This is a little different from my usual TMNT 2012 fanfics, but I wanted to switch it up and write a short ROTTMNT oneshot of how Raphael and Mona Lisa first met. Enjoy!

Note: This is my interpretation of the character Mona Lisa in the Rise universe. Enjoy a little sketch of her and Raph that I did in the header <3

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Raphael doesn't know why or how Michelangelo talked him into this. Maybe it was the persuasion of getting some delicious pizza. Maybe it was the big puppy dog eyes his little brother gave him when he begged him to come along, or maybe it was when Mikey said that he needed to loosen up more that got under Raph's skin. How he's not the leader anymore, a title that was unexpectedly given to their brother, Leo. The sudden decision from their father caught everyone off guard and now the responsibility of being the leader was now in Leo's hands. This change was difficult for the team to adjust to. Raph was supportive and had hoped Leo would be the hero he knew he could be, and after the Kraang invasion last year, Leo has been improving and taking charge like a true great leader Raph knew he'd become.

As for Raph himself, no longer being the one in charge was a difficult new lifestyle to adjust to. Mikey could tell this sudden change was still bothering his big brother, not really sure what he should do now with his life or what his role on the team is now. Maybe that's why Mikey convinced Raph to go with him for a night out. Unable to say no to him, late that night, the two brothers snuck into Donnie's lab to "borrow" the Turtle Tank, take it for a joy ride around the Hidden City and grab some pizza.

No harm, right?

Except maybe the sunset duo was having too much fun during their little joy ride and ended up crashing the Turtle Tank, completely destroying the vehicle.

"You think Donnie will notice?" Mikey asked as he and Raph inspected the damages on the vehicle.

BANG!

What Raph could assume was an exhaust or something has busted, leaving the Turtle Tank with a destroyed front, crack windshield, two flat tires and an engine that won't start. So much for a fun night out.

"I'm pretty sure he will, Mikey." Raph sighs.

"Aw man! This is all my fault! What are we going to do?!" Mikey panics, pacing around his big brother frantically. "Donnie's gonna kill us if he finds out we wrecked it! What are we going to do?!"

"Mikey! Relax!" Raph tells him, grabbing his brother's shoulder, trying to calm him down, "I'm sure Donnie will understand. And besides, I think he'll be more worried if we were injured in the accident than his car being damaged."

Mikey glared at Raph, his eyes telling him to rethink his statement.

Raph thought for a moment, "Okay, yeah, maybe it's best he doesn't find out."

"He'll find out eventually! If we bring the Turtle Tank back home he'll obviously see that it's ruined!"

"He won't notice it's ruined if it is already fixed!" Raph proclaims. "There's gotta be a mechanic shop or something nearby."

"Raph," Mikey says worriedly, "I don't think an average car mechanic can even understand Donnie's tech..."

"It's the best option we got. Come on, let's go look around."

Mikey wasn't on board with his brother's plan. Could they really find someone who can repair a vehicle as advanced as theirs? Raph was confident they could and it wouldn't hurt to try. After a few minutes of scouting the city, the boys' luck was beginning to run out – Raph then spotted not too far from where they crashed what they were looking for.

Sal's Garage, the car repair shop's neon sign glowed. The place seemed open, the big garage door open and the light on inside.

It took a while, but with all their strength, Mikey and Raph were able to push the Turtle Tank to Sal's Garage. Once arriving, the boys parked their car near the entrance and entered inside the shop. The garage itself was large and full of many car parts and tools. The place smelled of burnt tires and oil. Calm jazz music played quietly over the speakers surrounding the place.

"Um? Hello?" Raph calls out to what appears to be an empty shop.

"Ah! I'm sorry, fellas, I didn't hear you come in!" an older voice says.

The two turtle brothers turn and spot who they assume is the owner. A tall muscular blue tongued skink yokai, having brown and beige scaly skin with black ring-like markings wrapping around his tail. His uniform, a long sleeve dark blue denim jumpsuit with a white shirt underneath, covered in oil and grease, though his rolled up sleeves exposed a few cuts and scars. The man towered over Raphael and looked at the brothers with his one burning bright golden eye. His left eye however is what stood out for Raph and Mikey, scarred forever and close with stitchings. At first glance the man was intimidating and his scar made him come off unsettling, but as the lizard yokai approached them he gave the brothers a warm and welcoming smile that quickly washed away all that harsh judgment.

"Welcome to my shop! The name's Salvatore, but my friends call me Sal," He says, as he cleans his dirty hands with a rag hand from his pocket and offers his hand to Raph, greeting the young man. "What can I do for ya?"

"Hi, Mr Salvatore, my name's Raph and this is my brother Mikey. We have a car that, um, kinda needs to be fixed."

"And quickly too!" Mikey adds.

"Let me guess..." Sal says, placing his hands on his hips, "Stole your parent's car and took it for a joyride, but then you crashed it and now you need it fixed before they find out?"

"Well... it's our brother's car, but yeah, that's basically the gist of it..."

Mikey looked at the owner amazed, "How did you know?"

"I was a reckless young man back in my day," the owner smiles as he lifts up his hand to tap his scar lightly with his finger. "Don't worry, you came to the right place. Let me have a look at this vehicle of yours and I'll see what I can do."

A wave of relief hits the two brothers as they go to bring their vehicle fully inside Sal's shop. The owner offered the boys a seat while he went to inspect their vehicle. However, their shred of hope slowly faded as the minutes went by, seeing Sal's expression switching from confidence to unsureness the more he inspected the Turtle Tank.

"This... This vehicle is unlike anything I've ever seen before..." Sal says in disbelief. "The parts are so advanced and high-tech."

"Is that good?" Raph asked, still hopeful.

"I'm sorry boys, but your car is too difficult for an old man like myself to understand."

"So, you can't fix it?" the red turtle sighed, "Donnie's gonna kill us..."

"Told ya," Mikey scoffed.

Sal thinks for a moment, "I can't fix it, but I know someone else who probably can."

"Really?!" Raph's eye sparked "Who?"

"My daughter," Sal answers. "She's around your age, and like her old man she's very talented in mechanics. I'm certain she can understand and fix this advanced tech of yours in no time." Sal turns and begins heading back inside his shop. "Come, follow me. She should be in the back working on another customer's car."

The two boys follow Sal into his shop, into the back room for employees. The garage was much larger on the inside, as they made their way inside, multiple cars, motorcycles and trunks were up on car lifts or on the floor. A crowded place full of the life of a mechanic, you could tell Sal has been working in his shop for many long years.

"Mona Lisa!" Sal calls out, "Where are you?"

"Up here, Dad!"

Raph and Mikey look up to the source of the voice. High up on a lift, working on a car was who the boys could assume was Sal's daughter. A young blue tongued skink yokai like her father, with similar black and beige spots running down her body and black ringed tail. She wore dirty baggy cargo pants held up by a tool belt, a car grease stained white tank top and a hot pink head scarf. The scarf tails flowing down and resting on her shoulders. Even from a high up distance, her smile and curious golden eyes stood out and gleamed like a shining star.

"We have some customers with a very interesting car," Sal shouts up to her. "I think you should take a look at it."

Mona Lisa looks up from her work, finally getting a good look at the Turtle Tank. Her eyes widened with amazement from the sight of such a beautiful and high tech car. It was unlike anything she's ever seen before.

"Th-That's a c-car?!" she said, amazed. "I-It's so- WOAH!!"

Lost in her wonder from the sight of the vehicle, Mona clumsily loses her balance and falls off the car lift.

"MONA LISA!!" her father shouts in fear.

Quickly Raph dashes under the lift, holding his hands out and catches Mona, saving her before she hits the ground. Mona opens her eyes, realizing she is unharmed, she looks up to see who saved her.

"Are you alright?" Raph asked her, still holding her in his arms.

Mona's eyes widened from the sight of her savior. Her face started burning red as she felt her heart begin to beat fast, wanting to burst from her chest. He was so handsome, his charming but gentle smile, the sweetness in his eyes as he looked at her, and his strong arms holding her, feeling safe and protected. She's never seen a man like him before.

"I am now... Mona smiles, batting her eyes.

"That's good!" Raph says, carefully putting Mona down.

"Mona Lisa!" Sal rushes towards his daughter and gives her a hug before factually inspecting her making sure she was not injured in the process. "Are you hurt?! Do I need to get the medkit again?!"

"No, Dad. I'm fine." she assures, "All thanks to...?"

"Raphael, but everyone just calls me Raph."

She smiles, "Thank you, Raph."

Sal sighs, "You need to be more careful, my dear."

Mona turns to look at her father, "I'm sorry, Dad. I just got so lost from the sight of that car. I'll take a look at it but I'll need my special tools. Could you get them for me?"

Sal nods and heads off to retrieve his daughter's work tools, leaving Mona alone with the two mutant turtles.

"Hey, um, I'm sorry for grabbing you like that," Raph tells her. "I don't normally put my hands on a lady, but I had to think fast."

Mona giggles, her cheeks glowing with a faint blush, something only Mikey seemed to notice on her. "A cutie like you shouldn't apologize."

Raph chuckles, flattered by her compliment, "So, do you think you can fix our Turtle Tank? Your dad says you're very talented."

"Well, I don't like to brag..." Mona turns back, quickly inspecting the Turtle Tank for a moment before turning back around, "I think I can fix it. I just need to have a look at it to understand its mechanics."

"That's great to hear 'cause our brother is gonna lose it if he finds out it's damaged. He loves this car more than himself."

"Don't worry doll face," Mona winks, "This car will be looking brand new before you know it."

"Awesome! You're the best, Mona!"

As Mona goes to work to repair the Turtle Tank, Mikey looks at his big brother, glaring at him in shock from what he just witnessed.

"What?" Raph asked, slightly terrified from Mikey's sharp stare.

"Did you not realize what just happened?!"

"What??"

"Mona Lisa was flirting with you!"

Raph laughs, patting his little brother's head dismissing the suggestion. "Don't be ridiculous, Mikey. Mona's just being nice."

"Dude, wake up and smell the pizza. She called you cute!"

"I mean, is she wrong?" Raph smiles, releasing a sparkling glow around him.

Mikey facepalms himself, "Oh my gosh, you're so oblivious..."

Raph and Mikey went off to wait in the seating area of the shop as Mona Lisa got to work repairing the Turtle Tank with her father assisting her when needed. The Turtles worried it would take them all night to fix the damages based on the wreckage, but to their surprise Mona was able to finish up the repairs in under two hours.

"Alright, I was able to replace the bumper, replace two of your tires, gave it a brand new working engine, fix up the paint job, and I also noticed you were overdue for an oil change so I took care of that as well," Mona tells the Turtles, approaching them hands on hips with a smile of accomplishment.

"Really? You're already done?" Raph asked, "That's incredible!"

"I told you my daughter is talented," Sal said, placing his hand on Mona's shoulder, looking at her with pride.

"Not as talented as whoever built this beauty," Mona says, turning back to admire the car. "You said it's your brother's?"

"Yeah, our brother Donnie." Mikey explains, "He's a genius! He built it all by himself!"

"So how much do we owe you?" Raph asked the two lizard yokais.

Sal smiles, "It's on the house."

"But-"

"I insist. You boys have been through enough tonight, so I'll have this one free of charge, but with one condition," Sal smirks as he tells them, "If you ever need a car fixed again you'll always come by to Sal's Garage."

"Deal!" Ralphs says, taking Sal's hand and they shake on their little friendly deal. Raph then turned back to Mona Lisa, "I couldn't thank you enough for doing this for us, Mona. You truly have a gift."

"I'm just happy I got to help out a doll like yourself. I hope..." she starts to blush, "We'll see each other again someday."

"I'm sure we will!" Raph tells her happily, "If I ever need another car fixed I now know I have a talented friend to call!"

Raphael and Michelangelo gave their final thanks and said their goodbyes to the father daughter duo, soon leaving in their Turtle Tank and driving home. By the entrance of their shop, Sal and Mona wave goodbye to their new friends and loyal customers.

Once alone, Sal broke the silence by asking his daughter, "Is that really the best you can do?"

"Huh?" Mona turns to her dad confused.

"That Raphael boy." he explains, "I may only have one eye, but I'm not blind."

Mona blushes, embarrassed by how obvious she was that her own father noticed how smitten she was toward Raphael. If her father picked it up, did Raph, too?

"Listen, my dear. He's a nice young man, but I can tell he's also a big oaf. He's not good enough for you."

"You say that about everyone." Mona dismisses, crossing her arms.

Gently, Sal places his hand on his daughter's shoulder, "I just don't want to see my little girl get her heart broken. Raphael doesn't really seem to be... the brightest young man."

"How can you say that?!"

"Mona, I overheard him talking to his brother. Michelangelo could see you're smitten but Raphael wasn't smart enough to see it himself." he sighs, calming himself before he gets too annoyed. He then looks at her with worry, "I don't want you to waste your time with a boy who can't even realize how special you are."

"I'm willing to play the long game," Mona giggles with a smirk, "I like a challenge."

Sal rolls his eyes, there's no point in talking his daughter out of this one. She has her eyes set on her prize and will stop at nothing to win it. Sal turns and heads back into his shop, leaving his daughter outside, floating on cloud nine.

Her father calls him an oaf, but Mona Lisa could see more to him than that. From the moment her eyes met with his, Mona felt something special. The warmness of his faint yellow eyes. How big and strong he was with his large muscles and broad shoulders, and yet he was so gentle, polite and kind that he held her in his arms after saving her from falling. He was a gentleman. Mona even saw how much she cared about his little brother and he took responsibility for his actions when he damaged his other brother's vehicle. That says a lot more about his character to Mona than it does for her father.

Mona then lovingly sighs, "What a man..." before heading back inside her father's shop to help close up for the night. For the rest of the evening the red turtle was on her mind, hoping their paths will cross again very soon.