One of the biggest things that makes me see Leo as trans is absolutely the size of his carapace in comparison to his brothers’.

And I’m not talking about height! I’m specifically looking at his shell here, because when you compare him to the others, particularly Donnie who is nearly the same height as Leo, it’s very clear that Leo’s carapace is much longer in proportion to the rest of his body.

Like - standing side by side, even though Donnie is shorter his carapace ends noticeably higher up than Leo’s does. And I like this not only because it really helps push the idea that Leo could very likely be trans (or intersex!), but it’s also just a fun design difference between them.

(It also lends way to future scenarios of Donnie eventually getting taller than Leo, but sitting down still has Leo being the taller one haha.)

Random Turtle HC: Raph & Anxiety

*clears throat and approaches microphone before hitting whiteboard with a ruler* A-HEM! Behold my theories peasants!

As we see expresses in the VERY 1st episode of ROTTMNT, the turtles can recognize each others signature scents and can smell fear.

Raph especially is shown briefly through the brothers dialogue to be the most aware and self conscious about said scent to the point of becoming defensive about it.

This leads me to believe that due to both natural biological olfactory senses and increased abilities due to mutation, the turtle brothers (with an advanced ability tipping to Raph due to his size and sensitivity) can actually smell the hormone cortisol.

WebMD defines cortisol as, “Your body’s main stress hormone. It works with certain parts of your brain to control your mood, motivation, and fear.”

Simply put, the turtle boys can literally smell fear.

Now I know you’re asking yourself, “Okaaaaaay cool fun fact I guess, what does that have to do anything with me?”

*takes a step back and adjust glasses with a smirk*

My dear dear fellow tumblr, allow me to share the wonders of mixing fact, madness and media all in one! *sounds of maniacal cackling can be heard*

(I wrote this with the intent to be platonic but it could be romantic if you squint long enough)

•So we've established Raph can smell fear right?

•As a protective big brother who is quite literally in fact “BIG” he knows a thing or two about getting scared

• Especially when it comes to looking out for people he cares about

•Hes been fighting baddies for his family since he was a tot! From keeping away scary dreams at night, from crushed ancient metal zombies to terrifying alien virus monsters, there ain't much he hasn't seen

•So when you join the ranks of the Mad Dogz, you immediately also get a built in prtoector

•Raphs been looking out for the little guys his whole life, what's one more?

•Not to mention you're kinda cute, so he doesn't mind sticking around a little bit closer

•But you're different than most folks, Raph notices. I mean besides the fact that you WILLING want to be friends with 4 mutant turtles of all things.

•No besides your abnormal incredible bravery in looking beyond the status quo to reach out the hand of friendship to these reckless reptiles, Raph noticed that you just kind of…smelled

•Not in a bad way or anything just…you always seemed to have a lingering scent of fear on you

•And Raph would know. Hed recognize that scent anywhere. It's a scent that ghosts every hour of every day for him. Nighttime and being alone especially.

•Raph hates being scared. He's the biggest and the oldest. He's supposed to look after his peeps! And he can't do that if he's frozen with fear all the time!

•So what does he do? Raph faces the problem head on like he always do.

•You get scared a lot. That's understandable, but Raph decides to make it his business that you don't need to be scared when he's around.

•Raph’ll protect ya

•Be prepared to have this turtle subtly (orrer not to much so because although he's a ninja he ain't exactly tactful or subtle) watching you every time you and the gang get all together

•Its not hard. You've always caught his attention for some reason or another. So looking at you is something he does without even realizing it.

•He’s looking for triggers, anything that gets that heart rate of yours spiking and that scent start to waft.

•Fidgeting hands, bouncing knees, shutting down and slinking into your hoodie, nervous chewing, pulling or playing with your hair and pacing, he's got eyes on it all.

•Once a trigger has been spotted, Raph immediately tries to locate the source

•Too many people? Suddenly you find a 6ft something giant turtle behind you, letting you know with his massive presence alone that he got your back. Literally.

•He kinda likes this position because he can see everyone that comes close enough to interact with you and everybody can see him.

•All he's got to do is narrow his eyes a little a give em a flash of that all too familiar snaggle tooth of his if he thinks someone's being mean and he gets his unspoken threat across just fine

•Not to mention you're also close enough to grab if someone he doesn't deem fit for your attention gets a little too close for his liking. But he doesn't say that part out loud.

•Scared of talking? You suddenly feel the cool tip of his massive scaely alligator tail (anatomically correct alligator tail be darned, I'm going with the fandoms HCs for this one) gently wrapping around your ankle as a physical reminder that he's right there here to support you

•Overwhelmed and the world feels like it's closing in on you? Raphs massive size is a natural battering ram that allows him to pass through thick crowds with easy. He's not afraid to help heard you into a quiet little corner away from it all

•Years of practice with Donnie allows him the experience to ask you if you're good with touch.

•If yes, you know you're going to be instantly wrapped into his arms, pulled flushed up against the worn keratin of his plastron. Raph’s always been more of “hands-on experience” kinda of guy anyway.

•Raph gives good hugs. They're firm and tight, padded with the security of arms who have been holding the weight of the world for years.

•He will rest his chin on top of your head, gently guiding your head with the motion ever so slightly so you're somehow perfectly nestled right against his heart.

•It's a loud heart, especially when you're up so close. It's actually his strongest muscle and one he's most proud of. He cares about you, so he reckons he’ll allow you the privilege of getting close to it. In more ways than one.

•Raph doesn't talk much during these special security hugs. He's never really been much good with words anyways. Raph knows sometimes the noise can be too much, but he also knows that the silence can be defeaning. So being a turtle comes with some built in perks that make up a happy medium.

•Hes got a special churr saved for special situations just like this one. It's one of the lowest and deepest ones he's capable of making. More akin to a muted growl more than anything the way it vibrates his chest as you're pressed up against it. You can feel it more than hear it and it just takes a handful of minutes listening to this bad boy before Raph can sense your fear stink slowly dissipating and your natural sweet scent can return.

•Raph can smell fear, and there's something incredibly humbling for this Atlas of a turtle to have the sweet experience of watching that scent drift away whenever he gets the privilege of being close to you like this.

•”You don't need to be scared no more, Sweet Pea. Raph’s got ya. I'm gonna be right here until you're ready to face the world again. Until then, let me just hold ya.”

Dedicated to the one and only @anobodyinabog. Sorry this took so long,but I hope your day gets better Shortcake. Please know you're always looked out for and loved ok? 🧡❤️

About your fusion AU, since you're open to asks

How would the fusions remember the different April's and Casey's (and Splinters for that matter) ?

Would their memories conflict, would it be muddy, or they'd prefer not to think about it?

(So i'm gonna go with 2012 as the other iteration for now, but if yall want to talk about it with a different set just say the word and that's how i'll answer)

I feel like memories get blurrier the further they get from the date of their fusion. Like, if you ask them about events a month or so before it, they'll be able to explain some pretty big chunks of memory, but their childhoods don't make a lot of sense to them.

Memories also have a bit more clarity depending on how 'similar' they are to their other self during them. Bad example, but Mikey has trouble remembering climbing on Raph's shell, because while he's still the shortest of the four, the fusions are all around the same size and he's way too big for that. But a memory of, say, a kitchen food fight would be more distinct, since the rise bros are a very lighthearted (not the word i'm looking for but still) set and the 2012 bros tease eachother often

we've also got to pick a spot in the timeline so we know if 2012 splinters alive or not.

All brothers know both aprils and caseys and can tell them apart, since all four have been worrying over them almost nonstop since they first fused

brother by brother below the cut:

Leo can remember the first time they met each Casey, because all three were initially perceived as threats. If someone gives him a brief explanation, he can remember their first fight where they failed to save 2012 April, but a lot of the time he won't remember the girl as Aprils He doesn't know how they met rise April, but can remember a lot more bonding moments with her than anyone else. As for splinter – he's one of the things that makes his memory sort of fight itself. Because of how much he loves to train, he doesn't have any clear memories of rise splinter, only 2012. Some memories of rise splinter, when he's more serious, he can recall in 2012's voice. When he interacts with rise splinter, there's a 50% chance he flips out thinking he's hearing Tigerclaw

Raph has most, if not all of his memories of the Casey seniors. A lot of them he remembers the wrong Casey out of the two being there, but he can usually recall it. Casey helps both Raphs unwind, meaning those memories are often where the Raphs are at their most similar. They remember meeting rise April a lot clearer, seeing the surface for the first time gives them a huge rush of freedom and they associate her with that because of rise. They don't remember the first fight where 2012 April got captured, but they remember her rescue. Raph remembers being ignored by his father. He remembers coming to rise splinter with concerns about one of his brothers and being brushed off. He remembers when Leo overtook him in training and how 2012 Splinter was suddenly more focused on training Leo instead. He remembers Splinter as one guy, but after the first few times the supporting cast tried to tell him about the fusions, he's begun doubting his memories.

Donnie has shoved all the memories they think have been altered deep within a mental cage. To be dealt with at a later date. They have informed Splinter (at least rise, dunno if 2012 will be around) that they do not remember much of the positive things in their childhood, and have decided to focus on separating the two Donatellos rather than their tainted opinion on their father. When they first fused, the 2012 april crush remained, but once they were filled in on the situation that stopped fast. Depending on when the 2012 bros are yoinked from, the power inside her episode would be a very distinct memory and would definitely change their interactions with 12 april. 12 casey is allowed in the lab because they know he has some sort of engineering talent, though they're not sure how good. They don't really remember Cassandra. In their brain, Casey Jones is the man with long black hair, and Cassandra is not that. They recognise her as Foot Recruit which has caused a lot of tension. June is a bit (a lot) skittish around them but they will try and interact if nothing else than for knowledge of future tech. Rise April is the only one who can get him to unwind, she knows all the tricks (this mistifies the 2012 humans, they've never seen donnie that chilled out outside of movie nights)

Mikey remembers the most of his childhood(s). He doesn't talk about it a lot since it seems to conflict with Leo and Raph's memories, but he remembers his first meeting with each human, first time watching the favourite media in each dimension, and a bit more. He gets along with all of them really well, but he's more focused on how weird his brothers have been acting lately. They're just so off, he swears…

I,T & X for Raph? Pretty Please?🥺

sure! thank you for the request <3

rated explicit (18+)

Raphael

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

At first when you guys start to kick it this big bara is a little nervous; in a "how long before they're disappointed in me?" kind of mindset. But when he gets more comfortable and confident... well, he just gets extremely confident. Very, very cocky. I get a sense he gets really talkative too, and he becomes sort of a narrator. "Oh, she likes it when Raph does that?"-- a lot of third person. Ironic, because if you even dare let out a giggle it will go straight to murder his ego.

He is truly a romantic at heart, but he's just so damn dirty. He lovesss dirty talk. He'll be treating you like a queen, kissing you up and down and praising you, and then you'll feel a stinging SMACK! to your ass. But these are all symptoms of a passionate lover.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

Raph isn't so big on bringing toys into the bedroom, and he gets sort of jealous about using them. He wants you to have every reason to be moaning his name during climax. But he isn't that stubborn when it comes to pleasuring you and when it's something you want, so maybe after a couple pleases he'll be on board. He is pretty confident he can do anything a toy can 100% better though.

Raph doesn't own any toys for himself, but if it counts he does collect nude magazines. He's classy like that.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants)

He's a big boy, and he just gets bigger. I'd say bout 10 inches and very girthy. He's not a conceited guy though, and he's very aware of the size difference. He will be very careful about making sure you're safe, and he's not trying to be smug but he'll probably be the one insisting to take it slow and saying you're not ready.

Beyond the Bay chapter 7: Mutant Town

Tags: @brightlotusmoon @digitl-art-monstr @scentedcandlecryptid @selfindulgenz @ilo-artistry

Mikey fell, and he screamed all the way down. A large pile of garbage softened his fall— in fact, it was more like a mountain than a pile. A mountain that he tumbled down like a tossed rock, and once he pulled himself into his shell to escape the tumbling whiplash, he even resembled a rock. The slope of his shell ensured that he landed on his plastron, and only once he was still for several moments did he crawl back out of his shell and look around the environment.

The first thing he noticed, with a wave of relief, was that it was night. The next thing he noticed was the wall; a great, big wall of wire and metal sheets around the perimeter that stretched several feet taller than the highest trash peak, and along the top of it were tangles of barbed wire that made the place look almost like a prison yard. No, not a prison yard— a junkyard! And a pretty big one at that! Mikey couldn’t see much from where he was, expansive walls of junk blocking his view and giving him the sensation of almost being in a giant maze.

Mikey struggled to his feet. He was unstable but, as long as he had the wall to lean on, he was sure he could find his way. The cold, tickling tingle washed over him, but he forced his way through the cloud of misery. He tested the steadiness of the wall before he dared to lean his whole weight into it; at his size, even the most sturdy of things were at constant risk of collapse. The wall supported him just fine, and he was thankful as he used it to guide his way while his other hand cupped around his stomach. Mikey made his way down the first walkway. Trash, trash, and more trash was all he saw, packed together so tightly together that their integrity surpassed even some of the houses back in Mikey’s city.

“Man, and I thought my New York was dirty!” Mikey whistled. He was sure this wasn’t actually a part of his counterpart’s city, but the joke helped him to not completely shut down. “Raph? Leo? Dee?”

No response came. To the left of Mikey’s path was a disturbance that made him yelp and grab his nunchaku expecting a threat; the perceived threat was, in fact, a giant rat running down the side of one of the closer hills. The rat ran over Mikey’s feet, bolting down the path while its pursuers, three very fat cats, were hot on its tail and seemed to take no interest in Mikey.

Mikey practically squealed. “Kitties!”

Mikey hurried after them as fast as his still-stiff body could carry him. For as long as he could remember, he had always wanted a cat! The ones back in his world always seemed to run from him, but maybe these ones could be different! If he was extra quiet, maybe he could even pet one!

“Here kitty kitty. Pspspspspsp…” He fell to his knees when he caught up to the cats; they were all crowded around a small hole in the trash, too small for them to fit through, batting through the opening with sad mewls. “Aw… hey kitty kitties…”

One of the cats almost immediately responded to Mikey’s calls, the other two still too focused on trying to get the rat to care about the mutant. The cream tabby, tail held high, trotted over to Mikey with all the confidence in the world and pressed his face against the mutant’s finger, immediately starting to purr as he danced around Mikey’s hand. Mikey gasped out a sob and started to cry as carefully deft fingers began to massage the tom cats cheeks and head, and in response the cat squinted his eyes closed and started to knead his claws into the dirt; he was even drooling a bit!

“Oh my god…” Mikey sniffled and, on impulse, slowly scooped the fat cat into his hands. The cat didn't seem to mind, so Mikey picked him up and held the cat securely to his chest. “I never wanna leave…”

“Babies!” A voice echoed through the junkard and immediately both Mikey and the cats were at alert. “Babies babies babies!”

The cat kicked himself free of Mikey’s grasp and took off running toward the voice; the other two cats snapped out of their trance and ran just as fast. That voice had been close, really close, and Mikey certainly didn't want to stick around and see the human that it belonged to. In his mind, he still saw the hate in the eyes of the officers that had cornered him and his brothers. He saw it so clearly, and he felt that same fear, and that same sense of smallness like the humans were growing and he was shrinking and he was alone and—

Mikey had to hide. The footsteps were approaching, and the only place to escape to was behind an old, rusted car, and that was exactly where Mikey went. He covered his mouth to hopefully hide the fact that he was breathing so heavy, and he saw the shadow of the stranger as they passed by on the other side of the car. Mikey held his breath. The shadow paused. Surely they didn't know Mikey was? How could they know?

The car gave a groan and Mikey soon realized that it was being moved. Lifted, as if it was nothing more than cardboard, and to Mikey’s horror he looked up to something tall and definitely not human. White eyes were the only part of the creature that wasn’t cast into shadow, two massive claws clicking together in a threat. The stranger was completely covered in thorn-like spikes, and when his eyes focused on Mikey, his lips curled into a sneer.

“Whatchu doin’ crawling around down there?”

Mikey screamed. It wasn’t a very long scream, more like a high-pitched yelp, but it was enough for color to flood back into the other mutant's eyes as he kneeled, looking far less threatening now he was at Mikey’s height.

“Hey hey, it’s okay.” The mutant waved a claw in what was intended to be a deescalating manner, “Don’t scream, kid, I ain’t gonna hurt you.”

Mikey was able to see more of the mutant now that they were closer. His skin was purple and he had dark hair with streaks of aging gray. His outfit was simple, a stained white t-shirt and a leather jacket, both torn by the jagged spikes that littered his body. Around his waist was a belt that looked like it could have once been the collar of a junkyard dog, black with silver spikes, though it wasn’t holding anything up because the mutant was without pants.

“Didn't mean ta scare ya kid…” The mutant offered a claw and Mikey slowly accepted it, standing with the help of what he now recognized as a praying mantis around the same height as Donnie. “Jus’ wonderin’ why you’s pokin’ around is all.”

Mikey swallowed what little spit was left in his mostly dry mouth. “Hey… you’re a mutant!”

“And uh… so’s is you.” The mantis smiled and pointed at Mikey.

“I didn't know there were other mutants here!” Mikey’s voice did that thing where it went loud without intention, but he didn't care. “Oh my god that is so cool!”

The mantis laughed jovially. “Man, where have you been that you don’t know about other muties?”

He swung his arm around Mikey’s shoulders and prodded the tip of his claw against the turtle’s plastron with nothing but friendly intention. He started to guide Mikey down the path and Mikey was more than willing to go with him.

“Uh…” Mikey rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m… pretty new in town.”

The narrow path they had taken opened up to show a wide, mostly-clear area in the heart of the junkyard. The first thing Mikey saw, much to his delight, was a congregation of fat, happy cats feasting on a large assortment of food laid out for them

“Well, let me be the first to introduce you, then. I’m Repo Mantis...” Repo motioned to the area beyond the cats, “Welcome to Mutant Town.”

“Wha…?” Mikey’s mouth fell open. The longer he stared, the less he could believe what he was looking at.

What was once junkyard opened up into what could almost be mistaken for a town or, more accurately, a village. The space wasn’t particularly big. And from what Mikey could see of the layout there was only one road, but to him it was the most beautiful thing. Mutants— lots of them! Mammals and reptiles and birds too; Mikey could have almost mistaken it for an actual street if not for the colorful creatures that called it home instead of humans. Then Mikey realized that the structures that filled the area were meant to be houses! Some of them were cars, hollowed out and filled instead with personal items and sleeping spaces, while others were more innovated; ramshackle sheds out built of scrap metal acting as small houses. There were tarp canopies that covered outdoor sleeping spots, and there were tents, and there was random furniture scattered around for shared comfort space. He even spotted a few shipping containers that had been renovated into small hotels with four or five rooms side by side.

“Woah…” Mikey almost forgot to breathe.

“Cool, innit?” Repo smiled, laughing once more as he gave Mikey a playful shake. “Come on! I’ll show you around!”

The mantis led Mikey deeper into the compound. For the first time in his life, Mikey was able to walk down a road, in front of people (more or less) without being stared at! It was him who was doing the staring, his awe getting the better of him the more he witnessed of the small town and its occupants. Mutants of all shapes and colors and species—young and old and skinny and fat and small and big! There were some so large he had to crane his neck to actually look at them.

“This is incredible…” Mikey breathed.

“This is everyday in this city.” Repo snickered, beak wrinkling, “Seriously kid, no worries! You’re among your own kind here!”

“Wow…”

A sudden and unsteady klunk klunk klunk caught the attention of both mutants. They looked further down the trail to see what looked like a tin can running after them! No, not a tin can, Mikey quickly realized, but a tiny cream kitten with a tin can stuck on his head. With every step the little kitten took, he wobbled and stumbled and fell, making very little progress in his search for help. It was like he had four left feet!

Repo clicked his tongue and calmly shook his head, helping Mikey to rest on a couch before heading over to gather the kitten up in his claws.

“Aw, sweetie.” Carefully, his claws started to work the can off of the kittens head until the young cat was free. “How do you keep doing that, sweet thing? Aww…”

The kitten reared its head up to encourage the gentle petting of Repo’s sloped claw, tiny paws dancing in the air while purrs sounded off in quick succession, more than loud enough for Mikey to hear.

“Awww kitty!” Mikey stuck out his bottom lip as he made desperate grabby hands.

Repo gave an amused smile at the turtle’s antics and made his way over, guiding Mikey’s grabbing hands into more of a cradle before carefully placing the kitten in Mikey’s arms. Mikey melted under the warmth and the pleasant vibrations. It was as if his entire body was jello and the only thing keeping him in one piece was the solid mass of happy energy in his arms. He was terrified to move, so went as stiff as a statue, not daring even to blink.

“Oh my god I love him…” The kitten pressed against Mikey’s hand and gave him no choice but to massage the fluffy face with a delicate touch; all the while the kitten was still wobbling unsteadily back and forth as if some invisible force was jerking him along. “Why is he so wobbly?”

“Wobbly kitten syndrome.” Repo said with a sigh and shake of his head, “Normally they’re euthanized but eh… he seems to be handling himself alright for now.

Mikey sucked in a shaky, sobbing breath, “He’s the most beautiful baby boooooooyyy…”

***

“Incredible…” Donnie said breathlessly, adjusting his goggles once more to get an even closer look inside the compound, “It’s like a whole town of mutants down there!”

“It’s not called Mutant Town for nothing.” Leonardo smirked, leaning against the taller turtle like he was a fence post.

“There must be dozens of them!”

“Thirty-four currently, to be exact.” Donatello said proudly, “And we just so happen to know the guy who runs the place, so let us do the talking, kay?”

“Kay.” Leo entertained with a slight nod.

“But you talkin’ us back for a tour the second we get the time to spare.” Raph rumbled, flashing teeth to show his joke.

Donatello took the lead of the group as they descended upon the compound, to a grand door just below a sign reading ‘Beware the Repo-Mantis’ with the ‘tis’ added on with spray paint. Leo felt incredibly small under the sharp watch of the guards on point, two large and particularly nasty looking mutants hidden among the wires, but he stayed quiet as had been requested of him. Quiet, but alert. Donatello rang the bell that said “Ring For Service” and it wasn’t very long at all before the gates were opening, and out from the community stepped a seven foot praying mantis with a sneer on his face; a sneer that faded quickly when he saw Donatello.

“Donnie!” Repo Mantis wrapped his arms around Donatello and heaved him up in a powerful grip, “Shit, man, how the hell are ya?!”

“I can’t complain!” Donatello mused, slipping out of Repo’s grasp faster than the laughing mutant could catch him again, “Pizza’s still a’flowing, and Foot’s still a’kicking, so you know…”

“Business as usual?” Repo offered.

“Exactly!” Donatello clicked his tongue and winked, whisking Repo away for a private chat, “But there is a minor issue.” He gave the mantis man a quick rundown of the days affairs.

Repo considered, and then nodded. “Ah. Sounds like you got’s your hands full. Well, glad to say I can help ya wit’ at least one of your problems. Wait here.”

Repo disappeared back into the compound. Donnie leaned over to whisper in Donatello’s ear.

“How do you know him again?”

“He tricked me, I bug zapped him, he nearly trashed my tank in a Demolition Derby, you know how it is.”

Donnie really didn't know how it was, but he didn't want to ask. Repo returned soon, this time with a six foot tall box turtle in tow.

“Mikey!” Three brothers swarmed the youngest.

“My son.” Splinter raised a hand to touch Mikey’s face, then hesitated when he saw a tiny bundle of orange in his sons arms. “Oh…”

Mikey sniffled as he held the tiny, ginger kitten in the palm of his hand, petting his fingers through the happy tom cats fur. “Repo said I could keep him. I named him Klunk. With a K!”

Michelangelo gasped. “CUUUUUTE! Also, hugs!”

Michelangelo penetrated the wall of muscle to give Mikey a hug, which Mikey returned with a weak arm.

“Mikey, we can’t…” Leo started, but a sharp glare from Donnie made him hold his tongue.

The family started to usher Mikey away, now acutely aware of just how exposed they were out here; the rapidly rising Sun was doing them no favors. Mikey showed no resistance in following, and the rest of the turtles joined the congregation as they passed.

“I’m gonna give him so much cheese…” Mikey sniffled, not bothering to wipe his tears.

“Weee have cheese.” Donatello commented with a nod.

Leonardo laughed and gave Mikey a firm pat on the carapace. “Welcome to paradise, hermano. It’s great to have you back.”

i got u dude. mikey picking fights when he knows he wont win or mikey feeling like he isn't really contributing to the group (hope you feel better btw)

rottmntverse human au because that makes this even more fun :3c

((trigger warning for a brief homophobic slur, avoidable if you look for the paragraph becoming italics.))

In Mikey’s opinion, it doesn’t make sense. He reasons thatpeople should want to avoid startingfights with the biggest guy in the room, not actively try and do just that.

Raph isn’t the one who ever starts it. Donnie sometimesstarts things, mostly by just being his lovable prickly self, and occasionallyLeo blunders through a conversation badly enough someone has steam coming outof their ears about whatever dumb thing he’s said this time. Raph, though?

Raph doesn’t pick fights. Fights pick him.

It sucks, because Mikey knows that even though Raph is big,and a little awkward, and kind of intimidating if you don’t know him- Mikey’s oldest sibling would rather just get along with everyone. Wants to, even.

It’s probably because none of them fit the mold, the four ofthem. The only other person they hang out with is April. Mikey is fairlycertain half the reason people get pissed off at them is because they just.Don’t need anyone else.

Or maybe they’re just assholes, jostling and elbowing Raph inthe subway station they all have to share. Leo ditched school halfway throughthe day to go see Donnie at hisschool, which is the university halfway across the city. It’s just Mikey andRaph here today, waiting for the train, trying to wait out the snide remarks andcomments and rude as hell insinuations. No one is even noticing Mikey, sinceRaph made himself a barrier between Mikey and everyone else.

Mikey doesn’t even know what it is today. Why this ishappening at all. It’s Friday, theyall definitely have better stuff to do.

He’d had his earbuds in before this started, swaying to his private concert while he waited next to Raph, but he took them out the second he noticed shit starting to happen. Mikey is listening, and growingfrustrated, and hating every new minute they spend standing here. Raph says toignore them, they’ll lose interest eventually. (They never do.) They don’t haveto stoop to their level, says Donnie, like the hypocrite he is. (Donnie would fistfight older students in uni over scientific theory if he could.) They don’t wantto draw any more attention to themselves than they already do, says Leo, whenhe’s sobered from his bravado of keeping an air of lazily not caring. (Leo and his barest hints of mascara and meticulous eyeliner, Raph and his little sewing crafts in his backpack, Mikey and hisglittery binders he couldn’t resist getting and now regret having done so, for the eyes that stare and stare and stare at them all.)

Someone shoves Raph hard enough he stumbles backwards,knocking into Mikey and nearly toppling them both. Their train still isn’there. None of the adults waiting for it look like they’re going to step in. Everything about this sucks.

Mikey has to jump away to avoid Raph’s wrong footed retreat; his brother,though he’s at least a head taller than everyone here, keeping his clenched fistsat his sides as some jerk Mikey doesn’t know tries to physically push Raph intolashing out.

And Raph won’t,because he can’t, it wouldn’t matterthat he’d been goaded into it, everyone would blame him and wouldn’t ever lethim forget that he’d hit back. Onceit’s done, it won’t ever go away, and no one knows that better than Raph himself.

So his fists stay by his sides, and the split second they’reraised it’s to block a punch aimed at his chest. Raph’s expression is tight andangry, trapped like he is as the crowd of boys press closer, taking turnsshoving him, calling out names, laughing at his lack of reaction. You scared? Are you scared? You even got anythingdown there, or did ya get ‘em chopped off like your fag brother-?

The biggest kid, next to Raph, winds up to throw anotherpunch, and Mikey can already tell that it’s going to make contact with hisbrother’s face.

Raph doesn’t pick fights.

Sometimes, when he has to, though… Mikey does.

He’s half the size of everyone else, maybe smaller, but hisknuckles still impact against the asshole’s jaw and sends him reeling. Mikey shriekswordlessly and throws himself at the crowd of bullies, knowing he’s got theedge of surprise and nothing else. For a few seconds, he manages to hold hisown.

Then, someone with a lot more muscle mass than him socks himacross the face, then the stomach, and Mikey chokes on his own spit.

He breathlessly tries to keep going, but he’s thirteen andeveryone here is fifteen and older. Not to mention outnumber him almost a dozento one.

It’s a blur of pain for a minute there, fireworks of lightflashing behind his eyelids every time someone punches him. Fists and feet hittingwhatever they can of his skinny body. Then, something grabs him by the collar,and pulls him out of the fray with strength far greater than anyone else’s.

The guy who started it all swims in Mikey’s vision, rightbefore a big shape obscures it and picks him up with ease.

Mikey coughs on the blood of his swelling nose, and staresalong with everyone else as Raph holds their leader almost a foot off theground.

“Gonna say this once,”Raph growls out. “Piss off, or I throw you on the tracks.”

He drops the other kid, tossing him away a few extra feetfor good measure. The asshole lands poorly and has to be dragged to his feet byhis friends, wide eyes staring at Raph as he folds his arms and glares.

Their train finally arrives, coming up to the platform withthe usual shrill sound of its braking. What few other people that’d beenwitness to the whole fight stow their phones and get into the train cars,sensibly getting away.

Mikey and Raph reach for each other at the same time, andboard the train, too.

Raph’s bullies don’t follow.

“You gotta stop doin’ that, Mike,” Raph scolds anxiously,pressing another band-aid over a cut Mikey hadn’t noticed himself getting in thefight. “You don’t have to get caught up in that shit. I can take it. You’re gonna break yourhand one’a these days and then where’re you gonna be? You can’t do art if youcan’t use your hands.”

“Eh, I’d be fine. It’ll be a good time to try feet art,” Mikey says, sitting on their bathroom counter while Raph half-kneels, not even wincingas his banged up knee is taken care of. He’d almost ended up on the floorduring the fight, which could’ve had the whole thing go way worse for him. He’s lucky he got out of that with just a fewdark bruises and bloody scrapes, even if they’re turning nasty purple and redcolors against his dark skin.

Raph glares at him, mouth in a terse frown. Mikey pretendsnot to notice, and puts a cheerily colored band-aid on his brother’s cheek. It’sgot a fading bruise from a different fight still, now mottled with yellow, and Mikeyfeels a little lonely, being the only one in the room with bright littlepatches all over himself.

Raph doesn’t even try to move away from the band-aid as it’sapplied to his face. He just sighs long-sufferingly, like all of Mikey’s olderbrothers do sometimes, whenever he’s done something like this.

“You can’t keep pickin’ fights you won’t win,” Raph says,staring hard at Mikey’s bruised face. He looks so sad it makes Mikey sad, too. Whichwon’t do at all.

Mikey gently slaps his hands on either side of Raph’s face,and grins. “I only pick ‘em ‘cause I’m with you guys, and if I’m with you guys I’llalways win. Four against whatever, plus one when we got April. Sostop being a sadsack already and feel loved ‘cause I’m willing to punch stupidpeople in the face for you.”

Mikey’s smile is opening the split lip he’s got all overagain, but it’s worth it to see a hint of an echoing smile twitch on Raph’s face.

“Stupid,” Raph mumbles as he ducks away from Mikey’s hands,and Mikey doesn’t comment on the gloss his brother’s eyes have before he rubsat them. Mikey just hums and leans on Raph’s head with his elbows, idlythinking about changing the slivers of red wraps around his brother’s longdreads again. Maybe using a brighter red this time instead of a subdued maroon.

It might be something akin to waving a red flagin front a bull, but Mikey doesn’t mind playing bullfighter if it’s for hisbrothers.

if you’d spare some change to a writer who’s trying to build up finances after not getting paid for nearly three months, spec’s kofi tip jar would appreciate it,,

True Stories

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #11. June, 1987. By Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

The issue opens with April having nightmares about being attacked by ninja monsters who look similar to the turtles and the Shredder. April wakes up screaming and then heads off to write in her diary. The diary becomes the framework for this issue.

Jan. 15, 1987 Yes, it's almost three A.M. again... My Night Mare alarm went off Big time tonight. It's been over two weeks now, with no relief... I was hoping to shake them before this... I think—The last time I closed my eyes and actually slept (and I believe exhaustion had a hand in that) was on the trip here... Even then my awakening was a shock... April recalls Casey startling her awake during the trip from New York City, wanting her to see downtown Northampton, Massachusetts. She is underwhelmed by the sight.

Considering my state of mind, my reaction was a few notches below "I couldn't care less." I guess I should've looked around a little; I hear that Northampton's nice... at least it might have afforded some kind of comfort for my next sight... From the road, Casey's late grandmother's house looked like a classic old New England farm house—big old barn, family-sized house, sheds, trees and rolling hills; you know, postcard material. That was from the road... Casey is full of nostalgia seeing the Jones Farm, but April is introduced to a dilapidated old building with broken windows and a front door falling off its hinges. April wants to start a warm fire and to get the still-injured Leo into the house. But she is fatigued, and falls asleep on a chair inside.

Jan. 25, 1987 Winter remains with us... snowed two days straight... Clear today. Leonardo's still pretty out of it. The battle tore him up terribly in both body and mind. Physically he has healed incredibly well, but mentally... I'm afraid has a lot of catching up. He's always put himself in front of the rest of the guys; taking charge, bearing the extra weight playing the Big Brother... When someone like that feels they've failed they fall hard! He's recently developed an intense obsession with the surrounding forests and spends all of his time there... I hope he finds what he's looking for and comes out of this depression soon... We all need him back. Leonardo, dressed in an improvised winter hunter's garb and armed with a yumi, stalks a stag through the forest without much success. The stag ambushes him, knocking him down. Leo pulls out of a knife and charges the stag head-on, but the powerful creature instead grabs the turtle with his antlers and throws him over and behind. Leo sits feeling defeated as the stag runs off.

I guess I could never know for sure how he feels inside. But I do know what losing your home—and everything that you own—feels like... Those things that you felt gave you a sense of being and strength in this world... Belongings that touched memory chords of loved ones. Father... I know he's hurting. Feb. 10, 1987 Everything is so strange... I feel like I've never looked at myself or the guys before; we're all so different now I try to identify the people I used to know with those that surround me now... and it's hard. Don isn't doing too badly, although he does work obsessively at the huge amount of repairs that need to be done here. The place has been vacant since Casey's Grandmother Left four years ago, it was pretty run down then. Besides a million little things, Don's rebuilt the windmill to pump water, devised a water wheel that creates enough current for lights and the fridge, and also installed a wood stove for better heating, all around. His most recent undertaking will—if it works—satisfy a craving we've all had lately... ...Hot running water! Feb. 15, 1987 Success! Showertime! Everybody's going nuts! Feb. 17, 1987 Feeling strangely depressed lately... I guess I expected Don to rest a bit after the last hard-won victory... No such luck. I heard him rummaging around in the attic early this morning... who knows what he's working on now. Feb. 17, 1987 Don's Writing Too! He must have found an old typewriter in the attic yesterday. I awoke to the tapping of busy keys around seven A.M. and he's been at it ever since! I wonder what he's writing about... is it a journal, like mine? I'd love to know... Donatello is shown in the attic room with the typewriter...and a trash can filled to overflowing with crumpled up pieces of paper.

Feb. 26, 1987 Michaelangelo worries me the most Mike, who could find a joke in just about any situation, doesn't laugh much anymore. Except for some half hearted goofing around with Casey and Raph, he's been almost painfully solitary lately it's so unlike him. But then all of us seem to have a need to be alone these days. Has what's happened made us unable to be close? I don't know... Mike's chosen a back section of the barn for his sanction... cleared a lot of junk out and created a little work-out space. The other day I happened in on one of his sessions. He was already on edge. Michelangelo is shown repeatedly kicking a punching bag until it breaks completely off its chain. He bashes and destroys a workbench with his arms. Unsatisfied, his takes his rage to the barn wall, ripping a hole out of the wood. He rests his arms on the new hole and groans.

We all feel so much pain and confusion— Each of us keeping his personal torment bottled up inside... Each seeking relief in his own way. The cure hangs plainly, clearly in front of our faces, but who will be the first to reach out? We Need Each Other! March 2, 1987 Raphael scares me. The rest of the guys I can feel for, worry for... but not Raph. Raph runs Hot and Cold... very unbalanced, unpredictable. I keep my distance. Lately I've noticed he doesn't sleep much. He's always always the first up and the last to bed. I think I've heard him Leaving the house late at night, too. I wonder what he's doing... standing guard? Late at night out in the cold on top of the barn, standing guard is exactly what Raphael is doing. He judges the front of the farm clear, then flips several times across the barn rooftop to the back, and judges the back of the farm also clear.

March 10, 1987 I've known some odd characters in my time, living in Brooklyn most of my life, But the likes of Casey Bernid Jones is beyond compare. I believe that in Casey's mind there's a petulant, mischievious ten year old waging constant war with a somewhat mature, Bright young man... unfortunately the ten year old wins far too often. Casey spends all of his time with Raphael, fighting, or "doin' projects, doin' projects!" as they say— usually more damage. What next? In the barn, Casey is trying to repair the engine of an old pickup truck while Raphael sits behind the steering wheel. As they work, they carry on a debate.

One day later in the month, April is out walking on the ice of a frozen lake. But the ice cracks under her weight, plunging her into the freezing water. Leo is hunting nearby and hears her shouts. At the edge of the lake, he takes off his hunting garb which unrolls into a long strip of cloth. He stakes one end of the cloth into the lakeside with his katana, and crawls out onto the ice holding the other end of the cloth, successfully pulls April to safety, and carries her back to the farmhouse.

Back inside, April is resting and recovering from hypothermia. Splinter, the turtles and Casey are gathered around her.

May 1, 1987 I can't believe it's been over a month since I fell through the ice... and even longer since I've picked up this journal. I almost didn't this time, either. it all seems to mean so little now. I started this book to rebuild all I had lost in the fire. I guess after my mid-winter swim (HA, HA) I realized how little my life long accumulation of possessions had. I thought I was all I had in this world. Not true. I've got me, and I've got memories. I also have friends, real friends that I care for and that care for me. I'll always be there for them and they for me; we have each other, we are a family... one. This will probably be my last entry. I guess I just wanted some kind of final word ...sort of wrap up all I had written so far. Life is Good... and Life Goes on. After a day of training, Splinter and his sons are gathered around a campfire.

April wakes up in her bedroom to the sound of creaking. Is this another nightmare? She is pleasantly surprised by the four turtles: One serves her breakfast in bed as another prepares to give her flowers and another opens the window blinds to let in the morning light.

From Turtlepedia

This title needed one of these stories to “catch up” with time. It is early in TMNT history and at this point, time kind of passes by just like in real life. In reality, they really didn’t need such a thing, but this interlude is the source of many stories, presenting a status quo for guest artists.

It seems to me like it is finally Splinter who can put them all together and working for the same goal, in a way this make sense, as he is the father. But he can also influence Casey and April.

I give the issue a score of 8.

From Different Dimension Ch5

* This fic will be about 2014 turtles. There might be mild tcest parts in future chapters! -- 

These few days had been good with little Leo learning to live with us in our home. There still had been many moments when he ran to me crying when he has seen Splinter, looked all of us scared if he thought he did something wrong like laughed or played without our permission and so on. List is long. But he also has make some progress which surprised me totally considering his past. Little Leo has indeed start to play more either alone or with us but still in short moments like 15 minutes max. He also has start to walk around the lair more bravely and seek our company. However he avoids Leonardo or Splinter’s company. If he have Mikey, Don or I with him there’s no problems but he doesn’t want to face either one of those two alone. Even now I kept my eyes on him while Leo laid on the floor on old mattress and drew something on the paper swinging his legs slightly in the air. He seemed happy and relaxed which was good so I turned my focus on TV. News, news, news. Those same boring news what kept on rolling from one hour to another. How humans can watch these and be all happy when news sucks? “Raphael?”

I turned to look over my shoulder as Leonardo stopped behind the couch looking down at me. “Don, myself and Splinter will head to see if we can find any good and useful stuff from junk yard. I have my shell cell with me so call me if you need anything or if something happens.” “Yeah, sure. And you call me if something happens. I come to kick some ass right away.” Leonardo only snorted with small smile as he tapped my shoulder. “Sure, Raph, sure.” I watched how Leonardo started to make his way into garage, little Leo soon running after him making those blob sounds. Leonardo stopped and turned around which made little Leo stop instantly. He hesitated a moment before he slowly made his way to my big bro and handed his drawing to him. “You drew very nice car. Good job.” Little Leo was smiling a bit but he pointed his drawing and then himself. “You… want a car? New toy?” That small head made few fast nods and Leo sighed slightly petting little Leo’s head. “Okay, I see if I find you some but I can’t promise anything, okay?” And that little head made few nods again stepping away from Leonardo, letting him go in the garage where Splinter and Don were waiting him. – Don drove us to junk yard and hid battle shell behind one big pile of trashes. Splitting up Don went to search what he needed, Splinter went to see if he could find anything to his room since he said he needed new stuff to bring new energy in his room and I remained close to battle shell just in case, looking for new toys to little me. It was becoming frustrating since there was so much junks but not any good toys which would be in good shape enough. Raphael would beat me if I would bring his precious little Leo old and broken toys. I suddenly stopped since I was sure I heard something but… there were only Don, Splinter and I. Soon I heard something again and it was like high, long and steady whistling as it kept getting stronger and stronger. Finally I saw something against the dark sky coming towards me and I ran when I noticed it to be a missile. I dove behind another trash pile as missile hit battle shell, breaking it in a shape we could not ride it. Damn it! Don will kill me for allowing this to happen! In that second of my thoughts I heard Don’s voice as he called me so I ran towards the direction of his voice, finding him knelt beside Master Splinter who had broke his leg. “Master Splinter!” I knelt down by their side looking at father’s leg which looked bad. “We need to leave, Leo, now! Foot soldiers! They spotted us!” Multiply sounds of thuds filled the air as many ninjas suddenly landed in front of us holding their weapons as I pulled out mine while stepping in front of Don and Splinter. “Don, battle shell is broken. We can’t use it so take Splinter and carry him home or call Mikey to come to get him with his skateboard. I will have your back while you retreat.” “B-battle shell… Broken?!” “Yeah, they shoot a missile on it. Now go, take Splinter and call Mikey!” As shocked and sad as Donatello seemed to be over battle shell he nodded and lifted Splinter in his arms and ran away, calling to Mikey at the same time. I kept my back towards Don and Splinter and eyes forward, locked on my enemies who kept walking towards me as I kept backing away. Few of them dared to come too close and I instantly let my katanas slash in a night, spraying their blood on the ground. “I say this once; I WILL kill you all if you won’t back away!” I knew it was futile since they had sworn their loyalty to Shredder and they would die for him. So be it. One by one they dared to challenge me but they ended up losing their lives since I showed no mercy after what they did. First battle shell and then my father. When last of them fell on the ground dead I placed my swords back on my shell in their scabbards sighing. Damn this all. Looking at remainings of battle shell I growled and spurted away to closest manhole cover and went into the sewers. – I waited nervously in the lair marching back and forth since Mikey got call from Don and left without saying more than Splinter’s hurt. That’s… one of the worst things what you could ever hear. Lair’s door soon opened and Mikey came in on his skateboard while carrying Splinter, Don running right behind him in needle room with them. Little Leo stood still as I hurried in needle room too after my brothers and father. “What happened? His leg looks bad.” “No time to talk. I --- I need to help him first and then go get battle shell and then fix her and then I can talk and then---” “Don, easy. Calm down, dude. You’re not making any sense. Breathe.” Mikey surely had one amazing touch and voice since he always managed to calm Don down when he was being like this, ‘out of balance’ as Splinter would say. “Where’s Leo?” “He stayed behind. Foot ninjas ambushed us and he told me to take father and run while he got our backs.” Damn it! I turned on my heels and was ready to rush out of lair when I heard Leonardo’s loud and angry voice. “I don’t have any new damn stupid toys for you! I have much more important things to do!” – As I rushed into the lair, little Leo looked at me and came to me as I tried to make my way into the needle room to see my father. But that darn little turtle stood in my way. He looked up at me with big, hopeful and waiting eyes pointing his car art and then himself and me. I felt anger rising in me and I just couldn’t hold it anymore. “I don’t have any new damn stupid toys for you! I have much more important things to do!” I instantly regretted my words and outburst since those big blue eyes turned wider in fear and filled with tears. D-darn… I didn’t mean to – “Leonardo!” I just barely managed to turn my head before big darker green fist hit me hard on the face, making me take few steps backward. Growling I faced angry Raphael as his eyes very sparking with fury, his body and all muscles tensed and turned larger in size. He had become so protective about little Leo and even now he stood between him and I fists tight and ready at his sides, little Leo crying behind his legs. “How you fucking dare to raise your voice to little Leo?! I should beat the crap out of you for that!” “Look who’s raising his voice too and using bad language on top of that! I didn’t mean to explode like that but I have bigger concerns than he and his toys!” “There would had been nicer way for you to express it than yell at him like that!” “My sons, enough!” Splinter stood at the door way of needle room while Don and Mikey held him on his feet. “I have heard enough of this yelling of yours. I understand my injury has shock and hurt both of you but taking your feelings on each other isn’t solving any of it, not to mention doing it in front of small child.” “Leo still didn’t need to be so mean and rude to little Leo and --” “I tried to say I’m sorry but you came there with your fists!” “ENOUGH!” Splinter growled as he hit the floor with his tail, causing all of us jump a bit. From the corner of my eye I saw how little Leo dropped on his knees raising his hands on his ear holes, shaking and crying. Damn it all. “Leonardo, you go either meditate in your room or train in dojo. No arguments! Raphael, you and Donatello go see can you bring battle shell back here so Donatello can start to fix her. Michelangelo, you will help me on the couch and then you will play with little Leonardo. We need to help him to get over this nonsense which clearly had scare him.” And we all obey without a word. Leonardo went in the dojo to clean his swords and meditate while Don and I went to get battle shell, leaving Mikey and Splinter with little Leo. I hated to leave him there but I couldn’t go against father’s order. – “It’s okay, little guy. Come on, it’s all good.” Little Leo was looking at me while sobbing slightly as I reached my hands towards him picking him up in my arms. “Sorry about those two big morons for scaring you. They argue sometimes like that a lot but they still mean no harm to you so don’t be afraid or fear them.” I kept talking to Leo as I made my way on sofa chair placing him to sit in my lap. Splinter was sitting on the couch and he kept his eyes on us clearly studying little Leo who looked at his art about car and sobbed. It seemed he really had wanted a new toy. It’s not he didn’t like our old toys but it’s always exciting for a child to get a new toy. “Michelangelo, could you please go and get Donatello’s bag from the needle room?” “Huh? Oh sure, wait here, dude.” Little Leo didn’t want to let go of me as I put him on the chair but I promised I would come back as soon as I could. I also leaned forward and whispered; “Don’t worry, Splinter won’t hurt you. He can’t get off on the couch with his boo boo leg.” “I heard that, Michelangelo.” “Ehehehe, uummmhhh, bye!” – I watched my son running away after I caught him from whispering but my focus soon turned on little Leonardo who looked so very nervous sitting still and stiff as good as he could but his small body was trembling so badly. “Leonardo. Could you look at me, son?” It took a while when he struggled with his fears towards me but eventually he even slightly dared to look at me in the eyes under his eye ridges. I smiled at him and nodded once slowly. “Thank you. You are very brave. Why I asked to have your attention is that I need to apologize. I sometimes need to raise my voice and hit the floor with my tail in order to put an end to Raphael and Leonardo’s arguments. This happens rarely however but I feel bad you had to see and be part of this one. I’m sorry.” I bowed slightly to my little son and much for my surprise I felt weight against my healthy leg. Opening my eyes he was there leaning against my leg, looking up at me with sad eyes. That argument between my sons had clearly scare him since in the few days he hadn’t seen them fighting like that or much at all. “Can I pick you up in my lap?” His reaction wasn’t surprise when his eyes went wider and he shook his head stepping away from me. “It’s alright if you don’t want to. I’m not forcing you. I want you to be ready and feel good when and if that happens.” I kept smiling as I sighed. “It just has been so long when I have hold small child in my arms. You remind me so much of the time when my, now big, sons were small like you.” This seemed to interest my second Leonardo who slowly and with little steps came to me, climbing on the couch to sit next to me. “You want to know more?” and he nodded carefully. I smiled and nodded before starting to tell him about the life with my sons when they were small. “-- And then Michelangelo ran away without wearing his pants while having diarrhea. It was horrible to see and run after him while he laughed and kept pooing while running. There were brown stripes all around the lair’s floor.” Little Leo was chucking but my son, Michelangelo, wasn’t as he approached us. “Aa ~aaahh! Master Splinter! Did you have to tell him that?! Now he will keep laughing at me!” “But wouldn’t that be great, my son? You would bring joy to him.” “Well...” I watched him scratching his head. “Yeah, if you look at it like that. Oh, before I forget. Here.” – I placed Don’s bag gently in Splinter’s lap watching how his hands went in there and he soon pulled out middle sized toy piano. “I found it while we were on junk yard and I thought you might would like it. To learn to play since you did not want to learn martial arts, Leonardo.” Leonardo’s eyes grew wider and brighter and he moved closer to our father to see toy piano better. Splinter made sure it had batteries and it worked before placing the toy in Leo’s lap. That little dude was unsure for a moment but when Splinter pressed the first button and encouraged Leo to do the same, he did. Soon he was happily smiling and giggling while pressing all the buttons in random order. This happiness and joy just… I don’t know. It made me happy and sad at the same time. Happy he now had toys to play with and sad because in his time he never hadn’t had toys for sure. How cruel is that? A child always should have toys to play with. “So, are you going to teach Leo play piano, Master?” “Yes, but only if he wants to.” We didn’t have a chance to ask this from Leo since he was already nodding fast with wide smile. He seemed to be eager about this and it made Splinter happy. “Good. I shall start to teach you after I have teach myself.” I saw that spark in Splinter’s eyes. This was one of his methods to get to spend time with little Leo and build trust between them. Clever old rat I would say! – “Keep pushing, Raph! We are almost home!” “Oh shut up! You just sit there and turn the wheel!” Don looked at me from the open door. “One of us has to be here to turn the wheel. Otherwise we would get nowhere and you are stronger than me. Plus this is good way for you to lose some of that temper.” So he saw right through me. I admit I still was pissed at Leo for being a jerk to little Leo and I was gonna make sure he would apologize later. But as long as I would be in this state I know Splinter won’t let me go anywhere near Leo so I decided to stay with Don and help him to fix battle shell if he needed any help after we reached home. “Can you fix her?” “Of course, but it will take time. As you can see -” Don knocked once blown open front area of the battle shell. “She’s all blown up. It takes so much time before we can drive her again.” “And that means?” “It means we will be going everywhere by foot. Just like in the old days.” Old days, huh? Yeah, those were good times and thinking about them is sweet but I had no time for this now. “Will you start to fix her now?” “Njah. I just check her and tomorrow I will start to collect parts what can be saved and used again. Then I will rip her apart and start to build her again.” “Well, when you get to it come get me. I will give you a hand.” “Thank you, but I will do better on my own. If I need you to lift some heavy stuff then I’ll call you.” “Sounds good to me. See you later then, Don.” “Okay! Oh one thing, try not to fight with Leo.” “… Don’t worry. I wasn’t going to.” I made my way to living room area where I found Mikey and Leo. Mikey was playing video games while Leo was watching him between drawing. “Is Leo still in dojo?” “Yep.” “And Splinter?” “In his room resting. And before you even think about checking him, he’s good. He said he has his phone with him and if he needs anything, he will give one of us a call.” “You sure he’s okay? His leg looked bad.” “Luckily only looked. It’s broken but it will heal.” “How he got in his room with that leg?” “Well duh, I carried him of course!” “Tsch, you? With what muscles?” “Hey, I don’t need to be super strong like you in order to carry someone. I have muscles enough and secret super powers for it.” “Heh, yeah right. Anyway, I need to talk with Leo.” “Just don’t argue with him. Splinter will ki--” Michelangelo suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence as he spotted little Leo looking at him with slight fear of hearing what Mikey would say. “I mean Splinter will kick both of your butts by lecturing and grounding you both if he knows and hears you two argued.” “Yeah, I know. I try not to argue with Leonardo. It all depends on him.” I left those two behind me as I made my way in the dojo, closing door silently behind me. Leonardo was sitting back towards the door in the middle of the room clearly cleaning his swords from the blood. I said nothing as I made my way closer and stopped behind him but he said nothing or moved so I moved next to him and sat down. “Hey.” “...Hey.” “You sure have got some blood on your swords.” “Thanks to the Foot.” “Have you clean your second katana already?” “No. I made some katas first to calm down. Why?” “Do you trust in me enough to let me clean your other katana for you?” This was the first moment when Leonardo stopped and turned to look at me from the corner of his eye. He said nothing as he stared at me for a few seconds. His hand reached his second katana and he slowly handed it to me. “Careful with it.” “I know. These are your precious babies.” “… Like little Leo is yours.” “Hm?” “Raphael… I’m honestly sorry I snapped at him like I did. I was just so overly worried about father and all. I hurt him bad, I know, but you must understand father is more dear to me than he is. I don’t hate him or anything and I would and will do anything to keep him safe but father always comes to me first.” “Hm, I know all that. You have been like that with us too. Father comes to you even before us.” “But know I still care and love you all very much and would give my life any time to keep you all safe.” “Likewise. But it still would be nice if you would apologize from him.” “Don’t worry, I will. I go find him a toy or two.” “Want me to come with you?” “No, I will go alone. Or then I ask April to buy and bring few new toys here for us.” I couldn’t help but to smile while looking at my own reflection from Leo’s blade. “That’s actually very nice idea. I bet he never hasn’t had anything new so shiny new toy, who none hasn’t own before him, would mean a lot to him.” I turned to look Leo even that he kept his eyes down on his blade. “It would show you really care.” And he stopped, staying perfectly still as he kept looking his own reflection. “You think so?” “Damn right I do. I know that little guy.” Leonardo sat there quietly a while before he braced himself for another question and answer. “Have you think what will happen when he’s older? Will he stay with us or will he go back to his time or something?” “Don’t know and don’t want to know. Not yet. He’s still a little kid who needs family, home and love and I’m gonna give them all to him as long as he needs and wants them.” Leonardo smiled gently to himself releasing his soft and silent sigh. “I adore that about you. You just took him under your wings and you will do anything to make him feel happy, loved and keep him safe.” “I ain’t protector for nothing, fearless.” To this Leonardo only smiled pushing his clean katana back in its scabbard. “Are you done cleaning that one? It’s late and I would like to go to bed. And I have a feeling someone is waiting you to put him in the bed as well.” I couldn’t hide my smile as I listened Leonardo’s words. Yeah, I knew little guy was waiting for me. He just refused to go to sleep if I didn’t take him to his own small bed which was placed in small area next to wall more further away from us. It was the spot which had most lights so he could sleep peacefully there. I watched Leonardo standing up, reaching to take his second and now clean katana from my hands, placing it so easily in its scabbard what Leo had on his shell. Soon after this we left dojo, finding tired Mikey and little Leo watching TV. Both of them seemed to be in very bad need of sleep so Leonardo shooed Mikey to sleep on his bed and I went to take little Leo in my arms, carrying him on his bed. While placing him on his carapace I noticed he was holding a piece of paper. I tried to take it from him but he woke up and looked at me. After short silent stare he jumped up and looked around and when he spotted Leonardo, he got off on the bed and ran to my big brother. I stood still as I watched him to poke Leonardo’s thigh few times. – My full focus was on late news when I felt something was touching me. I looked down next to me and this little turtle of my younger version was looking up at me behind a paper which he held in front of his face. I opened my mouth but he then pushed that paper towards me which I took in slight confusion. Turning it around I saw he had drew me and him standing side by side, holding hands. I didn’t quite understand it at first but when I looked into his pleading eyes, it all came clear to me. I knelt down and smiled, pulling him gently in a hug. “It’s very nice and beautiful drawing, Leo. I like it very much. Of course I still like you; are your brother and friend.” I pushed him back a bit so I was able to look into his eyes. “I’m sorry I was so mean to you. I was… so scared because my father was hurt. I know it… might feel and sound weird to you since your father wasn’t nice to you, but my father has always been nice to me so seeing him hurt was scary. Do you understand?” And he nodded with sad look few times. I think he was feeling bad for Splinter being hurt too. I looked his drawing again and smile spread over my face. We didn’t look like we do in real life but he still had drew us to look so adorable. “Can I put this art on my room’s wall? It’s so nice I would like to have it and see it every morning when I wake up and every evening when I go to sleep.” Little Leo’s eyes turned more shiny and he smiled at me, holding my hand tightly as he nodded eagerly. “Thank you. But now, off to bed. Raphael is waiting for you.” I stood up and gave him gentle push on the shell as he started to run towards Raphael and judging by Raphael’s wide happy smile, little Leo was wearing one and same kind of smile too. Raphael so easily lifted little me in his arms and threw him once in the air before kissing him on the cheek. It was so heartwarming to watch that hot head putting him on the bed and cover him. Sitting on the floor Raphael remained by little Leo’s side until that little turtle had fell asleep.

Samantha Allan Park Ch. #18

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter #18

*Friday July 4th, Dance Hall, Stage Area* *Themes: Mike Perry ft. Shy Martin-The Ocean Cash Cash ft. Sofia Reyes-How To Love Jonas Blue ft. RAYE-By Your Side*

The turtles were hiding in the walkway area above the rows and rows of seats that filled the auditorium of the dance hall. They watched as Sam was finishing up her final performance. Tonight was a big night for everyone who was part of the huge and competitive program since multiple scouts for various reasons were here. Some were here to recruit college students and offer scholarships so that they would perform with teams at their university, some were here to look for back up performers for upcoming musicals, music videos, commercials, etc. and some were even here to look for possible trainees for upcoming boy and/or girl singing and dancing groups. The turtles expected to see Sam in at least a few different performances, since there were tons of people that worked in different areas of the program and there were so many different genres of music that were used when the groups performed, but so far Sam had been in every performance that night. She went from performing the most elegant and poised dances in more slow passionate songs to then performing the most energetic dance moves in much more upbeat songs. She had solos, performed in duets, and even in various larger sized groups. She danced to all types of music with all types of people, and she never missed a beat once. Family and friends were allowed to attend the performances to cheer on their loved ones, and whenever the turtles heard it get silent during Sam’s moments in the spotlight, the silence ended quickly as they cheered as loud as they could for their friend, which would instantly put a smile on Sam’s face while she was on stage.

Once all the performances were officially over, the turtles quickly and quietly traveled to the spot in the building where Sam had instructed them to meet her. It took a while, but eventually Sam met up with them in the designated spot. “Geez, what took so long?” Raph annoyingly asked. “Sorry, I had hella scouts talking to me about various upcoming opportunities, including some for the university I hope to attend, so of course I wasn’t passing up the opportunity to talk to them” Sam said with a huge smile on her face. “You’re fine Sam,” Leo said as he nudged his brother’s arm, resulting in Raph scowling at him, “so, where are we heading tonight?” “Yeah, now that it’s 10 o’clock” Raph said before he was shoved by Mikey, who he then chased after as well. “Well, a lot of people are heading to specific spots of town for fireworks, so that means a lot of family owned shops are closed down, and that means we can go have fun” she said merrily. Leo and Donnie smiled at her. “Well, lead the way” Leo said as he crouched down and cupped his hands in front of him so that he could give her a boost and help her exit through the vent-ways that he and his brothers had entered the building through above them. Donnie then followed behind Sam and Leo, and once the remaining two brothers realized they were alone, they also quickly exited the room as well.

As the group traveled along the roof top, Mikey thought that the direction they were heading in seemed familiar. Finally, he remembered why it seemed so familiar. “Oh! Are we heading to the place you took me the first time we hung out?!” he called out. Sam turned towards him and gave him a big smile as she nodded at him. “Oh, so now we get to see where Sam and Mikey shared their rebellious phases together” Donnie teased. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re good kids” Sam said with a comical expression. “Totally, we look both ways before we cross the street” Mikey added with the same expression. “And we eat all our vegetables” “And we help old ladies with their groceries” “And we complete all our homework.” The two continued this back and forth conversation, playfully nudging each other as they talked. “And we floss and brush twice a day” “And we wash behind our ears” “And you stole from us, hid from us, lied to us, and then snuck around behind our backs!” Raph said as he pushed his way past the two and then threw his arms around the duo. Sam gave him an annoyed look. “Why you gotta bring up the past like that?” “Ahhh because those were the good times where I got to kick your ass” he said with a smirk. “Pshh, she kept up with you each time, you didn’t kick anything” Mikey teased. “Well, I can kick something right now” Raph said as he put Mikey in a headlock and the two, once again, went back to fighting. Sam stared at the two and then shrugged. As she turned to catch up with the other two brothers she then smiled and took off running. “We’re here!” she exclaimed. “Ohhh I’ve always wanted to do this with a group” she said excitedly. “You do realize Mikey cares about skateboarding a million times more than the rest of us, right?” Donnie asked. “Who said we were here for skateboarding?” she said with a grin. She and Donnie had already disabled and altered any and all security systems on the way, so now they could open the vents and climb on through.

The boys all followed Sam for a few minutes until finally she stopped, kicked out the vent cover below her, and then hopped down. The boys followed behind her and instantly huge smiles grew on all of their faces. “This makes a lot more sense” Leo said as he looked at the laser tag equipment in front of him. “Ahem! We have to watch the safety video first” Sam said as she pointed towards a small room off towards the side. “Are you serious?” Raph asked. “I want the full laser tag experience, and that includes learning about laser tag safety. It takes like five minutes, be a man and deal with it” she said sternly. Raph rolled his eyes as his brothers all chuckled at Sam’s comment. They all walked in and sat in the chairs in the small room. Leo sat in a chair on the far side of the room, and then Donnie sat, then Raph, and then Mikey left an open space for his friend and then he took a seat. Sam got the t.v. set up in the front of the room and then ran back to her seat. The video went on to explain the basics: the rules of the game, how the equipment was to be worn and used, how the course was set up, reasons why people shouldn’t play, etc. The video then mentioned that those who think they might be pregnant shouldn’t play. Raph smirked and leaned over towards Sam and whispered in her ear “any chance that you’re pregnant?” Sam knew that Raph was purposefully trying to mess with her, which was something he did well, so she gave him a taste of his own medicine when she smiled and whispered back “nu-uh, how about you?” Both Mikey and Donnie heard this and they both slapped a hand to their mouths so that they wouldn’t laugh out loud. Raph then slapped Sam and his brothers on the back of the head (secretly slapping Sam gentler than the other two), and Leo, who had missed whatever it was that was so funny, just rolled his eyes and decided he didn’t even want to know. He then stood up once the video was over. “Alright, so how do we decide on teams?” “Me, Mikey, and Donnie vs. you and Raph” Sam said without hesitation. “I like this grouping” Donnie chimed in. “Wait, why do you get to pick the teams? Who made you the leader?” Raph asked. “What, you two aren’t man enough to defend yourselves on your own?” Sam asked with an evil grin. Leo and Raph paused and then turned to face each other, both squinting their eyes in frustration. “You know, I’m really starting to hate how she does that” Leo stated. “Heh, welcome to the club” Raph replied. “Great! So teams have been decided, let’s suit up!” The equipment consisted of shoulder pads that connected to a chest and back pad (each was a target) that had to be pulled over top the person’s head, and then a buckle had to be secured at both the left and right sides. At the bottom of the front pad was a chord that connected to the gun that was then used to shoot at other targets. Sam and Donnie were able to wear the regular sized gear since they were the thinnest out of their group, and they quickly put their green colored gear on. As they turned to meet back up with the others, they laughed as they saw the others struggling to get their gear on, since their larger muscle sized bodies were a bit too big to wear the regular sized equipment. “Guys, they have suits that are meant for people on the larger side, you just have to look at the end of the rack” Sam said as she nodded her head towards the end of the row, where there were tons of suits that were meant for more fluffy or more muscular sized people. The three paused and then fake laughed as they walked over towards the larger sized equipment, feeling silly for struggling from putting on the wrong sized equipment.

Once everyone was finally ready to go, the two teams walked over towards their sides of the room. Leo and Raph walked over towards the far side of the room with their orange colored gear, and Donnie, Mikey, and Sam stood near the entrance on their green side of the room. Suddenly, a voice come across the speaker which was part of the game, and it counted them down to get started. “3…2…1…BEEP” and the members from each group scattered.

Raph, expectedly, used a very fast paced approach and instantly starting running towards the opposing team and started shooting at them. Of course he and Mikey started rough housing and the two were on each other’s backs, and right now Raph was winning, until he realized that his back pad kept lighting up. That’s when he realized that someone had been shooting at him from afar. Raph turned and Mikey went to follow, but just then he ran out of ammo. “*gasp* oh no! I’ll be back!” he said as he ran off towards the charging station. Meanwhile, Raph walked over towards where the shots had been coming from. He then found a dorky Sam slowly and awkwardly crawling on the ground. “What kind of crawl is that? You look like a slug” he said as he gave her an odd look. “Well, it was working up until now” Sam said with her eyes closed and a wide teeth bearing smile as she tried to quickly turn over onto her back, but Raph was already shooting at her. Unfortunately, he had used up the majority of his shots on Mikey, and by the time he realized he was out of ammo, Sam had already stood up. Raph retreated and was followed by Sam who continued to keep shooting at him. Just then, Sam’s shoulder pads started lighting up. She looked up and saw Leo shooting at her from on top of the obstacles in the room. “Hey that’s cheating! You’re not allowed to shoot from up there!” Sam called out with a smile. Leo hopped down. “Then why was it okay for Donnie to do it?” he asked. “Simple. Donnie’s on my team” Sam said as she closed her eyes and gave him a large smile. “Awww that’s messed up” Leo said as he smiled and shook his head as he walked towards her, “and you’re going to pay for that,” he said as he pulled up the laser tag gun and began shooting at her. Sam laughed as she took off running and Leo chased her, but then Michelangelo was now standing behind Leo and was shooting at him while Leo kept shooting at Sam. Out of nowhere, Raph then did the most awkward roll any of them had ever seen. Mikey was laughing so hard that he was distracted and couldn’t focus his aim, but luckily Donnie had joined back up with him and was helping to defend Sam. “Dude, what the heck was that?” Leo asked with a laugh. “I don’t know! It’s impossible for me to be a ninja with this gear” he laughed. Right after he said this, he noticed Sam sneaking away using her awkward snail crawl again. Raph smirked and then ducked back. He ran off and Leo ran behind him for a bit before splitting up and running off in a different direction. Now that Raph momentarily had no one behind him, he carefully creeped back over to where he saw Sam crawling off to. He then got down on his stomach and army crawled over to where Sam was hiding. When Sam saw the lights from her shoulder pads go off, she quickly turned around to see Raph crawling behind her. “These are the benefits of real army crawls!” he shouted. Just then, Donnie jumped on top of Raph and pinned him to the ground. “And this is what happens when the snail lures in the prey!” he said as he continued to shoot at Raph’s chest pad. Once his bullets ran out, Donnie, wide-eyed, ran off back towards his base, but just then the alarm went off to signal who had won that round. “Winner…orange team.” “Ha! Who’s the prey now?” Raph exclaimed as Donnie helped pull him off the ground. “At least we didn’t body slam into the ground each time we rolled” Donnie teased. “Dude I seriously don’t know how to function in this equipment” Raph said with a laugh. “New round!” Sam exclaimed as she ran by the two, pulling on Donnie’s arm in the process. “Come on! We need to strategize! Where’s Mikey?!” “Right hereeee!” he said as he practically skipped over towards his best friend. “Bruh, thanks for having my back at that last part. Sorry for not warning you about Raph, he snuck away from us.” “It’s all good, we just need to come up with a counterattack in case he sneaks off again” Sam replied. “Oh! I have a plan!” Donnie said and the three stood in a huddle. Raph smiled as he walked back towards his side of the room. “Did we strategize at all last round?” Raph asked Leo when they met back up at the orange start point. “Nope. We winged that whole thing, just went with the flow. But don’t tell them that or else they’ll lose their motivation to huddle up and work together, and they’re having fun in their little group over there. This is like a videogame to Mikey, so he can actually keep up with what Donnie is saying, and Donnie is enjoying that he can actually strategize and plan with his teammates.” “Heh, well let’s see how well their strategies work this round” Raph said as he held his hand up for a fist bump to which Leo completed.

“3…2…1…BEEP” and round two began. Leo and Raph both ran in opposite directions and hid behind the tall colorful posts along the wall, waiting for a good moment for them to strike. Just then, Leo saw Mikey run right past him, and Raph saw Donnie run right past him as well. Both older brothers jumped out and started shooting at their younger brothers, wide smiles growing on their faces while their scores grew higher and higher. The two were so distracted by their siblings that they completely forgot to look out for Sam until they saw the large orange post lighting up behind them back at their base. The two brothers then began quickly trailing back to their side of the room while still trying to defend themselves against their youngest brothers who now had large smiles forming on their own faces as they witnessed their plan quickly change which team had the higher score. Donnie chased after Raph, but Mikey stayed further back. Soon both Sam and Donnie ran out of ammo, but since they were all standing by the orange teams base, Raph and Leo quickly got a full round loaded and they began shooting at their opponents as the two ran away back towards their base. Now that the tables were turned, the two oldest were now chasing rather than defending, that was until Mikey leaped out of nowhere and began defending his teammates. He ran out of ammo quickly and also had to retreat back to his base, but by then Sam and Donnie had reloaded and were now chasing Leo and Raph again. Using this tactic, the green team eventually won the round and cheered after doing so. “Yeahhhhhh! That’s what I’m talking about!” Mikey shouted as he high fived his teammates. “I’m surprised this worked as well as it did” Donnie said with a smile on his face. “Of course, we have to come up with something different this time or else they’ll catch on and create a new tactic to stop us.” “Hmmmm, let’s try something similar to what we just did and see if it works. How about one person run towards one of their opponents while the other two hang back. Then after a few seconds, a second person run out, but instead of running towards the other opponent, just stay on the same side as the first runner” Sam said. “Ohhhh, so dupe them into thinking that we’re doing the same thing as last time, but the first two draw them both to one side of the room, and then the third person runs down the opposite side once it’s completely clear” Mikey replied. “Bingo!” Sam said. “Sounds good to me, I say Mikey should be the first runner and that he should run at Leo. No offense to Raph, but I feel like we can dupe him due to him wanting to jump in and be the hero. If he sees that Leo needs help and that a second runner runs towards him, I feel that Raph is more likely to quickly jump in and add brawn to the fight before standing back and thinking about the strategy behind the situation. Plus you and I will be much quicker at running up and past the others” Donnie added. “Agreed. How about you?” Sam asked as she faced Mikey. “Ditto” he replied with a smile.

“3…2…1…BEEP” and just like that, their plan was set into action. Leo and Raph both assumed the same positions as last time, and Mikey ran towards Leo on the left side of the room. He was instantly spotted and the two began firing shots at each other. Just as they expected, Raph stayed put and waited for someone to run towards him again, but like they planned, Sam ran along the left side towards Leo, and once he realized that his brother was about to be outnumbered, he started heading towards the middle of the room to help aide his brother. What the green team wasn’t expecting was for Raph to plant himself in the middle of the room. He shot at Sam from much further than she had anticipated, and because of this, it was harder for Donnie to run past his older brother without getting shot at. Leo quickly picked up on this and also started heading towards the middle of the room, making it more difficult for any of the three members on the opposing team to run past them without taking a lot of damage along the way. Because of this, the orange team won this round, and the green team huddled up to come up with another new strategy. “Alright, approaches where we try to charge one or two at a time aren’t working” Mikey said with his hands on his hips. “We need bait,” Sam stated, “something that will separate those two from each other. It’s hard getting past them when they’re practically side by side, but if they’re split up, then it’s easier to score points against them.” “I have an idea” Donnie said. “We’re going to do the same thing we just did, but I’m going to be the second runner. Sam, you’ll know when to go out and help Mikey.” “Heh, this will be interesting” Sam said with a grin.

“3…2…1…BEEP” and that fast Mikey took off running towards Leo. He even saw Leo roll his eyes at the same tactic being used once again. Raph had already started walking towards the center of the room, and he thought he knew what to do when he saw Donnie charging towards him, but he was caught off guard when he saw Donnie randomly cut towards the right side. Raph turned on his heel, but Donnie was hiding very well. Raph carefully walked forward, but then Donnie leaped up and trailed back some, and then cut to the left. Raph quickly chased after Donnie, assuming he was heading back over towards Leo, but instead Donnie had was leading Raph all over the arena. By the time Raph had realized what his younger brother’s strategy was, it was too late. “Winner, green team” the electronic speaker announced. Raph groaned as he heard the green team members cheering at the top of their lungs. “Hey, what happened to you out there?” Leo asked as he met back up with Raph on their side of the room. “Ahhh, I got so wrapped up in trailing Donnie that I didn’t realize he was just leading me in circles” Raph replied groggily. “They got us good that time. We were so used to them trying to sneak past us, we didn’t expect them to them to bring us along with them as they snuck by. While you were distracted they went back to attacking me one at a time while another aimed for our base. This time we’re both going to hang back more” Leo stated. Raph nodded his head in response and soon the next round started.

The group played multiple rounds of laser tag, and each time a team lost, they figured out how to win the next round. The winning streak went back and forth so many times that both teams decided to end the night in a truce, each complimenting the other on the abilities they had demonstrated throughout the fun battle. It was a few minutes to midnight when they all decided to head back home. “Man, laser tag is super fun!” Sam exclaimed as she jumped down from the vent opening on the top of the building. “You and Donnie sure are a scary combination though,” Raph teased. “Every time we thought we had you guys figured out, you always found a new way to sneak by us.” “Heyyyy, I helped strategize to!” Mikey moped. “I told you videogames and activities like this were my strong suit” he said as he crossed his arms and stood tall and proud. “Surprisingly, Mikey did come up with a lot of creative ideas.” Donnie reassured. “You’d never know this was the same guy who didn’t know the difference between there, their, and they’re” Raph teased with a mocking smile. “I kept thinking they all meant the same thing!” “Or that pterodactyl started with the P sound” Leo said with a smirk. “How was I supposed to know it was silent?!” “Or that 1+3 equals B” Donnie said with a chuckle. “I thought you were asking me a trick question!” “Heh, funny hearing all this come from the guy who thought duct tape was spelled like the animal, the guy who has trouble saying ‘prescription,’ and the guy who accidentally blurted out that 10 times 2 equals 100” Sam said with a devilish sarcastic grin. “HA!” Mikey shouted, mimicking his friends expression as he pointed at each of his older brothers. “Ugh! Why does Sensei keep telling you things about us?” Raph said as he rubbed the side of his head. “It’s really tough to pronounce…” Leo mumbled, looking down and to the side. “I was under pressure, and I was just thinking the wrong thing since I heard times two and so I thought of ten times ten, I knew the correct answer but I got ahead of myself because Sensei was testing me-” Donnie rambled on. “I accidentally wrote it wrong on my paper, literally like one time! I didn’t realize what I was doing until after Sensei collected our homework” Raph mumbled. “Hehe, this is great” Mikey said as he looked over at his friend with a smile. “You’re welcome” she replied with a chuckle. Just then some type of explosion went off in the air behind where the two were standing. It startled Sam so much that she literally jumped and would have stumbled backwards if Mikey hadn’t grabbed her arm and helped her keep her balance.

*Theme Begin-BTS/Jungkook Lost My Way-BTS Interlude:WINGS-BTS

The two turned around to see what it was that had made such a noise and the two were amused to see that there were some late night fireworks going off for the 4th of July. “WHOA! They’re so pretty!” Sam shouted. She walked over to the rail at the side of the roof and held on and she stood as close as the rail allowed for her to view the fireworks. “You act like you’re never seen fireworks before. The four of us haven’t always had the best view, but even we have seen them” Mikey said as he walked over and stood next to his friend. “I’ve seen them before, but it’s been awhile since I’ve actually been outside and watched them go off. I loved watching them go off when I was a kid, but usually I just listen to them from my room and maybe later that night I would watch them on t.v.” she stated as she continued to look up to the sky in awe. The remaining brothers walked over and stood along the rail and also looked up in awe at the fireworks display. Like Mikey had stated, they knew what fireworks were and had watched them before, but it was always from a storm drain in the middle of a crowded street. This was their first times watching the fireworks go off without anything blocking their view, and the fact that they were so high up made the view look even more spectacular. As the brothers watched the fireworks, they each thought the same thing to themselves. It had been a little over two months that Sam had been allowed to openly visit the lair whenever she wanted to, and that fast each of the brothers had shared incredibly fun and memorable moments with the girl that none of them ever thought they would based on how they met her. Leo thought back to how he couldn’t stand her sneaking around and how that could put Mikey and the rest of their family in danger, and how now they were using her crafty skills to help them when patrolling the city. Raph reflected on how much he just wanted to fight her whenever she mad a sly remark or did something that frustrated him and his brothers, whether it was really something frustrating or just something simple and stupid that ticked them off because it was her who did it, and how now he loved sparring with her and working out with her by his side. Donnie remembered all the times where Sam seemed to be a bad influence on Mikey, like when she was the reason his brother had lied to his face about what he was taking from his lab and why he had done so, and how now Sam’s influence actually seemed to help Mikey think more logically in certain battle situations (not always, but there was some noticeable difference, but nothing major. Mikey would always be Mikey and nothing was ever going to change that) and how Sam was now allowed to walk right on into his lab and take whatever she wanted because of how comfortable the two had become. Mikey had always been kind to Sam, but he reminisced more so on how his brothers reacted when they saw Sam enter the lair now compared to the past. Whenever she entered the lair back in mid May, the room was silent and everyone seemed to disappear because no one but Mikey and Splinter wanted anything to do with Sam. Now however, when Sam entered the room each brother had to patiently wait their turn to complete whatever activity or hobby it was they completed with her.

And then there was Sam, who also was secretly thinking about all that had changed since she had been allowed to freely enter the lair. She was so grateful to each of the four turtles that was standing around her. Each one of them brought back a piece of her life that she had lost a few years ago. It was such a short time ago when her life had changed for the worst, yet it felt like it had been so much longer ago because of how much she had suffered alone. But that was the number one thing that had changed, she wasn’t alone anymore. She had come to find out that each of the brothers were easy to talk to casually about literally anything, and she was always either training or watching sports or playing videogames or doing something with the brothers as a whole, and there were now tons of activities that she completed with either the brothers individually (meditating, exercising, coding, or skateboarding just to name a few) or in groups, like when she taught Leo and Raph to cook, or worked on the van with Donnie and Raph, or would organize different parts of the lair with Leo and Donnie (who both loved organization as much as life itself). Because of all of this, she was never truly alone anymore. She never worried about when Jay would finally get to come home so that she would have some company, she never cared about what all the other kids at school were doing while she was sitting around at home every night, and overall she was never upset anymore. Her saddened thoughts from lonely weekends had now turned into cheerful moments with her new friends on what had now become a daily basis.

Sam’s presence affected the brothers as much as their influence had affected her. Each was shining light on something that the others life was missing. Sam had reunited with aspects of her life back that she had lost years ago, and the brothers now had bonds with someone who had similarities and interests with them that their other brothers didn’t always understand. Everyone was happy with how their lives were going, and none of them wanted anything to change. But, as much as they loved how life was now, none of them knew that things would change much quicker than any of them had anticipated.  

*Friday July 18th, (2 weeks later)* *Theme: BTS-Save Me*

Mikey was in the dojo with Sam. The other brothers had gone out earlier before the two had returned back from the lair, and until they were told they were needed, the two decided to continue with why they had left in the first place. It was now mid-July, and ever since mid-June Sam had been working on a project that might help her gain some ‘strength’ that would help her keep up with the turtles in ways that she physically could not on her own. She had been working on a battery powered glove with a vacuum powerful enough to move objects or even deflect them.

She had tested multiple different designs and she had finally found one that seemed to work. The glove extended all the way from her finger tips to a mid-point along her arm. From her wrist to her mid-arm on top was a blue plastic covering, which was connected to a black thick but leathery material underneath. Built into the plastic covering on top was an old phone she was able to buy cheap at a pawn shop. She had re-wired it and had basically created her own personal app on the phone that connected to and was used as a control panel for the lithium iron battery that powered the vacuum piece, since this battery would help keep the device working without the battery dying out to early on. This control panel could be used for things such as setting how much air she wanted to be either pulled in or pushed away from her. There was a blue plastic covering around her wrist, which also had some black leathered material webbed in the creases so that she could still move her wrist, that was a little thicker with wires inside that ran inside the thicker material and connected to a square piece at the bottom of her wrist that plugged into a rectangular piece that was attached to the black leathery material covering her palm. There were two buttons along the side of the rectangular piece. The top one was what made the air suck in, and the bottom one was what made air fly out. On this rectangular piece were two holes. Along with their corresponding buttons, the top hole was used for sucking in air, and the bottom hole was for pushing air away from her.

“Alright, what do you need me to do?” Mikey asked his friend, excited to finally test out the cool new gadget that Sam had made. “For now just get something really small, something that’s thin and light. That will be used for our first of many tests” she said as she started getting her glove set up. Mikey found some empty water bottles in the recycling bin in the other room and brought them over. He placed one in the middle of the dojo and Sam stood so that she was about 20 yards away from it. She set the glove so that the most amount of air pressure would come out when she pressed the bottom button. Mikey made sure to stand off to the side, just to be safe, and he watched as his friend pulled her arm back, and pushed down on the button in her palm as she threw her arm forward. A tremendous amount of air was pushed forward and the empty bottle was thrown forward as it slammed into the wall. Mikey’s jaw dropped, and as he turned towards Sam, he saw that she had the exact same expression on her face. “Whoa! That was awesome!” he exclaimed with a smile as he walked over towards her. “I know. I hoped that it would work, but I never expected it to be so powerful on the first try, especially with the type of battery I’m using.” “You need to explain what that means” he said casually as he nodded his head. Sam chuckled at his comment. “Most people use lithium ion batteries to power devices where they want huge amount of power, like the power my glove just displayed, but those batteries also die out very quickly. Knowing this, I decided to use a lithium iron battery, which in many ways is similar, but it can hold a charge for much longer and can sometimes be a bit weaker in how much power can be produced. The battery I’m using is typically used in most of today’s smart phones, so I never expected it to exert such power as it just did…do you know what this means?” she asked as she turned towards her friend. His curious face turned into one of excitement as the wheels in his head turned. “We get to keep flinging stuff around to test it out?” “BINGO!” Sam shouted. The two high fived and then searched throughout the lair for various objects of different sizes and weights that Sam could test her glove on. They started with softer objects like blankets and pillows, and then slowly moved up to harder and larger objects. She moved pots and pans used for cooking, small desk lamps, and even chairs. The two then went out and found some construction materials they had set up at the various locations throughout the sewer that they had been fixing up. They brought back piles and piles of wooden boards and concrete bricks and then started to set them up for her to try out. They piled the boards and bricks, and every time they made the pile higher, she was still able to knock it over. They then started testing how far away Sam could stand from the objects and still be able to push them away. The dojo was about 50 yards in both width and length (the lair in total was quite a huge space for being buried underneath the city) and Sam was able to determine that she could move small and light objects from at least 50 yards away, and heavier objects from about 30 yards away (though she had to be much closer to the heavier objects if she wanted them to move greater distances). Eventually, Sam then tested her device in bringing objects towards her. She discovered that the distances for pushing objects away from her was the same as when pulling them towards her, and that light objects flew towards her extremely fast, but heavier objects traveled at a ridiculously slow pace, but they still moved towards her. The heavier objects moved a bit quicker when within that 30 yard radius though. “Hey, can you help me set up some pillows and cushions along the opposite wall real quick?” Sam asked. “Yeah sure, but why?” Mikey asked. “I’m going to try some tests and see if I can push myself on my skateboard by solely using the power from the vacuum pack on my glove. But if something goes wrong, it would be nice to have something blocking me from ramming straight into the wall, hehe” she said as she nervously rubbed the back of her head. “Tsk tsk, and you think that some pillows will be good enough to protect you?” Mikey asked teasingly, “we need a better barrier.” “And what would you suggest Mr. Cowabunga?” she asked, tilting her head and smiling. “Helmet, knee and elbow pads, and shin and wrist guards, and thank you for asking Ms. Booyakasha” he said in a sarcastic tone. “Ummm, do you have any of those items in my size?” “I do actually. We don’t really get rid of anything but rather just move things around. Sensei likes to keep things as keepsakes since we’re kind of his only family, heh. So, we actually have a space where all our old clothes are, so stay here and I’ll grab you some of our old gear.”

He returned back within five minutes, and in another fifteen they had Sam all suited up. She stood on her skateboard and adjusted her device so that it was on a much lower setting. Sam was about 110 lbs, and on the lowest setting, the device had her moving forward at a walking speed. For the next half hour, she tested how fast she traveled as she slowly increased the speed of the air pushing out of the device each time she tested it out. She was actually able to take her tests to a pretty high setting before thinking that it would be too dangerous to continue testing the device in a confined area like this.

“Looks like all that time you spent creating the perfect design and thinking over every complication really worked” Mikey said with a smile. “It did, and now this opens up even more opportunities for me to adjust this device” she replied with a beaming smile. “How so?” “For one, one day when we’re not in a confined area like this, I can test how fast I can really travel with this device, and that can affect my movement on missions with you guys. I can also test to see if I can provide a gust of wind strong enough to deflect punches or even to cut into other objects. This is incredible! Man I wish my siblings could try this out, they would love something like this. They would joke around about how it would make them feel like they were in an action movie. Especially Jay, he still dreams of being an actor, so when I finally introduce this to him he’ll act like he was stopping a criminal on a dangerous chase or something, haha” she said as she walked away and went to put her glove away, thinking that they had gone through enough tests for one night.

While Sam was walking away, Mikey couldn’t stop thinking about the way Sam had just worded her sentence. “They would love…they would joke…they were in…”is how she spoke when talking about her siblings, but then she said “he still dreams…he’ll act…” when talking about Jay. He and his brothers had talked about this before, and none of them knew why she spoke like this. He wondered if his friend even realized that she had been talking this way. He knew that it was wrong to question and invade someone’s personal space, but it was killing him to know that his friend was hurting and that there was nothing he could do about it. He remembered how broken she was when she thought she saw Brian, and how she had cried the night she had a dream about him nights later. He wanted to ask her about her family, but he was terrified to do so. He didn’t want to pry and make her think that she couldn’t trust him and turn away from him instead. He took a deep breath and decided that he would carefully try to talk to her, but he would instantly back off if she made it clear that she didn’t want to talk.

“Hey Sam, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you, but I totally understand and respect if you don’t want to talk to me about it.” Mikey said to his friend nervously. Sam had just put her glove away in her bag at the entry way into the dojo. She paused as she was zipping her bag up and then calmly responded to her friend. “Yeah sure, what’s up?” she asked, afraid that she had done something to upset him. “Why…why do you talk about Jay in the present tense…but refer to the rest of your family in the past tense?” he asked as he stared at her without looking away anywhere else, wanting to show that he truly cared and wasn’t asking to be childish and just get the dirt on her past. Sam stood up and paused. She thought back to what she had just said about her siblings and how they would react to testing out her device, and her eyebrows rose up in shock as she realized that Mikey was correct in what he had just asked her. “Huh, I honestly didn’t realize I was doing that. Do I do that a lot?” “To be completely honest, you do that every time you ever talk about your siblings” Mikey said with a serious yet concerned expression. She then gave him a small smile as she turned towards him. “You’ve been worried about that for a while now haven’t you?” “…not to be weird or anything, but yeah. I just want to know what happened so that I can support you, you know? Like if anything triggers bad memories, I know to help prevent those memories from coming back, stuff like that. I just want to help you, but I don’t want you to tell me anything unless you feel 110% completely comfortable in doing so. I want you to feel like you can trust me with your life before you decide to-” “Okay” Sam cut in. “…what does that mean?” Mikey asked. She gave him a soft smile. “It means that I trust you with my life and will tell you about my past. But if you tease me for being emotional-” “I’d never do that, I swear. If anything ever makes you upset I promise I’ll comfort you and never EVER tease you about it” he said with seriousness in his tone. Sam really appreciated that her usually goofy friend could be so calm and reassuring. She loved that he could act mature and not just crack jokes all the time. “*sigh* alright, I’ll briefly start from the beginning. Because of past generations, my father and Jay’s birth father grew up as best friends, and their wives were coincidentally friends before they met our fathers as well, so when they got married we all were like one big happy family. His parents were like and uncle and aunt to me, and mine to him, and all us kids saw each other as cousins because of how close our families were. Sadly, in 2006, his parents were involved in a car crash. There were some foot clan members who were speeding away from a robbery, and his parent’s car was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were hit head on and soon after, they lost their lives. I was 8 at that time, and because of his parents will, Brian, Jay, Amber, and Jamie were to be sent to live with us, and because of how much my parents cared for them and didn’t want to lose them, they adopted all four of them, making them our newest families members by law. We protected them from what they had experienced, until two years later when my parents experienced the same fate. My parents were having a date night and as they were walking to their car, they were attacked and killed. Then it was the oldest siblings turn to protect and comfort the younger ones. It was very difficult for all of us, and to make it worse, there was a huge chance we were all going to be split up in foster homes because none of us had legal guardians anymore. Luckily, Jamie and Amber were legal adults aged 21 and 19, and though Jay was only 17 at the time, he was a freshman in college and could at least start finding work, and even Brian and Nick who were 15 and 14 were able to get some small part time jobs throughout the year, so as long as we were all financially stable, we were all able to live together in our house.” Sam paused and took a long deep breath. “It was really difficult at first, but we were lucky enough to have eight of us to look after each other. We all had our special bonds with each and every one of our siblings, so no matter who was around at the time, we all knew how to take care of each other. Because of this, life slowly began to fall into a daily routine and we all started to grow more and more cheerful and full of life just like how we all used to be. Eventually everything was great between all of us…and then another two years passed, and everything fell apart. I’ve been telling you guys that my family is all scattered throughout the world because of various reasons and that I’m always alone because they’re all gone. I’ve been lying and telling the truth at the same time. They’re all gone, but not for the reasons I’ve been making you think of.”

*Flashback: Summer of July 28th, 2010 around 6:30p.m. There’s still some light from the sun set, but slowly it’s getting darker and darker as night approaches. Sam and her siblings are at a local park. Jamie is 23, Amber is 21, Jay is 19, Brian is 17, Nick is 16, Haley is 14, Sam is 12 and Chuck is 10.*

“I’m the highest!” Sam shouted. “No way, I’m swinging the highest!” Chuck shouted back. The two were competing to see who could swing the highest on the swings, their favorite thing to do when playing on the playground. “Well I know I can jump further than you!” Sam shouted. “Do that and see what happens!” Jay shouted as he pointed and glared at the two of them from the teeter totter he was on. “All I need is for you two to break your arms like your idiot brother did” he said as he shook his head at Brian. “Oh come on! I was younger than them at the time. I just wanted to look cool like the older kids!” he exclaimed with a playful smile. “You keep forgetting you’re not cool though” Jamie teased as she fell down from the monkey bars, AGAIN. “And you keep forgetting you have no muscle” Brian teased. “Oh like you have any room to talk” Haley teased as she helped her older sister up. She and Jamie were weaker than the others. They were dancers and had great stamina and had some muscle, but nowhere near as much as the others. Even Sam and Chuck were able to win against them in select physical challenges. “Brian you can’t say a damn thing until you’re over here with us” Amber said as she and Nick were once again competing to see who could complete the most pull-ups. The two loved to exercise and went to the gym often, so whenever they hung out like this they were always playfully competing against each other. “Yeah….what she said…” Nick said, starting to reach his limit. Sam laughed as Nick flopped down and fell to his knees, exaggerating how tired he truly was. She brought her swing to a stop and then ran over to where Brian and Jay were. The teeter totter had two seats on each side, and Sam climbed onto the seat in front of Brian. “Who said you could drive?” He asked. “It’s okay I have a permit” she joked. “Oh well then be my guest and drive” he said as he stood up and began to walk off, letting all of Jay’s weight on the opposite side pull his side down and Sam up high in the air. “Okay, okay! Please help me drive!” she exclaimed. “Well if you insist on needing my help” he said as he shrugged his shoulders and climbed back onto the back seat. “Hey, where’s my assistant?” Jay called out as he turned his head towards Chuck, who had a huge smile on his face when he heard this and ran over and climbed onto the front seat in front of Jay. Jay held onto Chuck tightly, as did Brian to Sam, and both sides tried their best to get the other to go higher up into air, hence why the older siblings were holding onto the younger ones. This went on for a bit until the others called them over for other activities. “Brian, come help me” Haley called over. “I’m busy!” “But I need help!” she called. “Ugh, but then I need to get up” he groaned, causing laughs from his other teeter tottering siblings. “Right because women love men who are scrawny and lazy” she teased as she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, if they know how to cook! And hey! I have a decent amount of muscle” he said as he held up his arms and tightened his muscles. “Then get over here and prove it by helping me!” “*sigh* excuse me young lady,” Brian said as he carefully stood up and helped Sam off her seat. “Don’t abandon your woman, bring her over to!” Haley called out with a smile. “Gosh so bossy!” Brian joked as he then bent down so he could give Sam a piggy back ride over to the zip line seats. There were a few different types of zip lines at the park. The few that they were using had round seats that connected to a rope that traveled down, across, and slightly increased before doing the same in reverse. There were a few of these types of lines next to each other. Sam and everyone else knew that Haley and Brian had a thing for each other, so she didn’t want to interfere with their moment together. Everyone in the family knew about this and they had for a long time. Way back when both their parents were still around, the two were always very close, and their parents always teased that one day they would grow up and marry each other. It was awkward and difficult when they then became siblings, but everyone always knew that when the time came, they would deal with the situation and find a way to allow the two to be together. Brian and Haley would never do anything romantic in front of their siblings because they knew the situation was strange, but they had been on dates alone before, but everything was kept private about them, and everyone had respect towards one another about the situation. Still, the others would try to give the two some space if it didn’t seem to odd, and right now seemed like one of those moments, so instead of having Brian push the two of them, Sam called someone else over. “Hey Nickkkkkkkkk!” “Yeah, yeah I’m heading over” the curly brown haired boy said. The girls got on their seats, and the boys pulled them all the way back to the highest point the wires would go, and the two nodded towards each other before taking off. The two boys ran forward, but when it was time for them to push and let go, they both jumped onto the seats with the girl in front of them. Nick and Sam both stood on their seat as Nick shouted “onward!” resulting in a huge smile coming from his younger sister. He swung an arm around his sister in a protective manner, since he wanted to keep her safe. Haley had been sitting on her seat, and Brian had jumped up and swung his legs around her so that they both were sitting on the seat as they swung down and forward, his arms tightly wrapped around her in a more romantic motion. “Ohhhh I wanna try! Chuck come protect me!” Jamie called out. Chuck ran over and stood behind his eldest sister who was sitting down. Jay followed behind and pushed the two forward as they swung forward on the zip line. Chuck held tightly onto Jamie’s shoulders as the two zoomed across the zip line. They all did this a few times as Jay and eventually Amber provided help to those who needed it, until they also wanted a turn. “I need someone strong to push me” Amber said jokingly. Haley and Jamie used all their might to help push Amber down and across the zip line, both cheering for themselves each time they completed this task. “Oh Nick, please protect me on this perilous journey!” Brian said as he ran over and jumped onto the seat in front of Nick. “Only if you protect me as well!” Nick exclaimed with a smile. “Never let me go Jack!” “I’ll never let go!” and with that the two went down and swung on the zip line, laughing the entire way. Jay also laughed as he was helping Sam and Chuck get set up on their seat. Sam sat down and Chuck stood up as Jay gave them a forceful push and the two took off. “Wow, look at how brave these two are Amber. I think they should aide us on our travels” Jay said with a smile. “I agree!” Amber said as she got off her seat and walked over to where the two youngest were. Jay carefully helped Chuck off the seat as they walked down to the furthest zip line, and Sam sat down so that Amber could sit behind her. Jay then sat behind Chuck on their zip line and soon everyone else came over to help push the two groups, the girls pushing the girls and the boys pushing the boys. Everyone was laughing and having such a good time, that nobody had noticed the shadowy figures that were slowly approaching, getting closer and closer to where the family was playing.

By the time Jay had noticed the movement and nudged Amber, it was too late. Just as they were helping the two youngest climb down from the seats, someone somewhere was shooting at them. “Go! Split up into groups to confuse them!” Jay shouted as they all started running away. As the siblings all began to scatter in groups, Sam had ended up close by to Jamie, and Nick and Chuck weren’t too far away from where they were running as well. Jamie and Nick made sure to run behind and block their younger siblings from the bullets behind them, but in the midst of their retreat from the playground the two had been hit and collapsed. “KEEP GOING!” they both yelled to the younger ones of their group. Sam and Chuck were too scared to think, and so they followed the instructions they were given as they heard footsteps getting closer to where they were standing. Sam turned around to see Nick and Jamie crawl under a car together to try and hide from the shooters while they were too injured to move.

Sam and Chuck continued to run, and after a few minutes and multiple turns from street to street, they were reunited with the others. “What do we do?” Haley asked in a panic. “It’s easier for them to attack us if we’re in one big group because we’re just one giant shooting target. Let’s move in two groups of three. Hide if you need to and stay with your group. Try to find help if that’s possible” Jay instructed. Everyone nodded and they split up, the girls staying together and the boys staying together. As Sam ran with her sisters, she was in such a panic and was so scared that she didn’t realize she wasn’t picking up such simple details that stated that someone was nearby. As the girls turned down another corner and began to run forward, Amber called out to stop, but Sam had already taken to many steps forward. Haley pulled on Sam’s arm and pulled Sam backwards, but in doing so, exposed herself to the kunai knife that was thrown at her. The knife dove deep into Haley’s side as she cried out in pain. Sam reacted instantly and pulled out her tonfa from the bag she had forgotten was on her back until now. The adrenaline kicked in quickly and she swiftly knocked the other knives out of the man’s hand and then kicked him in a sensitive spot, making him collapse to his knees as Sam punched him right in the nose, both giving him a bloody nose and knocking him out. “We need to hide her, Sam help me” Amber called out. Sam quickly ran back and the two girls put Haley’s arms around them as they helped move her to an alley way where they helped keep her hidden behind a few dumpsters. “Sam, you and Chuck went through all that martial arts training, so you need to stay here with Haley, got it?” Sam slowly nodded her head as tears began to form in her eyes. Amber cupped her sisters face in her hand, and then did the same to Haley with her other hand. “It’s going to be okay,” she said with a gentle smile, “we’re going to get help and we’re all going to be okay. I’m sure the boys will be back any minute now. Stay alert and don’t come out unless you absolutely need to.” Just then, they heard footsteps getting closer. Sam grabbed Amber’s leg as she stood up. “Where are you going?” Sam asked desperately with teary eyes. “I’m going to lead them away from you two. Like I said, stay here and wait for help. I love you guys.” And with that, Amber ran off, and seconds later, a handful of shadowy figures were chasing after her.

Sam was terrified. Yes she and Chuck had gone through multiple martial arts courses and trained with multiple weapons, but actually experiencing an attack like this was so very different from their training. You didn’t see your siblings get hurt in training, you didn’t see blood in training, and there weren’t gun shots during training. She wanted to be at home in her bed with her siblings all sleeping in their designated rooms, she wanted to know where everyone was and that they were safe. These thoughts ran through Sam’s head for about ten minutes, and then suddenly, more gun shots were heard from off in the distance. She wondered why no one had called the police yet after hearing all these gun shots. She would have done so already if her phone hadn’t died, and all her siblings either had the same dilemma or they had just left their phones at home to charge since they all were hanging out together that night. “It’s okay Haley, we’re going to be okay,” Sam whispered to her sister whom she was holding in her arms. “Why do you think the police aren’t here yet...Haley?” Sam looked down at her sister and noticed how pale and blue her skin looked. Sam looked at her sisters wound and noticed that the knife was still in her side, and even though it hadn’t been pulled out, her sister had still lost a lot of blood. Sam wouldn’t believe it, she would not believe that her sister had been lying here dead in her arms the entire time. She didn’t check her sisters pulse because she knew that everything had to be okay, everything had to go back to the way it was before tonight, it had to. Things had to go back to normal because Sam couldn’t handle another tragic loss, not again, not after everything had finally started to settle down and when everyone was beginning to live life full of happiness and cheer each day rather than filled with sorrow and anger from all that had happened to them. “Haley, I’m going to go get help, but I’ll be back okay? Please stay safe, you can’t leave me…none of you can…” and Sam got her tonfa out and slowly began to exit the alley way. She walked along the wall of the shops that faced the street. She was constantly turning around and looking all over the place, making sure to watch out for anyone who was trying to pull a fast one on her. She felt like she was wondering around forever until finally she saw someone up ahead. As she got closer, she saw that someone was lying in the middle of the street. She looked over and hoped to see the body of one of their attackers, but Sam fell to her knees and wasn’t able to control herself from sobbing out loud at what she saw. In front of her was Amber, lying in a puddle of blood that had come from three streams coming from her stomach, her eyes still wide open and filled with fear. Sam held onto Ambers hand as all reasonable thoughts fled from her mind and as she cried aloud at the sight in front of her. Amber was so much more than just a sister, she was her role model, someone who made her feel comfortable and safe, like her own personal body guard. Amber had taught her how to stand up to others who belittled her tomboy ways, and Amber was a light that brought nothing but happiness and confident energy to anyone around her, and now she lie in front of her, covered in blood and the most scared expression on her face that Sam had ever seen.

“Hey you!” cried a voice. Sam turned back to see some men dressed in black with guns in their hands exiting another alley way that had been behind where she was now kneeling. Adrenaline kicked in and Sam took off in the other direction. She sprinted down the road way in zig zag patterns and in between objects so that it would be harder for the men to hit her. She ran past someone standing in a tight space within the walls and stopped when she realized it was Chuck that she had just run past. As she was turning around, Chuck had already run out and had thrown shuriken stars at the three gun men. All three hit vital points on all the men and quickly they all collapsed. Sam was so shaken up, both from fear and also in awe at what her brother had just done, that she couldn’t comprehend how to say anything. Chuck turned around and grabbed her hand. “Come on, we have to meet back up with the others.” He lead the way as the two ran off for a couple of minutes and then turned left into a dimly lit alley way. The two kept walking until Chuck shoved them off to the side behind a dumpster. Sam gasped for air but her younger brother covered her mouth. She was so out of it that she hadn’t realized that four more men dressed in black had been following them. She heard footsteps get closer to where the two were standing until suddenly she heard a crack and then a thud. She peered around the corner and saw Jay standing in front of the remaining three men. He had a long piece of wood that he must have found in a different alley way and had just used it to knock out the fourth man in black. Right after, Brian came running from the darker side of the path with his own wooden strip and also began swinging at the men in black. It was made obvious very quickly that the three men had had martial arts training behind them based on how they dodged each swing of the blocks with ease, and once they gained the momentum, they started attacking more than dodging. Sam bit her lip as she tried not to cry out loud as she saw her older brothers get punched and kicked. She could hear Chuck beginning to sob as well. Sam turned towards her younger brother and then held up one of her tonfa. Chuck gave a light nod and then held up three fingers…then two…then one…and the two ran out to avenge their brothers.

Sam and Chuck ran out and tossed some weapons to their brothers and then quickly pulled out more for them to use. Brian grabbed a hold of the sais and Jay snatched the bo staff that had been tossed to him and the two were able to start attacking along with blocking attacks much better than they were before. Sam quickly started attacking the man closest to her with her tonfa while Chuck quickly pulled out his nunchuks. Chuck was very skilled in using his sais, but his true calling was within his nunchuks. He was able to move as quickly as the men in black when using them, and Sam aiding him with her tonfa made them a tough pair to beat even for their young ages. The fight continued on with each person working hard to look for an opening. The fight was more difficult for Jay and Brian, but luckily they were the ones that helped the younger ones train the most, so they had learned a lot when fighting with the weapons they were given. Brian knew how to hold the sais so that they wouldn’t cut him when he went to attack the enemy, and Jay knew how to use the bo to help maintain his balance while also looking for openings on when to attack, and he was lucky enough to find one. He quickly swung the bo staff and landed a solid hit to the man’s head, but after all that Jay had been through that night, he was much weaker than he was when helping his siblings train, so the hit wasn’t anywhere near as strong as it usually was. This left Jay wide open and as soon as he realized this, he was already out cold on the floor. Sam’s face turned red from anger and she ran up and started attacking the man who had just hurt her brother with full force. The man kept stumbling backwards, obviously not expecting such stamina and strength from such a young child. Sam was filled with so much energy that she was able to swing her leg down and knock the man backwards, knocking him out as his head made a solid connection with the wall behind him.

While this fight was occurring, Brian was still fighting his opponent. Again, he wanted to attack with the energy he had, but because of the beating he just took he knew that he wouldn’t be able to land a solid hit hard enough to defeat his opponent. Just then, the man knocked one of the sais out of his hand and it went flying into the dumpster. Just as the man ducked to cover himself from an attack, Brian saw Sam run back to aide Chuck. Sam jumped on the man from behind and used her tonfa to help suffocate him while Chuck punched him in the gut. His face turned blue and he collapsed. As Brian’s opponent stood back up, he heard footsteps rush behind him. “I’ll use the last of my energy for this” Brian thought as he quickly swiped his leg by the man’s knees, making him fall backwards as Chuck quickly ran up, twisted his hips and brought his left leg up to connect his foot with the man’s face.

Finally, all the men were now unconscious. They all let out a sigh of relief. Sam ran right over to Jay and saw how bloody and bruised his face was. “We…we have to move him” she choked out as she held onto her brothers hand while he lie unconscious on the ground. She prayed that this wasn’t the same case as what happened to Haley, but more tears formed in her eyes as she noticed the similarities in how Jay looked now to how Haley looked when she was injured earlier. “We’ll hide him quickly, but then we need to keep movi-” Just then, and it happened so quickly that no one heard or saw anything except the red dot that formed on Brian’s forehead, he had been shot. Chuck instantly pulled out a shuriken star and threw it in the direction of where the shot was taken, and soon after a man fell down in front of them. Sam gasped as she stared at the man who had just fallen and then at Brian’s body. “NO!” Screamed Chuck. Sam turned and saw that two more men in black had grabbed Chuck and knocked his weapons out of his hand. That fast, the tides had turned and they were all screwed. “How? How are there so many of them? Why do more keep appearing?” These were Sam’s thoughts as she stood up to run over to the men, but as she took her first step, she saw one bring out a shuriken star of his own. The second man held Chuck’s arms out as the first man ripped the star down Chuck’s forearms. Chuck clenched his fists, not wanting to cry out and give the satisfaction to the cruel men that they wanted, to hear their victim cry out in pain. Chuck looked up and saw Sam standing next to Jay’s body. He could tell how broken she was and he knew that she would be next. “I love you Sam” he choked out. And then his eyes slowly began to droop, and his face slowly lost its color, and his body soon went limp, and the men dropped him on the ground once they realized he was gone. Sam just stood there. What should she do? There were yet again more men in front of her, and no matter where she ran she knew that more would appear. These were her last thoughts as felt something slam against the back of her head, and then everything was silent as everything went dark.

Theme:                                                                   Ellie Goulding-Dead In The Water When Sam woke up, she was in a white room. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she realized she was lying in a bed. She heard some beeping and slowly turned her head to see many different monitors around where she was laying down. She then went back to her original position when she felt a sharp twinge in the back of her head. She assumed she must have been in the hospital and she wondered where everyone else was. That’s when she heard some footsteps coming into the room. She closed her eyes, thinking that maybe she could learn what happened after hearing the doctor’s talk. “…Alright, she seems to be okay. She should be waking up sometime soon based on these results” said a female voice. “That’s good news at least. It’s still unbelievable and it makes me sick. How could someone harm such a loving family?” asked a male voice. “Sadly this happens more than you would think. I hate to be gruesome rookie, but sadly this is something you have to get used to in this field.” “I know, I know. I just can’t believe that she’s the only one that survived out of all the ones they checked. Some of them might have had a slight chance if help had been sent. The bleeding could have been properly treated for the girl, and the bullets might have been able to be removed from the other two, but the rest they looked at were long gone and didn’t stand a chance. I just…can’t believe this actually happened. And that one kid was only 10!” “It’s insane. I can’t imagine what was going through her head that night. Well, as horrible as it is, there’s others like her and we need to help them in every way we can. Let’s go check on the patient next door, she should be waking up soon as well…”

Sam opened her eyes after she heard the door close shut. She couldn’t believe it. Everyone they checked at the crime scene was dead, she was the only survivor. What was she supposed to do? Whenever tragedy struck she always had her siblings, they were the reason she was able to live life now. Anytime anything made her upset, whether it be a serious matter or just something stupid, her siblings were the reason that she was able to get through it and see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now she was alone with no one to protect her and no one for her to protect. She felt lost, not knowing where she would go or what she would do without them. They were literally her entire life, everything she did was for them, everything she did was with them, and now they were all gone. She thought of what might happen to her now and tears filled her eyes as she thought of being sent to therapy where she would have to re-live everything she saw that night, and then being sent to a group home where she would always be alone after re-living the pain. That was another thing, how was she supposed to stop seeing them? Those images: Jamie and Nick under the cars covered in holes, Haley bleeding by the dumpster, Amber lying there stone cold in the street, Jay on the ground with so many blue and purple bruises and blood that you couldn’t even tell what his skin color was, Brian’s blank expression as the red dot formed on his head, and Chuck slowly fading away right in front of her eyes. She was wrong. She would never be alone, because she would never be able to get these images out of her head. Sam cried out as she realized that she wouldn’t be living anymore, she would be existing. Existing with nothing but fear and terror consuming her thoughts every moment of every day. “I don’t want to live this way…I can’t live this way…I don’t want this, I want to be with them. I can’t do this on my own” she thought to herself as she brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, hiding her face in this cocoon as she  wailed out loud. She then noticed something out of the corner of her eye. On a nearby tray table was a small bottle. Her vision was so blurry from tears that she couldn’t read the bottle, but she didn’t care. She quickly popped open the top, poured a handful of pills, and then stared at them in her hand. “I can’t live without them, I can’t live alone. Maybe if life was different…but now EVERYONE is gone. I’m only existing without them here, I want to join them and live again” Sam thought as she brought her hand to her mouth, and she tried to swallow the pills as she threw her head back.

“NO!!!” screamed a familiar voice. Sam felt two fingers shove their way deep into her mouth and then another hand tilt her head to the side as she threw up everything that just went into her body. “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!?!” the voice shouted at her.   Sam looked forward to see Jay standing in front of her with glassy and pissed off eyes. “They said you were dead…” she mumbled as tears streamed down her cheeks, her hands shaking like crazy. “WHO?!” “The doctors just did. They said I was the only survivor of those they checked” she mumbled, barely being able to choke out the words. “YEAH, BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T CHECK ME! I was awake when they got there so I told them to focus on you guys and that I would let them check me later! Jesus, so your first thought was to take my pain medication and fucking kill yourself?!” Sam was so startled by everything that she kept choking from her sobs as she attempted to talk. “I…I thought I was alone…I can’t live alone. Not with the images…all the images of everyone…I couldn’t live with that on my own…” Jay pulled a chair up next to her. He took some deep breaths and made sure he was a bit calmer before talking to her. He held her hand and went slow as he talked. “Don’t EVER do something like that ever again. I felt the same way…but I stayed strong until I knew 110% what condition everyone was in. When the paramedics said you still had a chance to live, I cried and kept praying that you would make it. I need you Sam, I need you more now than ever, more than I’ve ever needed you before. This…this is worse than any situation we’ve ever been thrown into…” “What happened?” Sam asked as she clenched her fists. “Why us? Why were there so many of them? Why didn’t it ever end?” “…” “No…don’t tell me” she said as she started shaking her head. Jay really began to cry now, tears pouring from his black and purple bruised eyes. “It was them again, the Foot Clan and the Purple Dragons. That’s why it never stopped, they always have so many men nearby when they attack” Jay said as he began crying aloud with his sister. Sam slammed her other fist down on the bed. “WHY?! WHY IS IT ALWAYS US? FIRST YOUR PARENTS, THEN MINE, AND NOW LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE! WHY US JAY, WHY?!?!” she screamed as she cried. He stood up and hugged his sister, for both of them. They clenched their fists as they hugged the other. “I wish I knew…I wish I knew. But look at me” he said as he backed off and grabbed her face in his hands, “you can’t leave me okay? You can’t pull a stunt like that EVER AGAIN! I need you!” he said, choking on his sobs, “I need you so much Sam. We ALL have always needed ALL of our siblings in order to get through tough times, so now I need you even more than before. It’s just us, so you can’t leave me…you can’t leave me…” Sam gently tugged on her bothers arm and he crawled into the bed with her. The two lay together, Jay on the left with his chin resting on the top of his sisters head. They looked like a father comforting his daughter the way they were holding each other. They needed each other to survive, and they both vowed that they would never let anything ever happen to the other one. They lay this way for the rest of the day except for when the doctors needed to check on them, not letting go of the other, both afraid that letting the other go might be the last time they saw each other, terrified of losing the other and being left all alone in this world.

*Present day, back in the dojo*

Sam took a deep breath in, and then out. This was the first time in a long while that she had relived that entire night, and she was a bit shocked at herself that she hadn’t even shed one tear. At one time she couldn’t speak a single word before tears came pouring from her eyes, but she had just told the entire tragic story without even the slightest sob sneaking out. She had come a long way since that night, and this was one example of how. She looked back up at Mikey and was startled by the expression on his face. “How…how were you able to hide that for so long? How do you just carry that around with you? Like…holy shit…” he said. Sam had never heard him talk in such a serious tone, or with such a serious expression. His eyes were wide, but they were filled with sorrow. His body was stiff yet there was still a slight tremble when he spoke. “It’s been four years, you learn to grow with the changes, and you learn how to deal with them. It wasn’t easy and it never will be, but there are things that help make it better, things that help you survive and find the will to move on” Sam replied. “Just…wow. Everything makes sense now though. The past and present tense in your speech now makes sense, and even things like why you won’t even try to fight with nunchuks makes sense.” “Yeah,” she said with a small smile as she remembered her brother, “his sais were his original weapon of choice, but he was even more incredible when he had his nunchuks in his hands. I was never able to look at them the same after he passed away, so I haven’t fought with them in a long time, and I never plan to. That was his number one weapon and at times it seemed they were meant for him to fight with, I could never try to top that and I don’t ever want to. That’s a memory of him I never want to change.” Mikey nodded his head. “I would have loved to have met him, and if he’s like you then I would have loved to spar with him” he said with a small comforting smile. “The reasons for all your training makes sense now as well. I’m assuming you took even more classes after that night?” Sam nodded. “After we all learned that both the Allan’s and Park’s had been killed by the Foot, Chuck and I wanted to learn how to defend ourselves if a time came where we needed to do so. Obviously our training helped some, but it wasn’t enough mentally or physically. I made it clear to Jay that more and various types of training were needed if I wanted to truly start to move past that night. I couldn’t fall asleep for the longest time because I was terrified that soldiers would sneak in my room late in the middle of the night and attack us again.” “There’s only one thing I don’t understand, do you mind me asking?” he asked gently. “Of course not, ask away.” “You’ve said multiple times that you don’t really have any friends and that those who talk to you only do so when you’re part of that activity or if they need something, was that night one of the reasons you’ve been so isolated?” “Yeah. Everyone looked at me differently after that night. No one tried to comfort me, no one even said hi to me. It was made very clear early on that besides for Jay’s support, I would have to deal with my daily struggles all by myself. I basically spent each day all alone, and it was worse when Jay had to start working more so that he could financially support the two of us.” Sam noticed that Mikey’s eyes had become glassy and that he kept staring at the floor rather than at her face. He finally looked back at her as he began to speak. “I’m so sorry that you had to go through all of that. I’m sorry I didn’t know you then, because I never would have let you go through any of that by yourself ever. No one should ever experience what you went through that night, and the fact that only one person for a limited time was there for you at your weakest moment is just…” he cupped his mouth and looked off to the side for a few seconds, taking the time to collect himself, “it’s just so difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that someone as kind and energetic as you was left alone in so many ways like that.” Sam smiled at him. “What you don’t realize is that I haven’t acted that way in a long, long time. I’ve smiled and laughed more in the past few months since I met you guys than I have in the past four years of my life. Most of the time when I did smile it was forced, and most of my social interaction came from online chat rooms since I spent every night at home. I became so distant from people that I cared for no one but myself, and Jay of course, and after becoming much stronger in multiple different ways I began looking for dangerous and usually illegal activities to make me feel alive again.” “Like jumping from rooftop to rooftop and finding places you could sneak into after hours and how to hack their security systems in order to do so?” Mikey asked as he raised his eyebrows and realized that this now made sense as well. “Exactly those things, and a lot more just like them. But it’s a good thing that I ended up that way.” “Really?” “Yup!” she said with a smile as their conversation became a bit more relaxed and casual again, yet still serious and emotional. “Please explain” Mikey replied, a smile on his face for the exact same reason. “Because my sneaky and adrenaline filled curiosity lead me to this place, and then I met all of you, and you all are the reason I’ve changed so much. I’ve rediscovered parts of me that I haven’t seen in a long time, and you’ve all allowed me to have interactions that I haven’t had in years. I’ve been able to look back on memories of my family with happiness rather than with sorrow, and I laugh when I think back to my past rather than cry. I mean I still cry sometimes, but nowhere near as much as I used to. My life has changed for the better in ways I never thought it ever would, so THANKS GUYS FOR ALLOWING ME TO KEEP VISITING THE LAIR!” Sam shouted as she turned her head towards the giant circular entry ways into the dojo. There was a pause…and then Leo, Raph, and Donnie slowly poked their heads around the sides of the walls and slowly walked in. Each of them was silent and felt guilty for listening in on the conversation. “Sorry” they all said simultaneously before giving each other odd looks for their oddly synced speech. Sam smiled at the boys. “It’s okay, I wouldn’t have kept telling the story if I didn’t want to. It felt like the right time to tell the entire truth. You guys never pressured me into saying anything, even though at times it was obvious you wanted to know.” This made the boys react in embarrassed manners: rubbing the back of their heads, looking off to the side, rocking on their feet, etc. “It was a bit of a rocky start, but you guys let me get to know you, and you all did the same thing in return. I haven’t felt this comfortable with other people in a long while, and telling me about the past and present tense thing made me realize that I had already been giving you guys personal hints about my past that I hadn’t even realized. So thanks, for knowing me better than myself” she said with a small smile. “Heh, thanks for sneaking into our home” Mikey teased. “And thank you for eventually letting that go and not seeing me as the thief anymore” Sam said with an awkward smile. “That’s what family does, forgive each other and move on” Raph said with a small smile. “I mean hey, you’re practically our sister” Leo said before turning to walk away. “…hey, you knew you said that that one night, didn’t you?!” Sam said as she ran over to him, remembering the night he accidentally called her his sister as they were leaving the parking garage after they had all snuck into the latest Foot headquarters building and quarreled with the Mutanimals. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” Leo said playfully as he shrugged. “Yeah, yeah. Oh Dorkatello! Did you see my latest invention before you guys began your eavesdropping?” she teased. Donnie was still rubbing his one hand down his face while holding his glasses in the other hand, trying not to let anyone know he had teared up a small bit when listening to Sam’s story (none of the three would ever admit it, but they had all teared up some). “All I saw was you putting something into your bag and then right after that you started talking to Mikey.” “Oh then I need to show you now!” Sam said as she ran over to her bag.

And that fast things were back to normal in the lair. Sam never in a million years thought she would be able to relive that night in the way she just had. She was able to casually reflect on her past and in a comfortable setting rather than a forced therapeutic one. Once again her new family members helped change her in a way she never thought possible, and she loved all of them, but Mikey was the number one reason she had changed as much as she had. He always knew what she needed in order to feel better and he knew how to help her open up on her own terms. He was gentle and kind with her and on multiple occasions showed that he truly cared about her and wanted to know about her and her life so that the two could continue to grow closer to each other. He also helped his brothers see her the way he did and because of this she was able to open up to so many more people and experience things she hadn’t in so long, and this is what lead her to not having to but WANTING to tell them about her past. She never thought she would want more people to know about her past after the way everyone else had abandoned her after learning about the tragedy that occurred, yet here she was answering questions and reflecting on her past with a new and more loving and positive mindset, remembering the love and happiness her siblings brought her rather than thinking of their last gruesome moments. Her new family was the key reason that she was living again, they were the main reason she WANTED to live, and she prayed that nothing would ever come between her and her newest family members. For four years she had been existing, but for these past few months, she had felt finally felt what it was like to live again.

Secret of the Sewers: Monster

Down in the NYC sewer tunnels, Hisako sat in the center of a large junction. She was in a meditative position, her eyes closed and her breathing even. She focused on the slight sounds of water rushing through the tunnels, letting the soft gurgle drown out the voices flitting through her head.

“Your abilities are a wonderful gift,” Splinter had told her in the dojo. “They give you a unique perspective of the world. However, if you come to rely on them too heavily, then should a time ever come where you cannot use them, you will be left helpless.”

This was why she was out here now, strengthening her senses, as well as playing one of her sibling’s favorite games: Ninja Tag.

The object of the game was for the turtles to tag Hisako without her hearing them. It had proven to be a fun training exercise, and a difficult challenge.

As Hisako focused on the water, she heard a single splash off to the left, followed by a muffled curse. In an instant, Hisako had a shuriken in her hand, which she quickly tossed in the direction of the noise. It landed right at the feet of Michelangelo, who let out a yelp as he jumped to avoid the projectile.

"You're out." Hisako called.

Mikey grumbled and sat down where he stood.

"And I was so close this time." He muttered.

Focusing more, Hisako heard a slight scraping noise off to the right, like wood against brick. Another shuriken quickly embedded itself into Donatello's staff.

"Out." She called again

Donny pulled the star out of his staff and sat down. He was slightly closer to Hisako than Mikey, but not by much. Hisako focused again, and this time, heard light footsteps coming up from behind her. She quickly twirled around, a shuriken going right at Raphael's face. He brought up his sai and blocked it, the metal star rebounding off his weapons with a bell-like chime.

"Out." she told him with a small smile.

Raph snarled in disappointment, plopping down on the floor. He was about ten feet away from Hisako, making him the closest to her.

"Now just one more." Hisako whispered.

She focused one more time, but heard nothing. It was almost completely silent. Until…

"Tag." Leonardo called, tapping Hisako on the top of the head with his sword sheath.

Hisako smirked, grabbing the sheath and standing up.

"Leo wins." She announced. "Again."

The turtles all gathered around her as she reached into her vest, pulled out a notepad from her pocket. He plucked out a pen and added a tally mark to Leo’s column, sticking the pen behind her ear.

"Let's see…” She began as she quickly counted the marks.  “That's 47 wins for Leo, 32 for Raph, with Donny following closely behind with 31, I have a whoppin’ 27, and finally, Mikey with 12.”

"Only 12?" Mikey whined.

"You keep making the same mistake with the puddle." Leo commented. "A ninja must always be aware of their surroundings."

Mikey grumbled again, but soon, a different grumbling caught everybody's attention. Mikey's stomach. He clutched it and sat down again.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry."

Sure enough, four more stomachs began growling. Hisako chuckled and put the pad away.

"I'll go and get us some lunch." She volunteered. "How does pizza from Mario Brother's Pizzeria sound?"

The turtles began cheering happily.

"Make sure to make it a deep dish pizza!" Mikey shouted.

"With sausage and pepperoni!" Raph added.

"Don't forget my black olives." Donny reminded.

"And extra cheese." Leo concluded

Hisako just shook her head smiling.

"I'll take the bike and meet you guys back here with lunch. In the meantime, you guys keep practicing."

The turtles all nodded as Hisako headed off back to the lair.

…

Further down the expansive tunnels of the sewer, a large, brooding figure stalked through the darkness. Large nostrils flared, trying to catch even the smallest scent amongst the odors of the sewers. Dark red eyes pierced through the darkness, scanning the mildew covered walls for signs of life.

"Where are you..." the creature wondered aloud.

In that moment, a brief scent crossed his nose. It was faint, but the smell was distinctive.

"Turtles..."

Not wanting to lose the scent, the monster sank beneath the shallow waters, swimming at an impressive speed towards the origin of the scent.

…

The doors to Renaissance motors opened as a dark green motorbike sped out onto the street. Hisako gunned it, enjoying the feel of the wind and sun on her skin. It was in moments like these that Hisako sometimes forgot how much of an outsider she was. Being able to go outside, to run, jump, and be herself were luxuries she was still trying to get used to.

Part of her still feared the figures that haunted her nightmares. She was still weary of her dark past, and those who made her childhood a living hell. She knew she would never be free of them, but she refused to let her fear rule her.

It was for this reason that Hisako had become more and more insistent on going to the surface alone. Her brothers couldn't protect her forever, so she needed to learn to stand on her own. It had taken a lot of baby steps, as well as her brothers following her around town (though she pretended she didn't know they were there), but in the end, Hisako had become a confident woman, one who wasn't afraid to walk in the sun.

…

"Man. Where is Hisako with that pizza?" Mikey groaned.

"Keep your shell on Mikey." Raph said. "She's only been gone five minutes."

Mikey groaned again, slumping against the wall.

"I'm so~o hungry…" he moaned.

Leo shook his head.

"You're always hungry." He replied. "Just try and find something to occupy your mind until the pizza gets here."

Mikey's stomach growled loudly.

"Easier said than done, Leo." Donny replied. "This is Mikey we're talking about."

Another growl echoed through the tunnels, even louder than before.

"Okay, Mikey. We get it. You're hungry." Raph snapped.

Mikey shook his head.

"That wasn't me…"

The four brothers exchanged confused glances, ones that turned serious as they drew their weapons.

"Spread out." Leo ordered. "I don't think we're alone."

The turtles all nodded, then each ran down a separate tunnel. Leo scoured the eastern tunnels, listening for even the slightest sound. However, he heard nothing.

Raphael charged down the tunnels, turning corners rearing for a fight. Like his brother, he too came up empty handed.

Mikey leaned against the wall of a corner and picked up a stone. He tossed it, then waited to hear the clatter. When he heard nothing, he let out a sigh of relief and turned back.

"All clear on my end." Leo said as he returned to the junction.

"Same here." Raph called.

"Zippo." Mikey added.

Donny however called from down the tunnel he had taken.

"Found something!"

The turtles quickly dart down the tunnel, where they found Donny hunched over some mud. They looked at the mud to see a large footprint embedded deeply in the surface. It looked almost human, but it was much larger, and the toes seemed pointed.

"What can you tell us Don?" Leo asked as he sheathed his swords.

Donny examined the print, his mind immediately taking measurements. As he examined it, Raph and Mikey stowed their weapons.

"Judging by the size of the print, and using the foot to body ratio, I'd say this thing is about 7 feet tall."

Raph let out a whistle at that revelation.

"That's one big sucker." Raph muttered.

"The claws on the toes mean that whatever we're dealing with, it's some sort of predator." Donny continued. "And now that I look a bit closer, this thing has webbed toes… and only four of them."

"Four toes?" Mikey asked. "What kind of creature has less than five toes?"

The other three turtles glared at Mikey, who looked up at his brothers with a confused expression.

"What?" he asked.

"Look at your own feet, shell-for-brains." Raph told him.

Mikey looked down and wiggled his solitary two toes.

"Oh…." He muttered, then something dawned on him. "Hey wait a minute! That means that whatever this thing is, it's a mutant like us!"

Donny nodded in agreement.

"That's what I'm guessing."

"Mutant in New York?! That aren’t us?!" Mikey whined. "That just ain’t right!"

Raph whacked Mikey upside the head, then shushed him.

"Quiet down Mikey." He ordered.

"Raph's right." Don agreed. "Whatever this thing is, it's a hunter, it's huge, it's a mutant-" Donny hesitated for a moment, then slowly started reaching for his Bo staff, "… and has incredibly sharp teeth…"

The brothers looked confused.

"How do you know it has sharp teeth?" Leo asked.

"Because it's standing right behind you." Donny replied.

In that instant, the brothers immediately grabbed their weapons and leapt to their feet, turning to face the creature. Sure enough, it stood about 7 feet tall, nearly filling the tunnel. It was dark green, with long claws on its fingers, and piercing red eyes. It had a human-ish face, but had a strange nose that slightly resembled a crocodile's snout. Its teeth were jagged and sharp, and it was bald with long jagged scars covering its face and parts of its arms. It seemed to be wearing a pair of hospital pants with a huge hole in the back for a thick, spiny tail. Around its neck, the creature wore a strange metal collar.

"Leo…" Mikey whispered. "What do we do?"

"I don't know Mikey…" Leo replied. "Maybe it isn't here to fight."

Praying his hypothesis was true, Leo slowly sheathed his swords.

"Who are you?" Leo asked, hoping this creature could understand him.

The creature snarled, then swiped his hand, knocking Leo to the side as if he were nothing. He hit the wall hard and then splashed down into the water.

"LEO!"

The other three turtles gripped their weapons and threw themselves at the creature.

…

Down in Stockman's secret laboratory, he and Hun were standing around a large monitor. On the screen, the two could see the events of the sewers occurring from a first person point of view, specifically, the large monster's point of view.

"Isn't this wonderful?" Stockman asked, his voice betraying the sheer joy he was feeling. "I've been looking for a chance to test my obedience collar. It seems to be working in full form. Though, I was hoping that the master would let me test it on you first."

Hun raised an eyebrow, growling at the doctor. Stockman ignored him, focusing on the on-screen fight.

"Not only does it ensure that my pet will do exactly what I tell it to, but with the built in microphone and camera, I can see and hear everything it does."

"Are you done patting yourself on the back?" Hun grumbled.

Stockman shook his head, patting Hun's arm.

"My apologies." he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "But considering my pet is about accomplish what you failed to do in four years, I think I'm entitled to a little 'back patting', don't you?"

Hun growled, but remained silent. As the battle continued, Stockman frowned slightly.

"You know Hun, my boy, I am seeing the four turtles you have mentioned in the past, but the girl you keep mentioning is absent. Where is she?"

Hun allowed a small smirk to crawl onto his face. Even if Stockman's pet managed to beat the turtles, if the girl was not taken down as well, Stockman will have failed after all. Noticing Hun's smug grin, Stockman coughed, regaining himself.

"No matter." He decided. "Eventually, she when she does, she will be mine."

…

Ding, ding.

Hisako walked into Mario Brothers Pizzeria. The smell of cheese and pepperoni greeted her as she approached the main counter. As she got there, a slender man in a green shirt under a white apron came to greet her. A smile graced his face as he recognized her.

"Ah." he called happily, his arms open as if waiting for a hug. "If it isn't my a-favorite customer."

"Hey Luigi." Hisako replied. "Is Casey working today?"

"E-yes." Luigi replied, his thick Italian accent making Hisako smile. "He's a-in the back a-working with his girlfriend on-a his homework. I'll go-a get 'im."

Hisako grinned, then covered her ears as Luigi opened the door leading to the kitchen.

"Hey-a Jones! Your favorite-a customer is-a here!"

Hisako uncovered her ears as Casey Jones came out of the kitchen.

Casey was a very well built 19 year old. He had very tanned skin, a combination of mixed blood and spending most of his time outside. He was a member of almost every sports team at Eastman-Laird University, where he was going due to multiple sport scholarships. Despite being a jock, he had a really big heart. He had taken the job at Mario Brothers Pizzeria to help his mom out, and had even begun receiving tutoring in order to keep his grades acceptable.

When Casey laid eyes on Hisako, he grinned widely, revealing a row of white teeth, albeit with a chip here and there.

"Hey Greeny!" he called, jumping over the counter. "How've ya been?"

The two hugged, Casey's muscular frame nearly swallowing Hisako. As he released her, his smile seemed wider.

"You're not as skinny as before." he remarked. "I told ya working out would put some muscle on those bones."

Hisako laughed as Casey went back behind the counter.

"Thanks Casey." She replied. "I've been doing well. What about you?"

"Been good. I was elected MVP on the football team, and my hockey team went to finals again."

"Awesome."

"But you didn't come here for the sports section. You came here for a deep dish pizza with sausage and pepperoni, add black olives and extra cheese."

Hisako chuckled. There wasn't an ounce of telekinesis in Casey, but he always knew her exact pizza order.

"You know me so well Casey." Hisako commented with a chuckles.

"Hey, the day I get your order wrong is the day you know something's wrong." Casey replied with a wave.

Casey darted back into the kitchen to get to cooking as Hisako took a seat. After a minute, the kitchen door opened again and April O'Neil walked out.

April was a 20 year old genius who had graduated top of her class, and was currently attending Eastman-Laird University on a science scholarship. She had known Casey since freshman year of high school when he had begun his tutoring search. She had helped him out, and the rest was history.

"Hisako, I thought I heard your voice." April called as she took a seat across from her.

"Hey April." Hisako replied. "What's up?"

"Nothing much." April replied with a shrug. "Casey just needed some help in algebra again."

"That's to be expected." Hisako remarked. "I mean, after all, letters belong in English, not in math."

The two girls shared a chuckled.

"What about you Hisako?" April asked after a moment "How are things going with you and your brothers?"

Hisako thought back to the fight not long ago, and how Hun had punched her lights out, literally.

"It's been alright. One of our night jobs didn't go as well as we had hoped, so we're making sure that doesn't happen again."

"You know, you've never really told me what 'night jobs' you and your brothers do."

Hisako felt a slight wave of panic go through her, but luckily, her brain quickly provided her with a suitable answer.

"We're street cleaners." She supplied. "We clear out the garbage and filth so that the city will be cleaner, and safer."

April whistled.

"Sounds like very hard work."

Hisako nodded in agreement.

"It is, but my family and I can handle it. When push comes to shove, we can stand up for ourselves, no matter what we face."

…

The four turtles were getting their shells handed to them. Whatever this thing was, it had the strength of five men, and was turning out to be a greater threat than they had imagined.

"Man…" Mikey groaned. "How are we supposed to take this guy down?"

"I don't know…" Donny replied.

"We need to work together." Leo explained. "We need to pin his arms, avoid the teeth, and find a way to knock him out."

Raph came flying through the air, crashing right in front of his brothers. He sat up,

"Leo… I can't believe I'm saying this, but lead on."

The creature lumbered closer, watching the four with eyes filled with determination. The turtles exchanged nods, then Mikey leapt at the monster.

"Cowabunga!"

The creature charged at them. Mikey leapt at it, trying to grab its arm, but only succeeded in getting caught himself. The creature hugged Mikey close, nearly crushing the orange turtle in its grasp as it roared in his face.

"Okay… two words for you..." Mikey gasped. "Breath… Mint!"

Just then, Raph came out of nowhere, raining one punch after another at the monster's stomach. After a while, the creature had enough and threw Mikey at him. The two turtles were send skidding through the mud, where they collided with a wall. As they tried to get up, they saw the creature looming over them, its fists raised over them. Before it could bring them down, Leo and Donnie came in to distract it.

Leo barreled into its stomach with all the force he could muster as Donnie struck it on the head with his staff. This put the monster off balance long enough for Raph to grab one of its arms. Before the creature could react, Donnie grabbed onto other arm as Mikey wrapped his legs around his neck so he could hold. The creature let out a growl, giving Mikey the chance to gag it with his Nunchucks.

"Leo!" Raph called out. "Whatever you're going to do, do it now!"

Leo ran forward, his blades swinging down in a deadly arc. However, when they came into contact with the creature's skin, the blades barely made a dent. The creature seemed to smile around the chains in its mouth. It let out a few short growls, and it took the turtles a minute to figure out what it was doing.

"Is it- Is it chuckling?" Donny asked.

The creature chuckled louder, then looked Leo straight in the eye.

"That- won't- work-"

The turtles couldn't believe it. The thing spoke. It was intelligent. However, they didn't have long to think on this. The creature stopped moving, as if focusing its energy somewhere else. All of a sudden, there was the sound of creaking metal, accompanied by the short snaps of something being broken. Mikey's grip on his Nunchucks suddenly loosened as he fell backwards. Splashing down in the mud, he looked at his Nunchucks to see the chain links broken, as if they had been bitten through.

"Leo! My Nunchucks!"

The three brothers all looked at Mikey, only to be quickly reminded of the situation as the monster threw them off him with a strong swing of his arms. The brothers all looked up at the creature, all gulping in fear.

"We need to shut him down." Raph said. "Like, now."

"For that, we'd need Hisako." Donny replied.

"Where is she when we need her?" Mikey whined.

…

Hisako and April were both laughing rather loudly, sitting at one of the booths in the restaurant.

"So wait, he did what?" April asked.

"He stuffed 9 fried dumplings his mouth at once." Hisako replied. "9 dumplings. He wanted to set a world record."

"Is there even a record for that?" April asked.

"In Kung Fu Panda, maybe. But try telling that to Mikey."

The two girls just kept chuckling.

"Sounds like your brothers are quite the handful."

Hisako shrugged.

"Maybe, but I could care less. They're family, I wouldn't trade them for the world."

April looked at Hisako, and could see a spark of sadness in her eyes. April was naturally curious, and had to ask.

"You know, if your brothers are so cool, then why is it always you they send to pick up pizza? Aren't they taking advantage of you?"

Hisako chuckled at the thought. If only April knew the truth.

"Actually, I volunteer to come get it." She replied, deciding against her sarcastic train of thought. "I had a… Rough… Childhood, until they found me. I was afraid of the world, until they showed me the beauty of it."

April looked at Hisako with a note of pity in her eyes. Hisako could hear the many questions running through her head, wanting to come out, but she could also feel April's willingness to allow Hisako to keep her secrets. That made the young psychic smile.

"Pie's done!" Casey called.

Hisako jumped out of the booth, snagging the large pizza box.

"And not a moment too soon. Thanks Case!" she said with a grin. "See you soon."

She spun the pizza in her hand and walked out the door, giving her two friends a wave.

“See ya!” she cheered.

“Take care, and tell your bros I say hi!” Casey called back.

…

Hisako got back to the garage with some time to spare. After parking the bike and locking the doors, she flipped open a trapdoor leading to a hand-carved tunnel into the lair. Gripping the pizza, Hisako jumped into the hole, enjoying the slide-like ride. She even held up her arm like she was on a roller coaster while the other gripped the pizza.

After a few more seconds of sliding, it opened out onto a large pile of bean bags that had been set up to catch the travelers of the winding path. Hearing the ever familiar thud accompanying Hisako's childish giggles, Splinter looked up from his meditation with a smile.

"I see you were sent out for lunch again." He commented.

Hisako pulled herself out of the beanbags, approaching the rat.

"Yep. You wanna slice?" she asked, opening the box.

"I shall pass." He told her, gently holding up a paw. "Besides, I am positive that your brothers have been quite busy training while you were gone."

Hisako chuckled as she closed the box.

"Yeah. 'Training'. Odds are they're probably bickering again." She remarked. "I best go find them before they try to kill each other again."

Pizza in hand, Hisako exited the lair, eager to find her brothers.

...

Hisako zigged and zagged through the tunnels, taking multiple turns like a master, and even spinning around corners with a grin on her face. After about seven or eight different turns, she arrived at the junction where they had been training. However, there was no sign of any of the turtles.

"Guys?" She called. "Leo? Raph? Donny? Mikey?"

Nobody answered. Confused, she closed her eyes, hoping to catch a sign of their presence somewhere. However, there wasn't a single ping. No stray thought, no nothing.

"Guys, this isn't funny." she called. "Come out."

Still, there was no answer. Now starting to get worried, she looked around the tunnels at random, calling for her brothers. She called out their names frantically, the fear in her gut growing larger and larger.

Then, just as she was running past a fork, she spotted something that made her blood run cold. Poking out from behind a wall was a green arm wearing a black glove with only two fingers.

"No!" Hisako screamed.

She ran down the fork and around the corner to see all four of her brothers out cold on the ground. Donny was sprawled out in the mud, his staff in three pieces around him. Mikey was right on top of him, his Nunchucks in pieces as well, with broken links of chains on the ground. Leo was on his side in the dirt, his swords resting about a foot away from his hands. Finally, Raph was leaned against the wall, blood running from a gash on his forehead, the only turtle still slightly conscious.

"Raphael!" she screamed.

She dropped the pizza box and ran over to her brother, shaking him desperately. He looked up at his sister, his eyes widening in sheer terror. It was a look that did not belong on the red turtle's face.

"Hisako…" he muttered. "Run…"

…

The entire time the footage had been playing, Stockman had been taking notes on the four turtles, noting there names, weapons, fighting styles, and even their supposed rank in their little group. He had gotten so much information that he could create a portfolio on each individual turtle if he wished.

"Absolutely astounding." Stockman laughed. "These four, despite similar build and age, all have differences that make them unique. Take the one called Leo for example. He appears to be the leader, and his swordsman skills mark that of a master. However, the one called Raph seems to be a bit rash, with his skills marking someone with a large amount of rage."

"I'm glad that you are enjoying this little show." Hun interrupted, a note of irritation in his tone. "But your notes will do no good once your pet is finished with them."

Stockman sighed in disappointment, looking at the screen just as his pet was throwing the turtle called Raph into the wall. He slumped down and seemed to be barely conscious. The creature took a few steps forward, then a scream came from off screen.

"What was that?" Stockman asked, returning his focus to the screen.

At that moment, a girl ran on screen, grabbing the red turtle. Both Stockman and Hun both froze in place.

"Hisako…" the red turtle muttered. "Run…"

Hisako… That word. The turtles had repeated it on multiple occasions. So far, Stockman had found nothing to connect the word to, but now he realized it wasn't a word.

It was a name.

"So, the girl now has a name. Hisako…"

Stockman quickly wrote that down, then turned back to the screen. The girl was looking down at the turtle, and then she turned to face the camera. As her face came into view, Stockman felt his whole world spin.

"No…" He gasped. "It can't be."

Stockman took off out of the room, leaving Hun to watch the monitors.

…

Hisako stood up, facing the shadows where she sensed a strange presence looming. She stared deep into the darkness, slipping her fans out of their sheaths and into her hands.

“I know you’re there...” she said quietly, scanning the darkness. “I can feel your presence… so where are you?”

There was movement in the darkness, drawing Hisako’s attention. Her grip on her tessen tightened as she looked.

“Come out and face me you-”

“Oracle…?”

With that single word uttered in the darkness, Hisako felt all the fight suddenly leave her. He face went pale and her hands began to shake. She recognized that voice, a voice she never thought she’d hear again.

“Oracle… is that you?”

The source of the voice shuffled out of the darkness, coming into the little light there was. Hisako’s eyes never left the creature as she slid her tessen back into their sheathes on her belt, walking slowly towards the beast. Raph watched this and went to stop his sister. However, his vision was so blurry, he could barely make anything out.

“Leatherhead?” she whispered, her eyes misty.

"Oracle…" It whispered. "Help me… Please…"

She stood in front of it, then placed her hand on the side of his face. With a precise jab almost too quick to see, she struck a vital pressure point, one that had the large monster’s eyes rolling back in its head. It sank to its knees as darkness enveloped it. Hisako caught it before it face-planted, laying it gently on the ground.

“I’ve got you Leatherhead.” she whispered. “I’ve got you.”

With the monster now unconscious, she turned her attention to the metallic collar around his neck. She grabbed one of her tessen from the sheathes, gripping it tight enough to turn her knuckles white before bringing it down several times on the collar. She did this over and over again, her movements becoming more and more frantic with each blow. Sparks began to fly from the metal with each hit until it snapped and came apart. The second the collar was no longer attached to the creature's neck, Hisako pulled it off and began stomping on it over and over again until there was no possible way it was still working. By the time she was done, she was panting heavily, tears in her eyes and her grip still tight around her fan.

"Hisako…" Raph groaned weakly, trying to get his sister's attention

Hisako jumped, then turned to him. Stowing her weapons once more, she ran back to his side and cradled him.

"Shh…. It's alright…" she told him. "I'm here."

"That thing…" He grunted, obviously in a lot of pain "It tried to…. Kill us… finish… it off."

Hisako shook her head.

"No Raph. I- I can’t."

"Why…?"

Hisako looked over at the creature as a flickering memory drifted through her head. One of that very creature cradling her weak form.

"Because I owe him my life."