As a child, Leonardo had a fear of heights. His brother Raphael helped him conquer it but in this world the two were separated before that could happen. In the forests of Asia, how did Leo deal with his fear?


8 Years Ago

Asia

"Wake up." Tigerclaw snarled. A seven year old mutant turtle and an eight year old human girl immediately snapped awake and were on their feet. Behind them, a massive mutant rhinoceros was still in deep sleep and snoring loudly.

Leo turned around and shook him. "Come on, Rocksteady, wake up! It's time for training!"

"Let him sleep." Tigerclaw told him. "Today's morning training session is just for you two."

"What are we doing?" Karai asked.

"It's about time you two learn how to climb trees." Tigerclaw smiled. "We do live in a forest after all."

"Alright!" Karai said excitedly. Leo didn't say anything but he looked significantly less enthused than Karai. Tigerclaw took note of that but didn't say anything.

"Come." Tigerclaw instructed. "I know of a tree that should be perfect for our purposes."


Fifteen minutes later, the three of them stood at the base of the tree. Karai wore an excited grin but Leo looked a bit nervous.

Tigerclaw stood closest to the three. He patted its trunk with a paw. "See this tree? It's thicker than the others in this forest. And the bark doesn't pull easily. Perfect for climbing, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah!" Karai was bouncing a bit. Leo nodded but didn't look up at him.

"Come here." Tigerclaw beckoned. He got down on his knees so he was at their level. "You two don't have claws like me so its even more important that you get a good grip when you are in a tree or you'll fall."

Leo nodded weakly while Karai looked like she was brushing him off. "Can we climb yet?"

"One more lesson then you can." Tigerclaw promised. "Someday, you two will be big enough just to leap into a tree and strong enough to support yourself on any branch but until then, it's important to find a good route up to where you want to be."

"Like this one?" Karai asked as she pointed to the tree. "Right here the tree is kinda leaned over, and there's a knot right here then there I can grab that and I could reach for that big branch there while still holding on to the the tree."

"Yes, like that." Tigerclaw purred in pride. "You have a good eye for this, Karai."

Karai grinned. "Can I try it now?"

Tigerclaw nodded and Karai rushed up to the tree. Cautiously, she put her foot on the trunk and pushed off to put her other foot on. Almost immediately, she slid down. She glanced over at Tigerclaw with a look of disappointment.

"Don't give up yet!" he encouraged. "Try again. Put a bit more strength into it."

"Maybe go a bit slower." Leo offered. He looked at Tigerclaw for confirmation. He nodded. Leo gave a small smile.

Karai turned back to the tree. She dug her toe into the trunk and pushed off again. She held onto it with her arms and placed her other foot on the tree. She paused for a second then glanced back at Leo and Tigerclaw. "Hey, I did it!"

"Stay focused." Tigerclaw reminded. "You still have a ways to go."

Karai nodded and let go with one arm. Leo gave a small gasp and tensed until she replaced it on the tree. Karai did the same with her other hand then her feet. She did it again, this time a bit faster. She kept going faster and faster until she was sitting on the lowest branch.

"Look Leo! I did it!" she beamed. She waved down to him. Leo looked unsteady despite being the one on the ground but he smiled right back at her.

"Great job Karai!" Leo called.

"Very good, Karai." Tigerclaw told her. His voice was neutral but the look in his eyes showed that he was holding back a smile and he was close to failing at it. "Now come on back down."

"Should I climb down or can I just drop?" she asked.

Tigerclaw looked thoughtful for a moment. "You can drop. I'll catch you."

Karai smiled and pushed off of the branch. Leo squeezed his eyes shut until he heard the soft sound of her landing in Tigerclaw's powerful arms. Tigerclaw looked happy as he set her down. "Your turn Leo."

Leo hesiantly approached the tree.

"Do you remember everything I told Karai, Leonardo?" Tigerclaw asked. Leo nodded. "Proceed."

Leo swallowed and reached to place his hands on the tree like Karai did. He was soon holding on just like she was. He shut his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply before moving again.

Hand, hand, foot, foot. Up.

Hand, hand, foot, foot. Up.

Hand, hand, foot, foot. Up.

Soon, he saw a branch out of the corner of his eye.

"Way to go, Leo!" Karai cheered. "You're doing it!"

Leo risked a glance over his shoulder and saw Tigerclaw and Karai looking up at him. His hands suddenly felt incredibly sweaty and he suddenly felt like there was nothing under his shell. The ground felt a thousand feet away even though the tree couldn't have been more than ten feet tall.

"Leo?" Karai questioned when she saw he'd stopped.

"Leonardo?" Tigerclaw frowned in concern. Leo gave no response. He turned back to Karai. "Go back to Rocksteady. I'm sure he could use some help gathering for today's meal."

"But what about Leo?" she asked.

"He's fine." Tigerclaw lied. He hated lying, especially to his young companions but sometimes it was necessary. "He's… eh, trying to find the best way to grab that branch without losing his balance."

"Oh, okay." Karai said and took off into the forest.

Tigerclaw turned his attention back to the young turtle stuck frozen to the tree. Tigerclaw unsheathed his claws and pressed them into the tree and he began to climb.

He was able to make it to Leo's level much faster than even Karai. They were young and small, he was older and much much bigger and made of pure muscle. Tigerclaw sheathed one paw and reached out and grabbed Leo by the top of the shell. Tigerclaw noticed that it was damp with sweat.

Leo's breathing became rapid and he clung to the tree, refusing to let go. Tigerclaw removed his other hand from the tree so that he was supported only by his legs and grabbed Leo with both hands. He pulled him close to his chest and dropped gently down to the ground.

Once on the ground, Tigerclaw lowered to a crouch still holding Leo and sat down. After a few minutes, Leo's breathing calmed and he relaxed.

"Are you alright, Leonardo?" Tigerclaw asked calmly. He pressed his paw comfortingly against Leo's back. Due to their size difference, Tigerclaw's paw covered most of Leo's shell.

"Yeah." Leo nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Tigerclaw asked.

"Because I messed up." Leo answered. "Karai could-"

"Do not compare yourself to your sister." Tigerclaw told him. "Now tell me what happened?"

"I don't know." Leo mumbled. "It was like I just froze up when I looked down."

"Hmm." Tigerclaw nodded thoughtfully. "Has this ever happened before? Be honest."

Leo was quiet for a moment. "I think so."

"When?"

"Back at the lair we'd…" Leo trailed off. Tigerclaw didn't press. None of them talked about their pasts before the forest. Except for Rocksteady. He loved talking about his life in Russia.

"Do you know why this happened?" Tigerclaw asked. Leo shook his head. "Do you want to know what I think?"

"Yeah." Leo said.

"I think you're afraid of heights." Tigerclaw told him.

"What? I'm not afraid of anything!" Leo denied.

"Poor choice of words." Tigerclaw laughed at how fast Leo's expression changed. One second he was a nervous and scared child, the next he was an angry warrior with wounded pride. "I believe the correct word is acrophobia."

"Acrophobia?" Leo sounded out the word.

"It is the fear of heights."

"I told you, I'm not afraid of anything."

"I know that." Tigerclaw smiled. "You are not afraid of heights. You have a phobia."

"What's that mean?" Leo asked.

"It means that…" Tigerclaw racked his brain for a good explanation. Try as he might, he wasn't good with children. Rocksteady was better at fulfilling the role of a parent that these children needed but that didn't stop Tigerclaw from trying. It was hard to explain these things to children in a way they could understand and accept. "It means that heights are your enemy. If you challenge it, it uses its power to take hold of you and freeze you like it did."

"How do I get it to stop?" Leo asked.

"Be patient. I'm getting there." Tigerclaw told him. "All young warriors must face a phobia before they can be great."

"Even you?"

"Especially me."

"What was your phobia?"

"Water. It called aquaphobia."

"Really?" Leo asked in surprise. "But water is so awesome!"

"To you. Remember, everyone is different. You're a turtle, I'm a cat." Tigerclaw told him. "Water loves turtles but trees hate them. Trees love cats but water hates my kind."

"So water was your enemy?" Leo asked. Tigerclaw nodded. "Did you freeze up and sweat and have a hard time breathing?"

Tigerclaw nodded.

"But I've seen you swim!" Leo said. "How did you make the water like you?"

"It took time." Tigerclaw said. "I had to learn to get used to the water and the water had to learn to get used to me. We came to a truce."

"If you came to a truce, then the phobia didn't go away." Leo said. "You said warriors had to face their phobia. It doesn't sound like you did that."

"Again, be patient. I'm getting to that." Tigerclaw reminded him. "It was hard to make a truce. Water is dangerous, just like heights. When you freeze in water, you fall and you can drown. If you freeze in the trees, you can fall and get hurt. The truce stopped me from freezing but my phobia still existed. I avoided water unless I had to be around it."

"You love water though." Leo said remembering the first time he, Tigerclaw, Karai, and Rocksteady had gone swimming. They'd found a decently sized lake in a clearing. Turned out that humans used that lake so they were chased off and they never went back but they still found rivers big enough to swim in occasionally.

"I do now." Tigerclaw nodded. "But that was after water learned its lesson. When I was just a cub, not much older than you, the water betrayed me and broke our truce."

"Did it use its power and grab you again?" Leo asked.

Tigerclaw shook his head. "No. Water used its great strength and tried to take my sister from me."

Leo fell silent. He didn't know Tigerclaw had a sister. He wanted to hear about her.

"She was very fast." Tigerclaw told him. "So fast that she could run across the surface of water."

Leo looked amazed. That was impressive.

"She knew that the water was my enemy so she liked to spend time with it to show me there was no reason for our hatred." Tigerclaw explained. "So she ran across the water. The water saw she wasn't paying attention so it sent a log towards her and she tripped then it used its strength to grab her and pull her down."

Leo looked horrified. Tigerclaw began to question if this was the best way to explain it to him but he figured it was too late to change his mind.

"The water was very strong and my sister was not strong enough to fight it." Tigerclaw said. "Her speed was useless in the water. I knew my strength was the only thing that could save her. I forgot about my phobia and I dove in after her."

"Did you save her?" Leo asked.

"Yes." Tigerclaw smiled. "And after seeing my strength, the water admitted defeat and my fear- phobia- went away."

"So you don't freeze anymore?" Leo asked.

"No." Tigerclaw said.

"So to make my phobia go away, I have to make a truce with the trees and then I have to show that I'm strong enough?"

"Yes." Tigerclaw said.

"But in your story water only realized how strong you were after you saved your sister." Leo said. "Does that mean I'll only show my strength if Karai falls out of a tree? 'Cuz I don't want that to happen…"

Tigerclaw's eyes widened slightly and mentally slapped himself. "No, no, no. There are other ways that you can show the trees how strong you are."

"The trees aren't my phobia." Leo reminded.

"True. But they are a weapon of your enemy." Tigerclaw told him. "When you face an enemy, you are facing both him and his weapon."

Leo nodded. "So how will I face my enemy? Height isn't something I can fight."

"Of course it is." Tigerclaw told him. "But you must fight it in a different way than you know."

"How will I know how to fight height if fighting is different?"

"I will help you." Tigerclaw said. "How would you like to do some special training?"

For the first time that day, Leo smiled up at him.


5 Years Later

"How are you so good at climbing?" Karai complained. Her voice was laced with the tone of an annoyed teenager. "The first time you climbed a tree, you were slower than Rocksteady in the mud. And you didn't even make it to the lowest branch!"

"Are you saying turtles are supposed to be slow?" Leo grinned down at her. He held onto a branch a couple dozen feet above her. The two were climbing one of the tallest trees in the forest. The group was moving again. Rocksteady had told the two to climb up this tree to try and spot out a clearing. "'Cuz that's a racist stereotype."

"Animal species are not a race so it can't be racist." Karai said. "And I've never met a turtle besides you, how would I know if they were slow or not?"

"Good point." Leo said. He reached a particularly sturdy branch and stopped there to wait for Karai.

"Will you stop watching me?" Karai hissed as she climbed.

"I dunno, this is a nice view." Leo said in a teasing voice. He smiled down at her. Karai glared and he looked away. "Why are you so self conscious all of a sudden?"

"Shut up." Karai grumbled and made her way to Leo's branch. She sat down next to him and the two gazed out at the view of the forest. For miles and miles, they could only see the leafy tops of trees.

Karai leaned against Leo. Leo looked down at her then back out at the view.

"You ever think about how far a drop it is from here?" Karai asked suddenly.

"All the time." Leo answered.

"Then what keeps you climbing?" Karai asked.

"If I fall, I know you'll catch me." Leo smiled.

"That's corny." she smiled back.

"I know." Leo said. "But also I can do this."

Before Karai could do anything, Leo got to his feet and leaped off the branch.

"Leo!" Karai screamed as she watched Leo drop.

Leo suddenly grabbed a branch. Using his momentum, he swung around it a few times before releasing and he flew upwards. He whizzed past Karai and landed safely on the branch above her. He grinned cheekily at her.

"Don't do that!" she yelled at him. Leo bust out laughing.

"You should've seen your face!" Leo cracked. He remembered the first time he did that. Tigerclaw had been horrified and called off their secret training for weeks.

"I don't like teenage Leo." Karai crossed her arms and looked away.

Leo dropped down a branch and sat back next to her. He put an arm around her. "Love you too, sis."


Author's Note: Not a plot hole but something I wanted to write nonetheless.

I'm not planning on putting any romance or relationship-y in this but I'm thinking about it. This prequel is kind of just a time filler/ something I write to take a break but the sequel to Four Corners of the Earth will be more structured (when I write it, you guys still have to wait). I don't like reading or writing romance but there may be some minor stuff off to the side. Tell me what you think. If it works, I may or may not include it of I decide to have some of the characters be in relationships. The story is not at all going to focus on them, they may just be mentioned so don't get your hopes up.

Thanks to Shiny Pebbles of Doom. The next chapter(s) will be what you asked about in your review. I was really putting off the Antarctica thing but I thought about it a lot after reading your review and I decided how to do it. I promise it'll be good.

If you guys want to see anything sooner rather than later, please ask for it. I have a lot of stuff already planned (and written) but requests will just change how soon I write and/ or upload it.