Season 6 episode 1

Leo gazed over New York from the safety of the roof top. The streets were calm tonight. Even though the lights were shining brightly and people went into stores and came out of the pizza place after having a good meal. He was glad peace was once again restored not just in New York but also in the world. The Shredder was finally destroyed for good. April and Casey have been happily married for four months now. He was sure that there could be no more possible threats of the city.

Suddenly, Leo sensed a change in the air and stood still for a moment. He sensed someone coming from behind him and he quickly took a leg swiped and knocked over the moving target.

"Ahh!" she screamed.

He heard her plop to the ground and towered over her. He drew his swords and aimed it at the strange creature.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Take it easy," she said quickly, I come in peace."

She raised her hands in surrender.

"See I'm good."

Leo took a couple of steps back and let her up. She pulled off something her back and Leo braced himself for an attack and drew his other sword.

"Take it easy," she said calmly.

Leo watched her toss her bow and arrow to the side. Leo looked at her confused but still kept his guard up.

"I asked who, are you?" he demanded again.

"My name is Sophia," she gave a respectful bow, "I'm in seeking of a rat."

"Sorry but I don't think we have your type," he said sarcastically.

"Not that kind of rat," she snapped, "listen I've been watching you and your sensei, and I need to speak with him."

"What do you know about us? Are you some sort of spy?"

"No, if anything I'm just like you," she said simply.

Leo eyed her suspiciously. She took a deep breath and stepped into the moonlight. He gazed at her in amazement.

"Please, I finally gathered up the courage to even make a sound, I just want to talk with him."

"What is Splinter to you?" he asked a little calmer.

"That's for him to know first," she said, "please if this doesn't work the way I want, I won't come back even I just need this one moment."

Leo still didn't move.

"Please," she was begging now, "You can even carry my arrows," she added sternly, "just not by bow."

"Why not your bow?" he asked.

"How many questions will I have to answer for you to let me see him?" she snapped.

He stared into her eyes. They were filled with fire and determination. Something told Leo that she wasn't going to give up.

"I won't take you to him," he started to say, "but I will bring him to you, if you wait here for a while."

"How will I trust that you will come back?"

He looked around in thought and then turned back to her.

"Fine, follow me," he taunted, "if you can keep up."

He broke into a run, figuring that she would have to take the time to grab her bow and arrows, he had this moment in the bag. He wasn't even one leap off of the next roof top when she caught up to his shell.

"Didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?" she smarted back.

They leaped onto the next roof.

"I'll admit I thought I would lose you a couple of rooftops," he said in between breaths.

She chuckled.

"Please," she said and jumped onto a power line and zipped down to the next rooftop, "I'm probably just as strong and fast as you are," she came down.

"Well I believe about the speed," Leo admitted.

Then he remembered she must be willing to prove herself to see Master Splinter. But he couldn't just let anyone in the lair even though she didn't appear to be a threat.

"So you're obviously a form of ninja," he said, "where did you train?"

"My mother taught me until she passed away and then my sensei adopted me, she trained me along with her other four daughters who became my sisters."

"So there are more of you?"

"How big do you expect a clan to be?"

They jumped another rooftop.

"There's a whole clan of rats like you? How did you mutate?"

"The ooze that fell from the truck years ago spread all through the sewers, once we drank it, we started to change. By the time my mother and I met the clan we had changed."

"So the sewer water was contaminated?"

"You could say that."

"So where are you from then?"

"I was originally born in the Bronx, but I grew up in Little Falls."

"Why are you back?"

Suddenly she stopped and so did he. They were a few feet away, breathing hard.

"Look I understand that you want answers," she said sternly, "you're protective of your sensei, so am I with mine, but please believe me when I say that I didn't come here to fight or harm you, I just need to talk with him and I want to respect the fact that the answers you want, but your sensei deserves them first."

Leo didn't flinch.

"Sorry if I seem so defensive, it just seems odd that a stranger is looking for my sensei just to talk with him. You haven't made your move, but maybe you're just waiting for your moment to strike."

"Suspect me all you want, I'm not here to cause trouble."

"You might say that now," he pointed out.

"Fine," she tossed him a pebble.

"What's this supposed to be?" he asked when he caught it.

"It's a truth gem," she said simply, "my mother gave it to me before she died, it was a way of teaching me truth and honor and if I even broke either one of those traits, the gem breaks, and when that gem breaks, that's when you consider me as a threat."

Leo looked at her unconvinced but saw the determination in her eyes.

"Fine," he decided, "but we'll stay with him while you're there."

She smiled with satisfaction. "Very well, I could live with that for now."

Leo gave her a weird look.

"So?" she urged him, "Can we go?"

Leo sighed reluctantly.

"This way," he grunted.

They jumped down the building and made their way down the sewer to the subway station.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked before they went into the entrance.

She sighed nervously. "I've been waiting for this moment for seventeen years, I can't turn back now."

"Wait my brothers and I are seventeen," he said thoughtfully.

"Right, good to know," she said quickly, "can we go in now?"

Leo sighed and guided her in.

"Hey Leo," Raph called to him, "glad you came back, what took you?"

Raph and the others walked up to him.

"Who's your friend?" he asked curiously.

"Her name is Sophia, not exactly sure if she's a friend at the moment," Leo explained, "but she's here to see Splinter."

"Hello," she greeted them with a respectful nod.

"What's Splinter to you?" Raph asked defensively.

"I believe that's for Splinter to know," she spat back.

"She's uh…sassy," Leo tried to describe her.

She just glared at him.

"I'll go get Splinter," he announced.

"No need Leonardo," he appeared behind him.

"Father, this is Sophia, she has traveled from Little Falls."

"Yes, I know," he came up to her, "what I like to know is why you keep appearing in my dreams?"

She looked at him shockingly. "I'm in your dreams?"

"Yes as a young girl from my past, a little girl that I was sure I would never see her again."

She swallowed hard.

"Well," her voice shook a little, "is it possible that the girl that you see, obviously looks like me, and is from your past, and could be your…daughter?"

He looked at her in disbelief.

"Daughter!" the boys cried.

"Miss, my daughter has been gone for seventeen years, it's not possible."

"Might be, seventeen years ago was when Yoshi was slayed by the Shredder, and when you lost your wife, Hana down a main stream due to flush out rapids."

Splinter didn't flinch.

"Am I close?"

He gazed into her eyes and a flash of a beautiful black furred with familiar piercing shimmering sapphire eyes. Her soul was pure and innocent yet strong and powerful, scared and hopeful. The vision flashed before him, nearly knocking him over.

"Father," Leo caught him before he fainted, "are you alright?"

"Yes," he said slowly, not taking his eyes off of her.

"Sophia," he said astonished.

"That's right," she nodded respectfully, "it's me."

Tears welled up in his eyes and Sophia couldn't help but tear up too. They shared smiles and then threw their arms around each other. They held each other for a moment then he gently pulled her back.

"I don't understand though," he said finally.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything," she said reassuringly.

"Good," Raph spoke up, "because we can sure use one."

Leo made some tea and they all gathered around to hear their stories.

"Back in Japan," Splinter began, "I too fell in love with a rat. Her name was Hana and she was a pet to Tang Shen. After she had died, Yoshi had taken her in. We were also expecting young ones. Hana was very close to giving birth when we moved to New York. When Shredder came to confront Yoshi the disturbance caused Hana to go into labor. Shredder knocked us out of our cage. I told Hana to stay in the crevice in between the wall and floor. You know I tried to help Master Yoshi, although I did not prevail, I did leave my mark. After the Shredder had slayed Yoshi we had to think quickly while grieving for Yoshi. We moved as far as we could into the crevice and Hana continued to go through a hard and long labor. When it was over we had two healthy rats. A boy and girl. However, because of the hard blow from being knocked out of the cage, the boy did not survive. A few weeks after healing and grieving we decided to find a place we can call home. We found a burrow near the drainage pipe that looked like it had been abandoned for years. We were wrong. We had a rainy season in New York and the drains had flushed out the burrow. I was searching for food and when I came back, Hana and Sophia were gone. I searched and searched for them but their scent was long gone. I tried going up to the surface and that's when I met you my sons. Although I did adopt you, my sons, I still kept an eye out for my wife and daughter even when the ooze began to change our bodies and my senses got sharper. Still no sign of them and I couldn't just leave you guys alone, so I decided to call you my new family and still keep the hope that my old family would return. I didn't tell you because even thought they had been gone so many years and with some sort of hope of them coming back, I still felt pain of losing them and I was sure that I would never see them again."

"It's nice to know that you were looking for us at the time," Sophia smiled.

"Yes now it would be nice to hear your tale," Splinter urged her gently.

"I don't remember a lot, but after being swept away down the drains, we ended up near the ocean. We were knocked out, lost, battered. Then we woke up in some kind of cave. We were on actual cots and injected into something a larger ran called an IV. We couldn't understand how he could talk so well, or why he was so big. He said recently a trail of green ooze contaminated the sewer waters mutating the rats underground. This ooze is quite remarkable and in fact it may even heal us. Weeks during recovery mother and I began to change. We got bigger in size, more intelligent. They invited us to stay in their clan. Mother said that we would and go back to Bronx when we were ready. But after weeks of fully recovering, the ooze started to reject mother's blood system and she got very sick. The rat that helped us said there was nothing he could do. She…passed away few days after. Before she died she told me to find my father, that he holds the key. I didn't know what that meant and as much as I wanted to find my father, I didn't even know where to start. After grieving, I was taken in by Akari, who is now my sensei. I grew up with four other sisters. It wasn't until a few months ago that mother appeared in my dreams, telling me to search again for my father, for he holds the key…"

"Holds the key to what?" Leo asked curiously.

"Growing up I was not like normal mutant rats," she explained and revealed two light spheres from her hands.

"Whoa!" they all cried.

"Ok kind of freaky but really cool," said Mikey.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Raph asked.

"Since I could remember," she sighed, "Akari and the nurse rat thought my body and the mutagen had mixed well. The main reason she taught me ninjitsu to keep my abilities under control, but I think my mom knew something more, and I think you may know what that means Splinter."

"Judging by what you have told me, I know what your mother did mean. Before we moved to New York, Yoshi discovered that Tang Shen had strong powers that have been in her family for generations, Saki had discovered them too. He wanted Tang Shen but he loved power more. Tang Shen knew this and during the explosion and transferred the power into your mother. She said that when you have children it will be passed onto them, help them learn the power for they are the next generation," he paused for a moment to go to his room and came out with a box. It was crimson red with gold trimming.

"Hey that's the box that's been glowing every day," said Leo.

"Every night after my dreams," he said, "and now I know why."

He opened the box and a mask automatically came out and floated over to her. She stared at it for a few moments.

"I've seen this mask in my dreams," she thought.

"Sophia," she heard her mother's voice once again.

"I understand, the mask is the key, it's the key to my powers."

She took the mask and placed it gently on her face. It tied on its own and she could feel a new force of power urged through her. She sighed as she accepted her new power and the new power accepted her. When she opened her eyes she saw Splinter coming towards her. He knelt down to her level and looked into her eyes. His eyes seemed a little misty with emotion.

"That mask wouldn't have gone to just anyone," he explained with a smile and placed his hand lightly on her cheek, "now I know for sure that you are my daughter."

She chuckled softly but still couldn't hold back the tears.

"Oh father," her voice cracked and she threw her arms around him.

"I missed you," he whispered.

"Me too daddy," she said back.

They held each other for a moment and then heard a sniffle.

"That's so beautiful," Mikey said wiping away a tear.

She smiled and then she gently pulled Splinter back. She took one more look at him and they stood up to face the turtles. She took a deep breath.

"I know this must all seem strange not to mention it's a lot to take in, but regardless of learning about the mask, which I will throughout time, and possibly have Splinter teach me about the mask, but more importantly I want to get to know him, and I want to get to know you guys, I didn't grow up with brothers, and it's clear that your guys are his family too. Which is why I would like to stay here, but if you guys don't want me here, we'll work something out."

They all looked up at her.

"We trust Splinter," Leo spoke, "so if he trusts you, then we can learn to trust you."

"And besides we have something already in common, we never grew up with a mutant sister either," said Mikey.

"So then you'll have me?" she asked with hopeful eyes.

Leo looked at Raph and Don for some sort of sign. They nodded and Leo returned the signal to them. He turned to Sophia and nodded.

"Consider yourself as a guest."

"Oh thank you," she said gratefully.

"Who knows it may be nice having a little sister around," Raph bumped into her.

"I'm the same age as you," she pointed out.

End