Hey everyone, I'm back with an update! Testing's finally over at school, although I will busy this weekend with a History review and an English essay to write, but I decided to take some time to type up the next chapter of this story because I haven't updated in a long time. Okay, five days.

Oh and a quick note, any of you waiting for the next chapter of One and Three, I think I'm going to continue that after I finish this, then once it's done, I'll move on to It's Not OK.

Here's chapter 23

I don't own even one member the ninjitsu instructed quad team of bipedal teenage mutated trachemys scripta elegans.

Leo gazed down questioningly at the cloth, slightly glaring before the sliding of the door made him look up.

"You wanted to see us sensei?" Donny asked, his eyes shifting nervously.

Were they in trouble? Had the slime upset their teacher?

"Uh, sensei about the mess, we cleaned it up and I was only trying to come up with a solution that would help decrease the amount of moss and mold-"

"Silence," Leo said stoutly, raising a hand for silence, stopping Donatello's apologies and halting the apologies Mikey was no doubt going to come out with.

"My students, sit," he said seriously.

They automatically obeyed.

Leo stared down worriedly at the red flame again.

"The Foot?" Donatello whispered when he saw the cloth.

"Yes," the eldest said and took a deep breath.

Even though some memories had returned to the younger turtles, they had only been few and had come to them in dreams, and they believed them to be just that, dreams. After the Foot had disappeared sometime after Mikey's 5th birthday, Leo had been high-strung, always scouting the city for any trace of the ninja. As he patrolled every night, he always stuck close to the surface's manholes, in case he had to duck back down into the sewers. He could still remember when he was ambushed when he had been out on his own. After that, his brothers, his old 16-year-old brothers, always saw that someone went with him or that he at least called them ever so often.

And they had called him bossy…

He had known that one of them sometimes followed him when he went out alone. How he managed not to turn around and yell at them to leave them alone, he'll never know.

Getting past all those times, Leo's mind focused on the 'now'.

"I must admit, you three know little of the Foot," Leo said.

"I know they tried to turtle-nap us when we were younger," Donny said.

Mikey shivered, "And they're ninja, we know that."

"I may not know who the Shredder is," Raph said slowly with crossed arms, "He's gotta be the leader though."

"How do you know?" Mikey asked.

"The dream, you idiot," Raph said with a glare.

The two younger turtles' faces fell with realization and fear. The dream was the one memory that they had all remembered. Leo took a deep breath, shaking off his own memories of that time. Thinking of his ambush wouldn't help them right now. Ever since the Foot had disappeared, the Purple Dragons had taken over the city but, because of them, the gang wasn't doing so good right now. Unfortunately, Hun had disappeared along with the Foot as well, and he was normally the only connection they had to the Foot.

Like the toddlers before had forgotten their friends and father, they had also forgotten their enemies as well, they knew a few names and what had happened to them when they were four but that was about it. The only other thing they knew was that the Foot ninja were dangerous.

So, it almost felt like history repeated itself as Leo told them everything, of their previous lives when they had all been together, Shredder's numerous falls and returns, their adventures within and outside the city, their final battle on the Shredder's spaceship against the Utrom alien, which the three had found hard to believe at first. He had tried to tell them all of this over the years, but they had been young, too young to understand.

"But what about that woman, Karai," Raph said, spitting the woman's name out at the end before shaking his head, "I don't know what it is about her, but I hate that b-"

"RAPHAEL!" Leo reprimanded before his younger brother could say the word he was sure would follow.

"Sorry sensei," he muttered, looking to the floor but not really sounding apologetic.

Truthfully, thinking over their past, Leo wouldn't have reprimanded the red clad turtle if they had been in Karai's presence. He probably would've thought the same thing, well he would have used a different, more kinder word than Raph had but, he understood. Karai hadn't exactly been friendly after the Utroms had banished her father into deep space. She had wanted revenge and as far as Leo had known years ago, still desired it.

"So what do we do sensei?" Don asked.

"Nothing," Leo said, "For now, nothing."

"But sensei, shouldn't we do something?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah sensei," Raph said, "If Karai's out to really do all this, shouldn't we stop her ASAP?"

"You three are not ready to face her."

"What about you?" Don asked, "You can fight her and we can be there for backup."

"I'm getting on in years," Leo said with a forlorn glance at the stone tiled floor.

"Oh come on sensei, you can wipe the floor with us," Mikey commented, "Karai can't be that hard to beat."

Leo had a million thoughts spinning in his head, memories, strategies, emotions, future possibilities and so much more that it was giving him quite a headache. One thought and decision though, overpowered all the thoughts though.

"No. Absolutely not."

Leo rose to his feet before walking towards the door.

"But sensei-" the younger turtles protested.

"I said NO!" Leo yelled, turning around and glaring at his younger brothers.

Watching fear light their eyes, Leo took a calming, deep breath and then said quietly, "Karai is a very skilled warrior. You three can not defeat her."

"But can't we at least try?" Don asked.

"No," Leo said stoutly, "Your training is canceled, and none of you shall leave the lair. Now if you will excuse me, I must meditate on these thoughts."

With that, the blue banded turtle was gone.

Back in the dojo Raph growled and got to his feet, "I can't believe that b- woman did all that to us."

"And more importantly to sensei."

"Why can't we remember any of this?" Mikey asked.

"Sensei's already explained that Mikey," Donny answered, "Whatever it was that that guy Stockman did to us. Then, Lord Simultaneous and that girl Rennet."

"I'm confused," Mikey groaned, holding his head in mock agony.

"Well I'm convinced that Karai," Raph said, spitting the woman's name, "Has something to do with that Stockman guy."

"Why do you say that?" Don asked, confusion falling over his face as he watched his immediate older brother pace around the room.

"Think about it Brainiac," Raph yelled, turning his narrowed eyes towards the far wall, although it looked like he was glancing at something beyond the simple wall itself.

"What do you mean?" Mikey asked.

"Sensei's told us that Karai was a bit older than us, back before Stockman made all this happen, so when I ran in her tonight you think she'd be older, but actually, she looks younger."

"The Time Scepter!" Don shouted.

"You mean she's working with Stockman?" Mikey asked in surprise.

"No doubt about it," Raph said while shaking his head.

"With Stockman on her side, she could find our home, get to us-" Don added.

"And to Aniki," Mikey mumbled, his eyes widening before they settled on the closed door of the dojo.

Raph looked to his youngest brother with concern although his characteristic scowl remained on his face. They had all referred to their eldest brother as their sensei, it just seemed more formal since he had been the one to teach and raise them. Once when they were younger, Mikey had slipped up once and called their older brother 'dad' which was immediately shot down by Leo. This had lead to quite a scene though when Mikey had claimed that the kids on TV had parents, some in particular only had one parent and they hadn't seen any shows about orphans at that time, so Mikey had complained asking why Leo couldn't be their father, he was certainly old enough to and acted like it. It took a few hours but eventually Leo explained that it made him sad, because it made him think of their true father.

Thinking back on that, Raph decided, as he went over and sat down to put a supportive arm around Mikey's shoulders, that there was probably more to it than that. Mikey leaned slightly into the embrace.

"So what are we going to do?" Mikey asked, looking up at Raph.

The red banded turtle seemed to ponder that situation for a minute before he opened his mouth, "Well, sensei's told us everything, we may not recognize any of it, but it has to have happened. And I don't know what it is about Karai, but she's got sensei stressed."

"I'd be too if someone like her wanted to run me through," Don admitted.

"Then we're going after her," Raph said.

"But what about sensei?" Mikey asked.

"We'll leave a note saying we went to go pick up some pizzas for dinner," Raph said, he didn't really like lying to their teacher, but if his memory served him right, and it usually did, sometimes, then he knew that Karai had to be stopped.

Actually, the night before he had had another dream, that was, he knew now, a memory. A memory of a certain, black haired, green eyed woman in a scene where her sword had pierced their older brother's plastron, stabbing him through the ribs, the end of blade slightly scrapping the surface of the other turtle's lung.

Raphael shook his thoughts away and let his arm drop from around Mikey's shoulders, After a quick glance at both his younger brothers, he stood up and drew the swords resting in the sheaths on his shell before crossing them.

"We're going to meet Karai, and get rid of her," Raph said, "Get ready to leave."

Donny and Mikey nodded, walking off to get their weapons, which they had left in the living room after the slime incident, which was only, partially cleaned up. The red banded turtle watched them for a moment before looking down at the swords he held. He fingered the red cloth wrapped around the hilt of the sword and slightly pushed away a loose strand of cloth. Underneath were blue wrappings that matched the color of his older brother's mask.

Raph couldn't really explain the pride , honor and shock he had felt when his sensei had handed him the swords that he had always used and carried throughout his life. Raph then glanced sideways at a cabinet on the far side of the room. He sheathed the twin katana and made his way over. He opened the door and glanced inside until his eyes landed on a small box within. He opened the lid and sucked in his breath as the red wrapped sais gleamed against the shadow that his form threw over it. He debated for a long minute before taking them into his hands and twirling them experimentally. Resolved, he tucked them in his belt, replaced the lid on the box and then closed the door.

"Hey Fearless," a voice called.

Raph turned to see Mikey and Donny waiting at the door.

Don smirked, "We're ready to go."

A/N: Gasp! Doesn't this seem familiar?

*Cough*The Shredder Strikes. *Cough*

It was only a short 20 minutes that still seemed 7 years too long for the turtles as they hopped across the rooftops of the city buildings. They finally stopped when they reached the rooftop of an old, broken down hotel.

"This the place?" Mikey asked.

"This is it alright," Raph said as his eyes drifted towards the shadows.

Mikey and Donny joined him as they scoped out the shadows of the night around them to search for Karai.

"I see you have returned Raphael."

The three turtles jumped and turned at the sound of the voice.

"Karai," Raph growled as his blazing blue eyes landed on the woman standing on top of the next building over.

Don's determined scowl fell into a curious frown. This was Karai? She didn't seem like much. She appeared to be about maybe 5 to 7 years older than them, had black that almost brushed her shoulders, gleaming green eyes and a thin frame. She looked like she could be an average everyday woman walking the streets of New York, well if it wasn't for her Foot uniform and the sword she had in her hand. Then he grew even more confused when a look of disappointment and confusion fell over the woman's face.

"Where is Leonardo?" Karai asked.

"None ya business!" Raph yelled, his hands instinctively reaching for his swords.

Don and Mikey followed and withdrew their own weapons.

"It is Leonardo I wish to fight, not you three."

Raph growled, he could normally keep his temper under control, but his anger was boiling. Leo had always told him that conquering such anger would take time. Unfortunately, it seems like all their exercises and lessons for controlling anger were all going out the door. Karai jumped down from the building, landing on the opposite side of the motel rooftop from the turtles.

"Then I will find Leonardo through other means, but before I do that, I will take care of you three."

With that more forms melted away from the shadows, taking on the form of the Foot ninja that had tried to kidnap them from so long ago. Because of that experience, the turtles were anxious before they clashed weapons with the ninja, all smirking inwardly at the chance for a little revenge. For kidnapping them, tying them up, throwing them in a closet, trying to blow them up with a bomb, throwing Raphael into a wall when he was nothing but a four year old, and trying to take Mikey and Donny away after beating their older brothers. Plain and simple, when they hit the ninja and heard their grunts of pain and discomfort, they reveled in the sense of revenge as they felt bones break underneath their weapons.

Donny was the first one by Karai's side and he was convinced that he was more determined than either Raph or Mikey to finish Karai off. As clear as their hate against the Shredder was before, their anger for Karai seemed greater. Like in the past how the eldest turtle Leonardo, had appeared the closest to their father, which often drew resentment from the others, mostly Raphael, now the red banded turtle appeared to be the closest to their older brother and new teacher, as if taking his place, Donatello was the one that often fell into feelings of resentment, longing to be closer to the father figure in their life.

Karai almost lazily stepped forward and met Donny's incoming Bo Staff with a small distance of two inches. The smugness of the move screamed mockery at the purple banded turtle. Don growled and applied more pressure on his bo, trying to push the sword to the right to leave Karai's left side open for an attack. With an extra grunt of determination, Karai let her sword be pushed to the side. The wood of the bo slipped along the blade and a grin of triumph lit Don's face as he turned and prepared to hit Karai's left side, aiming for the ribs, when suddenly a hit to his plastron sit him skidding across the roof on his shell.

"She's fast," Don realized when he finally stopped flying backwards.

That move would've worked, but Karai was too fast.

"Ok," Don thought as he rose to his feet, one hand clutching at his now bruised ribs, "I need a new strategy."

"Hey lady, over here!" cried out a familiar voice.

Donny looked up to see Mikey clash with Karai, one of his nunchucks encircling the woman's sword.

It was only a second later before the sword was pulled away by Mikey and, much like Donny had, skidded across the rooftop, balancing precariously on the edge before it plummeted into the empty motel front below.

Now the red banded turtle had only been aware of jumping backwards to avoid attacks and at least attempting to drive forward with his katanas lashing out at the black and red forms in front of him. When he had finally cleared a path for himself, he found that he was three buildings away from the motel rooftop where Mikey was engaged in a battle with Karai. He had a split second to notice that Donny had been injured. Then, Raphael's vision grew dark when more Foot ninja surrounded him and once again, he was fighting alone. Why were all the Foot ninja coming after him?

Karai jumped back to avoid one of Mikey's attacks, scooping up a quarterstaff from a fallen foot ninja. She smiled in her own form of triumph when her new weapon met the end of Mikey's nunchuck and the said wooden end of the nunchuck cracked.

"What," Mikey whispered in shock before an uppercut to the jaw made him skid across the rooftop, to join Donny, who was still trying to get his breath back. The genius turtle himself hypothesized that at least one of his ribs was not just bruised, but broken and possibly applying unsafe pressure against his left lung.

"How did she do that?" Mikey asked, glancing down at his now cracked weapon.

Donny glanced up and fought his loss of breath to answer as Karai began walking towards them with a satisfied smirk on her lips, "She's…using a….quarter…staff…made with….p-petrified…wood."

"You two try my patience," Karai said, before raising the petrified wooden staff above her head, "But you are of little use. I have other means of finding and destroying Leonardo."

"LEAVE MY BROTHERS ALONE!"

Karai turned and lost her breath as a sword entered her shoulder and an elbow was thrust into her gut, causing her to go flying into the air, landing quite painfully on the other side of the building.

Leonardo stepped out of his room and entered the main room, it was too quiet. He noticed a piece of paper on the coffee table in front of the still turned on television and he seethed in anger. He had told them not to leave the lair! Well…at least they had left a note this time. He picked up and read it over quickly.

Sensei,

We went out to grab a few pizzas for dinner. Donny's going to challenge you to a chess marathon when we get home and Raph says that he's got ANOTHER move to show you. Good luck with him oh and I'm calling tomorrow night movie night.

Mikey

It seemed innocent enough. Too innocent.

"What is the one thing I didn't want them to do?" Leo thought sarcastically, "Face Karai. Idiots! I'll kill them for this."

With that, Leo dropped the note and raced out of the lair. He had to find his younger brothers.

Karai smiled at the sight of the red masked turtle while slightly sending disappointed glances at the Foot ninja on the rooftops around them. Oh well, they had held him off and tired him out. Karai herself knew that of the turtles, the two eldest were the first ones anyone could guess to be the warriors. Their sharpened, bladed weapons proved it all too well. The red banded turtle, she knew, held to his anger very critically, so overpowering him in battle was easy, but if she had learned one thing from their battle in her father's spaceship is was that Raphael did not take very kindly to her, especially after she had accidentally stabbed Leonardo. Yes, accidentally, when the Shredder had kicked Leonardo towards her, the blade she held had already been outstretched and the blue banded turtle had no way to stop as she had no way to move the sword in time, therefore, there was no other ending than the result that the turtle being impaled on the blade, his own blade.

Either way, Leonardo had fallen Raphael had charged, his anger almost becoming laser beams as he went after Karai, starving for revenge, probably to drive the same blade through as she had done to his older brother.

Karai shook off the memories and mirrored the stance that Raph fell into. No matter what, Karai could not let revenge or the feeling of betrayal leave her, she clung to them.

When the quarterstaff she still held met the two blades she almost felt like she was fighting the blue banded turtle again, expcept that the eyes that stared back at her weren't the calming onyx she had remembered, despite the blue color, they were fire in their essence. Blue fire.

Raph growled. He hated her. That's all he knew, he was angry at her for so many reasons, he couldn't really decide which hit was for which experience. Was the uppercut for stabbing Leo? Was the punch into her stomach for hurting Donny?

All these questions and more flooded his mind and he began to understand why his sensei meditated so often, how in the world could you make sense of all the emotions if you didn't have any time to think things through? With that Karai was knocked out of his view by a swinging bo staff and the quarterstaff landed at the turtles feet as the three stood together and then turned to Karai.

"Dudette, you are so going down!" Mikey yelled, twirling his weapons threateningly, "No one breaks my weapons."

"Better believe it, no one hurts my family," Donny said with a glare, having successfully regained his breath.

"And more importantly, no one threatens our sensei," Raph growled, all three turtles tensing to spring.

Karai perked up at the word 'sensei' and she let a small, devious smile cross her face. Then the three turtles charged. It was at three inches before their weapons reached that she sprang forward, bringing her fist around, aimed at their upper plastrons. Yes, normally this would seem like a stupid idea to aim directly at the natural armor, but then metal gleamed in the dim lights of the surrounding buildings and the turtles fell as small cracks appeared in their plastrons.

Their breath gone and hearts beating rapidly, they glanced up as Karai walked towards them, the doubled bladed weapon on her hand shining in the moonlight.

The turtles recognized it from their memories, the Shredder's gauntlet!

Whew, time for a break.

….

Hmm

And we're back!

"KARAI!"

The emerald eyed woman turned around, spotting a figure on the other side of the rooftop.

"Sensei!" the other turtles called out.

Karai smirked, "I see you have finally decided to join us Leonardo."

When the blue banded turtle stepped out of the shadows, Karai was slightly taken aback by the sight of the aged turtle. His skin had grown darker than the grassy green shade it had been and he was much taller than she remembered.

Without another word between them Leo charged, both his katanas flashing in the surrounding dim lights. Karai jumped to right to avoid the attack and scooped up the sword of a fallen Foot ninja. Leonardo turned to her and raised his swords in a silent challenge. Then she raised hers in silent acceptance. It didn't matter what had happened in the past, this would be their final battle.

They both darted forward, their swords clashing together before the applied enough pressure to throw one another back a few feet. Then, they circled around the rooftops, the three younger turtles on the side becoming silent spectators. Karai struck first, her sword slanted and aimed to strike underneath Leo's plastron on the right. Leo blocked the strike with one sword and never got the time to strike with the other before a blade glinted and the gauntlet that held so much history of the Shredder slashed him across his plastron.

There were cracks and blood. The blue banded turtle tried to call on a reserve of strength but as soon as it rose to the surface, Karai quickly turned and kicked out, the heel of her foot landing directly on the bleeding crack. The eldest turtle then knew that it was a losing battle. This Karai hadn't seemed to age, no doubt she knew something about Stockman and the Time Scepter, but it wasn't like Karai was up to talking to him at the moment.

The next blow, he barely dodge as the blue clad turtle turned quickly in an attempt for a backwards slash, unfortunately, unlike Karai, he had aged. 41 wasn't exactly anyone's prime age and his body was beginning to feel the strain. He knew because as he turned to deliver that combo, Karai was already behind him, her sword raised to separate his head from his body.

Leo moved to stop the slice across his neck but did not move quick enough to stop it from slicing a long gash across his left leg.

"Sensei!" the others cried out.

Leo gritted his teeth then used the falling momentum to his advantage, he grounded his other foot, swinging around rapidly and landing a blow across Karai's face. Of course, this only worked momentarily for Karai then dashed forward, lashing out with her sword and gauntlet. The sword and gauntlet rose before descending in a V formation. Red stripes appeared on Leo's upper arms, his nerves rattled and before he knew it, his swords were on the rooftop below him, and then a harsh, violent, double kick to his plastron had him sliding across the roof. He heard a silent chuckle before glanced up, only to find a descending blade in front of his eyes.

"SENSEI! NO!"

Do I like leaving readers in suspense? Yes-I'm waiting for that one reviewer that will just walk around chanting YOU'RE EVIL! EVIL! EVIL!

Anyways, here's a little tidbit, I said that in the end all turtles will be returned to their 16 year old selves so you're probably saying, Leo can't die here, he's not 16 yet. I said all the turtles at the END will be 16, I never said all four turtles will make it to the end.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

~Moonsetta