Chapter 1

The room was quiet, all minds still and concentrated. They felt the vague tremble of a far away subway as it left the closest station. The turtles inhaled shallowly, their minds far from their bodies and deep in meditation, when suddenly...

"...HIIIIICUUP!"

"Mikey, that was my ear!" growled Don, nearly jumping up from his spot on the mat in surprise.

"What? I downed three cans of orange soda before we got here. I wasn't expecting this 'Leonardo feels like meditating for hours' session!"

"Maybe if you all meditated on your own more, you wouldn't have to do it so much as a group," said Leo, eyes still closed, eyebrow raised.

"Hey, I do meditate. My mind is, like, completely blank when I play Call Of Duty at two in the morning," he retorted.

"There's a difference between clearing your mind and mindless video games."

"I don't think they're supposed to be mindless, Mikey, that's just how you play them. Probably why you lose so much too," added Raph.

"Hey!"

"OK, enough. Lets just begin with practice if no ones going to concentrate." Leo stood, frustrated.

"That's the first wise thing you've said since Splinter left," sad Raph, standing up next to him and using his shoulder to support himself while he stretched. Leo scowled.

Splinter had left four days ago on official business with the Damyo. He hadn't told his sons what it was about, only that there was no danger and that he would be back in a few days.

Mikey and Don rose. "When do you think Master Splinter will be back?" asked Mikey.

Leo shrugged. He had been frustrated that Master Splinter wouldn't even tell him. It made him feel like a child again, not like the leader of a team.

The four brothers began their stretches and squared off; Leo and Don, Raph and Mikey.

"So Raph, what sort of mischief do you think we can get into before Splinter gets home?" asked Mikey. He was glad that they were doing a sparring session instead of working on their katas or some other training exercise. He had a lot of energy he wanted to blow off.

"You mean mischief that we can get away with without Leo knowing? I'd say little to none."

"Aww c'mon, its not like he follows us around the house with a pair of binoculars. I say we catch a few movies, maybe hit the comic store, you know, fun stuff."

"Ha, yeah, fun. Standing around at the comic store for two hours sounds like an opportunity of a life time," replied Raph, rolling his eyes. "I can think of much better things i'd rather be doing; like this for example." Mid-way though a side kick from Mikey, Raph grabbed his ankle and twisted it.

Mikey was forcibly led to the ground, giving in rather than having his ankle snapped.

Leo, who already had Don pinned on the floor, turned to the battling duo.

"Michelangelo, pay attention!" he snapped.

"See? Told you he doesn't miss a thing," Raph gloated, lending Mikey a hand to his feet.

Suddenly, a tremendous boom erupted throughout the dojo, followed instantly by a single giant tremor. Raph fell to the ground. Mikey was already on his knees holding his ears.

As quickly as it all had started, it stopped.

"What the shell?" yelled Raph. He lifted himself to his feet and helped Mikey up for the second time. He looked over to see Leo already on his feet and running to the living room to investigate. He had barely made it out the doorway when they all heard him call to them.

The three went running, and were awe-struck by what they found in their once trashed living room. A giant, hungry vortex took the place of most of the floor, swirling and sucking anything it could bring down into it. There was nearly nowhere to stand in the room. The dark, black hole-like abomination had already taken everything in the room down into it. Everything, that is, except Leo, who clung onto a stone pillar near the wall for dear life as the swirling vortex attempted to suck him in.

"Leo!"

"Don't worry bro, we're coming!" Raph tried to yell, but he too found himself off balance as the gravitation pull started dragging him.

Before he could move, or even figure out what was going on, he saw Mikey's legs slide out from under him.

In the blink of an eye Don lunged for Mikey, slid across the floor, and the two of them disappeared over the edge.

"No!" Leo yelled from his post. Raph pulled out his sais and struck out at the wall as he edged himself closer to his remaining brother. The pull was getting stronger and stronger, to the point where he could barely keep hold of his sais on the wall. Finally he reached the pillar and grabbed onto the back.

"Raph, we have to go down there," Leo yelled to him. It was hard to hear over the blaring of the vortex.

"I know," he replied. The two locked eyes for a moment, each sure they were writing their own death sentences by letting go. Leo released one hand off the pillar and reached out to Raph. If they were going to die in this swirling doom, they were going to do it together, with pride, in an attempt to get their brothers.

Raph grabbed his hand, and they let go.


OK, this is Chapter 1. It quickly gets more advanced and mature, but I wanted to start it out as if it were an episode.