Character Creation Contest #29

Thanks. They could have really been anything, I just chose Raptors cause they're cool. Mostly I just felt like writing some kind of wicked story where time and universes get all sorts of messed up. I figure it makes for interesting potential.

The middle aged, fat man lumbered down the sidewalk, pulling his windbreaker over his head to shield himself from the rain. Rain on a New York day in the summer? It just didn’t seem natural. Especially not to Hamato. Hamato was the son of a Caucasian woman, and an Asian man. His Caucasian roots had won out in the battle for his physical appearance, and oddly enough, here he stood with red hair and a bushy red beard. Enough about he himself though, this is not a story about who Hamato is. This is a story of what he’ll do.

Hamato found himself turning abruptly, and opening the door to the small petshop, entering inside. The sudden blast of heat from the indoors forced him to smile as he shook himself off, the cashier merely glaring at him, noticeably unimpressed by this action. Hamato quickly found his way over to a cage, which held four hamsters, all of which were white. He smiled. A male worker approached behind him.

“They’re cute little buggers. They’re still pretty new, just got ‘em in a couple weeks ago, but they’re a couple months old. They’re in their teenage phase if y’know what I’m saying? Litter of four, all males. They’re really unique, y’see?”

The worker opened the cage and picked one up, pulling it out to show him. He pointed to a series of black spots on it’s stomach.

“All of ‘em have these spots, y’see? Don’t know why. This breed is generally one solid color. They’re real cool. Y’might say that they’re….Mutants.”

The man chuckled at his obviously dumb joke, but it was no joking matter to Hamato. Not at all.

“Mutants? I’ll take them all.”

He declared. It wasn’t long before Hamato carried them up the stairs of his dingy apartment building, still in their cage. He had been talking to them the entire walk, making jokes and such. Soon enough, he had entered his apartment and placed them on the table. After washing his hands and changing out of his work clothes, he sat down at the table. His eyes landed upon the now open, empty cage. Panic swept over him, and he immediately began search frantically.

It didn’t take him long to find the obvious smallest, who had fallen into his trash can and thus trapped himself. He then found another, tearing up a couch cushion. After placing the two of them back in their cage, he set eyes upon the final two. On the other side of the apartment, his cat loomed over them, hissing. The larger hamster of the two stared right back, seemingly standing in front of the other, as if to protect it. Hamato instantly plucked the newspaper off the table, rolled it up and smacked the cat on the head, which then proceeded to sprint off to another room. Hamato dropped the paper and picked the other two up.

“Don’t let Old Hob get you. He’s a kind cat at heart, but, he’s always trying to act tough.”

Hamato let out a small chuckle, before putting them back in their cage.

“How’d you guys sneak out? You’re like little ninjas!”

A smile crept onto the man’s face.

“I’m going to need to be able to tell you guys apart….”

With that, the man ran out of the room, and after searching within his closet for a few minutes, he rushed back out to the cage, holding a palette of paints and a brush. His eyes immediately fell upon a National Geographic magazine also on the table, which had it’s main article on ‘the artists of the renaissance’. He pulled the first hamster out, the youngest and smallest, who had gotten caught in the trash can.

“I will name you Michaelangelo. Mikey for short.”

With that, he took a dollop of orange aint and put a dot on the animals back. He put the hamster back and pulled out the destructive of the bunch.

“You I’ll call Raphael.”

He placed a red dot on him, before putting him back, and pulling out the one who was being protected.

“Donatello.”

A purple dot was placed on his back, and finally, Hamato pulled out the bravest of the bunch.

“Leonardo.”

The man grinned as he placed the blue dot on the creature. He then locked the cage once again, and retreated to his bedroom. The animals spent the night staring across the kitchen, at a machine on the counter. A blender.



The next morning, Hamato awoke and went about his usual routine. He bid the hamsters farewell, and explained something along the lines of ‘I have to get to work, or Mr. Stockman will have my head’. The animals didn’t really care, they were very focused on the blender.

The day was spent attempting to break free of the cage, hours later, they did. All four of the silent creatures scampered across the table, and each took a large leap to the counter. Below, on the ground, Old Hob slept, never hearing a single thing. Once reaching the machine, they sat in awe, staring at the heinous contraption, taking note of the name brand on the front:

‘Oroku Saki’.

The four got more and more courageous as time went on, getting closer and closer, until finally, Michelangelo had crawled into the machine, and Donatello, being the curious creature he was, started to lightly press against the buttons, though not hard enough to start the blender, though as he clued in and started to use more force, the apartment door swung open.

“I’m home!”

Hamato called out. He rounded the corner into the kitchen and lay eyes on the hamsters. His eyes widened, and a scream leaped from his throat. He instantly scooped all four into his arms, carrying them back to their cage.

“What do you think you guys are doing!? Just because you’re Teenage Mutant Ninja hamsters doesn’t mean you’re ready to take on….”

He glanced at the blender.

“The Shredder!”

Fin.

Hmm, well I did it, I think at least. Enjoy.

Teenage Mutant Ninja <Insert Word Here>

April O’Neal trotted down the dark alley towards the abandoned construction site, unaware of the person stalking her. She was brave and nothing scared her, nothing that was until a figure jumped out of the dark and placed a blade against her throat.

“April O’Neal?” The assailant asked in an Australian accented voice.

“Y…yes.” April replied as she saw something move in the dark, something that looked as if it had a domed shell on its back. “Who are you?” She asked as the man dragged her into the construction site.

“You don’t need to know.” The man stated as he looked up at the domed figure. “Hey Jenkins we got her, tell James to deliver the message.” He added as a streak of colour accompanied by a gust of wind left the construction site, only to return seconds later.

“Done, took me a while to find their lair but I delivered the message.” James told the others as two more figures came out of the darkness. Not that April found them frightening, not after the initial shock had worn off. As far as she was concerned the men who had kidnapped her were clowns masquerading as hard men.

“You sure that this Shredder guy will pay us for our services?” A man dressed in what looked like a quilt asked the domed figure, the man stepping into the light to reveal what looked like a humanoid beetle.

“Sure, this Shredder figure is offering a quarter of a million per target.” Jenkins explained. “The Foot Clan seems legit, even if I hadn't heard of them until a few days ago.” He added as something moved in the shadows, causing all five thugs to follow its movement. “James, got check it out, the rest of you cover the girl.” He ordered as James sped off, scaling the side of the building and reaching where the shadow had been in just under two seconds.

“Nothing here Abe.” James announced as he walked along the scaffolding. “Hang on wait is that a is that a daffodil?” He asked as he spotted a flower growing out of the scaffolding. “And is it holding ...” Before he could finish the daffodil sprung to life and leapt over him before slashing out with a pair of Sais, the move catching James off guard and slicing through his tendons.

“Is this the best opposition the writer could find for us?” The daffodil asked.

“Silence Raphael, these crooks have April and we don’t know how dangerous they are.” A nearby ninja pigeon told the other three members of its flock.

“So what do we do Leo?” A Californian accented pigeon asked as Raphael picked up James and threw him onto the floor.

“Oh great telegraph our position why don’t you?” The last pigeon announced as the thugs looked up in shock and amusement.

“Their Cats!!” The quilt man yelled as he pointed up to the four cats standing on the ledge.

“I see that Herman.” Jenkins replied, “Blast them!!” He screamed as waves of sound, photonic blasts and a few boomerangs went whizzing up towards the cats, only for the felines to dodge the projectiles and dive towards the thugs.

“Bench wash them away!!” Jenkins ordered as the fifth thug liquidized and surged forward, three of them dodging to the left as the forth was picked up the humanoid ocean and swept away.

“Mickey!!” One of the cats yelled as the thugs advanced on them.

“No problems Donnie.” Mickey stated as he surfaced, his cat form gone, replaced with the form of a porpoise. “Cowabungga dudes, I’m hanging ten on the Hydroman!!”

“Not for much longer.” Bench roared as hands made from solid water reached out to grab the Porpoise only for the marine mammal to swipe at them with its nunchucks. Howling in rage Bench formed a massive humanoid torso of water, mouth open ready to swallow Mickey, only for the cetacean to slam his weapon into a tank of liquid nitrogen, the chemical flash freezing bench in place.

“I did good right?” Mickey stated as she landed next to the other teenage ninja cheerleaders.

“Sure Mickey.” Leo stated, “We still have problems though.” She added as a pulse of sonic energy ripped towards them like a freight train. Leaping aside the Cheerleaders landed gracefully before sprinting towards the remaining three thugs, their lithe forms ducking and weaving through a hail of boomerangs thrown by the Australian goon.

“That is very sophisticated battle armour.” Donnie told Jenkins as she landed next to him, lashing out with her bo-staff only for the armoured mercenary to block it. “I almost thought you were a beetle.” She added as her foe sent an electric pulse down the weapon, causing the teenager to shudder backwards. “You have the manners of one.” She added as her female form turned into a massive black spider.

“Stay away from me creep!” Jenkins ordered as he dodged left only for Donnie’s staff to smack him in the face, an electric pulse running down his suit, effectively immobilising the armour’s servo-motors. Looking over Donnie saw Leo fighting hand to hand with the man dressed in the quilt, katanas bouncing off a vibrational energy shield.

“So who are you the Sleeper, the Quilt Man?” Leo asked Herman as he slashed at his foe, each block causing his body to shake no matter how hard and fast he hit him.

“I’m the Shoc…” With a swift punch Herman was down, his nose bleeding out from under his costume. “Fred…help…help us. We need help because we’re incompetents and cowards.” Herman moaned. “We couldn't even beat some teenage mutant ninja pebbles.” He groaned.

“Wait, wait, wait.” A voice stated interrupting the action as the writer finally came to her senses.

“What?” Fred asked as he finished chucking the turtles he was keeping out of the window into a sickly green looking puddle. “It could have happened.” He added with a surprised looking smirk on his face. “Really it could have.”

“Their Cats!!” Should be they're cats and if you lost the have from the final sentence (“Really it could have.”) you make it 1000 on the nose without losing anything storywise

@batkevin74: Dam it Shocker, get you're words right!! Will edit later. Thanks for the comment though, to be honest I'd just be happy for an honorable mention this time around.

I think my idea sounded a lot better in my head but I did finish what I set to do, so that's worth something right? :)

Couldn't re-edit so I had to re-pst (stupid anti editing thing on Comicvine)

Teenage Mutant Ninja <Insert Word Here>

April O’Neal trotted down the dark alley towards the abandoned construction site, unaware of the person stalking her. She was brave and nothing scared her, nothing that was until a figure jumped out of the dark and placed a blade against her throat.

“April O’Neal?” The assailant asked in an Australian accented voice.

“Y…yes.” April replied as she saw something move in the dark, something that looked as if it had a domed shell on its back. “Who are you?” She asked as the man dragged her into the construction site.

“You don’t need to know.” The man stated as he looked up at the domed figure. “Hey Jenkins we got her, tell James to deliver the message.” He added as a streak of colour accompanied by a gust of wind left the construction site, only to return seconds later.

“Done, took me a while to find their lair but I delivered the message.” James told the others as two more figures came out of the darkness. Not that April found them frightening, not after the initial shock had worn off. As far as she was concerned the men who had kidnapped her were clowns masquerading as hard men.

“You sure that this Shredder guy will pay us for our services?” A man dressed in what looked like a quilt asked the domed figure, the man stepping into the light to reveal what looked like a humanoid beetle.

“Sure, this Shredder figure is offering a quarter of a million per target.” Jenkins explained. “The Foot Clan seems legit, even if I hadn't heard of them until a few days ago.” He added as something moved in the shadows, causing all five thugs to follow its movement. “James, got check it out, the rest of you cover the girl.” He ordered as James sped off, scaling the side of the building and reaching where the shadow had been in just under two seconds.

“Nothing here Abe.” James announced as he walked along the scaffolding. “Hang on wait is that, is that a daffodil?” He asked as he spotted a flower growing out of the scaffolding. “And is it holding ...” Before he could finish the daffodil sprung to life and leapt over him before slashing out with a pair of Sais, the move catching James off guard and slicing through his tendons.

“Is this the best opposition the writer could find for us?” The daffodil asked.

“Silence Raphael, these crooks have April and we don’t know how dangerous they are.” A nearby ninja pigeon told the other three members of its flock.

“So what do we do Leo?” A Californian accented pigeon asked as Raphael picked up James and threw him onto the floor.

“Oh great telegraph our position why don’t you?” The last pigeon announced as the thugs looked up in shock and amusement.

“They’re Cats!!” The quilt man yelled as he pointed up to the four cats standing on the ledge.

“I see that Herman.” Jenkins replied, “Blast them!!” He screamed as waves of sound, photonic blasts and a few boomerangs went whizzing up towards the cats, only for the felines to dodge the projectiles and dive towards the thugs.

“Bench wash them away!!” Jenkins ordered as the fifth thug liquidized and surged forward, three of them dodging to the left as the forth was picked up the humanoid ocean and swept away.

“Mickey!!” One of the cats yelled as the thugs advanced on them.

“No problems Donnie.” Mickey stated as he surfaced, his cat form gone, replaced with the form of a porpoise. “Cowabungga dudes, I’m hanging ten on the Hydroman!!”

“Not for much longer.” Bench roared as hands made from solid water reached out to grab the Porpoise only for the marine mammal to swipe at them with its nunchucks. Howling in rage Bench formed a massive humanoid torso of water, mouth open ready to swallow Mickey, only for the cetacean to slam his weapon into a tank of liquid nitrogen, the chemical flash freezing bench in place.

“I did good right?” Mickey stated as she landed next to the other teenage ninja cheerleaders.

“Sure Mickey.” Leo stated, “We still have problems though.” She added as a pulse of sonic energy ripped towards them like a freight train. Leaping aside the Cheerleaders landed gracefully before sprinting towards the remaining three thugs, their lithe forms ducking and weaving through a hail of boomerangs thrown by the Australian goon.

“That is very sophisticated battle armour.” Donnie told Jenkins as she landed next to him, lashing out with her bo-staff only for the armoured mercenary to block it. “I almost thought you were a beetle.” She added as her foe sent an electric pulse down the weapon, causing the teenager to shudder backwards. “You have the manners of one.” She added as her female form turned into a massive black spider.

“Stay away from me creep!” Jenkins ordered as he dodged left only for Donnie’s staff to smack him in the face, an electric pulse running down his suit, effectively immobilising the armour’s servo-motors. Looking over Donnie saw Leo fighting hand to hand with the man dressed in the quilt, katanas bouncing off a vibrational energy shield.

“So who are you the Sleeper, the Quilt Man?” Leo asked Herman as he slashed at his foe, each block causing his body to shake no matter how hard and fast he hit him.

“I’m the Shoc…” With a swift punch Herman was down, his nose bleeding out from under his costume. “Fred…help…help us. We need help because we’re incompetents and cowards.” Herman moaned. “We couldn't even beat some teenage mutant ninja pebbles.” He groaned.

“Wait, wait, wait.” A voice stated interrupting the action as the writer finally came to her senses.

“What?” Fred asked as he finished chucking the turtles he was keeping out of the window into a sickly green looking puddle. “It could have happened.” He added with a surprised looking smirk on his face.

Awesome how many new people that have joined this time.

@wildvine: Billions! We need more though, millions more!

A few more entries, and this contest will hold the record for most writers participating. Current record is 11 in Contest #5. :)

@cbishop: Well...

@cbishop: So you, and

And you

and @joshmightbe if he finds time and @dngn4774 and who else????

@batkevin74: I've got to be honest, besides the fact that I'm distracted by working on the flooded storage shed, I've really got nothing for this at the moment. Still thinking though.

Good news/bad news on the shed though: lost some books, like Audubon nature encyclopedias my grandfather gave me, a collection of children's books I was hoping to read to kids/grandkids someday, and other random books. As far as comics though, nowhere near as bad as it could have been. Once I had checked all the boxes, the water damaged single issues amounted to one short box, plus about 2 inches of books that I threw out because they were simply too soaked. Half to two-thirds of a box of TPB's took water damage, but none of them are moldy, just a little wavy at the bottom, so I may keep them. Overall, not bad. There were a few things I'd have rather not lost, but if that's all, not bad.

@cbishop: No worries, but you do still have time, maybe a comic book is washed down the drain into the ooze and viola that's your story which is part real life part not...real life :)

@batkevin74: I actually woke up with my story this morning. It's a bit odd, but wth, I'm going to go with it.

@cbishop: Well right now its 7.49am in Sydney on the 15th, you've got til 11.59am on the 16th (still Australian time btw) which for you is plenty of time

@batkevin74: See? This is why we started using GMT. I just tried to Google the time in Australia, and the website I went to says Australia has 8 time zones. EIGHT?! Wtf? The USA only has four (on the mainland). So which time zone are you in? lol

@cbishop: We have three, all the others are for our islands. I live in the green zone in Sydney. The time and date on this post is...9.18pm on 15/08/2014, when you win you can use your fancy American time! :) The contest ends tomorrow at 11.59pm MY TIME.

@batkevin74 said:

@cbishop: We have three, all the others are for our islands. I live in the green zone in Sydney. The time and date on this post is...9.18pm on 15/08/2014, when you win you can use your fancy American time! :) The contest ends tomorrow at 11.59pm MY TIME.

D'oh! And you guys have an EST and CST, same as the US. oops on all my previous posts noting the EST compared to GMT. lol

I started using the GMT because it's internationally recognized (and it's not American time), easy to get on Google, and therefore easy for everyone to figure out the difference between GMT and their local time. I mean whatever, hopefully I won't be down to the wire this time. :}

For all those who wish to enter you have 14hrs from now to get in an entry @dngn4774 and @project_worm and @avenging_x_bolt for example but even if you haven't been @'d you're welcome to enter.

Wearing a beige suit and dark shades, Henry Peter Gyrich watched silently as the techs rolled in two matching tables. One held a specially made device that looked a bit like a high tech shop vac, and the other held the specimens that had been so carefully chosen for this project. The techs, all in lab coats, were buzzing around the tables and the rest of the room, getting ready for the experiment.

Looking at the specimens, Henry pointed at a young, blonde tech, and said, "Jensen! What is that?"

Jensen jumped when the agent barked his name, and looked at Gyrich with some confusion. Looking at the table nervously, he answered, "I don't understand, sir. They're what you reques..."

"Not the plants, you idiot!" snarled Agent Gyrich. "That!"

.

.

"Oh!" smiled Jensen. "The ribbons. Those were Meredith's idea. It's to help tell them apart." It was obvious he had a crush on Meredith.

Henry suppressed the urge to slap him. "Might be a good idea," he said noncommittally.

"Yeah, she's great," agreed Jensen.

With revulsion in his voice, Henry snarled, "Get on with it!"

With that, Jensen and everyone else focused in on their specific jobs. His was manning the pump on the first table. There was a brief countdown from three from someone at a panel on the wall, and then they pointed at Jensen. "Goop 'em!"

Jensen pulled a lever much like a slot machine, the pump hummed to life, and a vaguely glowing goop coated the four plants on the opposite table. Once they were covered, he shut off the machine and they waited. Nothing happened immediately. "Are we sure this is going to work?" asked Gyrich.

"Well," started Jensen, "they're called 'experiments' for a reason. This goop hit a bat flying around a streetlight and a kid who tackled an old man out of the way of our truck, and it produced one of the finest agents S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever had."

"Murdock's good," agreed Gyrich. "But plants?" The four small plants just sat there, the glow of the goop pulsing slowly.

"We couldn't very well purposely try this on humans, could we?" answered Jensen.

"No, of course not." Henry sounded disappointed.

Jensen continued, "Right, and the animal rights whiners would go into spasms if we tried it on animals...although Meredith had the cutest little turtles picked out before that idea got axed."

"Jensen!" snapped the agent.

"Oh! Uh, right. Anyway, if this works, we can make an unlimited amount of footsoldiers for S.H.I.E.LD."

"Plants were really our best option?" asked Gyrich.

"Well, we have a vampire problem right now. Something to do with those mutants out of Westchester," Jensen shrugged. "So the wooden limbs will be lethal to those bloodsuckers."

Gyrich raised an eyebrow. "Great. Saved by Pinocchio. And how are we making them mobile?"

"The goop, of course. And DNA culled from the brightest young minds our education system has to offer. 'Lice checks' allowed us to collect what we needed." Jensen waggled his eyebrows when he said "lice checks."'

Gyrich again suppressed the urge to slap him. Then he pointed and hollered, "Look!"

The goop moved. The plants shuddered. Then they swayed. Then they bent and moved in ways not natural for plants. They grew limbs that they used like hands, and they stepped from their buckets, roots serving as legs and feet. Eyes and other facial features formed in the foliage, and then they grew to about five foot seven inches each. They started changing shapes, forming into various shaped plants- cats, chameleons, squirrels, etc.

Gallery

The room held its breath- even Gyrich- then the techs burst out into cheers and whoops, high fiving each other.

"It's worked!" shouted Jensen. "Agent Gyrich, I give you plant soldiers that can camouflage themselves! I give you Teenage Mutant Ninja Topiaries!"

"Ninja?" asked Gyrich.

"I will teach them that," said a quiet voice from behind him.

Henry spun to see a four foot tall rat with a red robe and a walking stick. "What the hell is that?" he exclaimed.

Jensen sounded a little sheepish. "Um, well, that old man that Murdock saved? He was carrying a pet rat, and they got gooped too. Turns out he's a ninja master."

Gyrich looked at Jensen incredulously. Then back to the rat.

Bowing his head slightly, the rat said, "My name is Splinter."

Henry looked at Splinter for a few moments, saying nothing. Then, "A 'ninja master,' huh? And you couldn't dodge a truck on your own?"

The rat seemed to smile as it shrugged. "Had I done that, our young Mister Murdock could not fulfill his destiny, could he?"

Gyrich took his shades off and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. He then glanced at Jensen.

Jensen leaned in and said, "He trained Murdock, sir."

Henry looked at Jensen blankly, then nodded. Putting his shades back on, he glanced again at the Topiaries. Just before he headed for the door, he looked at the rat and said, "Do it."

<scratches head>

<Googles "Sydney time now"> Ah-ha!

Okay, now that I've narrowed it down to Sydney time, you are 14hrs ahead of USA Eastern Standard Time, so while it's 10:42am on the 16th for you, it's 8:42pm on the 15th for me.

So for everyone playing along at home, you have until 11:59pm on the 16th, Batkev's time (Sydney, Australia time). So that means you have til 9:59am on the 16th, USA-EST time. Back that up one hour for every time zone away from the East Coast (so 6:59am Pacific for USA).

Whew! Maths. :}

It's 4.07pm which means there is 7hrs and a few minutes to get an entry in

Okay it's now 7.44pm Australian time leaving 4hrs and a few minutes for any last minute entries....tick tick tick

It's 9:31pm in Sydney right now. So in 2.5hrs, are you still going to be unavailable, or do you have this?

I AM GROOT!

What an excellent entry....

Okay, folks, it is currently two hours from the deadline for entries. Batkev' will be making his way to a secret location at that time, and won't have access to Internet. So he asked me to make the voting thread. I work midnights though, and I am about to go to bed, because I'm exhausted and squinting at the screen right now. I will make the voting thread when I get up, so later today. So anything posted more than two hours after this post is disqualified and won't be added to the voting thread. So if this post says it was posted more than two hours ago, forgeddaboudit...see you next contest. Get it? Got it? Good. Okay, off to dreamland for me. See you soon, writers. -cb :)

@cbishop: Well in exactly 1hr 59mins it ends, I shall be in bed in the next 20mins. So to para-quote Death "put the chairs on the tables, turn out the lights and lock the universe behind you when you're done." :)

@batkevin74: Will do. I've got the clicker for the sun around here somewhere.

Contest is over, thanks for coming people.

Thanks, wildvine. I am awake and starting on the voting thread now. :)

@cbishop: Ping me and I'll pin it/unpin this.

@wildvine: Will do. :) (Look at you being all moderator-y and stuff!) ;)

@cbishop:

*Polishes badge* S'what I do sir.

damnation I missed the deadline again. please someone tag me for the next contest

@oscuro: Will try to remember to do so. Sorry we missed you this time!

@wildvine: lol ;) Thanks, sheriff. :D

@cbishop: thank you :)

@oscuro: You bet.

***

Voting thread is up, folks!