We had all walked in the dojo. Even April decided to join us. Sadly enough, she was sharing a room with Leo and Sophie. We were overcrowded….. But we all sat down to the side of the dojo and waited Splinter’s directions.

Splinter was each looking at us curiously as to pick which few of us could go first. Naomi was back on her T-Phone with the new game. Still can’t believe she could get that far…. I swear she cheated!

Finally, Splinter said, “Melanie and Natasha.”

The girls looked at one another before standing. They walked to the middle of the dojo and bowed toward one another rather respectfully before Natasha gt out her whips and Melanie got out her Tessens.

The metal tips of the tessens gleamed a little in the early morning sun while the whips stood still due to no wind gust. But I know that when Natasha got going, those whips would fly. Melanie looked a little thoughtful. I wouldn’t blame her. She had close combat range with the Tessens and Natasha long range.

Splinter looked at each of them before calling out, “Hijamae!”

Naomi put her T-Phone away, watching as Natasha raised her left arm and brought it down quickly to make the whip clap the air. Melanie looked a little unamused. Like Naomi would if she were about to hit me.

Natasha smirked and twisted while taking a step toward Melanie, making the whips spin around her like deadly ribbon. Melanie backed away a step, narrowing her eyes as Natasha’s whips hit the spot Melanie was just at. The grey masked Turtle growled and watched the lavender masked Turtle. Then it hit me: Could Melanie possibly have Naomi’s mind reading gift? I looked at my sister whose blue eyes were locked onto the battle in front of us. She may have ignored my thoughts, or was just too oblivious to notice.

Another snap in the air made me turn my attention back toward the two fighting. Melanie had gotten closer to Natasha, making her opponent back up while backhanding with her whip to try and make the Turtle back up. However, Melanie had jumped up and kicked Natasha back a few steps.

They were glaring at one another now. Natasha had enough of the playing by the looks o it and started whipping the whips every which way. She crossed them and spun them, making sure to get every possible place to where Melanie could do nothing besides give in.

Melanie’s eyes widened, but ran up toward Natasha, her body rather close to the ground where the whips weren’t really touching.The Tessens glittered, but a whip had wrapped around the tip of one of the spikes and Melanie gritted her teeth, yanking the Tessen free. But not before Natasha could slice at her arm. The pain of Melanie’s cry made me wince.

Beside me, Naomi growled lowly, her body tensing up. She probably wanted to jump up and stop this. Everyone else watched in fascination. I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of it.

Melanie was holding the place where the whip grazed her. Even though it grazed her, it was still bleeding a little. But it could be worse because she was holding it. Natasha came up to her and smirked. The younger Turtle looked up and growled lowly before letting her arm go and jumping up, kicking at Natasha’s chest and sending her back.

The older Turtle fell back with her whips away from her hands. Melanie took the chance and ran up, jumping up and slamming the Tessen right by Natasha’s head. Everyone gasped and Natasha looked up at Melanie with a look of shock. Melanie blinked once before taking the Tessen out of the ground and stood up.

“Yamae!” Splinter ordered.

“Nice fight,” Melanie smiled and offered her hand. Natasha took it and stood up. When she did, there was a small slash on Natasha’s shoulder from where the Tessen grazed her. So both of them were injured.

I smiled softly. Melanie had Naomi’s concentration, but Raph’s fighting abilities by the looks of it. So she could be a very deadly opponent. Sophie stood up when the girls stepped away from the center of the room. She lead them out to most likely bandage their wounds. Sophie was kind like that.

Splinter then turned to us again. With three of us gone, our numbers seemed to dwindle. He was looking at the boys’ half. Kyoto gritted his teeth, but just barely so I noticed. April was looking between the guys, probably wondering which one to pick. Naomi was looking toward the door where the girls left.

“Kyoto and Raphael,” Splinter finally said. The two looked at him a bit shocked. But Splinter continued by saying, “And whoever wins will spar with Donatello.”

Raph nodded and got up. Naomi smirked and leaned back against the wall. Kyoto grabbed a staff and got up as well, a little worried. They were in the middle of the dojo and knelt down and bowed for a second before standing back up and readying their weapons. I watched them get in fighting stance and get ready for Sensei to cry out a command.

“Hijamae!” he finally cried out.

Raph was the first to lunge at the less experienced Turtle. Kyoto jumped back in shock and tried to swing his staff at the oncoming opponent. I watched and blinked as it all turned into a blur. I wanted to pull my T-Phone out and start playing Flappy Bird again to see if I could possibly defeat Naomi’s high score.

Naomi scoffed at the thought beside me as Kyoto was thrown into a wall. He was on his side and coughing from the lack of air. Raph laughed and watched him for Sensei hadn’t stopped the fight yet.

“Yamae!” Splinter said, tapping the end of his emerald staff against the ground. “Kyoto, are you okay?”

“Hai, Sensei…” he grunted as he sat up and leaned against the wall, holding his chest. “You Turtles really are a challenge.”

“Of course,” I smiled. “Sensei taught us.”

“Well…” Naomi looked at me. I looked at her before looking down. Her voice changed as she turned her head and continued, “Mikito, Sophie and I were taught by two Senseis….”

“Oh,” Kyoto gritted his teeth.

“It’s fine,” I smiled at him.

Raph came over and helped him up from the ground and looked at Donnie. Donnie had been watching the entire spar and gulped. Naomi chuckled and I smiled, already ready to cheer on him. He needed a spirit boost.

So when Kyoto was safely near the rest of us, Donnie stood up and slid the staff out of his back leather strap. They circled one another.  Donnie twirled his staff and Raph his Sais. Naomi and I watched with the rest of the gang beside us.

“Don’t worry, Donnie. I’m in a good mood today,” Raph said with a smile. Him smiling creeped me out… “I’ll go easy on ya.”

“Don’t do me any favors, Raph,” Donnie shot back. He looked at us who was watching the group and I looked at the rest of us. I noticed April smile softly. Huh…. He was still trying. “In fact, maybe you’ll be the one to-who gets easy on… By me… So… Yeah,” he continued a little less confident.

Naomi sighed. I smiled and Mikey leaned toward me, “Worst smack talk ever…” I could only giggle and nod. Naomi shot me a look and I smiled innocently. Leo shot us a glare and we quieted down.

“Hijamae!” Splinter ordered. The two ran at one another and started the fight.

Raph lunged with his Sais and Donnie blocked with his staff and while Raph was recovering from the very smart block, Donnie ran behind the red-masked Turtle and hit the inside of his legs as quick as he could.

Raph was stunned and Naomi shuffled a little in an uncomfortable manner. That confused me. Then Donnie hit his legs and Raph fell on his shell. I was shocked.

I jumped up and cheered, “Donnie got Raph to the ground!!”

Naomi grabbed my arm with an unamused face and made me sit down. Hard. I crossed my arms and scooted closer to Mikey, sticking my tongue out. He smiled and chuckled softly, watching the fight still.

Donnie must’ve said something to April because she smiled in a sincere way. Below Donnie, Raph snarled and twisted on his shell, kicking his leg out and causing Donnie to fall on his own front shell. Raph got up in the middle of the spin and tried to stomp at Donnie.

The purple-masked Turtle rolled out of the way and stood up quickly. Raph was too quick and snatched Donnie’s wrist in a Sai and twisted him to face us. Donnie’s other arm was being held by Raph’s other Sai behind his back.

“Say hi to Mikey,” Raph smirked, basically only his face shown behind the staff wielding Turtle. Raph made Donnie wave his hand.

All I heard was a “Hi, Mikey.” It wasn’t Donnie but Raph didn’t move his mouth. But then, I couldn’t see it from my angle. It was behind Donnie’s shoulder.

“Wow, Donnie, that was amazing! I didn’t even see your mouth move..” Mikey muttered.

“Yamae! Enough, Raphael!” Splinter ordered, watching him carefully.

I saw Raph give Splinter a soft glare before tossing Donnie to the ground and sitting on him. He smirked and I ground my teeth because I could only imagine Raph weighing a ton… He patted the downed Turtle’s chest and said, “Thanks for going easy on me, Donnie.”

Raph got up and went over to our group. Naomi and Melanie stood up and Raph smirked. Naomi shook her head and asked, “Did you have to show off?”

“Of course,” Raph chuckled.

I came up to Donnie and helped him up as the others left. We weren’t planning on going topside tonight, so we were going to relax in the lair. Splinter watched us all leave before returning to his own room.

We all went to the living room and Mikey and Leo were already playing the pinball game, April on her laptop, and Naomi, Raph and Melanie nowhere to be found. Wonder what the three of them could possibly do… Get in trouble most likely.

“Or to have family bonding time,” Naomi snapped at me from behind, making me jump and turn around.

Melanie was holding up a trivia game of Disney believe it or not, and her parents were watching me. Raph was leading Melanie toward the couch and TV where Sophie, Kyoto and Natasha were watching Space Heroes again.

I grinned and hopped over and sat right by Sophie, listening to the game the three Turtles were playing. I only glanced over once and Naomi was actually having a hard time thinking of a trivia question. Melanie and Raph were laughing as the timer went out.

It was good that they were finally spending time together. But when a blaring electronic sound was heard, I knew it was short lived.