(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:
"Whoa..." we all breathed in unison. We all just stood there, staring in silence. None of us could really speak at first. All we could do was stare at the glowing canister as Donnie slowly picked it up in his hands. Leo was the to recover. "So... is that the...?" "Mutagen that turned us all into what we are now!" Donnie finished. "Let's drink some!" said Mikey. Donnie stared. "What?!" "Mikey, are you crazy?!" I asked. "Why would you do that?" asked Raph. Mikey grinned. "Cause if you mutate a mutant, you get a super mutant!" 

"Or a pile of goo on the sidewalk," Donnie said shortly. "Either way, it's an improvement," said Raph. "Guys, this is huge!" Leo piped in. "Whoever kidnapped those people are somehow connected to what happened to us 15 years ago." "How is that possible?" ask Donnie. "With alien robots, anything is possible," said Mikey. I sighed. "Oh boy..." "Stop that!" Donnie snapped. "There are no such things as alien robots!"

I heard a small groan, and I turned to see the driver of the van crawling out. Mikey saw me looking and turned to look at the guy. "Oh yeah?" Looking surprisingly confident, Mikey walked over to the driver and stood by him. "Well, if there's no such thing as alien robots," he grabbed the guy's head. "How do you explain this?" Mikey then grabbed the guy's jaw and started to pull at it. Loud cracking and popping noises sounded as the guy yelled, and I could help but wince a little. 

"Ugh! Man, this mask is glued on tight!" Mikey grunted. "Mikey, stop!" Leo said quickly. "It's not a mask!" "Mikey, please" I added. "This is painful, even for me to watch." Mikey paused and looked at the guy's face for a moment. Then he tossed him aside. "Okay. He's in the clear. But those other guys were totally alien robots!" 

"Enough!" Raph snatched the canister from Donnie's grasp, holding it in his hand. Then he stomped over to the man and grabbed him by his shirt. "Time to get some answers! Who are you, and what's goin' on?" The man glared up at Raph. "Name's Snake. And I got nothin' ta say ta you hideous freaks, or your pretty friend there." Snake nodded his head towards me. Needless to say, I wasn't flattered. "Well, that's cause yah don't know us yet," said Raph. "We can be very persuasive," I said slyly. "But I can't promise that my bro here can be very too nice about it." Raph looked at me, a sly smirk on his face. "You know me so well, Cleo." 

Raph then tossed Snake out towards Donnie and Mikey. They caught the guy by his arms, keeping him down. Raph and I strode over to Snake as Raph started to twist the top off of the canister. "See, we were just regular guys," Raph took the cap off. "Until we got hit with a little'a this." "Wh-What're yah doin'?" Snake stuttered. "Playing a little game I like to call, 'Mutation Roulette.' Now, you could turn out handsome, like me. Or you might end up disgusting and deformed! Like Mikey, here." "Hey!" Mikey snapped. Raph grinned evilly. "So... yah feel lucky?"

He raised the canister above Snake and started to tip it over. The green ooze slowly started to seep out, getting closer and closer to Snake's face. Then, when the goo was only an inch away from his face, Snake cried out. "Okay! Okay!" he yelled, and Raph leveled the canister. "They call themselves the Kraang! They've been grabbin' scientists from all over the city!" I folded my arms. "Well, at least we got him talking." "Well, that worked pretty good," said Leo. "Of course, it did," said Raph. "Would you wanna look like Mikey?" "I'm right here..." Mikey mumbled. 

I rolled my eyes, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're adorable, Mikey. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Mikey grinned up at me. "What do they want with scientists?" Leo asked Snake. "I don't know." Clearly that wasn't the answer we wanted. Raph lifted the canister up, shaking it threateningly. "All I know is they're takin' them out of the city tonight!" Snake said quickly. "But I don't know where!"

I folded my arms and stare at Snake's face. See, I had this thing where I could look somebody in the eye and know whether or not they were lying to me. Father called it another gift of my kunoichi training, I called it an awesome sixth sense. Either way, it was super helpful. And as long as I've had this gift, I've never been wrong. Snake stared back at me questioningly as I looked at him, but he didn't say anything. 

"... He's telling the truth," I told the others. "This is awesome!" Donnie exclaimed suddenly, and I lifted my head to look at him. "That girl's dad is a scientist! I'm a scientist! Oh, she is so gonna like me!" "I don't think you're her type," Snake said bluntly. I made an irritated noise. That's it. I officially hate this guy! We all crowded around Snake, staring down at him. "Where are they now?" Leo asked.

(-)

It didn't take us long to find the facility Snake had told us about. We were all standing on the roof of a building opposite where the Kraang were. While we were there, Mikey was given the job of guarding Snake. He took the role just a little too seriously. Every time Snake even flinched Mikey would draw out his nunchucks, busting out some moves, trying to seem threatening. Though, to me, he looked like he was just being silly. 

I was standing at the ledge next to Leo, who was looking down at the facility with a telescope. "Is it bad?" I asked him. Leo removed the telescope from his face and handed it to me. "See for yourself." I took the telescope and put it up to my face. I looked all around the area, seeing Kraang all over the place. "There's gotta be like... 20 of them down there," said Leo. "Yeah," Donnie agreed. "And that's just the one's we can see." I removed the telescope from my face. 

"He's right," I said as I handed the telescope back to Leo. "There's bound to be way more of them inside, and who knows how many." "Alright!" Raph withdrew his sais, twirling them in his hands. "An all you can beat buffet!" "We can't just rush in there!" Leo cut across him. "We need a plan." "Why?" "Think, you shellbrain!" Donnie snapped. "There are innocent lives at stake! If we screw this up, they're all goners!" "Then we won't screw it up," Raph said obviously. 

"That's not the point, Raph," I said seriously. "We need to make sure that there's a way for us and the family to all get out of there. Alive!" "Boy, I sure could go for some of that pizza right now, huh?" I blinked, and we all turned to stare at Mikey. He stared back, looking confused. "What? I can't be the only one that's hungry." "Now's not the time to be thinking with your stomach, Mikey," I told him. "Wait... Where's Snake?" Leo asked slowly.

Mikey gasped. We all turned around to look at the spot where Snake had been. Sadly, that person was now running across the roof. "Oh, geez..." "Get him!" Leo shouted. We sprinted. I quickly followed all of the boys as they went down he fire escape. By the time my feet hit the ground Snake was already gone, and the boys went different ways. I made a quick choice and followed Raph and Leo one way, while Mikey and Donnie went the other way. 

I had managed to catch up to Leo and Raph, and I was now leading them away. We were just passing an alley when suddenly, I heard movement. It was small, but it was enough for me to hear. I inhaled sharply and stopped running, holding my arms out. "Wait!" I hissed. Both of the boys stopped, not moving an inch past me. "What is it?" Raph whispered. "Shhh..." I pointed a thumb to the dark alley where the noise had come from. Raph glanced over at the alley, then looked at me and nodded. I turned to Leo, giving him a look that said, 'what now?' Leo grinned slightly.

"Oh, great! We let him get away!" Leo said loudly, and very obviously. "Whoa, whoa, you're the leader!" Raph said, grinning. "That means, you let him get away!" "You're not helping," Leo hissed. "I'm not trying to help." "Now now, boys!" I said loudly, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "There's no point in fighting over this like children! We have to come up with a plan! Leo?" Leo rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. You want me to lead? Fine," he raised his voice once more. "We go back to the lair, gear up, and at midnight we drive Snake's van right up to the gate! They'll think we're him, and we'll cruise right in!" 

"And then we bust some heads?" asked Raph. "And then we bust some heads," Leo agreed. Raph grinned. "I love a happy ending!" "So do I, Raph!" I spoke. "So do I!" Keeping my hands on their shoulders, we turned and started to walk away. "Do you think he bought it?" I whispered. "Definitely," said Leo. "Don't worry, Cleo," Raph placed his hand on my back. "We got this sucker right where we want him."

(-)

The only part of Leo's "plan" that was true was that we did go back to the lair. Once there, we all kind of went our separate ways. Donnie went off into his lab to work on something that was, as he told us, "Important if our mission was to succeed." Leo had gone off into the dojo to think of a good strategy for getting into the facility. Mikey was... well, I didn't know where he was or what he was doing. He could've been taking a nap for all I knew, and he probably was. Raph had just gone into the kitchen without really saying a word. 

Since I didn't really have anything to do, I figured I'd go see what he was doing. I was standing outside the curtains that covered the kitchen when I heard his voice. I didn't know what he was saying at first, his voice was too quiet. I took a few steps forward and peeking through the curtains. Raph was leaning against the counter by the stove. In front of him was his pet turtle, Spike.

"I know you're a little worried about me. Look, I'm not gonna like to you. We've never gone into a fight like this and... I don't know what's gonna happen," Raph straightened up. "But you don't have to worry. I will make it back... I love you man..." Spike took a bite out of his leaf, munching on it while he stared up at Raph. I giggled as I stepped out from behind the curtains. "Aw, ain't that sweet?" Raph gasped and whipped his head around. When he saw it was me, he settled down and frowned at me. "Not cool, Cleo." 

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said sweetly as I walked over to him. "You want me to leave so you two love birds can keep building your nest in peace?" Raph folded his arms, mumbling irritably. I chuckled as I placed my elbow on the counter, leaning my head in my hand. "You're not funny," he grumbled. "Oh, quit being a baby! There's nothing wrong with talking to your pet turtle," I used two fingers to pet Spike's head. "Ain't that right, Spike?" Spike looked up at me as I continued to pet him, and he appeared to be smiling.

"Aww..." Me and Raph turned our heads. Mikey was sitting at the table, a sly grin on his face. "Are you and Cleo talking to your pet turtle?" he asked Raph. Raph glared. "No... Shut up!" Mikey's grin grew wider. "That's adorable!" "Oh, I'm gonna crush you!" Mikey wasted no time before jumping out of his seat and sprinting away. Raph grabbed a wooden spoon, jumped over the table, and charged after his bro. "I'm gonna slap you!" "Ahh!" 

I sighed and looked down at Spike. "What am I gonna do with those two?" Again, the only response I got was Spike taking another bite out of his leaf. I shrugged, then reached out and picked the turtle up, letting him curl up in my arms. Unlike with the others, Raph trusted me and allowed me to hold his pet. I think it's mostly because a couple years ago, not long after Raph found him, I helped nurture Spike back to health when he got sick. Raph had trusted me with him ever since.

Still holding and petting Spike, I slowly walked into the dojo. Leo was kneeling in the middle of the floor, a few random objects formed into shapes in front of him. "What's up?" Leo looked up at me for a moment, then looked back down. "I'm just trying to come up with a plan." "Thought of anything good?" "I think so..." Leo stared at his structure for a moment, then grinned. "I think this plan is gonna work." "No plan ever survives contact with the enemy," said father, who had just walked up to us. "It is how you react to the unexpected that will determine if you and your sibling succeed." Leo stood up. "Sensei, do you think I'm ready for this?" I turned to look at Leo confusingly. "He's not doubting himself, is he?" 

Father seemed to sense this, because he put a comforting hand on Leo's shoulder. "Leonardo, I made you leader for a reason." "What is that reason?" Leo asked. "That is for you to discover on your own." "There's so much riding on this... What if something goes wrong?" "Failure is a possibility that every leader must face, Leonardo," Father paused. "It is something I had to face in Japan, during my final battle with my enemy, the Shredder." I froze as my breath caught in my throat. This was a story that we had all heard once before.

"Years ago, Oroku Saki, as Shredder was called then, had been my friend. But the love of a woman came between us. He could not accept it, and his jealously turned outward in a vengeful attack. And while he could not defeat me that day, my world fell and crumbled around me... as the battle took the life of my beloved Tang Shen... And I lost my baby daughter, Miwa..." Father leaned against the bookshelf that held the photo of his family, his eyes closed. All I could do was clutch the pet turtle in my arms as I thought about father's sad tale. 

"But that's my point, Sensei," Leo said, his voice filled with worry. "You lost everything..." "I lost many things. My family, my home... my name..." Leo turned his head away, not looking very assured. "But I gains many things as well, like the four of you," Father smiled. "And a year later, I also gained Cleopatra, and I could not ask for better children."

Feeling comforted by his words, I smiled up at father. I turned to Leo, and he had a confident grin on his face. "Don't worry," he said. "We can handle this." But at that moment we all heard Mikey yelling. I turned in time to see him running past, a pot on his head. Raph was following close behind, still waving a wooden spoon. "Get back here!" he yelled. Leo groaned slightly, and father shook his head. "Hang on," I sighed. "I got this." I shoved the little turtle into Leo's arms. "Don't let Raph see you holding Spike," I warned, and before he could say anything, I ran off. "C'mon Raph! Give Mikey a break!"

(-)

Leo's genius plan was to rig Snake's van so that it would drive up to the building by itself. It would crash into the building, and when the Kraang were distracted, we would climb up the wall of the building using the project Donnie had been working on. Turns out he was working on a bunch of Shoku. Otherwise known as ninja climbing claws. We all waited in the shadows for the van to show up. It did, and as planned, it crashed into the building. All the Kraang who were standing outside scattered. While they were distracted, we ran up to the wall and started to climb. "Dude, these things are awesome!" I told Donnie. "Thanks!" 

"Wow, lucky thing that van showed up to distract them," said Mikey. Donnie's face fell as he groaned, and then face palmed. Only, he was still wearing his climbing claw. "Ow!" "That was the plan, Mikey!" Leo whispered. "We knew Snake was hiding in the alley, so Raph, Cleo and I made him think we would be in the van." Mikey still looked confused. "But we weren't in the van..." Leo rolled his eyes. "Just keep climbing!" "Can do!"

We were able to get all the way to the roof without any issues. Once there we pried off the cover of a ventilation shaft, which led right into the building. There were two Kraang dudes right underneath. Leo and Raph both jumped down and pounded the guys into the ground. After the guys were knocked out, me, Mikey and Donnie all jumped down. One looks around the place, and I instantly felt like I was in a Sci-Fi movie or something. The walls were made of silver metal, and there were glowing pink energy lines and lights everywhere. 

"Wow," Donnie breathed. "I've never seen anything like this! They're using a metal alloy that... I don't even recognize!" "Gosh! A metal alloy that even you don't know about!" Raph said sarcastically. "It boggles the mind!" Donnie glared at him. "Dude, you wanna talk metallurgy with me? Bring it." "I don't. And-" "You're really gonna have this argument right now?" I hissed at them. "Guys!" Leo snapped. "What part of 'being in an enemy lair' do you not understand?"

Leo turned and continued on. We all followed without complaints. As we turned the corner we stayed against the wall. We all leaned our heads out slightly to see if anything was there. I gasped slightly. There weren't any humans standing there. Instead, there were several silver and blue robots, while others were silver. "No way..." I breathed. "Whoa, alien robots!" Donnie whispered. "Alien robots, huh?" Mikey muttered; irritation clear in his voice. "Hm... Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah! I've been saying it FOR HOURS!" 

I winced slightly at his loud voice, but the sound of gunfire made me stand up. We all scattered, trying not to get hit. I took my tessen out as Raph jumped next to me. "Hey, Raph!" I shouted. "You know what this means?" "What?" I grinned as I opened my tessen. "Since they're robots, you can stab them all you want." He blinked, and a wide grin spread across his face. "Heck yeah!"

I ran up towards the robot nearest me and brought my tessen down on the arm that was holding the gun. I kicked the robot in its chest, sending it flying backwards. I turned as two blue robots started firing at me. My eyes narrowed. I threw my tessen as hard as I could, and it embedded itself in the head of one of the robots. Sparks flew out as the robot thudded to the floor. I leapt forward, kicking my leg out so it would meet with the robot's face. I pinned the robot to the ground, grabbed my tessen from the previous robot's head, and sliced it through the other one's face. I stood up and turned. My bros had taken care of the other robots. 

Leo just sliced the last one with his katana. We all slowly surrounded the downed robot. Suddenly, the pink, brain-looking thing in the center of the robot's chest shifted. Then a pair of yellow eyes opened. Several long tentacles shot up and started wiggling in the air. We all screamed as the brain pulled itself out of the robot body, screeching at us. I hide behind Leo and grab onto his arm as I hid behind him. "What the heck is that thing?!"

Suddenly Mikey came up, lifted his nunchuck, and smashed it against the little brain's head. The thing slumped over and closed its eyes. It was knocked out. I stared with wide eyes and Mikey grabbed the thing by its tentacles, lifting it into the air. "See? See? It's a brain thing!" he yelled. "I told you! I told you! But did any of you believe me? No! Cause you all think I'm just some kind of bonehead!" Before any of us could say anything, the brain thing suddenly reopened its eyes and let out a loud squeal. Then it reached up and latched its sharp teeth onto Mikey's arm. 

"Ow!" Mikey lifted his arm up as the brain thing gnawed on his arm. He shook his arm viciously, desperate for the creature to get off. Mikey thrashed his arm for just a few more seconds before the alien thing flew off and smashed against the wall. Unfortunately, it also hit a large button on the wall, which caused an alarm to go off. "Mikey!" the boys snapped. Mikey turned to look at the four of us, and to see our three older brothers glaring at him. "Okay! But I was still right about the brain thing!" he said defensively. "You gotta give me that!"

I turned to Leo. "Any ideas, chief?" "Let's move!" he said. "Move where?" said Raph. I turned to look at Donnie, but he appeared to be looking up at the ceiling. "I think those are power conduits," he said curiously. "Oh! That's really interesting!" Raph snapped. "Thanks for sharing, Donnie!" Donnie snapped his head to his older brother. "Meathead, the conduits are all converging that way..." he pointed down the hall. "Which means that whatever is happening in that direction is important!" 

Donnie turned and walked down the hall. Leo grinned, then gestured down the hall with his katana, indicating that we were to follow. Leo started to walk off, and I cleared my throat. "I think we better follow them," I muttered to Raph. Just then Mikey came up and pointed at Raph's face. "You got spanked," he said, and then laughed. Raph glared at the younger turtle before grabbing the finger in a death grip. "Ow! Ow! Mercy!" Mikey cried. Raph released him, still looking irritated. He walked off as Mikey sucked on his finger. "Not cool!" "C'mon, Mikey," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We gotta move."

We instantly quickened our pace. I wasn't sure what we were heading for, but I was prepared for whatever we'd run into. We continued running until Donnie suddenly doubled back. "We found them!" he called out. Suddenly those robots appeared and started shooting lasers at us. "You pick the lock! We'll hold them off!" said Leo. Donnie kneeled down next to a security lock as I ran up to the door. I looked through the tiny window and saw the redheaded family inside. "Phew, that was lucky," I said. "Oh, thank goodness," the girl sighed. "Another human." "Yeah, don't worry," I told her. "Me and my bros are gonna get you both out of here. Are either of you hurt?" "No, we're fine," the man said. "A little shaken, but fine." "Good," I smiled. "I'm Cleo, by the way." The girl grinned. "Nice to meet you."

"Don't worry!" Donnie said. "We'll have you out of there in a second!" "Okay... giant, lizard thing..." the girl said slowly. I raised my eyebrow. "Really, dude?" "Turtle, actually. I'm Donatello." "April," the girl said. Donnie grinned. "Wow, that's a pretty-" Suddenly Leo was thrown back against Donnie, causing him to smash his face against the window of the cell. "The lock, Donnie!" Leo snapped. "Oh yeah! Right, sorry!" He knelt back down, removed the cover of the lock system, and started messing with the wires. 

I turned around as a couple of Kraang started to come up. They started firing and I charged at them. I swung my tessen up at one of them, slicing some of the wiring in its neck section. Sparks shot out as I reared around and kicked the robot in the head, sending it flying back. Another robot came up and grabbed my wrist. I brought my elbow down on the crook of the robotic arm, elbowed the robots face, and kneed it in the chest. As it stumbled back, I ran up to it and swung my tessen upward, slicing through the robot's face.

"Not to rush you, but... hurry up!" said April. "Hey! You think it's easy trying to pick a lock with these hands?" Donnie said, waving his hands up. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. At that moment Raph came up and kicked away a Kraang that was heading for us. Then he stalked over to Donnie. "Oh, for the love 'a... Get out of my way!" Raph grabbed Donnie and shoved him away. I stared at him as he took one of his sais and started stabbing the lock repeatedly. After a moment the cell door finally opened. We looked inside and saw that a door on the other side was opened too, and the family was being dragged off once again. 

"Are you kidding me?" I said irritably. We all ran through the cell and turned the corner following the robots as they took the family to an exit. We all burst through the double doors. "Get the door!" said Leo. Raph went to shut the door just as a robot came up and tried to shove its way through. It reached out for Raph, who backed up. Raph growled, then he grabbed the robotic arm and brought his elbow down on it hard. He kicked the robot back inside, which caused it to be separated from its arm. Raph slammed the door shut, and shoved the severed arm through the door handles, locking them in place.

"That'll hold them!" Raph turned to face us. We were all staring at him, eyebrows raised. Raph shrugged. "What?" "You," Leo stated. "are seriously twisted." "Thanks." "I don't think that was a compliment, dude," I told him. "No! Let me go!" April's screams brought us back to our senses. We turned and looked up at the roof in time to see April and her father being led into a helicopter. "Let's get 'em!" Leo shouted. But we had barley ran more than a few feet before a huge vine-looking thing with thorns dropped down in front of us. 

As they rose in the air my gaze fell on the creature before us. It was huge! It had a body like a tree trunk, green and molded weirdly. It had two thorny vines for arms and the ends of both vines had jaws made of leaves. If I had to describe the face, I'd say it looked kind of like a praying mantis, except way uglier. It was a very large, clearly pissed off mutant weed. "Uh-oh..." Mikey muttered.

The mutant reared its large, ugly head back, letting out a loud shriek. "You did this to me!" it snarled at us. "Now you're going to pay!" "It's Snake!" Leo exclaimed. "He mutated into a... giant weed!" Snake squalled, clapping his leafy hands like Venus Flytraps. "That's weird," said Mikey. "You'd think he'd get mutated into a snake." "Yeah, you would. If you were an idiot!" Raph snapped at his little brother. "But his name is Snake," Mikey said as though he were explaining something serious. Raph raised his brows. "So?" "You don't understand science." 

I opened my mouth to comment when there was a loud crackling noise. The lower half of snake's trunk-like body suddenly split in two and broke free from the ground. I gasped, taking a few steps back. "I'll crush you turtles!" he shrieked, and he glanced at me. "I'll crush all of you!" I gulped. "Heh... Guess that includes me too, huh?" I muttered. Donnie cleared his throat. "Uh... would it help if we say it was an accident?" Snake pulled his other foot from the ground and leaned towards them. "So!" Donnie gripped his Bo staff. "I'll put you down for a 'no'?"

Snake let out a horse yell and swung his vine towards us. I managed to leap out of the way, but Mikey and Raph got knocked down. "That is a definite 'no'!" I shouted. Leo leapt forward as he raised his katana and sliced off the vine. Snake squalled painfully, flapping his arm around as what looked like purple blood started spraying and spurting everywhere. Mikey yelped as he pushed himself back, desperate not to let the junk get on him. "Ew! Eww! Don't let it touch me! Don't let it touch me!" he screamed as a tiny dollop of blood fell on his leg. "Ahh! It touched me!" 

Then the vine Leo cut started straining outward. It was growing back! Snake grinned, clapping his leafy hand again. "What the-?!" I said in shock, "It grew back?!" Donnie frowned. "No fair!" Suddenly the whirl of a helicopter reached our ears. We looked up and saw the helicopter the family was forced into was starting to get into the air. "Donnie! Go!" Leo shouted. Donnie's eye narrowed as he sheathed his Bo staff. He ran towards Leo, who was crouched down slightly. Donnie jumped, and Leo used his hands to help launch him into the air. Donnie flipped up and landed by the chopper pad.

"I hope you have a plan, Leo!" I yelled. "I'm working on it!" Snake swung his vines at us, and we scattered. Looking frantic, Mikey took the bade of his kusarigama and started slicing the oncoming vines. But he was soon knocked aside just a few moments later. Leo stepped up and started slicing everything that came anywhere near him. But like Mikey, he was pushed aside, too. I charged forward, darting from left to right to avoid the dangerous vines. I jumped up and flung my tessen forward, aiming for Snake's face. He lifted one of his vines to block it, but the fan sliced through it with ease. Snake squealed more. I raised my hand as my tessen started to spin back towards me and caught it. 

"Cleo, watch out!" Mikey yelled. I looked up to see one of Snake's vine had started to creep up on me. I wasn't fast enough though, and he tripped me and then pushed me back several feet. I landed on the ground and rolled a few times before coming to a stop, laying on my side. Suddenly, Snake took Raph and threw him down at us, but Leo and Mikey managed to catch him. I stood up as we all stared at Snake.

"Snakeweed is really powerful!" Mikey shouted. "Snakeweed?" me and Raph said in unison. "Yeah! His name was Snake, and now he's a weed, so..." "We get it!" Raph snapped. "We just have to hold it off until Donnie gets back!" said Leo. There was a loud bam from behind us. We all turned and saw the Kraang had suddenly burst open, and several robots spilled out. "While not getting shot by alien robots," Leo finished. "With brains!" Mikey added. "Let it go, man," said Raph. Snakeweed squealed again, and I could hear the Kraang wiring their guns. I crouched down slightly, holding my tessen up in a defensive stance. 

"Raph! Cleo! You guys handle Snakeweed!" said Leo. "Me and Mikey will handle the robots!" I nodded and turned to face Snakeweed. Raph jumped up and punched him a few times in the face. Snakeweed shot his vines at him, but Raph sliced them with his sai. I ran up to one of his tree-trunk legs and ran up it. I jumped up, and shot down towards Snakeweeds face, aiming my tessen at him. There was a slash as I felt my tessen come into contact with the weed's face. He squealed in pain, and I landed on the ground with ease. I turned to look up at him, and I saw a long gash between his eyes.

"Nice one, Cleo!" shouted Raph. Suddenly the Kraang came up and started firing their weapons at us. We jumped out of the way, leaving Snakeweed in the line of fire. He was shot several times, and squalled. He used one of his long vines to knock down the Kraang, and then knocked us down, too. "What's the plan again, Chief?" Raph asked Leo sarcastically. "I'm working on it!" Then one of Snakeweeds vines came down and grabbed onto Leo. It pulled him up, so he was hanging in the air by his ankle. 

Snakeweed thrashed him around a bit, but Leo's gaze seemed to be elsewhere. "The power conduits!" he exclaimed. "Are we really gonna start talking about that again?!" Raph snapped. Leo didn't answer as he was thrashed around more. But there was something in the look on his face that suggested that he had something going on in his head. "Raph! Mikey! Cleo!" Leo shouted.

We looked up at him as he placed the end of one of his katanas in his mouth. Then he used his free hand to make several odd hand gestures. I recognized them as the gestures from earlier. Leo, you clever boy. We all nodded, and then charged towards Snakeweed. We went around behind him just as Leo sliced off the vine that was holding him. Snakeweed turned to face me, Raph and Mikey. He waved and snapped his vines at us, trying to grab us. But we simply flipped out of the way. One vine tried to grab my leg, but I snap-kicked it and did a back flip to keep my distance. Mikey and Raph flipped until they were next to me. 

We all turned to see the Kraang standing behind us, guns pointed at us. The boys made some funny faces and noises, taunting the robots. I smirked as I blew a raspberry, waving my hands in the air, The robots began firing, and me and the boys scattered out of the way. I did a few more back flips to make sure I had some distance before I stopped. "Cleo!" I turned around to see Donnie standing right behind me. Next to him was the girl, April. "Oh, thank goodness," I sighed. "Are you alright?" "We're okay," said Donnie. I looked at April, who nodded. "Yeah, I think so." I nodded, and turned around to see what else was going on. 

That's when I saw Leo standing on power conduit. He reached from behind him and pulled out two throwing stars. He threw them at Snakeweed, who grunted, and turned to face the blue-banded turtle. "Hey, come and get me, Stink-weed!" Leo jeered, sticking his tongue out at said mutant. Snakeweed squealed and lunged forward at Leo. But he simply jumped and landed on Snakeweed's back. Leo laughed tauntingly at the Kraang, his tongue hanging out, smacking the back of his shell at them. The Kraang fired their weapons right at him. Leo did a back flip off of Snakeweed's back and ran out of the way. The Kraang continued to fire repeatedly at Snakeweed but ended up hitting the power conduits instead. 

A few seconds later Snakeweed, who was still touching the power conduit, reared his head back and screeched in pain. He looked like he was being electrocuted with pink electricity. After a few moments the thing exploded in a mash of pink fire and smoke. I glanced up in the air, and tiny bits and pieces of Snakeweed's body started falling around us, including some more weird purple blood. "That," I stated. "is disgusting." Raph turned to face me. "C'mon. We gotta go." I nodded. I looked around once to make sure that my bros and April is all right, and then we all ran for the exit.

(-)

The first thing we did was take April to her aunt's apartment. She was very grateful to us, but she was still very upset. Donnie had managed to save her without problem, but there was nothing he could do to save her father. The guys were all standing on the fire escape, I was sitting on the railing, and April was sitting on her window ledge. "Are you gonna be alright?" Donnie asked her. April shrugged. "I guess. My aunt says I can stay here as long as I want," she hugged her knees tightly. "But I'll be a lot better when I track down the creeps that took my dad." "Won't the police help?" asked Leo. "Funny thing," April chuckled dryly. "When you tell them your dad was kidnapped by alien brains in robot bodies, they don't take you all that seriously." 

Mikey nodded. "I hear that." "April," Donnie piped up. "I promise you; we will not rest until we find him." Raph blinked. "We won't?" Leo nudged his arm, and I pushed his shoulder. "No, we won't," said Leo. "We'll do everything we can to bring him back to you," I told her. "Thank you," said April. "But it's not your fight." April looked down at her feet, a serious expression on her face. Then Donnie reached over and placed his hand over her own. "Yes, it is," he stated. 

April blinked, startled by the intimate gesture. But then she looked up at Donnie and smiled at him. Donnie yanked his hand back, his green cheeks looking rather pink. Then he grinned sheepishly and backed away. The others all started to climb up to the rooftop. Donnie got up there last. He turned back to look at April, and grinned as he waved at her. April waved back, and Donnie grinned more. 

"C'mon, Cleo," he said as he turned. "Comin'!" I turned to April. "So, I assume we'll be seeing you again?" April nodded. "Definitely." "Awesome! Just a little warning, though. My brothers can be pretty... funny sometimes. But once you get to know them, you'll love them." She chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind." I smiled. Waving my hand slightly, I turned and followed my brothers to the rooftops.

(-)

As soon as we got home, the boys went off to do their own thing. Donnie, Raph and Mikey were watching TV, and Leo was in the dojo with father. Feeling a little bored, I decided to go see what Leo was up to. What I didn't expect was to see him having a conversation with father. "I am impressed, Leonardo. You proved to be an effective leader under the most difficult of circumstances." I smiled as I put my hands in my pockets, and I leaned against the wall.

"Thank you, Sensei," said Leo. "And I think I've figured out why you made me leader." "Oh? Why is that?" Father asked curiously. "Because you sensed inside me a true, warrior spirit that would forge us all into the heroes we are destined to become!" Leo said very dramatically. "No." I blinked. Well, this oughta be good.

"No? Then why did you make me leader?" "Because... You asked." My jaw fell as I stared at father. Really? That's why? "That's it?!" Leo exclaimed. "But you seemed so certain you were right." "As a leader, you will learn that there is no right and wrong. Only choices." "So, you could've chosen any of us?" "Yes." "Even Mikey?!" "No!" Father laughed. "That would have been wrong." I sighed, face palming. "Is something wrong, Cleopatra?" I opened my eyes to see father and Leo both looking at me. "No offense father, but your advice can be a little confusing sometimes," I admitted.

"But that is why I tell you those things now, Cleopatra," Father walked towards me. "I tell you all that you must know now so that when you are older, you will have gained the knowledge to understand what I have taught you." I bit my lip for a moment. "Okay... that I understood." Father chuckled. "Everybody!" I heard Mikey yell. "Come here! We made the news!" "What?" I gasped. I spun on my heel and sprinted towards the living room. I stood behind the couch as I looked at the TV. 

"A report of- get this- ninjas in New York! Don't believe me? After residents reported a disturbance, the police recovered this." 

An image of a throwing star with our insignia on it appeared on the screen. "Oh, boy..." I mumbled. 

"For Channel 6 News, this is Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe saying, "Hai-ya!" 

"This is awesome!" Mikey said happily. "We're gonna be famous!" "I'm pretty sure that's bad thing, Mikey," I told him. "Cleopatra is right," Father said firmly. "You must be more careful. A ninja's most powerful weapon is the shadows. Being brought out into the light is a dangerous thing." "Relax, Sensei," said Raph. "It's just one little news story. What's the worst that could happen?" Father shook his head. I sighed. Maybe Raph was right. I mean, it was just a little throwing star. No one could make anything out of that. Right?

"Well, I don't know about you guys," I said. "It's late, and now I'm hungry." "So am I!" Mikey piped up. "I've had some serious munchies all night!" Mikey did a back flip and landed in front of me. Then he turned around and crouched down slightly. I laughed before running up and jumping onto his shell. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he grabbed onto my legs. "To the kitchen, Michelangelo!" I jeered. "There are snacks to be had!" "Aw yeah!" We both laughed as Mikey charged, giving me a piggyback ride to the kitchen. I heard the boys laughing from behind me, and I could've sworn I heard father mumbled something that sounded like, "teenagers."