LATE. VERY VERY LATE. I'm considering going on a mini-hiatus for this series. :/ I need a major break and more time for my other stuff that's more popular. I wouldn't be abandoning it, I swear. Just... Getting a little break.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"I love nature. Its beauty, its balance and perfection. Nature reminds me of what I learned in school about the scientist Charles Darwin. Darwin believed in the survival of the fittest. He explained how life on Earth could be defined simply as the struggle for existence. But, it seems to me that the struggle for existence is never very simple."

-April O'Neil

"What are we still hangin' around here for?! Da sun's about to set!" Casey exclaimed unhappily. He was hanging from a bridge support, looking at Leo to make a decision, but the blue-clad turtle was glaring down at the water hatefully, as if it had bit him. "Let's raft down da riva like we said we was gonna; get this campin' trip in gear!"

The blue-haired man flipped off the support and landed behind Leo, then walked towards him. "Yo, Leo, whaddaya say? What's goin' down, bro?"

Leo looked at the human with still-angry eyes. "The river," he said sarcastically in a nasty voice.

Casey stepped back a few steps, then ran to hide behind Raphael as Raph glared at his elder brother.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen! And Leonardo!" Mikey exclaimed from the raft he'd helped Don make (or, as Don would put it, talked to him the whole time as Don worked). Leo glared down at his brother. "This is the first and final call for the USS Turtle-rific, the most happenin' party cruise this side of, um… Casey's grandma's farmhouse! Tickets, please! Tickets!"

He yelped as a ninja star landed next to his foot, nearly skimming him. He looked up and saw Leo glaring down at him.

"Oh, I got yer ticket right here!" Raph exclaimed, ignoring his elder brother's attitude for the moment as he cannonballed into the water, making a humongous splash. Mikey gasped as the force of the water pushed him over a sleeping bag and onto his shell. His two immediate older brothers and Casey laughed at his disdain.

The odd family (minus Splinter, who was at the farmhouse still) all rode on the raft well past sundown. Leo was on the back, glaring with his feet in the cold water despite his still-weak immune system from A) being a turtle, B) getting severely injured, and C) just having a weak immune system. Don was fiddling with a device, Raph and Mikey were just sitting, April had her knees drawn up, and Casey was steering.

"The river is so perfect…" April smiled. "Flowing just as it has for tens of thousands of years. Ancient, mysterious, alive!" she breathed in awe.

"Gee, April," Mikey grinned, "you make it sound almost… spooky!"

Just as he said that, an owl 'hoo'ed.

"Wh-What was that?" April asked shakily, then yelped as the owl nearly swooped down on them, making them all duck.

Casey chuckled. "It's just a barn owl! Nothin' ta be scared-a!"

April smiled again as she whispered to Donatello, "Sometimes… sometimes Casey can be so cool…! Like now: focused and grown-up... Mature, even!"

Casey belched.

"You were saying?" Don asked with disdain as Raph chuckled.

About an hour later, it was somehow even darker. Don was fiddling with chemicals, now, April was sleeping, Raph was fishing, Mikey was using a flashlight to read a comic, and Leo…

He was still glaring hatefully at the water, not having even moved as millions of thoughts raced in his head. He didn't notice the form swimming under the water.

April groaned and awakened, and immediately gasped. "Oh, my gosh," she said, looking at the old nuclear power plant. "I didn't know we were so close to one of those."

"I saw in da local news dey're closin' it down," Casey said.

"Finally. Someone's come to their senses," April breathed.

"Ah, yes, the nuclear power plants. Once heralded as the future of energy, but they've become the Purple Dragons of energy production!" Don explained scientifically, not noticing Leo flinch at the name, "Hard to clean up after, and even harder to get rid of! But it looks like those cooling towers have already been rigged for demolition, so this is one nuclear plant no one has to worry about anymore. Any questions, class?" he then joked lightly. Raph cracked a smile as Casey chuckled.

Underneath them, though, none of them noticed the fins attached to unnaturally large bodies, at least for fish.

Leo continued to stare into the water, hardly noticing when Casey called him. "Yo, Leo, help me out, here!" the man requested. "Up ahead on the left. Is that the turn to Oxburn lake that Masta Splinta told us about?"

"Hm?" Leo asked, turning back without interest with a hard look on his face, making everyone lean back a bit. "Yeah, I think that's the way to Norwanacagi (did I spell that right? XD)," he dismissed as he turned back the river.

"Norwana-whaty?" Mikey asked.

"Norwanacagi. It's what the Indians that used to live here called the lake," Don explained as the fins made themselves known above water once more. "It means, 'Lake of the Lost Tribe'."

*purses lips* IT'S NOT MY FUCKING FAULT THIS IS SO SHORT, IT'S THE EP'S! :( PLEASE REVIEW! BYE!

Shadow