Now that Leo was in his 2nd trimester of pregnancy, at 13 weeks, his stomach was finally beginning to reveal to the world he was indeed pregnant. The sickness had mainly stopped, but the cramping hadn't. Leo still found himself resting a lot.
But one night, stomach pain or not, he was growing restless being cooped up in the lair. But he wouldn't go out alone. Not in his condition. He would talk to his brothers.
"Guys, can I go with you tonight?" Leo asked.
"Absolutely not, Leo!" Don said.
"Don, I'm not that far along, and I'm going stir crazy down here. I need some fresh air. Please."
"And if we get attacked and you get kicked in the stomach, it could hurt the baby." Don said sternly.
"Or the cramping could kick again Leo." Raph also pointed out.
"My stomach's fine right now. Please. While it's fine? I just want to get out for a little while. If something happens, I'll come back home." Leo assured them.
Don, Raph, and Mikey all knew how stubborn Leo could be when he wanted to set his mind on something.
"Alright, but let me know the instant, you have pain." Don demanded.
"Alright Donny!" Leo said, raising his hands. Then the 4 of them departed. It would be Leo's first and last training run for a long time.
The Foot had been keeping an eye on all over the city for the turtles. But they were wanting to make sure that Leo was with them. If it was just the others, they didn't want them. They were waiting for Leonardo. But the best way to get him back was if he was alone.
But that was hoping for too much. The turtles were too close to ever go out alone anymore.
Then they got the call. The four turtles were spotted down around the Little Tokyo area. The whole army was sent out after them. Leo had been seen for the first time in a long time! The Shredder had been waiting angrily and anxiously.
And the ninja who had started the whole thing, was even more excited and anxious to know if his experiment had worked.
The turtles were looking for trouble all over town. Leo had had some mild cramping, but he let it go. He didn't want it to ruin his fun for tonight. He would keep it in check. His belt had been loosened to allow room for his small swelling. His sword sheath harness fit over his belly just fine.
Don was still worried about him. He was still concerned something could happen all too easily, and especially since Leo hadn't trained in a long time. He would make a very easy target. And as long as Leo was in this condition, he was better off with all of his bros with him, and not just one of them.
But most of the night, the bros didn't run into any trouble, so they played tag, hide and seek, and racing each other over buildings. The baby in Leo's belly did seem to sit back and enjoy the ride.
The turtles had started their games in Little Tokyo, but soon, they were down by the docks. They saw some ordinary looking men loading stuff onto ships. They didn't look like the Foot or Purple Dragons. Just regular crewmen.
"Let's head home. I'm beat." Raph said.
"And it doesn't look like we're going to find anything tonight." Mikey added.
"And for Leo and the baby's sake, the better we don't." Don said.
"I'm fine Donny. The baby let me have some fun tonight, with you guys. It was good." Leo had a smug smile on.
"That's good Leo, but if you keep on having the cramping, I can't help but to be concerned." Don said.
"Maybe if Junior let Leo have fun tonight Don, maybe the cramping is starting to cease." Mikey offered a defense of Leo.
"It would be nice." Leo said.
But then, out of nowhere, ninjas from the Shredder's army jumped out and surrounded them!
"Ah Shell!" Leo groaned. He prepared himself, as did his bros to defend themselves.
"Leo! Get away if you can, but only fight if you have to!" Don shouted at him.
"I can't Don! You guys need my help!"
"You haven't trained in awhile Bro! Get outta here! I'll protect them!" Raph ordered.
Leo had his swords with him, but he knew his bros were right. He would only fight if he had to, but he knew his bros were concerned for his baby, as was he. He had to get away. He jumped over many ninjas as they now attacked. Even jumping onto their shoulders to get away.
"Get him!" They all heard one shout.
"Leo! No!" Don cried out, but he had his own hands busy with a bunch of Foot trying to attack him. Even Raph and Mikey were busy with a lot of ninjas.
Leo wanted to go back and help, but he had to protect his baby. It would be a disaster if he got kicked in the stomach. He trusted Raph to do his job to protect Don and Mike. But his fighting would probably not be that good since he hadn't trained. He continued to run, though he knew now that there were some Foot now chasing after him.
After running over several buildings, Leo knew he wasn't losing these ninjas. He had to face them to get them off his shell. And he would make sure to protect his stomach at all costs. He was starting to feel some cramping again, but this he had to do.
The ninjas had stopped, watching him breathing hard. They waited for him to catch his breath. But one said, "You are coming with us Turtle."
"Like Shell I am!" Leo retorted and then he had enough wind in him to fight back. He remembered his training. He knew he was the best fighter among his bros, next to Raph. He wasn't going down without a fight.
Many swords and axes were thrown his way, but he used his swords to block them all, and he made sure to keep his arms in front of his stomach at all times. Or his legs. He kicked away many Foot.
Leo had had about 16 ninjas chasing and trying to capture him, but he got them all down, even though he hadn't trained in awhile. He smiled as he stood over the downed ninjas.
Then, out of nowhere, a dart pierced his upper right arm.
"Ah!" Leo cried out. He pulled the needle out of his skin. "No!" He knew it was a tranquilizer.
The drug was already taking effect. Leo lowered himself to his knees, then onto his side. Some more ninjas approached him. His vision got blurry, but he didn't totally black out. Now he knew he was turtle soup!
Back on the roof with the other 3, they up to their shells in fighting ninjas. They all had bruises that had bruises. The ninjas were tough tonight. They ended up knocking out all 3 brothers. But they didn't want them. Just their leader.
"We have the turtle the boss wants. Leave the other 3 where they are." Was the command.
The ninjas wanted so much to finish them off, but they did as they were told. They left Don, Mikey, and Raph to wake up in due time, but Leo would be long gone by then.