I do not own any of the characters seen here. I saw them first in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 series, which is also the inspiration for perhaps this entire story along with the Usagi Yojimbo comics, and the Christmas story itself.

"You competed in a tournament outside of this world?" The panda's loud voice wafted from beside the fireplace and throughout the night air. Usagi glanced over to see even Tomoe Ame's brows had separated, one going high and the other low as she stared at him. The others in the caravan were either staring at him in a like manner, just more gravely, or very pointedly not looking at him. However, his host had asked this of him. If he was going to enjoy lord Noriyuki's hospitality, and get paid as well, he wanted to do as he was asked. Though, he did hope he could also eat. This meal was hot and very good right now. The panda cub had told him to "eat and tell us of all your latest adventures" so he would not be disobeying if he did both. He looked back to his bowl of vegetables and rice seasoned in a way he could not even get at a respectable inn. Usagi raised a bite in his chop sticks to his mouth before answering. "Just a few rounds."

The Panda's face and voice fell to a near whine. "You lost?"

Usagi paused in chewing to look up and answer. "No."

Noriyuki's face lit up and he sat straighter as his voice rose too. "You won?"

Usagi paused in chewing again pushing everything to one side in his mouth to reply clearly, "No."

Usagi was able to finish chewing and swallowing while the panda and his personal guard stared at him with blank faces. Noriyuki spoke again, "Then … how ..?"

Usagi grinned and raised his face to the others. "Gen," he nodded to his friend who was chowing down on the contents of his own bowl lifting large clumps of rice and vegetables into his mouth, "made it farther in the competition than I if you wish to know more about the tournament itself."

The bounty hunter scowled at the rabbit. "Nothing doing. While I'm enjoying this good food, 'you' can finish this story that 'you' started, Usagi san." He pointed his empty chopsticks at the Ronin before putting them back into his bowl.

Usagi chuckled and began to gather another morsel in the points of his chopsticks waiting for a cue from his host. It came before he lifted the bite to his mouth. The panda spoke in confusion, "But … how is it 'you' did not get farther in the competition, Usagi, like Gen did?"

The Ronin glanced into the panda's intent gaze and sighed. He set his bowl aside. The warrior met the Daimyo's gaze fully. "I was fighting my second competitor in the tournament, another warrior from yet another world. Leonardo was his name. He wielded two, perfect, twin katanna at the same time, one in either hand. I was hard pressed to defend myself and had to draw both my blades as well. Leonardo had already defeated a well-known warrior throughout the multiverse just months before in his own world, though I didn't know that at the time."

"Wow!" The panda's mouth fell open into a wide smile. Tomoe Ame was frowning beside him. Lord Noriyuki asked, "What happened then?"

"As we fought, Leonardo came to push against both of my blades while I pushed both of mine back against his. Then I saw a change in the expression of his face. He was shocked somehow. He pulled away from the lock of our blades and turned his back on me, shaking his head before dropping both his swords."

Noriyuki's mouth had closed and crinkled up in worry. His eyes had gone wide. "Why?"

Usagi's hands grasped his knees as he gave a slight nod. "I wondered this myself. After dropping both his blades, Leonardo turned back and looked at me. Then he said my name …"

Tomoe Ame raised one eyebrow higher. "How did he know your name?"

Lord Noriyuki looked up at her. "Perhaps 'all' the competitors learn each other's names before the competition as a matter of honor?"

Usagi shook his head. "A good guess great Daimyo, but no. Leonardo and I had already met and fought 'together' in the Pavilion of Past Champions right before that particular round of the tournament. He had been set upon by dark assassins there, the like of which I have not seen in this world. Though, they reminded me slightly of the Neko Ninja clan. Leonardo had not had his swords with him then. He hadn't been skilled in wielding the weapons he took off the walls to defend himself with, but he still put up a good fight. Together, we defeated the assassins. They departed from us back into the shadows from which they sprang. Leonardo and I introduced ourselves to each other and agreed we both hoped not to compete against each other in the competition."

Usagi paused to smile and shake his head. "Fate often has such a wry sense of humor."

Lord Noriyuki was grinning again and had rested his chin in both his hands. "So, then what happened?"

"Leonardo and I had thus already gained each other's trust and respect. So, during our bout together in the tournament, he called my name just before he collapsed as if there was no strength left in him."

The panda's brow furrowed, and lips quivered. "Did he die?"

"No, though I came to think I might."

The panda's eyes widened, and mouth opened again. "Why?"

Usagi gave a sad grin, "First, the Gyoji arrived and seemed suspicious of me. It was not strange that he should think 'I' had harmed my competitor in such a way as to win dishonorably. In that place, it is rare to actually harm your opponent."

Tomoe Ame's eyebrows rose and lowered further individually. Usagi glanced at her reaction but looked back to her lord who was still staring at him with wide, intent eyes. The Ronin gave the cub a soft smile. "Despite all this, the Gyoji allowed me to turn Leonardo over and listen to his breathing. It was continuing, but shallow. He said Leonardo must see a healer at once, and I agreed, but insisted I accompany Leonardo to see the healer. That all went relatively well for me, but the real danger came when one of Leonardo's brothers arrived."

Noriyuki raised his chin from his hands. "The great warrior had brothers?"

Usagi's smiled. "He has three: Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. It was Donatello, though, who tried to defend his brother from me. He carried a boe staff and told me to get very far away … in words used in their own world for that. However, my new friend Leonardo roused himself enough to vouch for me. Then, the three of us were taken to the healer's pavilion."

"Could the healer help Leonardo?"

"The healer examined Leonardo and discovered he had been poisoned, but how the healer did not know. Before he had said thus, however, Leonardo and Donatello's father had arrived."

"Was he there to watch Leonardo compete in the tournament?"

Usagi smiled gravely "Actually, he was there to compete himself. He was the winner of the last Battle Nexus Tournament."

Tomoe Ame's face had relaxed somewhat. Now one of her brows rose again. Her lord's face though, lit up. "What was he like?"

Usagi smiled sadly back at the Daimyo. "Like a worried father."

The panda's face fell a bit. "Oh."

Usagi gave him a gentle smile back. "You must realize lord Noriyuki that champions do not always look as you would assume them to. Those who do not realize this will be fooled many times. Champions often have talent, perseverance, and the humility to learn. This father of my friend has all three, but at that moment, he was extremely worried for his son more worried about that than winning any competition. 'I' was more worried about Leonardo than winning. For how could I win with honor if one bout had been given me by a cheater out to harm my competitor? And how could victory taste sweet if such an honorable warrior had been felled by dishonor before me that day?"

The panda cub stared tight mouthed and wide eyed in fear. "What happened?"

Usag sat straighter again. "Leonardo's father left to speak to the Daimyo of the Battle Nexus himself after learning Leonardo had been poisoned, for he and the Daimyo were friends."

Lord Noriyuki's eyebrows rose. "They were?"

Usagi nodded. "Yes."

The Daimyo of the Geisha clan's voice rose in hope, "Then the Daimyo helped them?"

Usagi sighed and bowed his head. "He did not have the chance. While Donatello, the healer, and I stayed with Leonardo who was sweating and breathing still more shallowly all the time, as his brother bathed his brow with a cool, wet cloth and the healer searched scrolls for wisdom to heal him, the Daimyo of the Battle Nexus himself was attacked and almost killed."

Tomoe Ame reached out and drew her own Daimyo closer to her side at this. The little one's eyes had grown wider too. "Did 'he' die?"

Usagi smiled gently at him. "No, the same assassins who attacked Leonardo had attacked him, but they did so right before Leonardo's father entered to talk to his friend. The old champion of the Battle Nexus interfered saving his life."

The panda cub gave a sigh of relief and Tomoe Ame's eyes focused themselves on Usagi now. The Ronin went on, "They came again while Leonardo and the Daimyo both lay helpless, one due to his wound and the other, the effects of a poison. The assassins had first sent in smoke to knock out the Daimyo's guards and his healer before they approached. They tried to kill the Daimyo with Leonardo's own twin swords."

The panda cub gasped and covered his mouth with a paw. Tomoe Ame scowled and hugged him tighter. "Usagi, stop frightening Lord Noriyuki!"

Gen spoke from where he'd been putting food in his mouth. "Oh, come on, he's just getting to the good part!"

The panda cub shouted, "Please go on, Usagi!"

Tomoe Ame glanced down at her lord but did not interfere when the Ronin obliged. "Donatello and I had been expecting another attack after we had discussed the day's events with each other. We had hidden in the rafters of the building. The smoke of the assassins and their gazes had not reached us there. We fought them off together long. And just when we thought my life would be taken from me, Leonardo, who had woken up during the battle, came to my rescue."

Noriyuki clapped his paws together and grinned across the fire at him. Even Tomoe Ame drew her arms away from him again, though she remained sitting close to him and closely studying Usagi. The panda cub then asked, "What happened after that?"

"After I had changed the Daimyo's bandages, Leonardo and Donatello's father arrived. He arrived with another of his sons, Raphael, and a warrior the four brothers had met before the tournament while they were traveling far from their own world. Together, we woke the Daimyo and helped him seize back control of the Battle Nexus from the pair of schemers who had set out to first kill Leonardo, then his father, and then the Daimyo before turning on one another to become sole ruler of the Battle Nexus."

The panda's eyes grew wider still and his voice louder. "Wow! How did you defeat them?"

Usagi looked up seriously at the panda cub. "Together."

Tomoe Ame gave him a tired, disbelieving smile, and shook her head beside her lord. The young ruler asked, "But how did you defeat them 'together'?"

"One of the schemers dropped the weapon the Daimyo uses to do all he can do as the Daimyo of the Battle Nexus including traveling between worlds. Everyone charged it, my own fingertips brushed it, but it was only pushed father away. It was Leonardo's brother, Raphael, who used a sai to pin it to the ground, because it had torn a hole in the sky before anyone could stop it."

"Oh come on!" Tomoe Ame was now openly glaring at him.

Gennosuke murmured as he chewed, "Tis true." Tomoe sent him a glare as well.

The Daimyo of the Geisha clan motioned to the storyteller. "Please continue, Usagi."

The Ronin nodded. "The hole caused a 'rift between worlds' a wound leading into 'emptiness' and (for reasons Donatello later tried to explain to me, but I still could not fathom) we began to lift up the ground toward it, all of us foes and allies alike. The warrior friend of the brothers' struck the pavement with an axe, his weapon of choice, and lifted up a free hand telling Leonardo's brothers to "grab on." He took hold of Donatello's staff. Donatello took ahold of me. I grabbed Leonardo, and he took hold of the foe who had tried to kill him."

"Why?"

Usagi looked to the cub. "Because it was the honorable thing to do."

Gen snorted. Usagi glared at him. Their host said, "Please continue."

Usagi continued, "Sadly it did not help. The other schemer took hold of him, but they began to fight …"

"What about Leonardo's other brother, and father, and the Daimyo?"

"The Daimyo and Leonardo's father were far enough away from the tear in the sky not to be affected, but Leonardo's brother used an end of one of a pair of nunchucks to like anchor himself to the pavement as the other warrior had with his ax. Leonardo's youngest brother then grabbed hold of the competitor he had been fighting for the title of "Battle Nexus Champion."

The Panda's eyes got big and dreamy. "Wow." Then he looked to the Ronin again. "Please continue, Usagi."

"We lost the schemers to the hole in the sky that empty part between worlds. Then the Daimyo closed the rift with his, by then, returned weapon, and we fell to the pavement together. The opponent of Leonardo's brother attempted to take him from behind, but it did not end well for him."

"Why not?"

Usagi smiled. "As he was attempting to sneak attack his opponent, Michelangelo was trying to free his weapon from the pavement. He managed this, and the nunchuck end flew up and into the other warrior's head behind him, stunning the dishonorable competitor."

Tomoe Ame glared and muttered to herself, "Oh, come now …"

The panda cub grinned. "So, he won?"

"Yes, Leonardo's youngest brother won the Battle Nexus Tournament just as his father had before him and their father's sensei had some time before that."

"Wow, great story Usagi." The panda stood up from his seat with a wide grin and spread his hands and arms. "Of course, I do not believe it, but 'good story' just the same."

LOL! What do you think?

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes