Angels and Demons

Angesl and Demons

This is my very first fanfiction so please critique it as much as you want. I love the 2003 TMNT series, and don't really count TMNTFF or TMNTBTTS as part of the series (not that I don't like them, they aren't as bad as some people make them out to be). This is my version of what happened after the turtles defeated the Demon Shredder.

To Karai fans, Karai's sword has been called both a tanto by Leo and a katana by Bishop in the 2k3 series. Because it was called a tanto first, and I'm guessing Leo knows more about swords than Bishop, I'm going to refere to Karai's sword as a tanto.

-I do not own XBOX, Call of Duty, or TMNT

Chapter 1: The Girl in the Forest

Everyone was really tired. It had been a long day of hiding in the cargo holds of planes and driving. Mikey was going ballistic from being cooped up for so long, which basically meant he was annoying the heck out of Raph. He was about to say he'd beat the shell out of Mikey if he didn't quit it, when Doni interrupted him.

"Uh guys? I'm kind of trying to read here."

"Sorry." They said at the same time.

"Whatcha readin there Doni boy?" Mikey asked, now focusing his attention on annoying Doni.

Doni smirked. He knew how to get Mikey to leave him alone. "Well Mikey, I was just reading about a theory on biomechanics. You see..."

"Never mind." Mikey waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "I don't want to know about bio...whatever." Mikey looked around the enclosed trailer, trying to find something to do. He saw Leo meditating and smirked. It was always fun to mess with Leo when he was trying to meditate. Mikey started to poke him. Leo remained still, acting as if the constant poking wasn't annoying.

"Wakey wakey Leonardo." Mikey said, now tugging on the tails of Leo's bandana.

Leo kept his eyes shut. "Sleeping and meditating are two different things Mikey."

"Not to me." Mikey shrugged.

Leo sighed opening his eyes. "Looks like I'm not getting anymore meditation in today." He glared at Mikey.

Mikey laughed, than said. "Awww don't be such a poor sport Leo. You know you love me."

Leo sighed. "You know Mikey sometimes I'm not so sure."

Mikey grinned. "You're just trying to hide it. You know I'm your favorite brother."

Leo shook his head, looking around. "How long have we been driving?" He asked Don.

Doni shrugged. "Not sure. Can't be much longer though."

The trailer stopped and the brothers heard footsteps walking towards the front of the trailer. As Casey opened the trailer door, light flooded in, blinding the turtles. One by one they hopped out, each sheilding their eyes from the sun.

Leo sighed as he took in the beautiful Japanese landscape. In front of him was a house where the six of them were going to be staying for the next week. April and Casey were on vacation and had offered to let the guys tag along. They'd extended their offer to Master Splinter, but he hadn't wanted to come. 'I have seen Japan many times. You go ahead without me my sons.' He had said. Surroundng the house was a forest of bamboo with a quiet stream running through it.

"Isn't this great?" Leo sighed. To him the place looked majestic and beautiful. It also held secrets about Bushido and Ninjitsu. The rest of his brothers weren't so excited.

"Sure. No video games for a week. Sounds like a blast." Mikey replied.

"Didn't I tell you Mikey? There's a TV here. You could have brought your XBOX." April said, trying to sound innocent.

Mikey let out a girly scream. "You're telling me I could have spent the entire week playing Call of Duty?!"

Doni and April broke laughing and high-fived (or in Doni's case, high-three-d). "We were just kidding Mikey. Doni brought your games for you." April grinned.

Mikey hopped up and down. "Doni, did I ever tell you you're my favorite brother?"

"Don't feel so flattered." Doni said as he rolled his eyes. "I only did it so you wouldn't drive me crazy while I try to work on my experiments. Of course, it isn't as if I can get much done without all of my lab equipment."

"Relax Don." April laughed. "We brought you here so you could have fun, not so you could obsess over your experiments." Don just shrugged.

"At least you all have somethin to do out here." Raph complained. "I was gonna work on my shell-cycle. I already miss that bike."

"Aw, Raphy's getting sentimental." Casey teased. Raph punched Casey's arm in warning, but Casey punched him back. After a coupld of punches, Raph and Casey began rolling around on the ground wrestling. Leo and April shared a look and shook their heads. Doni just rolled his eyes while Mikey jumped into the fight, screaming "dog pile!"

"Would you three stop being morons for a second and help us bring the luggage inside the house?" April asked. The boys kept roughhousing, pretending not to hear her.

"I got this April." Leo remarked. "Don, let me see your bo staff for a second." Doni handed Leo his staff. "Thanks." Leo replied, turning around and hitting all three 'morons' on the head.

"Ouch! What'd you have to go and do that for?" Casey said, rubbing his head along with Raph and Mikey.

"We're going to need some help taking all of this luggage inside you know." Leo sighed.

"You could have just asked." Mikey said angrily, still rubbing his head.

Leo grunted and took a couple of suitcases inside the house. The door led right into the living room. It had two couches facing each other with a TV against the wall in front of them. Leo put the suitcases down and turned to see his brothers, Casey, and April come inside with the rest of the luggage.

"This place is kinda nice." Casey remarked.

"Hey! Mikey!" April cried.

Mikey had started going through the luggage, randomly throwing things out. "Come on, come on!" Mikey said to himself. "Where's my XBOX?" Unbeknown to Mikey, he was rummaging through April's clothes. He pulled out multiple shirts before coming across a pink bra. "What the..." Mikey said.

"Give me that!" April said, infuriated. "Why don't you make yourself useful and take your stuff up to your room."

Mikey just shrugged. "Whatever. Which bag is mine?"

Doni threw one of the bags he'd brought in from the car to Mikey. "I put your XBOX in your bag."

"Why didn't you just ask us that in the first place instaed of going through my stuff?" April growled.

"Didn't think about it." Mikey shrugged than went upstairs, muttering "Sheesh! Some people get mad over the weirdest things."

"I swear! Sometimes he's worse than you Casey!" April raned.

"Hey I'm not that bad." Casey protested.

"You're right." April sighed, than leaned over to kiss him apologetically.

"Uh...I'm gonna go put my stuff away." Raph said uncomfortably.

"Me too." Doni said, running out of the room.

"I'll leave you two alone." Leo said, picking up his bag. Leo walked towards the stairs, but before climbing them, he looked back at Casey and April. They were gazing longingly into each other's eyes. Leo felt a weird pang in his chest. "What the shell?" He mumbled under his breath. He shook his head and climbed the stairs. Leo didn't know what to make of the feelings he'd felt when he'd watched Casey and April. They confused him. He didn't know why he'd felt some of them, and others he wasn't familiar with at all.

Upstairs there were four bedrooms. Each was pretty much the same, one bed, a dresser, a closet, a TV, and a window overlooking the beautiful Japanese landscape. Mikey carefully checked out each room, making sure he got the biggest one. After scoping out all the rooms, Mikey turned his bag upside down and shook all the contents inside the bag onto his bed.

"There's my XBOX!" Mikey smiled. "Let's see, how do you rig this thing up again?" After a couple of minutes Mikey was able to hook up his XBOX and immediatly started playing Call of Duty.

"Hey Mikey!" Leo peeked inside Mikey's room. "Are you all set up?"

"Busy here Leo!" Mikey called back.

"Guess that means you don't want to check out the forest with me then."

"Yeah pretty much. Go ask Raph. I'm sure he'd be interested."

"Sure, becuase Raph and I get along so well."

"Uh huh. Whatever you say Leo." Mikey said, obviously distracted.

Leo shurgged his shoulders and went to go look for Don. he was in his room.

"Hey Doni. What are you up too?"

"Sorry Leo. Can't talk now. I'm getting ready to conduct an experiment on some of the crystals we used to cure our friends from underground."

"What exactly are you going to do?" Leo asked, intrigued.

"Well," Doni began. "It seems that the crystals are a form of energy in a solid state. As you know, energy is neither good nor evil."

"Right." Leo nodded. "Just like the Ninja Tribunal told us."

"Exactly. I'm trying to figure out if you can make the crystals positively or negatively charged, like we did with the lay lines under New York."

"How do you plan to do that?" Leo asked. Since the medallions the Ninja Tribunal had given them exploded during their final confrontation with the Demon Shredder, the turtles hadn't been able to channel their Chi.

"I'm hoping that just touching the crystals while focusing on either negatively or positively charged energy will be enough to affect them. They are at their most powerful and changeable in their liquid state, so I'll try the experiment with the crystal as a liquid."

"Sounds logical." Leo replied thinking. "Let me know what happens." He said, walking out of the room. Leo decided he'd ask Raph, even though he alredy knew he wouldn't want to come.

"I'm going to go check out the forest. Just wondered if you wanted to come."

Raph grunted. "Nah, I'm gonna get some sleep. Mikey kept me up almost the entire trip."

"Suit yourself." Leo shrugged, than left. As he walked downstairs he figured it might be a good thing none of his brothers had wanted to go with him. [i]'This way I can sort out what happend when I saw Casey and April.' [/i]He thought.

Leo walked outside and took in the scenery once more. he couldn't help it. Every time he saw it the sight took his breath away. With the sun starting to set, he knew it was only a matter of time before the sky turned orange, and the whole place was even more picture perfect than before.

Leo entered the woods. He followed the stream for a while, listening to the soothing, trickling noise it made. His thoughts turned to April and Casey and he sighed. [i]'Maybe I'm jealous," [/i]he thought [i]'not of Casey and April, but their relationship. I guess eventually everyone wishes they had someone to share their life with. That's why I felt so sad, because more than likely I'll never have someone like that in my life.' [/i]Leo sighed. He decided to dip his feet in the stream. It was really hot out, even with the setting sun.

Leo woke up. He'd only been asleep for a couple of minutes, but already the sun was halfway behind the horizon.

He looked around, trying to figure out what had woke him up. Suddenly, he heard a battle cry, and the sound of metal against metal. He quickly ran towards the sounds origin, and what he saw astounded him. A single girl, probably about his age, was surrounded by about forty Foot Ninja. She was pale as a ghost but had hair as dark as night. Her eyes glistened, sad and knowing. She was dressed in a long in a long-sleeved, white t-shirt and and acid washed jeans. Her clothes looked dirty, as if she'd been wearing them for a while, although it could have just been from the fight.

[i]'Isn't she warm?' [/i]Leo thought to himself. [i]'I thought humans wore shorts and tank tops when it's hot like this, at least, that's what both April and Angel do.'[/i]

Leo watched, fascinated. The girl had double katana, just like him, and appeared to be very skilled. He wasn't sure if he should help, after all, if the Foot knew he and his brothers were here, they could be in a lot of trouble, and what if this girl attacked him? The famous quote, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' isn't always true.

Leo's attention was brought back to the battle, as a Foot Soldier disarmed the mysterious girl. Instinctively, Leo jumped into the fight, trying to protect her.

"What the heck?" The girl mumbled, then turned her attention back to the fight. Leo turned to see the girl move her hands up towards the sky.

[i]'What's she doing?' [/i]He thought.

Suddenly, a large rock to the right of her seemed to obey the gestures of her arms. The girl motioned to an attacking ninja, and the rock hit him on the head. The soldier crumpled to the ground in front of her. The girl continued to throw rocks at unsuspecting attakers, her face very intense as if these feats took all of her concentration.

In fact, she was focusing so hard, she didn't notice Karai, the Shredders daughter and leader of this onslaught, perched in a nearby tree. Karai had a bow in her hands and a pack of arrows slung across her back, each dipped with a poison that was fatal if injeted in the right place. Karai hesitated. Could she really hurt this girl? The girl who had been her companion for so many years? Chaplin had insisted she use a new product of his magic-tech weaponry to capture the girl, but had turned his offerr down. She had to prove to her father she could capture the girl on her own. She had the antidote for the poison tuked away in a secret pocket of her shirt, just in case. She didn't plan on killing the girl. No, than she would be of no use. Seh only planned on rendering her helpless long enought to get her back to camp and secure her in a magic-proof containment chamber. Normal anesthesia, like tranquilizer darts, didn't work on the girl. The magic in her blood burned it off too quickly.

Karai reached for an arrow and pulled back the string of her bow. She had made her choice.

"I'm sorry Evie." She whispered. "But not sorry enough." She released the string.

Although the mysterious girl hadn't seen Karia, Leo had. He saw her aim her bow at at the girl and pull back the string. He had a strange urge to protect her, and ran to the girl as fast as he could, knocking her out of the way just in time.

the girl fell over, narrowly avoiding capture. She turned onto her back to face her rescuer.

"Thanks." She muttered, embarresed. Suddenly, she knew something was wrong. She turned Leo over, and saw the arrow that had been meant for her plunged deep into his chest. She felt a sudden wave of intense grief wash over her. She wasn't sure why, she didn't even know this strange being's name, but she felt as if her whole world had been turned upside down.

She felt her anger surge through her body. [i]'No! Not again!' [/i]She thought. She'd worked so hard to control her anger to keep this from happening. She felt excruciating pain throughout her body, as if she were being burned alive. She looked down at her hands. Her fingernails turned to claws as sharp as daggers, and her skin turned black and scaly. She felt wings erupt out of her back. Her face also began to feel hot, as her eyes started to glow an unearthly red and her hair turned white. Her last coherent thought was [i]'Why?' [/i]Once she was transformed she was like an animal. Unpredictable and dangerous, she was guided only by instinct. Walking on all fours she growled, standing protectivly in front of Leo. She pounced like a tiger at the nearest Foot Soldier, fighting and clawing, until only one person remained.

Karai jumped out from her hiding place in the trees and unsheathed her sword.

Seeing Karai made the red glow of Evie's eyes soften, as her emotions changed from hate and anguish to sadness. her body felt like it was on fire again. Slowly, she changed from the horrible monster back into herself. Standing up, she grabbed her swords and sheathed them.

"I don't want to fight you Karai." She whispered.

"You [i]dare[/i] try and make me feel sorry for you? You brought this upon yourself! You are the one who abandoned[i] me[/i]!"

"I didn't abandon you Kiki." Evie replied, addressing Karai by the nickname she'd given her when they were children. Things had seemed so much simpler than. "I begged you to come with me. You were the one that decided not to."

"You forced me to choose between my sister and my father!" Karai screamed.

Evie shook her head. "Maybe I did force you to make a choice, but it was never about choosing me over Saki. It was about choosing good over evil. He's evil Kiki, and you know it." Evie said kindly.

"Lies! All lies!"

"I won't fight you Karai."

"If you value your life you will!" Karai said, rushing towards her.

Evie began to move the air around her, pushing it underneath her so it lifted her up and out of reach of Karai's tanto.

Karai screamed in outrage as Evie used the air to 'fly' over to the branch of a tree.

Karai turned around, furious, and saw Leo a coupld of feet away trying to get up. She started running over to him, sword poised.

Suddenly, flames erupted around Karai, encerciling her. She screamed in outrage, turning to see Evie, arms outstreched, keeping the flames under control.

Evie jumped out of the tree, careful to keep her concentration on the flames. She then walked over to Leo and helped him up. He leaned heavily on her, his breathing shallow. Evie used on arm to change the fire from a circle and into a wall between her and Karai. She then released her control over the flames and let them go wild.

"Can you walk?" She asked Leo. he nodded his head slightly.

"Eventually he will get you Evelyn! You can't hid forever!" Karai screamed.

Evelyn ignored Karai and kept running towards the place where she'd been hiding for the past three months.

Chapter 2: A Complicated Past

"Ugh." Leo groaned. His vision was blurry, but he was uncomfertably aware of the pain spreading throughout his body. He tried to sit up, but couldn't move. All he could see was what looked like stone far above him. He felt so thirsty. He tried to move again, but only succeeded in crying out in pain.

Suddenly, his eyes detected movement. His vision had blurred even more from his attempts at moving so he could hardly make out what was in front of him. It looked like a face, whose he wasn't sure.

Evelyn gently lifted Leo's head and poured water from a canteen down his throat.

Both Leo's head and vision cleared slightly. He started to drift off into unconsciousness again.

"Oh no you don't." Evelyn whispered.

Leo suddenly felt something very cold on his forehead, waking him up once again.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I can't have you blaking out on me again. If you do, I'm not sure I'll be able to wake you back up." Evelyn got up and walked away, carefully making sure Leo was wide awake before doing so.

After a couple of minutes, she walked back towards Leo with some bandages, antibacterial wipes, a sewing needle, thread, and various herbs.

"I'm so sorry about this." Evelyn muttered. "I would have done it while you were still asleep, but you woke up before I had a chance. I can't risk you going back to sleep now."

"What...what are you doing?" Leo whispered hoarsely.

"I'm going to have to remove the arrow."

"Leo let this sink in. "This is going to hurt, isn't it?" Leo said.

I'm so sorry. I can numb it a little with some herbs I have, but you'll still be able to feel most of it."

Leo gritted his teeth. "Just get it over with."

"Is there any other way I can help you?"

"Just distract me."

Evelyn nodded. She rinsed her hands off in a little bowl of water sitting next to her. She then picked up a couple of herbs wrapped in cloth. "This will numb you a little."

Leo just nodded and took a deep breath.

Evelyn spread the herbs around, trying to numb as much skin surrounding the arrow as possible.

"Alright. I'm going to leave that there for a couple minutes."

Leo nodded. After a short pause he asked "Aren't you scared of me?"

Evelyn laughed. "You saved me. Besides, I'm not exactly one to judge."

Leo looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say I have personal experience with things that are...out of the ordinary." She replied. "Are you numb?"

"Yeah I think so."

"Ok. I'm going to pull it out now. Try to stay awake." Evelyn said nervously.

"K." Leo prepared himself.

Evelyn wrapped her fingers around the arrow. It moved only slightly, but Leo was painfully aware of it. A small grunt escaped his lips.

[i]'This is going to hurt. A lot.' [/i]Leo thought.

"Do you have a name?" Evelyn asked.

"Leonardo." Leo said, trying to keep his voice steady.

"My names Evelyn. Brace yourself." Evelyn said, biting her lip and closing her eyes as she yanked the arrow out.


"Why do I always have to go find Leo?" Raph muttered to himself. "He probably just fell asleep or somethin."

The others started to get a little worried when the sun had set and Leo wasn't back yet. If Raph couldn't find him on his own, they were all going to go looking for him. Already Raph had been looking around for about ten minutes.

"Stupid forest. Stupid bugs!" Raph said, trying just a little to hard to swat away a couple of gnats. "I hate em!"

[i]'Alright, if Leo isn't by that big hill over there, I'm gonna go home and grab everyone else. If I have to be our here Mikey should have to be too!' [/i]Raph thought. He walked over to a hill. As he got closer, Raph could make out a couple of naturally formed caves on the hillside. [i]'Maybe Leo went into on of those for some reason.' [/i]Raph wondered, but before he could check them out he heard a scream of pain. Not just any scream, Leo's scream.

"Leo!" Raph yelled. The sound had come from one of the caves to his left. Raph ran as fast as he could to the hill and began searching the caves for Leo. On his forth cave he heard voices coming towards the back of it. As he walked further into the cave, Raph started to see light coming from a campfire and quickly hid behind a large rock.

Raph could just make out the voice of a girl, saying "Ok. The arrows out and the wound is clean. Now I just..." the girl's voice trailed off. "I think there was poison on the arrow tip."

"Poison?" A lower voice said so weakly Raph could barely hear it.

Raph poked his head around the rock. Leo was lying on the floor with a wound on his chest and a teenage girl leaning over him, examining an arrow.

"The good news is I know what poison it is and I have the antidote. It'll just take me a second to grab it, in the mean time try to stay conscious." The girl stood up.

Raph drew his sais and jumped out from behind the rock.

"Hey!" He growled.

The girl turned around and looked at him.

"You aint goin nowhere until ya tell me what you're doin with my brother!"

The girl put her hands up. "My name's Evelyn. Your brother saw me fighting in the forest and wanted to help. During the fight he pushed me out of the way of an arrow but got hit with it himself. I brought him back here to do what I can for his wound."

[i]'Her story checks out.' [/i]Raph thought. "Alright." Raph said. "You go ahead and do whatever it was you were doin, but I'll be watchin."

Evelyn nodded. "Of course." She walked over to a large, khaki bag on the floor of the cave. After a bit of rummaging around she pulled out a glass vial. She walked back over to Leo and began pouring its contents onto his wound.

"So do you have a name?" Evelyn asked Raph.

"Raphael."

Evelyn nodded her head in recognition, then turned her attention towards Leo. "It'll take a little while to get into your blood stream, but you should feel better soon."

"Thanks." Leo said through clenched teeth.

"Where'd you get that stuff anyways?" Raph asked, pointing a sai at the glass bottle in her hands.

"I, ah, [i]barrowed[/i] it from an old friend of mine." She said, stitching up Leo's wound.

"Ouch!" Leo cried.

Raph laughed. "You're actin like ya've never been stitched up before, Leo."

Leo glowered at him. "You're one to talk Raph."

Raph shook his head smirking, then looked at the ground.

"Seems pretty convenient." He said after a pause.

"What?" Evelyn asked.

"Ya happen to know what poison was on the arrow, and then ya just happen to have the antidote on ya."

"My friend was the one who shot at me."

Raph looked at her. "Friends don't usually shoot other friends."

"Well I may have exaggerated when i called her a friend. She used to be my friend, actually she used to be my sister until she started trying to capture me."

Raph gave her a weird look. "So your sister is tryin to capture ya? I'm not sure what ta do with that."

"It's a long story."

"I've got time."

"A really long story." Evelyn said, now looking uncomfertable.

Fortunately for Evely, Raph's shell-cell went off before he could say anything.

"What?" He asked.

"Did you find him?" Don replied on the other end.

"Yeah. I'm with him right now."

"Are you guys on your way back?"

No, he kinda ran into some trouble while he was in the forest. i don't think he'll be movin for a while."

Doni groaned. "How serious is it?"

"He took an arrow ta the chest."

"Where are you?"

"What do ya think I am? A GPS? We're in a cave on a hillside."

"Raph, be nice." Leo said.

"Well that narrows it down." Doni said sarcastically. "Thankfully, I've already locked onto your location through your shell-cell. We'll be there in ten minutes." Don hung up.

"Who exactly are you bringing here?" Evelyn asked.

"My brothers, Don and Mikey."

Evelyn sighed. "You'd better hope none of Karai's Foot Soldiers follow them, or we'll all be screwed."

"Don't worry. Their ninjas, super stealthy. Besides, I think we can handle a couple of Foot goons.

Evelyn shrugged and went back to wiping Leo's forehead with a wet washcloth.

Raph looked, around feeling awkward. He thought about what Evelyn had said. [i]'She's the one who shot at me.' 'Actually, she used to be my sister....' 'You better hope on of Karai's Foot Soldiers doesn't follow them...' [/i]Finally Raph put two and two together.

"When ya said the person who shot ya used to be your sister, ya didn't mean Karai did ya?"

Evelyn turned around to look at him. "Will you still trust me if I say yes?"

"Probably not."

"Than no." She turned so that her back was to him again.

"So Karai was your sister huh? How come you've never tried to waste us before?"

Evelyn sighed, her back still towards Raph. "It's not like that. I didn't ask to be adopted by Saki."

"So you're another one of Saki's pets." Raph said. His eyes shifted towards the opening in the cave. He could probably take this girl out, but Leo wasn't in any shape to move. He had to wait this out, see how much information he could get out of this girl.

"[i]Used[/i] to be one of Saki's pets." She said turning around. "I finally broke out three months ago."

"What da ya mean, broke out?"

"I was held there against my will and then I escapd. That's usually what 'breaking out' means."

"That still doesn't explain why I've never seen ya before."

"You live in New York right? You're one of the turtles that kept confusing Karai, made her struggle between right and wrong?"

Leo laughed, than clutched his hand to his chest. "Ow!" He said.

"What?" Evelyn asked.

"Nothing, I just didn't think I got through to her at all."

"Anyway, we used to run the Japanese faction of the Foot, utnil Karai left to try and control the gang wars that broke out after everyone thought the Shredder was dead. When she left, I stayed behind to sustain control over here in Japan." Evelyn said.

"I guess that makes sense." Raph said thinking. "But it makes me trust ya less."

"I only stayed for that long because of Karai. I'm sort of the older sister, the one that takes the blame. I couldn't let her face the Shredder's wrath, she's too delicate."

Raph laughed sardonically. "Oh yeah, she's a real tender flower."

"I don't mean physically, I mean emotionally. She's too sensitive to rejection. her biological parents abandoned her. If Saki had punished her like he did to me..." Her voice trailed off.

"How did he punish ya?" Raph asked. Evelyn's eyes glazed over. She wasn't in the cave anymore, she was ten again, and being 'punished' by her father for the first time.

"I do not tolerate failure!" The voice of Oroku Saki boomed.

"Please father!" Evelyn cried. "I'm sorry! I'll do better next time!" She was kneeling in front of him begging, her hands and feet bound. The Shredder was circling her, a whip in his hands.

"Yes you will." He said. The whip cracked. Evelyn cried out in pain.

"Hello? Hello!!!!" Raph yelled, waving his hands in front of her face.

"What?" She blinked.

"I asked ya how the Shredder punished ya and ya spaced out on me."

"Sorry. I don't like talking about that." Evelyn said, closing the matter.

"Whatever. Can I ask why he punished ya?"

"He sent Karai and me on missions, usually recon. We were young and made mistakes. When we'd get back, he'd ask who was responsible for our failure. Whether it was or not, I'd take the blame so Karai didn't have to suffer. Like I said, I would have left a long time ago if she hadn't been in the picture. I couldn't just leave her there all by herself, and she refused to leave with me."

"But ya did leave."

"Evelyn looked down. "Yeah."

"What made ya change your mind?"

Evelyn opened her mouth, than closed it, thinking of what to say. Just then, voices could be heard from the caves opening.

"Oh Raphael?" Mikey yelled.

A small slap echoed in the cave.

"Ow! What?" Mikey asked.

"Quiet lamebrain! What if this is the wrong cave?" Don said.

"Are you doubting your technical mojo, all powerful science guru?"

"Of course not! My tracker is extremely accurate."

"Then there's nothing to worry about!"

Don sighed.

"Yo! Doni!" Raph yelled.

"Raph?" Don asked.

"We're in here!"

Don and Mikey entered the cave, walking further and further until they saw Leo, Raph, and Evelyn.

"Uh, who's she?" Mikey asked pointing to Evelyn.

"I'm Evelyn."

"She's Karai's long lost sister." Raph replied.

"[i]Used [/i]to be Karai's sister, until she started trying to capture me." Evelyn replied indignantly.

"Well you two sure have an interesting relationship." Mikey replied.

"Hey, lay off guys." Leo said.

Evelyn growled, clenching her fists. The four turtles stared at her as her eyes started to glow red.

"10.....9.....8....7...6...5...4..3,2,1" Evelyn counted backwards, and her eyes went back to normal. She closed them and took deep breaths. When she opened them she saw the brothers staring at her in shock, with the exception of Leo.

She looked down at the ground. "Sorry." She mumbled. "Sometimes my temer gets away from me."

"Yeah we can see that." Raph said, stunned. He had anger management issues himself, but that was ridiculous.

"I think you owe us an explanation." Don said.

Evelyn sighed, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "Ok, but listen carefully, because I'm not going to repeat myself."

The turtles nodded in agreement.

Leo noticed Evelyn looking over at him uncomfortably, as if she didn't want him listening to the conversation. He got the a weird urge again, this time to make her happy.

"Is it safe for me to sleep now?" Leo asked Evelyn.

She turned towards him, looking relieved. "Yeah I think you're ok now."

Leo nodded and closed his eyes.

Evelyn turned back to the other three brothers and tood a deep breaht. "When i was three a fire burned down my house in New York. My entire family died. I don't really remember them, but I know I had a mother, father, and sister. I was put into and orphanage. My years there were horrible. The volunteers were very strict, and we were beaten if we stepped out of line. They did however allow us to go to the Civic Center twice a week to take a free class. i chose martial arts. That's what made the Shredder so interested in adopting me. He sat in on one of my lessons and saw that I had potential. He wanted another pupil so the adopted daughter he already had would have a playmate and someone to occupy her time when she wasn't training. Basically, I was adopted to be my sister's keeper. When Saki brought me to his main home in Japan I was seven. He trained me in the art of ninjitsu along with Karai for three years before he started sending us on our own missions. They were usually recon, and every once in a while we got caught and Shredder had to send someone to retrieve us. The first time we got caught, Karai was so scared. She cried hysterically, saying over and over again that it was her fault. She had knocked over some boxes and had gotten us noticed. Karai and I were very close, and she was so scared that her adopted father would be angry with her. I had to protect her from rejection, so I took the blame, and he punished me. After that i knew Shredder must be a horrible person and begged Karai to run away with me, but she refused. I knew I couldn't abandon her." Evelyn stopped for a moment, her yes beggining to glaze over again.

"Earth to Evelyn." Raph said, waving his hand in front of Evelyn's face again.

Evelyn started and looked around for a moment, disoriented. "Sorry. Anyway, when I turned thirteen and Karai's thirteenth birthday was only a couple of months away, shredder gave us total control of the Japanese faction of the Foot. That really sucked. Karai was a constant ball of neves, and I was even more convinved that Shredder was evil. This went on for two more years, until I was fifteen.. Karai left for New York almost a year ago. She called me about six months ago, saying that you 'the accursed turtles', had gotten Saki banished. She was heartbroken, but I was relieved. I told Karai that we could have a fresh start. We could have left, but she swore revenge on you, and made me promise to stay until the Shredder was avanged. A month later the Shredder returned to New York."

"Wait, WAIT, [i]WAIT!" [/i]Mikey interrupted.

Evelyn turned to look at him. "What?"

"You mean that he, that somehow, that, that..."

"The Shredder's back?" Doni finished for him.

Evelyn nodded her head sadly.

"Then how come he hasn't been out lookin for us?" Raph asked skeptically.

"Because he's waiting to perfect his secret weapon." Evelyn said.

"What secret weapon?" Doni asked.

"Me." Evelyn answered, almost crying. She hugged her knees to her chest.

The turtles stared at her, confused again.

"When the Shredder came back, he was weak. He retreated back to Japan and let Karai handle the New York faction of the Foot. He figured you wouldn't be looking for him here. Anyway, when he came here, he got mad at me for not being harsh enough and decided to punish me. He tied my arms and legs to four different ropes so that I was suspended above the ground. After a couple of punishments I couldn't take it anymore. Something inside me snapped. I thought I was going to die. Instinctively I moved my hands sort of like a conducter. At the time I wasn't sure what had happened. All I knew was Saki was up against a wall opposite me and the punishments had stopped. That was the first time i was able to use magic."

Don Mikey, and Raph all looked at each other.

"I'm not crazy." Evelyn said.

Ya sure it wasn't somethin else that snapped?" Raph asked.

Evelyn glared at him. With a flick of her hand she lifted up a small rock about a foot away. With another flick it hurled toward Raph. He caught it just in time, stunned.

"After that Shredder learned everything he could about magic. He found out that there are different types of magic. I can use elemental magic, but there are also other kinds, like healing. If you can conduct any type of magic naturally, you can train your body to handle other types of magic, although sometimes it's a very long and painful process." She winced subconsciously.

Doni noticed. "He made you learn how to handle a different kind of magic didn't he?"

Evelyn looked up at him. "He made me learn how to channel dark magic. For one month he had Foot soldiers take turns doing what he usually did for punishment every minute of every day. This made me focus on my anger and hurt until it built up so much I was going to go crazy unless I let it out. My only outlet was magic. The first time I used dark magic it felt like liquid fire was running through my veins. I feel it all the time. It just gets worse when I...transform."

"You...transform?" Mikey said.

"Yeah, it's hard to explain. When you saw me get mad earlier my eyes probably did something, I can tell because they got hot. That's the first sign. I'm not really sure what I look like when it happens." She turned around and gestured towards Leo. "Leonardo probably knows. I'm betting he was still concious when I transformed." She gazed at him a moment, eyes slanted.

"Is he really asleep?" Evelyn asked Raph.

He shook his head. "Nah, he's pretty good at faking though, aint ya Leo?"

Leo propped himself up, grunting. "Thanks Raph."

"Anytime." Raph laughed.

Evelyn looked at Leo questioningly.

"You seemed bothered that I was listening in on your conversation, and I was too interested to fall asleep." Leo said.

Evelyn blushed a deep red. "I don't care whether or not you're listening."

Leo ccould tell she was lying but didn't want to say anything. He didn't want to embarrass her again.

Don could tell both leo knowing her history and what she looke like when she 'transformed' bothered Evelyn, but he wasn't sure why.

"Why didn't ya just use your other magic to let your anger out? Isn't that what ya did the first time ya used magic? Ya let your emotions out?" Raph asked

Evelyn shook her head. "I may have felt hurt, but it was instinct, the will to survive, that made me use my magic for the first time. Besides, every time I used my elemental magic to try and stop the ninjas they used this magic-tech guns to block my elemental magic. Actually, I'm surprised Karai didn't have some with her. Maybe she is trying to prove too Shredder that she can capture me by herself." Evelyn said, now thinking outloud. She turned towards Mikey, Raph, and Don. It's late. You are welcome to stay here with me, but I don't think Leo should move too much tonight."

Raph whispered in Doni's ear. "I don't trust her and I definitely don't think we should leave Leo alone here with her.

Doni nodded. "if it's ok, we'll stay here with you." He told Evelyn.

"Of course. Farther inside the cave are some blanket you can use."

"Thanks." Doni said, getting up along with Mikey and Raph.

Evelyn watched them go deeper into the cave, then went to bed by the fire. She watched Leo sleep, fascinated. It was only a couple of moments before sleep started to overtake her as well, and all of her worries and thoughts were lost in the darkness.

Wow! It´s so awesome! Are you sure that this is your first fanfic? It´s much, much better than one of my fanfics (well, that´s probably because I´m a crappy writter XP). Nice job!

I'm really glad you like it!!! Yeah this is my first fanfic, but I've written other stories for fun and I've been thinking this up in my mind for years [img]http://www.tmnt-forum.com/users/1512/33/48/02/smiles/158684.gif[/img] I've actually deviated from my original plot line a little though, so I was a kind of nervous!

Chapter 3: Magnets and Crystals

Evelyn woke up and looked around. Raph, Doni, and Mikey were asleep by what used to be the fire. She looked over at Leo. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. She felt a strange pull towards him, but she wasn't sure why. 'I wonder if he's in a lot of pain. I hope not.' She quickly shook her head. 'I have to stop thinking about him! We aren't even the same species!' Evelyn sighed, picking up her khaki colored pack and walking out of the cave to get fruit for breakfast. She knew she didn't care whether or not they were the same species. Leo made her feel safe and normal. She hadn't felt like that for years.. He made her feel like a little girl again. Evelyn thought about approaching him when she came back with breakfast. She'd act coy like they did on TV, and say something flirtatious.

She frowned. "Who am I kidding? I don't know how to talk to a guy. Heck, I don't know how to talk to normal girls." She shook her head Her whole life had revolved around training, so she hadn't gone to school. Sure she'd been 'homeschooled,' so she understood stuff like English and Geometry, but she never learned how to socialize with other people, let alone a guy she liked. She'd never really liked a guy before either. When she was younger she had a crush on a Foot Ninja but nothing really happened between them. Besides, this was different. This felt like more than just a silly crush.

She found a couple of pear and apple trees and began picking a few. She quickly made her way back to the cave. When she got there, Raph was already up.

"Where'd you go?" He asked suspiciously.

Evelyn undid her pack and took out an apple. "I was getting breakfast. Catch." She said, throwing Raph the apple.

Raph caught it, still staring at her.

"You don't trust me." She said. It wasn't a question but a statement.

"What makes you say that?" Raph replied, taking a bite out of the apple.

"I hid a knife in that apple."

Raph quickly spit it out of his mouth.

"That's why." She replied. "How would I even get a knife inside an apple?"

Raph realized he'd been tricked and rolled his eyes.

"So why don't you trust me?"

Raph laughed sardonically. "It's not you. It's your family."

Evelyn crossed her arms. "You can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends." She held her hand out to Raph.

He looked at her for a second. "That was corny."

Evelyn smiled. "Karai lost the TV remote when she visited last summer. Stupid thing was stuck on afterschool specials for a month."

Raph laughed again, this time for real, than thought for a second. "Guess you're right. Ya can't choose your family."

Evelyn looked at Raph's brothers. "Some of us are just luckier than others."

"Yeah, guess I'm pretty lucky. If I could choose my family I probably wouldn't have picked Mikey though." Raph smiled.

"Aw you don't mean that."

"You're right, I don't. But don't tell him that."

Evelyn laughed, then smiled slyly. "You know, I have a marker in my bag..."

"You're not thinkin what I think you're thinkin?"

"If you're thinking we should draw on Mikey's face than yeah." She said, tossing Raph a black marker.

"Ya know you're not that bad." Raph said, drawing a larg L on Mikey's forehead.

"Thanks. You're not too bad yourself." She said, punching Raph on the arm.

"I can't believe you grew up with Karai. Ya two are nothin alike."

Evelyn stiffened and looked around uncomfertably. "Once you get to know her she's not that bad."

Raph laughed sardonically. "Ya kiddin? She destroyed our home and has been tryin to kill us for months, and ya said yourself she's tryin to capture you for Shredder."

"Ok, so she's pretty bad now. She wasn't always like that you know. She used to be an innocent little kid."

"Sure she did."

"I'm serious. She used to be afraid of the dark, have a teddy bear, hate broccoli, the whole nine yards."

Wow. This story totally rules! I can´t wait to know the rest of it!

Thanks. Sorry that last post was short. I started typing but something came up after about a page.

-(chapter 3 continued)

Raph laughed. "She was afraid of the dark?"

"Are you kidding me? She used a nightlight until she was eight. Is there anything more messed up than a ninja who's afraid of the dark?"

"Mikey saying he hates video games?"

Evelyn laughed, then her stomach growled nmaking her laugh harder. She took a pear out of her bag and took a big bite out of it.

Raph thought for a second. "Karai also broke Leo's heart."

Evelyn almost dropped the pear in her hand. "She what?"

Raph looked over at Leo to make sure he was still asleep. "Leo fell for your sister hard. Every time she messed up, he gave her another chance and defended her. I think she had a thing for him too. She couldn't kill him, even when the Shredder ordered her too. Leo tried to get her to leave Shredder, he kept tryin to make her choose, but in the end, he was the one that had to make a choice."

"What do you mean?"

"The night we got Shredder banished, Karai held Leo back, begged him to let Shredder leave. He had to choose between her and his honor. Leo's honor means everythin to him. He wasn't willin to give up who he is for a girl."

"I respect that." Evelyn said, thinking.

"Even though it was Leo who made the decision it still broke his heart, and that's somethin I can't ever forgive your sister for." Movement to the left caught Raph's eye. "Mornin." He said to Doni.

"Ugh. My back hurts like shell!" Don said, sitting up. "How do people sleep on the ground?"

Evelyn stared at him. "You get used to it."

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Doni looked over at Mikey. "Why does Mikey have an L on his forehead?"

"Just a little payback." Raph replied.

"For what exactly?" Doni asked.

"Everythin."

Evelyn laughed. "Karai and I used to have sleepovers in each other's rooms. She always fell asleep first so I'd either draw on her or put shaving cream on her hand and tickle her face." She sighed. "Good times. Now if I get close enough to touch her she tries to stab me." She said stiffly.

Raph and Don looked around uncomfortably.

"Anyway, my point was I took a picture of her with shaving cream all over her face one night and looked at it whenever I needed a laugh. Pranks are funnier if you can document them somehow."

Doni smirked. "I'm pretty sure Raph already knows that. Mikey recorded him singing in the shower."

"Keep it up and I won't let ya have any apples." Raph replied.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You want an apple or a pear?" Evelyn asked.

"Surprise me."

Evelyn tossed him an apple and grabbed another pear for herself.

Mikey was tossing and turning, obviously starting to wake up. "Would you guys shut the shell up?" He moaned. "I'm trying to sleep!"

"If you want pancakes you'd better get up now." Don said.

Mikey jumped five feet in the air. "Pancakes?! Where?" He asked.

Evelyn stiffled a laugh. "The only thing for breakfast is fruit. Besides, where would I get pancake mix Mikey?"

"I don't know. I figured you might have barrowed some."

Evelyn stiffened. "I only steal from Karai, and even then it's only for necessary things. I wouldn't risk my freedom for pancakes."

"I would." Mikey said.

"Sure you would." Evelyn replied, rolling her eyes.

"No he probably would." Raph said.

Evelyn shrugged. "Well there aren't any pancakes here but there are apples and pears. Which one do you want?"

"I'll wait until we get back to the cabin."

"Suit yourself."

"Ugh!"

Everyone turned towards Leo. He was trying to sit up but was to stiff.

Raph was about to get up to help him but Evelyn beat him to it. She helped him sit up. "Hey how are you feeling?"

Leo laughed hoarsely. "Like I took an arrow to the chest yesterday."

Evelyn laughed nervously. "I should change your bandages."

Leo nodded his head. Evelyn stood back up and went to go get some spare bandages farther inside the cave.

Raph laughed.

"What?" Leo asked.

Doni laughed too. "You seriously don't know?"

Leo gave them a weird look. He had no idea what they were talking about. Usually he was the one who knew what was going on, he didn't like being on the other end of the deal. It made him feel stupid.

"She's totally in love with ya." Raph laughed.

Leo blushed. "How do you know?"

"That's the same look Joy gives me."

Mikey looked at Raph then at Leo and burst out laughing.

Leo thought about that for a second than shook his head. "Joy may give you that look but that doesn't mean every girl looks like that when they like someone."

"Whatevah ya say." Raph laughed.

Leo was about to say something, but Evelyn had come back from deeper inside the cave. She kneeled next to him and undid his bandages then replaced them with new ones. "Looks like there's no infection." She smiled.

Leo smiled back. He couldn't help it. Her smile was so infectious. 'I don't know, maybe Evelyn being in love with me wouldn't be such a bad thing.' Leo thought. 'We have this weird pull towards each other, like we're magnets. It's different from what I felt for Karai though.'

Raph gave Don a look then turned back towards Leo. He knew what that smile meant. It was the smile Leo sued to give Karai, but a little different. More insense somehow.

"Are you hungry?" Evelyn asked Leo.

"I could eat a horse right now."

Evelyn giggled. "Don't have a horse, how about an apple or a pear?"

Leo started to shruge. "Ouch!"

Raph, Mikey, and Don started to laugh.

"Careful!" Evelyn said. "You don't want to make the wound bigger." She stood up and got him a pear and some water.

"Thanks." Leo said.

She smiled and nodded. She felt something tremble beneath her. She put her hands on the ground.

Raph and Mikey were fighting in the background. "Shhh!" Evelyn silenced them and closed her eyes. She could feel nearby vibrations in the earth.

"People are coming." She said, eyes still closed.

"How do you know?" Leo asked.

"I can feel the vibrations their feet make on the earth. The closer they are the easier it is for to feel them."

"How many do you think there are?" Leo asked.

"I'm not sure, but a lot. I usually can't feel vibrations unless I'm looking for them or it's a lot of people, that's why I didn't feel you coming Raph." She opened her eyes. "And the only way there'd be that many people out here in that close of proximity to each other is if it's Karai and a fleet of Foot Ninja."

"What are we gonna do?" Mikey asked, directing his attention to Leo.

Leo stood up using the wall as support. "We have to get out of here."

"But what if it isn't Karai?" Mikey asked.

"I don't want to be here to find out."

"Good point."

"We can't go out the front. We'll run right into them." Evelyn said.

"So what da ya propose we do?" Raph asked, frustrated.

"All of the caves are connected. If we go farther down into the cave and go to the right for a while we'll end up at the enterance of a different cave."

"Sounds like a plan." Leo said.

"Won't we be lost when we get out of the caves?" Doni asked.

"I know my way around pretty well. Besides, we don't have a choice, their almost here." Evelyn stood up and grabbed her bag and katanas. "Follow me."

Everyone stood up.

"Raph, give me a hand." Leo said. Raph walked over and let Leo lean on him for support. They all followed Evelyn, going deeper and deeper. They heard footsteps entering the cave behind them. Eventually, they couldn't see. Evelyn created a small flame in the palm of her hand. She put another hand on the cave wall and felt vibrations coming towards them.

"They're coming after us!" Evelyn cried.

"We'll just have ta stand and fight!" Raph said.

Evelyn shook her head. "There are a lot more than I thought." She said nervously.

"What are we going to do?" Mikey asked.

"Stand back." Evelyn said. She put both hands on the ground. Concentrating, she lifted her hands up slowly. In front of her a wall of rock lifted up as well.

"Now." She said, gasping for breath. "Now they can't...can't follow...us." She'd broken out into a sweat and her vision had blurred slightly from the strain.

"Why didn't you just close off the mouth of the cave in the first place?" Doni asked.

"Because I wasn't...sure if I could...move that much rock." She replied, still gasping. She had a side ache from lack of oxygen, so she put her hands over her head to make her lungs as big as possible. "We have to keep moving." She tried to reignite the little flame, but didn't have enough energy.

"What now?" Raph asked.

"I don't know." Evelyn said sitting down, exhausted.

"We could just stay here, I mean it's not like they can sneak up on us or anything." Mikey suggested.

"We could, but they might come through another cave and find us." Evelyn replied, breathing deeply.

Leo thought for a moment. "We could just keep moving. It's not like we knew where we were going anyway."

Evelyn shook her head. "I had a pretty good idea where we were going. There are a lot of crossroads and if we choose the wrong path we might end up at Karai's camp.

Leo sighed. "Looks like we can't go anywhere without a light. I wish you had those crystals with you Doni."

Evelyn stiffened, but in the dark no one noticed.

"Yeah that would have been helpful." Doni sighed.

"How could crystals be helpful?" Evelyn asked, trying to keep her voice steady. She knew of only one type of glowing crystal.

"It's kind of a long story, but we found these crystals from way underground and if you touch two together they glow." Doni replied.

"Did you find them in a Foot Genetics Lab?"

"Yeah, you know of them?"

"I was there when Shredder found them." She said uncomfortably.

"Where did he find them?" Doni was intrigued now.

Evelyn shrugged. "He wanted some brownie points with the mayor, so he funded a little archeological expedition on the outskirts of New York. When he went over to check its progress he noticed some weird crystals that he didn't recognize from this world or any of the other ones he's terrorized. He took a few back to Foot Headquarters and his scientists experimented with them. Basically, they fount out it was an energy source, and thought the Utroms probably made them or something. Then he turned random people into monsters to dig underground and try and find any evidence the Utroms were down there. He used the crystals to power most of the operation."

"Intersting." Doni muttered.

Evelyn swallowed. "He also uses those crystals in those magic-tech guns I told you about. He charges them with negative energy when it's in a liquid state. It keeps me from using my elemental magic and makes it harder to ignore my dark magic." She took an apple out of her pack and took a bite out of it.

"I knew it was possible! I've been trying to do the same thing with the crystals, I wasn't successful though." Don said, puzzled.

"To get it charged with enough evil energy, you'd probably need to have a coupld of people focusing on angry emotions. Same goes for good energy, except you'd focus on happy emotions." Evelyn said, finishing her apple. She flicked her hand and a tiny flame shot up. She smiled. "Looks liek we're back in business."

This story´s just getting more and more complex... I like it! You really have a whide imagination and the way you´re mixing the "TMNT World" with yours is incredible. Keep writing.

Thanks Chapter 4 is going to be....interesting

Chapter 4: Complications of the Heart


Evelyn seemed to know where she was going, and before long they could see light again.

"Hang on a sec." She whispered. She put her hands on the cave wall. "I don't feel any vibrations. I think it's safe." She went outside and looked around.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure it's safe to come out guys."

[i]'What if it's a trap?'[/i] Raph thought. He sighed. [i]'It's either follow her or stay in the cave for the rest of your life.'[/i] Raph moved out into the light. He shielded his eyes and looked around. They were in a tiny valley surrounded by a very thick part of the forest, a good place to hide from Karai.

"This has been fun and all." Mikey said. "But we should really get back to the cabin."

Doni rolled his eyes. "You just want to play video games."

"What's wrong with that?" Mikey replied indignantly.

"I'll tell ya what's wrong, we almost got killed and all you're worried bout is playin stupid video games!" Raph yelled.

"Shh!" Evelyn put a finger to her lips. She sighed. "Look, we need to find a safe place to stay, somewhere away from the caves and..." She stopped suddenly and put a hand on the ground. She groaned. "We're surrounded."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Doni yelled.

Raph turned to face Evelyn. "Ya did this on purpose! I knew ya couldn't be trusted!"

"I swear I had no idea!" She said, unsheathing her katanas.

The others drew their weapons as well. Suddenly, shots of energy cam from all directions.

"Run!" Evelyn screamed. "If you get hit it'll paralyze you!"

"First of all, there's nowhere to run too, and second you're crazy if ya think we'd listen to ya again!"

Evelyn gritted her teeth. She sheathed her katanas and used the air around her as a shield, surrounding all of them. She grunted from the strain. With every blast that hit the shield it became harder to keep it from collapsing. Her vision became blurry and she sank to her knees, still keeping the shield up until finally the strain was too much and she lost consciousness. The shield collapsed, and the firing stopped.

The Foot Ninjas who'd been shooting at them stepped out from behind the trees along with Karai.

"Ah the turtles." She smiled viscously. "My father will be very pleased with me. I have finally captured Evelyn, and now he can finally have his revenge on you for sending him to that miserable meteor."

"I'd like ta see ya try!" Raph growled.

Karai sneered. "Open fire!"

The ninjas did as they were told, firing from all sides. The turtles were able to avoid being hit for a while, but their fate was inevitable. Mikey was the first one hit. Instantly he couldn't move, he simply dropped to the ground. His whole body was on fire, it was as if acid was burning through his veins. He tried to cry out but didn't have control over his body. His eyes closed of their own accord and he blacked out.

When he woke up, his body ached and he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. He just lay there, breathing slowly. Eventually he got up the energy and opened them. He noticed that his hands were tied behind his back and his nunchukus were gone. He sat up and saw his brothers were unconscious, their hands tied and weapons missing also.

"Guys." He said, trying to wake them up. "Guys!"

Doni rolled over and sat up. "Ouch." He winced.

"Tell me about it."

"Where are we?"

"Not sure. But it looks like wherever we are we're trapped."

Raph, Leo wake up!" Doni said, kicking Raph's leg while Mikey kicked Leo's leg. Both brothers sat up.

Leo winced. Having his hands tied behind his back was upsetting the wound on his chest.

"We're trapped." Mikey informed them.

"Thanks captain obvious." Raph replied.

"Where do you think we are?" Mikey asked, ignoring Raph.

Leo looked around. Outside the clear cage was an empty room with what he guessed was metal walls. "We're probably at Foot Headquarters in Japan." He said.

"But that means we were knocked out for at least a day, assuming we're in Tokyo." Doni said.

"No way we were knocked out that long." Mikey shook his head.

Leo looked down at his bandages, they were nearly soaked through. "There's also no way I could have bled that much in a couple of hours."

Don looked at Leo's bandages. "He's right."

"Well this is just great. Not only are we trapped in Foot Headquarters, but we're miles away from the cabin. If I ever see Karai or Evelyn again they're gonna have my fists to answer too."

"Wait a second Raph." Leo said. "If Evelyn had purpously led us into a trap, why would she have bothered to put a shield around us and exhaust herself?"

"I don't know. Maybe she wanted us ta trust her still."

"That's stupid." Leo was getting frustrated now. "If she led us into the trap she wouldn't care if we trusted her anymore."

"Look Leo, I don't know what her motives were, but ya don't see her trapped in here with us do ya?"

Leo opened his mouth to say something, then closed it.

Raph sighed. "Leo she's just another Karai, and ya remember what happened with her."

Leo gritted his teeth.

Raph knew he'd overstepped his bounds, but he had to get his point across.

A part of one of the metal walls split open, creating a door. Karai stepped through with arms crossed.

"Oh shell." Doni said, looking at Leo.

"Nice timing Raph." Mikey rolled his eyes.

"Shut up." Raph replied under his breath.

Karai smirked. "You have no idea how long I have dreamt of you four trapped in a cage."

"Where's Evelyn?" Leo growled.

Karai looked at him curiously. "You are awfully concerned about someone you have just met Leonardo."

"I owe her my life." He said steadily.

She sighed. "Come now, we both know you aren't a very good liar."

"You don't know me as well as you think. She did save my life."

"And you know that is not what I was talking about. Why are you really worried about her?"

Leo kept his mouth shut but Karai smiled maliciously. She'd gotten all she needed from his eyes, they always gave him away.

She sighed mockingly. "Leonardo if you continue to fall in love with your enemy's daughters you are going to have a very complicated social life. Of course, we both know when it comes down to it you do not mind casting people you supposedly care about aside to achieve your goals."

Leo fumed.

Karai turned back towards the doors, meaning to leave.

"What's the matter Karai? You aren't going to kill me? Aren't you going to get your long awaited revenge on me, or has the Shredder denied you that privilege?" Leo yelled. he knew her weaknesses just as she knew his.

Karai stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around. "If I was allowed to kill you, you would be dead already."

"I'm right here. I"m tied up and wounded. There's no way I'd be able to stop you from killing me and way for the Shredder to get to you before you've slain me. What's stopping you?"

"You know it is my duty to do as my master says."

Leo stared at her. Her eyes were hard, like she was hiding something.

"Are you sure it's not because you can't?"

"Of course not!" She yelled. "My father will be the one killing you and getting his revenge. And to make your fate even more humiliating, he will make your demise a spectacle, allowing everyone to see. That is why I have not killed you." She turned and left, feeling satisfied in having the last word.

Leo smirked behind her back. He still knew how to tick her off. When the metal doors were shut once more, he turned to his brothers.

"So?" Mikey asked.

Leo shook his head. "I don't see a way out of this. We'll have to wait and be ready when the right moment presents itself. I wish we knew how Evelyn broke out the first time."

Raph rolled his eyes, he still didn't trust her.

Karai was livid. She managed to maintain her composure until the great metal doors slammed shut. She screamed in rage, looking around for something to punch. She turned and saw the Foot Ninjas guarding the door staring at her. She took a deep breath and walked down the long corridor with clenched fists. She just had to stay calm until she arrived at the sparring chamber, then she could punch as many things as she wanted. "The nerve of him!" She mumbled under her breath. "He knew the Shredder would not let me kill him, so why did he bring it up?" She shook her head, grinding her teeth. [i]'And how did he know I'd lost the nerve to kill him?' [/i]She wondered. In her disgust she'd accidentally taken a wrong turn. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was. [i]'I think if I keep going down this corridor, it'll loop around and bring me to the sparring chamber.' [/i]She thought. As she walked past a door a noise caught her attention. She quickly turned towards the large door. This was where Evelyn had been taken after their father learned of her magical abilities. [i]'I guess father must have brought her back here.' [/i]She furrowed her eyebrows. She'd never seen what went on in that room. It was the punishment room and Evelyn always took the blame for things. She chewed her lip, thinking. She shook her head, turning back around. [i]'I do not want to see her right now.'[/i] She told herself. The truth was she didn't want to see her, not now, not ever. It hurt too much. But mostly she didn't want to know what her sister had gone through for her. She heard the noise again, this time realizing it was a scream. A tear slowly trickled down her face. She had been so ready to shoot an arrow at her sister, but hearing her scream, actually hearing her scream, reminded her that she cared about her sister. The same way fighting alongside Leo against the Demon Shredder reminded her that she cared about him.

She took a deep breath. She had to know what she'd brought her sister back to. She turned back around and went throught the door. The room she entered was made of an odd white material, [i]'probably plastic.'[/i] Karai thought. She looked towards the middle of the room and saw her sister suspended by four ropes, one attached to each wrist and ankle. Her sister had only jeans and a sports bra on. Karai noticed her arms and stomach were covered in scars. Tears were streaking he rface. Karai saw two men in white jumpsuits with whips circling Evelyn. She flicked her wrists, trying to use magic to fight the men. Once of them grabbed a magic-tech fun from his holster and shot her with an energy blast, making her wince. Her eyes started to glow red, but she calmed herself down before anything else happened.

"Leave." Karai commanded.

The men bowed. "You have two minutes." One said and they both quickly left.

Evelyn opened her eyes and lifted her head.

Karai stood there not knowing what to say.

Evelyn stared at her, waiting.

"I did not know..." She started, putting a hand to her mouth. "Is this what the punishments were?"

Evelyn didn't say anything.

Karai hung her head. "I'm sorry."

"It's not too late. You can still run away with me. Just help me down." Evelyn pleaded.

"You know I cannot. I will not betray my father."

Evelyn hung her head.

Karai looked away, growing frustrated. "This would not have happened if you had just cooperated! You could have stayed her with me!"

Evelyn didn't say anything.

"Fine! Rot here for all I care!" She turned and stormed off. [i]'Why did Evelyn have to make things so difficult? All she had to do was do what their father said and she would not have to endure such punishments. It is not the Shredder's fault, it is her own.' [/i]Karai was hardly convinced though she longed to believe these lies. The Shredder had trained her subconscious to believe lies, even ones she'd made up herself, but Evelyn was her sister, her only friend. She couldn't just let her die. This time she had to make a choice, the right choice.

Karai walked down the hallway towards the turtles with about twenty Foot Ninja.

When they reached the door to the room they were being kept in Karai turned to adress the ninjas. "Wait out here." Karai ordered.

"But mistress, the Shredder's orders were to help you secure and transport the prisoners..." One of the ninjas said.

"Do not question me." Karai interrupted, walking through the door unaccompanied.

She saw the four turtles look up at her. She took a deep breath. She had to start thinking of them as allies instead of enemies. The reasons she was mad at them concerned. So why did she still feel so mad at Leonardo. [i]

'Maybe it's because he chose defeating Shredder over you.' [/i]A voice inside her whispered. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She walked over to the cage as calmly as possible. She stopped at the front of the front of the cage and a holographic key pad appeared. She quickly typed in the code and one of the walls of the cage swung open. The turtles didn't move. Leo gave her a questioning look.

Karai quickly glanced back at the door. "You have to help me." She pleaded looking down at the ground.

Everyone except for Leo looked at each other and started laughing.

Leo looked at her curiously. "Help you with what?"

"Free Evelyn and escape."

Leo glared at Raph, his whole face saying 'told ya so'.

"She still could'a set us up. Karai's probably in on it, tryin to make us think it was an accident."

Karai shook her head. "She does not know I'm here."

Raph looked at her. She looked like she was telling the truth but he knew he couldn't trust Karai.

Don wasn't sure what to say. [i]'It's got to be a set up.'[/i] He thought.

Mikey wasn't too concerned. He was positive his brothers wouldn't trust her either.

Leo just stared, thinking. "Where's Evelyn?" He asked.

"She's in a room the next corridor over to the right."

I'll help you break her out and escape." Leo nodded.

"Are ya out of your freakin shell?!" Raph yelled.

"If there's a chance I can save Evelyn I'm going to take it." Leo replied.

Raph shook his head. "Ya don't even know if she can be trusted, and ya know Karai can't."

"I'm going. You can come if you want or stay here."

Karai breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Now we just have to get past a couple of Foot Ninja standing guard outside."

"How many is a couple?"

"About twenty."

Leo nodded and jumped out of the cage. Karai quickly cut his ropes off. Leo turned back to his brothers.

Doni sighed. "I just know I'm going to regret this." he said hopping out of the cage.

Mikey quickly followed.

Leo stared at Raph.

"I'll come," He said. "But if this is a trick, and it is, our deaths will be on your hands Leo." He jumped out of the cage.

Karai hurriedly cut all of their ropes off their hands and walked back towards the door. She put a finger to her lips and yelled. "Come and help me secure the prisoners." The turtles hid against the wall on either side of the door.

The soldiers quickly ran into the room, noticing that the cage had been opened. As the door slammed shut the five of them jumped the unsuspecting ninjas. It was a very brief fight. Foot Soldiers are easy to knock out, even without weapons.

"This way." Karai said. They followed her down the hall and to the room where Evelyn was.

"There are only two guards inside, but they have magic-tech guns." Karai warned. "I'll see if I can confiscate them." She went inside by herself. She tried not to look at Evelyn, tried to focus on getting the guns.

The two guards bowed. "Mistress." They said in unison.

Karai nodded. "Let me see your guns." She commanded. They quickly handed them over. Karai pretended to examine them. Suddenly she punched both guards, knocking them out. She quickly strapped one of the guns to her belt and cut Evelyn's ropes and helped her down. She saw five long and deep cuts across her back. She looked around and saw Evelyn's shirt crumpled in a corner. She grabbed it an helped her get it on.

"Sorry i do not have bandages. Your shirt will have to work for now."

Evelyn was dizzy from loss of blood and leaned on Karai for support. She squinted her eyes at her.

"What?" Karai asked.

Evelyn smiled. "You're helping me."

Karai smiled back and helped her walk to the door, hunched over from the major height difference. The four turtles were waiting outside. Leo quickly came to meet them.

"Evelyn?" He said nervously, seeing her weary expression.

She lifted her head up and squinted, trying to get through the blurriness of her vision. She smiled Leo hugged her. Evelyn put her arms around his neck and laid her head on his chest. She sighed contentedly.
Leo gently stroked her hair.

"Ehem." Doni coughed.

Evelyn looked up, squinting again. "Mikey still has an L on his forehead." She whispered.

"I have what on my forehead?" Mikey said, confused.

Leo smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and under the arm farthest away from him so she could lean on him. Karai did the same on the other side of her.

"We need to get out of here before they notice the guards are unconscious. If we stop in my quarters I have your weapons and some supplies, than we can steal a car from Shredder."

Leo nodded.

"Where are we gonna go?" Mikey asked.

"Back to the cabin?" Don suggested.

"I don't think that's such a great idea." Leo saiid.

"Why not?" Mikey asked.

"'Cause shell for brains what if they followed us? We'd be leadin them right to Casey and April." Raph said rolling his eyes.

"Oh. Yeah that could be a problem."

"Let's just get the car then figure it out." Leo said. Usually he liked to have a plan before doing anything but he was worried about Evelyn, she could barely keep her eyes open.

Karai nodded in agreement. "We do not have long. I was supposed to bring you to the Shredder for your execution when I helped you escape, but that also means we will not run into anyone on our way." She made her way through the hall, taking many twists and turns until they arrived at an elevator. She quickly punched in a code on a holographic key pad. They hopped into the elevator, going up to the next level. When the doors opened again, Karai signaled everyone to stay inside the elevator. "I will go by myself to evade detection. I will meet you back here in three minutes." She made to leave but Raph stopped her.

"Like I'm gonna let ya go anywhere by ya self! I'm comin with ya."

Karai shrugged and the two of them quietly crept along the corridors, making their way to Karai's room.

"You do not trust me." Karai said out of nowhere, looking straight ahead.

Raph laughed sardonically. "Ya know, I had the same conversation with ya sister yesterday."

Karai turned to look at him. "Maybe you need to learn to trust people more."

"You're one of the reasons I don't trust people as much as I used to ya freakin hypocrite!" Raph replied, trying to keep his voice low.

Karai didn't say anything and the two walked in silence until she stopped in front of a door. Karai quickly opened it and stepped inside.

Raph looked around. Her room was generic, a double bed, a closet, and a dresser. The whole room was a blinding red.

Karai went over to her black bed and pulled something out of the duffle bag on it.

"Here." She said, laying his sais on the bed. She grabbed the duffle bag and headed towards the door. Raph grabbed his sais and followed her. They crept through the halls again until they reached the elevator. Karai punched in the code on the key pad again and the door opened.

"Took you long enough." Mikey muttered.

"Shut up." Raph replied.

Karai rolled her eyes. She pressed the button taking them to the bottom floor. "Here are your weapons." She said, opening up her duffel bag.

The turtles grabbed their weapons and put them away.

"You didn't grab our shell cells by chance?" Don asked.

Karai shook her head. "That is how I found you in the first place. We detected a signal the night before I ambushed you. It took my scientists all night to trace it, but now that we are locked on to the signal we can track it anywhere."

"Well that's just great. Now how are we gonna call Casey and April?" Raph asked.

"We find a phone somewhere else." Leo said.

"Yeah cause we know so many people in Japan who own cell phones." Raph said sarcastically.

"How long do you think it's been since you broke us out?" Doni asked Karai as the doors opened.

"I do not know. I would think only fifteen minutes at the most."

"And how long do you think it'll take Shredder to realize we've escaped?"

"I would have suspected him to know within ten minutes."

The five of them walked out into the garage.

"So what you're saying is this place could go defcon one any moment now?"

"You mean defcon five."

"Actually, defcon one is the highest level contrary to movies and popular belief."

"In that case, precisely."

Doni looked at Leo nervously.

"I call the tank!" Mikey yelled, jolting Doni back to the present. The hanger was full of cars of all sorts. There were limos, tanks, even off-road jeeps Karai used in her pursuit of Evelyn.

"Keep it down!" Raph warned.

"Besides, I don't think a tank is exactly the most inconspicuous vehicle." Don added. "We should take a limo, it'll blend in and it has tinted windows so no one will see us."

"Donatello is right, that is the best course of action." Karai remarked.

"Fine, we'll take the stupid limo." Mikey said jumping over to it. As soon as he touched the handle the alarms started blaring and metal doors came down over the huge door at the front of the hanger the cars were meant to exit through, and the elevator door.

"MIKEY!" Raph yelled.

"How was I supposed to know not to touch the stupid limo?! I WANTED THE TANK ANYWAY!!!!" Mikey yelled.

"Touching the cars does not make the alarm system go off. They must have discovered your escape." Karai said.

"Told you it wasn't my fault." Mikey stuck his tongue out at Raph.

"We need to leave, now." Leo said. "Don, can you get the door open?"

"I don't have my laptop or anything with me. The only way I'd be able to hack into the system is if I had a remote point of access and I doubt there are any control panels linked to the systems mainframe in a garage!" Doni replied nervously.

Karai ran over to the side of the big door. "Everything is hooked up to the computer mainframe, including the locks." A holographic key pad like the one on the elevator and on the turtles' cage appeared. Karai punched in a code. "You now have access to the system."

Doni ran over to the door. "You wouldn't happen to know a password or something that would open the door do you?"

"A lockdown lasts at least half an hour, after that you can override it with a code."

"I was afraid you'd say that. Looks like I'm going to have to trick the computer into thinking it isn't in lockdown."

"Whatever Doni, just get the door open." Leo said. He opened the door to a limo and set Evelyn down on a seat. "You stay here."

"I can help." Evelyn said. Her face showed signs of fatigue. Leo knew she was in no condition to stand up by herself let alone possibly fight.

"No it's OK. You stay here." He made to shut the door, but she grabbed his arm.

"All my life I've had to be strong and take care of myself. Meeting you and your brothers doesn't change that."

"I know." Leo said.

She stared at him a moment, then let go of his arm. He shut the door and walked back towards Raph and Mikey.

"Be ready for a fight." He said.

"Relax Leo, there's no way the Foot can get in here." Mikey replied.

"That's not what I mean. Shredder probably has Foot Soldiers patrolling the outside, like in New York. As soon as the door opens they'll try and get inside."

"Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense." Mikey replied grabbing his nunchukus from his belt.

"Don how do you hotwire a car?" Leo yelled.

"Bit busy here Leo!"

"I got this." Raph said walking to the driver's seat of the limo Evelyn was in.

Leo followed him. "Since when do you know how to hotwire a car?"

"Since Casey showed me."

Leo stared at him. "Casey showed you how to hotwire a car?"

"Don't act so surprised. 'Sides, now if we ever need a getaway car..."

"We are not stealing a car."

"I'm just sayin."

Leo shook his head.

"Get ready! I'm opening up the door!" Doni yelled.

"Wait we haven't got the car started yet." Leo yelled back.

"To late!"

As soon as the door opened ninjas flooded inside.

The turtles and Karai pushed them back out of the garage, punching, slashing, and Karai firing her magic-tech gun. It looked like they were going to win, until more ninjas came carrying magic-tech weapons.

"Are you freakin kiddin me?" Raph yelled.

They were able to doge the blasts, but couldn't get close enough to the ninjas to take them out.

"Back to the garage!" Leo ordered.

They all quickly retreated.

Everyone was breathing hard.

"What are we going to do?" Doni asked Leo.

He gritted his teeth, thinking. "Do the blasts affect electronics?" He asked Karai.

"I am not sure."

"Theoretically speaking, the energy from the blasts might mess with the electricity in the car, making an explosion." Doni said.

The ninjas finally caught up with them and started blasting again. Everyone hid behind a car.

"Why'd you ask about the car?" Doni asked.

"I was thinking we could just drive it out of here."

"Why didn't we just shut the door when we got in here?!" Mikey asked.

"Then we'd be trapped. Eventually the lockdown would end and we'd be surrounded." Leo answered.

"Evelyn." Karai said thinking out loud.

"What?" Raph asked.

"Evelyn. She can use her magic."

"She's too tired to use magic." Leo replied.

"If we make her mad enough she'll use her dark magic even if she is tired."

"Why don't we just use your magic-tech gun on her?" Doni asked.

Karai thought back to when one of the Foot Guards shot her with the gun. It looked as if it had hurt her a lot. Karai shook her head. "It hurt her too much."

"You're worried about a blast of energy but you fired a poison arrow at her?"

Karai glared at Raph.

"Would you guys focus?" Leo said. "Dark magic is too unstable."

"It is our only hope."

Leo sighed. He knew she was right. "Ok but how do we make her mad?"

She smirked. "She likes you a lot Leonardo."

"Your point?" Leo asked confused.

"If we kiss it will make her very angry."

A look of complete shock came over Leo. "No." he said.

"Just shut up and kiss her Leo!" Raph said. "It's the only way out of here."

Leo looked over at the limo. It was only a couple of cars over. "Alright." he agreed hesitantly.

Leo and Karai snuck over to the limo. Leo could see Evelyn inside trying to use magic. He saw her look over at him. Karai saw it too and she grabbed Leo, put her arms around his shoulder and kissed him.

At first it wasn't much of a kiss, unitl Karai started kissing him passionately. Leo stiffened in surprise. Feelings rose to the surface, some he'd repressed and others he'd thought long gone. He put his arms around her waist, kissing back.

Evelyn was furious and too tired to control her temper. She jumped out of the car. Eyes glowing red and hair turning white as she transformed. The ninjas saw her and blasted at her. The blasts only made her stronger, and with the lockdown they couldn't call for a magic-resistant containment chamber. She threw her head back and screamed. Everyone around her clutched their ears, trying to make the pounding stop. As everyone fell unconscious, she turned back into her former self.

She lay there, breathing slowly. The blasts rendered her helpless for hours if she didn't use dark magic, and if she did there was still a brief moment of pain when she reverted to her normal state. She stood up, tears staining her face. She walked over to where Karai and Leo lay unconscious.

"Wake up." She said.

Karai stirred a little but didn't open her eyes.

Evelyn slapped her in the face.

Karai sat up quickly. She put her hands to her head, groaning.

"Get up." She said coldly.

"Let me explain." Karai said. "They had magic-tech and we could not find a way out."

"YOU USED ME!" She screamed.

"It was only to get us all to safety."

"I understand why you did it." She said breahthing slowly.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you, just frustrated. He still loves you."

Karai looked at Leo. "He loves you more."

Evelyn laughed sardonically.

Karai sighed. "Do you ever truly stop loving someone? When you love a person you are giving them a part of your heart. Even if you ar in love with someone else you love that person, just less."

"You still love him too." She accused.

Karai blushed.

Evelyn sighed. "We need to wake everyone up before the lockdown ends." She got up and went over to the others.

Karai nudged Leo in the side.

"Ow!" He yelled, clutching where he'd been shot with Karai's arrow.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

Leo stared at her and shook his head. He stood up and started walking towards where his brothers were.

"Leonardo, wait." Karai pleaded.

He stopped and turned back around, walking towards her. "I don't understand you. You attack me, my family, swore revenge on me, then kiss me."

"Karai stood up. "It was the only way to make Evelyn mad enought to take out the ninjas."

"You kissed me for real Karai." Leo shook his head.

"So did you!" She yelled. "Maybe the reason you are so mad is because you enjoyed it!"

Leo brushed a piece of hair over her ear. "Part of me still loves you Karai, and that part always will, but I love your sister more." He said softly.

"I understand." She said. She had said the very same thing to Evelyn. She had known this was the case but she had still hoped she was wrong.

"Yo Leo!" Raph yelled from the limo. "I finished hotwirin this thing, you guys comin or what?"

Leo turned and walked over to the limo. Karai followed, staying a ways behind him.



Yay! Finally done with chapter 4! [img]/users/1512/33/48/02/smiles/222570.gif[/img]

WOW! So much action, so much emotion, so much drama and jokes in just one chapter! You´re my hero! I love this story!

LOL thanks I've read some of your stories and they're really good too!

Really? Thanks a bunch!

lol no problem. You should give yourself more credit. I love your life and death story.

Haha. Thanks. That´s my favourite too. Hey, are you working on any other fics? Cause I´d love to read them too

Not currently. I'm not that great of a multi-tasker. I can hardly read two books at once let alone write two lol

Chapter 5: A Familiar Face

Leo slid into the limo next to Evelyn and Karai slid in after him. Evelyn scooted over closer to Mikey. The air was so thick with tension he could almost cut it.

"Where are we headed?" Leo asked Mikey.

"Raph and Doni are up front driving. We're just trying to get as far away from Foot Headquarters as possible right now."

Karai closed her eyes, trying to go to sleep.

Leo looked at Evelyn.

She turned away from him, stone faced.

"This makes no sense!" Mikey finally yelled.

Everyone stared at him.

"You don't want to sit next to each other and there's a whole other row across from us!" He shook his head.

Karai looked at Leo and Evelyn and moved over to the other side of the limo.

'It's a sad day when Mikey points out the obvious.' Leo glanced sideways at Evelyn, then looked at Mikey. He gave him the, 'leave' look.

Mikey rolled his eyes and went to sit next to Karai.

Karai fell asleep after a minute, her head resting on Mikey's shoulder.

"Awkward..." Mikey muttered. He stared at her. 'She's actually kind of beautiful when she's not trying to kill me.' Mikey fell asleep with his head resting on hers.

Leo turned to Evelyn. "Evelyn."

"What?" She asked sharply.

"I'm sorry."

She turned to look at him.

"I'm sorry for kissing your sister, making you made, and making you transform or whatever you call it."

"What makes you think I transformed because you made me mad? It was instinct!" She yelled.

"I thought you said elemental magic and dark magic is getting negative emotions out."

She clenched her fists. "Don't push me Leo!" She whispered through clenched teeth. "I don't have very much patience left!"
Inside the limo was silent.

"You have every right to be mad at me."

"You're right, I do. How could you use me like that? You're just as bad as the Shredder!"

Leo winced, she might as well have slapped him in the face. "Are you sure you're not just using that as an excuse to hide your real feelings for me?"

Evelyn's expression quickly turned from surprise to anger. "You ignorant jerk! What makes you think I have feelings for you?"

Leo shrugged. "You act funny when I'm around."

"When do I ever act funny around you?!"

"Like when you didn't want me to know your history, or that you turn into..." Leo looked for the right word.

"A demon." She finished for him. "And for your information, I was just confused to why you pretended not to know about that earlier when I pulled that arrow out of your chest."

"I wasn't pretending." He protested. "I didn't realize that was you until I heard your story."

"How could you not know it was me? I transformed right in front of you!"

"I was half conscious."

"You just have an answer for everything don't you?" She spat, her huge green eyes narrowed rage.

The limo grew silent again. After a couple of minutes Leo heard Evelyn mutter something. He looked over at her and saw her sleeping.

"No, stop!" She was muttering. In her sleep she was shaking, her arms clutching her chest. Leo put both arms around her, her head on his chest. He played with her hair, trying to console her. She stopped shaking and her breathing became deep and peaceful.

The limo suddenly stopped. Leo looked outside and saw that they were a ways away from the city. It looked like someone was walking by them. Someone vaguely familiar. The glass separating the back of the limo from the front rolled down.

"Hey guys! Look who it is!" Raph yelled.

Leo put a finger to his lips, signaling for quiet, then squinted out the window. The mysterious figure walked under a street lamp and for just a brief moment Leo could tell who it was. "Is that Joi?"

"Let's find out!" Don said. "He rolled down his window. "Hey Joi!"

Joi quickly whipped around in surprise, naturally assuming a fighting stance.

"It's me Doni! You know! Donatello!"

"Doni?" She said. She walked over to the limo. "It is you! And Raph!" She ran around to the driver's side where Raph was sitting. "I missed you so much!" She hugged him through the window.

"Hey come on! I haven't seen ya for a month and all I get is a hug?"

"Puker up tough guy!" She said kissing him.

Doni looked at them semi-disgustedly. "Ok just a little gross. Could you two stop sucking face for a second? I don't think it's smart for us to stop in the middle of nowhere with the Foot on our trail!"


"Isn't the Foot the organization of ninjas that work for that Utrom Shredder you were telling me about?"

"Yeah, and he's after us. We're tryin to find a safe place to crash."

"Well look no further. I have a house a couple miles from here. It's on the outskirts of town and there isn't anyone around for miles."

"Hop in the back Don." Raph said, kicking him out.

"Fine." he grumbled.

"So how'd ya get a house all ta yourself?"

"I inherited it from my parents; they died when I was seven." She said, hopping in the passenger's seat.

"Oh." Raph wasn't sure what else to say.

"Yeah so you guys ready?"

"Ya sure we can stay with ya? What if the Foot finds us?"

"What you don't think I can take care of myself?"

"No, I just don't want ta put ya in any danger."

"Just quit while you're not too far behind." She said smirking. She hopped in the passenger's seat. "Just turn onto that dirt road."

"So where were ya comin from anyway?"

"I work at a clothing store nearby."

"And ya don't have a car?"

"I do, I just like to walk."

Raph stared at her a second. He wanted to tell her that that wasn't safe, but he knew it would only annoy her. Besides, if she couldd take down an army of demons she could beat up a mugger.

"There it is." She said, pointing to the right. Raph drove over to a tiny house with a decaying fence. "It's pretty beat up but it works. There's a stream out back and no ones around for miles."

"Doesn't that get lonely?"

"Well sometimes it'd be nice to have someone around." She smiled at him coyly.

He smiled back and parked. The two of them got out of the car.

"Why don't ya unlock the door and I'll wake up my brothers."

"Don't be long." She said making her way to the door.

Raph opened up one of the doors to the backseat. Mikey and Karai were asleep on one side of the limo, Doni sitting next to them looking really uncomfortable. Evelyn was sleeping on Leo's chest and Leo was playing with her black hair.

"Come on, we're at Joi's." Raph said.

"Thank goodness." Doni said, hopping out of the limo.

"Wake up Mikey!" Raph yelled.

Mikey and Karai both stirred.

"We're staying at Joi's. Come on."

"Whatever." Mikey said following Karai out of the car.

"Evelyn." Leo whispered.

She didn't move. Leo smiled. He picked her up and carried her out of the limo.

Raph gave him a funny look.

"What?" Leo asked.

"Didn't ya guys just get into a fight?"

Leo's eyes widened. "You heard that?"

Raph nodded. "Not a smart move, callin her out on her feelins."

Leo rolled his eyes. 'Great, now Raph thinks he knows all about girls.'

The four turtles and two humans walked past the decaying fence and to the porch where Joi was waiting with the door wide open.

"Well come on in guys." She said.

The small pary went inside the house. They entered a tiny living room which was sperated by a wall from the kitchen.

"You boys can sleep down here in the living room and you two can sleep in the spare bedroom upstairs."

"Thanks Joi. We owe you one." Leo said, smiling.

"No problem." Joi smiled back. "You going to introduce me to your little friend?" She asked, pointing at Evelyn.

"Her name's Evelyn."

"Why don't you bring Evelyn upstairs and I'll get some blankets. First room on the right."

Leo nodded and began climbing the stairs. He stopped, thinking about how long it'd been since his bandages had been clean. "You wouldn't happen to have any bandages would you?" He called.

"I might. I'll check in a second."

"Thanks." He started climbing up the stairs again. He entered the small room and gently set Evelyn down on the bed. She rolled over in her sleep, exposing five red lines running down her shirt.

Leo's eyes widened. He hadn't noticed her bleeding before. 'I was too busy watching her sleep.' He thought, cursing himself. 'No wonder she was so tired.' He heard someone enter the room and turned. Karai was standing there, arms crossed.

"Leonardo, why don't you go downstairs with your brothers? I will take care of Evelyn."

Leo stared at her a moment. "Did you know about this?" He asked.

"So what if I did?"

Leo was angry, he wasn't sure why. It would have been out of the ordinary for Karai to tell him about something like this, but it still made him mad that someone else had known about it and hadn't informed him. "You should have told me." He said, keeping his voice steady.

"I am perfectly capable of tending to her wound myself. There was no reason to alarm you."

Leo stared at her. He knew she was right, but it still bothered him. I'll be downstairs, let me know if you need any help." He said, leaving the room. He passed Joi in the hallway.

"Oh, here are the bandages." Joi said, handing Leo a roll of bandages.

"Thanks." He said, distracted. He turned around and went back into Evelyn and Karai's room.

"Leonardo, I told you I could take care of Evelyn myself." Karai said, annoyed.

"I know, but here are some bandages."

Karai looked at him a moment then looked at his wound. "Thank you. But first allow me to change your bandages for you."

"No that's ok." Leo said.

"You do not want to get your wound infected. Besides, it is my fault you are injured."

Leo shrugged. "I guess I can't argue with that."

She started to change his bandages, wrapping her arms around his chest to take the soiled ones off.

Leo stiffened, uncomfertable with her being so close.

Karai laughed nervously. "This is very ironic."

"Tell me about it."

"I am done." She said, stepping away.

"Thanks." Leo said. "I guess I'll see you in the morning." Leo said, leaving.

Karai watched him leave, wondering how she could possibly win his heart without breaking her sisters.



Leo walked downstairs to see that Mikey had claimed the couch and Doni had claimed the arm chair.

"Where's Raph?" Leo asked.

"He went to go get some blankets. Sure is taking him a while." Doni muttered.

Leo looked back towards the stairs. 'He's probably with Joi.' He thought.

"Anyway, I was just about to call April and Casey to let them know where we are."

"Good idea Don, the Foot can't track someone they don't know." Leo replied.

"Technically it was my idea." Mikey bragged.

"How the shell was it your idea?" Don asked.

"I was the one who said we should call April and Casey."

"No, you said I wish we could call April and Casey."

"Yeah, but what I said made you think of using Joi's phone, so that means it's my idea."

Doni rolled his eyes. "Whatever Mikey." He picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello?" April asked.

"April?"

"DON!" She cried. "Where are you?!"

"It's a long story, but Shredder's back, he's chasing us, and we're at Joi's."

"Wait, how did Shredder get off of the ice asteroid?"

"I don't know the details." Don shrugged.

"Well that might be something you should find out."

"Yeah probably."

"Anyway, if Shredder's back maybe we should leave early."

"You guys can stay if you want."

"What if he found us and used us as bait or something?"

"Good point."

"Ok so the next plane I can get tickets for is...two days from now at noon. Shuttle number five."

"We'll be there."

"Sleep tight Don."

"You too. See you in the morning." Don said, hanging up the phone.

"What did she say?" Leo asked.

"We're all going back to New York in two days at noon."

Leo nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Let's get some rest."

"What's taking Raph so long?!" Mikey asked growing frustrated.

"I'll go check." Leo said, going up the stairs. He walked down the hall, stopping to check on Evelyn. She was asleep on the bed and Karai was on the ground without any blankets. He kept moving until he reached what he figured must be Joi's room.

He knocked on the door. There was no answer so he walked in. "Hello?" He saw Raph and Joi sitting on her bed quickly pull away from a kiss.

Leo blushed. "Sorry, I..."

"You know, you should really learn to knock." Joi said sarcastically.

"I did. You didn't answer. Anyway, I came to ask if you had any spare blankets."

"Oh, I was supposed to grab you some wasn't I? Sorry, after I gave you those bandages I got sort of....preoccupied." She said, glancing at Raph.

"And I only used that as an excuse to go upstairs." Raph shrugged.

Joi went outside her room and to a closet across from the bathroom. "Here are all of the blankets, help yourselves. I'm going to bed. Night guys."

"Sweet dreams." Raph called back.

""Help me grab a couple of these." Leo said to Raph.

The two brothers made their way back towards the stairs.

"Nice goin Leo. Ya walked in on a pretty nice kiss." Raph said, half joking.

Leo shrugged. He stopped at the door leading to Evelyn and Karai's room. "I'll meet you downstairs."

Raph nodded. "Whatever."

Leo enetered the room and looked at Karai. He gently draped a blanket over her. He looked at her, then at Evelyn. They were so different. Yet he was in love with both of them.

He left, trying to clear his head as he walked down the stairs. Mikey and Don were already sleeping and Raph was on the floor with a blanket.

Leo sat down next to him, envying how simple Raph's relationship with Joi seemed, and fell asleep.

Wo-oh! I totally loved it! What I like about your chapters, are the vivid descriptions and the way how the characters express their emotions.

Thanks! [img]http://www.tmnt-forum.com/users/1512/33/48/02/smiles/222570.gif[/img] The funny thing is I feel like I suck at that the most.

Chapter 6: Scars

Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut. 'Stupid sun!' She thought. All she wanted to do was stay asleep. Her body ached and throbbed. Worse, her emotions were bruised as well. 'How could Leo and Karai do that to me! They must still love each other.' Little doubts and possible answers kept nagging at her, eating her alive. 'What should I do? Tell him how I feel?' She covered her head with a pillow. Everything was so confusing right now. At least when she'd been on the run she'd been sure of herself and her decisions. Now she wasn't sure of anything.

She opened her eyes and saw that she was in an unfamiliar room. Considering she was bandaged up, she reasoned that they must have found a safe place to stay.

"Guess i should get up." She mumbled. Her body was so stiff she had trouble getting out of bed. "I feel like an old lady." She groaned walking down the stairs. Mikey and Karai where sitting on the couch in the living room. Mikey was playing video games and attempting to teach Karai the value of them.

"I do not get the point." Karai said.

"That's the beauty of it, there is no point." Mikey grinned.

"Then why play them?"

"For fun!"

Karai furrowed her brow. "For fun? But should you not be doing something productive? Like training?"

"I train all the time, but sometimes you need to let go and let loose!"

Karai stared at Mikey for a moment. "DOn't you want to be as prepared as possible for an attack?"

"Of course."

"Well the only way to do that is to spend all of your spare time training and preparing yourself."

"Sometimes there's such a thing as over training. If all you do is work, you'll be stressed and your attitude will get in the way. At least I think that might happen. I just use it as an excuse."

"He's right you know." Evelyn said.

Both heads turned in surprise. Neither one of them had noticed her presence.

"If you never have any fun you'll be a wreck. The trick is balance."

"I guess that makes sense." Karai nodded.

"I don't mean to be rude but where the heck are we?" Evelyn asked, interrupting Karai's thoughts.

"An old friend's house. Her name's Joi." Mikey answered, not tearing his eyes from the TV screen.

"Where is everyone?"

"Umm...." Mikey started.

Evelyn waited for a minute before yelling "Earth to Mikey!"

"Huh? Sorry kinda distracted here. I think everyone's in the kitchen eating lunch."

Evelyn's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Lunch?"

"Is there an echo in here?" Mikey muttered.

"I don't think I've ever slept this late before. Where's the kitchen?"

"Right there." Karai pointed to a door on the back wall.

Evelyn quickly left to go find something to eat.

MIkey laughed to himself. "'Is there an echo in here?' I crack myself up!"

Karai smiled, her eye's softening. She wasn't sure what it was about Mikey but he put her at ease.

Evelyn walked into the kitchen to find Leo, Raph, Doni, and a blonde haired girl all eating sandwiches.

"I don't suppose there's one for me?" Evelyn smiled.

Everyone turned around. "Well if it isn't sleeping beauty." The blonde haired girl said.

Evelyn blushed.

"It's ok. You went through a lot last night." Don stated, trying to make her feel more comfortable.

"How are you feeling?" Leo asked.

Evelyn didn't say anything or acknowledge that Leo had spoken to her.

"the silent treatment Isn't that a little harsh?"

Evelyn chewed her lip, trying not to yell at him.

"What'd he do?" Joi whispered to Raph.

"It's a long story."

"Maybee we should give them some time alone." She whispered. "Hey Don! Check out this stream outside!"

"Uh, ok." Don replied, following her and Raph out the back door.

"What do I have to do to get you to forgive me?" Leo asked.

Evelyn stayed silent. Leo thought she wasn't going to say anything, until she looked him straight in the eye. "Just apologize for being a ignorant jerk."

Leo sighed. "Why am I an ignorant jerk again?"

"For assuming I had feelings for you!"

Leo swallowed his pride. "I'm sorry for being an ignorant jerk and assuming you had feelings for me. Am I forgiven?"

Evelyn thought for a second. "Yeah I guess so."

"Can I ask a question then?"

Evelyn folded her arms, waiting.

"Do you have feelings for me?"

Evelyn was taken aback by the question and said what one usually says when the answer is yes. "Do you have feelings for me?"

"I asked you first."

"Fine." She said, frustrated. "Before I can let myself feel something for you, I need to know you don't feel anything for Karai."

"I don't know what I feel for your sister." He admitted. "But I do know I have feelings for you, and they're stronger than whatever I feel for Karai."

She sighed. "Leo, I like you, I really do. But Karai's my sister. Things might get...complicated."

He nodded. "I understand."

Evelyn looked at the ground. She craned her neck and kissed him on the cheek, then grabbed an apple from a bowl of fruit on the counter and quickly left the room.

Leo stared after her, wondering why he couldn't just get over Karai and move on with his life. He went outside to see what the others were doing.

"Raphael! You're gonna pay!" Joi laughed, dunking his head underwater. He popped back up and splashed her in the face, grinnng from ear to ear.

Doni was sitting on the bank of the stream looking really bored.

"What's up?" Leo asked him.

"Raph threw Joi into the stream and now they're roughhousing."

Leo smiled. He usually didn't do this sort of thing, but he felt like he needed to have some fun before he exploded from stress.

"Hey Don."

"Yeah?"

Leo pushed him into the stream. "Not funny Leo!" He yelled.

"Hey!" A voice from the door called. "You're having a water fight without me? Now that's just rude!" Mikey yelled. He cannon-balled into the stream, screaming "COWABUNGA!"

Joi got out of the water, laughing. "If we're going to have a water fight we have to do it properly! Guys against girls! I'll grab the others and get some swimsuits."

She ran inside. "Hey Karai!"

"What?" A voice called from the living room.

Joi saw her playing a video game and concentrating really hard.

"Girls against guys water fight! What daya say?"

Karai was about to say no when Mikey's voice popped into her head. 'Sometimes you need to let go and let loose!'

"Ok." She said hesitantly.

Joi smiled. "You're about my size. I think one of my swimsuits would fit you."

Karai followed her upstairs. Evelyn was in her and Karai's room, drawing on her arm.

"We're having a water fight, girls against boys." Joi said.

Evelyn looked up. "That's cool." She went back to drawing.

Joi glanced at Karai, she shrugged. "Do you want in?"

Evelyn looked up at her again, biting her lip. "I don't have a swimsuit." She said, trying to think up an excuse.

"You can barrow a T-shirt and shorts, I'd let you barrow a swimsuit but you're so short I don't think it'd fit."

"On second thought, I'll just wear what I have on."

Joi frowned. "It's scorching out. I don't know how you're not dying of heat right now."

Joi didn't know it, but Evelyn was practically dying of heat. She looked at Karai and noticed she had changed out of her black long sleeved shirt and pants and into some of Joi's clothes, a tank top and shorts.

"Actually, I just realized I shouldn't be in water. The cuts on my back are still too deep."

"Oh." Joi said nodding. "I understand." She turned to leave, but Karai stopped her.

"Evie, we both know the magic in your blood heals you remarkably fast. Your cuts must almost be fully healed by now. Why do you not want to have a water fight?"

Evelyn rubbed her temples. "Look I just don't want to ok?"

"Is it because of Leo?" Joi asked.

"No. It has nothing to do with Leo!"

"Than what is it?"

"It's this!" Evelyn said, finally losing it. She shoved the sleeve of her shirt up to her shoulder.

Joi stared at all of the scars marking Evelyn's arms.

She pulled her sleeve back over her arm.

"You shouldn't be worried about a couple of scars." Joi said, trying to comfort her.

"A couple of scars? These go all the way up my arms and back! I even have some on my legs!"

"I didn't peg you as the self-conscious type." Joi muttered.

Evelyn sighed. "I'm not self-conscious." She said in a steady tone. "When I'm normal..."

"As opposed to what?"

"As opposed to taking on the form of a demon. Anyway, when I'm normal I want to feel normal, to forget I'm different. But with these scars, it's impossible."

Joi was really confused. She had no idea what she meant by turning into a demon or how that could be related to the scars on her arms. "Look," She finally said. "This is part of who you are. I think the only way to be at peace with yourself is to except it."

Evelyn looked up at her. "I think your right." She sighed. "Ok I'll to the water fight."

Joi smiled. "I'll grab some clothes from my room."

Karai sat down on the bed next to Evelyn as Joi left. "I'm sorry." She said quietly.

"For what?" Evelyn asked, confused.

"Those scars are my fault."

"No they're not." Evelyn said firmly.

"If I had not messed up so much, you would not have so many."

"Karai I took the blame for your mistakes. That was my choice, not yours. And if it's anyone's fault it's the Shredder's. He did this, not you."

Karai looked at Evelyn and nodded.

"Dang it! Leo can't get wet yet! I wanted to drench him!" Evelyn sighed.

"Did you ever figure out how to heal?"

"Shredder made me try it once. It was so complicated. The slightest mistake and you kill the person you're trying to save."

"Ok got the clothes! As soon as we're done changing we're gonna drench those boys!" Joi exclaimed, entering the room again.


"You think their ever coming out?" Mikey asked.

"Eh. Ya know women. They always take forever gettin ready." Raph replied.

"We will have you know we took so long because we were making water balloons!" Karai said indignantly as she walked outside in a black swimsuit.

Joi followed behind her in a green swimsuit and carrying a large bowl full of water balloons. "Girls only take a long time when they have to put makeup on and do their hair. Everyone knows that."

Evelyn walked out last, wearing sweat shorts and a baggy T-shirt. She had her arms crossed in a worried manner.

Leo saw the scars on her amrs and legs and realized why she wore heavy clothing all the time. 'I swear I'm going to kill Shredder!' As angry as he was, he couldn't help noticing how beautiful Karai looked out of her fighting clothes. He tried to shake the thoughts out of his mind. This was the girl who'd destroyed his home and almost killed his family. Those cuts in his heart had turned to scars.

Evelyn knew this only too well and noticed Leo looking at Karai. The question going through her mind was will his scars every fully heal so he could love Karai again, or like Evelyn, would they mark him forever?

ARRGH! I liked this chapter so much! I´m not worthy!

Chapter 7: Revelations and Tribulations

"So are you guys just going to stand there or are we having a fight?" Mikey asked impatiently.

"Oh we're having a fight alright!" Joi yelled, hitting Mikey in the head with a water balloon.

"No fair! You have to at least be by the water." Doni said.

"Ok fine." She grinned. The girls walked down the bank of the stream. "Boys on the far side, girls on this side."

"Don't we get any water balloons?" Raph asked.

"These are ours! Get your own!" Joi laughed.

Evelyn saw Leo taking his bandages off and walked over to him. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to get your cut wet until it heals more."

Leo shrugged. "Maybe, but I'll get wet eventually anyway."

"It's going to really hurt and may get infected if you don't wait at least a week." She crossed her arms.

"What about you? I saw the scratches on your back."

"The magic in my blood allows me to heal fast. The downside is that it usually scars."

"If you think I should wait then I will."

"Trust me. The water's cold so your muscles will tense up and you already have a harder time moving your arm because of where the wound is. Not to mention you look like you seriously upset it by trying to fight with that arm, am I right? Don't look at me like that. I noticed even if I was a little out of it that day."

"Alright. I get it. I can put my feet in the water though right?"

"Sure i guess." Evelyn shrugged and walked down to the bank. Leo followed her, sitting on the edge and putting his feet in the water.

The girls huddled together. "Alright so here's the plan." Joi whispered. "We keep them from advancing using water balloons until we run out. After that we'll have to get in and splash them."

Evelyn smiled. This was going to be a piece of cake.

"How deep is the water?" Karai asked.

"Pretty deep. About seven feet I'd guess, so we'll try to stay on the bank until we run out of water balloons. That way we don't tire ourselves out by swimming." Joi answered.

The three of them broke apart and faced the boys.

"Ready, set, go!" Joi yelled.

The girls rapidly threw water balloons. The boys covered their faces, laughing.

"Uh oh!" Joi laughed. "Looks like we're out of ammo girls!"

"Now's our chance!" Raph yelled.

"I don't think so!" Evelyn raised both of her arms, the palms of her hands facing up. A giant body of water rose up with her. She pushed her arms towards the boys and the wave moved with it.

"NO FAIR!" Mikey yelled soaking wet.

Joi stared at Evelyn, then looked at the guys. "Next time you guys introduce me to one of your friends and they have super powers, tell me!"

"Ok ok. But no more magic. It's an unfair advantage." Don said.

"Fine." Evelyn rolled her eyes.

The boys jumped into the stream and swam over to the other bank where the girls were. All three girls jumped backwards and ran away.

"Hey I thought we had to stay by the stream!" Mikey yelled, chasing after the girls.

Leo watched them, smiling. He felt someone bump his back and fell head first into the water. He held his breath as the stream quickly raced up to meet him. His right arm became hard to move as the cold water stung the cut by his shoulder. He surfaced for a moment breathing deeply. He doggy paddled, trying to keep afloat. Every movement of his arm became more laborious as he tried to swim to shore.

Before he was completely submerged, Leo uttered the one word he'd never had to before. "Help!"

He held his breath, trying to get back to the surface. It wasn't long until blackness crept into the corners of his vision, slowly consuming it until he lost consciousness.


Evelyn was running fast to avoid Mikey. She ran by the shore, past Leo and back towards the house. 'He may be a nut job, but he's fast!' she thought. She heard a splash and laughed. 'Looks like either Joi or Karai is going for a swim!' She stopped dead in her tracks, a sinking feeling forming in her gut. Mikey tackled her from behind.

"Gotcha!"

"Get off me Mikey!" She yelled.

"No way! Not until you say I'm awesome!"

"You're awesome!" She screamed.

"Now say I'm amazing!"

'I don't have time for this!' she thought desperately. She moved her arms and a gust of wind came between her and Mikey. Mikey flipped over on his back. Evelyn could have sworn she heard someone yell help in the background. She stood up and ran to the water, diving in headfirst. She opened her eyes, looking for something, anything. She knew someone had fallen into the lake but didn't know who it was for certain.

'Please don't be who I think it is!' she prayed.

She quickly ran out of breath and swam back to the surface. She moved the air around her to form a bubble over her nose and mouth and dove back under water. Concentrating hard, she tried to extend her senses through the water, feeling what it felt. There, just to the left of her she sensed a presence. She grabbed hold of Leo and kicked off the bottom of the stream, moving her bubble of air around his nose and mouth. She used both her physical strength and magical abilities to reach the surface, kicking and moving her free arm while she willed the water underneath them to push them up higher and higher. They surfaced and Evelyn quickly swam ashore, lifting Leo out of the water and onto dry land.

She put two fingers on his neck and felt a faint heartbeat. She then put her ear to his mouth but didn't detect any breathing. She locked her fingers together, laying the palms of her hands on Leo's chest and pushed down repeatedly. Nothing happend. Evelyn put her hands on Leo's neck again, this time trying to separate the water that filled his lungs from the rest of his body. She moved her hand above his neck and up towards his mouth, finally pulling her hand towards her. The water left his body through his mouth.

Leo coughed violently and opened his eyes. He sat up, trying to clear his head. Evelyn threw her arms around his neck, hugging him.

"Don't EVER scare me like that!" She cried.

Leo was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered. Wrapping his arms around her he attempted to console Evelyn.

"Oh. So that's why...oh." Mikey muttered. Everyone had stopped what they were doing when Evelyn freaked out and dove into the stream.

Raph made to move towards Leo but Joi stopped him, shaking her head. Karai was standing next to them glued to the spot.

Don ran over to Leo and grabbed his wrist. Evelyn quickly stood up, trying to wipe the tears out of her eyes without anyone noticing.

"Your pulse feels normal." Don muttered.

"I'm fine Doni." Leo said hoarsely. His throat fels sore, the same way it feels when you get sick.

"I think you should rest. You're body's been through a tramatic experience."

Leo was about to protest when Evelyn piped up. "I agree."

"Alright." He shrugged and stood up.

Everyone followed him inside. Leo made his way to the living room and sat down on the couch. Both Mikey and Don followed him. Mikey sat down next to Leo and grabbed a video game controller while Karai ran upstairs to get dry clothes on. At one point Raph had thrown her in the lake, thoroughly soaking her.

"Try to get some sleep." Don told Leo as he went to the kitchen.

"I'm fine Doni!" Leo called after him.

"You guys are just magnets for trouble!" Joi laughed, still somewhat in shock.

"Definitely." Raph replied, shaking his head.

"Joi, do you have any tea?" Evelyn asked out of the blue.

Joi turned to face her. "Yeah it's up in that cupboard....what are you doing?"

"Making tea." Evelyn said frowning. 'I thought it'd be obvious.' she thought.

"...why?"

Evelyn shrugged. "I thought it'd do Leo good."

Joi smirked as Evelyn poured the water she'd heated up in her tea kettle into a cup with a tea bag in it.

"Hey what kinda tea is that?" Raph asked.

"Green, why?"

"Just wonderin. Leo would never admit it but he hates Jasmine tea. He'd drink it anyway to be polite if ya gave it to him."

"Good to know." Evelyn said and walked to the living room. Leo had fallen asleep. Evelyn smiled and walked back to the kitchen.

"Guess who's asleep?"

"I knew he needed rest!" Don said in triumph.

"Can't let good tea go to waste." She said sitting down at the kitchen table.

Don sat down across from her. "You know, you never told us how the Shredder got off that ice asteroid."

Evelyn sipped her tea. "When Shredder didn't arrive at the Utrom home world his supporters there got suspicious and signaled Karai. She told them what'd happened and they rescued him. After that he returned to earth recuperate. Then he discovered my abilities and decided I was just the secret weapon he needed to defeat the Utroms."

"Do you think he'll expect us to return to New York?"

"Probably, but the most he can do about that is return to New York as well. By the way, when are you guys leaving?" She asked nervously.

Don starred at her. Did she honestly think that after what they'd been through together they'd leave her behind to be attacked?

"We're leaving tomorrow afternoon. You and Karai can come with us you know. Everyone expects you to anyway."

"I don't know. As long as I'm around you'll be in danger."

"We'll be in danger anyway." Raph said out of nowhere. He and JOi had been eavesdropping on their conversation. "No matter where we are Shredder will always be lookin for us."

"I don't know." Evelyn said, looking distraught. "I'd feel horrible if anything happened to you guys."

"If it makes you feel any better I'm coming too." Joi stated.

Raph looked at her in surprise. "Ya are?"

"I already booked the same flight to New York as Casey and April."

"But the Shredder's huntin us. Ya'd be safer here."

Joi raised an eyebrow. "I would have thought helping you take down the most powerful tangu in history would make you realize I can take care of myself."

Raph sighed. "I know ya can take care of yourself."

"Then why are you always worried about me?"

Raph brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I'll always worry bout you, even if there's nothin to worry bout. I care for ya too much."

Joi's eyes softened. She put her arms around his neck and he put his arms around her waist. They leaned in to kiss each other, not caring that it made Doni and Evelyn uncomfortable.

Evelyn and Don looked away. Evelyn gazed at the doorway that led to where Leo slept. What Raph had said made her realize that she couldn't stay away from Leo. It didn't make much sense. He was talking about wanting to be separated from her because he cared too much, yet it still made her realize that she would also be constantly worried about him if she didn't know his whereabouts or current state of safety.

The accident in the stream had also opened her eyes. She knew she couldn't wait for Leo to get over Karai, that would waste precious time.

She sighed, her head in her hands, rubbing her templs. I'll come with you." She complied hesitantly. "But I can't speak for Karai."

"If you go she probably will too. She seems to rely on you a lot."

"Has anyone ever told you you're extremely insightful?" Evelyn asked, her head cocked to one side.

Don laughed. "Nah. Leo's the insightful one. I'm the scientist."

Evelyn looked over her shoulder. Raph and Joi had left a little while ago, hand in hand. She leaned close. "So what does that make Raph and Mikey?" She asked in a low voice.

"Mikey's the goofball and Raph's the hothead." Don tried to say as nonchalantly as possible, but his smile gave him away.

"Seems to me you and Leo have the best titles."

"Well actuallym they usually just call me the nerd or science geek."

"And you call Raph the hothead and Mikey the goofball." Evelyn laughed. "So what's Leo's nickname?"

"Fearless leader."

"Isn't that kind of a compliment?" Evelyn asked slightly confused.

"Not when you say it sarcastically."

Evelyn giggled.

"To be honest, he is a great leader. I don't think any of us could do any better, even if Raph sometimes thinks otherwise."

Evelyn nodded. "He seems to be a natural born leader."

"What about you? You strike me as the 'natural born leader' type."

She considered this for a moment. "I think I'm an ok leader, but I don't like to lead. I only do it when no one else will and I enjoy following another leader more, as long as he's capable. To be honest, I've always thought that was one of the main differences between men and women."

"How so?" Don asked intrigued.

"It's just a personal observation but I believe most women would rather be led than lead themselves, although they will rise to the challenge when it's required of them and some prove to be great, natural born leaders. In contrast, I think most men feel like they have something to prove and have a desire to not only lead but have others want to follow them. Of course this is all speculation. I don't know, maybe I'm just being sexist."

"Hmm. Interesting." Doni pondered. "I don't think I know enough girls to confirm or deny your theory, but do you really think Mikey secretly wants to be a leader?"

Evelyn shrugged. "It's possible. Maybe below all that goofball-y-ness he wants to be taken seriously."

"Oh yeah! In your face sucker!!!" Mikey yelled from the living room.

"Why ya little..." Raph retaliated. A small smack could be heard.

Evelyn turned back to Doni. "Or maybe he's just a goofball." She said decidedly.

"I'm up!" Leo yelled suddenly. Mikey's outburst had woken him up.

Evelyn started laughing and everyone else was grinning from ear to ear. She and Don got up and walked to the living room.

Don grinned smugly down at Leo.

"All right all right. Maybe I did need some rest." Leo admitted begrudgingly.

Evelyn smiled gently and lightly put her hand on top of his. His eyes widened slightly in question. She jerked her neck in the direction of the kitchen indicating him to follow her.

In the kitchen he stared at her expectantly, his back to the counter and his hands resting on it. She walked up to him slowly, not sure how to explain that she'd changed her mind. When they were only inches apart instinct took over. She took his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his.

Mikey poked his head through the doorway. "Hey do you know where....woahoho! What do we have here?"

Not tearing away, Evelyn flicked her wrist and a gust of air shut the door in Mikey's face.

[quote="mcazevedo"]ARRGH! I liked this chapter so much! I´m not worthy! [img]http://www.tmnt-forum.com/users/1512/33/48/02/smiles/667809.gif[/img][/quote]

Thanks

Hey, no problemo. I just say or in this case, write my honest opinion. By the way, this is a very good chapter....very good indeed.

Chapter 8: Home Sweet Home

Getting back to New York was extremely easy. they snuck into the airport before it was light out to avoid detection. Don hacked into the airports security system and turned everything off via Joi's laptop while Joi drove them to the airport (she would meet them in New York since she'd reserved a seat on the plane). After that it was easy to sneak into the area where the planes were kept. They found two empty crates that were with the already checked items. Don printed out two labels (again using Joi's laptop) that made it look like the crates were supposed to arrive at New York on the 12:00 o'clock flight and also made it seem like the crates belonged to Casey and April. Everyone split up into the two crates and Doni then rebooted the security systems to make it seem like nothing was out of the ordinary. After that everyone fell asleep.


Don woke up early, even though he didn't know it do to the fact they were inside a crate still. He checked Joi's laptop for the time. It was around six-ish. He was in the crate with Evelyn and Karai who were both up and talking about old times and laughing loudly, which was probably the reason he'd woken up in the first place. Not being able to fall back asleep he called April.

"Hiya." A groggy voice answered.

"Hey Casey. Is April up?"

"Nah she was up late last night pakin. What's up?"

"All of us are inside two crates that'll arrive in New York on the same plane as you and April. I made it look like they belong to you so you'll have to come up to the oversized items desk and claim them when you arrive."

"How am I gonna get them outta there without anyone noticin ya?"

"What do you mean?"

"They're gonna be really heavy right?"

"Yeah but they'll have something you can put it on to get it to your car I'm sure. And we drove the Battle Shell to the airport on our way to Japan. It has tinted windows so we can get out after we're inside."

Casey sighed. "Whatever."

"Oh and make sure you wait for Joi at the front of the airport."

"Ok ok! Just let me go back ta sleep!" He said hanging up.

Doni rolled his eyes. Casey was always edgy when he was tired. He had the right idea though, so Doni made another attempt to fall asleep.


After the plane landed Casey and April went to the oversized items counter and claimed the two crates. Casey was out of patience because the plane had been delayed for so long the sun was actually starting to set right now, so he wasn't very gentle with the crates. With the help of three other guys who worked there he lifted them onto a trolley with a thud.

"I'm so gonna beat the crud outta him when we get outta here!" Raph whispered thoroughly annoyed about the rough landing.

Casey, with a lot of effort, pushed both crates out to the front of the airport. Joi was already there waiting for them.

"Hi guys! Great to see you again!" She said hugging April.

"It's good to see you too!" April smiled. After the defeat of the Demon Shredder all four acolytes stayed with the turtles for a couple of days. Joi was the last to leave and her and April created a very strong bond.

The three walked to the Battle Shell and opened the back doors.

"Now how am I supposed ta get this thing in the back?!" Casey said in frustration.

"Press the button to your right." Don said as discreetly as possible.

Casey did, and a ramp automatically lowered itself to the ground. He grunted. "Ya don't expect me to push this thing in by myself do ya?"

"Oh for the love of..." Evelyn muttered. "If you push this crate up the ramp I'll use magic to help k? Then I'll hop out and use it to help with the other one."

"Whatever." He said annoyed. Being around the turtles so much, he didn't give a second thought about a new feminine voice talking about magic.

With the combination of Casey pushing the crate with his body and Evelyn magically using wind to help push it, they got it up the ramp fairly easy. After that Casey lifted the lid off the crate and Evelyn discretely hopped out. She helped with the next crate and then pressed the button again to make the ramp automatically retreat back inside the massive truck.

Casey, April, and Joi hopped into the back of the truck and shut the doors.

Raph moved the lid off the crate. "Finally! I was startin ta suffocate in there!"

"You're welcome." Casey said in mock anger.

"Oh all right. Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Raph rolled his eyes.

The rest of the gang hopped out of the crate.

April and Casey looked like their jaws would drop all the way to the floor when they saw Karai.

"What's she doing here?!" April asked.

"It's ok. She turned away from the Shredder." Leo answered.

April glanced at Raph knowing Leo and Karai's history and his lack of judgment when it cam to her.

Raph shrugged.

Evelyn squeezed Leo's hands tightly. He glanced at her, she was chewing her lip nervously. She glanced back and he threw her a questioning look.

"I'm just a little nervous." She whispered.

"Why?"

"These people are important to you. I want to make a good impression."

He wrapped his arm around her waist, trying to reassure her confidence. "Don't worry. I know for a fact they'll like you." He raised his voice slightly, addressing April and Casey. "This is Evelyn." He then returned his attention to Evelyn. "And that's April and Casey."

"Hi." Evelyn said timidly.

"Nice to meet you." April smiled.

Casey laughed. "It's not every day ya see someone shorter than the guys."

She shrugged. Leo could tell her height was a bit of a touchy subject.

"I don't think she's short, just petite." April said, coming to the rescue. She was one of those people who knew how to make anyone feel at ease. Instantly Evelyn felt better.

Leo smiled. "I like it."

Evelyn smiled back a warm, loving smile. She resisted the urge to kiss him, trying to focus on something else. "This is an awesome car." She remarked, looking around.

"Thanks." Don smirked.

Evelyn's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You mean you...?"

He nodded. "Buckle up gang."

Everyone quickly sat down Casey sat next to April, Leo next to Evelyn, and Karai next to Joi and Mikey while Raph sat up front with Don.

Karai was trying to distance herself from Leo. The accident in the stream hadn't only cleared things up for Evelyn, but also for Karai. She realized that they may have had something a long time ago, but so much time had passed and so many things had happened that it was only a faint glimmer of what it used to be. She hadn't felt the gut wrenching panic Evelyn had. She'd been concerned, yes, but not to the extent of sheer terror one feels when someone you care about deeply is in jeopardy. The truth was, she was in love with the comfort and idea of being in love with Leo.

As Karai sat down, she could feel April glaring at her. She looked away uncomfortably. Mikey took notice.

"You ok?" He whispered.

"I am fine." She said almost automatically.

"No. You're not." Mikey said matter-of-fact-ly." Being the youngest he'd mastered the art of knowing when he was being lied to. Karai looked at him in surprise.

Mikey was usually the turtle who messed around and teased everyone, but apparently he had his moments. For some reason she had the urge to tell him what was making her uncomfortable. "Your friend, Ms. O'Neil. She reminds me of all the horrible things I have done to you and your family with the way she stares at me."

Mikey looked over at April. He gave her a look of assurance and her gaze softened slightly.

He shrugged, looking back at Karai. "The past is the past, nothing you can do about it now. It's better to focus on the future."

Karai nodded her head slowly. There was a certain wisdom in his words. Maybe he wasn't just a goofball after all.

The car stopped suddenly. They were in a bad part of town where the streets were mostly deserted.

"What is it Doni?" Leo asked.

"There, in that alleyway. Purple Dragons." Don grit his teeth.

The rest of the gang looked out the window. There were indeed Purple Dragons in the alleyway Don was referring to. It looked like they had surrounded a girl and were getting ready to mug her.

"Purple Dragons. I hate Purple Dragons." Casey and Raph muttered at the same time.

Mikey laughed. "Remember when Leo freaked out a couple months ago? All three of you said that at the same time."

Leo blushed.

"Mikey." Don warned.

"What? Are we not there yet?" He asked, referring to being able to make jabs at Leo about his recent past.

Evelyn glanced at Leo curiously.

"What should we do Leo?" Doni asked redirecting the conversation.

"We help the girl." He said. This is what everyone expected, but Leo made the decisions so they had to wait for him to give the word.

Don switched the Battle Shell to stealth mode so it didn't make any noise and lights were all off. He drove up to the alleyway.
Before they got out of the car Karai stopped Evelyn. She took Evelyn's two katanas out of the bag the same bag she'd had the turtles' weapons in and gave them to her.
"I thought I'd lost these! Thank you!" She whispered, hugging her sister.

There was no one else around, so they got out of the car and snuck to the concealment of the shadows where the others were waiting for them.

"Leo," Evelyn whispered. "Do you think you should fight?" She asked, gesturing to his arm.

"I can use my other one." He shrugged then winced. His wound was still sore from the swimming accident and shrugging was starting to hurt again.

Evelyn sighed, pretending not to notice his wince. "Ok. Just be careful."

Raph, Mikey, Doni, Joi, Evelyn, and Karai waited in the shadows. As much as Casey hated Purple Dragons, he loved April more and she had wanted to wait in the van. Even though she knew a thing or two about ninjutsu, she only liked to fight when absolutely necessary. Casey stayed behind to protect her.

"Ready?" Leo whispered. The Purple Dragons had the girl cornered against the brick back wall of the alleyway. There were only nine of them. One of them could easily take down nine on their own. Together this would only take two minutes, tops

Everyone walked out of the shadows.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you it's not nice to steal?" Mikey said to the Dragon who was reaching for the girls purse, nunchakus in each hand.

The Purple Dragons whirled around. "It's the turtle freaks!" One of the yelled.

"And those guns, she didn't teach you not to play with weapons either?" Mikey shook his head in disappointment.

The Purple Dragons attacked the turtles, but were clearly outmatched. Joi, Evelyn, and Karai watched with their backs up against a side wall.

Joi sighed. "I think they've got this one covered. Besides, if I don't let Raph blow off some steam he gets crabby."

"Observing the turtles over the past year, I can safely assure you that that is an understatement." Karai said, half smiling.

In a matter of seconds the Purple Dragons were lying unconscious on the floor.

Raph sighed. "That wasn't even any fun! Way too easy. I need somethin ta punch!"

As Joi walked over to Raph to try and get him to relax with a kiss, Leo turned to face the girl against the wall. Her face was hidden in shadow. She'd obviously seen the turtles, but instead of running away in fear she stepped towards them. "Guys!" She said happily. As moonlight hit her face the turtles recognized her. "Guys!" She said happily. As moonlight hit her face the turtles recognized her.

"Angel!" Don smiled.

"I'm so glad you guys are here! Those guys would've definitely taken me out." She said smiling. Angel was feisty, but not feisty enough to take on nine burly guys alone.

"What've you been up to dudette?" Mikey said grinning and giving her a big hug.

"Oh you know, school, life in general, annoying gangs who hid in the dark waiting to bash your head in. All that stuff."

"We'd better get you someplace safe." Leo said, taking charge. Evelyn glanced at him with a love struck expression. She loved it when Leo took charge.

April and Casey were watching events unfold through the cars window. April and Casey watched the guys take out the Purple Dragons with ease, and were both delighted and furious when Angel turned out to be the girl the Dragons were mugging. April laughed out loud in surprise as Evelyn stared at Leo lovingly and at them holding hands.

"What is it?" Casey asked, confused.

"Oh nothing." She smiled. Casey would tease them relentlessly if he found out like this.

"I don't have school tomorrow, so maybe we could hang out? We haven't done anything in forever." Angel said happily.

"Sure. We'd love to crash at your place. You've got money for pizza right?" Mikey joked. Obviously they couldn't go over to Angel's house. Her grandmother would have a heart attack.

Raph crossed his arms. "Knock it off Mikey, I've been cooped up in a crate with ya all day. Don't give me a reason ta pummel ya. On second thought, give me a reason."

Doni rolled his eyes. "Don't listen to them Angel. Of course you can stay over with us. As long as it's ok with your grandmother of course.

"I'll call her and tell her I'm at my friend Lauren's house. She won't mind." She quickly called her grandmother and cleared it with her. "Awesome!" She smiled and hung up the phone. "So are you going to introduce me to your friends or what?"

"Sorry." Leo apologized. He was the one who usually made introductions. "This is Evelyn, Joi, and Karai." He told Angel. "And this is Angel." He told the three girls. 'A lot of introductions today.' Leo thought to himself.

Angel's eyebrows rose slightly at the name Karai. "Um, isn't Karai the girl you told me about? You know, the Shredder's daughter?"

"It's ok. She's good now." Mikey assured her.

"Huh." Angel shrugged.

"So are we leaving or what? I'm bored!" He yelled.

"Keep it down!" Leo scolded. "Mikey's right though. We should head home."

Everyone quickly got in the car.

"How'd you meet the guys?" She asked Evelyn. She already knew Karai's and Joi's stories. The turtles had told her a lot about both of them. But they'd never mentioned a girl named Evelyn before.

"Leo took an arrow to the chest for me." She said, blushing slightly.

Mikey was up front with Doni and Leo was sitting with Casey, April, and Raph. All of the girls were next to each other.

"I was wondering why he wasn't moving his arm when he was fighting, then I noticed the bandages around his chest."

"Yeah it's very close to his arm, so he really shouldn't be moving it. Speaking of which," She said, raising her voice a little and addressing Leo. "Is it getting any better?"

Leo knew she was obviously referring to his cut. "I think it's getting a little better."

Evelyn looked skeptical, and at the next red light unbuckled and walked over to Leo. "You sure it doesn't hurt?"

"Well it's starting to feel a little better."

She poked him gently a ways above the wound. He automatically jerked back and winced.

"Uh huh. If you ask me it's getting worse." She crossed her arms but her eyes were soft. "Promise me you won't use that arm? At least for a while?"

"I promise."

"Good, because if you didn't I was oging to have to wrap it up in a sling with a double knot so you couldn't untie it." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

The car started moving again and Evelyn made to move back to her seat but Leo stopped her, kissing her gently.

"Never thought I'd see the day" Raph muttered.

"When Leo would get a girlfriend?" Casey asked, somewhat surprised.

"When he'd let someone else other than Master Splinter tell him what ta do." He grinned.

Evelyn pulled away, too happy to be embarrassed. She smiled and went back to her seat.

"So you and Leo are together?" Angel whispered.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Evelyn said, glancing sideways at Karai, who was sitting next to her.

Karai took notice and smiled. "Not that you need it, but you have my blessing."

Evelyn smiled fiercely and hugged Karai. "Thank you!" She whispered in her ear. "Are you sure it doesn't bother you?"

Karai pulled away and took her sister's hand. "I am sure. I have looked deep into my heart and I know Leonardo and I do not belong. You two on the other hand...." She grinned.

Evelyn hugged her again.

Angel looked at Joi quizzically. "Don't look at me, I don't have a clue."

Evelyn turned back to the other two girls. "We're sisters."

Joi examined their faces looking skeptical. Karai obviously had Japanese blood in her while Evelyn definitely did not. "I don't see it."

"Not by birth. By adoption." Karai stated.

"Did the guys not tell you anything about me?" Evelyn asked Joi curiously. She knew Joi knew plenty about Karai. Leo had told her about the Demon Shredder they'd fought a month or two ago and how Joi and Karai had both played a part in his defeat.

"No, they said you're past was complicated and I should let you tell me yourself."

Evelyn was touched by their consideration.

"Wait, if you two are sister, how come you never came after the guys?" Angel interjected.

"I stayed behind to run the Japanese faction of the Foor when Karai came to New York."

"No offense or anything, but since you both worked for the Shredder, doesn't that mean you were both sorta....evil?"

Evelyn looked at Karai. Her face was a mask, but that only meant she was struggling to keep her composure.

"Shredder raised us as his own daughters. We weren't given much of a choice. When we were old enough we wanted to run away but"

Karai prepared herself for the part where she had messed up big time.

"He had to tight of a hold on us." She winked at Karai.

Angel and Joi could tell she was holding back but didn't push the issue.

The car stopped in an alleyway. "Here we are." Don said.

Everyone filed out of the car. Doni lifted a manhole cover off and jumped down into the sewers. Everyone followed suit and after about five minutes of walking they stopped in front of what looked like a dead end. Don uncovered a hidden key pad and punched in a code. The wall slid back and revealed the turtles home.

"It's good to be back." Raph said stepping inside.