A TURTLE ROMANCE

By

Leo's Girlfriend

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage. I am only borrowing them for my non-profit story. This is my first fic.

Elisa was whistling as she returned to April's store after visiting Casey's great aunt's house. It was only a few blocks away from Second Time Around and since it had been such a beautiful day when she started out, she had decided to walk. April had asked her to go and pick up some jewelry that Mrs. Jones had asked her to try and sell for her. Mrs. Jones loved company and invited her to stay for dinner. The sun was just starting to set as she headed back to the store.

About a block from the store Elisa ran in to her sisters, Lily and Sara, who had spent the day shopping. They were returning to the apartment that the three of them shared above Second Time Around. Their arms were loaded with shopping bags.

Elisa grinned. "It looks like you had a good day. Find any great bargains?"

They were so busy telling each other about their day that they didn't realize some of the Purple Dragons had snuck up behind them. During a pause in their excited conversation Lily heard a rock skid across the sidewalk behind them and glanced over her shoulder. She barely had time to scream, "Run!" when the Purple Dragons started to chase them. As they looked ahead they realized their way was blocked by three more members of the gang. "This way!" Lily shouted. The three ladies raced into the alley only to find it blocked by more of the gang. They were surrounded by twelve members of the Purple Dragons!

The Purple Dragons attacked from both directions! Lily and Sara dropped their packages. The three ladies fought with all their strength. They were able to knock off four of the gang members, screaming all the while, "Someone, help us!" "Help!" "Police, help!" As seemed usual for this neighborhood though, there were no policemen in the area when they needed them.

No one realized that four very large turtles were up on the rooftops nearby, practicing their leaps and kicks while patrolling the neighborhood for any crime that may take place.

Mikey hollered to Leo, "I really like night patrol." He leapt to another rooftop, keeping even with his three brothers. "Do you know why I like night patrol?"

Leo glanced at him and guessed, "Because we get to beat up the bad guys?" Suddenly they heard screams from the streets below.

The fighting was so intense in the alley below that no one even thought about looking up. Little did they realize that four green heads in solid colored masks had popped out over the edge of the roof. It only took a few seconds for the turtles to realize what was going on.

"Wow! They're pretty good!" Don commented, admiringly.

"Yes, but they need our help, and they need it now!" Leo shouted as the four of them leapt into the midst of the fight. Although the ladies had been fighting with all their strength to stay alive, there were just too many Purple Dragons. Shortly after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had joined in the action, all three ladies had been knocked out cold.

It was only after things had slowed down and just a few Purple Dragons were left standing, that Raph noticed them lying on the ground and snarled loudly, "Wouldn't you know it would take twelve of you scumbags to take on three tough ladies?" The gang members closest to each of the ladies bent to grab their purses. "Oh, wonderful! Now you resort to purse snatching! What next? Stealing candy from babies?"

"Those ladies don't look rich enough for the Purple Dragons to bother with them. What the shell is going on?" Don questioned.

Mikey leapt in front of the goon who was about to take Sara's purse and snarled, "I don't think that purse goes with your outfit. Do you?"

"Huh?" the dopey looking Purple Dragon muttered. He looked up at Mikey, and then glanced around for his friends to help him. When he realized most of them were lying in piles on the ground, unconscious or moaning, he screamed, "RUN FOR IT!"

The one grabbing for Elisa's purse glanced up into Raph's glaring face, turned a ghastly shade of white and stuttered, "Uh, g-guys, let's get out of here!" The few who remained standing raced for van at the far end of the alley.

Mikey rubbed his hands together, "Well, that was easy."

"Yeah, but we can't just let them go! Come on, guys!" Raph shouted as he lunged toward the cowards.

Leo grabbed Raph by the shoulder. "Hold it, Hot Head! We need to take care of these three now. We can deal with the Dragons later."

"Well, what should we do with them?" asked Don. "Take them back to our lair?"

"Yeah. We can't just leave them lying here." Mikey stated.

"No, that wouldn't be safe," Leo responded.

Mikey picked Sara up securely, Leo gently pickedup Lily and Raph carefully picked Elisa up. Don gathered their purses and shopping bags, then opened the manhole cover so they could climb down into the sewer. He climbed down first and set the bags down, then helped the other three down the ladder with the ladies in their arms.

"Master Splinter is so going to kill us", said Leo as they carried them into the living room.

Splinter was sitting in the dojo meditating. He slowly opened his eyes. The first one of his sons he saw was Don and a look of mirth filled his eyes. "Unusual accessories these days, my son."

Don's cheeks turned red. "But, but, they're not mine," he stuttered.

As Splinter chuckled, he noticed movement in the doorway. He looked and his eyes grew large with unasked questions.

By then, the unconscious ladies were getting very heavy and hard to hold on to. "Um, Don, a little help here," Raph groaned.

Splinter looked directly at the other three. "Who are these women and why did you bring them into our home? And how did they come to be unconscious?"

"Well, we couldn't just leave them up there to get taken by the purple dragons," said Don.

"Explain." Splinter commanded.

"Please, can we set them down first?" groaned Leo.

"Oh, certainly. Place them over there on the couch," Splinter gestured toward the couch. The guys set them carefully on the couch and the ladies unconscious bodies lolled against each other.

"Sit, my sons," Splinter commanded. The four turtles glanced uncomfortably at each other, then sat down facing their father. "And now, their story."

Mikey and Don started talking at the same time. "Well, you know, we….." "We heard them….."

Splinter held his hand up to silence them. "One at a time, please. Leo, why don't you tell me."

"But…" is all that Mikey managed to whine before Splinter silenced him with a look.

"Leo, proceed."

Raph grinned at Mikey and cuffed him on the back of his head. Mikey whined, "Hey!" but then looked back at Splinter and clamped his mouth shut.

"Well, Sensei," Leo began, "We were practicing our leaps and kicks on the rooftops when we heard someone screaming. We raced over and looked down in the alley. These three ladies were surrounded by a dozen of the Purple Dragons, fighting for their lives. That one is an awesome fighter." He nodded toward Lily.

"Yeah, she sure is", interrupted Mikey. Splinter peered at him. "Sorry, Sensei." Mikey lowered his eyes to his hands which were folded in his lap.

"Continue, my son," Splinter nodded toward Leo.

He continued, "Shortly after we jumped in to help, those goons knocked all three of them out. Would you believe they were just after their purses?"

Splinter peered at the ladies. "They do not look to be rich women. I wonder why they were targeted by the Purple Dragons."

"Well, I know how we can find out!" Mikey jumped up and tried to grab a purse from the pile next to Don. Don quickly grabbed the handle and pulled.

"STOP!" Splinter commanded. Mikey and Don froze.

"But, but, but…."

"Return to your seat, Michelangelo."

Mikey let go of the purse and sat back down.

Don dropped the purse like it was hot. When it hit the floor it toppled over and the contents spilled across the floor.

"What the…..." questioned Don.

"Look!" shouted Leo.

"They're jewel thieves!" Mikey yelled.

Raph glared at the unconscious ladies, and then stated sarcastically, "Well, what do you know? The criminals were robbing other criminals. How ironic."

"Things are not always as they appear, my sons. We will let them explain when they waken," Splinter advised.

"So what are we suppose to do with them when they wake up?" asked Don.

"Maybe we should tie them up now so we don't have to fight with them later," Mikey said.

Raph conked Mikey on the back of his head.

"Hey! What was that for?"

Raph just scowled at him.

"I thought it was a good idea," Mikey whined.

Just then April walked in. As she came through the door she said, "Hey, guys, I think I need your help."

"Shhhh. April come here. Do you know these three?" Don motioned for her to come over by the couch.

"Elisa! Lily! Sara! What happened to them?" April ran over and knelt in front of the couch, feeling Elisa's wrist for a pulse. "I sent her to pick up some jewelry that Casey's great aunt had asked me to sell for her. She never came back. The other two had planned on spending the day shopping."

"You mean they're not jewel thieves?" Mikey asked.

"No, of course not," she answered. "I was wondering where she was and if something had happened to her, but before I could go look for her the smoke alarms in my building started blaring. I was in the store when the alarm in the stock room went off. I ran in there and the whole back wall was in flames. I ran out the front and called 9-1-1 from the payphone across the street. The fire was so evenly spread across the back that I think someone set it. It may have been the Purple Dragons. A couple of those goons were watching from across the street and laughing and joking about all that old junk burning up. What do they know about antiques, anyway?" She sniffled, trying not to cry, thinking about her loss.

"Well, we know for sure they are the ones who got to your friends here. We came up on the Dragons attacking them in an alley. Twelve of the Purple Dragons had these ladies cornered. They put up a good fight before they got knocked out. The goons must have known about the jewels because as soon as they had knocked them out, they went for their purses," Leo explained.

April looked shocked. She stood up and started pacing. "Oh, no, then this is all my fault. I should have never sent her out alone to get the jewelry. But I wonder if that has anything to do with the fire being set. And where are we going to stay? I just rented the three of them one of the apartments above the store and they moved all of their stuff in two days ago. Now none of us have anywhere to go." Her eyes filled with tears.

Please R & R. Thank you.