The bouncy beat of pop music lured Leo like a moth to a lamp. He bounded down the lower deck of the ship, completely in his own little world, completely mesmerized by everything around him. He was still amazed he was actually on a real cruise ship, vacationing on the Bahamas without any parental supervision. It felt too good to be true! Best of all, he was about to try a sport he'd never even heard of. What could go wrong?

"Now where, oh where, is that shuffleboarding area..." He hummed, tapping his chin in thought. He rechecked the map, perking up. "Aha! On the East side of the bow...whatever that is. No problem." He strolled by a group of teens, waving at them ecstatically. "Heya fellas, looking sharp!" He exclaimed with awkward finger guns; as though he was hoping they would greet him with friendly smiles or maybe a high five.

The teenagers stared at him strangely, then turned back to their cell phones, glued to their screens.

"Ugh, that kid looks like spinach," One girl who had bothered to look at Leo said with a hushed whisper to her irritated friend.

"Don't make eye contact, Vanessa," whispered the friend, who narrowed his eyes at Leo suspiciously.

They were all surrounded by some weird yellow and red balloons. 'Parasailing' apparently.

"Might check that out later," He said to himself. "But first..." He bounded towards the far east end. In front there was a huge sign indicating that this was the shuffleboarding center—but it wasn't at all what he expected. It appeared to be a plain court with a scoring area on the floors. Multi colored discs were scattered about and controlled by paddles. The strangest part however, was who was playing the game.

It was a bunch of old people. Wrinkly, old prunes standing around, chatting, and enjoying each other's company. He was surrounded.

"Ummm...am I in the wrong place?" Leo cocked his head to one side. This gave him serious deja vu to the time Donnie and he dressed as old ladies. Three times.

'I am not going back to being Patty. Not on this vacation.'

An elderly woman with large spectacles and her grey hair tied in a bun approached him. "Are you here to play shuffleboard with us, young man? We haven't had a new member in a long time."

Leo hesitated. "I don't know..." He didn't love saying no to a sweet old lady, but at the same time shuffleboard looked...

An old man wearing a sweater vest slowly placed a puck on the board, his joints looking ready to pop if he made too much movement.

Well, boring.

"Mabel made a lemon meringue pie." She pointed to another old lady. "We'd love to have you." She looked serious, almost as though she was pleading behind her wrinkles.

The promise of free food won him over instantly. "Count me in!" He nodded eagerly. "Uh, but how do you play? I'm a little new at this." he blushed.

"I'd be happy to teach you, dearie. You remind me so much of my grandson!" She gushed, pinching his cheeks. "How about I introduce you to the team first? I'm Rosie." She passed by a long table with a woman serving slices of pie to other old folks. "This is Ethel, Bill, Mabel, Maria, Hazel, Bob, Ernest, Frank..." She continued the long list of elders. "George, Lucia, Peggy, Diwa and Agnes." She paused, smiling at the final man in a wheelchair. "And my husband, Oliver."

Leo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Heh, nice to meet you all. My name is Leo and I'm prepared to play some serious, extreme shuffleboard! Woo-hoo, let's shuffle those boards!" He clasped his hands together.

"Oh, I love his enthusiasm!" Rosie praised. "Let's get started! Now, some of us simply watch and enjoy the social aspect. But for the rest of us; we play to win." She looked at Leo with determination in her crystal blue eyes. "There are four people to a team..."

Leo grabbed a hold of a notepad in his belt and started frantically scribbling down the rules.

Now, Leo would never admit it out loud (especially in front of his siblings), but shuffleboard turned out to be a blast. Turns out, he had a real knack for the game and not to mention, his teammates were extremely supportive—even when he messed up. Despite them being seventy or so years older than him, they seemed to have the same stubborn pride that he had when it came to games.

"Hot soup!" He bellowed the battle cry at the top of his lungs, whacking the puck with ease. The disc slid across the board steadily before hitting the highest point and knocking the opposing team's disc off. "Awww snap! Neon Leon just won the game! Victory dance time!" He spun around in a circle. "And I couldn't have done it without my new compadres: Ethel, Rosie and Peggy! Blue team is superior."

"Agh...dagnabbit." George, an elder who resembled a sour lemon grunted.

"Good game everyone!" Rosie complimented. "Leo, dear, you've got a serious knack for shuffleboard."

"Aw thanks." He grinned bashfully. "It was a team effort. But it was mostly me, so thanks for the compliment."

"You're so sweet!"

"Speaking of sweet, how about we take a break for some pie?" George grumbled. "I'm starved."

"You said it, Gramps." Leo agreed, finding a seat at the massive table to enjoy some pie. He was squeezed in between Lucia and Rosie.

"Enjoy honey." Mabel said as she served him a large slice with a dollop of fresh cream. His eyes went as wide as saucers as he drooled over the dessert.

"Thanks Mabes! This looks amazing!"

Not only did they eat the tastiest pie Leo had ever had, but it turns out that old people loved to gossip like teenagers. And Leo couldn't be more eager to join in.

"How many times has Barry been divorced?" Peggy asked, mouthful of pie.

"Three times," Lucia said flatly. "And, his new wife is only twenty. She's still in college too!"

Leo gagged. "Gross!"

"You didn't hear this from me," Rosie said in a hushed whisper. "But apparently Arnold over there..." She pointed to a man napping on a lounge chair. "is having an affair."

Lucia scoffed. "Everyone knows that, Rosie. That's old news."

"Except he's been visiting the Captain's quarters to do it..." Rosie winked.

The realization dawned on them at once.

"No way!" Leo gasped, nearly falling out of his chair. "He's cheating on his wife with the captain? The captain of this ship? Tall guy with the mustache?"

Rosie nodded.

"Ay Dios mío..." Lucia uttered, looking equally as shocked.

Leo was about to hear the second part of the story regarding Arnold's wife, when his phone buzzed. Grumbling, he reached for the device and checked his text messages from the group chat.

radraphie: Hey guys! Just checking up on y'all ! I'm leaving the costume party now but there's a seafood restaurant next door. We could check it out for dinner 7:15 maybe? :) neonleon Bootyyyshaker9000 drpartyd00d apriloneil

His phone currently read 6:45pm. Leo groaned to himself. "Ugh, sorry to interupt your story but I probably should go. My brother just texted me for dinner plans." Although, the pie had filled him up. Maybe he would just text him saying he'd meet them at their rooms instead.

"She's just getting to the good part though!" Peggy protested. "You can spare five more minutes, right?"

"I really shouldn't but hey, okay!" And he sat right back down, because she was absolutely correct. The story was getting juicy. How could he possibly leave when he didn't know what happened next? That was like leaving a movie before the ending. He couldn't wait to find out.

Leo leaned closer, ready to listen to more gossip...but then his phone rang. "Seriously?"

"It's alright Leo, dear, you can answer it."

He gave the ladies an apologetic look as he found a quieter place to answer the call. He didn't even bother to check the caller ID, he was too annoyed. "Raph, I know I didn't respond but I swear I'll be there-"

"I'm not Raph." a shaky voice cut him off. It was recognizable, but he sounded so small, so scared. "It's Mikey."

A sense of dread lingered in the back of his mind.

"Mikey?" Leo checked his phone to see if it really was his goofball brother. "What's going on?"

"I..." There was a hesitant gulp. "I'm not sure if we're being watched or not. It's so dark here."

"We? What do you mean?"

"April and Donnie are here too." A shaky gasp. "We were taken by these..." There was a long pause. "Can't say. Leo...I'm scared."

He blinked twice. "Yeah, I'm not falling for that. Are you meeting Raph for dinner or?"

"I don't have much time, please hurry Leo!" Mikey's voice cracked followed by a broken sob. "Please Leo- please!"

He'd have almost preferred if it was just a sick prank. But Mikey would never joke about something like this. No way was he that good of an actor. He sounded petrified.

Leo swallowed slowly, the lump in his throat feeling like painful rocks hitting his stomach. How could he have been so stupid to assume this was a joke? All he heard now was the hysteric sobs of his baby brother whimpering through the phone. But the last thing he wanted to do was to freak out, especially not in front of Mikey. That would only make things worse. He needed answers first and foremost. "Don't worry, lil' bro, I'll be there in two shakes of a turtle's tail. Do you know where you are?" His Raph impression was shining through each careful word to console the young turtle.

Be calm. Be calm. Don't panic. Don't panic. Do not panic. Find all the information before it's too late.

"The boiler room, I think. We're at the very bottom of the ship in some kind of supply closet. Room 528."

"No problemo, I'll be there." Leo replied, keeping his voice relatively calm for the sake of Mikey's comfort. "Who took you?"

"I don't k-"

"Leo!" There was a slight scuffle, as if the phone was being taken by someone else. "Leo, it's April." the confident, but unusually shaky voice of his surrogate sister said,"You need to find Raph first. I think this might be a trap and I don't want you getting into major trouble."

"Who took you?" He demanded, his hands gripping the phone for dear life. "Do you know?"

"We...don't know. Just hurry and get Raph, okay? Please don't do the whole self sacrifice and go by yourself." She winced. "Those freakazoids beat us up good. My leg's all busted." She sighed. "I'm trying to figure a way out."

"Hang tight April, we'll be there soon. Lemme talk to Donnie too. Are they okay?"

Silence.

"April?" He couldn't take any more painful suspense. "Let me speak to them!" he urged.

"Donnie's out cold."

No...

"Are they-"

"They're alive."

He had to act now. He couldn't waste anymore time. "I'm on my way."

Leonardo had never run faster in his entire life. His expression was wild and frantic, the sound of his heartbeat ringing through his eardrums as he picked up speed, even ignoring the painful stitch in his side. There was a tiny, logical part of him saying he should go back for Raph. But at the same time; the rest of his family needed help. Donnie was unconscious, Mikey was scared, and April was injured. There was some unknown evil holding them hostage, and he couldn't waste anymore time.

...which was a lot to process. All he wanted to do was play shuffleboard, not fight bad guys again on his vacation!

"I'm the leader now. This is what I'm supposed to do.' He chuckled weakly. "Yeah, no pressure."

He could only imagine Donnie's snarky expression mocking him for getting a little lost. It was no secret that his twin loathed the idea of Leo taking charge all of a sudden, in fact, they made it perfectly clear. On some days, particularly difficult days, the middle siblings were both caught in shouting match after shouting match over the most idiotic things. All of it leading back to Leo being the new leader. In fact, right before they even went on the trip, Donnie had brought it up.

"Do you always have to bring up that you're the leader?" They had asked as Leo was shoving a pastry into the microwave.

"What do you mean?" He started pushing the buttons, watching as his food slowly rotated in the glowing box. "Do you mean when I said: 'As the new leader, I say we're going on vacation'? Because that was a joke, obviously." He chuckled. "You need to stop taking things so seriously, Don."

Donnie tapped their forefinger and thumb against a cabinet, eyebrows furrowed. "Except you always do it. Yesterday you said you didn't want to do the dishes because you're the leader now."

"But I ended up doing it anyway, didn't I?"

"That's not the point!" They gritted their teeth. "I'm sick of you showing off and acting like you're better than all of us. Just because Splinter made you the leader doesn't mean you're-"

Leo snorted. "Like you're one to talk. You're always flaunting your ego whenever you get the chance." The microwave beeped.

"That's different."

"Is it though?" Leo reached inside the microwave for his pastry. He took a big bite.

"You don't even take things seriously!" Donnie growled, clenching their fists. "Raph at least did. And you know I would be better at-"

Leo cut him off, "Maybe instead of whining to me, you should complain to Splinter about how unfair it is that I was made leader, and you weren't." He knew he was being an ass, but he was tired of this.

He didn't even have to turn around to know Donatello was glaring at him with burning fury and as he took his dessert into the living room, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.

'If I save them, maybe Dee will finally get off my shell about leading the team.'

Stop being petty. If you don't find them soon, Donnie might not make it.

He stopped, panting heavily and leaning a hand against the wall. "Need to go back for Raph. I can't..." His eyes flickered to the floor, his vision blurred as his legs burned, begging for a break.

"You have to hurry. Now!" nagged Mind Raph's knowing tone. "You can't stop when your family needs you."

Leo wanted to lie down. He wanted to quit and get Raph. Raph would know what to do. The real Raph, not the mind version.

"Leonardo!" snapped Mind Raph again. "Leaders don't quit."

"I'm not supposed to be the leader," He murmured softly. He hated admitting that, let alone agreeing with Donnie of all turtles, but even he knew it was true. It was sprung upon him like a surprise party. Except without all the benefits of a surprise party.

"Pops wouldn't have picked you if you weren't qualified."

"But why me?" He asked, although the image of Raph floating beside him had faded away. "I don't understand. I don't-"

His eyes squeezed shut. He had to keep going. For his family.

Using his somewhat decent navigational skills, he managed to nearly trip down a flight of stairs and slide down the banisters of a long, spiral staircase towards yet another hallway. Luckily the row of doors were in numerical order, otherwise he would be totally screwed.

"524...525...526..." He murmured, trying to keep his breathing controlled. The last thing he wanted to happen was to have an anxiety attack in the middle of a hallway before finding his family. "527...528!" His eyes lit up. "Thank goodness!" He reached in his belt for a spare tanto blade and stabbed directly in the keyhole, swinging the door open with a loud bang.

The first thing he saw was Mikey and April, their wrists bound and sitting close to each other.

"Leon!" Mikey cried out, eyes filled with relieved tears. "You made it!"

"Course I did, Miguel, was there ever any doubt?" He assured the box turtle. "Lemme untie you guys real quick and..." his voice was caught in his throat as he saw a glimpse of the figure behind April.

She moved aside to reveal the unconscious, sleeping form of Donatello. All of their tech and armour were removed—including their battle shell. It appeared that April and Mikey had been covering the softshell to protect them from getting critically injured. The only indicator that the purple masked turtle was alive was the slow rise of their chest exhaling weakly.

"Donnie..." Leo crumpled to the ground, placing a hand to his sleeping twin's wrists and examining their pulse carefully. He didn't like how weak it felt, but at least they were alive. "Still breathing. It's gonna be okay, I promise. I swear, Dee." Standing up, he turned to his awake siblings. "I'm gonna untie you both and then you'll help me carry them out, okay?" He started to untie April before he abruptly stopped. "Hey, how did you guys even call me when your wrists are bound?"

"I used my elbow!" Mikey squealed proudly.

"Eh, it makes sense." Before he could cut the ropes with his katana, April kicked him away roughly with her boot, directly in the plastron.

"April, what the heck?" He stumbled back, hurt and confused. "Why'd you push me?"

"Behind you!" Mikey shrieked, trying to point behind while still being inconspicuous but failing miserably. The door had snapped open, nearly breaking apart from its hinges.

"Shit…" Leo cursed under his breath. Of course things couldn't be so simple.

At the doorway was a lone figure dressed in a black cloak that flowed behind her- despite the fact that there was no wind. Her head was covered by a hood, where two amber eyes glowered menacingly back at him. She was petite, with silver armour glistening on her chest plate, almost as though it was melding into her forest green skin. In her belt, was a lone switchblade that activated in one blink. But the most noticeable thing about her (besides the obvious, of course): was how small she was- barely taller than Mikey.

She (he was assuming she was a she) was so tiny and unassuming for an apparent evil villain.

Leo couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing. "Awwww! You're so adorable!" He chortled. "Are you a yokai? Or a mutant?" He pointed at her tail. "A yokai right? Ooh, maybe Imori?"

His opponent's eyes narrowed in exasperation before shaking her head.

"I almost don't wanna fight you, wittle one," Leo smirked smugly. "But since you messed with my fam, you have no choice. So, let's come out of the closet and have a..." His lip twitched and he started laughing again. "Sorry, I'm sorry just..." He wiped a tear as he unsheathed his katana, hands shaking from laughter. "Did I say come out of the closet? I already did that! Twice!" He wheezed. "Okay, okay I'm good we can fight now."

The hooded person raised her weapon. A switchblade, like one of those movie greasers. Though it was small, it looked pretty sharp. Ah, so that's where the whole 'never underestimate your opponent' term came from.

Leo looked at his odds carefully. They were in a closet, which would give him an advantage at cornering her to a corner due to the small space. He already had some advantage anyway, since she looked extremely nervous. Alternatively, he was more likely to injure himself or his family, with less space to fight. So that was slightly problematic.

But those odds could wait because his opponent was currently charging right at him, with her weapon raised. She made no sound, but her fierce eyes showed her determination to win at any cost.

Luckily, although she was agile, her moves were inexperienced and sloppy. Similar to Cassandra Jones' fighting style, except with a lot less training. As she leaped into the air to pounce, he managed to duck out of the way in the nick of time, sweeping his leg underneath; the impact made her lose balance and hit the ground with a loud thud.

"Ha!" He smirked. "Not so tough, are you?"

Still, the mysterious attacker made no sound, not even a yelp. She glared at him, preparing to attack again as she staggered to her feet. She charged once more, blade at the ready.

"Oh I see! You're like the strong, silent type." Leo held up his own weapon, parrying it vertically as the two metals clanged against each other- although Leo's katanas overpowered her measly switchblade. "I can work with that. Even with that butter knife you call it a weapon." He huffed. "I much prefer the witty banter though when I'm fighting bad guys." He dodged an attack with a backflip, fist colliding with her midsection. She was caught off guard, the dagger slipping from her grasp, clattering to the floor. "It makes things a bit more interesting. Banter isn't so fun when it's one-sided, you know?"

She backed up, panting and looking ready to faint. Or collapse. Or both. That last strike against her stomach must have really knocked the wind out of her.

"No...more." she begged with one last gasp. "I give up, and I'll let your friends go."

"Really? Sweet!" Leo beamed ear slit to ear slit. But he couldn't deny that this victory felt a bit lame. Heck, he barely had to do anything to beat this girl. Cautiously, he crept towards her hunched body, closer and closer until he was only a few inches away. He didn't want to attack or corner her anymore, since she had admitted defeat. It wasn't fair or honorable in the slightest. "Listen, maybe we can talk this out or-" the girl lifted her head immediately, nodding. "Huh?" He was taken aback. No way this was going to be so easy.

She smiled with her bright amber eyes staring back at him sweetly. "That would be nice." She purred, slowly approaching Donnie's limp form. Leo's eyes went wide.

"No! Don't hurt them," He warned, tumbling forward to protect their unconscious sibling. He carefully wrapped both arms around Donnie's flat shell. "Please don't, let's just talk. It's not the honorable thing to do, attacking someone who can't fight back, I mean seriously-"

Suddenly, two fingertips from her cloak jabbed into his neck—a key pressure point; knocking him off balance. He wheezed as she shoved him into the wall, his brief moment of distraction causing her to have the upperhand. She raised the blade to his throat and neck, the knife dripping blood as he choked out a desperate gasp, the only audible sound he could make. He couldn't breathe. He tried to struggle, but the loss of blood made him weak at the knees.

"Stop!" Mikey yelled. "Stop that! Can't you see you're hurting him?"

The hooded figure noticeably loosened her grip around the handle of her blade, her hands trembling subtly as she exhaled. The fear in Leo's eyes did not cease, but she gently dropped him. "All of you must come with me without a single struggle, and I vow not to cause him any more pain," She said in a low voice, oddly calm, but not sadistic in what she was saying. She was unsure with every word that left her lips, yet she was still firm and direct. "Now."

Terrified, all three of the teens nodded. They had no choice.