Chapter 3: Mixed Reviews

A/N: Wow. Next chapter is already up! I can't believe I'm getting this up as quickly as I am! Now you'll see Leo get his first reviews and his reaction to them. I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed thus far. Your kind words mean the world to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Infinite End: I want to clarify something right now. Leo is NOT gay in this story. Athena is actually modeled after Madison and April with the powers because Leo thought that would be cool. He's not going to model her after Karai because, in this particular story, Karai is their enemy and their sister, so that would be weird. But even if Leo WAS gay, why would that matter anyway? Gay people do exist, you know. And the reason Maddie didn't tell him will be cleared up in chapter four, not this one. Anyway, I'm glad you took the time to review and I hope that clears some things up. Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: TMNT and all related characters are property of Nickelodeon. I only own the plot and Madison.

"Okay, log in, go to Publish, and go to Document Manager," Madison instructed.

Leo nodded and did as she asked. "Okay, now what?"

"Scroll down and see that box where it says File Name?"

"Yeah, I see it."

"Click on that and then click on Browse."

Leo did and the list of his saved documents came up though there was only one document there.

"Now click on your file that you saved."

Leo obeyed and the file popped up in the box.

"Now click Submit."

Leo submitted his file and it appeared.

"Okay, now what do I do?"

"Go to Edit/View to make sure everything is okay," Madison replied. "That's usually what I do before I post something."

"Okay," Leo said. He did as she asked and saw that everything was in order. "Everything's good."

"Okay, now go back to Publish and click on the Rules and Guidelines tab. You have to agree with the rules or you won't be able to publish stories."

Leo did as Maddie asked and looked over the rules. There were definitely a lot, but he could understand why that was. He clicked that he agreed to them and then was allowed to make a new story.

"Okay, so now I go to New Story?" Leo asked her.

"Yep, you do that and do whatever it asks you to next," Madison responded.

So Leo created his new story, using the summary he'd made up and clicking on a few other things within it. Once everything was set up, Leo submitted his new story.

"Yay!" Madison cheered. "You did it!"

"Will it show up now?" Leo asked her.

"Not yet, but it will later. It takes some time for stories to show up on the site."

"How will I know if I get reviews?"

"An alert will come in your e-mail that says you have a review. Just click on it and it'll show you the review that was submitted."

"Oh, okay. How long should I wait to do that?"

"Probably a couple of hours since it'll take time for the story to show up."

"Okay. Thanks so much for this, Maddie. I couldn't have done it without you."

"No problem. And I'll make sure to read and review your story, okay?"

Leo's eyes lit up at her words. "Sounds great. I'll be looking out for that."

"Okay, well, I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Talk to you later, Maddie." Leo hung up and smiled. He had finally posted his first fan fiction ever, and it made him feel good. He hurried to the main Space Heroes page, but his story wasn't up yet. Deciding to kill some time, he read some other stories and reviewed them. Then he looked again, but his story still wasn't up. It would probably take a while, so he closed his computer and read a book. Practice wouldn't be for a little while, and hopefully by then he'd have some reviews.

Three hours later, Leo booted up his computer and checked his e-mail. He saw that he had five review alerts, and his heart lifted. People had looked at his story! He clicked on the first alert at the top and read what it said.

CaptainRyan'sMistress

This story is awesome! I wish I was Athena because she sounds awesome. I'm jealous of her because she got to kiss Captain Ryan and I wanted to do it! Keep up the good work!

Leo was pleased by the review. The person obviously liked his story so that was definitely a good thing. He looked at the next review.

TrekkiesRuleSpaceniksDrool (Guest)

This story is so dumb. Space Heroes is a dumb show and is a rip-off of a better show called Star Trek. Get with the program, loser.

Leo was enraged by this reviewer. How dare they make fun of Space Heroes? He would have to ask Maddie if he could reply to that reviewer.

KarateCat (Guest):

This story is stupid. OCs are horrible and so are you. Go do something else and get off of this website, bitch.

Once again, Leo was upset. This person had no right to tell him what to do! He could feel some Raphesque rage boiling in him and immediately began some breathing exercises to calm himself down.

Spacenik4Ever:

This story is amazing. You really have a good writing style. Keep on going.

Leo's heart immediately lifted at that review. At least this author liked what he had to say.

MaddieLuvsSpaceHeroes:

Congrats on posting your first story ever! I love it so far and think you have a great writing style. Keep on going, and I'll be waiting for more.

It was no surprise that Maddie was the one who really gave him encouragement. He clicked on the talk bubble and sent her a reply.

Thanks for the encouragement, Maddie. It means a lot to me that you have faith in me. Some of these other writers don't, and I think that's horrible. But I'll keep on going because you want me to and because I want to show everyone what I can do. Thanks again for taking the time to read this. It means a lot to me.

Leo

After he sent that off, he closed his computer and went to the dojo for practice. He decided he wasn't going to let anything get him down, and he'd check back before it was time for patrol to see what others said about his story. Practice actually went well because he made sure to stay focused and to not be distracted. When it was over and Splinter had dismissed them, Leo hurried back to his room to check and see if he had any more reviews. Sure enough, he had three more.

Fan Fiction Sux (Guest):

This story is terrible. Athena is totally a Mary Sue, and people like you don't deserve to be called a writer.

Leo was a bit confused. What was a Mary Sue, and why would they call Athena that? He decided he'd ask Madison tomorrow about it all.

SpaceHeroesRules:

Awesome story. It's a great start, but I do think Athena is a bit of a Mary Sue. You might want to fix that. But don't let that get you down. You still have potential.

There was that Mary Sue again. What the heck was going on?

SleepingSpacenik:

This story is great. I think Athena is a great character and her romance with Captain Ryan is awesome. I wonder what the crew will say if they find out? I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for this story.

Leo was glad this person didn't talk about Athena being a Mary Sue. At least they liked the story, and that made him feel good. He decided to reply to the reviewer.

Thanks for taking a chance on this story. I'm glad you liked it, and I'll be sure to write more in the future. And I'm glad you like Athena, too. I worked very hard on her character, so it's nice to know that some people like her. Thanks for reading.

Leo

He figured putting his first name wouldn't be a bad thing because it wouldn't give anything away about who he was.

"Hey, Leo, it's time for patrol!" Raph yelled. "Are you comin' or what?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there!" Leo yelled back. He logged out of the computer and put it away. Sure, some people didn't like his story, but there were others who did, and that was all that mattered to him. With a smile, he joined his brothers for patrol.

"Dude, you look happy," Mikey said. "What's the occasion?"

"Oh, I was just talking to Madison," Leo answered.

The others accepted that, and Leo was glad of that. He didn't want to tell them about his story yet because he was afraid they'd laugh at him. Shaking this thought away, Leo left with his brothers to patrol the city. Don still insisted that they search for April because he figured they had to be missing something. But no new leads turned up, and Leo really wanted to just tell Don to let it go. This just wasn't right.

When they arrived home, Leo decided to just go to bed. He was too tired to check for more reviews, and he could always check them tomorrow. He made a mental note to ask Maddie about the whole Mary Sue thing and why people were calling Athena that. He was surprised Maddie hadn't told him, but he figured it was because she was just so excited to be introducing him to the world of Space Heroes fan fiction. He snuggled down with his Space Heroes blanket and fell asleep, thinking about the next chapter and what he would do with Athena and Captain Ryan next.

A/N: So that's the end of another chapter. I'm going to do the Mary Sue stuff in the next chapter as I feel it fits there. So what did you think of Leo's first reviews? I did model at least one of the reviewers off one of the TMNT fan fiction authors I admire so much, and I'm sure you can guess who, too. Feel free to leave a review and have a shelltastic day.