Disclaimer: I don't own them just like I don't own Cheerios. Eye of the Tiger isn't mine and I swear I'm not making any money. Does anybody find it odd how everything is copyrighted now adays?

A/N: I figured I'd give you guys another chapter seeing as I'm going off to law enforcement camp a.k.a. voluntary boot camp for the week.

Pacphys- Ah yes everybody seems to hold great animosity towards Cobart. Lol I know he's evil but wait till you see him a few chapters from now! Chibi Rose Angel asked em to bring Kevin's sister back And I was board during a track meet so out came the notebook and the scene was written before I knew it. Thanks for reviewing!

Lunar-ninja- Yes Mikey named the green men… he was puzzled over what to name the kids though. He went in the fridge for some munchies and low and behold there sat Tab and Coke… hence the names Tabba and Cokey… Mike is such a dork sometimes but we gotta love him! Oh lo siento! I wrote something twice? Sorry I beta my own stuff and I had typed that chapter without reading it to my sister so my beta job wasn't all that great. Sorry! Yes what Cobart meant by 'kiddies' was that they were still wet behind the ears as far as their training went. He was being a bit of a jerk. Thanks for the review!

Chibi Rose Angel- You noticed they never have Leo Mike interactions too? Personally I think it would be a hoot! As for Kevin and his sister I had to bring him back for you… but you won't see him again until the end of the story… that scene wasn't planned but you gave me the inspiration so out it came! The idea for the pool game came from my friend trying to teach me at youth group one night. I suck at any game that has anything to do with balls. Sequel? Yes, I saw the Daredevil movie and it gave me a ton of new ideas that I can't fit in this story so yes sequel. (Plus the whole fact that I'm a sucker for sequels.) Thanks for reviewing!

Evening practice was over and the boys were free to do as they wanted. Mike and Leo opted to stay outside and watch the sun set. Don all but raced for his computer saying that he had work to do.

Earlier during the day he had tapped into an internet account so now he had access to the web. In no time at all he had logged on and was searching for Kevin's ICQ number. He hoped he had one. After all it was the twenty first century. He was quite relieved when he found his number.

"Hey it's Donatello. I wanted to ask you a favor." He typed and waited for a response. It came back moments later and was as much as he expected.

"You guys follow me everywhere don't you? Why'd you guys skip off all a sudden?"

Don chuckled.

"I think Splinter thought Raph needed a change of scenery."

"So what do you need?"

"A Braille label maker. I read about it on the net and thought it might be useful. I'll have the money for you when we get back… which is who knows when."

"Yeah sure and tell Mike that the watch he ordered is in. so how have you guys been?"

Once again Don laughed.

"Raph spent all yesterday pretending to be an Army Ranger."

"Do I even want to know?"

Raph had found his way to the basement once again. It was a little easier this time. Once down there he put down his bo and searched around for the rack and a stick. He set up the balls but almost immediately found a problem. How was he going to tell the cue ball from all the other balls? It wasn't like he could put a sticker or anything on it. It would interfere with the roll of the ball.

Raph slowly walked around the table running his hand along the sides. He recalled everything he had done in the woods to get him home, his memory, the sunshine, wind, the birds. He couldn't use any of it. Then there was that gross Home Depot smell. That was it! Smell, he could rub the ball in something so he could tell which was which. Raph grabbed his bo and made his way back up to the kitchen.

As he approached the dining room he could hear the tap tap tap of Don's keyboard.

"Hey Don, do you know if we brought any spices or anything?"

"Um yeah. I think Mike put them away in the drawer to the right of the stove."

"Thanks."

"Sure thing." Don watched Raph walk away.

Raph found the kitchen fairly quick. He started at the door and walked around the perimeter of the room until he found the stove range. He backed up a bit and found the drawer. Rooting around inside, he opened every bottle and took a sniff until he found something he could use.

Don watched as Raph came back out of the kitchen fifteen minutes later with a bottle of root beer extract in his hand. Without a word he descended back into the cellar. Raph was getting weirder by the day.

Down in the basement Raph carefully rubbed some of the root beer extract onto the cue ball. He had no idea why Mike would bring something as pointless as root beer extract with them but he wasn't going to question it.

He lined the cue ball up with the rest of the rack and took a shot. He heard the balls scatter, which was always a good thing.

Ever so slowly he worked his way around the table and found each ball. He gently rested his hand on it so as not to move it. Placing a finger where the ball was he'd pick it up and take a sniff. He had an idea where the cue ball would be but he wanted to make sure. On the forth ball he hit the jackpot. He laid his stick right next to it so he could find it again and proceeded to locate the other balls. He tried to get an image of where they were in his head before going back to his stick and the cue ball. He lined up and took a hit. The cue ball hit something, he knew that. There was a soft plunk as a ball fell into a pocket and Raph grinned. It wasn't your average game of pool but it worked.

He must have been working on the game for two or three hours because he heard someone descending the stairs.

"I thought you died or somethin down here bro." Mike froze halfway down the stairs when he noticed Raph at the table. Half the balls were gone and he was lining up to take another shot. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Practicing so I can beat your sorry shell," Raph turned and smirked.

Mike put a hand on his plastron.

"Moi? I'll have you know Raphy boy, you can not beat perfection." Mike descended the rest of the steps and took a seat on one of the stools. "You been hitting most of them?"

"Most. It's getting harder now that there aren't so many balls on the table."

Raph took his shot and missed.

"Well you may not be hitting them but you're darn close."

Raph gave a grin. He began his walk around the table and Mike sat slightly puzzled.

"What the heck are you doing?"

"How did you think I was managing to play pool?"

"I donno but if you start licking them though I'm high tailing it out of here."

Raph chuckled.

"I highly doubt you came down here to watch me play pool."

"No, but it's quite entertaining now that I'm down here. I'm playing hide and go seek with Cokey. She's one sneaky little bugger. I was outside relaxing on the porch and she came up and slapped me. We were playing tag but she's faster than me so now we're playing hide and go seek."

The basement door creaked open and a mewing could be heard.

"Don't tell me you taught her how to open doors."

"No I don't think I did." Mike crept over to the stairs when Cokey didn't come down. "Aw Raph. She's afraid to come down. She's sitting at the top of the stairs looking so innocent!"

"Yeah real innocent." Don's voice filtered through the open doorway. "She tried to chew up my computer cords. Can you just keep her with you Mike?"

Cokey caught sight of Mike at the bottom of the stairs and decided to make her way down to him. She took one step at a time every so slowly. Her rump would thump onto each step as she bumped her way down to the bottom.

She galloped over to Mike and he gave her a handful of Cheerios. He ruffled her fur and spoke to her playfully.

"You're such a good girl! Yeah! Good girl!"

In turn she reared up and slapped him on the shell with a front paw that sent him on his stomach. They wrestled around on the floor, Mike making a lot of the same noises as Cokey.

"You know once she gets bigger she'll be able to rip you apart when you play a game like that."

"But she's a kid. You gottta play games like that when you're a kid." Cokey smacked Mike again and jumped on his shell. "Alright easy there Kido. You jump much harder and you'll crack my shell."

Raph crept down the stairs just as he had done the morning before. He tapped his bo softly from side to side. He found that if he slid it across the wooden floor it made too much noise.

He couldn't help but think how he was turning into Leo. He had gotten up just after Leo left for his morning run. Getting up early to go to extra practice wasn't Raph's style but he knew he needed it.

Raph got to the ground floor and almost immediately noticed the mess. His bo brushed across pillows and a path that was once clear to him was now covered in odds and ends.

"Either Cokey got out or we were robbed." Raph bent down and picked up a pillow. The stuffing was coming out. Raph could only imagine what the couch looked like. Raph righted a side table in his path and continued to take in the damage done to the room. Papers under his feet, was Don's lap top trashed? He stepped in something gross that only Cokey could produce and right away his exploration of the room was done.

"Gross! Mike needs to get his pet house trained." He scraped his foot against the floor boards and continued on his way outside.

He felt better today. He had his sais to work with and he no longer had to use the bo. Ten minutes into his kata Raph straightened up and put his sais away.

"Guess what Master Splinter."

Splinter silently chuckled.

"What?"

Raph grinned wider once he knew he had guess right.

"I heard you."

It wasn't really Splinter he had heard at first. It was the step squeaking, but the slightly raspy breathing was a dead give away.

"Yes, but are you fast enough to avoid my walking stick?"

Raph took his sais out and spun them.

"Well let's see."

Raph concentrated just as he had in the woods two days before. He felt the whoosh of air and reacted. He was able to block three or four strikes before he started to get behind and Splinter would land a hit. He was totally defenseless to any stabs Splinter made his way but he was getting better at the side strikes.

As they worked Don, Mike, and Leo slowly filed out into the yard. They stood and waited, not making a sound as their brother and Sensei sparred. Leo kifed Raph's bo and waited for a cue from Splinter. When he got it he joined in the fight. Don too joined in when he noticed Raph was handling the both of them just fine. The strikes against Raph were slow and deliberate but he managed to block most of them.

"Have your feet grown from the grown Raphael? You are like a tree, not moving at all."

"Where do I move to?" Raph asked. He noticed he wasn't moving but to be honest how could he? "What if I run into you. Or one of the other two bozos who decided to join in."

"Use their weapon strikes to guide you. Their weapons are useless to protect them if they are not between them and the enemy."

Raph stuck both sais he had been using to catch the blows back in his belt and used his hands to block. He grabbed hold of the first bo that hit the palm of his hand and pried it upwards causing the opposite end to go down. He used the momentum from the move to pole vault up and over his attackers head. Don's hands were pried loose from his bo when Raph went over his head. Raph landed with his injured leg out and his other foot beneath him. With Don's bo held close to his carapace he spun in a circle and knocked Don off his feet.

"Pretty fly for a blind guy." Mike joked in the background. Raph chuckled.

He was proud of himself. Mike was right. That wasn't half bad. Sure everyone that was sparring with him was going easy on him, but he was fairly sure whoever he knocked off their feet was surprised.

"Here's your bo back," Leo traded Raph for Don's bo.

"I trust that this means you'll be up to some sparring today Raphael?"

"I'll never know if I never try Sensei."

"Good, Michaelangelo if you please would go get your stereo."

Mikey didn't ask questions. He ran off to his and Don's room, unplugged his stereo and grabbed a few cds. If they got to listen to music during practice it was alright by him.

"What do you know about the Spartans of ancient Greece?" Splinter asked once his sons were kneeling in front of him.

Leo spoke up first, recognizing the question as a history lesson and knowing that they should go down the line and give a fact.

"The Spartans were a war like city state known far and wide for their fighting skills."

"Their archenemies were the Athenians, a peace loving race who, unlike the Spartans, indulged in learning art, astronomy, and literature." Don stated

"They are the things nightmares are made of." Mikey spoke in a spooky voice, but quickly added, "And they had some of the best war moves around." After a hard look from Master Splinter.

"They killed their babies if they weren't perfect, sent their kids off to boot camp to starve and be beaten at age seven and were forced to stay in the army until age sixty."

"Raph have you been listening to Master Splinter?" Mikey asked after Raph took his turn. Just a little, but those guys make me mad. They treated their kids like dogs to be trained and ordered around."

"This may be true, but they were still great warriors. There is one thing you were wrong about though Donatello. The Spartans did participate in one kind of art. They believed that dancing improved balance and gracefulness when fighting, so today during practice we shall do as the Spartans did."

Splinter nodded to Michaelangelo who jumped up and hit the play button on his CD player.

Dun Da Da Dun Da Da Dun Da Da Dun Da Da Dun A Bass guitar and a piano laid out the background music. It was soon followed bay a cymbal. Bum Bum Bah Bum Ba Bah Bum Ba Bah Buuum.

Do a kata in rhythm with the music. Let the drums guide you.

The boys grinned as they recognized the song as Eye of the Tiger.

"What kata Sensei?"

"Hmm, how about the Naifun-chin?"

The four nodded and as the leader singer began they started their kata.

The moved perfectly in time with the music until another song broke in.

"Hey mike, am I correct in thinking that a song should make it all the way through to the end before another song cuts in?"

"Yeah well it's a burnt CD and I discovered Don's mixer and went to town with it."

"Change to the rhythm of the music my sons."

Bump de bump duh bump de de bump duh.

Their moves became sharp and crisp like a well oiled machine they worked through a few katas. After they got a hang of changing with the music Splinter ordered them to spar.

It was like a intricate dance. The more one looked at it the more beautiful it became. Each turtle almost became untouchable. Strike after strike would be parried with a block perfectly in time with the music. Even Raph was doing well much to his surprise. He could hear the music and imagine what Don would do. Most of the time he was right. Raph used his bo for fear of hurting Don with his sais.

As the last song played out Splinter called a halt to the sparring.

"You did well today my sons. Dismissed

"Hai Sensei." They all bowed and left.

"So why did Raphael suddenly decide to get up off his lazy shell?" Mike asked Raph as they walked back to the house.

"I wasn't about to have you show me up." Raph grinned.

They strolled into the kitchen and Mikey pulled out two glasses from the cupboard.

"Cup."

Raph ran his hand down Mike's arm and found his hand to take the cup from him.

"You picking up new tricks?"

"You wouldn't believe how long it took me to figure that out."

Raph ran his hand along the counter and turned on the tap.

Mike went to the back door and called for Cokey.

"So is that mess she made in the living room cleaned up yet?"

Mike snorted.

"Far from it. I'm waiting for Master Splinter to come in and flip a lid. Cokey is hiding outside."

Mike picked up Cokey's water bowl and filled it at the sink.

"Mike, do that again."

"Do what again?"

"That water, do it again." Mike gave Raph an odd look but spilled out the water and filled the bowl again. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what? Raph I think you're going off your rocker."

"No, the water, when you fill it up the sound is different when it gets closer to the top. Do it again." Mike sighed but filled up the bowl again. "There, is it close to the top?"

"It's about three fourths."

Mikey set down that water when Cokey started to paw at his leg.

"I noticed the same thing happen when I was going upstairs last night but I didn't think about it too much."

Don walked in and opened the fridge.

"Think about what?"

"The pitch of something getting higher when you reach the top like stairs and filling up glasses."

"It's because of the vibrations."

"Wha?"

"Okay it's like this." Don took a glass from the cupboard and set it on the table.

Everything gives off vibrations. When your foot falls on a stair it sends vibrations to the surrounding walls and bounces back enabling us to hear. The same with the glass of water. Let's take the glass as our example. The vibrations look for an exit from the cup, which is the top. We only hear the sound when the vibrations spill out of the top and fill the air. When you first start to fill the glass the vibrations have farther to travel till they reach the air and they slow down. That creates the lower pitch." He moved his hand slowly up the side of the glass to motion what he was talking about. "When they get closer to the top they have less space to drop and bounce out almost immediately, speeding them up and creating a higher pitched noise. This happens with a lot of things, stairs, alley ways. Why'd you ask?"

Mike tried to share a look with Raph who just cocked an eye ridge.

"We didn't ask, but you think I can use it to my advantage?"

"Most definitely." Don nodded. "You can use it to hear how far up on a sword you struck, when things are hollow, how far away your opponent is in an alley. Come to think of it, it sounds like a pretty good idea. It' a wonder I didn't think about it before.

"Okay, that was weird." Mike muttered as he fixed Cokey's breakfast.

"What are you feeding her?" Don asked.

"Her breakfast. She doesn't like hotdogs so I give her lettuce and cheerios."

"You now I've been researching stuff about her and I think she's a primate of sorts. I think she evolved more than a chimp or ape but not enough to be considered a Homo sapian. Maybe her species missed a step in the evolutionary process because they were better able to survive. All the clues point to that theory.

Mike paused in place for a moment then waved a hand in Don's direction.

"Yeah whatever Don."