Author's Note:

To the Guest: Oh yes, there's trouble ahead! :D

Thanks a lot for reviewing!

Battle Plans

Seeing Karai fall to her knees burst Leonardo's happiness bubble.

Because he had several reasons to be happy. His little brothers didn't seem to resent him. His parents didn't look mad. Even the fact everybody knew he was a waterbender was a relief; he wouldn't have to hide anymore. He was ready to deal with the consequences.

But now he was reminded that he might not live another day to face said consequences. The Shredder had been awakened, and he intended to hurt everyone Leonardo loved, along with the people he didn't exactly love but who were still dear to his loved ones' hearts.

Like Saki for Karai.

Leonardo knelt next to his cousin while his father asked for clarification from the messenger, who couldn't tell him much more.

"Hey," he said softly. "Don't jump to conclusions right now, okay? We don't know what happened."

It was obvious to Leonardo that Karai was fighting back tears, and just as obvious that she hated it. He didn't know whether hugging her would make things better or worse, so he just put his hand on her clenched fists.

"I don't…" Karai's voice was hoarse. "I don't want the Shredder to win. I want us to make him pay, if we can."

"We can," Leonardo said in a voice way more assured than how he really felt. "We'll fight back. That's why we're here, that's why April's here."

Karai gave him an interrogative look.

"Who's April?"

Leonardo helped her get to her feet, happy for the diversion.

"She's my teacher," he whispered, so only Karai would hear. "And she's here," he added, in a normal voice this time.

April was indeed coming closer to them, followed by Casey.

"Are you alright?" she asked Leonardo.

Leonardo nodded and introduced April to his family, at the exception of his father who was still talking to the messenger.

She smiled at Donatello and Michelangelo, who had taken a few steps backwards until their back rested safely against Raphael's stomach, and were now looking at her with a mixture of wariness and intense curiosity.

"So you're Mikey and Donnie?"

They both nodded.

"I'm glad to meet you. Leo talks a lot about you," April added.

"What does he say?" Michelangelo wanted to know.

Before April could answer something embarrassing, though, Leonardo's father turned to them.

"We need to make plans," he said. "I suggest we have a war council."

The war council gathered in an open space, a little away from the village.

Raphael was part of it, as a witness of Bishop's intentions - which meant that Slash did, too. Leonardo had been asked to tell once more what he had seen, and Raphael hadn't missed the expression of concern on Yoshi's face before his father resumed his usual impassibility.

April was here, of course, as was Splinter. Splinter had introduced her as a master waterbender to the participants, probably because it would soon become obvious anyways. Leatherhead, who attended as the village representative, hadn't seemed fazed by it.

The last person present was Bradford's messenger, a seasoned firebender that Raphael didn't know very well.

Now that the situation had been briefly summed up, the messenger repeated what he had already told Yoshi.

"Master Bradford asks that every villager who can help with digging join him in the desert. He intends to collapse the whole area on the Shredder, to bury him alive once more."

Raphael didn't believe it would work, but at least Bradford was trying something.

Yoshi turned to April.

"Could it work?"

"No," April confirmed. "Collapsing the area won't kill the Shredder, because he can easily move his location. Although if you could lure him outside, the sun would give you an advantage. Waterbenders draw more power from the moon." She took a deep breath. "Which brings me to my second point: that plan will take too long. Tonight, the moon will be full, and the Shredder's powers returned to their fullest. In order to avoid a bloodbath, you must defeat him before sunset."

A dismayed silence stretched until the messenger cleared his throat. "Master Bradford did say that he was open to suggestions."

Splinter smoothed his beard. "We could use Bradford's move as a diversion for our real attack."

Yoshi tilted his head. "Which would be? I don't think using the tunnel Stockman made would be a good idea." He paused, and his voice filled with sorrow. "That's probably what my brother did."

Raphael tried not to picture what the Shredder might have done to his uncle. He wasn't going to believe that Saki was dead, not until he saw his corpse.

"I might have an idea," April said.

Everybody's attention focused on her.

"For the Shredder to have frozen all oasis water, it must communicate with his lair," April went on. I could take a few of you through the ice to it. If he's busy with the digging, he might not notice our presence until we're almost right at him."

Hope swelled in Raphael's heart. He liked the idea of a surprise attack; he wanted to be part of it, to make the Shredder pay for what he had done to his family.

"How many people could you take with you?" Yoshi asked.

"Three," April answered. "More and hiding our tracks will become harder."

"I'll go," Yoshi immediately said.

"I'll go too." Splinter smiled. "I still have more than one trick up my sleeve."

It left room for one person only. Raphael thought about his arguments, but he was aware that a more experienced firebender like Casey would be a better choice.

Next to him, Leonardo shifted. "I want to go too," he said with determination.

And although Raphael couldn't say he was surprised, he still thought it was a terrible idea. He didn't want his brother anywhere near the Shredder, especially when Raphael himself couldn't be there with him.

Yoshi frowned. "No."

Raphael nodded to show his appreciation for his father's answer. However, Leonardo wasn't done.

"You might need another waterbender," he pleaded. "Or better," he turned to April, "maybe I could do the same with another group! That way, we would be eight instead of four against the Shredder!"

Raphael watched Leonardo's teacher, hoping she would read the 'Please no' on his face.

He barely stifled his sigh of relief when April shook her head. "I don't have time to teach you how to hide your bending from another waterbender."

Leonardo's shoulders sagged, and Raphael patted his back as if he shared his disappointment.

A little hypocrisy couldn't hurt.

"Then it's settled," Yoshi said before Leonardo could object once more. He turned to Leatherhead. "I believe it's time we talk to everyone and let them know what's going on. We have no reason anymore to hide the Shredder's existence from our people."

Leatherhead nodded.

"I agree."

Karai was pacing back and forth as she waited for the end of the war council, where she hadn't been invited despite her obvious motivation to see the Shredder done for.

She had tried to spy on it with Angel, Donatello and Michelangelo, but they had been discovered.

Now Donatello was drawing on the sand with a stick, trying to find a way to spy on conversations without being physically present, and Michelangelo was encouraging him with his mouth full because of the bowl of soup he was gulping.

"Do you think they will find a plan?" Angel whispered.

Karai forced her tone to remain calm, like she wasn't about to burst from anxiety and anger. "I guess we'll know soon enough."

It still seemed to take an eternity before Yoshi and the others came back to the village. Karai immediately noticed Leonardo's defeated expression, and she wondered what had happened.

Yoshi asked every villager to gather in the square, which was quickly done. A heavy silence fell as everybody waited for him to talk.

"Like some of you already know, we're facing an enemy unlike any other," Yoshi began. "It's time all of you learn what this is all about."

Karai's eyes widened. Was his uncle really about to say what she thought he was about to say?

He was, and as he unfolded his tale, most of the villagers looked more and more shocked.

However, it was nothing new for Karai, and she leaned towards Leonardo.

"No need to look so depressed," she whispered. "At least you could attend."

Leonardo shrugged. "In the end, we were completely useless."

Next to them, Angel was whispering something to Raphael, who chuckled. It earned them glares from the audience, and they shut up to listen to Yoshi's discourse.

"I'm asking those of you who can to help with the digging," Yoshi was saying. "Meanwhile, I and a few others will try to reach the Shredder through another path."

Then he answered people's questions, and it was maybe another ten minutes before the meeting ended.

Karai gathered her things, getting ready for traveling into the desert. She wasn't sure how digging was going to help defeat the Shredder, but she would do her part.

Anything to stop feeling so powerless.

But as it soon became obvious, Yoshi had other plans for them.

"You'll stay here with the other teenagers and guard the injured," he told them. "We can't leave the village without any protection."

Karai watched him in disbelief. Did he seriously think the Shredder would attack here?

It looked suspiciously like an attempt at protecting them from whatever waited for them on the battle field.

The digging battle field.

"I've given orders so the guards won't let you pass," he added casually.

Karai quickly looked around. Apart from her, Angel, Leonardo and Raphael, she could see Slash, Spike and several teenagers from the village that she didn't know very well.

"So we're supposed to just… stay here? Do nothing?" Slash said in disbelief. "Sir," he quickly added when Yoshi glared at him.

"Apparently," Raphael muttered, completely unfazed by his father's frown.

Slash huffed and left them.

Karai looked her uncle in the eye.

"I want to help," she said, emphasizing each word.

Yoshi's gaze softened when he looked at her.

"And obeying orders is the best way to do that." He put his hand on her shoulder. "This is what your father would have wanted. You know that."

Karai brushed his hand off.

She knew that her uncle was right about Saki. Still, it felt… so unfair.

Leonardo couldn't believe that he had spent so much time worrying about their upcoming fight against the Shredder when everything people - and by people he meant his father - expected from him was to stay nicely put and play the nurse.

Some parents, like his mother, would stay anyway to watch the children. Of course they could care for the injured people too. It was just a pretext, a way for his father to…

To protect them.

Leonardo stepped away and sat down, trying to collect his thoughts. Knowing his father's motive didn't lessen his frustration. In fact, it made it worse, because he couldn't even resent him.

He closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes. Now wasn't the time to quarrel with his father, not when Yoshi was leaving on a dangerous mission and…

Come to me.

Leonardo froze. The voice sounded familiar, like he had already heard it in his dreams - in his nightmares.

He took in his surroundings, his heart beating.

There was only Raphael, who had followed him and was waiting a few feet away to give him some space. Nothing in his posture indicated that he had heard anything.

Come to me, the voice insisted. The voice inside his head.

Leonardo remained motionless, trying to make himself as insignificant as possible. He could feel a presence behind the voice, but that presence couldn't reach him - not really.

I know you're here. Come to me or I'll kill him.

The presence suddenly vanished, and Leonardo stopped holding his breath.

"Leo?"

Raphael was coming to him, his expression worried.

"Are you alright?"

Leonardo stood up, forcing his shaky legs to do their job.

"Raph," he whispered. "I think… I think I heard the Shredder."

Raphael's face fell. "What?"

"He was talking to me. He was looking for me, but I don't think he found me, if that makes sense."

Raphael's expression indicated that it didn't, not at all, but Leonardo had no better explanation to offer.

He hurried to go on so he wouldn't be tempted to shut up. This was exactly the kind of stuff Raphael wouldn't want his twin to hide from him.

"He told me to come to him, or that he would kill… Someone. Saki, I assume."

Raphael made his feelings clear through a few well-chosen words that their mother wouldn't have approved of.

"What do we do?" he finally asked.

Leonardo weighed his options. He hadn't a lot, really; either he ignored the warning and his uncle died, if he wasn't already dead - although the Shredder's words indicated the contrary, Leonardo put zero trust in them - or he did not ignore it.

"I have to talk to Dad."

Leonardo hurried towards the village's well, Raphael close behind him. Yoshi was here, as well as Splinter, April and Casey - who had indeed been chosen to accompany them - and those who would watch them depart.

All in all, way too many people for what Leonardo had to say.

He stopped in front of his father, his breath short from the run.

"Dad? May I talk to you in private?"

Yoshi watched him with curiosity. "Of course."

As they walked a few steps away, Leonardo tried to remember how he had intended to tell his father about… what was it? A vision? An auditory hallucination?

"Dad, I think… I think the Shredder talked to me. He said he wanted me to come to him, or else he would kill Uncle Saki. Or at least I think he meant Uncle Saki. And of course I don't trust him, but what if it's true? So I think I should come with you. Or if I can't come with you, then I should at least go into the desert."

Leonardo stopped ranting. His father was watching him with horror, which wasn't a good sign at all. Maybe he should have taken more time to prepare that talk, even if time was a resource in short supply.

Yoshi put a hand on Leonardo's shoulder. "My son. I commend your courage, but it's no."

"But your brother…"

"It's no, Leonardo. Saki wouldn't want it."

Yoshi squeezed Leonardo's shoulder. "We're the parents. We fight to protect you, not the other way around. Do you understand?"

"But…"

Yoshi's gaze was unwavering, and Leonardo knew he wouldn't win this case.

"I understand," he simply said.

His father smiled and embraced him briefly. "I'm proud of you, my son," he whispered.

Leonardo returned the hug. There were so many things he wanted to tell his father, but they were running out of time.

Was it the last time he saw him? No. It couldn't be. Leonardo couldn't afford to lose hope that he would have another opportunity.

"Thank you, Dad," he answered.

As Yoshi walked away to say goodbye to the rest of his family, a dejected Leonardo turned around so he could discreetly recompose an impassible expression.

Instead, he found himself facing his cousin. His I've-just-heard-your-conversation-and-I-didn't-like-it-one-bit cousin. Karai's face was blank, and she was clenching her fists so hard Leonardo feared she was hurting her palms.

"Karai."

"Is it true?" she whispered. "What you just said… Did you really hear…"

Leonardo didn't avert his eyes. "Yes."

Karai bowed her head, and her despair was unbearable to Leonardo.

"Karai, I'm so sorry. If there was anything I could do…"

"You tried," Karai said in a broken voice. "Thank you… for trying."

Then she turned away. Leonardo watched her retreat, thinking about how, in that case, trying wasn't enough.

And the strong emotions coursing through his body somehow birthed a plan.

A daring plan, a desperate plan, but a plan nonetheless.

He ran after her.

"Karai!"

She quickly wiped away a few treacherous tears. "What?"

"I have an idea. It's probably not going to work, and if it does it'll be stupidly dangerous, but…"

Karai's gaze pierced him.

"Go on."

Leonardo took a deep breath and checked that nobody was listening to them. He still had to say goodbye to April, Splinter and Casey, so he only had a few seconds to convince her cousin that she shouldn't give up hope either.

"Remember the tunnel we discovered? When I told you it was a dead end? When, in fact…Uh…"

While Leonardo was losing a few of those precious seconds stuttering, the shadow of something like fond annoyance showed on Karai's features.

"I see the picture."

She straightened up.

"And I'm in."

Saying goodbye to her husband, knowing that this might very well be the last time she saw him and not being able to show it in front of her children, had taken a great toll on Tang Shen's emotional energy.

So when she noticed Donatello and Michelangelo, on which she kept a watchful eye because of a certain disastrous exploration, trying to sneak out into deserted alleyways, she first took a few deep, calming breathes so she didn't overreact and grab them both by their shirt to drag them back to the village square.

Instead, she sneaked behind them.

"Where do you think you're going?" she said, her hands on her hips.

Donatello and Michelangelo started. "Mom!"

Their sheepish expressions would have amused her, had this day been a better one. "Didn't I tell you to stay where I could watch over you?"

"But Mom!" Michelangelo said, pleading. "They're leaving!"

Tang Shen frowned. "Who's leaving?"

"Leo and Raph, and Karai and Angel," Donatello said, pointing at the deserted end of the alleyway.

Which she knew led out of the village.

Tang Shen's frown deepened. Really? Now his older sons were scheming something too?

This couldn't be good.

She raced in the direction Donatello had so helpfully indicated, and sure enough, Leonardo, Raphael, Angel and Karai were here, about to leave the village without telling anybody.

Without telling her.

She cleared her throat to make her presence known, and glared at her boys with all the fury of a betrayed mother.

They both grimaced. Behind them, Karai and Angel shared a look and took a few careful steps backwards.

"Oh, hi, Mom," Leonardo said.

So it was Leonardo's idea, then. And from his expression, whatever he was up to was in no way something adult-approved.

"May I know what you're planning to do?" she asked.

Leonardo gave Raphael a desperate glance, and his twin took a sudden interest in his shoes.

Tang Shen's heart melted. They might very well be men by their tribe's standards, they were still her babies.

"We… We're going to try something," Leonardo finally said. "And we didn't want to tell you because we know you're not going to approve, and it's really important. Mom, please?"

Tang Shen watched him for a long time, looking for the words that would keep him to her side. Forever out of harm's way.

But it wasn't something she could do for him or Raphael, not after the last months. Not when their world might very well end tonight. And she had raised them so they would be able to stand for what they believed in, not to shelter them forever.

As she watched Leonardo and Raphael, she knew in her heart they were ready.

Her sweet baby boys.

She came closer to Leonardo. "Go," she whispered. "Do what you must." She stroked his cheek, smiling. "But this time, don't leave without saying goodbye."

He swallowed hard and nodded, wrapping his arms around her. He was almost as tall as she was now. She returned the hug, then released him to hug Raphael.

She heard Leonardo say goodbye to Donatello and Michelangelo, who were both on the verge of tears, and promise them he would come back as soon as he could.

She refused to notice he sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as them.