Cleo's POV:
It's been fifteen years since I was adopted by my father, Master Splinter. I became a kunoichi when I watched my adoptive older brothers trained as a child, father was more than happy to train me as a kunoichi when he and the guys saw me playing a weapon of my choosing when my brothers just got their weapons.

I was even trying to imitate them during their training after I learned how to walk on that day too. During my initiation when I was 8, father gave me not one, but two weapons: twin kamas and a beautiful black tessen with white flowers and the Hamato Clan symbol on it. I knew that the tessen was supposed to belong to his real daughter, Miwa, but he insists that I have it instead.

I was currently sitting on the sideline, watching as my older brothers prepared to fight. With there being an uneven number of us, this was a usual routine that happened here; the guys fought, and I waited for one to get out so I could replace them. Raph and Donnie were on one side, kneeling in front of each other, waiting to fight.

Leo and Mikey were on the other side of the room, both kneeling down on one knee, staring intently at each other. "This might take a while." I thought to myself. Suddenly the two jumped to their feet. Leo held his katana in front of him, and Mikey withdrew his nunchucks from his belt, tucking the ends of each pair under his arms.

Their eyes narrowed as they stared at each other, each one daring the other to go first. It must've worked, because after a few seconds Leo raised his katana and ran forward, letting out a battle cry. But as soon as he did, Mikey's glare turned into a playful smirk.

"Oh yeah! Michelangelo's on the move!" Mikey charged forward as well, twirling both pairs of nunchucks. They both met halfway, and Leo swung where Mikey was. But Mikey was too quick for him, and dodged, jumping over Leo and landing behind him. Leo glared as Mikey swung his nunchucks, busting some fancy moves.

"You don't know what to do!" I let out a small giggle. Too slow, Leo. The turtle charged forward and gave another swing, and another, but still, Mikey dodged the strikes. "I'm here! I'm there!" Mikey smirked as he landed on the ground, now down on his knee. "I could be anywhere!" Suddenly his eyes went white and wide, and he quickly dodged another hard strike from our older brother. Leo turned to face him, and I could've sworn I saw him smirk. What's he up to...? 

"How do you stop what you can't even see?" Mikey taunted, dancing around a bit before taking a stance. Leo took a stance as well, holding his sword at his side. Mikey raised his nunchucks in the air as he ran forward, ready to strike. He was only a foot away from his target when Leo suddenly flipped his sword and brought the end forward. Hard.

The handle of the katana delivered a hard blow to Mikey's stomach, smacking against his plastron. I wince slightly. That'll knock the wind out of you for sure. Mikey dropped his nunchucks, somersaulted around Leo, and stopped in a kneeling position. He let out a painful gasp and fell down on his side.

"Like that?" Leo asked. "Good one, Leo..." Mikey choked. Leo raised his brow, staring down at him. Mikey rolled off of his shell and started to crawl towards me, a look of agony on his face, and he reached out for me. "Tag in, Cleo!" he coughed, though it sounded a little more dramatic now. "Tag in! Avenge me...!" He let out a sickly groan as his head fell to the floor, his hand still raised towards me. I rolled my eyes. Oh, my little Drama Queen...

I lifted my hand up and patted his lightly. "I shall avenge you, dear brother." I stood up from my spot and jumped up to Mikey's former place. Leo looked at me for a moment, then a small grin grew on his face. "Come on, Cleo. You know how this is gonna end," he told me. "You could just back out now, if you want." 

I chuckled. "You say that like I'm gonna listen to you." I bent over and reached behind to the small strap on my belt that held my tessen. I pulled it out and quickly opened it, taking a defensive stance. Leo's grin turned into a smirk, and he took a stance, holding his katana out towards me.

"Cleo, don't make me force you," he sang sweetly. "You can still back down." Now, I don't know why he always talks like this when he's training with me, but I don't mind. It's kind of fun when he does. Besides, I know he doesn't mean it. Leo loves training. "Now, where's the fun in that?" I asked.

Leo chuckled slightly, turning to fully face me, holding his katana near him in a stance. We stood there for a few moments, keeping our eyes locked. I decided I didn't want him to charge first, so I quickly darted forward, my arms at my sides. Leo charged at the same time as me, and like he did with Mikey, he met me halfway. But just as it looked like I was about to strike, I spun to my right and moved out of the way.

Leo turned his head to look up at me just as I lifted my left leg up and attempted to kick his shell. But he turned and raised his left arm up and blocked it. I swung my right hand down to strike with my tessen, and he blocked it with his katana. He gave a powerful shove that caused me to stumble back several feet, but I steadied myself quickly.

Leo charges up to me, raising his katana in the air, ready to strike. I ducked down in time and lifted my hand up to grab his wrist. I closed my tessen, reared my arm back, and swung forward, delivering a hard blow to Leo's lower stomach. He hunched over slightly, giving a gruff groan. I pushed his arm out of the way and stood up, whipped around and swung my leg up, striking him in the shoulder.

He took a few steps back, holding his katana up across his face, ready to block. I tossed my tessen forward and a loud clang sounded as the two metal weapons connected. While Leo was distracted with blocking my weapon I charged forward until I was in front of him. I kneeled down, spun around, and kicked his legs, knocking him down.

Leo made a noise of surprise as he fell flat on his shell on the floor, and his katana fell out of his hand. I swiped up my tessen from the floor and before Leo could even sit up I jumped up and placed my foot on his chest. I raised my tessen up and pointed it towards his face.

"You give?" I asked, trying desperately to keep myself from laughing at the dumbfounded look on Leo's face. He blinked at the tessen, then up at me. Then he grinned slightly and gave a small shrug. "Alright, I can take a hint." I nodded, moving my foot off of his plastron. "Good boy." "This is awesome! I haven't beat Leo in weeks!" I thought excitedly.

"Ooh, you got knocked out!" Mikey jeered. I giggled. "C'mon Mikey, leave the poor boy alone." I leaned to the side and placed a hand on my hip as Leo slowly got up to his feet, picking his katana off the floor. He walked over to sit next to Mikey on the other side of the room and I turned to look at my other two brothers.

Donnie, who was now on his feet, did a few cool moves with his staff, spinning it to the sides and above his head. Say what you will about a Bo staff, but Donnie sure knew how to make good use of one. Donnie stopped spinning the staff around him and took a stance, pointing the staff at Raph. Raph stood still, an almost bored expression on his face.

He bent his head from right to left, making a loud cracking sound, and shook his head slightly. "Alright Donnie, put down the staff and no one gets hurt." "Ah, you said that last time Raph, and then you hurt me!" "Yeah, but... less than I would have." "Yeah, right!"

Donnie ran forward and swung his staff down at Raph. But said turtle had just managed to roll out of the way, even dodging another strike from the Bo staff. Donnie spun the staff at his side and then struck forward, making a loud howa-like sound as he nearly hit Raph in the throat. Raph leaned back just enough for the blow to miss. Donnie brought the staff back, spinning it above his head and making another sound as he brought it down.

Raph moved to his right and dodged the strike, and he did a few flips to land back in front of Donnie. Don spun the staff, turned while spinning it behind his back, and did a full circle while keeping the weapon in motion. He spun the weapon above his head and swung it down at Raph, who dodged it once more.

"C'mon Raph, quit toying with him." I thought to myself. Donnie stood back for a couple seconds, a determined look on his face. He swung the staff out, spun it above his head as he walked forward, and made a loud "heeyah!" sound as he swung his staff down in an effort to strike. I say 'effort' because he didn't hit anything. Reason being Raph had managed to take it out of his hands.

Donnie looked down at his hands, gasped slightly, and looked up. Raph was leaning against the Bo staff, an almost evil grin plastered on his face. He spun the staff for a second before bringing the weapon down against his knee, snapping it in two. He held the two pieces up, his grin now larger. Donnie blinked, looking a little scared.

"... Should've dropped the staff?" "Should've dropped the staff." Raph spun the two pieces of wood in his hands before charging forward. Donnie stepped back a few feet before turning and bending over, covering his head with his hands. Raph showed no mercy and started beating against Donnie's shell with the wood of the broken staff. "Okay, okay- Ow! I'm down!"

I rolled my eyes. Alright, that's it. I stepped forward towards the two and cleared my throat loudly. Raph stopped hitting Donnie and turned his head to look at me. His smirk turned into a small grin as he turned to face me completely, dropping the pieces of wood on the ground. "Well, look who's come to save the day," he teased. I gave a small "hm," sound.

Donnie looked up at me, and I nodded to the side of the room where Leo and Mikey were sitting. He nodded, and slowly got to his feet and walked over to the spot. From the corner of my eye I saw Mikey stick his tongue out playfully at Donnie, who simply glared back at our brother. I slowly took a few steps towards Raph, and he took a few steps towards me.

We stopped when we were a few feet away from each other and looked at one another. I closed up my tessen and slipped it back into the holster. As I was still bent over, I reached behind me and grabbed onto the wooden ends of my kamas, which were both placed in my belt-loops. I slipped them out of their loops and brought them out into the open, spinning them a bit before holding them out in front of me. 

Raph let out a dry chuckle as he pulled his sais out of his belt. "You get hurt," he said. "I take no responsibility." But even as he smirked at me, I knew that that was just his way of saying, "good luck." And that's just how he was during training. See, all the boys and I have different ideas on what training really is. To Mikey, it was a fun and exciting game. To Donnie, it was a new experiment that told him how to get better. To Leo, it was an everyday way of life. To Raph, it was always a competition. Always. "Whatever you say, Raphie."

I took a step back and got into a defensive stance, holding my kamas out. Raph spun his sais a bit, holding them out towards me. We stood there and stared for a few moments. "Okay... now!" I charged up to Raph, kamas held in the air, and I struck down at him. Raph held his sais up in time and blocked it. I held my kamas in place, pushing them down as hard as I could. Raph pushed me off and I ducked as he swung his right sai at me. I looked up at him, kamas held at the ready; one at my side, the other by my face. Raph held his sais up, made a loud noise that sounded like a battle cry, and charged at me.

I stood up and swung both of my kamas around me so that they came down towards Raph. He used his right fist to push both of my arms to the side and raised his left sai up. I spun out of the way to my left, causing Raph to move forward. He did a somersault and landed in a stance on his knee. 

I charged at him, both of my kamas raised in the air. I jumped up and attempted to strike him from above, but he turned in time and blocked me with his sais. I forced his arms to the side, and I knocked one of his sais out of his hands. He used whatever force he had and used his remaining sai to knock the kama from my left hand away from me.

It headed straight for the others, but Leo quickly caught it in his hand. I took a few steps back, trying to regain a little of my breath. "This is it... here it comes..." Me and Raph stared at each other for a few more seconds before we charged, both of us letting out loud battle cries. We both met each other halfway and raised our weapons.

I knew it was hopeless the second I heard the loud clang of metal against metal. A second after our weapons met, my kama was somehow knocked out of my hand, and thudded to the floor. Before I knew what was happening Raph caught my wrist between the short blade and the long blade of his sai. He grabbed a hold of my arm and used the sai that had my wrist and used it to pull me down. Really hard.

This caused me to flip over his shoulder and land with a loud ka-thump onto the floor. I moaned slightly as I felt the wind get knocked out of me. A small twitch of pain was present in my wrist, and I grasped it gently. "Okay... that hurt..." I moaned, squinting my eyes shut. "Nice try, Cleo." I opened my eyes and looked up at Raph, and he had a smug, victorious smirk on his face. Then he lowered his hand down towards me. I grinned slightly as I reached up and grasped his hand. Raph gave a huge tug and pulled me up to my feet. "Thanks," I said as I brushed myself off. 

"I'm surprised," said Raph. "You haven't beaten Leo in a while. Figured he might beat you again." I gave a hearty laugh as I walked over to where my kama lay on the floor and bent over to pick it up. "You underestimate me, Raphael," I said, slipping my weapon back into my belt loop. "It's only been a week or two since the last time I beat Leo." "Two weeks and three days to be exact," Donnie stated.

"Exactly," Raph folded his arms. "That's longer than last time, Cleo. You're not starting to slack off, are you?" I made a slightly irritated noise, but it wasn't serious. I turned to look at Raph, smirking slightly as I raised my eyebrow at him. "Do I really look like a slacker to you, Raph?" Raph, still smirking at me, opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off as another voice spoke up, "Yame!"  Ah, there's our Sensei now. 

As the others got into a line, kneeling down in the middle of the room, I walked over and sat by Raph, and Leo sat next to me. Father made his way over to us, one hand by his side, the other holding a large cane. As he walked past us, Leo bowed so low that his head nearly touched the ground. Aw, such a cute teacher's pet.

Father passed by me, and rather than bowing my whole body to the ground like Leo did, I gave a small, but respectable bow of my head. "You all did very well," he told us. "But I did better," said Raph. I blinked and turned to stare at him. Not this again. "Raph, watch it..." I whispered warningly. 

"This is about self-improvement, Raphael," said father. "It is not about winning and losing." "I know, Sensei. But I won and... they lost." Here it comes... Not even a second later father reached down and pressed his finger to Raph's neck. Raph let out a painful yelp as his pressure point was hit, and I winched slightly.

"But! What's really important is that we all did our best! Good job everyone!" Father released his hold, and Raph fell to the ground, gasping. I heard father give a small chuckled from behind me, and I had to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing. "With all due respect," I whispered to Raph as he sat up, rubbing his neck. "But I did warn ya."

(-)

(Theme song)

♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ♫
♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ♫
♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ​​​​​​♫
♫ Heroes in the shadows ♫
♫ Ninja power! ♫

♫ Here we go! It's the lean, skilled, ninja team ♫ 
♫ On the scene, cool teens doing ninja things ♫ 
♫ So extreme, out the sewers like laser beams ♫
♫ Get rocked with the pizza kings and queen ♫
♫ Can't stop these dudes and dudette ♫
♫ The secret of the ooze made the chosen few ♫ 
♫ Emerge from the shadows to make their move ♫
♫ The good guys win, and the bad guys lose ♫

♫ Leonardo's the leader in blue, ♫
♫ Does anything it takes to get his ninjas through ♫
♫ Donatello is a fellow, has a way with machines ♫
♫ Raphael has the most attitude on the team ♫
♫ Cleopatra, she's a special girl, ♫
♫ Does anything to protect everyone she loves ♫
♫ Michelangelo, he's one of a kind, ♫
♫ And you know just where to find him when it's party time ♫
♫ Master Splinter taught them every single skill they need ♫
♫ To be one lean, mean, skilled incredible team ♫

♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ♫ 
♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team​​​​​​​ ♫
♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ♫
♫ Heroes in the shadows ♫
♫ Ninja power! ♫

(-)

Cleo's POV:
Lunch came and went just like it usually did. Father and the boys ate their algae and worms while I ate my usual bowl of rice. I mean, I can't eat algae and worms like they do because I'm human, but luckily father found some rice from the surface so I wouldn't starve. Our meals were still a little entertaining these days, because the boys still acted the way they used to when they ate.

Leo ate without complaints, Raph stabbed the food with his chopsticks, Donnie hacked in disgust, and Mikey ate all of his stuff and finished before everyone else did. "There's a little more algae and worms left if anyone wants it," Mikey held the huge pot out towards us, as though he were trying to tempt them to take it. "Anybody? Anybody?" "No thanks." "I'm good." "All yours." 

"Well, I guess no one left room for... cake!" I snapped my head up. What? Cake?! Then Mikey pulled out from behind him a large, green and blue cake with a single candle stuck in the middle. "No way!" I said, leaning over the table to hook closer at the dish. "It is a cake!" said Donnie, sounding just as surprised. Raph then stuck his finger out, scrapped a bit of stuff off of the cake, and licked it. "Made of... algae," a small pink object poked up from the top and crawled over the surface. "And worms..."

I slowly slumped back down into my seat in disappointment. "Well, that was a bust," I mumbled. "What's the frosting made out of?" Leo asked. "You don't wanna know," Mikey glanced around, then he beamed. "Happy Mutation Day!" "Happy Mutation Day!" the boys all chorused. "And!" Mikey put an arm around my shoulders. "Happy Birthday to our little sista!" I giggled, patting the green hand that was gripping my shoulder.

"Thanks Mikey. And as the only birthday girl here, I get to blow out the candle." I leaned forward and closed my eyes for a second. Then I blew the tiny flame out. "What did you wish for?" Donnie asked. "Can't tell ya," I leaned back and smiled at him. "Otherwise, it won't come true." "Oooh! We got a present for you!" Mikey said, father pulled out a small present and held it out to me. I took the present and unwrapped it, revealing a beautiful hair pin.

"It's beautiful." I said with a smile, "Raph and I found it in the sewers a month ago, we cleaned it since it's in good shape." Leo said as I took the hair pin and put it on my right side of my hair. "Thank you everyone. Happy Mutation Day, you guys." "Thanks, Cleo," said Donnie. "Ah, yes," said father. "15 years ago, today our lives changed forever, and we became the unlikeliest of families."

"Tell us the story, Master Splinter!" Mikey begged. "Michelangelo, I have already told it many times." "Please! Pleas-" But his begging was cut off as Raph suddenly slapped a hand over Mikey's mouth. "Please," he said. "It's the only way to shut Mikey up." Father sighed. "Very well... Many years ago, when I was still human, I was leaving the pet store with four baby turtles..." "That was us!" Mikey piped up. "Yes... Don't interrupt!" Father cleared his throat as Mikey sat back down. "I passed a strange man on the street. Something felt off about him... I decided to follow." 

I rested my chin in my hand, listening closely. No matter how many times father told this story, it was always so interesting to me. I listen as he told us everything; how he had followed the strange man to an alley, how he had given himself away by accidentally stepping on a rat's tail, and how the strange man- now accompanied by several others- had tried to attack father.

Emphasis on 'tried.' Father managed to fight off all the strange men, all while still holding the baby turtles. Unfortunately, during the fight, one of the men had dropped a strange canister filled with glowing green ooze. It had fallen to the ground, smashed open, and the ooze had gotten on father and his pets, turning them into the people that were sitting with me today. 

"That was the beginning of our life together," Father held the strange container up for us all to see. "It was the mysterious substance in this canister that, in a way, gave birth to us all." Mikey snatched the canister from father and hugged it tightly. "Mom!" I snorted slightly. Not much of a family resemblance. Then Mikey's eyes quickly widened. "Ooh! Now tell us how you found Cleo!" Father sighed at my older brother and looked towards me for permission. I nodded, knowing Mikey won't shut it if father won't tell the story of how he found me. 

"Very well... It was a year after we've been living in the sewers." Father began stroking his beard. "One morning, while you four were playing, I was about to do my morning meditation in the dojo, when I heard a faint infant cry. I decided to investigate. I followed the sound which it led me to the surface into an alley and the sound was coming from a cardboard box. I opened it and there was a beautiful baby girl." Father said and smiled over at me. "She had beautiful blonde hair. When I picked her up, the baby stopped crying and looked at me with her blue eyes. She giggled up at me and I decided to take her in and raised her as my own." I smiled at father. 

If it wasn't for him, I would've been a goner a long time ago. As soon as father finished the story, Mikey appeared next to me and brought me in a hug. He squeezed tight and I was having trouble breathing. I think Leo noticed because he pulled Mikey off me, and I was able to breathe again. "So, Sensei, now that we're 15 and Cleo's 14, I think we're finally ready to go up to the surface, don't you?" Leo said. We all turned to look at father, and I could feel my heart begin to swell with hope like a balloon. Maybe this time, he'll let us go. "Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes..."

"Yes." I gasped as all of the boys cheered and punched their fists in the air. "And no." I stared open-mouthed at father as the guys lowered their fists, groaning in disappointment. "I hate it when he does that," said Raph. "You and me both," I grumbled, folding my arms across my chest. "You have grown powerful, but you are still young," Father stood up from his seat. "You lack the maturity to use your skills wisely." "Not all of us," I muttered under my breath. "You might be the most mature, Cleopatra, but that does not mean you are prepared for what is out there." 

I gulped as my face got slightly warm. Dang it, he heard me. "So, Sensei," said Donnie. "Isn't that just... 'no?'" "Yes... and no." What? Okay, now I'm confused. "Wisdom comes from experience, and experience comes from making mistakes." Donnie grinned. "Ah-ha! So, in order to gain the wisdom, we have to make the mistake, so we can go!" "No." "And... yes?" Donnie asked hopefully. "No!" Donnie reared his head back and groaned.

"Sensei," Leo started. "We know you're trying to protect us, but we can't spend our whole lives hiding down here." "He's right, father," I piped up. "We're never gonna be able to know how to defend ourselves from the things above if we never go there." Father turned from us, stroking his thin beard. I turned to look at the boys and leaned in. "Time to start begging, boys. Get your game faces on." They all nodded. In less than a second, we were on the floor, kneeling in front of father, clasping our hands together, and giving huge puppy-dog eyes. 

Father turned and blinked in surprise when he saw us. He looked down at all the boys before looking down at us. He looked down at all the boys before looking down at me. "Please, father?" I begged in the sweetest voice I could muster. Finally, father sighed. "You may go. Tonight." I gasped in delight and shouted as my brothers chorused, "YEAH," coupled with Mikey's signature, "BOOYAKASHA!" "High-three!" Mikey shouted, raising his hand in the air. We all accepted his call and raised our hands to meet in our usual five-way high-three.

(-)

I was currently sitting on a set of stairs, just a few seats below Raph, who was reading a magazine. Leo was sitting on the floor in front of the TV watching an episode of 'Space Heroes.' Leo could be such a fanboy sometimes. Well... maybe he is all the time...

"Mr. Crankshaw, status report!" "Status?! I'll give you the status! We're gonna blow up in two seconds!"

I leaned over a bit to look at the screen just in time to see Mr. Crankshaw get slapped by Captain Ryan.

"Thank you, captain..."

Suddenly, Leo stood up from his spot and held his hand up.

"Gentleman, I have a bold and daring plan," he spoke in unison with Captain Ryan on the screen. "There's no time for hesitation. My orders must be carried out without question!" "Aye, sir!"

I smacked my hand over my mouth, my laughter coming out as loud snorts. No matter how many times Leo did this, it was always so funny. "You know this show is stupid, right?" said Raph. Leo whipped his head around. "'Space Heroes' is a great show," he defended. "And Captain Ryan is a great hero. Someday, I'm gonna be just like him." Raph finally looked up from his magazine. "Well, you do like to listen to yourself talk, so you're on your way." I chuckled as Leo glared at him. "Well... you don't complain when Cleo takes the remote to watch 'Impractical Jokers'!" he said accusingly. 

"Yeah, cause that show is actually funny!" Raph snapped. "Your show bores me to sleep." Leo grumbled irritably and folded his arms as I giggled. "Don't worry, Leo," I said. "Not every show can be worthy of everyone's attention." "It's go time!" I turned my head to see Mikey and Donnie standing there, big grins on their faces. "C'mon, Cleo!" Mikey ran up to me and shook my shoulders. "Grab your gear! We gots to go!" I laughed, excitement now filling me up. This is gonna be epic!

(-)

After we got our weapons, we all waited for father to give the 'okay.' We were all in a straight line, standing at attention. "You are going up to a strange and hostile world," Father told us. "You must maintain awareness at all times." "Hai, Sensei/Yes, father!" we all chorused, and we turned to leave. "Stay in the shadows," Father added, and we snapped back into the line. "Hai, Sensei/Yes, father!" We turned to leave again, but... "Don't talk to strangers." Back to our spots again. "Hai, Sensei/Yes, father," we said, less enthusiastic this time. "Everyone is a stranger!" Father snapped before we could take more than one step. "Okay, now he's just being overprotective," I thought. "Hai, Sensei/Yes, father..." we all sighed, now sounding rather bored. 

We all turned to leave for a fourth time, but we had only gone a few steps when father spoke up again. "Make sure you go before you leave! The restrooms up there are filthy!" "Sensei/Father!" we said exasperatedly. Father sighed. "Good luck, my children." I smiled as me and the guys let out exclamations of glee, and we finally sprinted through the exit. "Look both ways before crossing the street!" I rolled my eyes. Geez, have a little faith, father.

(-)

"It's so beautiful..." Mikey breathed as we stood in the dark, abandoned alley. Okay, not the word I'd use, but... Slowly but confidently, we all walked out of the alley and into the street. I was a little worried that some random person might see one of the guys, but it was late, and there was no one in sight. That in mind, I strode out into the middle of the street with a smile on my face. "Wow! This is one biiiggggg city! You can easily get lost out here!" I spoke. 

"This city is just full of possibility!" said Leo excitedly. "There could be an adventure around this corner..." He peeked his head around the corner, but there was nothing there. "Or this one..." He peeked around the corner of a closed restaurant, but there was still nothing. "Or this one!" He looked into another dark alley, but there was nothing there but a dumpster with a cat on it. The cat meowed at us before walking off. "There's not, but there could be!" Leo said happily. I shook my head as I looked around at the others. Raph had his arms folded, examining the area. Mikey was having fun and doing some flips in the street. 

Donnie was walking on the sidewalk when he suddenly gasped, and he pressed his face and hands to the glass of a shop. "Look at all the computers! Is that the next generation cadmium processor with quantum encryption?" "I don't know, Donatello!" Raph said sarcastically. "Is it?" Donnie looked back inside. "It is!" "Guys, guys! Check this out!" We all turned to look at Mikey. He was gazing at a store's neon sign, which looked like an orange hand with a blue eye inside. Mikey, looking amazed by the sign, pressed his face to the glass. 

"A hand made out of light..." Suddenly the hand's light turned off, and the blue eye lit up. Mikey gasped. "Now it's an eye made out of light!" The hand lit up. "And the hand again! Now the eye's back! Now the hand!" "It's just a neon sign Mikey," I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen. Raph walked up to Mikey, grabbed him by the tails of his orange mask, and pulled the younger turtle away from the glass and into the street. "C'mon, genius." "The eye...!"

I sighed as I followed the two into the street, where Donnie and Leo were now standing. "So, where to next?" asked Donnie. Before any of us could answer there was a loud purr of an engine, and we turned our heads to see the glow of headlights. A motorcycle pulled up in front of us, and there was a boy riding it. The boy stared at us; we stared back. It seemed we were all startled into silence. Then Raph raised his hands and growled at the human. 

The boy screamed and spun his cycle around, speeding away in a cloud of smoke, wheel squeaking. I sighed, placing my hands on my hips and turning to face my red-banded brother. "Was that really necessary?" I said, sounding like an irritated mother. "Nope, but it was fun," he said, smirking at me. "Well thanks to you, that kid's probably gonna have nightmares tonight." I said, feeling bad for the kid.

"We're too exposed out here," said Leo. He turned and looked up at the buildings. The rooftops, to be specific. I had a feeling of what was going through his mind. "C'mon!" Leo ran to the buildings, and we all followed. I was about to go up the fire escape when I realized Mikey was still behind. I turned around and saw he was still standing in the street. "Mikey! C'mon!" "Coming!" Mikey appeared to pick up a box-like thing and started running after us. "Oh boys!" I called when me and Mikey met the others on the roof. "Mikey brought a gift." "It fell off the dude's bike," said Mikey as set the thin, white box on a block on the roof. 

All the boys crowded around the box, looking down at it. I walked over and squeezed in between Mikey and Raph to look at the box too. "Pizz-za...?" Mikey read slowly. "Should we open it?" asked Donnie. "Careful," Leo warned. "It could be dangerous." Raph rolled his eyes, reached for it, and opened the box. A puff of steam emerged, releasing the most delicious smell I had ever experienced. We looked inside and saw there was a large circle with yellow stuff that looked like cheese, red stuff, tiny red circles, and it was cut into tiny red circles.

"I think it's... food," said Donnie. "It's not like any food I ever saw," said Raph. I said, "Okay, so, who wants to try it first?" "I will," said Mikey. He reached down and picked up one of the large slices. We all watched him, tension building as Mikey opened his mouth and then took a bite of the slice. His eyes went wide, and for a second I though he was going to spit the stuff out. He chewed a little more, gave a noise of satisfaction, and suddenly stuffed the entire pizzas slice in his mouth. My jaw fell open, and I could feel the inside of my mouth begin to water. Mikey swallowed his pizza and placed his hands on his plastron as he let out a loud burp. 

He blinked, saw we were all looking at him, and cleared his throat. "Uh... Yuck!" he grimaced, but he wasn't fooling us. "You guys won't like it... I'll take the rest!" "Liar! I don't think so!" I said as I grabbed his wrist. The others were on my side and grabbed a slice of pizza for themselves. I reached in and grabbed my own. I looked at it for a second before taking a bite. "Oh my gosh... it's amazing!" I thought as I munched on my bite. "I never thought I'd taste anything better than worms and algae, but this is amazing!" said Raph. "I love it up here!" Mikey shouted, throwing his hands up into the air.

(-)

Mikey was right. The surface was awesome! The whole city was like a gigantic playground; the buildings and rooftops were parts of a huge jungle gym, and me and the guys were the excited children playing on it. And our playing consisted of us racing each other across the rooftops of the buildings. "Too fast for you, Don!" Raph shouted behind him to said brother. "I'm coming for you, Cleo!" I heard Mikey shout. "C'mon, Leo!" I turned my head to look at the blue-banded turtle. "I'm way ahead of you. You gotta keep up!" "Don't make me come up there!" he called back. "I swear, I will team up with Mikey and we'll both be after you!" 

I laughed as I turned and continued running. After a few minutes the race finally died down. I jumped over to the next building, ran across the roof, and slid over to the end, coming to a stop. One by one, the boys all did the same, sliding up beside me. We stood up and stared in front of us, taking in the sight of the city. I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth. Oh yeah, I could get used to this.

"Alright guys, it's getting late," said Leo. "We should probably head back home." The guys all groaned, and I raised my eyebrow. "Says who?" "Says me. Besides, I'm the oldest." I snorted. "Last I checked, you guys are 15 and I'm 14, which technically, we're not little kids anymore." Leo rolled his eyes and turned to leave. We all turned to follow him when suddenly, Donnie gasped. "Guys! Look at that!" I turned and saw him pointing down at something. I walked back over and peered down into the street. 

There were two figures walking along the sidewalk; a tall, middle-aged man with a red beard, and a younger girl who was most likely his daughter. She also had red hair, and even from this distance I could tell she was very pretty. "It's just a couple of humans, Don," I said, turning my head to look at him. "Nothing really..." But my voice trailed off as I looked at Donnie's face. His eyes were white and wide, his jaw was hanging open, and I could've sworn I saw him drooling a little. "She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen..." I blinked as I stared at him. I could almost see his heart thumping against his plastron.

"Isn't she the only girl you've ever seen?" Raph pointed out. "Besides, Cleo?" Donnie blinked and turned to look at us. Then he frowned and stuck his nose in the air. "My point still stands." Raph looked like he was about to respond, but there was a sudden roar of an engine that made us all look down. A large, white van skidded to a halt in front of the family. What the...? Several men, all in black suits, came out of the van and advanced on the father and daughter. They both backed away, looking terrified. 

"We gotta save them!" said Donnie. I nodded. "I'm with you on that one!" We both tried to move, but Leo put his hands on our shoulders. "Splinter's instructions were very clear," he informed us. "We're supposed to stay away from people... and bathrooms!" I raised my eyebrow. He sounds more worried about the bathrooms than the people. "I thought you wanted to be a hero," said Raph. "Since when do heroes ask for permission?" "They don't, but-" "Well, I'm going!" said Donnie, and he jumped off the building. "We can't let him go alone," I told the others, and I jumped off, too.

By the time we were all on the ground the men in suits had tossed the father into the van. "Hey!" Raph then ran up to the guy and punched him in the gut, making the man slide back. After that all the boys went to different men and started fighting them. With one swift movement I reached down to my leg strap and retrieved my tessen, but I didn't open it up. All I need to do is knock them out. I raised my tessen and started running towards one of the strange men but was pushed to the side as Donnie's shell bumped into me. 

"Donnie?" "Sorry, Cleo!" Donnie went back to his own fighting, and so did I. I ran up to one of the suit guys and swung the blunt end of my closed tessen to his face. It hit him right in his jaw and he stumbled back, but he continued to stand. He walked towards me, and I charged at him. I jumped into the air and was about to strike from above when suddenly Leo came up and attempted to fight the man in the suit. I say 'attempted' because I ended up hitting him instead. I hit him on the upper part of his shell, and this sent us both falling to the ground.

"Leo! What was that?" But before he could answer the suit guy kicked me in my gut, sending me sliding and them rolling away. I stopped rolling and clutched my stomach. "Okay... so you don't care about hitting girls..." I got up to my knees, tessen held tightly in my grasp. "That's fine with me." I started running back towards the man that kicked me when I realized that Leo was still there, crouched down on the ground, looking like he was about to strike from below. Then I got an idea. "Leo, stay down!" Leo looked back at me, but before he could move, I stepped up on his shell, jumped, and kicked the man in his face. 

He fell face first into the ground as I landed back on my feet. "Nice call," Leo said, sounding impressed. "Thanks." Then I heard a scream. I turned around and saw that the men had finally gotten the girl into the van. "They're getting away! They've got the girl!" Donnie shouted, running after the van. I held my tessen tightly as I ran after him. Raph and Leo followed behind me. "You just jabbed me with your swords!" Raph shouted. "Well, I didn't know you were going to land where I was stabbing!" Leo retorted. "Guys!" I snapped. "We can talk about how bad the fight was later! Right now, we gotta find that van and get the family back!" They both shut up, and we continued on.

(-)

We lost the van. It's sad, but true. We just couldn't catch up to it, and before we knew it, it was gone. Needless to say, Donnie was devastated. "They got away," he said sadly. "We couldn't save them..." "Don't worry, Donnie," I said, patting the back of his shell. "I'm sure we'll find them." Donnie didn't say anything but nodded in response. "Hey, where's Mikey?" Leo asked. No sooner had he asked this then there was a loud, nearby scream. "Found him," said Raph. Then, out of nowhere, Mikey appeared and ran up to us. "Guys! Guys!" he shouted in our faces. "You're never gonna believe it! That dude...!" he pointed somewhere behind him. "He-he... had a brain!" 

We all stood there in silence, staring at him. Okay... weird... "We all have brains, Mikey," Leo said simply. "Not all of us," Donnie added. "In our chests?!" Mikey shouted again, putting his hands against his plastron. "No Mikey, not in our chests," said Leo, and there was clear irritation in his voice this time. Mikey stared at us as though we had all grown an extra head, and then he looked angry. "You're not listening to me!" 

*Slap!*

Leo had just slapped Mikey across the face. Mikey instantly snapped his head back, his arms coming up into a defensive position. "Did you just slap me?" he asked, deadpanned. "Did you just slap him?!" I snapped at Leo. "I was calming him down," he informed me. "Why would that calm me down?!" "I think he's delusional," said Donnie. I frowned up at him before I reached up and flicked him by his ear slit. "Ow!" "Be nice," I turned and walked up to Mikey. "Mikey, are you feeling okay?" I raised my hand to feel Mikey's forehead, but he grabbed my wrist. "Just... just c'mere!" he turned and started to drag me away by my wrist. "I'm telling you, this dude was a robot, and he had a freaky weird alien brain thing in his chest!"

I didn't say anything as Mikey continued to drag me off. I turned to look back at the others, shrugging helplessly. Leo sighed, gestured to the other two, and they followed. "You gotta believe me!" Mikey said desperately. "I'm not sure we do," said Raph. "Oh yeah?" Mikey finally let go of my wrist. He took a few steps forward and pointed into an alley. "Well, you'll change your tune when you see that he's..." he turned his head towards the alley, then blinked. "Gone...?" I turned my head to look into the alley, but it was completely empty. 

"There's nothing there, Mikey," I said, turning to look at him. Mikey looked from me to the others, a desperate look on his face. The other three shook their heads, turning and walking away. Mikey hunched over, looking defeated. "It's okay, Mikey," I told him, rubbing the back of his shell. "We all make mistakes, no big deal. Besides, we got bigger things to worry about." "Like what?" "Like, how father is gonna react to all of this."

(-)

"So, your inability to work together allowed them all to get away!" I hung my head as I fiddled with my fingers. Father was really chewing us out about this. "Well, if I have to wasted time arguing with hero boy," Raph glared at Leo. "I could've saved them!" "Hey, if you hadn't gotten in my way, I could've done it!" I sighed. This is why I sit between these two; so that they wouldn't kill each other. "And you went flying off on your own!" Leo snapped at Donnie. "How smart was that?" "Well, it would've worked out great if somebody hadn't hit me in the head with their nunchucks!" Mikey hesitated for a second as we all looked at him. "Well... none of this would've happened if..." he turned to his left, but there was nobody there. "... somebody didn't trust us to go up there in the first place!"

I gasped, horrified, and so did the others. We all turned to look at father, who had stopped pacing. "Oh, geez..." Mikey mumbled. "Sensei, I didn't mean to..." "No, Michelangelo, you are right." "I am?" "He is?" we all asked, the boys out of surprised, me out of curiosity. "You were not fully prepared for what was up there," Father continued to pace. "I trained you to fight as individuals, not as a team. And as your teacher, your father, the responsibility for that is mine. Perhaps, in another year, we can try again." What? No! 

"Wha-Another year?!" Donnie exclaimed. "Has everybody forgotten that people were kidnapped?! They don't have a year! Sensei, we have to do something now!" Father narrowed his eyes, but Donnie held his ground. "You weren't there, Sensei. You didn't see the way that girl looked into my eyes. She was scared, and she was counting on me- us," he said quickly as we all looked at him. "To save her."

Father didn't respond. He turned to face the small bookshelf, and I had a feeling he was looking at the picture of his family. This wasn't the first time he had done this. Sometimes, usually after we were done training, I would peek into the dojo to find father gazing at photo. He had told me once that he had accepted the fact that they were gone, that he had made peace with it. But it was clear that he still missed them. 

"Yes," Father turned back to us. "You must save her." "I agree, Sensei," said Leo. "But in that fight, we weren't exactly a well-oiled machine." "Like that robot with the brain thingy!" Mikey piped up. Raph groaned. "Give it a rest." Father stroked his beard. "Hm... If you are to fight more effectively as a unit, you are going to need a leader." Oh boy, I know where this is going... 

Leo then shot his hand up into the air. "Can I be the leader?" he asked. "Why should you get to be the leader?" Raph demanded, now leaning across from me to glare at Leo. "I've kicked your butt over a dozen times! I should be the leader." "Hey, I'm smarter than all of you guys put together, it should be me!" Donnie said. "No way! It should be me!" said Mikey. We all blinked, staring at him with confusion. But Mikey just smiled at us. "I don't really have a reason; I just think it would be neat." 

Father raised an eyebrow at Mikey, then he turned his gaze to me. "Cleopatra?" he asked. "Do you not have a desire to be leader as well?" I shrugged. "Eh, not really," I admitted. "It doesn't seem like my kind of thing. Besides, I just go with the flow." "You'd rather be a follower than a leader?" Leo asked, curiously. "Yeah." "Why?" asked Raph. "You'd want to follow somebody instead of-" "Raphael," Father caught Raph's attention. "There is no sense in being a leader if there is not one person willing to follow you." Raph stared up at him for a few seconds. He looked over at me, glanced at the floor, and turned back to the front again. "Hai, Sensei."

"This is a difficult decision," said father, and he headed for his room. "I will meditate on it." He walked into his room and shut the door. Not even two seconds later he opened the door and poked his head out. "It's Leonardo." And he shut the door. "Well, that was fast." I said in surprise. "No hard feelings, Raph?" Leo asked. Raph let out an angry growl before standing up and walking away. "Stick it in your shell!" I sighed as I watched him stomp out of the room. Why did he have to stomp out every time he gets mad? "Don't worry, he'll calm down," I said, and I patted Leo's shell. "Congrats, Leo." "Thanks, Cleo."

(-)

I had no idea what Leo's first plan as leader would be, but a stakeout was not what I had expected. "Explain to me one more time what we're doing here," Mikey whispered. All the guys reared their heads back and let out irritated groans. "Mikey, we've been over this," Leo said, his tone suggesting he was talking to a five-year-old. "That building has the same logo as the van that was used to kidnap the family. So, if we wait here long enough, one of the kidnappers will eventually show his face. And when he does, we'll make him tell us where he took them." "And then we got ourselves a van!" Mikey said, punching his fist into the air. Leo face palmed himself. "Just hit the guy I tell you to!" Mikey gave him the thumbs up. "Will do!" Raph didn't look too convinced. "You sure this is gonna work?" he asked. "Trust me," said Leo. "They'll be here any second." "He means they could be," I whispered to Raph. "Yeah, no kiddin',"

(-)

It's a good thing I brought my cards along with me, because if not, me and Raph could've been terribly bored out of our minds. We spent our time on the roof playing games like 'Blackjack,' 'BS,' and 'Slap.' Donnie and Mikey just wandered about the roof, trying out various ways to occupy their time. But even then, they were still bored, and after losing at 'Slap' for the third time in a row, Raph had had enough. "Do you want me to go easy on you?" I asked honestly as he threw his cards on the ground. "You know it's alright if I do." "Nah, it's not that," he grumbled, and he turned his head to look at Leo. "How can he just stand there this whole time?" I shrugged. 

"No idea. I've known you four since I was a baby and you guys still find ways to surprise me." Raph huffed as he stood up. I sighed and scooped up all of my cards to put them back in the box as he stomped over towards Leo. "Give it up already!" he groaned. "The guy's not gonna show up." "We have to be patient," Leo said simply. Raph shook his head. "No, you have to come up with a better plan. 'Cause the five of us here with our thumbs up our noses-" "Gross," I muttered. "I don't think they fit," Mikey pointed out, looking at his own thumbs. "... is pointless!"

But as I looked over at Leo, I saw a smirk had grown on his face. "You sure about that, Raph?" Raph's face fell. "He just showed up, didn't he?" We all looked down. The same white van from last night had just pulled up beside the building. "I should've complained two hours ago," Raph mumbled irritably. The door of the car opened, and a man stepped out of the driver's side. It was a tall, scrawny-looking guy in jeans and a white tank-top. He didn't look like the clones from last night, but he was obviously working with them. 

"Lady and gentlemen," Leo stated. "I have a bold and daring plan!" I stared. Really? You're gonna do this now? "There's no time for hesitation! My orders must be carried out without question." Leo opened his eyes, but he stared when he saw that only I was standing next to him. While he had been ranting, the other three had already gone off. "Guys? Guys, wait up!" "Hey, at least I waited until you opened your eyes," I said, and I jumped down. Within seconds we caught up with the others. We all surrounded the van slowly. The guy turned, and gasped when he saw us. "Alright, buddy," said Raph. "We could do this the easy way, or- my vote- the hard way." As he said this, he withdrew his sais from his belt, and we all took out our weapons as well.

"We don't want any trouble," I said, and I opened my tessen. "But if you don't cooperate, we won't have any choice." "Yeah, look at it logically; there're five of us, and one of you," Donnie chuckled. "What are you gonna do?" The guy stood there for a moment. Then he drew out a strange looking gun and fired at us. We all yelped and jumped out of the way. I jumped and grabbed onto the railing of the fire escape, hanging there as I looked down. They guy grinned before jumping into his van and driving off. "I was hoping he'd say 'nothing'." 

"You had to ask!" Raph snapped at Donnie. We all jumped down from the fire escape and landed on the ground just as the van turned the corner. "He's getting away again!" Donnie yelled. "No, he's not," said Leo. He then climbed up the nearest building to the rooftop, and we all followed close behind. We ran across the rooftops and jumped across buildings, keeping the van in our sights. Raph jumped down the fire escape and landed on the top of the van. He didn't stay on long though. Soon, the driver made a sharp turn, causing the van to swerve. Raph was thrown off and he smashed into the wall of a building.

"Raph!" I jumped off the roof of the building, slid down the ladder of a fire escape, and ran over to him. Raph groaned as I grabbed him by the arms and helped him to his feet. "You okay?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said gruffly. I nodded. "C'mon, we gotta catch up to the others." It took us only a few moments of running down the street for us to find the others. They were leaning against the wall of a building, obviously hiding. "About time you two showed up," said Donnie. "He got thrown into a building," I retorted. "Shh!" Leo snapped. I leaned forward a little and I could see smoke rising from the now wrecked van. It must've crashed while me and Raph were away. Leo kept his eyes on the van as he moved his arm back towards us, making weird hand signals with his hands. 

I didn't get the message though, and I stared in confusion. "I-don't-know-what-that-means!" Raph hissed, making equally weird gestures with his hands on each word. "Go around the back!" Leo said as though it were obvious. "Why didn't he just say so?" Mikey wondered. We did as Leo instructed and surrounded the van, we all moved cautiously towards the back of the vehicle, drawing our weapons, ready to fight if necessary. Empty boxes spilled out of the back. Raph reached up and opened the door that wasn't broken. When he did a large canister fell, rolled out on the street, and stopped directly at Mikey's feet. It was a long, glass and metal canister filled with glowing, green ooze. Mikey gasped. "Mom?"