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brooch-and-tackle · 2 years ago

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Brooch and Tackle Ch. 1 Along Came Batsy

Word Count: 3,509

Warnings: Canon/OC, fluff

Summary: After the events of Portal Jacked, the boys and Hueso attempt to make their way back to the surface, but where did Raph go? Who is that yokai he’s with?

AO3

The Pirate Bazaar was bustling; yokai of all kinds were going from booth to booth browsing the many goods on display. Señor Hueso ignored the obnoxious vendors as he led four mutant turtle brothers away from the S.S. Queen Alexis. The brothers were slow to follow the bone man. It wasn’t every day they could walk around during the day and no one scream or run away after laying eyes on them. Hueso gave an irritated sigh. He wanted to get back to his restaurant, not babysit teens! What could possibly be so fascinating about an outdoor market, anyway? He scanned the crowd and found Pepino browsing a stall that sold weapons, his odachi strapped to his back. The small orange one was having an enthusiastic conversation with a rabbit yokai about mystic spices. The purple one was the closest to him. He stood next to Hueso looking at his phone. He seemed to be disinterested in the happenings of the market. Hueso couldn’t blame him. It could be over stimulating with so many vendors yelling and the bright colors. Speaking of bright colors, Hueso couldn’t see the red one. One would think it would be difficult to lose such a mountain of a mutant wearing bright red in a crowd. However, he was not so lucky. The red one was missing. Another sigh escaped from his lips as a headache began to form. He was too old to be wrangling children.

“Purple one,” Hueso turned to the uninterested teen. “Where is the red one?”

“Hm? Oh, uh, I think he went that way,” Donnie pointed one of his robotic extremities down the road towards the stalls the small group had yet to get to; attention never leaving his phone.

Hueso followed the mechanical arm’s direction. He had to squint to make out the specs of red and green shrinking into the distance. He groaned and rubbed his temples.

“Pepino!” Hueso attempted to get the blue clad turtle’s attention. “If we do not hurry, we will not be able to keep up with your brother!”

Leo looked up from the katana he was inspecting, his face turned from confused to concerned in the blink of an eye. Where was Raph? He didn’t see him. Oh no. He fumbled to put down the weapon he had been holding before running to yank Mikey away from his own conversation. Blurs of blue, orange, and purple went weaving in and out of the crowd towards their oldest brother. Hueso shook his head and walked after them. Teenagers.

~~~~

Raph had never seen so many colors and people before in one place! Sure, he and his brothers lived in New York City, but being mutants didn’t give them the chance to be above ground during the day. He couldn’t get enough of the displays of colorful fabrics, the sweet smells of freshly baked goods, or the laughter of yokai children running in and out from between stalls in some kind of game. He went from stall to stall admiring the craftsmanship of handmade items: jewelry, beads, fabric, even furniture! That is to say, until he spotted a stall that stood out even amongst its already colorful neighbors. This stall’s roof was bright pink with matching ribbons wrapped around its supports. The fabric shimmered in the light of the sun. When Raph got closer, he could see that the shimmer was light reflecting against pieces of crystal that had been sewn into the fabric. The skirt of the stall was bright green with similar crystals sewn into its fabric. Off to either side of the stall were plain, unlit paper lanterns dangling from crooked staffs.

He shifted his gaze to what the vendor was selling. All of the items seemed to be some kind of accessory. There were rings organized by intricacy, chains of silver and gold hanging from the roof swayed in the gentle breeze, and brooches of varying shapes, sizes, and colors littered the table in no apparent pattern. He froze. He could recognize the deep red color of one of the oval gems anywhere. It looked identical to the one Big Mama wore. Trying to ignore the unease that welled in the pit of his stomach, Raph did his best to look at the other items for sale. He was so focused on focusing that he almost didn’t notice the movement in front of him.

When he looked up, wide eyes the color of honey stared at him from behind large, round glasses. It was a small bat yokai… smaller than him, in any case. They had dark, curly fur pulled out of their face by a strip of dark green fabric; a pair of black, leathery wings were folded behind their back. A fluffy collar of russet fur around their neck hid the neckline of the yellow sundress they were wearing. All brain function left him as they continued their staring contest.

~~~~

It had been another boring day for Betsy. Yokai wanting to go to the surface came by her stall to purchase cloaking brooches, an elderly googlyschmootz had paid her to repair an old brooch for her granddaughter, custom orders were placed by high profile clients, and now that the rush was over, she was drained. She yawned and reached for her sketchbook. If there were no customers, then she might as well work on the custom orders she still needed to draft. As another yawn escaped, Betsy’s fangs protruded from under her lips. Being awake in the middle of the day was not something she usually did, being a bat yokai. Like most others of her yokai-kind, she would have been up all night; however, today was one of the days her gem shipments came in. Furthermore, she had some old stock she was desperate to get rid of. As she advanced in skill in her craft, her style had changed and she no longer wanted her older pieces around. They were too simple for her taste, and honestly, they didn’t have the razzle dazzle her clients expected of her.

A tuft of black, curly fur fell in front of her eyes breaking her hyper-focus on the sketch she was working on. Her makeshift headband had come loose. As she fixed it, a hulking figure blocked out the sun, engulfing a vast majority of her stall in shadow. She looked up to see the largest turtle yokai she had ever seen. She didn’t know what this yokai had been eating, but they were huge! They wore a red mask with matching belt and elbow wraps. She thought the red made the green of their scales stand out. They also wore a belt with a strange green T symbol in an oval on it. Their elbows, plastron, and the top of their shell were spiked and she wondered if they were sharp. They looked sharp. She stood up, which caught the turtle’s attention. Her breath caught in her throat when they made eye contact. They had the greenest eyes she had ever seen. They were gorgeous.

“Do you see anything you like?” Her voice was distant and the sound of it surprised her. The turtle raised an eye ridge, and pointed to themselves, confusion and awe written plain as day on their face. Betsy smiled, fangs on full display, and nodded.

“Well, uh, to be honest, I was just kinda lookin’,” the turtle rubbed the back of their neck and looked down at the table once more, breaking their pseudo staring contest.

“I’ve never seen you around here before,” Betsy hummed as she moved out from behind the stall. “Are you new here, big guy?”

“Somethin’ like that, yeah,” they chuckled picking up one of her brooches. It was the red one. “So, uh, what are these?”

The question made Betsy stop in her tracks. What did they mean? Wasn’t it obvious? Maybe they didn’t have cloaking brooches where they were from? How would that be possible? They’re an essential part of going topside and keeping a low profile. It was idiotic and dangerous to leave the Hidden City without one!

As she approached the much larger yokai, she realized just how much they towered over her. If she had to guess, she would say that her body, minus her large ears, was the same size of their hulking arm. Their hulking, spiked arm. Betsy wanted nothing more in that moment than to touch the protruding spikes of the turtle’s plastron, arms, and shell, but she refrained… for now. This educational moment was far too important to pass up.

“This-,” she plucked the brooch out of their hand. “- is a cloaking brooch.”

“What does it do?” The turtle tilted their head to the left ever so slightly, eye ridges creating a shallow chasm between their eyes.

“It gives us yokai a human disguise so that we can go topside without having to worry about the humans,” Betsy paused when she saw their eyes widen. “Would you like a demonstration?”

The fervent nodding almost sent Betsy over the edge. This yokai may be four times her size, but their enthusiasm was just too cute! Her wings fluttered in excitement. She attached the red gem to the front of her sundress and tapped on it. She felt the familiar rush of wind in her fur and a yellow, ribbon-like light blinded her for a brief moment. When she gained her sight back, the large terrapin stared at her slack-jawed. Long gone were the large, leathery wings on her back. Her ears were no longer large and at a point on the top of her head and the only fluff she had was now the mop of curly, russet brown hair on her head. Her hands now had five fingers and she was barefoot. The few things that were still the same were the bright yellow dress, her rounded glasses, and the green makeshift headband that held her curly bob in place. She could feel the turtle’s eyes sweep over her in amazement.

“Neat, right?” She smiled and stepped closer to them, her eyes never leaving their face. “I’m Betsy, by the way.”

While she may have looked human, she was still anything but. It was thanks to this fact that she was able to hear them parrot her name back to her; their voice would’ve been inaudible to any other species of yokai.

“Raph!? Where are ya, buddy?” She had reached for the brooch to deactivate it when she heard the voice yell above the noise of the busy market.

The large yokai snapped out of their trance at the sound of the frantic voice and turned around in search of the owner. When they did so, Betsy noticed that not only the top of their shell was spiked, but so was the back! She sucked in a breath and, without so much as a thought, grazed one of the spikes on their shell. The sudden touch made the large yokai jump and turn around again. Betsy recoiled, eyes wide, and let out a nervous chuckle.

“I- I’m really sorry,” she looked down and picked at the hem of her dress. “I- I shouldn’t have done that without your permission… the impulse won out…”

“That’s okay,” they gave her a small, reassuring smile; their snaggletooth on full display. It was fitting— cute, even.

“Can… can I touch it again…please?” Her attention was firmly planted on a patch of dirt between them. She heard them chuckle.

“Yeah, that’s okay,” they turned their back to her and looked over their shoulder. “Just be careful okay? Don’t wanna hurt ya by accident.”

Betsy’s head shot up, eyes wide and smile glowing. She couldn’t stop herself from gently poking and rubbing the spikes on the gentle giant’s shell. They were rough and pointed and Betsy couldn’t get enough of the tingling sensation the ridges under her hands made her feel. It seemed the shell’s owner also enjoyed the touch. Her hands were soft. She felt a low vibration radiating off of the shell the higher she got. After what felt like hours, she couldn’t reach any higher without struggle and she had to stop. Curse her short stature! She wanted nothing more than to continue. That gave her an idea. She ran behind her stall and picked up the chair she had been sitting in. She placed it where she had been standing and stood on its seat to continue her onslaught of light touches. They were so lost in the sensations they each were experiencing that neither noticed a distressed blue clad turtle running straight towards them.

~~~~

Leo, Mikey, and Donnie’s top priority was to locate their missing brother. They knew that if he was left alone things were bound to get weird. Super weird. How they managed to lose a six foot mutant turtle who is also a ninja, none of them knew. Every flash of red and/or green was a dead end: a bolt of fabric, a chair, a wanted poster of a criminal who resembled their missing brother. Their only comfort at the moment was the lack of yelling in the third person. Maybe Raph wasn’t alone? But who would he be with? He knew no one at the market aside from his brothers and the bone man.

“Raph!? Where are ya, buddy?” Leo called out in hopes his brother would hear him. Nothing. He turned to Mikey and Donnie. “Okay. New plan. We split up, cover more ground. We gotta find him.”

Leo and Mikey took to the rows upon rows of stalls and Donnie took to the air in his hover shell. Seriously, how big was this market? Unnaturally big. Mystically big. They went from stall to stall asking anyone who would listen if they had seen Raph. Most vendors ignored them, not wanting to be a part of whatever the brothers were doing. There were a few vendors who were willing to point them in a direction, however that ended up with the two going around in circles. Leo was getting impatient, Mikey was tired, and Donnie was too overwhelmed with everything to be of any further help. He did what he could and now he needed time to center himself. Leo knew this was a lot for his twin, so he didn’t push him to do anything he wasn’t comfortable with.

“This is hopeless, guys,” Leo panted. “No one has seen enough of Raph to get us anywhere.”

He shouldn’t have lost one of the most important people in his life and he didn’t know if he would be able to find Raph. He wouldn’t be able to show his face to their father after this. Splinter didn’t pay much mind to any of them as it was and this would crush him. Plus how was he supposed to tell him that they lost their brother in a mystic hidden city under New York? That wasn’t an option. He was their self proclaimed champion, damn it! He could do this! There had to be a way to find him! He didn’t want to think it, but maybe he would have to get the help from-

“Leo,” Mikey pulled Leo out of his head. “I see him! He’s over there.”

Leo followed the direction Mikey’s finger was pointing and, sure enough, there was their brother. Leo visibly relaxed at the sight of his brother. He was facing them with his eyes closed and a small, content smile on his face. What was up with him? It didn’t matter. They found their missing brother!

“Raph! Raph! Raph!” Leo called out as he ran towards him.

The sudden call of his name startled Raph out of his trance and he took a large, Raph-sized step towards the sound. A small squeak from behind him was drowned out by the loud, relieved laughter of his younger brothers. Raph felt a faint tug on the top of his shell and a thud of something hitting the ground behind him. This made Raph pause and turn around. There was a chair but where did his new friend go? He spun around looking for Betsy… or was it Batsy? He couldn’t remember. He felt the light sensation of tapping on the top part of his shell and a firm pressure on the middle section of his shell spikes. He turned around again, but there was no one there. Were they messing with him?

“There you are!” Leo ran up to his big brother and threw his arms around his neck laughing in relief as he did so. “We were so worried, brother! Don’t do that again!”

“Yeah,” Mikey added. “You know how weird you get when you’re alone!”

“I’m not alone though,” Raph chuckled. “Or at least I wasn’t a second ago… Have you guys seen a small bat yokai anywhere? They were right here!”

Raph felt the pressure on his shell once more and a small grunt fell into his ears. He felt a small hand grab his left shoulder and then a pair of arms drape over it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that it was his new friend! They were a disheveled mess with their glasses askew and their curly hair was now in their eyes. Their headband had come undone again. In a single movement, Raph corrected their glasses and did his best to tuck the fallen strands behind their ear; his gentle touch ghosted across their cheek. They smelled of wild flowers and citrus.

“You moved,” the disguised yokai whispered. Their cheeks reddened as they stuck out their bottom lip in a pout on par with one of Mikey’s. Raph couldn’t tell if the redness was from the workout that was climbing him or if they were blushing.

“Sorry about that,” his voice was as soft as his gaze towards them.

Leo coughed in such a way that should have registered to his big brother that he was uncomfortable, however Raph wasn’t paying him any mind. He was too busy staring at the human draped over his shoulder. Mikey looked between the person he perceived as a human and his oldest brother. He might be the youngest, but he was the most observant of his siblings. He knew that look in Raph’s eye. A grin appeared on his face. He had a hunch that Dr. Feelings may or may not be making a house call in the near future. Raph was a great guy, but, unlike Mikey, he was pretty oblivious to other people. Speaking of people…

“Hey, Raph,” Mikey piped up. “Why is there a human on your shoulder?”

Raph tore his gaze from his shoulder passenger, furrowing his brow ridge. Human? What human? This was the Hidden City, the only humans (that he knew of) that had been down here were April (that was weeks ago when she chased after Mayhem) and maybe, maybe Lou Jitsu. The latter was still a little iffy, however. Raph didn’t trust Draxum.

It was at that moment that Leo had noticed the curly haired being clinging to his brother’s shoulder was, in fact, a human. What was a human doing in a mystic hidden city? Emphasis on “hidden.” Did Baron Draxum kidnap them too? Why weren’t they freaking out by all the yokai? Were they in shock? Maybe suffering from some sort of brain damage? Should he initiate Plan H? Not that Donnie ever shows up for rehearsals. A bell of a laugh rang out not the market from Ralph’s left, distracting both brothers from their confusion.

“I’m not a human,” Raph could see the large grin plastered on his passenger’s face from his periphery. “Big guy can you let me down please? I can’t reach the ground.”

Raph lifted them up and over his shoulder and placed them firmly on the dirt in front of him; they were as light as Mikey. They flattened out the skirt of their dress before turning to face his brothers. The sudden movement caused wild flowers and citrus to fill his nostrils once more. Raph liked that combination. He was so focused on it that he almost missed the blinding yellow light. In place of the “human” was the original form of the vendor he had been talking to. From the back, he noticed just how large their wings were in comparison to their owner’s height. They stopped an inch above their ankles and the tops of the wings began an inch below their temples.

“I’m a yokai, same as all of you!”

“Actually, we’re mutants, but that’s an understandable assumption to make,” Donnie's voice was even and uninterested.

“Oh! Well it’s nice to meet you all the same,” she was excited by this revelation; she had never met mutants before. “I’m Betsy!”

“Batsy? What kind of name is that?” Leo hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation. He was too busy staring at the brooch the bat yokai still had pinned to her dress.

“I don’t know,” Betsy gasped, “but I like it! You can call me Batsy!”

#Brooch and Tackle #Raph/OC #ROTTMNT fanfic #Batsy is my baby and I love her so much #tmnt raphael #rottmnt raph #cross posted on ao3 #raph x oc

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