A few days later, Splinter suggested another camping trip upriver. Randall was still sore and instantly declined. He would stay behind with Splinter. The turtles and April and Casey were all going on this little rafting trip.

Splinter still saw that Leonardo was still brooding. He still wasn't happy, even after a so-called fun camping trip. He wished he knew what he could do to make him happy again. Maybe having their human friends along would make a difference this time.

The next day, they all spent the day figuring out what they were going to take to reduce boredom and have to eat on the way up the river. Raph and Don and Casey all built their own special raft together that they were going to use. Don made sure that it was perfect.

Randall wanted some time for himself and recover from the harsh training was why he was staying behind this time. One camping trip was enough for now. Splinter surely wouldn't mind his company. He knew how to avoid the rat if he had to, but then, they could also spend some time together, just the two of them for a few days.

Another day later, the raft was ready and so were all supplies. Splinter and Randall saw them off. They stood on the porch, watching the van pull out, pulling the raft with it. They waved goodbye for the time being.

"Were you sure you didn't want to go?" Splinter asked.

"I need a break from Leo's moods. The training orders he gave were just not like him, Splinter. Not what they used to be." Randall replied.

"I know. I just hope he finds a way to cope with what happened. I'm going to go meditate now." Splinter said. He was so happy for a little more silence around here again. He loved being able to have peace and quiet when he could get it. Back home, he didn't get much of it.

Randall went to the living room and turned on the TV. He just wanted to take a break from all work and training for awhile.

The others took the raft and supplies to the Connecticut River and put the raft in the water. It was the evening and the sun was setting. The van was parked in a secret location to hide it from being seen. Now for the fun to begin.

Mikey and Don put the sleeping bags and other supplies on the new raft. They were currently standing on a bridge they had come to. Leo had sat down and was thinking a bit.

"Let's get this rafting trip underway like we said we was gonna." Casey started getting feisty for the trip. He hung from a rafter and then he jumped down next to Leo. "Hey Leo, what up?"

"Huh? Up the river, I guess." Leo muttered in a low voice. He just seemed depressed.

"Uh, okay, Leo." Casey was still surprised by Leo's glum behavior.

"Attention please, ladies and gentleman, and teenage mutant ninja turtles." Mikey spoke in an announcer's voice. "Last boarding call for the US Turtle Boarding Raft, this side of uh, Casey's Grandma's Farmhouse! Tickets please, tickets!"

For the others, Mikey was just being a goofball again. April and Raph were also on the bridge, standing side by side. They had been throwing the lighter stuff down to Mike and Don. In that moment, Raph decided to have a little fun too.

"Oh, I gotcha ticket right here!" Raph jumped off the bridge, turning himself into a cannonball as he landed in the water next to Mikey, making water rush up onto the raft. Everyone couldn't help but laugh, except Leo.

Soon after, they were all on board and going upriver. Casey was paddling. Don was at the head of the raft and starting tinkering with some chemicals and beakers he had brought. Mikey used his flashlight as it got dark to read his new comic. Raph was just sitting calmly on the other side. Leo sat on the end with his feet in the water, brooding. He didn't know what he was looking at.

April started talking how she loved nature and how it was, giving some wisdom in it. About Darwin's survival of the fittest and such.

Mikey wished Randall was here. Maybe he could have spiced things up too, but he had made his choice. Then he responded to April's talk, "Gee, April. You make it all sound so… creepy."

Suddenly, there was a noise. It made them tense up. Then a bird flew over their heads. It might have been spooked by them.

Casey laughed, "It's just a barn owl. Nothing to be scared of." He continued paddling.

Then April whispered to Don, "Sometimes, Casey can be so cool, like now. Focused and grown up, mature even." Then Casey let out a loud belch.

Don had given her a weird look. He always knew Casey was weird. "You were saying?" he said.

On the back, Leo still felt inferior about his incident and didn't take notice of what was under the water. Something alien-like that wasn't a fish.

After a little more going up the river in silence, April had just risen from relaxation and saw something worrisome. "Oh my gosh. I didn't know we lived so close to one of these." It was a nuclear power plant.

"I read in the local newspaper that they're shutting this place down." Casey said.

"Finally. Someone's finally come to their senses." April agreed.

"Aw yes, nuclear power plants." Don explained. "They once heralded the future of energy. They've become the Purple Dragons of energy production. Harder to clean up after, and even harder to get rid of." He also noticed that the two towers had been rigged for demolition. "This is one plant no one has to worry about anymore."

Then Casey spoke back to Leo, "Hey, Leo, help me out up here, bro. Up here on the left, is that the way to Oxfo Lake that Splinter told us about?"

Leo barely took notice, but he heard him, and turned. "Yeah, that should be the way to Norwatocogi." Leo replied.

"Norwati- what?" Mikey couldn't pronounce it.

"Norwatocogi." Don corrected him. "It's what the Indians that used to live here called the lake. It means "Lake of the Lost Tribe."

Soon, they arrived at a good location to get off the raft and finally camp. They all got off and took their supplies ashore. They set up four tents and got a fire going. Then they sat down and starting talking and even started telling jokes and riddles. Leo was the only one who didn't join them.

Leo stood closer to the water, just staring at nothing really.

After laughing at a joke that Mikey had told, April noticed Leo standing over there. She got up and went over to him. "Leo? Are you okay? I noticed something's been bothering you."

"Yeah." Leo responded to her. "I just can't help but think if I could have done something different to avoid the mess I was in with those ninjas, the one in particular who was torturing me. To avoid getting caught at all. It just makes me feel like a failure that I couldn't fight them off. And I couldn't defend myself from what was done to me."

April felt for him. She didn't know what to say, but then, there was something coming out of the water. "April, look." Leo said, and she looked at what he saw.

It was a fish woman. She had some red spots on her skin.

"Uh, this is new. Guys." April began to get nervous.

Don, Raph, Mike, and Casey all looked over too at what Leo and April were seeing. They got up and watched this creature.

The woman didn't get far from the water before she collapsed. Leo and April were closest to her. "And she's hurt. Quick, someone help me turn her over." April said. Leo got down and helped turn the mer-woman over.

"Mikey, get my tech tab and the first aid kit, in my backpack." Don ordered.

"Sir, yes sir." Mikey replied and hurried to get them. He brought them back real fast and Don began scanning the marks on the woman's body. The results were alarming.

"She's covered in burns. Radiation burns. She's been exposed to a massive dose of radiation." Don said.

"So what is she? Some kind of fish?" Raph asked.

"She doesn't have gills." April checked for a pulse. "She stopped breathing. I can't find a pulse. Casey, help me out. I'll make sure that her airway is clear and begin mouth to mouth." she said as she was preparing to do CPR on the woman to try to save her.

But before they could begin, four more fish creatures appeared from the water.

"Uh, guys. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are even more fish people." Mikey said in a scared tone.

"It must look like we're hurting her. Guys, keep them busy. We need more time to save her." April explained.

The fish men approached threateningly towards them. The turtles went to face them and got dragged into the water.

As April made eye contact with the fish woman, she was lulled into a trance, something taking hold of her mind. She began telling the story of the woman and a few survivors from the island of the Y'Lyntians, or Atlantis.

It was so creepy how April seemed zoned way out to Casey as he listened to the story.

Below the water's surface, the turtles faced off against the mermen.

Soon, it looked like the story was over for April. Casey tried to snap her out of it. "April, snap of it!" But the woman wasn't done yet. She had to finish telling her story.

April listened some more and there was so much touching stuff in it before she finally came out of it, as the woman had now died. She had wanted to make sure someone heard her first. To maybe save her children from the power plant.

Below the surface, just as things were looking not so good for the turtles, the mermen suddenly stopped fighting and rose to the surface. The turtles followed them. They needed air.

The four mermen came ashore, making April and Casey back away from the woman, and the mermen collected her. One closed her eyes and the four of them carried her back to the water just as the turtles were walking around them back on land. The mermen pushed the woman out to the water in a watery grave. The mermen then went on their way.

The turtles and humans were sad that they couldn't save the merwoman. But then, April snapped back to what the woman had shown her.

"Wait! The woman's burns, they were from radiation. The eggs, Casey. She was trying to save the eggs."

"What eggs, April?" Casey asked, not knowing what she was talking about.

"The merwoman's eggs. Her babies. She was trying to save her eggs. She must have laid her last eggs close to the power plant. She showed me so much. It's so hard to take in, but I think she was trying to tell me that there is still some leaking going on up there at the plant. We have to save her eggs." April explained.

This was now a rescue mission.

They all got on the raft and went back upriver to the power plant to check it out. They didn't know where the merwoman's eggs were, but April most of all, was determined to save them. But then, the guys were determined too. If they could make a difference, they would do it.

They got to the power plant where they saw that a tower was leaking radiation into the water. They had to make a new dyke to keep it from leaking anymore into the river where the eggs were somewhere.

Don went in alone, to rewire one of the towers to collapse and make a new dyke. The others had to make a diversion. Raph set an alarm off that would keep the workers busy while Don rigged the explosion.

But on his way out, he fell on a banana peel and dropped his phone, and he got discovered by one of the workers. "Who are you?" The man asked.

"Uh, just a little guy in a Greenpeace costume." Don replied.

"Greenpeace huh? That's all I need to know." The man said angrily as he tried to attack Don and the turtle drew his bo. He struck the man in the wrist and elbow to just keep him from attacking him.

"Look, big guy, we don't have time for this. Please accept my apology." Don said.

"For what?"

"This." Don said, and tripped the man's legs out from under him. It knocked him unconscious for the moment. Don tried to hurry and get the man away from the towers before they were due to explode.

April tried calling Don, but he wasn't answering. "Something's wrong. Don's not picking up." she said.

Leo knew someone had to go in and get his brother. He wouldn't let him get hurt if he had anything to do with it. He went in voluntarily.

Don was trying to get the man away from the towers by carrying him, but he was just so big and heavy for him alone. He fell under the weight. Leo then found him. "Come on." Leo said and gave Don a hand in getting the man out and over the fence.

Just then, the towers exploded and they felt over into the water, making a new dyke. The man was placed on the ground and the rescue group ran into the woods.

It was sunrise right now, and the rescued man was just coming to when an inspector came up and examined the area. He saw it was really horrendous conditions on the other side of the plant.

The inspector assured the man that whoever had dropped the towers had saved lots of lives. That was all the worker man needed to hear that he didn't need to press charges, not that he could anyway.

The turtles, April and Casey were on their way back up to their camping spot to still have a good time while they could now that the important mission was over for the time being. They would never know for sure if they had saved the last mer-people of Atlantis. But the eggs did hatch and swam upriver, to whatever their fates would be. At least they were safe and alive.

They went back and roasted some smores and told some more tales and jokes while having some dinner. Leo sat with them for the food, but didn't join in on the fun. The others wished he would try to perk up some more, like how he used to be.

….

While the others were gone, Splinter and Randall did their own things alone, as well as did spend some time together. They did some meditation sessions together and told stories of their pasts some more. At least now, Splinter didn't hold anything against Randall.

The others were gone for three days. When they returned, they sure had a story to tell them about what they had missed upriver. They had dealt with mer-people from Y'Lyntintis/Atlantis and blown up some towers to keep radiation from contaminating the river, and even saving baby mer-people.

Leonardo was still moping around, but he was happy to have helped Don and the others to make sure they hadn't gotten hurt in the little adventure. Now that he was healed, he was more than ready to get back to the city.

Splinter was glad his sons and human friends had returned all safe and sound, and the adventure did sound exciting. He was proud of them for standing up for what was right. Humans and animals alike depended on clean water to drink and live in for some. Contaminated water could harm even them. Back in the city, with the way they lived in the sewers, it was amazing they had clean water at all to drink.

Randall knew he had missed a grand adventure, but he had needed a break from Leo's brooding behavior. He knew that when they went back to the city that at least he would have the luxury of April's basement, but not the turtles or Splinter. But they all needed to still let Leo know they were there for him. They still cared about him, they just wished he would move on from what happened a little. To at least be like he was, at least to where he wasn't mad all the time.

But it would take time to get past what had happened to him.