Disclaimer:  I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; they are the property of Mirage Studios, Inc.  I am only borrowing them for the entertainment of those reading this.  Please don't sue me, I assure you—I have no money.  The other characters are mine, please don't borrow without permission. 

Sorry about the wait on this…I've rewritten it a few times already.  I haven't got any other chapters ready right now, but I figured I'd let you all have this one.  This is for everyone that's been writing to ask when the hell the sequel is coming!  It's short, but I hope you enjoy!  I'll try to get Chapter 2 up ASAP.

Chapter 1: Things change, and yet remain the same

Michaelangelo:

Athena paired Leonardo and Donatello for sparring.  While they worked, Raphael and I were supposed to continue practicing individually.  I decided to stretch first since my muscles were already tight.  I missed the days when this came easy.  I think everyone did, especially Leonardo.  I suppose it was a good, humbling experience for all of us to have to basically go back to square one.  We used to think of ourselves as ninja masters, now we looked like awkward kids learning their first kata. 

Not having shells had affected us in ways we never could have predicted.  I hadn't really thought we'd be able to get right back into training again and have everything be the same, but I hadn't expected this either.  Athena had started to teach us a new style, one that only she and her sisters knew.  It was amazing.  I'd never seen anything like it.  If we could master it, we'd be untouchable, like them.  Our bodies just wouldn't cooperate though.  We were slow and clumsy.  Athena kept insisting that it was all in our minds, but the pain in my back didn't agree.  I watched my brothers go through the motions.  It wasn't pretty.  I looked at Athena.  Her frustration had started to show recently.  I felt as though we were failing her.  I hated feeling like that.  We owed her everything.

After burying Splinter at the farm, we had thought seriously about staying there.  We even tried it for a week, but it had been the week from hell for everyone.  His death was just ripping us apart.  So Athena suggested a change of scenery and moved us back to her place.  We each had our own room here, which helped.  Time alone had become a necessity.  The island was beautiful.  I had already been over most of it and found all my favorite spots. 

A few months ago, Athena offered to train us.  There was a catch though.  She said the only way Rhea would let her teach us what she knew was if we agreed to "join the team."  I think the only one that hesitated was Raph, but I don't know why.  So we had agreed and our training began.  It helped at first; it gave us something new to do and concentrate on.  Yet here we were, failing miserably.  I looked up to see Leonardo dodge Donatello's clumsy kick and nearly fall over.  God, we sucked.

Athena:

I'd watched them train like this for what seemed like hours, and it was only 8 in the morning.  I couldn't take much more.  Not only were their hearts not in it, but from the looks of things, neither were there bodies.  Not one of them had followed one instruction that I'd given.  It was a miracle they hadn't hurt each other yet, or themselves.

"Enough!"

Donatello and Leonardo immediately stopped, chests heaving.  They shouldn't be this tired already, and if they had listened to me, they wouldn't be.

"You're not listening to what I'm telling you."

"Sorry."

I knew that Leo would be the first to apologize.

"I don't want apologies.  I want progress.  You are capable of more than you're doing."

Michaelangelo and Raphael approached us, and I stood in the middle of them.  None of them would meet my eyes.  It wasn't that they couldn't do what I asked of them; they just wouldn't.  Each one had his reasons for blocking his own progression, and yet I knew it all boiled down to the same thing.

"Michael."  He picked his head up.

"Yes?"

"You did great with this in practice with me the other day—why is it you come in here and as soon as you start sparring with your brother, you return to your old way of blocking?"

"I don't know."  He dropped his head again.

I knew that berating them was not how to get the job done, but I was starting to lose my patience and I hated to admit that.

"Old habits don't break so easy, you know."

I hadn't expected him to speak.  He usually saved his venom for his brothers exclusively.

"I know that, Raphael."

"Well, it sure as hell doesn't seem like it."

"Trust me, I do.  I wouldn't be getting so impatient though if you were at least trying, and you're not.  You know you're not."

Raphael:

I knew what she was saying was true, but I wasn't in the mood.

"We'll try harder."

That was about the last thing I needed.  Where did Leo get off always thinking he could speak for all of us?  I couldn't let it slide.

"What do you mean, 'we'll try harder'?"

"Exactly what I said."  He was getting that look in his eyes.  A few more exchanges and we'd be right at each other again.  Athena had already had to break us up plenty. 

"Well, why don't you ask people before you go ahead and speak for us?"

"Don't start with this shit again, Raph.  I'm not in the mood."

It still sounded funny to hear Leo swear; his language had deteriorated a lot since we started training under Athena.  I didn't know if he realized that it made his frustration really obvious.  Apparently my amusement showed on my face, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Something funny?"

"Plenty.  Pick one."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know something, for the calm one you sure as hell do have a temper these days."

"You're one to talk."

The next thing I knew, I was across the room on my ass.  I picked my head up, ready to go kick Leo's ass, but saw that he was already at the other end of the room, on his ass.  Athena was standing where we had just been, and she did NOT look happy.

"Get over here, now."  I didn't really know whether she was talking to Leo, or me, but I decided to play it safe and just haul ass.

Athena:

"Michaelangelo and Donatello, go run.  Five miles.  Now."

Luckily they didn't have anything to say and left the room quickly.

"As for you two—I am so sick and tired of listening to you!  Day in and day out you bicker like two old men and I bet you couldn't even tell me why if I asked you!"

They stood there, silent.

"Leonardo, why do you have to argue with Raphael?  You have to know he's just baiting you, and still you take the bait every time!"

"I know."

"So then why do you do it?"

"I don't know."

"Raphael?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No."

"Well, isn't that just great."
I looked from one to the other.  They both had things they could say, but they were holding their tongues.  I could finish this now, but it wasn't the time—yet.  The day would come soon enough.

"Go to your rooms."

"You don't want us to run?"

"No, Leonardo, I want you to go to your rooms.  Now."

They both left without any further argument.

As the doors slid shut behind them, I knew I couldn't take much more of this.  Something had to give.