Chapter Two

Thoughts

Some hours later, the whole of Mutopia was ready for Christmas, all the mutants had now gone to do their own activities, the turtles headed for the activity room to either play games, or in Leonardo's case do a spot of reading.

Because of the work they had been doing around Mutopia, Master Splinter had decided there would be no ninja training until the next day, then of course it would be Christmas to which there would be no training until they got back to New York.

Normally Mona would be glad to take a break from training, but now she felt she needed to clear her head, and frankly she was feeling annoyed as Tyroth kept talking about how excited he was that his parents were coming to Mutopia.

She decided to take the liberty of using the Mutopia Dojo, since everyone was too excited about Christmas, training would be far from their minds.

As Mona entered the Dojo, it was empty to her delight and it was quiet too, she needed some space to think.

She walked over to the lights and put them on a low light then she lit the candles and incense. At once the Dojo was lit up and in one area she could see the steel plumflower poles, since teaching the Chicago Knights and any resident who was interested, she had had the poles put in so she could teach them the way of balance in the crane.

Sometimes she hardly got a moment to practice herself mainly because Sarah loved using them, even Kate had found some use for them even though her style was more aggressive and up front and because of that Mona had taught her some ways of the tiger and the snake (which made everyone chuckle, a snake mutant knowing snake kung-fu)

Mona then placed her Ipod into the radio docking station that sat by the wall and at once some classical music began to play.

She then jumped onto the lowest pole and climbed up to the highest ones, once she was on the top, she began to do some graceful moves on the poles almost like a gymnast on a balance beam.

She stood on one leg and extended her other out, then practiced swapping feet on the single flat top on the pole, the disc at the top was smaller than a dinner plate, and she knew that one wrong move would send her falling to the ground, but she kept her focus.

Then then did a couple of twirls, extending her leg out and keeping her concentration on an area in front of her to stay balanced as well as to keep from getting dizzy, if anyone had any sense, they would make sure they stayed behind the door if they were watching her.

After a while she started to get daring and began to do some gymnastics, she hoped to the next pole and then did a mid-air cartwheel and landed on the next pole, she then balanced for a few seconds before doing another then hoping to the next one and doing a front somersault.

Feeling the rush of doing the gymnastics and balancing on the poles made her feel better, and the music kept her mind clear, Master Splinter had always taught her to clear her mind of distractions when training.

Yet her mind wasn't completely clear, since Tyroth mentioned that his parents were coming to Mutopia for Christmas, she felt a strange feeling inside, of course she was happy for the dragon, especially after all he had gone through with losing them in the first place after he and Sephie mutated, then the Foot's evil doings. It still made her seethe inside what Dr Arden did to Jennifer, or Amber now she had drunk the water from the well and was now a mutant, but she felt a little angry too.

Mona felt disappointed in herself as she thought such feelings, she never a jealous person, and she wanted to be happy for Tyroth, but she couldn't help but feel a little resentful that he had his family back, and hers still had no idea where she was, let alone the fact she was still alive.

She knew she wasn't alone, practically all of Mutopia had gone through the same thing, and she had no doubt in her mind that they sometimes wished that their families were with them again, especially at Christmas.

But there was one thing they didn't have in common with her, and Mona wished to the moon and back they would never go through what she went through. Spending two Christmas's alone, cold and frightened, at least in Mutopia they had a warm safe place to stay, plenty of food and surrounded by kind people, or mutants. Despite it happening over two years ago, Mona never forgot that life, sometimes she had nightmares that she was in that cold run down house with only blankets and an old fireplace to keep her warm, a tin of beans or soup for Christmas dinner, and no friends and family.

Unknown to her, Sephie and Amber were watching outside the room, they wanted to go in, but they knew if they broke Mona's distraction she'd fall from the poles.

"Wow…" said Amber as she watched, "Mona has such concentration doesn't she?"

Sephie nodded.

"I've watched her and learnt from her." She said "And even with my gecko abilities, it can be hard to keep focus up there and keep from falling, especially when you have distractions around you."

"Do you think she can teach me?" asked Amber "I've done the basics with training despite getting a bit of a head start from…the Foot's…experiments…" she forced the last word out slightly "But this…it's way more advanced."

"Of course!" said Sephie happily "Mona wouldn't hesitate!" she looked back at Mona as she did a backflip and stood on her hands on one of the poles using her legs and tail to stay balanced.

She had noticed Mona looked serious and had been quiet for a while.

"I hope she's okay…" she thought, she knew Christmas could be a sad time for Mona, as she knew her past and how it still hurt her, she hadn't told Amber yet, neither had Tyroth, it wasn't her place.

In fact, almost all of Mutopia didn't know about Mona's past, well at least she thought they didn't, she never saw Mona talk to the others about it.

She looked at Amber who kept her eyes on Mona and watched her move.

"She doesn't have your gecko abilities, but she does have good balance!" she said.

"What are you two doing?" a voice made both reptiles jump, they turned around and saw Master Splinter standing behind them.

"Oh...Master Splinter." Sephie gasped "You scared us!"

"I am sorry Sephie." Splinter apologized.

"Mona's doing some exercises." Said Amber pointing to the door.

The old rat peeked through the door and saw Mona doing her crane balancing on the poles.

"It seems Leonardo is not the only one who likes to practice hard." He said "Mona is indeed dedicated when it comes to her kung fu!"

"No doubt about it!" said Sephie, she smiled, yet her mind still was filled with worry about Mona, she wanted to talk to Splinter about it, but she didn't want to cause a stir, so she decided to stay quiet.

Splinter watched Mona for a while then stepped away.

"I shall go and check on my sons." He said "I trust you will join us soon?"

"Sure thing sir!" said Amber.

"And hopefully Mona too!" said Sephie, looking back at Mona "Once she's finishing training!"

Back in the dojo, still unaware Sephie, Amber and Splinter had been watching her, Mona finished her routine and stood straight on the tallest pole taking a few breathes then hoping down to the ground.

She knew everyone would wonder where she was, so she decided to go and join them, more than likely Michelangelo would be demanding her attention, either him or Raphael. She turned off the music and blew out the candles.

"I can't let these emotions bother me..." she thought to herself "I can't...I got to remember where I am now..."

She took another deep breath and turned off her Ipod and placed it in her pouch on her belt.

Outside, Sephie and Amber noticed she had finished and instantly left the area to join the others, luckily they both got away before Mona reached the door, so the lizard lady had no idea she had been spied on.

"I do hope you're okay Mona." Sephie thought to herself "Please...if you feel something is bothering you, please...talk to me...I remember saying to you, that if you ever needed to talk, I'd be there to listen..."

Seems Mona is feeling some resentment and jealousy, can she keep it under control?

Guess we'll find out!