[A/N: Hey, turtillinis! Sorry it's been a while, but I'm finally on break, so here's a chapter for ya! I hope you all like it, and I hope you've had/are having a good day!]


Donnie was the first to wake up. He didn't notice anything off since he was so tired. He made himself some food to eat and sat quietly in his lab, trying to wake up. Sure, he went to sleep early, but he wasn't used to it, so he was still very tired. He heard a loud yawn and waved as Mikey passed by him to go to the kitchen. Raph woke up a few minutes later, limply raising his hand as a hello as he joined Mikey in the kitchen. Donnie waited for Leo to pass by, since usually he would wake up whenever everyone else woke up if he slept late. Donnie waited several minutes, then it was half an hour of waiting. It was off-putting. Donnie rose out of his seat and walked to Leo's room, lightly knocking on it. He tapped it and jumped a bit when it opened at his touch. He took a step in, seeing that Leo was not in bed. He looked on the floor and saw that his T-Phone was on the floor.

"No," Donnie whispered, feeling his chest grow heavy at the simple sight of a phone. Maybe he went to go get some air and left his phone behind. Maybe he just needed some time to himself and didn't want the notification sound to disturb him. Maybe he's pulling a prank on us. No matter how many possible situations Donnie could think of, he knew none of them were plausible at this moment.

"Where's Leo?" Donnie didn't bother to turn to face Mikey. Hearing Mikey's question, Raph rushed over and saw the empty room. They all knew he would be nowhere to be found, but they couldn't accept it. "Where is Leo?!" Mikey asked angrily and sadly. He felt tears swell in his eyes, and Mikey lunged in the room. Raph held Mikey back, surprised at Mikey's great strength as he tried to free himself out of Raph's grip. "WHERE IS LEO? WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!" Mikey let his tears flow as he kept writhing in Raph's hold. He eventually gave up, repeating "Where's Leo?" under his breath as Raph held him.

"I sent him away."

Raph, Donnie and Mikey all turned their heads sharply, staring at their Sensei in utter disbelief.

"You what?" Mikey asked in a harsh whisper. "You sent him away?!"

"Why did you send him away?" Donnie asked, his voice strained, but there was a hint of anger. "We just got him back. Why? Why did you take him away from us?"

Raph looked away, saying nothing.

"My sons, I know you are upset. I am as well." Donnie scoffed in spite of himself. "It is for his benefit. He was angry and distant for so long. Those feelings will not just fade away as if they were never there. I sent him away so he could learn how to control his emotions when they get the best of him and how to channel them in a healthier manner than lashing it out towards his loved ones." None of them would meet his gaze. "It is for all of our benefits. He is doing this for you three."

The three turtles were silent for a long while. Mikey and Raph had sat on the floor and joined in with Donnie as he stared at Leo's room. "We need time," Raph said quietly.

Master Splinter nodded. "My sons, I am only doing this for the best interest of you four and those you care about." They didn't answer him. He suspected they wouldn't speak to him unless it deemed necessary for a while. While this knowledge pained him, he expected and understood it. He decided that it was time for him to leave his sons be, as he's explained it the best he can in a time like so. Before he could turn to leave, one of his sons spoke.

"Now I know why he looked conflicted yesterday," Raph said suddenly. "He knew."

Mikey inhaled a deep breath, his exhale sputtering. "He hates it."

"No doubt," Donnie replied. "Just as much as we do."

"How long," Raph said to Splinter "has this been planned?"

"Only the day before yesterday."

"I know you wouldn't intentionally do it," Raph spoke "but why would you do that to him? It's too much to take in for him; it must have been killing him all day yesterday. He can't process all that in 2 days."

"He will learn to channel it once he reaches his destination."

"And how are we supposed to handle it?"

"As you please." With that said, Master Splinter left his sons alone. He knew that they would be unhappy for quite a while, as so would he. Raph, Donnie and Mikey all looked at each other for a second, then immediately turned away. Raph knew that from this day on, nothing was going to be the same, and it terrified him. He wrapped his arms around the backs of his two brothers and pulled them close to him, holding them tightly. He could feel how tense they were; how upset they were.

"Just do it," Raph told them quietly. Mikey immediately hugged Raph tightly and started to silently cry. Donnie embraced his brothers and let the immense dread wash over him. "No matter what happens, we gotta stick together. For Leo."

"For Leo," Mikey and Donnie echoed. The three wondered how upset Leo was, and decided that he would be more upset than they could imagine.

Days passed by. The three had told Casey and April what happened, and they went MIA for a few days. They both turned up later. April, Casey, Donnie, Raph and Mikey all swore they'd stick together for Leo and went back to night patrolling regularly. Throughout the days they were extremely upset, none of the five teens spoke to Splinter unless they deemed it necessary. After a while, they started talking to Splinter a bit more every day, realizing that he was just looking out for them. Things weren't normal, but they all knew that it wouldn't be, anyways. Not until Leo came back, that is. From there on out, nothing would ever be the same; for all of them.


During those days, Leo had been waiting to reach Japan. One day, he woke and didn't feel the motion of the boat moving. He checked his surroundings and found a way to check outside to see where the boat was. He saw a pier and a major difference of scenery. He saw little buildings from a distance and knew that he had arrived to Japan. When the humans were out of sight and occupied, Leo grabbed his things and scurried off and away from the ship into a dirt path. He couldn't directly just stride into town. He had brought along a long, brown trench coat and a hat that covered his face when he tilted it down. He popped the collar of his trench coat and started making his way around Japan.

A few hours passed by and Leo stopped to take a snack break. His feet were aching from the nonstop walking. He sat down and saw that noticed that the sun was starting to go down. He knew he would have to go a little deeper into the middle of nowhere to set up for the night. After he found a place, he started to look around for any place he could possibly hide in or behind so that he wouldn't be out in plain sight. Even in the middle of nowhere, there's bound to be someone that'll walk by. He spotted an area where big rocks looked to occupy the area and headed towards it. He found some rocks that seemed to be able to set up a tent cover over and around, and he did so. He thanked the stars that the weather wasn't something to worry about for the moment. He used his backpack as a pillow and buttoned up his trench coat, pulled his knees up to his chest and pulled the coat over his knees. He pulled his arms in the coat and curled up, hoping that his family and friends were safe. He wasn't sure if they knew what happened to him, but nonetheless, he hoped they weren't too upset, but he knew that that wasn't going to be the case. He managed to fall asleep even though his thoughts clouded his mind.

The next day, Leo woke up and got ready to keep travelling. He looked down at his map and looked at his progress. He groaned when he saw that he still had a ways to go, but he knew it wasn't going to be an easy trip. He snacked a bit on some food and set off, making sure to steer clear whenever any signs of civilization appeared. A few hours into his journey, he saw a dark figure from afar. He didn't think much of it and kept walking, starting to notice that it wasn't any rock or boulder. When he got closer, he saw that it was a person. He immediately started walking to the side to try to distance himself from the person so that they wouldn't take notice of him. He was almost past them when the person spoke.

"Antisocial much?" Leo froze, not turning to face them. "You lost? You look like a tourist."

"I'm not a tourist," Leo replied to the man. "I'm fine."

"Well, no one in their right mind would be out here alone."

"Well, you're out here."

"I help suckers like you find their way to where they want to go. Otherwise, they'd either be dead or missing."

"I can take care of myself just fine."

The man got up from his sitting position, starting to join Leo's side. He was a short and tubby old man, who wore a red vest, some brown shorts and a very large cone-like hat. "Don't worry, little boy, I'll help you find your way."

Leo was not amused. "I can find my way." Leo started walking, but the man followed him. Leo thought if he just kept walking, the man would eventually get bored and leave, but the man stuck around. Leo finally sighed and stopped walking. "Why are you following me? Don't you have a home to go to?"

"Oh, sure I do, but I live alone, so my house can wait. I can't let you get lost or attacked and left for dead."

"I know how to defend myself."

"As do I. Let's keep going." Leo knew that this man wouldn't go away, so he just rolled his eyes and kept going. When the sun was starting to set, he started setting up camp. The man was still there. Leo wasn't sure what the man was going to do while he slept, so he stayed up for as long as he could, watching him. The man glanced at him, giving him a smug smile. "Afraid I'll rob you and take off?"

"No. I just don't know what you're all about."

"I told you; someone has to protect helpless and lost people like you."

"I told you that I'm fine," Leo hissed. "By 2 days time, I'll be where I need to go."

The man pulled out Leo's map from behind him. Before Leo could question him, the man asked "You're going to this area, yes?" while pointing to an area on the map. Leo scowled at him, nodding. "Well, you've traveled off your path, dumbo."

"Then why didn't you say anything earlier?" Leo asked, frustrated.

"Because I wanted to see how you would react," the man replied, laughing and wiping at his eye. "You should see the look on your face!"

Leo, fed up, finally looked up to look at the old man. "What is your deal?" Leo spat. "What do you want from me?" He was about to go off when he felt an eerie sense coming around. He squinted his eyes and saw that there were floating figures. He immediately grabbed for his weapons, ready to defend himself. "We've got trouble."

"Psht. It's only trouble if you start it, dummy. Leave them be, and they will do the same."

Leo looked at the old man uncertainly. "Are you sure?"

"I'm the one that lives here; trust me." The old man grinned, making Leo's uncertainty grow. He sighed and started to put his weapons away as the figures, now he has figured out to be spirits, start to go towards them. In their hands are weapons, and he can't ignore his instinct to defend. He stands up, pulls out his weapons again, and starts to attack the spirits. There's three of them, and although they don't have physical forms, their weapons are not to be taken lightly. He has a hard time fighting against them, and when he glances back, he sees that the old man is just simply sitting and eating, watching him fight and doing nothing to help. The three spirits are just too much for Leo and they toss his katanas to the side, closing in on him. Just as it seems they're about to attack him, they back away, giving Leo a strange look before disappearing. Leo takes a moment to catch his breath, collect his katanas, and sit back down. He glares at the old man.

"Why didn't you do anything?" Leo asked. "You could have gotten hurt."

"I told you; if you left them alone, they would have left you alone, too. Man, you're stupid."

Exhausted and not up for arguing, Leo decides to turn in for the night. Just as he's falling asleep, the old man says "You should eat before you sleep since you stupidly went into a fight you could have avoided." Leo sighs, sitting up and digging through his bag. He notices that a few of his energy bars are missing, and he sees some of the wrappers at the foot of the old man. "Why are you eating my food? You could have just asked."

The old man, with bits of the energy bar on his mouth, belches loudly and grins. "Well, it's not like you'd tell an old man no, so I didn't see why not. You're such a snappy turtle." Leo freezes in spite of himself. "What, you thought you hiding your face would hide what you are?" The old man laughs and scoffs. "Teenagers. So stupid and dumb. Just eat already." Leo stops hiding his face and raises it, starting to eat. After he eats, he falls asleep, hoping that the next day, he'll be rid of the old man.

He's not.
Leo wakes up and sees that the old man is up and meditating. Leo tries not to disturb him as he gets everything packed up and gets ready to set off when he remembers that the old man told him that he's on the wrong path. He waits for the old man to finish his meditation and then asks "So, since you say I'm lost, where are we supposed to go?"

The old man gives him a strange look. "Where are you trying to go?"

Leo puts his guard up. "What's it to you?"

"Well, if I know where you're going, I can figure out where to go from here. Jeez, teenagers are so complicated."

Leo waits a bit until he finally decides to tell him. "I'm trying to find the Ancient One. My master sent me here to seek training from him."

"Do you think he'll accept you? I mean, you're so jumpy and defensive and cold. You're a monkey turtle."

"I am not. And I'm not sure; that's why I'm here: to see if he'll train me."

"You might as well go home, little boy."

"I didn't come out here for nothing. Please, just take me there."

The old man sighs. "Fine. But don't do anything stupid, stupid." He leads himself and Leo to where they should go. When it starts getting dark, Leo's about to get ready to settle for the night, but the old man tells Leo that they're almost there anyways. Leo keeps following. An hour passes and they're near a small town. There's some lights lit up, but barely any people are out. The old man stops, turns to Leo, and say "Here you are."

Leo looks around. "...okay, where's his home?"

"You think I'm going to take you to his house at this time? That's just rude."

"Well, I can't really check into an inn."

"I know a place you can go for tonight." He leads Leo to what looks like a plaza, but as they go in, Leo realizes it's a training dojo. It looks abandoned, too. The surroundings look worn down and there's cracks on the walls. Leo looks for a corner spot and gets ready to settle in to sleep when he feels a sudden rumbling. He turns around and sees that a creature that's creating itself from the rocks in the surrounding area appears and has his eyes locked on Leo. He's already got his katanas out and prepares to fight. He looks to the old man and sees the serious look in his face. "This will be your biggest adversary yet."

Leo attacks the creature, but is thrown back as the gravel creature tosses him easily to the side. "You are doomed to fail, as you have always failed yourself and others."

Leo gets back up, glaring at the gravel creature. "You don't know what you're talking about." He advances again, and his attacks fails again. The gravel creature reveals a large weapon that resembles a bat and smacks Leo's side with it.

"I know you better than you know yourself," the creature says as Leo grunts in pain, managing to get back up. Before Leo can even lift his weapons, the creature strikes his bat down on Leo's shell and watches as Leo collapses to the ground. As Leo meets with the hard ground, a thought pops into his head. It's of him, his brothers, Master Splinter and Karai in the nightmare he had of the night Karai was mutated; where the building was collapsing all around them and all but him were in danger. The only turtle he can see and who's speaking is Donatello, and he's in great pain. 'Help me; I'm hurt!' Leo tries to attack, but the creature smacks him down again. This time, he sees Mikey. 'We're not gonna make it; Leo, help me!' Leo starts to panic as he knows he's again about to be struck down. Raph yells 'Leo, ya gotta do something!' Leo's on his hands and knees, shaking as he struggles to stand, when the creature smashes his fist down on Leo's shell. He see's Master Splinter, clearly injured and in critical danger, his hand reaching out and begging to him 'Save us, Leonardo, we are all counting on you. Save us.' Leo strikes a katana on the ground, using it to help get himself back up. He feels another pain on his side and sees Karai. She's over the vat of mutagen, and she's slowly falling as she says 'Leo, please, catch me!'

"I-I'm sorry," Leo says as he manages to get on his feet. He avoids the blow that the creature is about to strike down on him. Their weapons clash, and he struggles to fight it. "I did the best I could!" Leo strikes at the creature's weapon, and the gravel weapon disintegrates into nothing but ruble. The creature starts throwing punches, and Leo defends himself. They walk backwards, and Leo yells as he attacks "There wasn't any more I could have done!" He finally manages to strike a blow on the creature, and as he slices the creatures face, his face appears on the creature. Leo is taken aback.

"If there was nothing you could have done, why do you punish yourself?" The old man asks.

Leo takes a moment, looks at the creature, connects the dots, and smiles. They bow to each other, and the creature is no more. "I finally understand," Leo says. He turns to face the old man, and he gets on his knees and bows to him. "Ancient One; I am honored."

The Ancient One smiles and says "Took you long enough, Leonardo." They both smile. "You should rest up for tonight. Tomorrow, we will start training. But you should get yourself some things from the town since you'll be here a while, I'm guessing."

Leo nods. "Thank you for deciding to train me. I'll see you tomorrow." The Ancient One leaves Leo there and heads home. Leo, still stirring a bit, starts to get ready to sleep. He feels some weight lift off his shoulders and lets himself get the rest he's deserved. From there on out, he knew things were going to be different.


The next day, he puts on his trench coat and hat as he goes out to the market in the town and buys things he'll need. The Ancient One had told him where to go when he was ready to start training, and Leo started making his way there. Halfway through, some thugs surrounded him and eyed his large backpack. Leo knew that this wasn't a situation he could get out of without fighting.

"Looks like you've got a lot of stuff there, buddy," one of the thugs say. "Just hand it over and there won't be trouble."

"Even if I did, you guys would still attack me so that you can have 'dominance' or whatever. It's pathetic, really."

One of the other thugs speak. "You're gonna eat your words."

"Get him!" The other thugs yell, and they all circle around him. Leo sighs, pulling out his weapons, ready to take them all down when one of them suddenly fall to the ground. They're all startled but quickly get right back to it. Leo's about to fight one of them, but the thug grunts in pain and falls down. Before he can even try to fight another thug, they've all been struck down by someone. Leo, unsure of what the mysterious force is, keeps his guard up.

"Show yourself," Leo says.

"I just saved your life," the figure replies. He follows the voice and sees a figure in a soft shaded red outfit. "Isn't that enough?"

"Doesn't mean you're entirely good, though. You might want to fight me for yourself."

The figure laughs, and it turns its head to look at him. He can only see their eyes. "Do I seem like that kind of person?" The figure reaches behind them and grabs onto something. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"Sorry, but I'd like to save my energy for training," Leo replies.

"I'll go easy on you," the figure says, already advancing towards him. Leo manages to pull out his katanas and counters the naginata blade. Leo silently thanks himself for buying a handkerchief to put around most of his face so that only his eyes were able to be seen by others. The hat he kept helps mattes, too. His less hassling clothing really did wonders. They go at it for a while, and Leo feels that he's seen this fighting style before, but brushes it off, trying not to get distracted while in battle. Leo pushes the figure away, and by the look of their eyes, Leo determines they're smiling. The figure also has something covering their face except for their eyes. "Well, now I know you don't go easy on girls. That's good. I like a fair challenge."

Leo narrows his eyes. "Well, fair is fair, I guess," he replies. He notices that she has long, black hair and eyes that he thinks he's seen before. "I think I know you from somewhere," Leo says as their blades collide.

She freezes, then narrows her eyes at him, kicking him in the chest and sends him stumbling backwards. "No one but two people here know me, and you're not one of them."

Leo smiles at that, swinging his blade at her. "It's a big world out there," he replies, seeing her eyes shooting daggers at him. "What, are you shy?"

She lets out a single laugh, twisting her weapon and pushing Leo's blades back. "If anyone here was, it'd be you, Mr. No-Fun." She strikes for his face, but he steps back and pushes her away. "Awh, is someone self-conscious?"

"You're wearing one, too, so don't even!" Leo says, smiling in spite of the intensity of the battle. Their blades clash together, and they both push against each other's weapons, trying to gain the upper hand. Their faces are close, and they're both staring intensely at each other. "I guess you were right about one thing," Leo says.

"What's that?" She asks as both their arms shake.

"This is fun."

He can tell she's smiling. "Awh, don't get soft on me."

"You wish," Leo replies as they both start to feel their whole body shake. Leo swears he knows this girl from somewhere, but doesn't know how he possibly could. He shakes his thoughts away and manages to find some more upper strength and pushes her blades back. She's thrown off and stumbles back until she falls. She grunts, her face turned away. Her mask has fallen off of her face. She gives him a side glance. "You forfeit?" Leo asks, a grin on his face.

She finally reveals her face, and Leo freezes in place as she speaks. "You wish," she says lowly, smiling as she kicks his feet from under him and watches as he falls to the ground. She quickly gets back on her feet, pointing the blade of her naginata down at his face. "Got anything to say?" She lowers her blade a bit and stops smiling as Leo doesn't move or respond. "What, are you hurt or something?" She lowers her weapon, staring at him. "What? Say something; you're creeping me out."

"...it can't be you," Leo says quietly, focusing on her, but he knows it is.

"What?" She asks again, getting impatient.

"Karai?"

She freezes, pulling her naginata back up and holds the blade to Leo's throat. "How do you know me." The playfulness she had in her voice is gone. "Who are you." Leo just keeps looking at her, and she says with more force and anger "Who are you?!" Leo pulls down his mask and takes off his hat, not moving as he sees her reel in place. She lowers her naginata, and they look at each other in utter disbelief and shock. From there on out, they knew that things were going to get... interesting.

"Leo?"