His arms draped over the shoulders of two others, a Foot ninja was hurried through the doors of Oroku Saki's dojo.

Saki halted his practice and stood before the man. "Speak!"

The wounded ninja gasped, "Attacked… in tunnel. They came too close too fast for… ugh… Mask to get off many arrows." He sagged between the supports of his two fellows. "Woke up near a manhole… nowhere near the place we entered the sewers. The others were there; they were all dead…"

Saki's brow furrowed. "And Mask?"

"He wasn't… anywhere. Master, I need… help…" The ninja began to writhe slightly; he'd gained some serious stab wounds.

"Take him away," ordered Saki. Turning to a couple of ninja who stood nearby, he barked, "Get me a team of trackers! I expect the Turtles took him down to wherever they're hiding to figure out what he is. This is our chance to find them, and destroy them!"

"That's odd - my tracker is indicating Mask is above ground right now… about 300 yards away from here." The leader of the twelve ninja studied the screen on the small device he was holding.

"So… d'you think he was dumped at a different manhole when they were finished with him, Demon?" theorized one of his comrades, using his code name.

"Or they've been tricking us all along into thinking their hideout is underground," mused the leader. "Either way, his communicator is up ahead."

They made one last turn and found themselves facing a dead-end alley lined with dumpsters. "Okay. Half of you check the walls for hidden entrances. The rest, help me search the dumpsters for his body."

Mask lay beneath the lid of the first dumpster, tensing himself for action. When were they going to open the accursed lid? The heat of the decomposing garbage was stifling, to say nothing of the smell… Light suddenly poured in, accompanied by a grinding creak as the lid was lifted high.

The Foot ninja leader bent to peer in… and almost immediately his head snapped back. He fell to the concrete as Mask grabbed the edge of the dumpster and jumped out.

"Mask!" exclaimed one of the dumpster-checking party, thinking the brown turtle had only kicked out in case they were someone else. This misconception was quickly remedied as Mask's palm connected squarely with his nose.

"Don't be upset; we came as quickly as we could…" Demon got up and studied Mask. "Wait… where's your uniform?"

Mask aimed another kick. "If I had my way, it would be stuffed down your throat. Saki - that is, the Shredder, is a liar… I'm not having anything more to do with his corrupt gang!"

"Is that so?" The leader easily stopped his kick this time. "So you know about the Shredder and you're defecting?" He sent a series of punches. "Poor choice, Mask!"

Mask sat down hard, clutching his stomach and gasping for air. He didn't have the years of training the Foot ninja had…

The eleven standing ninja closed in around Mask. Demon smirked as he drew his ninja-to. "Poor choice indeed…"

BANG! BANG!

The lids of the other two dumpsters were flung open. Demon looked up just in time for his vision to be filled with a huge green foot… For the second time, he hit the pavement hard.

Michelangelo twirled his nunchaku a few times, grinning slightly. "You OKdown there, shellboy?"

Mask winked from his position on the ground. "I really have a lot to learn, don't I?"

The orange-masked turtle laughed. "Just keep your head down! Hyaaaah!"

EPILOGUE

"Nice block, Mask! Here, try again!"

Crack!

The brown turtle fell to the floor but got up, grinning. "Heh, wasn't fast enough that time. Are you sure you're OK doing this, Leo?"

"For the thousandth time, yes! Don't worry about it!" sighed the blue-masked turtle. "I offered, didn't I?"

Splinter nodded. "For you to be self-sufficient in battle is better for the safety of us all. It also gives Leonardo a challenge in his own training, for to teach a skill one must perfect it himself."

Raph elbowed Mikey, grinning. "Finally - a hobby for Leo, eh?"

"I thought ninjitsu already was!" The turtle clad in orange chuckled, then looked toward Mask. "Hey… where are you goin'?"

Mask shouldered his bow and headed for the exit to the sewer tunnels. "I must thank you for letting me live on your couch for the past week… and for the training… and for these." He tugged the tails of his new green skull mask, indicating the extra elbow-and kneepads and green wrappings on his limbs. The only Foot-issue items he'd kept were his crossbelts and weapons. "I remember there was a place I noticed when I was, er… hunting you guys. I could fix it up and live there, out of your way."

Raph approached, shaking his head. "We couldn't kick one of our own into the cold, dark sewers! I'm sure we could find a room for ya…"

"No, you guys are family. Don't make me intrude on that. It's not like I'm gonna be far away, if you still want to be buddies…"

Raph offered his hand. "There's a question about it? No problem, Mask. Just don't be a stranger!"

"Hey, if you want anything upgraded in your new digs, let me know," wafted Don's voice from the direction of his workroom.

"Yeah, and I'm sure Splinter would be glad to have you at any of our training sessions," added Mikey with a smile.

The brown turtle bowed low. "Thanks for everything… my friends." With that, he turned and was soon sploshing up the sewer tunnel.

THE END

All right, time for some end notes. Just to putthis little storyinto perspective.

First, thanks to all who have read and reviewed. This was a fun tale to sketch out, and I'm glad some have enjoyed it.

Though I admit I did have something of a purpose behind this. There are probably countless "5th Turtle" stories, and while I wanted to write one, I wanted it to play out as "realistically" as possible. Hence, Mask being mutated by the same ooze. With any other mutagen, you are less likely to have the same result (humanoid turtle). I tried to make the "meeting the Turtles" story somewhat feasible as well. Mask (Mud at the time) would have no idea about the TMNT vs. Foot conflict, and wouldn't see the need to hide from anyone save normal humans. If the Foot found a turtle similar to their great enemy, it makes sense that Saki would at the very least want to study it. I was also very careful to make Mask's allegiance to Saki a necessity; he joined only because death would be his reward if he chose otherwise. He obviously saw lots of horrible acts perpetrated by his master, but stayed because of respect for Saki's power and skill. (and because death was still an option if he deserted.) This makes his switch to the Turtles' side much more feasible.

The most important TMNT concept (in my opinion) is their family unity. How they work as brothers (and father) is the thing I like best about them. Which is why I never liked Venus - her addition kinda broke up the "family" attitude. Same thing goes for giving the Turtles girlfriends... while some may adore the idea, I think it interrupts the whole "family" concept. So once I introduced Mask to the Turtles, I couldn't have him live in the Lair for that reason. I didn't want him to interfere with the brotherhood. Instead, he gets to live close by and be a family friend, much like Leatherhead, April, etc. Which, I believe, is for the better.

So yeah. That's it. And if any of you bothered to read that long-winded analysis, you're my hero. Have a cookie.