Chapter 1

"Inhale...Exhale." said the giant rat, eyes closed and in lotus position. The four turtles were following his actions. "Focus on nothing but your breathing." he continued "Take big deep breaths..good." He opened his eyes to look at his four sons.

"Master Splinter!" The turtle in the orange mask said, raising his hand.

"Yes?" The rat replied, looking at the turtle.

"How much longer are we going to do this meditation stuff? We've been doing it for hours and I really have to go to the bathroom!"

"The point of this exercise is to sit still, focus, and balance your chi; something you should do more often Michelangelo."

"He's got you there, Mikey," said the turtle in the red mask, smirking. Michelangelo slowly put down his hand, a little embarrassed.

"Sansei is right," The blue-masked one said, "It is important for a true ninja to balance his chi and focus. It could help us prepare for anything."

"Very good Leonardo." Splinter said nodding to the turtle. The red-masked turtle sighed, leave it to Leo to be the teacher's pet. "My sons, we have done enough for now. We will continue your training later." The four turtles stood up and bowed to their Sansei.

A moment later, Mikey ran to the couch and turned on the TV. Raphael walked over to the old beaten-up punching bag and began to throw a few hits, Leo went over to join him. Then the purple masked turtle, Donatello, went to his little study and continued to update some new gadget. Splinter just stood there, looking around his home; something was not right. He scanned his surroundings with his brown and black eyes; then at that moment, he thought he saw something move. A dark figure, a shadow; for a moment it was there, then it was gone. Leonardo noticed the look on his father's face and started to worry too.

"Uh Master Splinter..are you-" but Leo was interrupted. Someone sprang out of the dark, jumping from the upper level of the lair and landed a few feet away from Splinter. The intruder was wore all black and completely masked, resembling one of the foot ninja. The only thing that was covered in black were a pair of big bright blue eyes. The ninja stood there, staring at Splinter, holding up a katana.

"Enough of this!" Raphael shouted and started to attack the stranger. Slow to react, Raphael was defeated with one stroke of the sword. The turtle was thrown back against the wall, his twin sai fallen out of his hands.

Michelangelo took out his orange nunchucks and also tried to attack. In an instant the ninja ripped the weapons from his hands and throwing him against the wall too.

"Woa!" Mikey said "That is one tough ninja. He's even beaten you Raph, but I admit it's isn't very hard."

"You just keep talking and I'll show you hard." Raph threatened, rubbing his aching head.

Donatello and Leo sprang into action and faced the warrior. He turned to Donatello and broke his bow staff cleanly in two pieces. Leo was quick to stand on front of his brother. He swung his two katanas at the enemy, but he held up his sword and blocked the strike. Leonardo struck again and again, but his every move was blocked. Exhausted, Leo dropped his swords and threw a punch at the ninja. Just as about his fist came in contact with the body, the ninja's hand grabbed his wrist. Leo was unmoving, his arm still outstretched; and the stranger remained unflinching. The next moment, the grip was tightened and Leo was shoved backwards. All four turtles were on the stone floor of the lair, moaning from their blow. Splinter remained where he was the whole time, nothing had touched him or the intruder. The stranger turned to face Splinter and finally removed the mask and revealed his face...or should I say her face?

"You have fought well young warrior." Splinter said, bowing to her. She bowed in return.

"I learned from the best..sansei."

"Sansei?" All four turtles cried at once. They slowly got up on their feet and approached her. They could now really look at the young girl standing before them. She was well built, and long brown hair that was a little bit on the wavy side. The thing that was odd about the girl was that she seemed, wolf-like. She had a long tail and pointy dog ears on the top of her head to match.

"You know this girl?" Raphael asked Splinter.

"Yes my son," he replied "I have known her for quite a while." Splinter put a hand on the girl's shoulder, which was a head higher than him. "She once was a student of mine."

"I'm Vittoria." the girl said, speaking for the first time.

"Leonardo." the blue masked turtle said, "This is my brother Donatello." He pointed to his purple-masked brother and both turtles bowed to Vittoria.

"Yeah...sorry about your bow staff." Vittoria said a little awkwardly.

"Eh, it's fine." Donatello replied "Easily fixed."

"And this is Raph, and I'm Mikey!" the turtle in the orange said.

"Just ignore shell for brains over here." Raphael said, "Trust me, life will be much easier for you.". He chuckled to himself

"Let's sit down and have some tea before we overwhelm our guest." Splinter said, "We have much to talk about."

The rat, four turtles, and the wolf-like girl sat on couches and easy chairs; each with a cup of tea in front of them. It was pretty quiet for a minute or two, just the sounds of the clinking of china and sipping tea.

"I'm gonna ask this." Michelangelo said, breaking the silence, "How the shell do you know Master Splinter?"

"Yeah, and how did you find out where the lair was anyway?" Raphael added, "And where you born like..."

"Like this?" Vittoria said pointing towards her ears. Raph nodded. "Well, no actually; I was born a normal human being. I lived right here in the city. For a while I lived an average New York life; but one day everything changed. The day started like any other. I walked to the subway like I always do, when suddenly I was captured by some men dressed in all black. They dragged me into the shadows, I tried to yell for help but they silenced me. Then, everything went dark. The next thing I remember is waking up and finding myself in some high-tech lab. I was in a glass cage and next to me was a cage with a large dog in it. It was huddled in a corner, tail between it's legs. I felt so much sympathy for the poor thing. A scientist came in the room along with some huge, buff guy with blond hair in a rat tail and a tattoo of a purple dragon on one arm, and some weird red symbol on the other. He took me out of the glass box and dragged me out to face the scientist. He introduced himself as Baxter Stockman."

"Stockman!" Donatello exclaimed in both shock and interest.

"You know him?" Vittoria asked.

"His technology is amazing!" Donatello replied "But he destroyed our old home and has attacked us numerous times."

"I see," Vittoria continued, "Stockman told me he that I was gonna be a part of an experiment with combining DNA."

"Did he tell you what it was for?" Leo asked.

"He mentioned that it was for adding wolf-like strength and abilities along with human intelligence and form."

"So fascinating!" Donatello said with his eyes wide with excitement.

"You really love technology, huh?" Vittoria asked humorously.

"Donnie here makes all types of techno stuff!" Michelangelo said, pointing to his brother. "You should see what this turtle can build!". Donatello blushed a little.

"Anyway..." Vittoria continued, "after Stockman gave me his little intro, he ordered the huge man, who he called 'Hun', to put me on an operating table and strap me down. He took blood samples and put them in test tubes and mixed it with many different things and sometimes using fire and electricity. The whole time I was just laying there, waiting for something to happen. After a long while, Stockman approached me with a syringe filled with something that I knew was going to go inside me. He ejected the stuff in my body. The effect was instant. It was extreme pain, I became what I looked like today. Stockman just stood there laughing, admiring his success. I wanted to escape, I just had to. While he was distracted by his results. I tilted the table which spilled some beakers and caused a foggy gas. I broke free from the bonds and ran out of the building as fast as I could."

At this point, the turtles and the rat were completely quiet(even Michelangelo).They all leaned in urging Vittoria to continue the story.

"As soon as I was out, I went to the sewers so I couldn't be found by Stockman and Hun." Vittoria continued. "In the sewers, I just kept on running. As far away as I possibly could from that horrible place. I didn't really see where I was going, and I literally ran into Master Splinter. He was already in his..you know...condition. He thought I was an enemy and raised his walking stick, preparing to attack. I just kneeled before him, and crying my eyes out and I have no idea why. We introduced each other and he comforted me and told me the story about how he came to be. I did make me feel a little better. Master Splinter had taken me to his study in your old lair and taught me martial arts at night while you guys were slept. He even gave me my own katana. After about two years I kinda wanted to go my own way. So I just set off to see the outside world again. And well you know the rest." Vittoria finished, taking a sip from her tea cup.

"How did you find us Vittoria?" Splinter asked her.

"Well I went your old home and saw it was blocked off. I just wandered around the sewers and I heard you talking. The DNA did increase my hearing"

"One more thing." Michelangelo said, "Why the shell did you almost wax us?"

"I like being a bit dramatic." Vittoria grinned and took another sip of tea.

"Well you must be very tired." Splinter said, "You can sleep in one of the extra rooms and you can get some rest."

"Thank you for your hospitality." Vittoria stood up and bowed again to her sansei. Splinter rose and the two walked off.