Huddled into a part of the lair, Leonardo, Michelangelo and April watched around their current surroundings. Mikey was filling up the package full of weapons, suppressing his smile. Leo and April were quietly going over the plan, making sure everything was in order and that they would execute it according to so. Casey, Donatello, and Raphael all were snickering in another part of the vast and wide open lair, awaiting their victims to approach their area. Master Splinter decided to stay put in his room so as not to come between the battle. Mikey stepped out first, ready for what lurked around him. Hearing the sound of a trigger being set, he immediately jumped back and watched as the object flying through the air smashed into a wall, its contents splattering to the ground. The orange-banded turtle narrowed his eyes, a smug grin on his face. He threw his weapon at the direction the object flew from and heard a frustrated grunt as it landed.

"Attack!"

Mikey threw water balloons he had on him at that moment towards Raph, Donnie and Casey, laughing hysterically as he saw that they couldn't find a way to escape his mighty prank wrath. Leo and April were trying to suppress their laughs in their corner, readying the next wave of their attack. Raph was being held back by Casey, who could barely keep a hold on him, as he tried to attack Mikey physically and personally. Donnie basked in his Eureka moment, watching as his net flew towards Mikey. The loose ends provided a way for Mikey to lose balance and stumble, the ability of the net to capture him easing ten-fold. Mikey rolled around the floor, the net tightening around him.

"Mikey!"

"Ohh," Mikey groaned, trying to wiggle out from the tight ropes, but every time he moved, it tightened. "Dudes, go on without me!"

"Okay!" April and Leo went up to the top of the lair, the heavy bucket ready to unload. Seeing a sliver of Donnie's green skin in the corner, Leo and April launched their arms out, watching as the red paint slid out of the bucket and over the corner. Casey and Raph jumped out from the corner quickly, yelling. Donnie was about to make a run for it when the paint fell all over him and onto him, the bucket falling right next to him. Donnie opened his tightly shut eyes, an unamused look on his face as he sighed, defeated. The paint dripping off of him and the paint quickly drying, Donnie huffed towards the shower. Mikey laughed at him, his feeling of lost pride soon fading into utter happiness.

Raph and Casey were angered that they were almost hit, so they carried out their next attack. Using the smoke bombs to disappear, Leo and April looked around frantically, trying to track them. Appearing right behind them, Casey and Raph wrapped their arms around Leo and April and lept down, dragging them to the kitchen. Raph having a firm hold on April and Casey struggling to keep hold of Leo, Raph grabbed an egg from the counter and handed it to Casey, grabbing another one. April squirmed around in Raph's big, buff arms, trying to escape. Cracking open the egg, flour poured over her, her vision seeing only white smoke. She coughed and tried to fan it away with little success. She kicked the back of Raph's knee, making him lose his footing. She stumbled out of his grasp and ran out of the flour covered kitchen. With Leo next, Casey, egg in his hand, was ready to do the same to Leo. Leo bumped his head onto Casey's hand, the egg falling to the floor. Leo pushed Casey off of him and ran to the counter, crushing an egg in his hand and blowing the flour in Casey's face, dashing out after. Casey coughed violently, growling as he heard Leo laugh out in the living room.

Raph rubbed the back of his knee, massaging the now aching flesh. It was him against Leo now. Narrowing his eyes through the white smoke and slowly stepping out of the kitchen, Raph looked around the lair, trying to track Leo. Who am I kiddin'? Leo works himself tired when he's trainin', this ain't gonna be easy, Raph thought to himself. Man, April's kick is leavin' a mark, that's for sure. Hearing a slight shift, Raph's mind quickly refocused.

"Lame-o-nardo, ya know it ain't no use," Raph called out, walking around slowly. "I always beat ya; you might as well just come on out now."

"Awh, Raph too big and mighty to play hide and seek?" Leo's voice boomed throughout the lair, a smug tone in his voice.

"Once I find you, you know what's comin," Raph snickered, clenching his fists. "You might as well just make it easier and faster."

"That's no fun, Raph. Do it for Mikey's sake, he loves to watch us play."

"That's true," Mikey added, smiling innocently as he could up at Raph. "Pleeeaaassseee?"

"Ugh," Raph groaned. "I hate when you do that. Fine."

"Amazing!"

A bit irked by Mikey's wording, Raph turned his attention to the tied up turtle. "What did you say?"

"I said," Mikey looked up at Raph, a look in his face. "Now!"

"What?" Mikey jumped up, the net falling off of him in chunks and pieces. Mikey raised his brow at Raph and flashed him a toothy smile. Mikey charged toward Raph, pulling out his nunchucks and wrapping the chains around Raph's carapace. Leo pulled back his arm and watched as his arrows with plunger ends shot towards Raph, all but one of them landing on his shell and two on the back of his head. Raph twitched with every hit and tripped over an arrow that landed on the floor, falling on top of Mikey. Mikey groaned, Raph's buff and muscular body giving him no strength to squirm out from under him. Mikey laughed weakly at the defeated Raph on top of him. Raph glared down at Mikey and grit his teeth, pinning Mikey down and putting all his weight into it. "Say uncle!"

"Uncle! Uncle!" Mikey whined loudly. "Uncle, Raph, Uncle!"

"Raph, I think he gets it," April said, patting off the rest of the flour on her. "You can ease up now."

"Ah, they're just playin' 'round, Red," Casey countered. "Guess you guys won, huh?"

"Ahh, you're not worth it," Raph snickered, climbing off of Mikey. Mikey gasped in a big breath of air.

"Pranked ya," Mikey breathed weakly, a satisfied smile on his face.

"And you didn't want to play," Leo smiled, patting Raph on the shoulder. "You should have."

"Shut up, you dork," Raph said, pushing Leo a bit. Leo helped Raph pluck off the plunge head arrows, smiling confidently as he did. As Leo plucked them off, Raph looked over at April and Casey. They were rough housing a bit, April having an advantage on Casey. Raph rolled his eyes and crossed his arms on his plastron.

"And that's the last one," Leo said, pulling off the last on off of the back of Raph's head. Raph hissed a bit, the suction very tight. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Raph shrugged. Raph helped up Mikey and pulled him aside.

"Ugh, this is gonna be a pain to clean up, dude," Mikey groaned.

"Yeah, yeah," Raph said absentmindedly.

"Yeah... you okay?" Mikey asked.

"Aren't ya a bit... irked?"

"Irked?"

"Yeah."

"Why would I be?"

"April."

"What about April?" Mikey looked over at her. "Did she do something?"

"Her training- she's gettin' really good."

"Yeah, it's cool, right!"

"She's getting so good, she's almost as good as us."

"...so?"

"So, it took us 15 years for us to get to where we are now- years of training, pain, learning things for such a long time- she's learning it all in just like, a year. It's a bit unfair if you ask me, Mikey. It took us so long for us to be as great as we are now at butt-kicking, and she's learning it all so quick."

"Well, that's kinda true," Mikey replies, rubbing his chin. "It is taking us a long time."

"C'mon." Raph grabbed Mikey's wrist, walking them both over to the dojo.

"What are we doing?"

"We're gonna talk to Splinter." Raph and Mikey stepped into the room, looking around for their father. Mikey pranced to the middle of the room and spun in a circle, claiming he was 'looking around.' Rolling his eyes at the lame joke, Raph walked towards Splinter's room, slightly opening the doors. Splinter's ear flicked up, hearing Raph's footstep.

"Something trouble you, Raphael?" Master Splinter asked, rising to his feet. Raph backed out of the room as Splinter walked out of it. Raph and Mikey sat on their knees, ready to share their thoughts. Sensing Raph was more troubled than Mikey, Splinter asked Raph what was wrong first.

"Master Splinter, I'm not trying to make you mad or anything, but I think it's kinda unfair that we've been training for our whole lives and stuff and April's only been trainin' for a short time, and she's almost as good as us. I don't think it's cool that she's learning everything we've learned in such a short time so fast! We've been working our shells off just to be as good as we are now, and we still have a lot to learn! Why does she get to learn everything so quick, Sensei?"

"Michelangelo? What do you have to say about this matter?"

"I can see where Raph's comin' from, Sensei, she is getting as good as we are so fast. I think it's cool-" Raph harshly nudges Mikey with his elbow. "But it's not fair at the same time. You should have let me finished," Mikey whispers to Raph.

"April has much more training to do than you four. She has recently started training, she is far from being finished with her training. You are never finished learning new things. April is a quick learner and very eager, that is why her skills are getting very well. But she is not done with her training. It will be a long while until her training is concluded. That goes for you as well, my sons."

"Hm," Raph huffed. "I guess."

"Not satisfied with my answer?"

"I am," Mikey said, standing up. "Thanks, Master Splinter!" Mikey ran out of the room before he could be called to stay put.

"Raphael?"

"Eh."

"You are competitive, my son. Do you see April as a threat?"

"No! I just think it's unfair she's learning everything we know so quick, that's all."

"She has much more than you to learn. You should be happy that she is doing so well. She will be able to defend herself when you all are not around at the moment when she is in need of help. The more she improves, the better she can defend herself and be less likely to be seriously harmed. Do not think otherwise, my son. You all are becoming great warriors."

"...that's true. We do want her to be okay when we're not around... Yeah. Thanks, Sensei."

"Now, go clean your mess. Everything, my son. I will inspect tomorrow."

"Hai, Sensei." Raph ran out and told everyone that they had to clean really well or else they'd get punished. Everyone was quick to get to work, and there were complaints along the way. When Raph and April were near each other, Raph sucked in a breath and turned to her. April looked at him and stood up, raising a brow at him. "Hey, uh, I just wanted to say, uh, you're doin' great, with training and whatever."

"Thanks, Raph," April smiled. "But Mikey told me you were a bit mad at me."

"Mikey!" Raph hissed, quickly turning his attention back to April. "I wasn't mad at you, I was mad that you were learning everything we've learned so quick. But if you weren't, you wouldn't know how to protect yourself. So I'm over it."

"You sure? I'm not a threat to you, am I?" April teased, smirking at him.

"Geesh, I try to be nice," Raph jokes, rolling his eyes.

"I kid," April smiles, lightly punching him. He chuckles a bit and they both return to cleaning.

After hours of cleaning, the 6 teenagers are exhausted. Their fingers ached, their joints throbbed, their backs and necks were sore. Mikey fell flat on the now clean floor, letting out a satisfied 'ahh' at how cold it was. Leo sat against the couch, tilting his head back onto the cushion of the couch. The rest of the teens plopped down on the couch in different positions, all of them groaning. Donnie slid off of the couch, a goofy smile plastered on his face as his legs touched the cold floor. They all start chatting along and start making plans to hang out again, very excited. Amongst all the talking, April looked at her friends. Thinking of all what has happened to her the past year- the dramatic change, the experiences, the new things she's learned, what she's witnessed- she couldn't believe what big of a change her life took. She had some really great friends, even if 4 of them were mutants. What makes it better is that she is learning how to defend herself and learning to be a kunoichi. Though many tragedies had happened- figuring out her best friend Irma was really Kraang Sub-Prime in disguise, her father being mutated twice, losing her mother twice- she was happy with her life. And she looked forward to what came her way. Because with her friends by her side, she felt she could accomplish anything.

[Cheesy ending, huh? Ah, well. That's the story! I hope to those who stuck around it was worth reading! Thanks so much to those who left and still do leave reviews and taking the time to read my story/stories. I can't thank you all enough. I hope you all get to buy and enjoy something you love real soon, like your favorite food/drink or something you've wanted for a long time! Maybe I'll write something else for you all in the future, but for now, I leave you my first multiple chapter story I've written. Cheers, cinnabons! 💕]