The morning sun was shining brightly on New York City, the cacophony of sounds in the streets belied the relative quiet of the world far underground. Most citizens rushed about their days unaware of the network of pipes crisscrossing beneath their feet, or their inhabitants. Yet these pipes were host to a number of people. Many of the homeless, the refugees, the runaways ventured below to seek shelter from the harsher conditions above ground. When you have nothing, you have little room to be picky about smells, after all. But it's not just the unfortunate ones that had found their way down there, though only a few people caught a glimpse of the hidden mysteries in the sewers. These glimpses were the reason why urban legends circled around. To those who spend their lives in the sun these legends were nothing more than stories meant to intrigue or have fun with at parties; not real. Those who dwelled below knew better…

The pipe was one of the smaller ones, a gentle stream of water flowing through it. Nothing out of the ordinary, you would say. But only the very sharp of hearing would be able to pick up the near silent footfalls of someone passing through it. A small figure flitted from shadow to shadow, lost in thought. Only years of rigorous training allowed them to travel undetected without them paying active attention. Instinctive placement of their feet carried them through the water without really disturbing it. The traveler was a young girl who called these tunnels her home, and at this moment she was not amused. Little 8-year-old Hope Hamato hurried along, muttering quietly under her breath.

She was the youngest of five children, and she was the only girl. Now, this was not too unusual… many children only have a single parent. What made her home different wasn't the lack of another female, no. It so happened that she was the only human in a family of mutants. Her four older humanoid turtle brothers had turned 9 the other day and they made sure to remind her of this little fact at every turn. It wasn't fair! Even their father, a humanoid rat named Splinter, couldn't get the boys to stop pestering her. Her eldest brother, Leonardo, had apparently decided that she was a helpless little girl and should be protected. He wouldn't let her do a thing for herself. Everywhere she turned, there he was! It made her want to scream. Raphael simply looked at her and told her that he didn't have time for little girls and that she should go bother someone else. Now, he was usually blunt and sometimes hurtful so she didn't let that bother her. The younger set of the four brothers were the most annoying though. Donatello seemed to firmly believe that she had a thing called 'cooties' and he tried to trick her into letting him examine her at every turn. Worse, he dragged Michelangelo with him in his believes and subsequent quest for knowledge. She had had enough this morning and snapped at them all. Screamed really, to stop being annoying and to leave her alone. So here she was, letting her feet carry her way from the lair as fast as possible. Using the ninja skills her father was teaching them to let her remain undetected. Boys! Who needs them anyway! She wanted to hit them so badly, but she didn't want to get punished for being bad.

Hope took a left turn, then a right, jumped the stream, avoided a questionable section that stank to high heavens and skipped three turnoffs before taking another right again. The plan was to get to a secluded area that Splinter sometimes used to train his children outside the lair, where they had more room to move without the risk of breaking stuff. When Hope looked up, however, she came to an abrupt standstill… she didn't recognize this section of the tunnels. Realizing that she must've taken a wrong turn somewhere, Hope turned around and tried to trail her steps back. Everything looked the same though and she came to the conclusion that she was lost. Now, Hope figured that she was a big girl. Big girls didn't panic, they solved the problem themselves… and she was a ninja to boot! What could go wrong? So instead of obeying her father's numerous orders of staying put when getting lost, she started to wander to try and find her way back.

Several turns, an almost slip into the water and some careful shimmying up a wall later found Hope standing in front of a door that was damaged by humidity and age. Ignoring any warning bells going off in the back of her mind, she opened the door with all the reckless courage and the burning curiosity of a child and stepped inside. Letting go of the door, she walked further into the room that lay before her. Hope looked around in wonder, it was a small circular chamber. Its walls were smooth and there was a dim light, though Hope couldn't find a source. In the back of the room stood a large mirror. It was frameless and set to lean against the wall. It wasn't much more than a smooth reflective surface left abandoned but she still came closer to look into it. She saw herself reflected, large dark blue eyes speckled with a silvery grey and long, messy white hair. Hope grinned, her mirror twin returning her gap-toothed smile. She was taller now than the last time she saw herself in a mirror, she was pleased to note. Suddenly, Hope saw something flicker in the background of the mirrored surface. She whipped around but the room behind was still empty. Turning back to the mirror, she frowned and reached out to touch the flicker in the background. All at once, dizziness overcame her and she felt something pulling her forward. A few seconds later, her vision went black.

Hope groaned as she regained consciousness, her head pounding in time with her heartbeat. What happened? She kept her eyes closed and tried to figure out if she had broken anything. So far, so good… she only seemed to have a headache. Did she fall and hit her head on the mirror? A shuffling sound! Hope tensed instantly. Her eyes flew open and she scrambled to her feet, her body falling into a stance that had been drilled into her so completely that it came as easy as breathing… no thinking required. Looking around wildly, she fought the rising panic when she didn't recognize her surroundings at all. 'Noooo, no, no, no, no, NO! Hope, how do you keep getting into this stuff!' She had a horrible sense of Deja-vu*. A sudden squeak compelled her to turn towards a corner she seemed to have missed during her initial scope of the place. She squinted and tried to see what made the sound. "Stay back! I don't know who you are or how you got in here, but it's not funny! If you do anything I'll scream and then the masters will come." Hope blinked, 'masters?' The voice sounded like it came from a young girl so she relaxed her stance a bit and the other person stepped forward. For a moment her mind crashed to a grinding screeching halt and Hope stood gaping at the other person before unconsciously reaching up to rub her eyes. 'I must've hit my head harder than I thought, maybe I have a confo- concud… my brains shaken.' Opposite her was a girl that looked exactly like her, down to the last fleck in the blue eyes.

Both girls stood staring at each other for a while, shock and confusion on both their faces. Even their looks of surprise were identical. It was the stranger who broke the silence once more.

"Who are you?" And wow, wasn't it strange to hear your own voice come out of your mirror image. "My name is Hope Hamato, I'm 8-years-old. Who are you? Where am I?"

The stranger sniffed, "I ask the questions here! You're the one who snuck into the temple so you should give the answers… and anyway, your name can't be Hope, I'm called Hope."

"That's just too weird, we can't both be called Hope"

"That's what I said, so you can't be Hope, you're a liar who snuck into the temple. Now tell me, who are you really? If you don't answer me soon I'll scream for the masters."

"But I'm not a liar! My name is Hope, Hope Hamato. What is this temple you keep talking about? Where am I? How did I get here?"

The new Hope standing in front of her dropped her hostile stance in the face of her honest confusion. 'Ugh, my head still hurts.'

"If you're not lying than where are you from?"

"I'm not lying, I'm from New York."

The new girl blinked and tilted her head to the side in question, the exact same way she herself always did… this was too freaky.

"New York? What planet is that on? Is it in the Outer Rim?"

"The Outer Rim? What are you talking about, it's on Earth… you know Earth? Big, blue, third planet from the sun?"

Her mirror image shook her head, "no, I don't know that one… but maybe one of the masters can help us."

She looked thoughtful, "but it's too weird to both be Hope… can't you be someone else?"

Hope Hamato shrugged and thought about names, deciding on one that fit.

"Alright, call me Nozomi. That means Hope… so I can still be Hope and not at the same time!"

Hope and 'Nozomi' grinned at each other.

"Okay, Nozomi it is… uhm, you're in the Jedi temple on Coruscant."

Seeing Nozomi's confused face she added, "it's a core planet?"

Nozomi shrugged, "sorry, doesn't ring a bell."

"Ring a bell?"

"Oh, it's something we say on Earth."

Hope nodded before suddenly looking alarmed, "no, I should've been meditating. If we go to the masters now they will know I was wandering."

To her surprise, Nozomi started laughing, doubling over with tears in her eyes. Hope huffed, "it's not funny! I shouldn't have done so!"

Nozomi giggled, "yes it is, my brother Mikey and I wander all the time when we're supposed to meditate... sensei gets so mad at us when we do."

"You meditate?"

"Well yeah… me and my brothers have to do it all the time… something about "clearing your mind." Nozomi finished with air quotations.

Hope grinned, "sounds like something the masters say all the time. Clear your mind…"

"Focus." They both finished at the same time, bursting into laughter afterwards.

"Hey uhm, sorry if I was a bit mean. I was just surprised."

Nozomi shook her head, "no, it's fine. I was surprised too. But if we can't go to your masters, what do we do now?"

"I could hide you in my room while I go to political studies," Hope replied.

This cause the other girl to wrinkle her nose, "Eww, sounds boring!"

Hope nodded, "yeah, the languages and histories are more fun, and learning how to fight with a lightsaber is interesting. Soon I will get to go through the Gathering and then I will get a crystal to build my own saber!"

"What is a lightsaber?"

"Eh well, it's this kind of laser sword."

"Really? You get to fight with a laser? That's so cool! Me, I only get to fight with wooden weapons."

"Why are you learning how to fight?"

"Oh, me and my brothers are training to be ninja!"

Hope shook her head, confused but deciding against asking. Instead, she grabbed the other girl's arm and started to drag Nozomi with her to her room.

"My room isn't big, and we have to be careful that nobody sees us. But you'll be safe there until I get back."

Nozomi let herself be pulled along by her mirror image and looked around as they left the room and hurried trough a hallway. Everything looked really sci-fi, Mikey would love it. 'If this is a dream from my scrambled brains, it's pretty neat... but confusing.' They entered a small bedroom, more like a cell really. Its walls bare and only a few scarce belongings spread on the small desk underneath the window opposite a bed that was little more than a cot. Nozomi glanced around, she'd never seen a bedroom so bare. Even master Splinter had more knick-knacks lying around, after all.

"Where is all your stuff?"

"What are you talking about? That is all I need to have right now," Hope waved towards the desk and raised up a finger as if she were a teacher and Nozomi an ignorant student, "a Jedi doesn't want for worldly goods."

Nozomi blinked, "but then, what will I do for fun until you get back?"

"I don't know, look out the window?"

With that, her mirror image left to go to her studies. Hope stared at the door and let herself fall onto the bed. What a mess this was, she wondered if her family was looking for her by now or if she was already lying in her bed back at home. Sighing, she turned to the window and spend an hour or so looking outside before curling up on the bed to get some sleep.

Quite a few hours passed before her mirror image returned. During that time, Hope had walked 72 circles trough the tiny cell and counted the tiny ceiling tiles 3 times over (yes, still 314). So when Hope stepped through the door, she bolted up from the bed and eagerly slipped back into being Nozomi.

"There you are; you have no idea how bored I was in here."

Hope walked over and sat on the bed, "well sorry, but why didn't you keep yourself busy?"

"With what? You know what, never mind. What do you guys do for fun around here?"

"Oh a lot, I often play games with the other younglings or I just sit and read… I meditate a lot too."

Nozomi hung her head, "you sound like my brothers Leo and Donny… please tell me you sometimes live a little and prank someone. Seriously, you can't look and move so much like me and never have pulled a prank!"

Hope looked affronted, "of course I have! When I was a lot younger, but I really need to be serious with my studies to become a Jedi!"

Her counterpart from earth snorted, "maybe so, but if you don't go and have some childish fun every once in a while you'll miss out on the best part of being a kid!"

"So, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you come take a crash course with the Queen of Pranks."

Nozomi swung an arm around Hope's shoulder and grinned mischievously, "here's what we're going to do."

"I'm not so sure about this Nozomi."

"Shush Hope, it's fine. These are like, beginner level pranks."

"But what if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong; this is child's play compared to the pranks I've played with Mikey."

"How did you even do this? I can't believe you made it all yourself."

"Practice makes perfect after all…"

The two girls were standing outside the dining hall waiting for their pranks to take effect. Inside reigned a silence that the Hope from Earth found unnerving considering the amount of kids sitting inside to eat. They had put the pranks in place a few minutes before a few of the clans came filtering in for lunch. Fortunately for Hope's cold feet, they didn't have to wait too long before a chorus of farts broke the quiet. Shocked denials were followed by laughter when the makeshift whoopee-cushions were found. Soon though, the delayed prank the girls set up came into effect. From the ventilation ports in the ceiling, white powder came raining down. It was just some harmless powder that Hope had assured Nozomi was intended for cooking, but by now everyone inside was turned completely white.

The girls started laughing and raced back to Hope's cell before they were caught. They collapsed on Hope's bed to catch their breath. Suddenly Hope turned on her side and looked at Nozomi, "alright what's next?"

Before the day was halfway through, everyone in the temple knew a prankster was at work amongst them. Nobody was safe from the duo of mirror images. Nozomi made full use of all the skills Splinter had instilled in her and none of the Jedi in the temple were prepared for a ninja prankster. Nozomi didn't have a large presence in the Force and had managed to 'misplace' the items of several of the Jedi staying in the temple, using her stealth. Since none of them expected someone not gifted in the Force running around the temple, they overlooked her completely and both girls had a good laugh seeing them hunt for their missing things.

At one point, Hope had lent Nozomi a spare uniform and they ran around confusing everyone. Many of the younglings and padawans in the temple would see Hope walking in front on them one second, only to turn a corner and appearing behind them. Or, they would see her walking through one door and coming out of another. They flocked to their teachers, to find out what Force trick Hope was using to manage that. Eventually though, Nozomi put her own clothes back on so they could move on to the next prank. Hope was leaning in a corner and whenever someone would come up to talk to her or ask her about her earlier methods, Nozomi would pop up from behind her. This made several people jump back or scream because it made Hope seem like she suddenly had two heads and four arms.

The girls had raced from the last scene of the crime and were leaning on each other to keep standing, trying to catch their breath when they suddenly sensed a stern presence behind them. They straightened up and turned to find Jedi Master Windu standing behind them looking disapprovingly down at them.

"M-master Windu!"

Hope recovered quickly and bowed to the Jedi Master. Nozomi immediately copied her and bowed respectfully. Master Windu, in turn observed both girls in front of him. To the left he had Hope, the white haired youngling dressed in the uniform that was required of her. To the right there was an unknown girl who looked identical to Hope, but her clothes were very shabby and quite frankly reeked. He gave them a stern nod that both girls instinctively took as an order to follow him and he led them up to the council, Hope visibly jittery and nervous.

The council surrounded the girls from all sides while they both stood facing Master Yoda. Master Windu quietly observed the twosome that had caused so much unrest in the temple. To her eternal credit, the stranger stood as tall as she could and bravely met each of their eyes. Hope, in contrast quietly stood awaiting punishment. Master Billaba, to his left took pity on the children and addressed them when it seemed like Hope's heart might give out and the stranger's hands started to twitch more noticeably.

"Do you know why you are here?"

Hope answered quietly, "because we caused unrest Master."

Billaba shook her head, surprising both girls.

"Your mischief will be addressed by your clan leader youngling, but you are not here to answer for that. We want to know about the sudden appearance of your twin here."

Nozomi took a step towards Master Billaba and managed to look both strong and respectful at the same time.

"My name is Hamato Hope, but please call me Nozomi since two Hopes that look the same is confusing. I am 8 years old and I'm from New York on the planet Earth. I don't know how I got here. The last thing I remember is an old mirror and then feeling like I was falling. Hope found me, and she was just trying to help me. The pranks were my idea, so I should be punished and not her... Master"

"A mirror, you say." Master Plo Koon inquired.

"Yes sir, it was hidden away in one of the tunnels where I live."

"How did you manage to pull off some of your pranks? We would have sensed Hope immediately, but you possessed the skills to fly under our radar. Who trained you?" came the question from somewhere behind her.

Nozomi turned to answer, "my father did. He is training my me and my brothers to be ninja so we can protect ourselves."

Noticing the thoughtful faces around her she couldn't help but add, "stealth, patience and focus are important for ninja. And I will always want to honour my family."

The Jedi around seemed to absorb that.

"Well then, what should we do with you until such a time where you can return home?"

"I don't know."

"With Hope practice, you will."

Immediately all heads snapped to look at Master Yoda but he simply waved them away before they could protest. Master Windu nodded thoughtfully.

"If she can copy our Hope's movements than this may prove to be an excellent learning experience indeed."

Half an hour later found both girls standing inside one of the various training rooms. Several masters were in attendance to see how this would play out. The Hope from Earth had been given a youngling's uniform, her original clothes judged too threadbare to hold through a training session. She was given a practice saber and told to simply move as she saw fit. This Hope didn't have any training in the six forms after all, so they couldn't expect her to be able to use them. The practice saber would only stun and the uniform would sufficiently absorb any blows. She had to possess quite a bit of skill to be able to pull pranks on fully trained Jedi, but nobody thought she would be able to wield a weapon. Hope watched 'Nozomi' accept the practice saber and laughed when her mirror image activated it and proceeded to jump in glee, swinging it around with the biggest grin on her face.

"You're such a, how did you call it? Nerd."

Nozomi stuck her tongue at Hope and simply continued to swing the saber, "guilty as charged. Nerds have more fun anyways."

The girls went to stand opposite each other and waited for the signal to start their practice duel. When it came however, Nozomi stood motionless. Her eyes boring into their twins on the opposite side of the room, daring the other girl to make the first move. Hope responded to the challenge by stepping forward and swinging her saber towards Nozomi's legs. It was a wide arch, meant to see how Nozomi would respond. The young ninja stepped back to avoid being hit. Hope glided forwards relying heavily on form II, since she hadn't been working with the other forms much yet.

Both girls stood sizing each other up once more, Nozomi circled to the left and Hope matched her movements. Nozomi fainted twice, to get more of a feel for the practical movement of her weapon and her opponents reactions. She wasn't as good with blades as Leo, but Splinter had taught them all to be flexible when it came to weapons. Consequently, when she was having her 'nerd' moment, she was actually just getting a feel for the blade. She observed Hope as she moved and decided to mirror her. On Hope's next few swings and thrusts, Nozomi matched her blow for blow. Frustration filtered over Hope's face and Nozomi chanced a grin at her opponent before slipping back into concentration. She noticed that Hope's attacks were rather stiff, as if she was simply going through the motions. It reminded her a bit of a fencing practice she once saw, and Nozomi wondered what would happen if she were to force Hope to adapt and respond to her instead of the other way around.

With that thought in mind Nozomi started to switch up her movements. Twice, she caught Hope of guard simply by stepping differently than what was the other girl was expecting. Instead of blocking, as she had been doing she shifted and moved away from Hope's blade. Hope, having expected to be blocked overstepped on both occasions and had to pull back quickly to avoid Nozomi's counter attack.

Nozomi whirled back and smiled at Hope, who looked understandably wary.

"Alright, I've done this your way. Let's see how you hold out when we do this my way."

She suddenly rushed towards Hope, making the other girl flinch back. But Nozomi wasn't trying to simply rush her. She jumped and twisted at the very last second, vaulting clean over Hope's head. A bright grin spread on Nozomi's face, this was what she lived for. She loved pulling acrobatics when practicing. It always proved to be effective to three of her older brothers. Only Mikey could keep up with her and actually beat her in terms of agility so she usually practiced with him, basically bouncing all over the dojo together in the process.

The ninja decided to pull out all the stops. Though she favoured smaller weapons herself to aid in her maneuverability, but she could work with this. Nozomi pressed Hope from all sides, circling her and flicking the lightsaber at her mirror image. But every time Hope thought she could predict when and where Nozomi would strike, the ninja would twirl or flip to change directions. It was making Hope dizzy to just keep track of her opponent. Hope fought to keep up but so far it was an uneven duel. She considered briefly to force-push Nozomi away to create distance, but discarded that as unfair. Instead, she slowly began to rely less on form and more on the Force. Hope remembered the masters telling her to feel and see with the Force to predict the moves of her enemies. It was difficult, because Hope wasn't used to combine Force sensing with combat yet. A flicker of awareness was all she needed to respond and she looked at the surprised but pleased face of her counterpart when she successfully predicted and blocked Nozomi's move. The moments of sensing were scarce in the beginning but the longer the fight went on, the quicker the little 'pings' of awareness seemed to come. She noticed that Nozomi's enjoyment of the fight seemed to increase the more Hope managed to block successfully. Nozomi was grinning and tried to figure out what had changed, why the other girl was getting better at reading moves that she herself only barely thought up before executing them. It made the fight enjoyable and had the girls spared a glimpse at the masters, they would've seen approving nods. Master Windu was pleased to note that this practice fight seemed to hone Hope's skills in a way that would've taken her much longer if she had only ever been practicing with other younglings. The form-heavy training didn't allow much in the way of developing adaptability and versatility yet, that wouldn't come until they became Padawans assigned to a Master.

Eventually though, Nozomi wore Hope down. She was doing really well for a youngling, but the difference in experience between the two of them was too great to overcome. Nozomi was quick as a whip, highly unpredictable and had been working with weapons far longer than Hope had, after all. Hope's legs were swiped from underneath her before she could register what was going on and she found herself staring up beyond the practice saber aimed at her throat, at the other girl.

"You lose."

"How did you do that?"

"Trust me, if you had a brother like Mikey, you'd learn to adapt. And with a brother like Raph, who is much stronger you learn be quick and agile. Up against Donny, I learned I needed to be unpredictable."

"I thought you had four brothers?"

"Yeah, I do. Leo taught me how to observe my opponents."

Nozomi deactivated the practice saber and offered her mirror twin a hand, who gladly allowed herself to be pulled to back to her feet.

"This thing is great though, I should totally get Donny to build me one!"

Hope started laughing.

"You both did very well. Yes, hmmm."

Hope and Nozomi turned and bowed in respect for the ancient master.

"Now you may leave. After dinner return, you will."

The girls smiled at each other and quickly hurried away to spend some more time together.

Night had fallen over Coruscant and the younglings were send to retire for the night after dinner. Both Hopes had been allowed to sit in a private chamber and they had been happily chatting with each other. Eventually the excitement of the day had won out though, and left the two girls cuddled up together and deeply asleep. With them sat the Grand Master himself, watching over the youngling in his care and the offworlder that had dropped in on them out of the blue. He sat and waited patiently while the evening progressed. Eventually, the door to the chamber swished open quietly and the gentle padding of bare feet reached Yoda's ears.

"I hoped she had wound up with you."

"I was wondering if, come, you would."

"She is my child, old friend. Though I had never anticipated her finding the World mirror."

"Curious little one."

His visitor approached the sleeping girls and gently swept some hair out of the young ninja's face, a warm smile on his snout.

"You earlier, I expected. Yes, hmmm."

"I have four other children Yoda. They were worried when she disappeared, but since I knew where she was I allowed her to remain here to calm down."

"You followed her, hmm?"

Splinter sighed and settled opposite the Jedi Master.

"What else did you expect? I almost lost her once, my friend. I couldn't allow that to happen again. I knew she would be safe with you. I did not expect her to find her doppelganger here, however."

"Both called Hope, they are."

The rat opposite him looked amused and gently tugged the sleeping child in his lap.

"Did she do anything noteworthy while here?"

"Pulling pranks on everyone. To remain wary, she taught the knights. Then her counterpart she dueled. For form 3 she showed promise, but Force sensitive she is not. Curious, hmmm?"

"I do not know what to make of that. However, I do know that she will be an excellent ninja who will protect her family with all she has."

Yoda nodded in agreement and watched as Splinter rose with Hope tugged safely in his arms.

"I must take my leave, old friend. My sons will be most anxious to see us return."

"See you soon I will. Yeesssssss."

Splinter returned to the room where both Hopes had met earlier that day, the mirror portal back to their world leaning against the wall. He laid a paw on the smooth surface, the other clutching his daughter tighter to his chest. Together they fell through the mirror, emerging safely back in the sewers of New York. He hurried home to the lair and quickly went to put his little girl to bed but found it occupied by his sons, Mikey clinging to her pillow. When she had blown up that morning, his sons had let her go to cool down. They became frantic when she hadn't returned home after several hours. His boys migrated to her and immediately clung to her after he placed her in the middle of the bed. The youngling uniform she was still wearing would keep her warm. Splinter gently tugged the brown letter boots off her feet and mentally thanked his old friend for them. Goodness knew that the girl had desperately needed some new footwear. He turned around to leave the room, content that she was back safe and sound when he heard her stir. Sleepy eyes aimed up at him without a hint of focus.

"I had a funny dream daddy…" she trailed off, fighting against sleep.

"I know; you can tell me all about it tomorrow. Sleep now, my daughter."

The little girl nodded and snuggled up against Raphael, tucking her head underneath his chin. Michelangelo curling up against her back. Their remaining two brothers cuddled together on the foot of her bed. Splinter left the room with a smile, his children were all home.

*See; Losing Hope