From the episode "Tales of Leo" 2003 series. I own nothing … Please enjoy for free anyway and don't sue. I earn no money. I just write out of love …

Raphael was not inclined to agree with Splinter's assessment of Leonardo for some time. Finally, a certain incident made him echo it. It began with him outright disbelieving it though … They were playing follow the leader, and Raphael led them somewhere they should not go. Leo knew it …

Raphael began tearing boards away from the entrance of a tunnel. A voice behind him sent bolts of annoyance through his brain. "Raph, you can't go in there!"

Raphael turned away from his work to point at his brother in a blue mask. "Hey, it's my turn. You're supposed to follow 'my' lead."

"But Splinter says …"

Raph turned back from tearing away the boards to face Leonardo again, whom he'd already started calling "Splinter junior" by their current age of "turtle-kids." "Splinter says … Splinter says! When are you going to think for yourself?" Leo stood staring at him wide-eyed his hands on his hips. Raph turned away from him while continuing. "That's what a real leader does."

Raph then stuck one leg through the gap and turned back to smirk at Leonardo. "Now catch me if you can!" He turned away and dashed inside.

He heard Leo kicking more boards apart as he followed him. Man, he'd thought he'd cleared enough away himself. That was pretty gutsy though kicking boards apart before running through like that! He'd have to do something even gutsier.

Raph jumped on a piece of broken board that had floated on ahead and started riding it on the current like a surfboard. As it carried him faster, Raph yelled out "Wahooooooo!"

He saw from the corner of his eye Leo still behind him doing the same thing. He smiled to himself. Was he a good leader or what? Then he saw what lay ahead of him and jumped off his board.

The current carried it away into the roiling water in front of him. It was all pooling in a round chamber of masonry. Raph gazed at it wide-eyed. "Dead end?"

He reached up and scratched his head. He'd thought for sure he'd known where they were going that this was just another route to another line of sewers he knew, but apparently not. He muttered to himself. "Must've taken a wrong turn."

Couldn't let Leo know that. He'd have to pretend he'd known. Oh well. Actually, he was surprised Leo wasn't there yet.

Suddenly, he heard something in the water near his feet, but within the deep pool of water. He scowled in its direction. There shouldn't be anyone else around!

They'd left Donnie fixing a broken toy, Mikey reading a bunch of stained comics that had been thrown out Splinter had found, and Splinter himself sleeping after a night of scavenging. But Leo should be behind him still. Raph bent over to look into the water closer. He couldn't see a shade of green that could be his brother. "Uh, Leo?"

Then a splash of water appeared before him. It was followed by a mouth that could swallow him whole that roared. Raph turned and ran away with an "Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Then a big mouth followed.

A familiar body collided with his. He was slammed into a sewer wall. The large mouth passed him by. Then the head above it collided with the sewer ceiling.

Raph looked into his brother's blue-masked face. The beast rushed right past them both till it was just its tail in front of them. Raph stared at it.

No wonder he hadn't seen any green! It was white! It was a huge, white alligator in the sewers!

Leo had already turned to watch it too. His blue-clad brother gathered himself in front of Raphael to spring. "Come on! Let's jet!" He jumped right over the beast's flailing tail to land on the other side of it.

Raph frowned. Now 'he'd' have to do something braver. He yelled back at his brother. "No way!"

Raph stood to his feet and gathered himself to attack. He met the gator's gaze now turned back on him. He looked back into its pink eyes and proclaimed, "This walking hand-bag's intruding on our turf!" As far as Raph was concerned, all the sewers under New York City was his family's and his family's turf.

Leo yelled from behind the gator's turned head. "You're the intruder shell-for-brains! Now let's get out of here!" He waved for him to follow behind the beast's form between them now.

Raphael pounded one fist into his palm. He smirked. "Hey 'I'm' the leader this turn remember?" Then he jumped onto the gator's nose.

Leo held up his hands in the air and shrugged behind them both. "Fine handle it your way." He'd finished with his arms crossed over his plastron.

The alligator waved its nose in the air swinging Raphael back and forth with it. Then it headed back to its true turf, the chamber beyond the sewer line. It splashed back into its deep pool of water with Raphael.

Leo followed to the edge of the pipe leading into it. Both the gator and Raphael emerged again. The beast waved its head with him attached to it through the air. Leo looked up at them and raised a pointed finger and calm voice. "Can I offer a strategy tip?"

Raph shouted from where he clung to the gator's snout. "No!" The alligator slapped him back down on the water, then raised its head and whipped him around again. Raph continued his response. "I got him on the ropes! He's right where I want him!" (He'd picked up wrestling terms from watching it on the TV Donnie had managed to fix.)

Finally, the gator fell back into the sewer line. He banged the small turtle clinging to him against the sewer's wall. Raph lost his grip and fell back into the shallow water within the sewer's line. He got up on his knees and held his aching head with one hand for a moment. "Ohhhhhh …"

Then he looked back up at the alligator. Its big, pink and white mouth filled with just as white teeth came straight at him. Behind him, Leo was scowling at them both. "Right! That's it!"

Leo crouched and sprang with a ninja-battle-cry. keeping his legs spread apart, he landed just behind the alligator's head and straddled its neck. The gator's eyes rolled back to watch him. Leo lowered one hand with one pointed finger and pressed its tip into a place on the gator's jaw area.

Then the gator just sorta collapsed beneath Leo. Right in front Raph's eyes its head and then its tail landed in the water. It started to breathe deep as if sleeping. Leo smiled from the perch he'd kept all the way down ...

Raph gazed at them both with wide eyes looking back and forth from the sleeping beast to his smiling brother. "What'cha do? What'cha do?"

Leo slipped off into the water still smiling. After he landed, he said "Huh, pressure points." He brushed his hands against each other as he spoke his smile still in place. Then he walked away from the gator and headed for his brother.

He stood over him and held out a hand toward Raphael to help him up. The red-clad turtle took it and let him. His voice held a touch of awe. "'Alligator' pressure points?" He stared at his brother.

Leo replied back. "A little trick Master Splinter taught me." Then he passed his brother and walked back up the sewer line. With a wave of his hand he gestured for Raphael to follow. "Come on. He won't sleep forever." Raph started rubbing his own head as his brother continued ahead of him. "How about another round of follow the leader? As in, back home!" Leo began to dash rather than walk up the sewer line.

Raph turned and followed after him also at a dash. "Lead the way."

What do you think?

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes