Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Though I can't help but look down every sewer manhole when I pass them.

A/N: Okay…time reference…last chapter was Christmas…so….I'd say this is about February.

-

Lona sighed tiredly and plopped down on the floor after another session with Mikey.

"You're gonna cramp up if you don't warm down," Mikey warned, coming up next to her.

Lona glared at him. "You're lucky I even have the strength to talk to you," she said darkly. "How can you guys do this?"

"Practice," Mikey answered. "It's a way of life for us." He smiled at her. "You've been doing extremely well, actually. I'll have a surprise for you tomorrow."

Lona rolled her eyes. "Can't wait."

Mikey extended a hand to her and pulled her to her feet.

-

"How was practice?" Leo inquired as Lona passed him in the hall. Lona answered his question with a huge yawn and stalked past him.

"What's with her?" Leo asked Mikey as he came out of the dojo.

"She's tired," Mikey said simply. "You remember how we all felt when we started our training."

Leo smiled. "Yeah, my legs felt like Jell-O for a month."

Mikey shook his head. "And if that was you bro, think of how the rest of us felt!"

Leo laughed. "I guess I can understand where she's coming from."

-

Lona entered the living room and plopped down on the couch in between Raph and Don. Leo and Mike soon joined them in their couch potato-ing. When a commercial came on, Mike lightly tapped Don on the shoulder. "Can I talk to you in the kitchen?" Mike asked.

Don nodded, and followed Mikey into the kitchen. Lona gave a confused look to Leo. "What's going on with them?" she asked.

Leo shrugged. "I don't know," he said, slightly put off that he hadn't been informed of whatever Mikey and Don were planning. "Maybe a prank?"

Raph gave Leo a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about look. "Mikey pulling a prank I can see," he said. "But Donnie!? Someone call the weather channel. Hell's freezing over."

"Very funny Raph," Leo said dryly.

"He has a point," Lona said. "I really can't see Donnie pulling a prank unless you really pissed him off." Lona was silent for a moment. "Did you?" she asked curiously.

"No!" Leo said, holding his hands up. "I didn't do anything to him. Raph?"

Raph merely shook his head.

Mikey poked his head out of the kitchen. "Lona?"

"Yeah?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Green."

"Thanks."

"What in the world are they doing in there, then?" Lona wondered out loud. The other two could only guess.

-

The next day, Lona reported to the dojo to watch the brothers practice as she had done every morning since Christmas. Her own lessons would take place afterwards, but she liked to watch.

Mikey had been paired against Donnie, as usual. Sometimes he would be paired against Leo or Raph, but he was almost always paired with Donnie. Mike himself thought it had something to do with him and Don being the ones with weapons without blades, but who knew Master Splinter's reasons for anything.

As Mikey spun half way to avoid a kick from Don, he caught sight of Lona settling herself in the corner just as she did every morning. He grinned to himself and began to get distracted, leaving an opening for Don who whacked him in the side with his bo.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Stay focused, Mikey," Don said, looking for another opening. Mikey frowned. No way was he going to get hit again with Lona watching. He leapt at Don, swinging his 'chucks, but again being blocked with the bo.

As Mikey waited for a counter attack from his brother, he smiled to himself. He couldn't wait to show Lona his surprise for her after practice.

Lona winced as Don knelt and swept his bo under Mikey's feet, knocking him down onto his shell. As Master Splinter called the end of practice, Lona walked over to where Mikey lay. "You okay?" she asked, extending a hand to him. He took it, and she pulled him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mikey said, his fall not hampering his always high spirits. "You ready for your lesson?"

"Mmhmm…." Lona said distractedly, watching the others leave the room.

"Good," Mikey said happily. "'Cause I got a great surprise for you today."

Lona snapped back to attention and remembered Mikey had told her he would have a surprise for her today. She looked around cautiously, scanning carefully for any buckets of water balanced on doorways and things of this nature. Nothing. All she saw was Donatello standing in the corner…

Lona did a double take. No one ever stayed for her and Mikey's lessons except occasionally Master Splinter.

While Mikey set up the usual things for their lesson, mats, punching pads, and other things, Lona walked over to Don who was still standing in the corner.

"Donnie…what are you staying for?"

Don looked uncomfortable. "No reason…"

Everybody knew Donatello wasn't all that great at keeping secrets. Lona smiled playfully at him. "C'mon….there's gotta be a reason…"

"Leave him alone, Lona," Mikey said, coming up to her. Don looked very relieved. "He's part of the surprise." Lona shot another curious look at Don, then followed Mikey to start the basic warm-ups.

"When do I get it?" Lona asked as she performed her beginner's katas.

"At the end of practice," Mikey said, immediately falling into sensei mode. "Now, don't get distracted. Upper punch! Low punch! High block! Low block! Spin kick!"

Lona fell into the rhythm easily, having done the same katas for beginners for a few months over and over again. They would always warm up with the same katas, and every once in a while Mikey would pile new ones on for her, which helped her practice the new moves he and Master Splinter taught her.

"Good," Mikey said as she finished ten of her katas perfectly. There were ten more to go, and she began to fall into the stance for the next one when Mikey stopped her.

"Okay," he said. "That was great. You really are getting better. Now for the surprise." He pointed at the ground. "Sit."

Lona knelt in the meditation position, a confused look on her face as Mikey held a whispered conversation with Donnie. Soon Don left the room, and Mikey came back to kneel in front of Lona.

"So…what is it?" she asked curiously.

Mikey chuckled and imitated Master Splinter. "Patience, young grasshopper," he said, dodging a swat from Lona. "Close your eyes."

Lona did, and heard someone – presumably Donnie – enter the room.

"Open your eyes," Mikey ordered.

Lona opened her eyes, and saw nothing, except Don and Mikey standing side by side, huge grins on their faces. Mike was holding something behind his back, as was Donnie.

Still holding the somethings behind their backs, hiddenby their shells, Mikey knelt once more in front of Lona, Donnie next to him.

"Since you've been doing extremely well in your lessons, we thought it might be time to take it up a level," Mikey started. "Around this point in our lessons when we were younger, we were given our weapons."

Lona's eyes widened, she could see where this was going.

"We watched your mannerisms both in and out of your lessons to see what would be right for you," Mikey continued. "So, Lona, I present to you, your weapon."

He pulled the something out from behind his shell. It was a bo staff, identical to Donnie's, except it was wrapped in green in the middle instead of purple and had her name carved into it at the bottom.

Lona wasn't exactly sure what to say. "Th-thank you…" she said.

Mikey grinned. "There's more," he said.

Lona stared. "More? More what?"

Mikey motioned to Don, and he revealed what he was hiding behind his back. In his hands, was a bandanna identical to theirs, except that it too was green.

Lona took it from him and looked at it. "I…might feel a little silly wearing this," she admitted.

Mikey just shrugged. "Don't worry about it, we all did at first. You get used to it. And you can just wear it when you start going out with us and stuff. You don't have to wear it all the time like we do, but it's a symbolism of a ninja."

"There's more to tell you." Donnie said.

Lona nodded at Mikey, an indication to start telling.

"So…since I'm more of a nunchuck expert, you're gonna have two senseis now. I'm gonna be your teacher for the basics, but Don will teach you the proper way to wield the weapon, how to attack, all that fun stuff." He said.

Lona nodded, still staring at the weapon in her lap.

Mike and Don looked at each other. "We're done for today," Mike said. "And you are now officially part of the family." At Lona's confused look, he rushed to explain. "I mean, Master Splinter already thinks of you as his adopted daughter, you're like a sister to everyone else but me…so were part of the family anyway. But when I say officially…I mean, uh, well, you're like a ninja in training. Our way of life won't seem so strange to you anymore, because it's your way of life too. Get it?"

Lona nodded, and started to smile. She waited until Don left the room, then leapt on Mikey, giving him a huge hug. "You're a great teacher," she whispered. She got off him and left the room, carrying her new weapon and bandanna.

-

When dinnertime came, Lona took her usual place in between Mikey and Master Splinter. All the chairs were filled except for Mikey's, who was at the moment in the kitchen preparing the food.

Lona looked down at the table and wondered if Mikey had said anything to anyone except Don about what had taken place in the dojo that morning. She hoped he hadn't, Lona had never liked excessive amounts of attention on her.

As Mikey came out, Lona noticed the plate he was carrying contained most of her favorite foods. He set it down in the middle of the table, and before he took his place next to Lona and Donnie, he bent down and whispered something in Master Splinter's ear. The old rat looked pleased, then nodded.

He better not be doing what I think he's doing, Lona thought to herself as Mikey sat, looking pleased with himself.

Master Splinter rose and called everybody's attention. Oh no! He did!

"I have just heard some important news," Splinter started.

Damn! Lona shyly kept her eyes on the fried chicken.

"Lona has completed the first stage of her training and has received her weapon," Splinter said.

Lona kept her eyes down and reached for a drumstick but smiled as Leo and Raph congratulated her. Mike and Don just smiled, since they knew already. Lona really was proud of herself.

"What is it?" Raph asked curiously.

Lona looked up, her mouth full of chicken. She swallowed, then said, "What's what?"

Raph rolled his eyes. "Your weapon, of course. What is it?"

"Oh, a bo staff." She said proudly.

"Ya know how ta use it yet?" Raph asked.

Now it was Lona's turn to roll her eyes. "No, I just got it today silly."

Raph grunted something and went back to his food.

"Did you get a bandanna too?" Leo asked. Lona nodded. "What color?"

"Green," Lona said.

"Ahh, green," Master Splinter said. "The color of level-headedness. A good choice, Michelangelo."

"Thanks Master Splinter," Mike said, "Donnie helped."

"Is Donnie gonna help you learn how to use it?" Leo asked.

Lona didn't have enough time to swallow, so her 'yes' sounded like "Yessh."

"Lona, do not talk with your mouth full," Splinter chastised.

Lona swallowed and ducked her head to hide a grin. "Sorry Master Splinter," she answered. Yep. Definitely part of the family.

-

Do it."

"No."

"C'mon, please?"

Lona crossed her arms. "Mikey, I said no."

Mikey sighed. "Lona, come on, you can make this one little jump!"

Lona and Mikey were once again standing on the top of an apartment building, Lona standing near the edge. Mikey's 'getting over your fear of heights' course had been helping, but now he had decided to test her.

The building right next to the one Mikey and Lona were standing on was only a good five feet away, however, they were ten stories in the air.

"Lona, just do it! I won't let anything happen to you. If you wanna come on our runs with us soon, you're gonna hafta make bigger jumps than this."

"No Mikey."

"It's only five feet!"

"With hundreds of feet from top to bottom. No thank you." Lona said, being careful not to look down.

"Arg, look!" Mikey flipped over the edge, over the five-foot crack and onto the next building. Then he jumped back.

"See, no biggie," he said. "I can do it."

Lona could have slapped herself. "Mikey, you're a trained ninja. It's different."

"You've been doing good in your lessons."

Lona groaned. "One more time Mikey, you've been studying ninjitsu your whole life. I've only been doing it for a few months! It's totally different."

"Please?"

Lona rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine, but if I die, I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life."

Mikey smiled. "Agreed."

Lona backed up a little bit more and bumped into Mikey. "I hate you," she half joked. Lona took a deep breath and ran up to the edge, planting her feet and starting into what would have been a perfect jump except for the black ice under her feet.

Lona's foot slipped out from under her and she found herself pitching forward into empty space.

-

A/N: Cliffhanger! Cliffhanger! Oh god I've missed these! Okay, enjoy these calm, just-life chapters now, 'cause there's gonna be some major action soon.