That night, Leo took his brothers to the woods to meditate. They lit a fire and sat around.
"Leo, if you dragged us out here for nothing..." Raphael began.
"Don't worry," Donatello told Raph, pulling out a bag of marshmallows. "I came prepared."
"Put those away," Leonardo said. "Now, just do what I told you. Everybody close their eyes and concentrate. Concentrate hard."
They did. And when they were all concentrating together on the same thing, it seemed as if the flames of the fire changed. It took some time, but when it was done, it was unmistakable. There, in the middle of their campfire, stood the image of their master, Splinter. He spoke:
"I am proud of you, my sons. Tonight you have learned the final and greatest truth of the ninja, that ultimate mastery comes not of the body, but of the mind. Together, there is nothing your four minds cannot accomplish. Help each other. Draw upon one another." The image began to fade, but Splinter continued speaking. "And always remember the true force that binds you, the same as that which brought me here tonight. That which I gladly return with my final words: I love you all, my students...my sons...my family."
Splinter's image disappeared. His final word echoed in the woods. "Family."
Four Turtles sat around the fire, the same as they had been just a few minutes before, but very different, too. They were no longer four individuals. They were one team.
They began their real work together early the next morning.
Everything was different, everything was better. The Turtles found skills they never would have imagined they had.
"Hey, look!" Leo said. He turned his mask around so it was a blindfold and drew his katana from its sheath. "OK, now attack me. All three of you. At once."
His brothers looked at him as if he'd lost his shell. "Give me a break, Leo," Raph said.
"You'll get hurt!" Don told him, truly concerned.
"Come on!" Leo said, tapping Raph on the shoulder with the side of the blade to egg him on.
"Knock it off, Leo. That hurt!" Raph said.
Leo tapped him again, harder. It was enough to ignite Raphael's short fuse. He drew his sai and attacked. Leo defended himself, knocking the sai out of Raph's hands without hurting him at all. It was as if Leo could see right through the material. But he couldn't. They all knew that.
Then all three attacked. Leo used his newfound skills to repel the attacks, quickly disarming all of his brothers. When his work was done, he turned his mask around again and smiled triumphantly.
His brothers were impressed. "Radical!" Michelangelo said.
"I think you're going to have to teach us this one," Donatello said.
"Splinter did the teaching," Leo said. "I'll just show you how."
It was the ultimate weapon - the sixth sense. It was mind over matter, and the Turtles trained to be able to use it in concert with all their other weapons. They trained hard.
It took time to hone their skills, but as they worked they learned, and as they learned, they became even more united.
April and Casey couldn't believe the change in their friends. It was unity and it was love. It was so dramatic that Casey and April couldn't help being affected by it themselves. Their own anger seemed to dissolve. Their bickering stopped. Their friendship began.
A few days later, April and Casey were sitting on the farmhouse porch, relaxing and chatting. Four Turtles suddenly appeared before them. They looked very different from the four Turtles who had arrived at the farm a few short weeks earlier. These four were healthy, strong, confident. Once again they were the indomitable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Leonardo spoke for them all.
"It's time to go back."