Sarah's P.O.V:

"Where is she?" I worried aloud, pacing our apartment. It wasn't much, just a tiny kitchen, living room, and bathroom, and an even smaller two bedrooms. One for my dad, and one for me and Gracie. The pantry we customized into Ethan's tiny bedroom.. It wasn't the best, but it was all we could afford.

Gracie was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago. I'd assumed her and Alex were at the park, which isn't far way, but maybe I was wrong. It's a good thing that my dad wasn't home, -who knows where he is- because if he had noticed she was gone, he would have freaked out. But, of course, he was to busy drinking away his sorrows to care about his children.

"What's wrong?" A hear a tired little boy's voice from behind me. I turn around to see my little brother Ethan emerging from around the corner. He was wrapped up in his favorite green blanket that featured little cartoon turtles all over it. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, he walked up to me. I knelt down and let him walk into my arms. I look down at his wise eyes and summon the most reassuring smile I can manage.

"It's nothing, Spikey." I tell him. He had insisted at three years old that everyone call him Spike, and somehow the silly nickname stuck. He snuggled closer to my body, and, without missing a beat, guessed the truth immediately.

"It's Gracie, isn't it?" He asked. It startled me how perceptive he can be sometimes. I sighed. I can't keep anything from my eager brother.

"Yes." I answer truthfully in a whisper. He nodds.

"Is she okay?" He asks me. He looks up at me with worry In his eyes. I felt bad for him. Little Ethan had bad separation issues, due to the fact that he lost his mother at only two years old, and his father became a useless drunk not long after. I try to look strong, for Ethan.

"She was supposed to be here a while ago, and she hasn't arrived yet." I see the dread in his face once I say this, and I quickly change my answer. "Don't worry, she's with Alex. They were probably just goofing off or something." His face calms a little as I say this, but I can still see the fear in his face. He doesn't respond. I let out a big breath.

"Come on." I tell him, getting up and holding out my hand. "I'll tuck you in. If she's not back in a little bit, then we'll get some help. Don't worry, it'll be okay." He get s up off the floor with a determined look on his face and grasps my hand. Sometimes I think he is braver than me. I begin to lead him to his tiny room, but he stops me.

"Sarah?" He asks, sounding suddenly meek.

"Yeah?" I respond, looking down at his bright blue eyes.

"Can I sleep in your room tonight?" He asks. I smile.

"Of course." I respond. I lead him into my bedroom, where he immediately crawls up the ladder into Gracie's bunk. "Goodnight." I whisper to him as I crawl into my bed.

"Goodnight." He replies, and soon the room is filled with the sound of his heavy breathing. I roll over in bed and close my eyes. But I didn't go to sleep. Instead, I waited. And waited. But Gracie didn't come home.

Gracie's P.O.V:

When I woke up, I had a huge headache. I opened my eyes, but quickly shut them again as it was extremely bright and it made my headache worse. My head was buzzing, my whole body hurt, and i felt like I was going to throw up.

'Maybe I've come down with something.' I think to myself. My heart was beating really fast, and I was out of breath, like I had just run a marathon. A shadow of a dream flickered across my memory, and a chill ran down my spine. Weird.

My back felt extremely sore, so I began to roll over in my bed. But then I stopped. Why was my bed so hard? I opened my eyes, shocked to find myself taring down at the pavement. 'what?' I thought. I sat up in alarm. I was in a gray alleyway. The bright light from before was just a light hanging off of the building to my back. A choked gasp escaped my throat as the dream from last night came rushing back to me. I noticed my bag lying on the ground by a pile of rags. I reached out for it, but my hand never made it to the strap. Instead, it was frozen in place, suspended in the air. And I was sitting, staring at it in horror.

It was green. My skin. My normally tan, freckled, smooth skin. It was green. I quickly dropped it, unable to look at it any longer. I forced my eyes to snap down to my body. It was the same. I was hideous. Then it finally hit me. It wasn't a dream. I really did run into those robot freaks, really did fall in that liquid, really did turn in to a- really was- a monster. I thought. I looked away. It was to much to bear. It wouldn't have mattered anyways, because at that moment my vision filled with tears, causing everything to blur.

'I need to get out of here' I thought. They would find me. Capture me. Put me in a zoo, a science lab. Probably kill me. I looked around and spotted a sewer cover at the end of the alley. The sewers seemed like the safest option. I crawled over to the cover. My body screamed in protest. Once I got to the cover, I grabbed both sides tightly, trying to control my hands, as they were shaking tremendously. I gulped and prepared for the strain of prying the cover loose. I tugged as hard as I could, and was shot backwards with the momentum as the lid came off way easier than I had expected it to. I landed on my bag. I sat up and threw the cover in frustration, shouldered my bag, and dropped into the hole.

I landed on my knees, and slumped to the ground as my body was to weak to support me. I dragged myself across the ground until I found a spot that didn't smell quite as disgusting a the rest. I fell asleep before I had stopped moving, as my body was to tired to cooperate.

3rd Person:

"Mikey!" Leonardo called over his shoulder. "Get up!" He rolled his eyes at his little brother's laziness. He turned back to the television, where he flipped through the channels in a very uninterested fashion. He and his brothers where in a very bored mood today. Donatello was sitting next to him, fiddling with some new device of his, and Raphael was sitting farther away on a bean bag reading his comics. Leo dropped his hand to his lap, leaned his hed back, and closed his eyes with a sigh. He hated having nothing to do. But, there wasn't any crime alerts, or trouble with the foot or purple dragons. There was absolutely nothing.

A large yawn could be heard from behind them as a tired Michelangelo emerged, his arm extended over his head as he stretched.

"Jeez, Mikey, who needs to vacuum when you got a mouth like that?" Don mumbled, making reference to the massive yawn Mike had let out. Raph scoffed.

"Who vacuums?" He said sarcastically.

Mikey made a face. Without opening his eyes, Leo could predict his little brother's confusion. "He joking, Mikey" He told him. Mikey seemed to be content with that. He walked over and plunked down on the couch, releasing a big breath.

"Hey, turn that up." Mikey said, pointing a finger at the TV screen. Leo opened his eyes and looked at the TV. He saw that he had landed on the news channel. On it was a clip of an older teenage girl with a brown ponytail, and a little boy with light blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The little boy had tears running down his face, and the girl looked really upset, but it was obvious she was trying not to cry. She took the boys shoulders and they turned away from the camera. The screen then changed to a blonde news lady with bouncy blonde hair who was talking to the camera. Leo turned the volume up.

"-early this morning. There was no one there at the time, so we have no evidence of how she went missing. Her older sister says she called her, but heard no further from her. A friend at the scene says he wasn't aware of what happened either, because they parted ways to walk home before it happened. If anyone has seen this young girl, please call this number." On the screen appeared a picture of a pretty girl about our age, with blonde hair, misty eyes, and a freckled face smiling at the camera. Underneath the picture a phone number flashed on the screen. "Once again, Gracie Hamilton, fifteen years old, went missing early this morning. If you have any idea where she is or any clues to how she went missing, please call us." The number flashed again. The news changed to the weather, and Leo turned the TV back down.

"Kidnapped." Mikey said quickly, then letting out another yawn.

"Run away." Donnie said right after.

Raph thought a moment. "Drunk, got lost."

This was a game they played. Leo thought that at times, it seems pretty sick. When they were uncertain of something on the news, each one of them would guess what had happened, and if one of them got the correct answer, everyone else would have to give them something of value that they owned.

"Well, I think we should look for her." Leo aid with a shrug. Mikey was disappointing he didn't participate in their little game, but, like Mikey does, he brushed it off. The brothers stared at Leo.

"Why?" Raph said, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Because." Leo said. He held out a hand, palm upward. "There's nothing else to do."

"But we've never gone searching for a missing person." Mikey said.

"We'd be good at it, considering our training for being and finding stealthy people."

Mikey and Raph both shared the feeling of not wanting to go out. Mikey because it was Saturday and they always have good movies on all day, Raph, just because he's Raph.

"It could be fun, like a game of hide and seek." Don suggested. This got Mikey's attention. He did love that game. Although, most of the time he preferred to be the one to hide, so he could feel triumphant when he could not be found. But, being the seeker was fun, too.

"Well, we're going, because I said so." Leo said, crossing his arms in persistence. Mikey sighed, though he wasn't that upset about it.

"Fine" Raph grumbled. "When are we going, fearless?"

Leo took only a moment. "After breakfast. We'll need the food for energy, but leaving early will give us more time. But we have to be extra stealthy." Sensei had decided that they were aloud to go out during the day once they had all proven themselves careful enough.

Raph grunted in response. Once that was decided, it only took Mikey a few seconds before he jumped on another subject.

"What's for breakfast?" Mikey whined loudly.

"Mikey, we don't know. Please don't be dramatic." Leo said.

"So, you don't have anything planned?" Mikey asked, a goofy grin on his face.

"No, Mikey." Don said. To consumed in his gadget to see the look on Mikey's face. Raph rolled his eyes, knowing what was next.

"Pizza for breakfast!" Mikey shouted, bolting up from where he sat. His brothers flinched at how loud his voice was as he ran to get a jacket, almost running straight into Sensei, who had just walked out of his room.

"Michelangelo, please calm down." Sensei said, massaging his temples. Mikey smiled sheepishly, then walked the rest of the way to get his street clothes. He shrugged a huge trench coat, and plopped a floppy hat on his bald head, pulling it low to hide his face. Sure, he looked like a total weirdo, but who cares, right? New York...

"Are you alright, Sensei?" Leo asks, noticing the stressed look in his father's eyes.

Splinter nods slowly. "Yes, I just... Michelangelo, where are you going?" He said as Mikey was halfway through the door. Mikey faltered mid-step and turned around.

"Just going out to get some breakfast!" Mikey said, flashing a big smile.

"Alright, just be careful." Sensei said. Acknowledging he could go with a dip of is head.

"You got it, Sens'!" Mikey said, shoving a wad of cash in his pocket and dashing out the door. He faintly hears his sensei talking with his brother as he raced down the sewer tunnels.

Gracie woke up on the cold stone ground of the sewers. Her pain wasn't any better than it had been, if anything, it had grown worse. It took her only a moment to remember what happened. There was a brief surge of hope from her as the illusion game that minds like play told her that it was okay, that it was all fake. But that hope was shattered as her eyes looked down at her body.

Her skin was still green. It was a light color, almost blueish. It was a sea foam green color. Her skin was still freckled, but instead of being a tan orange-y color, all over her shoulders, arms, legs, and probably face, where darker turquoise spots. Her hands and feet were missing fingers and toes. On her hand, she had three thin fingers and a thumb. Her feet hand three toes. It looked very peculiar. What was she? Some kind of lizard freak? Her torso was covered in a light yellowish brown plastron material. She noticed that it covered all of her privates, but you could still see a pair of hills in her shell-like material that marked out where her breasts were. Shell-like. She thought again. She reached around to her back. Sure enough, there was a large lump there that was obviously a shell. A turtle? She thought. Then she remembered the baby turtle. The one she had meant to take home as a birthday present for little Ethan. Looks like I'm his present now. She thought miserably. If she wasn't so terrified, she might have found it funny. Her mind began to fit the pieces together. The turtle, the mysterious glowing liquid, the excruciating pain... Some how, she had transformed into the shelled reptile she was now. She was half human, half turtle. She was a mutated monster.

It couldn't be. But it was. Her green skin, her bald head, her shell. Her eyes filled with tears as a mixed jumble of anger, sorrow, terror, and confusion overwhelmed her. What was she going to do? It was over. Her life was ruined.

She let out a sob, and slumped over, falling to her side on the hard ground. Tears began streaking down her face as she pounded the rock with her fist. "Why?" She wailed. "Why? Why?! Why?!" She laid on the ground weeping uncontrollably for a long moment, when suddenly her gut wrenched. She felt an acidy taste fill her mouth, and she squeezed her eyes shut as a terrible burning sensation slid up her throat. She felt something surge from her gut into her throat as she began vomiting, spewing up any food she had eaten and reliving her stomach of its terrible nauseous feeling. She choked on the puke until there was nothing left in her stomach, and she was gagging on air. Once she had finished, she laid on the ground, gravity and exhaustion taking there toll on her weak body. She could barely move. Suddenly, she seemed to find it an effort to breath. She lay on the ground limply.

She knew this was it. She knew she could never see anyone again. Everyone would think she had died, until she finally did die, all alone, in these disgusting sewers. but one thing she did not know, was that there was a pair of shining blue eyes watching her silently from the shadows.

Mikey's P.O.V:

I had been running through the sewers, going to get some pizza for breakfast, when I had heard crying. It was faint, coming from a different tunnel than the one I need to travel to get to the pizza place. For a brief moment, I considered ignoring it and continuing on my way. Hey, I was hungry. But, I couldn't leave something like this. I turned and sped down the other tunnel. But when I got there, I stopped dead in my tracks. What I saw, it was beautiful. I mean, she -I could tell it was a girl for obvious reasons- was like me. She was a turtle. She had the prettiest sea foam green colored skin, and darker freckles dappled her body.

She was beautiful, but she was in trouble. She was obviously freaking out. Suddenly her whole body lurched, and before I knew it, she was throwing up. I looked away, wincing at the sound. When she finished a moment later, her whole body slumped to the ground like a rag doll. I peered out at her, the amazing creature before me. It tortued me to see the obvious pain he was dealing with. She looked so weak. Silent tears fell across her freckled cheeks. I took a step forward to see her better, but my foot struck something, and it clattered across the floor noisily.

Her eyes focused, and her body stiffened. "Who's there?" She whispered. Her voice was hoarse and miserable, but it still sent chills through my body. I didn't come out, frozen where I was. She propped herself up on an elbow with very apparent pain.

"Come out!" She commanded. Her voice was louder, but still scratchy. I hesitated.

"Don't be afraid." I told her. Her eyes seemed to get large, but she nodded. I stepped forward slowly, first putting one foot out of the shadows. It had a large boot on it, for going topside. She eyed it warily. I pulled the rest of my body out so she could see me. She looked at me with a vigilant eye as I removed my boots, then my coat, and last of all my hat. Once she could see my appearance, her eyes got bigger, and her mouth hung open slightly.

"But...you're like me." She croaked, confusion thick on her tongue. It was hard to understand her, as her voice was very worn out. Her large misty eyes examined my body, making me feel self conscious. "How...?" She whispered. She began mumbling to herself. "It makes no sense..." "Maybe he was sent to me." and other things I couldn't decipher. I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"I'm Mikey." I said, trying to sound cheerful. I held out my hand and smiled down at her forlorn face. I think she was in shock, either that or her brain was whacked up, because she was acting weird. I hoped it was the first one, because she was too pretty to be crazy. It would be a waste of beauty.

She looks up at me like I was the one missing some screws. "You... have a name?" She said. I rolled on the balls of my feet.

"Yeah, don't you?" I ask. She looks down, as if realizing it was a stupid question.

"Gracie." She said. Gracie. Wasn't that the name of that missing girl on the TV?

"It's not...Gracie Hamilton, is it?" I ask. She looks up into my eyes for the first time. We both look away quickly.

"Yes, it is." She said. "Why?" I was about to reply, but suddenly her stomach contracted violently. She paled. "Look. Away." She managed to squeeze out before she suddenly turned to her side and started puking violently. I averted my eyes, staring at the floor. She wiped her mouth when she was finished and turned back t me, casting me a look of apologizing, but most of all I could see in her face that she was not feeling well at all. Her body fell backwards to the floor.

"Are you okay?" I ask her, taking a quick step towards her. I cringe as the smell wafted into my nostrils. She tries to answer, but seems to weak to answer. I walk towards her. "I know someone who can help you." I tell her. She tries to fight, but the strain causes her to go limp. She was really messed up. I wrap one arm under her knees and another on her back, bridal style. "Trust me." I whisper to her. She doesn't argue. Instead, her eyelids slide shut, and her breathing becomes heavy, but ragged.

I run home as fast as I can, but I'm careful not to harm her in any way. Once I get there, I leap completely over the rails. "Guys!" I yell, barging into the living room. They all look up at me in shock.

"Mikey...?" Leo murmurs, eyes wide. I look down at the sleeping turtle girl in my arms.

"Guys, I think you can call of that search."