I do not own any form of TMNT except for my OC(s).

Hey, readers, this is my first published piece of work, so bear with me. I hope you guys enjoy it and I hope to continue it ASAP. FYI, italics are thoughts and sometimes memories of the characters… I'll try to make sure it's easier to determine which ones are thoughts and which are memories.

Hit the Ground Running

Chapter 1

BAM! I hit the ground hard, moaned, and got back up. Gotta keep going… Gotta fight… I jumped up, grabbing a rung of the fire escape ladder, and climbed up to the roof. "Heads up!" I automatically ducked, narrowly dodging a flying body. I got up and rejoined the fray, striking my opponents with powerful punches and bone-crunching round-house kicks. "Kai! Raph! Out of the way!" I looked up, a mistake. While distracted, I earned a harsh kick in the gut, sending me smashing into a brick wall. I grimaced, holding my sides, trying to control my spinning mind. I opened my eyes to see two of our opponents stalking towards me. I forced myself to stand and prepared myself for yet another fight. Two against one… Seems about fair. They lunged at me and two more joined our fight. I dodged and jabbed in calm, swift movements, but before I knew it, I was way outnumbered. I soon found myself getting clipped by their blades more often, the new cuts stinging as we fought on. I unsheathed my sparring knife and tried to do some damage, but one of the enemy managed to wrap a whip-like chain around my wrists, and another around my ankles. They pulled forcefully, causing me to not only fall flat on my stomach, but drop my last weapons as well. …Crud… I'm a little screwed… Not as fair as I thought… I struggled to get loose so I could stand, but I was stuck and surrounded. This is going to hurt… A lot… I thought as I squeezed my eyes shut and felt the chains tightening around my bound wrists and ankles. "Haiya!" I opened one of my eyes to see that my allies had jumped in to help me and were taking the enemy out one by one. The two holding the chains began to drag me away. I struggled, trying to slow them down or get lose, but it was no use. "Where do ya think you're goin'?!" One of my allies, Raphael, was suddenly in front of the two who were pulling me and began fighting with them. Donatello was next to me within seconds and began trying to free my bound hands and feet. "You okay, Kai?" He asked as he fiddled and untangled the chains. "Yhea, love the feeling of harsh roofing…" I said sarcastically. He looked at me skeptically. I gave off a sideways grin. "I'm fine Donnie." I said. He looked as if he didn't completely believe me, but he dropped it. He helped me up and let me lean on him for support. Even though I hadn't checked yet, I could feel that my ankles were cut and bruised from the chains and the fighting. Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo were just finishing up the remaining Foot Ninjas, ninjas under the command of Oroku Saki, aka, the Shredder.

Let me try to catch you up super quick. You probably already know this, but my name is Kai. I am a fourteen, almost fifteen, year old girl. I am about five feet tall, have blonde-bronze hair that goes down to bottom of my upper back, I have brown eyes with orange-brown rings around my pupils, I'm tan, well-toned, freckled, and I've been told I have a perfect smile. Why are we fighting ninjas and why New York? To make things short, we live in New York and to make things shorter, my brothers and I aren't your everyday people… See, Leo Donnie, Raph, Mikey, and our adoptive father, Master Splinter, aren't even human.

I'm going to let that settle for a moment. (… … … … *sigh* … … … …) Settled? Okay, so we have four mutant turtles and a mutant rat. Me? I'm all human. How'd I get mixed up with the rogue petting zoo? I started life with a loving mom and dad who died in a fire. Sad, but true. We lived in New York which is way freaking far away from my relatives. (They lived in New Mexico, Colorado, and California….) I was put in foster care, which you can sort of guess didn't go very well. You're right. They used to beat me or not feed me or make me sleep in a cage. Pleasant people, huh? The second I could fight back, I did. I got out and began to try to find a place to stay, age eight and a half. I was spotted one day by a group of Purple Dragons, a gang of jerks, who chased me down into the sewers. I only knew how to kick-box, and only a little at that. When I was cornered and had no way out, I thought I was doomed. You can probably guess what happened next, but I'll tell you anyway. Master Splinter jumped in and saved me. He brought me to my new home and that's where I met my new forever family. There's more to this story, but I'll save that for later. What I need to know now is that what happened to me and my family. You're lucky Raph let me let you read this. So I expect that you will respect what I have to say. If not, you and I may go for a few rounds. See how you feel later. Nah, I'm joking. But seriously, if you have some sort of problem with what I say keep it to yourself. Can't do that, I suggest you go ahead and put the book down and find something else.

If not…

Proceed.

PS… If they come for you… We'll probably come save you. Just sit tight.