Leatherhead was nowhere in sight when Leo woke early the next morning, sprawled in the same position he'd fallen asleep in. He lay quietly for a moment, assessing his surroundings. Raphael, facedown on a cushion nearby, was just starting to stir... Mikey had fallen asleep in front of his game, still holding the controller. (Someone -- Raph, Leo guessed -- had covered him with an extra blanket.)

Somewhere not too far away, April and Donnie were talking quietly. Leo knew that Donnie had caught some sleep along with the rest of them, or he might have thought Don had worked the whole night through on that mouser project. It wouldn't have been the first time.

No, that wasn't right... Donnie must be talking to Yoshi.

April was gone.

A little more of Leo's brain kicked in as he fought back a wave of sorrow. There would be time to grieve later if Leatherhead was wrong. And if he was right, well... maybe they wouldn't have to grieve at all.

"All right!" Yoshi cheered suddenly, and Leo heard her give Donnie a high-five. "You did it!"

"Well, let's not crow too soon," Donnie cautioned. Leo heard the clank of something metal being set down. "How about a test run? It's time they got up anyways..."

He wouldn't!

Leo sat up and watched in disbelief as a mouser drone came trotting into the living room. It all but wagged its tail at him, then tried to tug the Xbox controller from Mikey's hands.

He would.

"I'm unbeatable," Mikey murmured in his sleep, clutching the controller more tightly. "Invincible, I tell you!"

The mouser tugged harder. Mikey finally popped one eye open and was greeted by a friendly mouser jaw-clack at very close range.

"WAZOWSKI IN CHINA!" He exploded out of the blankets and whipped his nunchucks into twin blurs. "Who let the mouser out!"

"Take it easy, Mikey!" Donnie laughed, walking in with a giggling Yoshi on his heels. With her scar, cyborgish goggle and cast-off clothing, she looked like a costume-party participant who couldn't quite decide whether to be Frankenstein or Cinderella. "We just wanted to make sure his new behavioral programs worked."

"Oh, ha-ha, thank you very much." Mikey kept his nunchucks spinning full tilt, eyeing the drone warily. "I'm so honored you chose me as test subject!"

"Come on, Mikey," Raphael grinned, enjoying the show from his cushion perch. "If anyone could get out of the way quick enough, it'd be you."

"Yeah! I never saw anyone move so fast!" Yoshi sounded genuinely impressed. Respect shone out of her one good eye. "You'll have to play me hockey sometime."

"Oh, yeah?" Mikey puffed up his chest, not entirely placated. "How about right now? I've got a score to settle with you two!"

"I'll pass, thanks." Donnie sat down next to the mouser and retrieved the Xbox controller. The newly docile robot allowed him to poke, prod and even pick up its feet. "I need to check for residual code, make sure this guy isn't going to bite us on a whim."

"Yeesh," Mikey grouched. "'He's reprogrammed, all right, but watch out -- he might still carve a steak out of somebody's backside.' That makes me feel so much safer, Don."

Yoshi ran off only to reappear wearing roller blades and lugging two hockey sticks. "Play you a few rounds before breakfast!" she challenged, swooping round Mikey fluidly as she rapped her stick on the floor.

"I could beat any two of you!" Mikey asserted, grabbed the other stick.

"Big talk for someone who lost just last morning. Give or take fifteen years." Raphael held out his hand for Yoshi's stick. She handed it to him gleefully and darted away to get another. "I'm in."

Mikey leveled his stick at Raphael's chest, pitching his voice to parody Dr. Stockman's. "You're doomed."

X X X

"Come on, Donnie! Give me a hand here, will ya?" Mikey dashed sweat from his brow and tightened his grip on his hockey stick. As if it wasn't bad enough that he was losing for the second time in as many days, his other two brothers had gathered round the open playing area to enjoy his defeat -- Donnie because he could repair and watch, and Leo because meditating through all the noise had proved impossible.

"What's the matter, Mikey? She too much for you?" Donnie, sitting cross-legged on the workshop's outskirts, smirked to himself. Once again, Yoshi's unimpressive physique was proving itself no barometer of her actual abilities. She used the blades like a part of herself, flying across the concrete like a swallow through air. Michaelangelo was rarely, if ever, outclassed athletically, but the skinny redhead had certainly taken him by surprise, working seamlessly with Raph to gain a two-point lead and then maintain it ferociously.

"Hey, gimme a break, Don. She's faster than she looks!"

"It's the dumpster diet," Yoshi joked, spinning in place to demonstrate.

Raph slammed the puck towards Mikey's chalk line. Mikey caught it without an instant to spare, fielding it back with all his strength.

"Whoa! Nice one!" Yoshi backpedaled frantically and managed to just catch the puck, sending it between Mikey's ankles with a triumphant whoop. "Score! Woohoo!"

But victory came at a price. Their chalk line was in front of the mini-lake in back of the hemisphere and, flying backwards as she was, there was absolutely no way to stop in time. Her ankles caught on the low rim and she disappeared with a spectacular splash.

"Hey, does that count as a point?" Mikey asked hopefully, trotting to the accidental "goal" through the newly formed puddles.

"Nah." Raphael came up beside his little brother and clapped him on the back, half-sympathetic and half plain gloating. "I say we beat you fair and square, motormouth."

"Ah, guys?" Leo called, heading off Mikey's protests. "I don't think she can swim with those blades on."

"Oh. Guess not." Mikey peered unenthusiastically into the cold water. "So who's gonna fish her out?"

All and sundry were treated to a second splash as Raph shoved Mikey in, then dusted his hands.

"That answer your question?"