Taking a brief break in my 2012 AU story to bring you this.

I own nothing, please don't sue and have fun with these missing scenes and reply from a certain character's point of view.

Leo had foreseen one aspect of the first scenario Cody programmed into their new dojo for him ...

Cody had asked them all about their old adventures a dozen times. He'd stare at them, his dark-green eyes barely blinking, as they told him of Underground Cities, Triceraton Wars, Trans-dimensional Tournaments, and the Shredder.

This led to questions about how they trained for such bizarre circumstances and how they could better train for them. Leo held a teacup to his lips at such times. It hid his smile. Cody could make a good ninja after all. There was some sneakiness to him.

April and Casey's grandson put a lot of thought into his gift. He was a lot like Donnie in that way. Donnie could teach him a lot …

Leo hadn't expected a particular lack of experience on his part grabbing Cody's attention. Despite all their adventures, there was something he and the others almost never got to do in outer space, underground cities, or even in Usagi's world. He, or rather they all, almost never got to face opponents smaller than themselves.

His bros were making fun of how tiny he had seemed while taking on Hun, Triceratons, or even Shredder in some of their biggest battles. As Leo thought about it, he realized even the mutated ticks and lobsters they'd faced during the mutation out-break in "their" New York City had been huge. All or most of their enemies had seemed giants in their eyes. That hadn't always proven an advantage for said enemies, though. He had told Cody as much.

"I think there's been an advantage to being shorter in those encounters Cody. Your opponent's lower limbs, even their weapon hands, are often within easier reach of your weapons than yours are to theirs. But I would like to try it the other way more often." He grinned to himself. "Maybe that's why I liked sparring with Usagi so much. He knew how to take advantage of being closer to the ground too. Some warriors in his own world gave me the opportunity to see it from the other side too."

Raph growled from his place at the kitchen table tales of their exploits were being told at. 'No wonder you loved his home so much then."

Leo shrugged. Actually there had been a lot of reasons he'd loved Usagi's world: its beauty (cherry blossoms, long green grass, rolling hills and snow-capped mountains), its wildness (being a warrior really came in handy when you could help rulers keep their rightful place and have the bad guys fall into disfavor by keeping one safe and defeating the other with your skills), the obvious resemblance to their Japan in the age of the samurai and ninja where and when so many things that made his heart burn and had survived into his modern era came to fruition. And of course, it was the homeplace of Usagi the land that had called his best friend back to it despite their mere moments in the making and now never-doubted friendship. Leo could understand after being there himself. Circumstances weren't always great in Usagi's world for himself or his friend of course, but with what they'd been through in their own home city and come out of loving it still, how could he talk?

Cody had lifted his chin out of his cupped hands and stared at Leo with those green eyes again as the turtle came out of his thoughts. He met the pre-teen's thoughtful gaze with his full attention. They boy's question took him by surprise. "Would you like to practice against smaller opponents again Leo?"

He'd just smiled back, and shrugged smelling more than Cody was saying in the words. "It would be good practice." He winked at the inventor.

He didn't expect to step into their holographic dojo while it ran for the first time only to find an army of tiny elves awaiting him in a tavern. Their brows barely reached his chest. "All" of them were armed with bows or swords. They'd attacked him almost as soon as he'd walked in too. Maybe it was because he'd kicked the door in? Or maybe it was just because that's what happens in holographic training scenarios ...

He hadn't been afraid, but it "was" weird to be the one whose lower body parts were within easy slashing range. Then there were all the arrows. He'd blocked those with an overturned table. Then he'd turned to his side still unprotected. Elves with swords approached his shell. Slashing out he'd blocked and redirected their strikes with his longer blades. They'd begun to surround him. One had managed to get close while he'd fended off the others. The little guy was breathing on his plastron. Still, he'd managed to block and redirect the other's strike, so his blade's point pointed to the ceiling not himself.

Leo had then jumped away to an emptier area. Four sword-elves had charged him there. They came at his right, his left, his front and from behind. He'd jumped up onto the bar's counter.

"I hate to stoop to your level. But I better lower my defenses." From there, he'd swung down at the blades approaching him. Then he'd jumped down and slid across the floor on his shell. His own blades swept aside the swords coming down at him with his own momentum.

As he came to the other side of the room, he'd stopped at the feet of another foe. He'd then risen to his own feet also raising his blades. He'd caught his opponent's sword in a cross block. After a hard press, the smaller blade had flown out of the elf's hand. It speared the ceiling above them.

Leo glanced around the room. Normally, he treated his enemies with more respect. But … this was only a hologram. Might as well try out Mikey's bad jokes once right? "Looks like you guys came up a little 'short.'"

He shouldn't have said anything.

One of the elves on a stairway had blown a curling trumpet. The long note had sounded deeper than a flute. Yet it was also had a more encouraging than fear-inducing sound. It resonated throughout the structure, built like a great hall, with a bright, solemn music. So, why did the elves, now without swords, begin to cower behind barrels?

Booms far more doomsaying than the trumpet blast had been began to approach. They came with the tempo of footfalls. Leo glanced around. A chandelier was shaking on the ceiling. He turned toward the doorway he'd come through. A figure twice his height and with broader shoulders broke through it. It came in fist first as that was what had shattered the door in his way. After the fist, came a large grey creature with a mane of wild red hair, matching beard, and a leering grin showing off sharp teeth.

Leo felt his eye-ridges rise. "Whoa …" Sharp bones, probably teeth taken from an animal or worse hung around his new enemy's neck and draped over its chest. The same were bound around its biceps as decorations. Its eyes had yellows instead of whites. Points of red instead of black stared at him out of their centers. Leo straightened while meeting the monster's gaze. "This just got ugly."

His new foe swung a chain with a spiked boulder on its end at him. It landed where he'd been standing. By then, he'd jumped to ricochet off the bricks of the chimney ascending up the wall right over the top of the structure's gaping maw still revealing flames inside. That's where his foe's weapon landed next. Bricks fell before the flames. But Leo had already been flying through the air to elsewhere. His foe's yellow and red eyes had turned to follow his movement.

As Leo landed, he'd seen two robed and hooded figures. Cody and Splinter had been watching his performance in this battle scenario. Leo turned back to his enemy. The monster had still been swinging his weapon at him. Leo decided to lead him away from their observers.

The creature seemed to furrow his brow in annoyance and crack the chain of his weapon like a whip before following. Even as he did so, Leo had heard Cody's voice. The preteen must have written this program himself, but he'd still sounded worried. "Leo's in trouble. That thing's going to mash him into turtle tetrazzini."

Splinter had sounded more confident. "Be not hasty. Watch and learn."

His sensei's words had given Leo a burning spark of pride inside his shell. Right until a blow of his enemy's weapon that missed his feet broke up the floor causing him to fly back into the side of the bar. As he rubbed some sweat off his brow, he'd looked upward.

There, had hung a chandelier, complete with lit candles and a chain of links running first across the ceiling and then toward the floor. Leo had turned his head. The chain ended in a crank on the wall behind the bar.

As his enemy approached, Leo jumped up onto the counter again. Then he turned toward his enemy and gave a final quip. "Lights out big guy." He cut the chain. His foe made a surprised sound. The creature looked up to see the chandelier falling on his head. He made a "Blah" sound as it landed on and flattened him.

Then Leo saw his fallen foe's appearance became distorted. Then it disappeared. In his place lay a red and orange mannequin-like form with electricity running through it: a practice dummy with a single camera eye in an otherwise featureless oval-shaped face.

The vision of their surroundings had also become distorted then. The tavern hall had been replaced with a much smaller dome. The walls and roof were formed of dark green hexagons. The floor was a single circle of like dark green with a serrated band joining the walls and floor. It was like being inside a giant turtle shell.

Leo turned. He grinned at the boy who'd built this structure and created the simulated scenario. He really had faced something new, something challenging, and had worked up a sweat. "This new battle simulation is great Cody."

Splinter spoke up too as he walked up between them. "It is, as my sons would say, 'totally awesome.'"

"Great I can't wait to show it to the guys."

Fearful Mikey or Raph would find what he'd been through boring particularly as they all fought through it at once Leo had hastened to add. "Of course, this was just the beginners' level. Next time we'll crank it up a notch. There's no telling what this thing can do."

He really had hoped the others would have a good reaction to all of Cody's work. He wanted to keep in shape himself of course just in case another group of enemies appeared to snatch Cody again. Plus, when they made it home, he imagined there'd be enemies waiting. Mostly though, Darius Dunn still loomed in his mind like the guy could loom upon entering a room. He doubted the man could have beaten the scenario he'd just been through though. Leo had smiled to himself confident he and his brothers could protect the boy providing so much for them.

What do you think?

God bless

ScribeofHeroes