Donatello had always wanted to go to school because he loved to learn. He tried to imagine what his new school would be like. He pictured a lovely building, surrounded by trees, flowers, and swings. When he arrived though, there was none of this, but at least there were children. In his mind, going to school was better than no school, especially if it really was a ninja school.

Shortly after Donatello made his way into the courtyard where all the kids were playing, the doors to Ninjitsu Hall opened and the children started screaming and running away from it. Donatello frowned in confusion and looked to see a tall man with metal all over his body, and razor sharp features. His name was Oroku Saki, but to the children and a few members of the staff, he was simply known as "The Shredder."

He started sharpening his claws on both gloves by grating them against each other. A few of the girls started plugging their ears, one such crumpled to the ground, complaining about the high pitched sound and about too much metal being put into her own mouth at some point.

The children all lined up, but tried to stay away from him all the same. "You, detention." Oroku Saki said suddenly with no warning towards one student. To another student he made the comment of, "You're too small, grow up quicker!"

Donatello knew that he did not want to be in the man's way, so he ran to find a hiding place. He found what looked like a sanctuary behind an old rusty ventilation shaft on the outside of the building, a hole in the wall if you would. He gasped as he peeked out, hoping to not get caught.

"Hey!"

Donatello jumped back against the shadows. "Sorry!"

"That's okay, it's much better than being out there." Another young boy had seemed to take to the shadows. It was too dark to get a clear look at him, but Donatello could tell he was about a year younger than himself.

"Is that my teacher?"

"No, that's the Headmaster, Master Oroku, or as we call him, The Shredder… just not to his face…"

"You've got to be kidding."

"Uh-uh."

"You two get out here!" Two sets of hands reached in and grabbed the two children by the shoulders, dragging them out. In the daylight, the two boys that had grabbed them seemed too similar to be anything but brothers, and looking at the younger boy who he had been talking with, it seemed that he was related to them as well. "Mikey, I told you not to go in there! Master Oroku likes to use his claws and scrape in there to see who's hiding!" The boy speaking was slightly smaller than the other and wore a red ninja uniform. He had dark green eyes and fiery red hair, even though he looked Japanese.

Then the other boy spoke. "Michelangelo, you need to be more careful." This boy was wearing a blue set, much like the other children, and had a deep brown eye color. His black hair was short and tied back into a pony tail like most students' hair. He then looked to the new student. "I take it you are new here?"

"That obvious?" Donatello rubbed the back of his head with one hand while the other adjusted his glasses.

"Considering every other kid here knows better than to hide there, save for Mikey, yes." The red head muttered.

Michelangelo was a copper headed boy, leaning more towards blonde, with bright sky blue eyes and freckles on his face. He wore an orange uniform. "That, and you don't have your uniform yet."

Donatello grimaced. "Right… I'm Donatello."

"I'm Mikey!"

"I'm Leonardo."

"And I'm Raphael, now quiet before he starts pitching us all over the fence." Raphael gritted his teeth as he looked at the principal. It was obvious to anyone that he didn't like him.

Leonardo started to clutch his head subconsciously. Donatello noticed. "You okay?"

"It's nothing… just a slight headache."

"I have a friend who has the same thing happen." Donatello smirked as he remembered asking Karai about her headaches. "She says that it helps to change what she was thinking of to something else."

Leonardo grimaced. "That might do it."

Donatello then looked back to the Shredder's claws. "He doesn't really use those things on the students, does he?"

Leonardo grimaced. "No."

"What he does is much worse." Raphael admitted.

"Raph!" Leonardo hissed.

"He's gonna learn eventually." Raphael pointed out. Leonardo sighed and nodded, allowing his younger brother to proceed. "Take yesterday for example. The Shredder takes a weekly visit to every classroom to show the teachers a thing or two about handling us kids. A kid in my class named Casey Jones, great guy really, but he made a mistake. He got hungry and decided to eat two pieces of candy in class."

"And the Shredder caught him?" Donatello guessed.

"You got it. Poor Casey was lifted up, out of his chair, and thrown out a window, and we were on the second floor too, so you can imagine that it wasn't a pretty sight."

"Is he okay?"

Raphael chuckled. "After being thrown out of the second story window? Course not! He lived if that's what you mean. Casey's one of the toughest guys here too, so that helped."

Michelangelo then piped up, "The Shredder used to perform in the Olympics for Japan; Shot-put, Javelin, and Hammer Throw were his specialties."

Donatello grimaced. "Funny. I'd have thought a ninja would have gone in for running or something…"

Raphael chuckled. "Cute, kid, but no. Oroku Saki went in for strength, and he's got a lot of it." He looked out at the man in metal as he came closer. "The hammer throw is his real specialty."

"So he does this all the time?" Donatello asked with a confused expression on his face.

Leonardo finally spoke up. "It's better than being put into the Chokey."

"The Chokey?"

Raph grimaced. "Yeah, the Chokey. It's a tall narrow hole in the wall behind a door. You have to stand in a dripping pipe with jagged edges, and the walls have broken glass and nails sticking out of them."

Donatello's eyes widened in shock and fear. "He puts kids in there?"

"Raph's been in there twice." Michelangelo frowned as his voice got quiet.

"Hey, I survived. Sometimes though, he'll leave you in there all day."

"Didn't you tell your parents?"

Raphael grimaced. "No… our father knows anyway… he works here as a sensei, or teacher. Besides, would your parents believe you?"

Donatello frowned. "No." He then noticed the Shredder getting closer to them. "Here he comes."

Shredder pushed aside two students in front of them. "Ah, fresh meat." Donatello swallowed hard but found himself pushed aside as well.

He was not the Shredder's target it seemed. Donatello looked back to find a young red haired girl with bright ocean blue eyes and soft pink skin. He felt his heart rush. 'She's beautiful…'

Shredder on the other hand had a different opinion, or should we say, claw? "April O'Neil."

April looked up with her hair in two French braids. "Yes, Master Oroku?"

"What are those?"

"What's what, Master Oroku?"

"Hanging down by your ears?"

"You mean my French braids?" April started twirling one of them nervously.

"Are you French, April?"

"No, Master Oroku."

"Is Ninjitsu the art of the French?"

"My father thinks it's cute…"

"Your father," Oroku Saki leaned down to stare the girl straight in the eyes behind his metal mask. "is an idiot." He pointed at them with his claws. "You'll chop those off and have your hair in a ponytail like all the others before school tomorrow, or I will come around…"

"But…"

"But!"

"I don't…"

"But? Did you say 'But'?"

Raphael groaned. "Hammer Throw."

"April…" Michelangelo whimpered.

"What?" Donatello asked in a worried confusion.

"Definitely." reaffirmed Leonardo.

"I'll give you but!" The Shredder grabbed April by her braids and started swinging her around and around. April started screaming as she went faster and was eventually released.

All the kids gathered to see where she'd land. "Good loft!" Raphael noted as he ran up to where the Shredder was.

"And excellent release." Leonardo added as he joined his brother and the other students.

April was still screaming as she headed towards the courtyard fence with it's sharp barbed wire at the top. Donatello prayed that she'd make the fence and not get hurt, as did many of the other students.

Raphael looked to Leonardo. "Think she'll make the fence?"

Leonardo didn't even look at his brother, his eyes firmly on April, wondering the same thing. "Gonna be a close one…"

Much to everyone's relief and surprise, April had made it. She wasn't landing exactly, as she had made it into the moist flowerbed by the school and was sliding in the dirt still. All the children watched as she continued sliding through the mud with her arms outstretched and gathering flowers in her right hand. She had stopped screaming and had started grinning. She stood up and shook the dirt off of her gi and smiled. She then turned around and waived the bouquet she had collected into the air. The children all cheered.

The Shredder was not pleased. "Quiet!" He shouted. "Get to class before I throw you all in the Chokey!"

Donatello then realized something. He had yet to meet his teacher! "Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael… what's my sensei like?"

"You a first year?" Raphael asked as he picked up his bag.

Donatello nodded. "Then you're with me! Come on, the sensei is real nice!" Michelangelo smiled as he started to pull on Donatello's arm.

Leonardo smiled as they left. "I think that kid's gonna be a good influence on him."

"That or Mikey's gonna be a bad one on him."

"As bad as you, Raph?"

Raphael pretended to think about it and then chuckled. "Naw."