Detective Maza confronted the manservant of the building's owner. Said manservant, a rather stiff man by the name of Owen Burnett, did his best to provide the detective with all the information she required.
"A most unfortunate accident." Owen explained. "One of the newly installed generators in the castle exploded. Mr. Xanatos is more than willing to pay for any damages that may have-"
"Mr. Burnett." Elisa interrupted. "I heard automatic weapons firing up there. Now you can either let me up there to take a look around, or I can come back with a warrant and a lot more cops. It's your call."
"It's alright Owen." a new voice spoke.
The two turned to see a man of Greek descent walk into the room. He had a neatly trimmed beard and long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. He wore a fully black suit, and walked with the air of a man who stood above the world.
"You can let the detective in." He continued. "We've got nothing to hide after all."
"As you wish, Mr. Xanatos." Owen responded.
He turned and walked out of the room, leaving Xanatos and Detective Maza alone.
"Detective Maza." He greeted. "I just got off the phone with the mayor, expressing my dearest apologies for what happened."
Elisa walked towards Xanatos with a serious expression.
"What did happen here, Xanatos?" she demanded. "And don't try to feed me some line about an exploding generator."
"We repelled a small invasion from a rival corporation." Xanatos admitted, leading the detective out of the lobby and up to the main part of the castle. "I was just defending my assets."
"Repelled an invasion?" Elisa repeated skeptically. "You're one man, not a country."
Xanatos chuckled.
"Detective Maza, you'll find I'm bigger and richer than most countries you could name." Xanatos remarked.
"Right..." Elisa let out, crossing her arms. "Well, I hope for your sake you had permits for the weapons I heard."
"Of course." Xanatos nodded.
"And I hope your daughter wasn't anywhere near the fight." she added.
"Naturally." Xanatos confirmed. "I'd sooner sell half my company then let anything happen to her."
The two emerged out into the courtyard of the castle, smoldering piles of rubble everywhere. Elisa surveyed the damage, and as she did, her eye caught sight of a figure standing on one of the battlements.
The figure was large, but didn't seem even remotely human. It seemed to be some sort of gargoyle statue, but Elisa swore she saw it moved. Xanatos followed her gaze up to the statue, clearing his throat.
"One of six statues that came with the castle." he explained. "They're quite lifelike, I must admit. Sometimes I swear I can see them moving."
"Right." Elisa commented, forcing herself to look away.
All of a sudden, there was a cacophonous crash that seemed to emanate from deep within the castle. It sounded like an entire set of pots and pans falling down on one another. Both Xanatos and Elisa turned towards the sound as a new voice called out.
"Sorry!" a young woman's voice apologized. "So sorry!"
From a nearby staircase, a teenage girl with short, bright blue hair and pale skin came barreling into the courtyard.
"Please ignore that." she insisted, looking more than a bit embarrassed. "My new friends accidentally knocked over a kitchen stand."
"Quite alright Willow." Xanatos reassured before turning to Elisa. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave, detective. I have to tend to my guests. Mind showing Detective Maza the way out, Willow?"
"No problem, dad." Willow replied.
She took the detective's hand, leading her back towards the castle and towards the elevator.
"So, new friends huh?" Elisa asked.
"They arrived earlier tonight." Willow explained. "They're pretty cool. I've been showing them around the building."
"Maybe I'll get to meet them some time." Elisa remarked.
"I doubt it." Willow lamented. "They have trust issues. I'm lucky they're even willing to talk to me."
"I see." Elisa replied coyly.
As the two walked out, Elisa secretly took her badge out of her jacket and dropped it on the floor. They made it to the elevator, Willow opening it for her.
"Have good night." she said with a wave.
Elisa waved back, then made a show of patting down her pockets.
"Jalapeña." she swore. "I dropped my badge."
"Uh-oh." Willow let out. "We better go look for it."
"I'll sweep the lobby, see if it fell out there." Elisa insisted.
"Right."
Willow darted off to go search, Elisa letting out a small sigh.
"Sorry Willow, but my investigation isn't over yet." she whispered as she slipped deeper into the castle.
...
Back at the turtles' lair, Donnie was at his computer doing some research about the recently transported castle Xanatos brought to New York.
"Hmm…" Donnie let out. "Interesting."
"What is?" Leo asked as he and his brothers huddled around him.
"Well, apparently there is a lot of lore surrounding Castle Wyvern." Donnie explained. "It seems that it was once the home of Princess Katharine, the niece of King Kenneth, ruler of all Scotland."
"Fascinating." Raph replied sarcastically.
"There's more." Donnie told him. "Apparently, this castle was subject to countless attacks by Vikings, but was able to repel each one despite not having a proper army."
"How'd they pull that off?" Mikey asked.
"...Gargoyles." Donnie answered.
The three stood silent for a moment.
"Gargoyles?" Leo questioned. "As in those stone statues jutting out of the side of the Empire state building?"
"No, real gargoyles." Donnie clarified. "Legend says that a large clan of gargoyles formed a symbiotic relationship with the humans of the castle. In exchange for being allowed to stay at the castle, the gargoyles protected it, and all the humans that lived there."
"But how did it end up a bunch of ruins?" Mikey asked.
"Well, apparently in 994 AD, a group of Vikings launched an invasion at sunrise and completely overtook the castle." Donnie answered. "It's been abandoned ever since, and nobody was brave enough to venture there due to rumors of the grounds being cursed."
"Until Xanatos decided to haul the entire thing over brick by brick." Leo concluded. "But why?"
Mikey suddenly perked up.
"Uh, guys." He spoke. "What if Gargoyles were the things that left those claw marks in the stone?"
"Get real Mikey." Raph told him. "It was just a story. Something made up to sell Gargoyles t-shirts or something."
"Besides, it's been over a thousand years." Leo pointed out. "Nothing could have survived that long."
"Either way, we might need to head over to the castle ourselves, see what we can find." Donnie suggested.
"Agreed." Leo concurred. "Get the Battle Shell ready."
...
Back up in the castle, Elisa searched through one of the darkened corridors of the castle, shining her flashlight over everything. The entire castle seemed to have an air of foreboding to it, as if something monstrous was supposed to jump out at her.
"If Dracula makes an appearance, I'm going to scream." she muttered to herself.
From behind her, she heard a low growling noise. Turning on instinct, she drew her weapon, waving her flashlight across the hallway. However, she soon realized it was nothing. Letting out a sigh of relief, she holstered her weapon.
"This place is playing with my nerves." she let out.
She turned and made her way back into the courtyard, unaware of a strange dog-like creature stalking her in the shadows. Elisa emerged out onto one of the battlements, gazing out at the skyline of the city. Despite the precedence of her investigation, she couldn't help but marvel at the amazing view the castle offered. She was so enraptured by the view that a low growl from the stairs she'd just ascended nearly made her jump out of her skin. She turned back around, her gun practically materializing in her hand as she squinted into the shadows.
"Alright you." she demanded. "Come out now, and put your hands where I can see them."
A pair of white, glowing eyes began to approach from the darkness. Then, the strangest, a possibly the most terrifying creature Elisa had ever seen stepped into the light.
It was light blue in color, with a stocky body built with thick muscles. It had sharp claws on all four feet, and a stubby snout with sharp fangs. Its ears resembled bat-like wings, and it stood like a dog defending its territory.
Elisa gasped at the sight, leveling her gun with the creature and preparing to fire. Before she got the chance, a shadow fell over her as a figure landed behind her. She turned around to see a giant creature with long brown hair and skin a shade of pale lavender. It wore only a brown loincloth, held in place by a thick brown belt. It had a large It was well muscled, and proved that said muscles weren't just for show by plucking Elisa's gun from her hand, crushing it in his grip as if it was made of tin foil.
"Who are you?" the creature demanded, his voice deep and resonating with untold power. "And why are you sneaking around my castle?"
Elisa stumbled backward in shock. Unfortunately, she ended up backing right into the edge of the battlement overlooking the city. Panic immediately set in, destroying her sense of balance and sending her tumbling over the edge.
...
The turtles drove through the city in their signature vehicle, the Battle Shell, making their way to the Eyrie Building.
"So do we even have a plan for when we get there?" Raph asked.
"Well I was thinking, and-" Leo began.
"Dudes, look!" Mikey called out.
The turtles looked up to see someone falling from the Eyrie building. Donnie immediately slammed on the brakes, all four of them staring out the window at the falling figure. Then, something happened that had all four turtles completely stunned. A second figure descended from the clouds, one that wasn't even remotely human. It grabbed the falling figure, then spread a pair of large wings, carrying them both away from the street and to the safety of a small ledge on the tower.
There was a long moment of silence as the four turtles tried to process what they had just seen.
"Ok...wow." Leo let out. "Just...wow."
"I'm seriously starting to reconsider Mikey's Gargoyle theory." Donnie admitted.
"What's the plan, Leo?" Raph asked.
Leo took another look at the creature and saw he was scaling the building with the woman on his back.
"I say we take a page out of the Gargoyle's book." Leo suggested.
...
The creature finished its assent up the castle, pulling the Detective safely onto the battlements. She practically collapsed once they made it, grateful to be on solid ground once more. Almost immediately, the blue creature started growling at her, forcing her back to her feet.
"Forgot about him" she winced.
The purple creature held his hand up towards the blue one, causing him to back off.
"He will not hurt you." he insisted.
"What is he?" Elisa asked. "For that matter, who and what are you?"
"We are Gargoyles." He told her.
"Gargoyles..." She repeated softly. "If I wasn't staring right at you, I'd call you crazy."
"It seems sorcery is not common place in this new world." the creature assumed.
"Well, these days we tend to rely on something called science." Elisa replied, slowly regaining herself. "I'm Detective Elisa Maza. What's your name?"
"My kind have no names, but you humans called me Goliath." he informed her.
"So, there's more of you?" Elisa asked.
Goliath seemed to look up at one of the taller towers of the castle, his eyes distant and sad.
"Barely..." he eventually replied.
...
Just a short distance below, the turtles proceeded to scale the building using their climbing claws. Due to the building's immense size, it was a daunting and tiring task.
"You know," Mikey spoke. "For future reference, we really oughta leave the wall crawling to dudes in red and blue tights."
"You read… way too many comic books Mikey." Raph told him.
"Come on guys, focus." Leo instructed. "We still got a whole lot of tower to climb."
"Don't remind us." Donnie replied.
...
Back up top, Willow emerged from a small hallway, clutching Elisa's badge in her hand.
"Elisa!" she called out. "Elisa I found your-"
She cut off once she saw the detective talking to Goliath, much to her shock.
"Oh..." she let out, "Hi Goliath..."
"Hello Willow." he greeted back.
"This one of your 'new friends'?" Elisa questioned with a knowing smirk.
"Yeah..." Willow admitted reluctantly before her gaze drifted upward. "And it looks like you're about to meet the other four."
Elisa looked up in time to see four more creatures landing around her n the battlements. All of them were different shapes, sizes, and colors. One that stood out the most was a brown one with a snow white beard and a scar his left eye. From the colorless pupil, it was clear he was blind in that eye. He wore what looked like full armor and even carried a sword.
Another was bright red with white hair as well, but this one seemed much younger than the brown one. He had a long beak-like face, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of Elisa. The third was blue-green, and very fat. It was bald with bat-like ears similar to the gargoyle creature. Finally, a smaller, olive green one took up the rear. His wings were attached to his arms, and he had large eyes and pointed ears.
The red one gave Elisa a sniff, eying her suspiciously.
"Who's the new human?" he asked. "Some new friend?"
"I am… uncertain." Goliath admitted.
"I promise you, I am a friend." Elisa insisted.
"She's telling the truth." Willow piped up. "You can trust her, I swear."
"You know her?" Goliath asked.
Willow nodded.
"We met about four years ago." Willow answered. "She saved me from… someone who is no longer part of my life."
"Well… if you vouch for her… then I suppose she is trustworthy." Goliath relented. "Elisa, was it?"'
"Elisa Maza." she confirmed. "Detective for the NYPD."
"What is a… detective?" the old one asked.
"Well, when somebody does something wrong, I find out who they are and arrest them." Elisa explained as best she could.
"And who decides what's wrong?" Goliath asked.
"We have a justice system." Elisa continued, "Laws, penalties, assessments. We let the people decide."
"You mean humans decide." Goliath commented.
"That's not gonna be a problem for you, is it?" a new voice called out.
Everyone immediately turned towards the new voices, Goliath pushing Elisa behind him on instinct and the red one doing the same for Willow. The turtles had finally reached the top of the building and had just climbed over the barracks.
"What kind of creatures are these?" Goliath asked.
"I've seen their like before." The old one declared, drawing his sword. "They be some kind of troll."
"How did trolls end up here?" the small, green gargoyle asked.
"Trolls?!" Raph let out. "We're turtles you idiots! Can't you see our shells?"
"They sure sound like trolls to me." the fat, blue one declared.
"Friends of yours?" The red one asked Willow.
"I have never seen these trolls before in my life." she answered.
"Troll this!" Raph yelled charging at the red one.
As Raph ran forward, he drew his signature sai, ready for a fight. The sai clashed with the red gargoyles claws, one strike after another. Raph then quickly spin kicked the gargoyle in the face. This merely caused the gargoyle to growl, his eyes glowing brightly.
"You shouldn't have done that." he snarled.
The red gargoyle then leapt at Raph, tackling him to the ground.
"Raph!" Mikey yelled.
He then pulled out his Nunchucks and ran forward as well. The blue, fat gargoyle decided to intercept Mikey and hold him in a bear hug.
"Not so fast, troll!" the blue one declared.
"You want it that way?" Mikey asked, pulling an arm free. "Fine with me!"
Mikey then swung his nunchaku at the blue one, making him stumble back and release his hold on him. He quickly regained his composure as he tried punching at Mikey, who quickly ducked it.
The green gargoyle tried to run over to the blue one, but it just got the blunt end of Donnie's staff.
"Stay away from my brother!" Donnie threatened.
"Stay away from mine first!" the green one threw back.
Donnie tried swinging his staff again, but the green one jumped over it and leapt onto his face, tackling him to the ground.
This left Leo face to face with Goliath.
"You're a big one." Leo commended, drawing his swords.
"That should be reason enough for you to end this battle." Goliath threatened.
"I don't scare easily." Leo remarked.
Goliath let out a mighty roar before leaping towards Leo. He then continued swiping his claws at him, forcing Leo to backup and block every strike with his swords. Leo tried swinging back, but Goliath just grabbed the blade and lifted Leo into the air. Leo took the chance and kicked Goliath in the face, forcing him to let go as Leo back flipped away from him. Goliath just growled in response before dashing towards the blue turtle again. The two clashed claws and swords again and struggled for dominance.
"Ok pal, time for some answers." Leo spoke. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
"I owe no explanation to you creature!" Goliath roared.
Goliath then grabbed Leo's swords and tossed them aside. The blue turtle tried punching him, but Goliath just grabbed it and threw Leo behind. Elisa and Willow tried to move out of the way, but Leo collided with Willow, knocking her off the edge of the tower. Her screams alerted the red gargoyle, forcing him to cease his fight with Raph.
"Willow!" he cried out, dashing to the roof.
Mikey saw this as well and leapt on top of the blue gargoyle before leaping off the building. He pulled out a nunchaku and extended the chain, wrapping it around Willow and pulling her towards him.
"Relax!" he told her, extending his chain again. "I got you!"
He tried throwing the chain at the tower, but it came up just a bit short, allowing the two to continue falling.
"That's great," Willow replied panicking. "But who's got you?!"
Just then, the red gargoyle swooped down and grabbed the chain. He glided back upwards towards the castle.
"I do." He reassured.
The red one glided back to the castle and dropped Willow and Mikey on the ground.
"Thanks for the save." Mikey replied, retracting his chain.
"You saved Willow." the red one replied, landing on the ground. "It seemed only fair."
Goliath paused for a moment, surveying these new creatures before him. He then walked over to Leo and offered him a hand up.
"Perhaps, we misjudged you tro- uh, turtles." Goliath admitted.
Leo smiled as he took the hand and Goliath helped him back up.
"Perhaps we misjudged each other." Leo conceded. "Why don't we start over with some proper introductions?"
"Very well." Goliath allowed.
"I am Leonardo. And these are my brothers, Donatello,"
"Hello."
"Michelangelo,"
"What up?"
"And Raphael."
"Sup."
"What about all of you?" Leo asked.
"I am called Goliath." He told him.
"My name is Willow." Willow introduced. "And this is Elisa."
"Hey, you're the detective April was talking too before." Mikey pointed out.
"You know Miss O'Neil?" Elisa asked curiously.
"Yeah, you could say that." Donnie replied, blushing a bit and looking off to the side.
Raph ribbed him gently with a playful smirk.
"She's a friend." Raph shared. "How do you know her?"
"She's interviewed me on a lot of cases I've worked on." Elisa informed him. "She's a good reporter, and unlike most of the leeches in the business, she knows when to speak up and when to stay out of something."
"You can say that again." Leo announced before remembering something. "But we're getting off topic. You never finished telling us your names."
"We don't have names." the small green gargoyle explained.
"Seriously?" Mikey asked. "Well how do you tell each other apart?"
"We look different." The blue gargoyle answered.
"He means what do you call each other?" Donnie clarified.
"Brother." the red one stated.
"Well that's nice," Mikey admitted. "But wouldn't you guys like actual names. Something that shows what you are? Like Goliath over there."
The old gargoyle sighed a bit, shaking his head with a small smile.
"Why must everything have a name?" he questioned, approaching her. "It seems like to humankind, and to you… turtles, nothing is real unless they've given it a name, and defined its limits."
"Names aren't limits, old dude." Mikey reassured. "They're expressions. They don't limit things, they make them special. If i was just, 'the orange turtle', it be boring. Michelangelo, not boring."
"Does the sky need a name?" the old one asked, a confident smirk on his face as he gestured out towards a river on the horizon. "Does the river?"
"Technically, the river's called the Hudson." Donnie shared.
The old gargoyle was taken aback, and everyone else couldn't help but smile at his embarrassment.
"He's got you there pal." Mikey commented.
"Fine lad." the old one relented. "Then I will be 'the Hudson' as well."
"Maybe just 'Hudson'." Willow suggested.
"Hudson it is then." Hudson replied.
"And what of the rest of you?" Goliath asked.
"Yeah, if Hudson has a name, you three will need names too." Willow agreed.
"Well you're in luck then." Mikey spoke up. "Cause I happen to be a genius at naming stuff."
The red one approached Mikey with a smirk.
"Alright then, what's my name?" he asked.
"Well you seem to be a tough fighter, so…" Mikey pondered. "How about...Brooklyn?"
"Brooklyn," he pondered. "I like it. I'm Brooklyn!"
Mikey then turned his attention to the big blue one, stroking his chin in thought.
"How's… Broadway?" he suggested.
Both Elisa and Willow had to hold back amused snorts as the blue one mulled over his new name.
"Sounds great." Broadway replied. "How'd you come up with that one?"
"It just came to me." Mikey dismissed.
His brothers all chuckled good-naturedly, Raph rolling his eyes as Mikey approached the small green one.
"Ok, now you." Mikey said before thinking some more. "What do you think of...Lexington?"
"Lexington." he repeated. "Sounds great!"
That's when the gargoyle dog let out an indignant bark, as if asking what his name would be. Hudson scratched him behind the ear, turning his attention to Mikey.
"And what of this one?" he asked. "Surely he'll need a name as well."
"I think I have one, and it's pretty near and dear to my heart." Mikey told them. "New York Metropolitan Sewer System."
The gargoyle dog barked angrily, jumping at Mikey. Only ninja reflexes and a timely interception by Hudson kept the turtle from becoming gargoyle kibble.
"What? Too wordy?" Mikey asked panicked.
"I think I have a better name." Willow suggested, coming over and petting the beast. "From now on, he'll be Bronx."
The dog let out a much happier bark, giving Willow a lick on the face.
"I think he likes it." Lexington noted.
"Well it's a definite upgrade then what he suggested." Elisa commented. "I mean, sewer system?"
"What?" Mikey replied. "We live in a sewer."
"What's a sewer?" Broadway asked.
That elicited yet another laugh from the group. However, the sky was beginning to visibly lighten, ushering in the next day. Goliath saw this and immediately turned to the five visitors.
"You all have to go, now!" Goliath told him.
"What?" Leo let out. "Why?"
"Let's just say visiting hours are over." Willow declared. "Now go on. Get out of here."
"Think we can see each other again?" Mikey asked.
"Yeah, there's still so much we don't know about you guys." Leo agreed.
"Maybe we can meet up tomorrow night." Brooklyn suggested.
"Yeah!" Lexington agreed. "Got an idea of where we could meet up?"
"Hmm…" Donnie pondered. "I know. We can meet at Antonio's Pizzeria."
"That shop on 11th and Bleecker?" Willow asked.
"That's the one." Mikey confirmed.
"Awesome." she declared. "We'll meet up there after dark for obvious reasons."
"And how about you, Goliath?" Elisa asked. "You'll need a guide to help you learn about the city, and I do owe you for saving my life."
"Hmm, perhaps so." Goliath allowed.
"Great." Elisa declared triumphantly. "Tomorrow's my day off so I can meet you in the afternoon-"
"After dark." Goliath interrupted.
Elisa chuckled.
"Why am I not surprised?" she commented before silently relenting. "Alright, here after dark."
"No." Goliath interrupted again. "Not here. Over there."
He pointed to a nearby rooftop within easy gliding distance of the castle.
"On that rooftop." He insisted.
"Why over there?" Elisa asked.
"Why were you sneaking around the castle?" Goliath countered.
Elisa brushed a stray hair from her face before answering.
"A good detective trusts no one." She replied as best as she could.
"That is something we have in common." Goliath concluded.
"I sense some hostility from that guy." Mikey commented.
"Come on guys, let's go." Leo told them before peering over the side. "Uh, any chance we can use the elevator?"
Willow laughed a bit.
"Sure." she told them. "Come on, I'll show you the way. And this time, no 'accidentally' dropping your badge, Elisa."
Elisa chuckled a bit as the six of them left the courtyard, leaving the gargoyles to take up positions along the battlements.
