Chapter 4

The next morning, Raph awoke to the sound of Mikey laughing with someone. Raph groaned and then rolled over onto his stomach and put a pillow on top of his head. After a few more minutes of listening to his baby brother laughing, he decided that he was not going to be able to get anymore sleep and decided to get up and go downstairs and see what all the laughter was about. As Raph walked out of the room he was staying in he looked out the window and seen his older brother, Leo, out in the backyard going through some katas. Raph decided that instead of going to find Mikey he would instead go and have a little sparing match with his brother. As he looked at his brother he saw that the young woman, Diana was sitting there watching him. Raph smirked at he thought, looks like old fearless leader has an admirer. Raph walked outside and passed by Diana and gave her a morning wave as a way of saying hello and then walked over to his brother silently and pulled out his sais and as Leo swung one of his swords behind him he caught it with his sais.

"Raph! What you doing up this early?" Leo asked as he took a step back.

"What do you mean?" Raph asked.

"Well usually you don't get up until around noon if there is no training" Leo teased.

"Well I didn't plan on getting up to be honest but I couldn't get any more sleep with Mikey in there laughing and making a bunch of noise so I decided to come down here and spar with you" Raph replied.

"Ok, sounds good to me" Leo said and took his stance across from his brother.

"I ain't going to go easy on you either fearless" Raph laughed.

"Don't worry about that. I will try to hold back a little that way you will at least feel like you accomplished something against me" Leo laughed back.

" Oh, now you are in for it!" Raph teased and attacked his brother. Diana sat there and watched as the two brothers battled. She knew that they were not trying to hurt each other and that made her feel better. She watched as they each made amazing flip look so easy and did moves that she could not dream of doing. She could tell that they had a lot of training because each move was filled with grace. After a few minutes, Raph found himself on the ground with Leo's sword at his throat. The match was over. Leo sheathed his sword and then helped his brother to his feet.

"I just felt sorry for you and let you win so you could look good in front of your admirer" Raph teasingly whispered in his brother's ear. Leo's face got red and then stepped back and recomposed himself.

"Sure, whatever lets you sleep at night" Leo said and then walked over to where Diana was sitting. Raph laughed and then walked over to see what Donny was working on in the black smith shop.

"Hey Donny, what are you up to?" Raph asked as he walked up to his younger brother.

"Oh, I am just helping Bill here with some things" Donny answered.

"I thought you ran the store, Mr. Bill?" Raph asked.

"I do but I also like to work with metal as well. It is amazing what one can do with fire, metal, and a little elbow grease" Bill laughed.

"So what are you making?" Raph asked.

"Just some horseshoes. I thought that when you guys are fully healed that you could need a few horses to ride when you make your trip to the next town to phone home" Bill told him.

"Oh. I got to say this is a nice town. I wouldn't mind retiring here" Raph smiled. He hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time. There was no foot to worry about, he didn't have to hid in the shadows, and everyone was nice to him and his brothers.

"Well we try to do the Christian thing around here" Bill told them.

"So what is your story Mr. Bill? What brought you here, were you born here?" Don asked.

"Oh no, believe it or not I used to be a lawman. I kind of fell on hard times at the end of my career and turned to drinking. I came here to start over and make this place my second chance. Hence the name of the town" Bill laughed as he and the turtles remembered the name of the town.

"well we are just about done" Don said as he held up one of the horse shoes and looked at it. Bill inspected it next to make sure that it was perfect. After doing a quick inspection he turned to Donny and Raph and gave them a thumbs up to say that it was perfect. After a few moments the church bells started ringing.

"Well it looks like it is time for church. Would guys like to join us today?" Bill asked. Raph and Don looked at each other and shrugged. These people had been so nice to them, the least they could do is except their offer of going to church with them.

"Sure. That would be great" Donny said for them and the three of them walked towards the church.

Back at the house Mikey was sitting in the living room with Billy and Jesse. He was telling them about the time he became the Battle Nexus Champion, even though he was leaving a few things out. Splinter was sitting on the couch smiling at his son's excitement as he told the two men the story. After the story was over they all heard the church bells ring and Billy stood up along with Jesse and stretched their legs.

"Well guys it is getting about church time and we would love it if you would join us" Jesse offered.

"You guys take this church thing serious don't you?" Mikey asked as he stood up.

"Of course. Everyone here does. You see we all believe that faith is important and that you should go to church because it is a house of God and God gave us all life and the least we can do is give him a few hours of our time each day to praise and thank him" Jesse told them.

"I agree with you Mr. Jesse. We would be honored to accompany you to church" Splinter said as he bowed and then walked with them to the church.

"Come along Michelangelo. You should be honored to come as well" Splinter said to his son.

"I am right behind you Sensei" Mikey said as he followed them out the door of the house and to the church.

Leo and Diana were sitting on the porch swing in the back of the house. He was telling her some of the things that he had done in his life and about some of the battles that he had been in and some of his fears. Diana listened to what he had to say and felt sorry for him. This being in front of her was barely out of his teens and had all of the wisdom and experience of an older man. He led his brothers into battle against some other ninja clan called the Foot and would gladly give his life to protect them. He was a very honorable warrior.

"I have to say that I do like it here. Everyone has treated us nothing but nicely" Leonardo told her.

"Thanks. We try to be respectful of others, no matter how different they are" Diana smiled. Leo smiled back as he understood what she meant.

"Thanks, usually when we do something nice like save someone, they usually run away screaming when they see us" Leo sighed.

"well you don't have to worry about that here" Diana told him.

They continued talking for a little longer when they heard the church bells start ringing. Diana stood up and then Leo stood up after her.

"Well it is time for church. Would you care to join me?" Diana asked.

"I would be honored" Leonardo said as he held out his arm and Diana took it and he escorted her to the church. As the two of them walked away they did not see two men dressed in black with Foot seals on their chest, watching them from afar. They watched the turtle freak and the girl walk into the church and then the two of them left to go inform their master that they had found them.

"So, the turtles still live. No matter, I will destroy them and everyone in that accursed town if they get in my way" Shredder said as he stood on top of a hill, looking down at the town of Redemption.