How's everybody doing after that LAST chapter? Y'all good? Hopefully this will help some.

Happy Halloween, everyone! Enjoy!

April 16, 2012

The moon rose over an abandoned cathedral in the East Village. A lithe shadow snuck out of the hole behind the defunct clock on the face of the old church. Several smaller shadows followed.

Inside, a man clad in silver armor sat upon a throne. Before him stood a pale man with dark hair, wearing a suit.

"It has been a month, but we can deny it no longer - there are Hamatos in New York." The man in silver grunted. "I have no doubt that Hamato Yoshi is their leader."

The man in the suit adjusted his sleeve. "The Kraang have no knowledge as to if the ones known to Kraang as the Turtles are part of the group known to the Shredder as the Hamatos, but the ones known as the Turtles appear to Kraang to have specialized training."

"Splinter's disciples are… turtles?" No one could see what was left of Shredder's eyebrow quirk underneath his helmet.

"The ones known as the Turtles have taken something important from Kraang. Kraang knows the one known as Shredder sees the clan of Turtles, the Hamatos, as adversaries. Does Shredder want to form, an alliance, with Kraang?"

Shredder rose from his throne, moving to stand in front of the man in the suit. "To take down Splinter?" He extended his arm to shake. "Absolutely I do."

"Good. The ones known as Splinter and the Turtles are yours. All Kraang wants is the girl… known as April O'Neil."

xXx

The New York City streets were quiet… except for the four turtles chasing the giant plant mutant.

"I CAN'T believe you dropped the bottle of Kraang goop on somebody, Leo!" Raph puffed as he chased the mutant.

"ME?" Leo shouted. "Who knocked into me while he was messing around with Mikey?"

Donnie ran in between the sparring brothers. "Guys! We can argue about this later! Right now, we have to think of a plan. Leo, when you sliced off one of it's tendrils, I saw it grow back. I think this mutant regenerates! It's not gonna go down easy." Everyone slowed as the plant-man they were chasing turned down a dead end alley.

"FINALLY!" Raph grinned, swinging out his sai. "Time to go weed-whacking!" He moved to turn the corner before he was roughly grabbed by the shoulder.

"Hang on, Raph." Leo spun the red turtle to face him. "We're not going in blind against a 12 foot regenerating mutant."

Raph growled, crossing his arms. "Fine. What's your plan, then?"

Leo scanned the area above them. He pointed. "We scale the building, attack him from above; tangle him in the clothesline." Raph shook his head.

"That'll take too long. If we don't stop this thing now, innocent people are gonna get hurt!"

"Then stop arguing and let's go get him!"

Mikey and Donnie exchanged a weary glance as the boys scaled the building's fire escape. Fights like this had been commonplace amongst all of them over the past month. It was getting old.

By the time the turtles were in position, the plant-mutant had escaped. Leo kicked a loose bit of gravel, whirling on his younger brother.

"What is WITH you lately? It's like you've been questioning every move I make as a leader! If we hadn't wasted time arguing, we'd have our guy already!"

"Some leader," Raph scoffed. "I didn't vote for ya." Donnie could see the direction this fight was going. He pulled Mikey back further onto the rooftop to give the other boys room to duke it out.

Leo stabbed his finger at the red turtle. "No, you didn't! Since I'm the oldest, I'm the one who stepped up. I'm the one who makes the plans! I'm the one who takes responsibility for when things go wrong!"

"Like you did when April was taken?" Raph muttered.

Everyone froze. Even the pigeon who had been sitting on the ledge flew away. The next time Leo spoke, it was low and dangerous.

"You think you could be a better leader, Raphael? Fine. Team's yours." He stalked off, leaping onto the next roof. "Don't wait up for me."

Nobody spoke for several minutes, still trying to comprehend what just happened.

"That wasn't cool, Raph." Mikey said softly.

Raph sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah. I shouldnt've said that. That's no way to win a fight. I'll apologize when we get back." He turned to the others. "Admit it, though- things've been weird for all of us this past month. We've all been fighting, even Red. Donnie, what excuse did April give for not coming on the science field trip this time?

"...cramps." The lanky turtle muttered.

Mikey wrinkled his face. "I don't think-" He shook his head. He'd come back to that later. "Anyway… what're we gonna do about Snakeweed?" He shrunk into his shell a little at the stares from Raph and Donnie.

"Who?" Raph asked, wearily.

"...Snakeweed?" Mikey squeaked. "H-he's slippery like a snake, but looks like a weed. Snakeweed."

Raph sighed. "Fine. Let's look for Snakeweed a bit longer. If we can't find 'im, we'll leave an anonymous tip for the police. Let's go, guys."

xXx

"AARGHH!" Leo screamed, punching the ledge of the rooftop he'd run off to. He shook his hand, wincing because he hadn't properly braced his hand for the punch. That's what happens when you punch things in anger. He growled to himself. The boy stiffened as he heard footsteps behind him. He spun around, sliding his third eyelid into place and unsheathing his katanas. A group of hooded ninjas also withdrew their weapons.

"Wait, other ninjas in New York?" Leo took in the foot symbol on their headbands. He smirked. "Just gonna warn you guys - you chose a lousy time to pick a fight."

Leo dodged their attacks, defeating all seven ninjas with ease. He sighed. The boy was grateful for the excuse to fight something, yet perturbed at the thought of another clan of ninjas wandering around the city. He'd have to let Splinter know whenever he ended up back home.

THUD.

Another masked figure landed atop the billboard above Leo. He squinted, the figure hidden in shadow. They flipped off the billboard, landing silently in front of the boy. His eyes widened. This ninja… was a girl. A cute girl at that. She looked completely different from April. This girl had amber eyes and black hair with a blonde undercut. Her hair was styled in an angled bob with long strands framing her face, which was mostly hidden by The silver of her armor glinted in the street lights as she shifted her weight.

"Not bad, turtle boy." She practically purred. Leo felt blood rush to his cheeks.

"Uh… t-thanks?" He stammered.

The kunoichi stepped towards him. "If you're one of Splinter's boys, you might even be a challenge."

Leo growled, raising his guard. "Who are you?" She stopped.

"Someone you shouldn't underestimate."

The girl sprung into action. She threw a handful of blinding powder at an unsuspecting Leo. The powder disoriented him, causing him to cough and his vision to blur. The kunoichi launched a kick at Leo's plastron. He fell on his shell, barely still on the roof. The boy grunted at the girl leveled a short katana at his neck. He blushed again as she removed her face guard.

"Hm. Guess not," She smirked. She sheathed her short katana, removing her knee from his chest. She turned to leave.

Leo sat up. The movement caused him to cough profusely. "Hey! I-I didn't catch your name!"

The kunoichi stopped, glancing over her shoulder. "I didn't throw it. See you around!" She flipped off into the night.

I had planned to do all of New Girl in Town in one chapter, but if I did that, it would be somewhere around 5,000 words :) So I'm going to break it out into several parts. As of now, I have up to 3 outlined, but I'm not even halfway done. This arc is chalk-full of plot! I AM SO EXCITED FOR WHERE THINGS ARE HEADING!

If any of you have prayed for my motivation/ inspiration, GOD ANSWERS PRAYER! I have just been CRANKING out new chapters! I want to thank everyone who's read OUADN and those who have reviewed (especially Frozenwolfheart22 ;) ). It's those things that keep the motivation going. I mainly write stories that I'd want to read myself, but it's also for YOU GUYS! Thanks for everything.

Hope to see y'all again soon. Until then... STAY CREATIVE!