This is my first one-shot! (Applause) thank you. This will probably be a few chapters long because when I begin writing, I tend to not stop lol. This is based on the 2k3 series (2003-2009). I've had a lot of daydreaming thoughts about doing something like this and I wanted to give it a try! Hopefully this goes well! Special thanks to RidersOfRohan my awesome Beta Reader. Reviews appreciated! I like to know how I'm doing.

My cover image is by Articuno224 on FanPop

HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY, TURTLES!

Part 1

(Leonardo's POV)

Our second eldest brother, Donatello, didn't have to do very much to impress the crap out of us. He was smart, attractive and practically a lady magnet, so to speak. There wasn't a machine in the world that he couldn't fix or recreate in his laboratory back home. If you asked him to build you a bridge he would build you a skyway from here to the moon. He was the mutant Einstein of the 21st century and I often found myself feeling proud to be his brother even 30 years after our birth.

Yet, even though he was a dedicated, full-time braniac, he always found time for his family and his duties as a master of Ninjitsu. In my eyes, he was the spitting image of perfect and I thought there was nothing more he could do to impress me. However, not even the sky was the limit for our purple-masked relative. Skyways weren't enough for him. He took the meaning of life to the next level by building something that I didn't even think was possible to create.

"Behold!" Donatello held up four small earpieces in the palm of his hand. His sudden outburst of triumph had attracted Raphael, our hotheaded brother, and Michelangelo, his polar opposite.

"Headphones?" Raph chuckled. "Wow Don, you really outdid yourself this time."

"They're not 'headphones' Raph, they're the answer to our prayers." Don smiled cheekily and did a little happy dance. "Oh this is going to be great!" He handed each one of us an earpiece and demonstrated how to put it in. "Once you hear a click, you'll know it's in right."

"Mine's not clicking." Mike grunted in frustration.

"That ain't the only thing that's not clicking." Raph chuckled to himself.

"Why do you have to make fun of him, Raph?" I said.

"Why do you have to get into business that ain't yours?" He shot me an aggravated look.

"Hold on." Don grabbed ahold of Mike's head and twisted the device into the small openings that we turtles had for ears. "There."

"Alright, what are they gonna do? Blow our brains out?" Raph pretended to be bored but I knew all too well that he was just as curious as I was.

"I hope yours does." Mike chuckled and then dodged a punch from the red clad turtle. I shook my head while popping my own earpiece into place. I heard the click and then waited for further instructions.

"Prepare to be amazed!" Don put on his device and then pulled a complicated remote out from underneath his desk. He punched in a few things and then turned a dial. After a few minutes of waiting, Don's face fell unsatisfied. "I thought I had all the kinks worked out." He sighed with a frown.

"Well that was a waste of 2 minutes." Raph pulled out the earpiece from his head and placed it on Donatello's lab table.

"Yeah, 2 minutes you could have spent doing what?" Mike also took out his piece and caught up to Raph on his way to the living room. "Sitting around and doing nothing?"

"That's what you do Mikey. I actually have a life, thank you."

"Living in the shadows isn't a life, bro. Then again, with a face like yours I'm sure you get along just fine."

This time Raph's punch didn't miss. It landed right in the center of Mike's plastron and sent him flying back into the lair wall. He moaned for a few seconds but took off running after Raph threatened to hit him again. Welcome to the terrifying place I like to call "my world."

Our youngest brothers' quarrel had distracted my attention away from the disappointed turtle behind me. He was sitting on his stool with his head propped up by his hands and sighing deeply to himself. Don was never the one to take failure very well. I guess you could say he was a lot like me in some ways.

"You alright Don?" I placed my hand on his carapace to try and comfort him.

"Remember what Mikey said just a moment ago? About living in the shadows?" He pulled out his own earpiece and crushed it between his three fingers. "I thought it was possible, but I guess it's not." He got up from his seat and walked off into the living room and up the stairs of the lair. He always retreated to his room whenever he was extremely stressed out, which he obviously was. I knew it was best to just leave him alone for now, even though I hated to see him like this.

"Leonardo." A familiar voice came from in the kitchen. It was our beloved father, Master Splinter. He was a mutant like my brothers and I. The only difference was that he was a rat, but he was a rat who taught us everything we knew about Ninjitsu and the code of Bushido. "Is Donatello alright?" He placed one hand on his chin and looked at me expectantly.

"Yes father. He's just upset right now, that's all." I calmly answered. He nodded in approval and walked up to me.

"That aside, I received a call from our dear friend April O'Neil." He began. April was one of our closest human friends and also Donatello's lab partner. She was also extremely intelligent but nothing compared to him. We rescued her way back when after she was attacked by mouser robots (long story) and she's been a part of our lives ever since.

"Oh yeah? What's up?" I asked.

"She has asked you to accompany her and Casey Jones to their farmhouse up north for the weekend." My father smiled politely and even displayed a few of his small pointed teeth. I knew the look on his face was caused by the very mention of Casey Jones. Jones was a whole different ballgame compared to April. He was mainly Raphael's buddy considering those two were spitting images of each other regarding their wild personalities.

"Really? Why?"

"They said they would like to begin cleaning up the house for spring and they could use your help." Splinter gave me a strange expression like he wasn't giving me the whole story. I was the leader of the greatest mutant team in NYC. I didn't clean houses for a living. I probably wouldn't even be able to tell a mop from a feather duster.

"What do they need help with exactly?" I asked, bemused.

"They said there have been strange people lurking around the property lately. Casey Jones offered to accompany her but she said she would feel better if one of you boys went along too." He gave a head nod, telling me it was the right thing to do.

I crossed my arms over my plastron and tightened my lips. I tried my best to stay respectful but it was becoming difficult considering that I just realized Splinter had chosen me to go along with them instead of my brothers.

"I noticed you have been a bit stressed lately and I figured it would be good for you to get out of the sewers for a bit and get some fresh air. It is only for the weekend, my son; I think you will do just fine." He lowered his voice so that it became more instructive, making it impossible for me to say no. I wouldn't have denied him anyway. I would have jumped off a cliff just to please my old Sensei.

"Alright, I'll go pack." I gave him a reassuring smile and turned around slowly to head upstairs.

"They will be here at noon to pick you up." I heard him say.

I packed a small duffel bag full of items I would need for the trip; a mat, some candles, and a few herbs that Splinter had given to me. Those were the things I used to meditate every morning and evening. If my father hadn't taught me how to link my mind and body together through spiritual concentration, I would probably be in the mad house by now from all the trouble my brothers get me and themselves in. I didn't wear clothes, obviously, so I finished the bag with a few throwing stars and a pack of trail mix.

"Where are you running off to?" Raph caught me on the breezeway just as I left my room.

"April and Casey want me to go upstate with them for the weekend." I didn't think I owed him any more of an explanation then that. "You'll watch after the others while I'm gone won't you?"

"I'll watch after Donnie but I aint' making any promises with Mikey." He grinned.

"Please Raph? I don't need to come home to decapitated bodies." I walked past him and headed down the stairs.

"Only one." He chuckled from behind me. "Maybe two if Donnie gets on my bad side."

The bad thing about Raphael is that you never know if he's joking around or not. I knew he wouldn't hurt Don, but the thorn in his side, also known as Michelangelo, was an entirely different story. It was a good thing Sensei was around to keep everyone sane.

When I walked into the living room, April was waiting there with Casey at her side. If you've never seen two grown men greet each other it goes a little something like this…

"Casey!" Raph jumped down off the second floor and bulldozed right into the long-haired vigilante. They went rolling across the dojo floor and started wrestling each other on the ground. I saw Master Splinter shake his head out of the corner of my eye and couldn't help but smile. Those two would be the death of me, I swear it.

April greeted me by kissing my left cheek and patting my shoulder. "This should be a fun weekend." She teased.

"Well Raph isn't going so it should be alright." I played along.

"Thank you so much for coming Leo. I'm just afraid…"

"It's ok April. I understand." I smiled and placed my hand on her arm.

"Thanks Leo." She smiled back. "Alright, are you ready to go?" She asked Casey who was just pinned to the ground by Raphael - his veins bulging out of his skin like a children's pop-up book.

"Uh yeah, just a second babe" Casey struggled to break free but that was the last thing Raphael would allow him to do. After about a minute of this, April finally stepped in.

"Alright enough is enough." She grabbed the back of Raph's red bandana strings and yanked him off his victim.

"Aye' woman alright!" He pulled away from her and fixed his mask.

"Weakling." Casey snickered.

"Bonehead." Raph mimicked back.

"Casey!"

"Coming babe!" He ran back over to April and me with a smile on his face. "Alright let's do this."

"Bye!" Mike and Don were up on the second floor waving goodbye to us. Don actually managed a smile too, as we walked out the door.

"Don't you just love the country?" April smiled while she looked out the passenger window at the mountainous scenery. We left the city a few hours ago and now we were heading north to Casey's farmhouse. I personally preferred a large, crowded city over the empty countryside but the fact that we were practically alone out here made it a bit more enjoyable. "Look at that!" April pointed out the window to a pair of large, brown birds that were flying over our small car. I saw Casey look too but then his eyes trailed onto the rearview mirror and looked directly into mine.

"Alright Leo, it's really bugging me so I have to ask. What the hell is that on the side of your head?" At first I didn't know what he was talking about but then I reached my hand up and felt Don's earpiece he had given me.

"Oh, I forgot I had that on. It's one of Don's experiments. I guess I forgot to give it back before I left."

"What does it do?" April turned around in her seat and looked at me.

"You know, I'm not entirely sure." I decided to leave it in since I had no safe place to put it right now. Even though Don said it had failed, I still respected his work and wanted to return it to him undamaged.

"Maybe it blows your brains out." Casey laughed.

"You and Raphael are too much alike Casey Jones." I shook my head and smiled from the memory of Raphael's remark towards the earpieces. Still, the idea of what these devices were really supposed to do was somewhat intriguing. Don never did tell me what they were meant to do.

About an hour later, we arrived at the farmhouse with the sun still high in the sky. Its reflection was beaming off the side of Casey's red barn and making a distant shadow across the dirt ground. Once I grabbed my bag from the trunk of the car, I took a moment to look around the perimeter at the tree line. It was strange because April was right, someone was lurking around here, and I could feel it.

"You alright buddy?" Casey hollered over to me from the stoop of the farmhouse.

"Yeah…" I took one last look and then joined the couple inside.

"Alright, I'll start making dinner and then we can get to work." April put her bags down in the living room and then headed into the kitchen.

Even though I presented myself as a city person, there was nothing better than the old, beat up shack of the Jones family. The creaky floor boards and the stone fireplace seemed so peaceful to me and the fact that I didn't have three mischievous brothers with me made it that much better. It was a two story house but the second floor was mainly the attic, the place I planned on sleeping. But once Casey placed my bag on the couch and pulled out pillows and blankets from the closet, I guessed he had other ideas.

"Don't you want me upstairs?" I asked.

"We aint' expecting any company. You can sleep on the couch if yah want." Casey placed the blankets down on the large, white sofa by the door and exhaled deeply. "That should do it."

"What are you afraid of Casey?" I grinned. He suddenly grabbed my shoulders and pinned me back against the wall behind us. My first instinct was to knee him in the groin and pull his arms behind his back but his next few words caught me off guard.

"There's someone here man. I came up here one weekend with April and I saw someone walking around outside. Don't tell April this but, I'm worried about keeping her safe. I'm afraid I won't be able to do it."

"So you want me to sleep by the door?" I asked but already knew the answer. He slowly nodded his head and gave me a hug once I agreed to do it.

"Thanks Leo. I owe yah one." He let go of me and then walked into the kitchen.

"Well that was anti-climactic." I rubbed the back of my head where it had ricocheted off the wall and then walked into the kitchen to join the others.

After we ate a hearty meal of baked potatoes and grilled chicken, Casey and I began work in the barn while April stayed inside and cleaned. We started to pick up old wooden boards off the ground and sweep away year-old hay that was piling up everywhere. To make Casey feel better, I left one of the barn doors open so we had a good view of the house.

"Just put that wheelbarrow over in the corner." Casey pointed to where he wanted it. I wheeled the barrow (ha) to its designated spot and gently placed it down.

"So, April finally got you to clean huh?" I teased him.

"Nah, you know I'm only here because of what I told yah earlier." He admitted. "To be honest, I don't even know a mop from a feather duster."

"To be honest, I believe you." I chuckled. I felt like it's been ages since I've actually not been stressed. Of course, the fact that someone was prowling around the property still set me on edge so I wasn't entirely stress free, but I would take it.

Just when I was about to head over and start raking up the straw, a shot of pain suddenly jumped up my spine and sat in the back of my head. Normally I would be able to cope with it, but this specific type of pain was far beyond my coping abilities. I immediately dropped to the floor and cradled my body in a fetal position. Both my hands were wrapped wound the back of my neck and I was pretty sure I was screaming in agony from the ache. I saw Casey come running over to me and watched as he dropped down hard beside my body. I figured he was probably just as scared as I was, he had never seen me like this, let alone any one else.

"Bro are you alright?! What's wrong?!" The panic in his voice only made me feel worse as the pain moved to the left side of my head. My entire body felt weak and I didn't know how to stop it. I felt helpless. I just laid there and tried my best not to scream and scare Casey anymore then I already had. "Oh God…APRIL!" Casey jumped up and took off out the door and that was the last thing I remembered before the pain stopped and everything went dark.

"I didn't hit him that hard! I just wanted him to understand how scared I…WE were!"

"Well you must have or else this wouldn't have happened!"

I could hear faint voices coming from somewhere in the distance. My vision was still engulfed by darkness but I could feel my body turning back on again.

"I didn't mean it, I swear!"

Slowly but surely a faint image started to come together as my eyes flickered open. I was in the attic and the candles I had packed were sitting around me with flames dancing on top of them. I was alive…that was a good start but what had happened to me back in the barn? I slowly sat up off the floor and held my hand to my head that was still aching; only the pain was more bearable this time.

As I ran my fingers across the top of my head, something soft brushed across my fingers. At first I thought it was just my imagination but then I pulled my hand down and literally stopped breathing. I felt my jaw drop and my entire body rushed with chills. I couldn't believe what I was looking at.

"AHH!" Out of nowhere I yelped to the top of my lungs and jolted off the floor. Was I dreaming? Or did I really have 5 fingers on my left hand? I picked up my other hand and it too was possessing 5 fingers. I was just dreaming…I prayed to God that I was only dreaming.

Despite my attempts to deny the inevitable, the sudden presence of Casey and April proved my suspicions to be true. Casey slapped his hands over April's eyes and dropped his jaw as he looked at me.

"Who are you?!" He had a small butter knife in his hand and pointed it at me.

"Casey it's me, Leo!" I said in a horrified tone.

"Leo? Why the hell are you stark naked?!"

I looked down at myself and quickly slapped my hands over my groin. He was right, my shell was gone and I was covered in tan-ish looking skin.

"What? Let me see!" April threw Casey's hands off her eyes and looked at me with awe. "Leo? What happened to you?!" She quickly ran up to me and shrieked. "You're…human!"

"Don't say that April, I'm just dreaming, that's all." It was obvious I was in a state of denial as April looked at my new body with interest.

"Wow…this is…something else isn't it?" She looked concerned but a bit distressed at the same time. After fully digesting what was standing before her, eventually she cracked a smile.

"Hmph." Casey threw his hands on his hips and whined.

"Maybe we should call Don?" April suggested.

"Yeah I think we should too." Casey looked at me with a sour tone and crossed his arms over his chest. "But first we better get you some clothes before April starts drooling." He stomped down the stairs, mumbling a few things as he went.

"I'll call Don. Maybe he'll know something." April wiped sweat off the top of her forehead and headed to the staircase.

"I think that's a good idea."

Once April went downstairs, I brought my fingers back to the front of my face and wiggled them around. It felt weird having five of them and matching toes to go with it. My back felt lighter and when I reached my hands around to feel for a shell, I met nothing but soft skin. I became almost hysterical from the touch and smiled since I had an idea who this was the work of.

"God Don, whatever you did, I'm frickin loving it."