Hiroki and his team were stunned at what happened. “That’s…that’s just…wow!” muttered Hiroki.
“We’re…we’re sorry you had to go through that,” said Endea.
“…We’re gonna need Raph for this one,” muttered Jazz.
“He’s not in the right state of mind for that,” argued War.
“Oh, I think he is,” replied Jazz. “He just doesn’t know it yet. Donnie, can you call one of the Mad Dogz to see where Raph is?”
“Sure, I can do that,” answered Donatello. “But…what do you have in mind?”
“Let’s just say, he’s a bit like my best friend from when we first landed on Mobius.”
Jazz got the coordinates and temporarily changed his alt-mode to a coupe-styled Porsche 718 Cayman. He then changed his holo-form to a human of African ancestry with dreadlocks and a blue visor. Tom arched an eyebrow. “…Erm, Jazz,” he said, “this is 21st Century New York City. The cops aren’t exactly nice to black dudes, especially ones that drive nice cars. Their first thought will be ‘That black dude stole it! Arrest him!’”
“That’s why Donnie’s gonna be guiding me away from those guys,” said Jazz. “Donnie, sync your T-Phone with my comms on my mark.”
“Got it,” replied Donatello.
“And…Mark!” The communications devices synced. “All right. Let’s go!” Jazz’s holoform hopped inside behind the wheel and he took off. Donnie guided him away from the police officers on patrol all the way to an apartment building in the rough part of Brooklyn. He stepped out and made his way to the apartment Raph would be in. Once he arrived, he knocked on the door.
“What do you want?!” called a voice.
“Just here to conduct Hamato Clan business,” replied Jazz. A young human in street hockey gear opened the door.
“…You must be new,” he said. “No one in the entire state’s heard of the Hamato Clan.”
“Combined interests,” replied Jazz. “May I come in. Mister…?”
“Casey Jones, and sure.” Casey let Jazz in. The other guys in the apartment, Raphael, a young woman with her hair dyed neon red, and a Japanese woman in ninja-gear about Raphael’s age all stared at Casey in disbelief.
“Dude, what the hell?!” protested Raphael.
“Casey,” said the ninja woman, “we’re supposed to be undercover!”
“You can’t just let any old guy in-!” snapped the woman with neon red hair.
“Guys, I know what this looks like,” interrupted Jazz, “but I’m here on Hamato Clan business.”
“Are you, indeed?” asked the ninja woman.
“…Wait, are you some Human Jazz cosplayer?” asked the woman with neon-red hair.
“…Come outside and I’ll show you all something more,” replied Jazz.
After a bit of convincing, Jazz pulled up in an alley with Raphael and the Mad Dogz watching. “You guys ready?” asked Jazz.
“Just do it,” grunted Raphael. Jazz shrugged, then his holo-form vanished and he transformed to robot mode. “…Y…You’re actually one of those robots from one of those TV shows Leo watches!” said Raphael, his eyes wide.
“Is your name really Jazz?” asked the woman with neon-red hair.
“Sure am, little lady!” replied Jazz. “So, Raph and Casey, I know them. But what about you two?”
“You can call me either Karai or Hamato Miwa,” replied the ninja woman.
“…You’re that little girl in the photo on Splinter’s altar,” realized Jazz.
“I was taken from him as a baby,” replied Karai. “Taken by Oroku Saki himself. Let’s just say time travel revealed the truth to me and I’ve been looking for ways to shut Saki down. April’s been a big help.”
“That’s me,” said the woman with the neon-red hair.
“Well, I’m here because me and my team kinda roped Raph’s brothers into a case,” said Jazz. “We’re looking for a lady called Order and Splinter said that she’s currently the Shredder’s prisoner.”
“It seems we’re working the same case,” said Karai. “That settles it. We have to band together and-!”
“Ixnay!” hissed Raphael. “That’s…look, I already told you how tense the situation is with my brothers.”
“From what they told me and my team,” replied Jazz, “the situation is only tense because you’re not back with them.”
“No, the situation is tense,” argued Raphael, “because I was ready to kill Leo because I was so angry about what he did a while ago!”
“I think you’re misreading the whole thing,” remarked Jazz. “They’ve already forgiven you, from what I’ve heard. …And from what I’m seeing, you haven’t forgiven yourself.”
“What are you, a ninja master like my dad?!”
“Well, a Cyber-ninja Grandmaster, yes, but not one as experienced as your dad. But even then, I’m seeing parallels between you and my best friend, Optimus Prime.” Raphael saw where this was going and wasn’t interested in a story.
“Hey, did I just see a mugger-?” April grabbed Raphael’s shell.
“Sit your shelled butt down, Raph,” she said. “I wanna hear this.” Raphael grumbled and sat down.
“This took place on the planet of Mobius, once known as Earth,” began Jazz. “After us Autobots got settled in, Optimus got a little cuckoo in the head with power. The Matrix of Leadership bricked itself to him and he reverted back to his pre-Prime form, Orion Pax. In a move that still baffles me to this day, he went on a solo-journey around the world to try and fix it, but a witch (yes, magic’s a thing on Mobius) gave him a kick in the pants, saying that he was starting to abuse that power. In the meantime, he left a holographic clone of himself, but the clone got worse, so we had to stage a mutiny against it. Given that the hologram was made of lights and forcefields, we were put on the backfoot, but Optimus managed to come back and shut it down…through a YuGiOh duel.”
“You’re joking,” grunted Raphael.
“I’m not! And it was as convoluted as any YuGiOh duel can get! …But even so, Optimus felt guilty about the whole thing, leaving us with a psycho version of himself. But, over time, he forgave himself.”
“Forgave himself? Even if that thing wasn’t really him, it was based on him, wasn’t it?! How could he forgive himself from that?!”
“It wasn’t an easy path for him, I’ll be the first to admit. But, like you said, it WASN’T him. And, if I heard the story right about you and your brothers, it was the Shredder that made you lose control to a degree.”
“To a degree?! I was gonna kill Leo!”
“And yet I saw him alive and well, so my point still stands.”
“Besides, you heard how much of a monster I am!”
“…Monster or merely a teenager that’s trying to settle his head?”
“Raph, I gotta agree with Jazz here,” interjected April. “You said that you didn’t want to pose a danger to your brothers, right?”
“Right,” replied Raphael.
“I heard the same thing,” said Jazz. “But they want you back. You wanna know why I stuck with Optimus?”
“…Why?”
“Because, deep down, I know he can rely on me to not let him turn evil. He said so himself when he became Optimus Prime again. I will bet you any money your family will do the same.”
“Raphael,” said Karai, “Jazz would have won that bet. Take it from me, I wouldn’t let you turn evil and neither will our brothers.”
“That goes for me,” said Casey.
“And me,” agreed April. Raphael said nothing, then he wiped his eyes.
“…You softies!” he grunted, trying to keep up the tough guy act. “Making me cry like that! Come on! This case is too big for us! Let’s get to the lair!”