CHAPTER THREE
Michelangelo's first port of call was the skateboarding park located at the far right end of the city. As he pulled up to one of the ramps on his skateboard, he was greeted by a slender black teenager dressed in a manner becoming of a mail man, flanked by an even leaner boy wearing a cream shirt and blue shorts.
"Nice wheels dude" complimented the boy as Mikey pulled up on his skateboard. "Think you can shred the course?"
" Are you for real dude? You just happen to be talking to a highly skilled Ninja Tur...erm, I mean, most tubular teens around" Michelangelo responded.
"Alright Whizz, work your magic" the boy said, slapping him gently on the back, causing Mikey's skateboard to tip over the edge of the ramp and begin to hurtle down the tunnel
"Hey wait up, I wasn't ready" Michelangelo screamed, but it was too late, he was well on his way, proceeding to crash into every obstacle designed to obstruct a skateboarder's path . The resulting calamity brought tears of laughter to the two rival skateboarders.
Michelangelo's descent culiminated in his skateboard hitting a rough patch of grass, sending the former Turtle hurtling into the branch of a tree. By this point, the boys had tired of the humilating sight and decided to take their business elsewhere, leaving Michelangelo void of bragging rights and a shred of decency.
"Gee, maybe being human is'nt all it's cracked up to be, maybe it was a waste of time after all" Michelangelo spoke aloud to himself as he took his leave of the park, only to have further misfortune befall him as he walked past a muddy patch on the side of the road.
Without warning, a car sped past him, it's wheels striking the mud and spraying Michelanglo with huge portions of it directly in the face.
"That tears it, I'm heading back home, maybe Don can patch me up and get me looking green again" he said.
As he turned acorner, he heard a loud shriek and a cry for help. Rushing past him was a young and lively woman. Unbenowst to Michelangelo, it was April.
"Gee that dudette looks like she could do with a helping hand" Michelangelo observed, before he was shoved to the curb and trampled on by what appeared to be four or five people eager to maintain pursuit.
Michelangelo's temper rose as he got up and dusted himself off.
"Ok, now I'm really steamed, nobody leaves treats this teenager like literal dirt" he said, snarling, and took off after the thugs on his skateboard.
The gang's pursuit of April reached it's climax inside the tunnel of a nearby park bridge, where April found one of the thugs on the other end blocking her path with the remainder of the goons chasing her swooped in. He was brandishing a plank of wood.
"Alright doll-face, just what do you think you were doing snooping around our neck of the woods?" asked the thug, a thin and weasly looking bald man.
"I, well, I've been..." April began, her nerves getting the better of her.
"That girl's voice sounds awfully familiar" observed Michealngelo as he approached the bridge and began to evesdrop on the conversation.
"Give me five minutes with her Lugnut, I'll teach her not to spy on any of us" asked one of the thug's friends, grabbing April by the arm and giving her a sniff.
"Hey, she's got quite the fragrance on her, maybe she'd be worth a happy hour or two" he continued, this repulsed April, she realized she had to make good on an excuse to spare herself further humiliation. Or worse.
It was at this point Michelangelo realized who April was. He froze like a statue, he could feel the tense sensation of dread wash over him, knowing his dearest friend was in danger and that there was potentially little he could do in this body to prevent something horrendous happening to her. He was helpless.
"I wasn't spying on any of you, you've got it completly wrong, it's more like I was checking you out" April replied, which was not entirely a lie, as her mission since this assignment began was to get closer to how gangs in the city operated.
"You were checking US out?" Lugnut replied
"That's my girl... a tough act for a tough crowd, keep doing your thing dudette" whispered Micheangelo, his apprehension dissapating for as long as April could sustain her act.
"Yeah" April said, a bit more confidence in her voice, "I wanted to see how you guys could handle having me as a member of your group"
Lugnut and the remainder of the group broke into fits of laughter.
"You really think you're that tough?" asked Lugnut, taking the two-by-four in his hand and biting one of the nails embedded in it clean off.
"Well...fairly tough" April said, her confidence briefly sapping.
"Alright then, then you won't mind putting your money where your mouth is. You can be target practice for Jersey Red and her knuckles. Make it past her and we'll consider you for membership"
A large red-haired woman with a dog collar around her neck approached April, licking her lips
"I'm gonna ground you into pizza dough" she snarled.
"Man, Jersey Red has some mighty fine taste in food, but I don't think April's got the stomach for a fight like this" said Michelangelo, his anxiety getting the better of him again
Lugnut led the remainder of his gang out of the tunnel.
"We'll be back later 'Red, try to leave just enough of this chick for us to identify when we get back" he said. Michelangelo ducked behind a couple of barrles to avoid detection.
April found herself swiftly ejected from the tunnel also, but only because Jersey had scooped her up and tossed her as far as she could.
April knew she could'nt run, it would deny her the story, and word would spread quickly from this particular group that she was weak. On the other hand, there was the very real possiblity Jersey Red could seriously harm her.
She was psychologically trapped, one way or the other, she would come out worse for wear.
This did'nt scare her, but it was scarring Michelangelo as he was coming to the exact same conclusions as April was.
As April dusted herself off and charged back into the tunnel to continue the fight, Michealgenlo cursed his present situation, his rage was building. He wish he could more.
Suddenly, his hands trembled, and to his surprise, began to turn green again. Soon his entire body had reverted back to that of the tubular teenage Turtle he'd always been, and by his reckoning, not a moment too soon.
"Totally timely, I'm back to normal, it must be the adrenaline in my blood stream, or something super-scientific. Donatello's not around so I have to make do with explaining the surprise to the audience"
"You're not up to learning lessons are you?" taunted Jersey Red as April approached her, "I suppose I'm gonna have to pound reality into you" she continued, and, in a miraculous feat for someone of her size, she leapt at the young reporter.
"April, duck" cried out Michelangelo as he pushed April out of the way and intercepted Jersey Red as she extended her legs to crash into her target full force. He grabbed both of her legs and tossed the hulking mass of humanity around with considerable ease, throwing her with maximum effort into a dumpster perched just outside of the tunnel on the far right.
"Turtle power does it again" Michelangelo exclaimed in triumph.
Lugnut and his group had caught wind of the commotion and were heading back, forcing Michelangelo to make himself scarse. Jersey Red, still groggy from her whirlwind experience, clambered out of the dumpster in a dazed and confused state.
Lugnut approached April, who looked just as lost as Jersey did in regards to what happened.
"I don't know how you did it, but it looks like we got ourselves a winner" he said, raising April's hand in the air to make her triumph official.
"So I'm in the gang?" April asked.
"Not just yet, there's still one more test to show if you're really cut out for our line of work. You need to burglarize a pad and bring us the loot"
"Burglarize? As in breaking and entering?" April quizzed.
"Should be a cakewalk for you toots...unless of course, that yellow on your jeans runs all the way up your back" taunted Jersey Red.
This ruffled April's feathers to no extreme.
"I'm no chicken, and I know just the name to rob. It'll even make the eight o'clock news" she revealed.
"Great, we'll rendezvous back here at 7 PM, you can lead us to the abode of your choice then" Lugnut revealed.
As the gang disassembled, Michelangelo, having reverted back to human form, once more felt slightly anxious.
"April's in way over her head. I'd best keep close to her, for her own good"