Author's Note: This chapter is set two days after the last one ended.
Author's Note #2: Okay I am not a big fan of some of the stuff in this chapter but it will all be used in later chapters.


I woke with a start from my nightmare about Shredder's plan. I wasn't afriad of him as much as what he could do. Still catching my breath, I looked around. April and Casey had asked if they could sleep over and were given permission. Do to last night being Friday night, everyone had stayed up late watching movies. I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision.

Mikey, Casey, and Izzy were laying on the floor in front of the "couch" and Beth was curled up on the to my left with Raph on the other side of her. Raph had his head back and his mouth open but Beth was curled up into a ball type thing next to him. I had to chuckle a little at the occupants of the other "couch". Donnie was in the middle seat with his arms on the back of the couch and head back. Cathie was on his left and April was on his right. Both girls were laying down with their heads on his lap.

"Mon, are you okay?" Leo asked in a sleepy voice. I looked at the turtle beside me.

"Just another nightmare," I said. I then wondered how I had fallen asleep. Had I fallen asleep on Leo? That thought frightened me for some reason.

"Same as the others?" Leo was no longer sleepy. He was also the only one who knew that I had nightmares. I hadn't wanted anyone to know but the night after I returned, I had woken from one. I went to the kitchen to get a drink and Leo was getting a quick midnight snack. I had been almost in tears and he had asked what was wrong.

"Ya," I whispered as to not wake any of the others. I would usually have three or four a night.

Leo straitened up and put a hand on my shoulder. "You know that none of that stuff is going to happen, don't you?"

I turned to the turtle whom I had some much in common with. "Ya, but it all seems so real. We don't even know very much about Project Splash or IceCube. I guess it's just my fear taking over."

"I may have only known you for five days but you don't seem like someone who would let fear control you,"he removed his hand from my shoulder and stood. "Training doesn't start for another thirty minutes. Do you want to meditate?"

I nodded in agreement and we headed to the dojo. Just as we stepped inside, I remember what Shredder said. "Leo," he turned to me. "Shredder said that I have until tonight to bring my sisters back before we would officially become his enemies."

Leo looked confused. "I am sorry but I don't see the problem here."

"When we were younger he made Stockman put a mechanical capsule in our blood that he could break. His reason was that if we ever became brainwashed into thinking that he was the enemy, he could break the capsules and release poison into our blood, killing us," Leo now looked just as startled as I. "About a month ago mine shut down so he removed it. He didn't get the chance to put it back in until..."

Leo finished my sentence. "Until two days ago," I nodded. "So the bug was just putting the capsule inside you. Do you think it was accomplished?"

"Yes. One of the symtoms of the capsule is messing up your concentration. When that happens you lose control of your sub-concious mind. Causing nighmares," I informed him. "I should've noticed it sooner."

"Well what can we do?"

"Get the capsules out before 8:00 tonight or else..." We looked at each for a second then ran back to the others. After waking everyone and explaining the situation, Donnie and Cathie imediately ran to the lab and began work.

Not long after they started, Master Splinter walked calmly out of the dojo. "Leonardo. Training started a few minutes ago. What is the reason for this foolishness?" Leo explained and the sensei gave his consent that training would be postponed until after us girls were cured.

Hours later the two "nerds" of the bunch had locked everyone out of the lab except for me and Leo. Donnie and Cathie were staying surprisingly calm while figuring out a solution. Leo and I just stood near the door, well Leo stood and I paced.

"Mon," Leo stopped me. "Calm down. Donnie and Cathie will figure something out." I looked up at him, hoping he was right. "Come. Sit on the counter."

I nodded and did as he told. From where we were, we could hear Donnie and Cathie's conversation as they mixed chemicals. "So how did you sleep last night?" Donnie asked as if it were a normal day.

Cathie started blushing. She knew what he was referring to. "Very nicely, actually," She poured a blue liquid into a purple liquid before giving the mixture to Donnie. "You?"

"Oh yes. It was a very peaceful night," Donnie replied while taking Cathie's mixture and pouring it into his own orange one.

I couldn't take it anymore. "How can you be so calm?!" I jumped up from my seat.

"I'll take her out there," Leo said after a look from Donnie. He grabbed my arm and took me outside the lab. All those waiting looked at us hopefully. Leo shook his head. "Come to the kitchen," he whispered in my ear.

He headed straight there but I exchanged a few words with April before following. When I arrived, Leo was putting a tea bag into a pot of water on the stove. I tried to calm myself down. Leo turned to me. I was leaning against the wall almost shaking. "Leo. Something's different about this capsule then the last one that I had. I wasn't losing this much control."

Leo walked over and put his hands on both my shoulders. "Y'all have told us many times how you are copies of us. Now I know that doesn't mean that your exactly like us. But if you're anything like I am then you are very stubborn." He then looked me directly in the eye. "You can control this."

I let out a large sigh. He motioned for the bar and I took a seat. He went to the fridge and pulled out strawberry ice cream. He set it on the bar and got two spoons. "April keeps it here. She says it helps her calm herself." He gave me a spoon before sitting on the other side of the container and taking a bite himself. "It's definitely a change from pizza."

I smiled, feeling a little better, and took a bite of it. It was so creamy and sweet, I loved it. "You know," I started. "The only thing that I have ever tasted is pizza."

Leo looked stunned for a moment before regaining himself. "You have eaten pizza your entire life?"

"Well when we were pets we would eat regular turtle food but ever since two years ago, when we were mutated, we have been eating pizza," I explained as I took another bite of ice cream.

Leo was about to reply when two water balloons hit both of us in the face. Mikey and Izzy popped up from the floor, laughing. "What are you two doing?" Leo asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I figured that if I only have a couple more hours to live then I want to spend it on what I like doing best," Izzy clarified. "Pranking!"

"And what's your excuse?" Leo turned to Mikey.

Mikey shrugged. "It's fun." With that he and Izzy ran out of the room. Leo was about to follow when the pot started spilling over. He ran to the stove and cleaned up the mess. He poured two cups of tea, put the ice cream back, and sat back down but this time on the counter.

"Thank you, Leo," I said looking at my cup. "I don't know why I don't have better control."

"I think I do," he replied. I turned my attention on him. "I think that Shredder made this one stronger. He was already angry at you and he takes pride in seeing his enemies suffer. I am guessing that he is making it as painful as he can."

At this moment Mikey and Izzy came running back in while screaming. They put Leo and I in between themselves and the door way. A second later Raph and Beth stomped in. They were both covered in slimy purple gunk.

"You two are so dead!" they yelled in unison. They were about to jump on the youngest siblings when Leo stepped up.

"They are just having fun," he reminded. "Let them go."

"And why should I listen to you?!" Raph challenged.

"Because I am the leader," Leo shot back.

Raph just crossed his arms and Beth spoke up. "Well your not mine!"

This is when I stepped in. "No but I am. Beth, we don't know for sure if Donnie and Cathie are going to figure this out. If they can't then we only have a few hours to live. Let Izzy enjoy those hours, please."

"Fine," she consented. "But no more slime."

Raph looked at Leo. "Why don't you ever say please?"

"Would you listen if I did?" Leo grabbed two towels and gave them to the slime-covered mutants.

"Probably not," Raph replied while whipping the goo off.

"And there's your reason," the oldest brother retorted.

After we helped Beth and Raph clean up and talked for a little while, Izzy asked what time it was. "7:00," I answered. All six of us looked at one another before exiting the kitchen. April and Casey had gone to the surface to get pizzas and were just arriving back with 10 boxes.

They set the boxes on the "couch" just as Donnie opened they lab door. All eyes were on him. "We did it. We found a way."

Everyone quickly ran to the lab and saw Cathie looking very weak and laying on a table. Three empty tables were next to hers. "I have to warn you, it is painful and it will drain your energy. But the capsule does get taken out," Donnie informed. "We have to hurry though. The entire operation takes 45 minutes."

We girls nodded and each laid on a table. "What exactly do we have to do?" Beth asked. Donnie motioned for his brothers assistance and handed them each a yellow-green liquid.

Leo, Raph, and Mikey gave them to us as Donnie started hooking wires to our arms, head, and legs. "Drink that. It does many things and one is knock you out. Once your unconcious I will start with the operation. You shouldn't feel any pain until the end when you start waking up. You'll know when it's about over because you'll start dreaming."

"Are you going to cut us open?" Izzy asked as she gave her empty glass back to Mikey.

"Not really," Donnie finished connecting the wires and went back to a screen. "Cathie's capsule had attatched itself to her heart so I am assuming yours will be too. I will disconnect it without breaking it. Your bloodstream will then carry it through your body and to your legs. I will pin point its exact location and then cut a small hole to get it out. You should be feeling sleepy about now so just close your eyes and give in."

I closed my eyes and gave in, just as Donnie said. 'I hope this works.'


I don't know how long I was unconscious but as I was coming to, I opened my eyes. I was in a meadow of endless grass. The sky was light blue and the sun was bright. I looked around and saw my sisters. I ran to them but when I approached they turned into the boys. "Where's Beth, Cathie, and Izzy?"

The three who were the "originals" of my siblings glared at me. "Their dead," Raph said.

My heart started to race with horror. "Where's Leo?" I asked, realizing that he was no where to be seen.

Suddenly we were in a cementary. The sky had turned black and fog was everywhere. The boys stepped aside and I saw four graves. The names on the graves were Beth, Cathie, Izzy, and Leo. They all said the same thing. 'Will always be remembered for dying to save a friend'. "That friend was you Mon," Donnie yelled angrily.

My heart all together stopped. "What?" I asked in disbelief. It was then when I realized that the three were covered in wounds, all of which were still bleeding. They all fell over at the same time. I tried to run to them but my feet were stuck to the ground. "Raph! Donnie! Mikey!" I heard loud laughing coming from all around me.

Frantically searching for the source of this laughter, I heard Shredder whisper into my ear. "It's all your fault, Mona Lisa. Elizabeth, Catherine, Isabella, and even Leonardo all tried to save you but they failed!"

My horror started taking over. I tried desperately to get free of his hands that were now clenched tightly around my arms. In the midst of my struggles I thought that I heard a familiar voice calling my name. Shredder continued, all the while my efforts were weakening. "Leonardo's brothers wanted revenge on me for creating you, so I had no choice but to kill them when they attacked me."

"No!" I cried in agony. It seemed as though he was getting bigger and stronger the more I struggled.

"You have no choice but to come work with me. After all I am your father," His grip tightened when he said the word father.

"No!" I yelled again but this time in anger. I broke free of his grasp and turned to face him. He was a ten foot tall shadow with red eyes. "I am not your daughter. And you are most certainly NOT my father."

"Mona Lisa!" I heard my name being called again. Looking around, I saw a human girl standing a little ways off. With a closer look I realized that it was April. "Mon!"

"April!" I ran towards her but just before we reached, a glass wall appeared in between us.

Shredder laughed again. "I'm not done with you yet!"

"Mon! This is a dream! Wake up and you'll be back in the lab!" April tried.

"If this is my dream then what are you doing here?" I asked. At this point I was angry, sad, and now confused.

"I can sense things and apparently go into people's dreams," she explained as I fell on my knees in defeat.

"I can't wake up!" I called to her.

"Yes you can!" she called back. "Look at me, Mon," I looked her straight in the eye. "This is just a dream."

My heart started slowing and everything faded including April. I shot my eyes open and started gasping for breath. I heard shouts of victory. Beth, Cathie, and Izzy brought me into a hug before I even knew what was going on.

"What happened?" I asked not even having enough energy to sit up.

"You had two capsules. One on your heart and one on your brain. Donnie got the one off your heart and the other started going crazy," Cathie explained. "We thought that it had damaged your brain. Your not waking up gave more and more indication to you dying. But luckily April was able to get into your dreams to wake you up."

I looked at April who was sitting at the end of my bed. "How did you...?"

"That's complicated," she interrupted.

I nodded, knowing that that was a story for another day. Then I turned to Donnie. "Why couldn't I wake up?"

"You were controlling your dream but your fear was taking over and trapping you in the sub-conscious world," he explained. "I was watching your body levels on the screen."

The realization suddenly hit me. "So you did get all the capsules out of all of us?"

He nodded and I breathed a sigh of relief. "How long was I out?"

"Well," Mikey replied as he tried to remember. "You drank the mixture about an hour ago."

"That means it's 8:00," Beth suddenly realized. "Cathie where's the capsules?"

Cathie looked over her shoulder and our gazes followed. In a large bowel sat five opened capsules. The bowel was filled to the brim with red liquid. "That's a lot of poison," Mikey said.

Raph wacked him on the back of the head before speaking. "So does this mean that Shredder thinks you're dead?"

"I guess so," Cathie replied. I was still feeling weak but my strength was returning faster then I thought. I sat up.

"Okay," I started. Everyone looked at me as I tried to stand. "I for one have had enough of this for today. Is there anyway that we can train now?"

"Ugh. The boring Mon is back," Izzy commented just before Beth wacked her on the head.

"Oh!" April suddenly spoke up. "We still have the pizzas. How about we eat first."

I nodded. Pizza could do me some good. We all walked into the "living room", each grabbed a box, sat down, and started eating. We talked about random things such as April and Casey's homework, favorite tv shows, and the latest news.

"Okay, Izzy," Mikey spoke up. "Please tell me that you pranked the other mutants."

"Yep!" Izzy took another slice from her box. "The one time I actually got Bebop to think that Beth had a crush on him."

Everyone started laughing except for Beth. "You could've at least told me what was going on," Beth defended. She took a bite from her pizza slice.

"To make it worse," Cathie added. "Apparently, Bebop has a crush on her. And with Beth not knowing about the prank, it made for some really funny moments."

This time Beth joined in the laughter. "It was really funny. And Bebop is pretty easy to prank."

"Seriously though," Raph said. "Bebop? I knew he was gullible but this brings it to a whole different level."

"So I haven't had the chance to ask y'all yet but did you know Karai?" Leo questioned.

"Yes. She and I were really close," I said. No sooner had the words left my mouth then Casey spit out his drink. All eyes were on him.

"That's funny cause when Karai was here, she and..." April put her hand over Casey's mouth.

"And I hung out," April finished. "Would you excuse us for a second?" She grabbed Casey's arm and drug him to the kitchen.

"Ookayyyy," Mikey said. He then turned to Izzy. "Master Splinter doesn't get done with his evening meditation for another 45 minutes. Do you want to see my comic book collection?"

Izzy vigerously nodded and the pair darted to Mikey's room. Leo grabbed the remote and turned on Space Heroes. He and I leaned forward while Beth and Raph rolled their eyes. Just 20 minutes later, Leo and I were in an argument about the show.

"But you see," I countered his previous statement. "Unlike Hookander, Billy has a motive. He was in love with the princess whom was killed in the battle."

"Excuse me, but your forgetting one little thing," he reminded. "Hookander is actually the princess's father."

"This conversation is so pointless," Beth commented, looking up from her magazine. Raph just gave a humph not taking his eyes off the newspaper in front of him. "Shhhh," I hushed my sister. Captain Ryan was about to find out who was the culprit.

"Fredrick!" the fictional captain exclaimed. "How could you?"

Leo an I were stunned for a second. "Haha," Raph looked from his paper to us. "You were both wrong. In every old TV show or movie, the butler is always the one who did it."

We shrugged. "You've got a point," Leo said as the credits for the episode rolled across the screen. "But I still think that Hookander would have more motivation then Billy."

"What kind of a name is that anyway?" I asked as Leo started the next episode.

"Asks the turtle named after a human that lived 700 years ago," Beth commented. She was laying on the "couch" with her head resting on the arm.

"Hey," I faced her. "Mona Lisa was more popular then Elizabeth.

Beth set her magazine down and turned toward me. "Okay first of all Elizabeth was a queen and second, are you even sure there was a REAL woman named Mona Lisa?"

We did this quite a lot but it was mostly just teasing each other. "No. But," I defended. "It is the name of one of the most remembered paintings from the Renaissance."

"It was a painting," Beth said, somewhat-suspiciously. She and Raph glanced at each other.

"And who painted this painting?" Raph asked. He set his paper beside him and Beth sat up.

It was Leo who answered. "Leonardo de..." He didn't finish. All four of us started laughing. "Okay that's a little weird," He said after regaining his breath.

"So, you're named after the painting," Raph clarified, pointing at me. He then looked at Beth. "And you're named after Queen Elizabeth. Who are Cathie and Izzy named after?"

"Cathie is named after Princess Catherine who visited Queen Elizabeth during the Renaissance. Catherine was so impressed with the art of Leonardo de Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Sandro Botticelli that when she returned to France, she started the French Renaissance ," Beth explained. "She's not as well known as Queen Elizabeth."

"And Izzy is named after Isabella d'Este. She was a French Queen. She got so inspired by Queen Elizabeth and Princess Catherine that she motivated most of the paintings in the French Renaissance. She was also labeled as 'Lady of the World'," I continued. "Apparently she had great fashion sense."

"I do remember reading about someone named Isabella d'Este in a Renaissance book that Splinter let me read," Leo commented. The episode of Space Heroes that Leo had just put in started playing and our attention went back the old show.

The rest of the evening went by quickly. We all trained with Master Splinter, the boys went on patrol which gave us girls time to get to know April, everyone did this and that until around 9:30 when everyone went to bed. All in all it was a pretty good day. Besides the fact that I almost died, twice.