A Turtle on the Outside, a Wolf on the Inside

by Sairey13

Before Yoshi got the turtles from the Pet Store, Leo was found playing with the manager's dog, who was told to be a wolf-hybrid. Right before Yoshi took the turtles away, Leo ate some of the canine's fur and when he got mutated, the mutagen somehow enhanced the inside of his body to match a wolf's behavior and abilities. NO T-CEST, LEORAI or APRITELLO!

12. A Rat's Reason

May Twenty-four; In the Lair...
Today for training, is a very difficult task for the turtles they'd yet to accomplished, together: Lay an attack on Splinter. Why is it so difficult to lay a head on Splinter? Because he's a Ninja Master, and many warriors have been unsuccessful at laying a single hit on the great Hamato Yoshi. So, it's no surprise that even his own sons wouldn't be able to succeed sick a task, including in training sessions.

"All right, anybody have a plan on how to get Splinter, this time?" Donatello whispered his question, not wanting to be too loud for their sensei to hear their plan.

"So long it doesn't involve rushing him at once, I'm good with any plan." Michelangelo stated, earning a glare from Raphael from bringing up their last plan from their last session on getting Splinter.

"How about, instead of having Donnie attack first, you go first this time, Mikey?" The red-masked turtle suggested, his younger-brother agreeing to the plan in an instant.

"I think he took it the wrong way." Mikey said to the purple-masked turtle, who didn't bother saying anything on redoing the plan and turned to Leonardo at his left.

"What do you think, Leo?" Don asked his blue-masked brother, who, surpassingly, hadn't said a word the entire time of training. In fact, now that Don thinks about it, he hasn't really said much at all today. His brother didn't say anything. He only glared down at his feet, an angry, disturbed look on his face. Don placed a hand on Leo's shoulder, slightly jostling him a bit. "Leo?"

The response he gained, was a swift turned head at his direction and looking into the angry eyes of his brother. He roughly jerked his shoulder out from the Genius turtle's hand, a low growl could be made out.

"What?" Leo grunted out, not sounding calm, happy or even showing any signs of concern of their training session. The three younger-brothers were taken back by his angry behavior, not knowing why he looks ready to bite their faces off or why he's eyeing them like prey he hasn't seen in days.

Raph answered in Don's place.

"We're planning our attack on Sensei," he reminded. "Mikey's going to attack first."

"Which I say he took my mentioning from our last attack session with Sensei, the wrong way." Mikey came in, still earning a glare from Raph. "You got any better ideas on how to get Splinter, Leo?"

All the oldest brother did was look over to their sensei, glaring daggers at the back facing them.

"It doesn't matter," he growled. "No matter what plan we think of, it's always going to end with the same results." Again, the younger brothers were stunned by his response and behavior. He isn't going to give them any idea to get Splinter?

"Dude, is something wrong?" Mikey asked, wanting to reach out to his big brother but afraid to trigger Leo's anger onto him.

"...It's nothing..." They weren't convinced his answer, but now wasn't the time to pry for the real answer. He slowly got to his feet, the others following suit. "Let's get this lesson over with."

With no other plan to come up, they had to go with Raph's plan. Which means, Mikey has to attack first and he isn't looking forward to being first to get pummeled. As the four turtles slowly creeped to position themselves, cornering their opponent in a box-like formation, Splinter made no move to make the first attack. His eyes remain closed, his ears slightly tilted to the side, catching the silent steps of his sons and listening to hear who will be the first to strike.

As Raphael suggested, Mikey charged first. When his fist was at close range by launching himself in the air and aiming his feet for his head, Splinter grabbed him from behind his back and pulled him over his shoulders, forcing him to the ground on his plastron and kicking him off to the side. Behind him, Raphael and Donatello came up, the red-masked turtle coming in closer than his younger-brother and coming down from the air to land a punch. Splinter dodged Raph's punch and Don's kick, backing away and pulling the top-half of himself when Leo nearly gotten a kick of his own. At the same time he turned, the two mid-turtles tried to lay their previous attack on him, again, only for Splinter to catch both fist and leg in each of his hands. He took down Donatello first by sliding a leg over the genius turtle's left-leg, which forced him to spin in the middle of the air, then delivered a powerful kick towards Raphael that sent the both of them to the ground.

Leonardo was the only one left in the battle. He charged, then rolled when he felt that Splinter would try to strike him in the plastron and, when he got to a crouch, forced his legs to push him up and raised his fist in the air… It collided with Splinter's right-cheek, the punch made the humanoid-rat push back. All eyes widen from what happened before the turtles: After so many years of training, they finally landed a hit on their sensei.

While the three brothers could only watch in shock, Leonardo's eyes were wide-eyed at what was playing before him... Until the anger returned on his face and, instead of apologizing or even feeling any guilt for laying an attack on his sensei, he did what the others never thought he would ever do: He delivered a fierce slam to Splinter's stomach with his left-palm, slide his leg underneath his feet to make him fall on his back and placed himself on top of the rat's chest, his left-hand clamped to Splinter's neck and his right-hand held in the air in the form of a fist.

Leo's eyes flashed so much rage, it horrified Hamato Yoshi to the very core that he couldn't even think about freeing himself when his reddish-brown eyes are haunted by this sudden anger in his eldest-child. His brothers held similar feelings, only they used the fear to push themselves for their father's well being to pull Leo off of Splinter. Raph and Don both pulled Leo off, while Mikey went beside Splinter and pulled the hand that was to the rat's neck.

"What the shell's the matter with you, Leo?!" Raphael yelled, standing between his father and his older-twin, who merely glared back at his red-masked brother before glaring back at Splinter.

Mikey and Don helped their father to his feet, each taking one side to help keep him standing, while they stared at the blue-masked turtle with concern and even a hint of fear.

"Seriously, Leo, you could've choked him to death or even damaged one of his bones." Donatello stated, all of them clearly forgetting that their father is a Ninja Master.

Leo knew Splinter wouldn't be so easily defeated by such attacks he, himself, taught the four of them to do, which he has also shown them different counter moves to get the upper hand… And he has yet to use any at all when the blue-masked turtle came to attack the second time, and continued the fight to show the brothers how much their sensei has actually been holding back on them, when training them all at once… The very same Hamato Yoshi, Leonardo has been forced to train under since he was four, who never once went easy on him like he does with his brothers.

And that's what infuriated the leader in blue the most: Master Splinter has been toying with his brothers, for all these years, and never revealed his full potential that would've helped them further in their training on how to on the Shredder. But instead, has decided to go easy on them and, when he thinks they're ready for the next level, he pretends to let one of them lay a hit on them? On purpose?! Which will not only boost their egos, but think they won't need him someday?

Well, he decided to give them a heads up.

"He knew what he did was wrong," he growled out. "He thinks this'll make us become strong warriors, when he's only making you all be simple minded on what he's been doing this whole time. -The anger in his eyes made Splinter cringe when he spoke those words.- You three may not know what I mean, but I know the true Splinter he hides from you three. The sons he cherish and can't help himself, but pamper them from the truth of his actual training."

He ripped himself from Raphael's tight hold, made his way out of the dojo, slamming the Shōji in the process, before making a mad dash for the exit of the Lair. The moment he's outside of the Lair, he pushed himself to sprint on all-four, heading deep for the sewers where he wish to be at this very moment.

You shouldn't had taken your anger out on Father and to beat him like that before your brothers, is uncalled for.

'He pushed us for over three weeks since our first encounter with Shredder, and is now going soft on them, again, after we saved our home. They need to realize that Sensei hasn't been going serious on them since he trained them at seven… Not the way he's been pushing me when I was four.'

As he ran through the tunnels, he noticed that something was off about the area. He wasn't sure how or why, but he noticed there's been little activity going on for a few days. He also took notice of how there are fewer rouge rats in the sewers than he last remember his last visit to the Colony that took him in when he was ten. Something told him that there's going to be trouble, and that trouble will be involving his sewer friends.

"Leo!" A voice called out from the corner of the tunnel, stopping him in the middle of the water and looking down to see a familiar figure he hasn't seen in over a month.

"Kyra." He greeted, smiling down at the pure-white rat and lowering his head to sniff noses with his friend before letting her jump on to his shell.

"It's been so long, Leo! We missed you!" Kyra said, nuzzling her head against his.

"I missed you guys, too." He replied back, continuing on to the direction for the Colony at a slower paste. "Sorry that I haven't been visiting much."

"No, you don't have to apologize." She reassured the blue-masked turtle. "We heard from the pigeons and our allies on what you and your brothers been doing, on the surface world. -Kyra laid her head on top of his.- You saved us all, and will always be forever in your debt."

Leo blushed a bit from her words, but kept going until he reached a tunnel he's been searching for.

"You and the Colony saved me from dying, after my first encounter with White Death." He reminded. "I was indebted to you all for saving me, just as you claimed you're all indebted to me for saving all your lives... I think this make us all even, but that doesn't mean I won't stop assisting you if there's trouble."

A moment of silence went by the two, until Kyra broke the silence.

"...Leo... We require your help." He stopped in his tracks, slightly turning his head while she remains laying her head on his. "Something happened to the Colony, and we don't know why."

Leonardo narrowed his eyes from the information, then turned back to the tunnel.

"Tell me exactly what the problem is, and I'll do whatever I can to fix the problem."

And so Kyra told him exactly what's been going on: Over a week ago, on what's supposed to be an ordinary day for the rats in the sewers, started off as such. Many of the younger rats went off to scavenge for food, while some of the younger females remained in the nest to watch over the younglings or are expecting future generation to be born soon. When the first day ended, not only have all the younger females who went to scavenge returned with food before the sun has set, but more than half of the younger males that went off didn't return to the nest. The next day, they still hadn't returned and, worried for their safety, the leader of the Colony had sent five of his best trackers to look for the missing males… On the ending of the third day, no sign for either the missing scavengers or the trackers came back. It wasn't until the middle of the sixth day that some of the missing males returned, all containing burn marks and some loss of furs on their bodies. And yesterday, most of their trackers returned to the Colony, dazed and lethargic. They didn't know what occurred in the past few days, only that a voice called out to them and when they embraced the voice, everything went black until they found themselves near Antonio's Pizza.

By the time Kyra finished informing of the problem, they reached the dead-end of the nest. In the center of a big room, where water travels through the drain, Leonardo sees what the white-rat was telling him is true: About thirteen rats are in the center of the room, mostly females and young children who aren't ready to scavenge for food, while seventeen males stood at the center to keep watch for any signs of intruders to enter their nest. Eight of the males had burn marks on their bodies, indicating to being the scavengers to return from wherever they were at for six days.

"Leo!" One of the males called out, announcing their honorary Colony member to the whole nest who turned to greet the humanoid-wolf/turtle. The one who called out his name was a pure-black rat, one of the trackers who returned and unsuccessfully figured out where the rest of the males went. "Kyra!"

The white-rat, catching the name from the black-rat, jumped off of Leo's shell and scurried to the male, both nuzzling against each other in a manner that the blue-masked turtle instantly figured out the relationship between them.

"Ettore (Loyal)," he greeted. "I see you finally decided to take Kyra as your mate?" While Kyra continued displaying her affection to the black-rat, Ettore gave the turtle what he knew is a rat's version of a smile.

"A few weeks ago, actually." He answered, returning his affection to his mate. "We're also expecting our first family, somewhere in June." Leo smiled at the two rats before him, as some of the female rats came to greet him and jump on his shell.

"Well, I believe that 'congratulations' are in order." He said, lifting his left-hand to nuzzle with a grey-rat with white on her hind-legs. "Though, I'm afraid now isn't the time to be joyous when something has happened to our Colony."

"Leonardo is correct, I'm afraid." An old grey-rat, who's fur appears thinning and losing its color to a near white, slowly walked towards them, lifting his nose to sniff with Leo as a greeting. "This 'presence', that our trackers and our returned members have told us, is the reason why our Colony has grown smaller."

"It's not just our own Colony that suffers from unexplainable disappearances, Great Fakhry (Honorary)." Ettore informed, slowly stepping up but didn't dare to approach any further unless he challenges his leader for the right to take his place. Fakhry tilted his head a bit, silently allowing his tracker to speak. "I may not know what has happened since the voice controlled us, but I do remember seeing some of our allied Colonies' members and even some of our enemies with us. -He lowered his head in shame, even as Kyra rubbed against him to cheer him up.- …I even remembered seeing Aristotle, sitting on the shoulder of a human, who smelt of fire and toxic, talking to us as if we're Kin. He calls himself, the Rat King."

Some of the rats hissed from the name Aristotle, a rogue albino-rat who opposed a threat to the Colony and, long ago, killed some of their younglings as an attempt to wipe out their bloodline before his attempt to kill the leader to replace him and nearly lost his life in the process.

"Leo," Ettore spoke to the turtle. "The human, he knows of you and your brothers' existence. He kept calling you 'Vile Turtles' and holds a heavy grudge on you guys, which means you know this human or at least crossed paths with him."

That news of information surprised Leonardo, who laid on the plastron so the little ones can lay against his skin or run up and down his shell in order to bond with the newest member of the Colony.

'The human, this "Rat King" knows us?' He thought long and hard to figure out which human they're talking about, and all he got was: Baxter Stockman*, the Purple Dragon and Vi-

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" His heightened sense of hearing picked up an echoed cry, a sound he never thought he hear in his lifetime: Hamato Yoshi, Master Splinter, screaming. He got to his limbs, forcing the young ones to jump off of him when they, also, heard his sensei scream of pain.

"That sounded like your father." Kyra said, watching her mate climb up on his shell.

"The human… He must've figured out your father's existence, and is trying to gain control of him." Ettore figured out with Leo, growling from the thought of somebody who dared to harm one of his own. "You must get to him, immediately. I shall go with you, in case we run into those who already fallen victim to the human's voice."

Leonardo didn't say anything to his suggestion, only pushed his body to bound over the Colony and sprint, on all-four, back to the Lair, with Ettore staying firm on his shell. In under two minutes, he made it back to the Lair, pushing himself up to run on his legs and head for the dojo, where his brothers kneeled beside their trembling father.

"Sensei, are you okay?" Donatello asked, placing a hand over the rat's forehead for any sign of a fever.

"I… Am fine." Splinter groaned out, though it's pretty clear that he's lying.

"You're not fine, Sensei." Leo stated, kneeling in front of him so the two can look eye-to-eye and clearly saw that the fifty year-old human is trying to hide the pain. "Your scream could be heard within the sew-"

The sound of birds tweeting cut him off, coming from Donatello.

"That's April's ringtone." The purple-masked turtle respond, who didn't mean to give off the ringtone he set should April call on his T-Phone and got both Raphael and Michelangelo to making kissing sounds.

"He still infatuated with the girl?" Ettore asked Leo, cocking his head to the weird sound the phone was making and having a disgust look on his face at Donatello.

"Unfortunately…" Leo mumbled, glaring at his second-youngest turtle trying to talk to the girl but kept skipping over his words if he should talk normal, act smooth, or casually. He stopped when the girl cut to the chase and what she said, definitely confused and stunned the purple-masked turtle.

"April's in trouble," he told the others. "And it's not just her. Something's going on with the city… With a serious rat problem. -Splinter sent a tired glare at him, making Don laugh nervously.- No offense, Sensei."

Ettore let out a low hiss, startling everybody of the rat announcing his existence the entire time.

"The Rat King, he's causing this to happen!" He yelled, patting his front paws on Leo's left-shoulder. "Hurry! Your friend is in great danger!"

---

Above the Sewers, in New York…
"Oh, wow, the city is so beautiful in the daytime." Mikey commented, as he and his brothers jumped from rooftop to rooftop, heading for April's coordinates from her T-Phone. "Except for the, you know, billions of rats."

*Hisss!*

Ettore warned the youngest-turtle behind Leonardo, who laughed nervously before Don distracted him by talking of the population of rats in New York City.

"You're certain it was wise to leave your father, alone?" He asked the blue-masked turtle, who was following April's scent in the air.

"Karasu is back at the Lair," he answered. "I advised her to keep watch, but to remain distant from him should he get into a stance that gives her a warning of a threat towards her." Some rats ran with him on the rooftop, following him and leaping to the next rooftop, who he and Ettore recognize as some from their allies.

"Leonardo, Ettore, we just received word from your Colony members: Onida (The one searched for), Takuya (Forerunner, pathfinder) and Chan (Snow)." A male brown-rat with black spots on his back, informed. "We, along with our allies, are trying to find our missing colony members and making them snap out from whoever is telling them to come up to the surface and harm humans for some maddening plan."

Leo nodded to the rat, as they took off to the other direction, before his ears caught the sound of April's distress call. Looking before him, he saw what he and Ettore never thought to see: The whole city road, covered by rats, acting like a flood to cover the entire pavement. On a single utility pole, was April, trying to keep at a high distance from the rats as possible.

Behind him, he can hear Raph warning Don about smacking him in the shell, not noticing the problem before them.

"Uh, guys, we may have a problem." He alerted them, forcing them to see what he sees before them.

"Oh, rats." Mikey purposely said, earning an annoyed glare by Raph. "Get it?"

"For the fourteenth time, yes!" Donatello ignored what the youngest just said, too focused on the sixteen year-old redhead in the utility pole.

"We're coming, April!" He called out. "Don't go anywhere!" Leo glared at Don's choice of words.

'Not like she can fly, or extend her arms to move from her post.'

"Where would I possibly go?" She called back, distracted from the rats starting to chew at the pole.

Raph was the first to pull out his grapple hook, swung it to the utility pole and, when it's secured, swung over to the pole. Mikey and Don were next, pulling out their grapple hooks and swinging over to the utility pole and scaling up to get April. Leo chose to wait to make sure they each made it to the pole, before he goes with them.

"Leo, I see them!" Ettore cried out, jerking his nose to point where he wanted the blue-masked turtle to see… Where he, too, saw the rest of the missing males of their colony, including Seafra and Valerio. "I must get to them, try and snap them out of it!"

"Go on ahead, Ettore." Leo agreed, giving his friend permission to leave. "Do what you can, but do not follow them if they're still under the control and return to the Colony. They must know what's going on, and we can't risk you being controlled again." The black-rat nodded his head to Leo's order, jumped off his shoulder and scurried as fast as he could to his missing colony members.

"April!" Don's cry brought Leo back to the problem at hand, watching as the rat's chewing caused the utility pole to bend forward. In the process, gravity forced her grip to slip and began falling. Acting fast, Leo swung his grapple to the utility pole, launched himself in the air and caught her before she was a few feet away from landing on the street.

"You okay?" He asked, checking her over to be certain she wasn't injured in any way. In response, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, burying her face against his shoulder and trembling from nearly falling to her death and possibly being eaten alive by the rats.

Below them, Donatello glared at Leo, jealous that his big brother just rescued the girl before he was about to swoop in like Tarzan and impress her more to liking him. Before he could say anything, the pole went forward, now in a ninety degree angle away from the street and hanging by two wires. When the pole turned, Leo pulled April off of him and helped her cling to the wood for dear life, gently shifting her to bear-hug on the top instead of the bottom, like he and Raph are doing.

"Okay, I appreciate you guys coming to help, but how is this better than getting eaten by rats?" She questioned, staring at the rats watching the teens' every movement and gazing at them with hunger in their eyes.

"At least it'll be quick." Mikey replied, he and Don both dangling in the air and holding the wood by their arms. "With rats, they chew and chew and chew and chew and chew-"

"Okay, we get it." While hanging for dear life, Leonardo looked for anything that could save them from ending up as roadkill, which'll lead them to being rat food.

Can't use the grapple hooks; you'll only be able to reach the lower parts of the houses and even then, none of you will be able to get a stable hold from the hook before the pole snaps in half. If one of you guys could hit the right mark, the rope won't support you all at the same time.

Can't jump; too far distant. Wires won't support any longer and moment they snap, electricity will harm Pup and Kins.

Yep, he was stuck on how to get them all to safety and avoid being ripped to shreds. He knows what a swarm of rats are capable of doing and, no, he didn't get the idea from playing "Dishonored"*.

"Leo, over here!" He looked down where he saw Ettore on top of a outdoor air conditioning unit, surrounded by other rats watching with concern looks in their eyes. "Use this! The utility pole will fall here, so you and your pack head for the other end to launch you to the rooftops! Hurry!"

He didn't hesitate to use his friend's suggestion.

"Guys, this way!" He pulled himself over the pole, helping Mikey get up in the process and assisting April to gain her balance, while Raph and Don helped themselves on top. Slowly, they followed their leader helping for the end of the pole.

*Snap!*

The first of the two wires snapped.

"Hurry!" Don cried, forcing them all to run before the second wire finally gave way.

When they reached the other end, the other side of the utility pole went down, hitting the outdoor air conditioning unit and, like a catapult, flung the five teens in the air and onto the top gate entrance of Chinatown. The five teens looked down to the rats, Leo relieved that Ettore and the others got out of the way before the utility pole hit the conditioning unit, while the others were still processing that they made it.

"Chew on that, rat finks!" Donatello said, thinking that one liner would make him sound and look cool, especially in front of April. Nobody thought it was good. "Come on, it sounded cool. Didn't it?"

Raphael and Michelangelo shook their heads, glaring at their genius brother.

"Does anybody know what the hell's going on?!" April asked, wanting answers to why a swarm of rats are attacking the city. The purple-masked ninja used her question as an excuse to move on from his embarrassed cool-talk.

"I'm not sure," he answered. "But whatever it is, this attack is extremely well coordinated. Obviously, there's a higher intelligence at work here."

"Well, that rules out Mikey." Raph joked, earning a glare from the orange-masked turtle.

"I'm serious." Don clearly wasn't in the mood for jokes right now. "Someone or something is controlling every rat in the city."

"Wait a sec. Every rat?" The emphasis on the word 'every' could be heard in the red-masked turtle's voice. They all knew that if this mystery person is controlling every rat in the city, that means only one thing...

"We need to head back to the Lair. Now!" Leonardo ordered, getting everyone to already make a run for the direction away from the rat swarm and to a manhole cover that isn't infested with rats.

---

Back at the Lair…
In the Lair, Splinter slept in the Living Room, on a tatami mat. He chose to wait for his sons to return with April, but the pain in his mind from the unexplainable presence made him tired and decided to catch some sleep until the turtles come back. Roosting on the head of one of the couches, Karasu kept visual eyes on the exhausted rat, keeping distance from her 'Papa' but making sure he sees her to ensure him that he isn't alone.

His ears slightly twitched, his tail thrashed against the floor and making grunting sounds, vocalizing his pain.

---

"Why fight it?" The voice called out deep in his mind. "You know in your heart you belong to the Rat King."

Inside his mind, Splinter opened his reddish-brown eyes, finding himself in total darkness. Even in the dark, Splinter knew he isn't alone and the presence is inside of his head, with him, lurking in the shadows.

"Leave me." He grunted out, looking behind his back. "I am not one of your rats to control."

"You're right." Behind him, a human-like figured came out from the dark. His face covered by a long-black hat, but the bottom of his face shows terrible burnt, wrinkled skin. The damaged, crooked, unclean teeth disturbed the humanoid-rat. "You're so much more. We are so much more. And together, we will be unstoppable."

"No!" Splinter yelled, fear can be seen in his eyes and his voice. "You and I are nothing alike."

"We both lost all we held dear," the Rat King stated. "We've both become outcasts from society." Behind him, there was that horrible memory Hamato Yoshi couldn't stand to see: The fire, the destruction of his childhood home… The death of his beautiful wife, Tang Shen, and the lost of his baby girl, Hamato Miwa. No matter how hard he tried to move passed that even, he'll always remember the flames that flashed before his eyes. The heat that nearly burnt his skin. "And we've both come to see the world through the eyes of rats."

Beside Splinter, the Rat King appeared beside him, smiling as the iris of the humanoid-rat flashed from their reddish-brown eyes to a solid red, signaling he's starting to reach him. Realizing the presence covering his mind, Splinter fought it.

"No. I am a man. I am Hamato Yoshi!" He yelled at the darkness, showing no desire to admitting to anything the Rat King said to him is true.

"Not anymore." Splinter growled at the enemy's words. He absolutely refuses to give up, and isn't going to give in to his false words… No matter how true they are.

---

Outside of his sleep, the turtles and April made it back to the Lair with no difficulties. They saw Splinter lying completely still on his back, unresponsive and no reaction of any kind to indicate of him waking up. All four Hamato sons stood around their sensei, worry in their eyes.

"Is he okay?" April asked, sitting up on the couch to rest her chin on the head, Karasu standing beside her to allow the girl to pet her as comfort for both of them.

"Donnie, you're the smart one. What do we do?" Raphael questioned the purple-masked turtle, hoping the genius brother has any idea on how to help their father.

"…Maybe we should poke him?" Leo glared at his brother's suggestion.

'Is he serious? He thinks poking Sensei is going to tell us if he's alright or not?'

Poking Father may prove if he's responsive or not.

Disrespectful, and Kins will surely have Omega-Brother Michelangelo to do so… Alpha not awaken. Something wrong with Alpha, in Subconscious.

"Mikey, poke him." Raph told the youngest brother, who instantly hated the idea the moment his older-brother told him to be the one to do the idea.

"No way, I'm not poking him. You poke him." He whined, crouching behind Leo for shelter.

"Okay, we'll put it to a vote." Don suggested, knowing Raph will vote the same answer he'll say. "Mikey."

"Mikey."

"I wanna recount." He knew it was futile, even if Leo didn't put a vote to it like the others. Before Don thought about giving the youngest brother his own Naginata staff to use to poke him, the blue-masked turtle took matters into his own hand and went before Splinter's unmoving figure.

"Leo? What are you doing?" April asked the turtle, who kneeled at the top of the rat's head and gently raised his head to rest on his lap.

"I'm going to enter his mind." He answered, placing his index-fingers against Splinter's temples and his thumbs underneath his jawline.

"Enter Sensei's mind? You can actually do that?" Donatello questioned, still keeping a grip on his staff.

"I've been trained to do so," the blue-masked turtle stated. "Now, listen. If I don't move or make any response in five minutes, that means I'm inside Sensei's mind. And whatever you do, don't even think about doing the puppet thing, Mikey."

A blush ran through the orange-masked turtle's face.

"What puppet thing?" He earned a warning glare from the eldest-turtle.

"Where you move the person's lip and try to imitate their voice to make them say what you want them to say."

The middle-brothers also glared down at their youngest, before watching Leo get comfortable and prepares himself to do what he must. Closing his eyes, Leo took deep, cleansing breath, focusing his mind to feel out Splinter. He felt a pull in the back of his mind... A cold, dark presence that dare to steer him away from his sensei.

The presence wasn't strong, meaning the Rat King can't harm him and is focusing his attention on Splinter, because he's a rat and can only have power over rats. When his eyes opened, the turtles and April saw a clear, white color consume his entire sight, before he closed them and found himself in complete darkness.

---

"Must fight it." A voice inside of the dark caught Leonardo's attention, silently heading for the sound he knew is Splinter's voice.

"We have evolved beyond humanity. We have no need for them, but we can help each other." Another voice called or in the dark, a voice Leo recognized at whom he thought to being the suspect to the rat problem before he was interrupted by his sensei's scream.

Should've known he'd be the one behind all this, especially if was still trying to keep his psychic power.

Stop threat, keep away from Alpha.

He still remained in the dark, catching a figure wearing dark clothing and standing over the hunched over form of his sensei.

"Join me, and you shall hide below the surface no more." A low rumble Left Leo's chest, knowing he needs to intervene before Splinter's mind grows more tired and the Rat King will force him to join him.

Pup, release!

Leo felt his Instinct taking over; the need to stand beside his Alpha and guard him from those who dare to threaten the one to raise the humanoid-wolf/turtle, caused a fury of rage to course throughout his entire being... And he let that rage guide him, to allow his thoughts freewill to manifest into a midnight-black wolf to appear before him and to let the shadow-like creature to attack the Rat King.

"Aaugh!" The figured pulled away from Splinter, barely missing the claws that would've torn his chest wide open if he didn't move on time.

Splinter looked up, eyes stunned to see the shadow-wolf again, larger and taller with thicker fur than their last encounter five years ago, saving him from an enemy who torments him.

"It's you," he whispered. The wolf only side glanced at the humanoid-rat, before staring right back at the one who now calls himself the Rat King, snarling ferociously and exposing many rows of fangs.

"What is this creature? How is it inside your mind?"

Leo smirked; it seems clear that the human distracted himself on his sensei, that he didn't know that another presence has entered the humanoid-rat's mind. Also, because he doesn't seem to understand what certain abilities one who devotes to meditation can do, that he must still be new to using his psychic powers… And there's only one human he knows that has psychic powers, which he and his brothers had faced over a month ago.

"That is a good question. Isn't it...? Victor Falco..."

The Rat King, revealed as Victor Falco, and Hamato Yoshi turned their heads to see the blue-masked turtle within the dark parts of Splinter's mind with them, glaring at the one responsible for the plight going on in the city.

"Musuko!" Splinter called out, watching his eldest-son slowly walk towards him, keeping his gaze locked on to the enemy before them like the shadow-wolf continues to do.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it, Victor?" Leo greeted, a smirk played on his face but never letting loose his glare. "I'd ask how you've been, but judging from that overgrown sunhat and wearing all black, I'm guessing you've encountered with an unfortunate event, that also gave you the ability to communicate and control them. And something tells me, it's mutagen. Am I right?"

He clearly hit a nerve, a grimace can be heard from the human.

"You may act so clever, Boy, but you and your vile brothers underestimate what I'm capable of doing from our last encounter. Now, I have my brothers by my side to aid me and soon, your own father shall be by my side as my eyes and protector."

The shadow-wolf bark with such ferocity, forcing Victor to take a step back from the warning bark. Leo only glared.

"Well, my brothers and I don't appreciate you attempting to turn our sensei into your puppet, a slave would be more precise in this conversation, like you've done to all the rats who are under your control to cause mayhem onto the city. And, because you're causing my master pain and bringing up his traumatic past to get to him, I'm gonna ask you leave right now, before I let my friend here decapitate you and slice your chest to devour your organs."

To prove his warning to be true, the shadow-wolf sprang up and was able to scratch through the black-coat, before Victor pulled away on time before the claws nearly scraped the skin of his chest.

"You cannot kill me, Boy. You don't even know where exactly in the city I am taking refugee at this moment."

"Perhaps, but that doesn't mean you can't feel pain when in the mind of another." Leo countered, as the shadow-wolf slowly circled the human. "As we can plainly see, in the Conscience World and in his own mind, Splinter is expressing clear signs of pain and exhaustion from you attacking his mind. Even when he awakens, the pain will still linger and any injuries you imprinted upon him while in the Subconscious World shall remain on him, mentally, until his mind heals."

Victor only grimaced at him.

"What is your point, Turtle?"

"Simple," he answered. "Any injuries you sustain in the Subconscious World, will effect you as well, as if we were in your mind instead of my Master's. So, if you were to be killed in another person's mind or even in your own, there are two results that'll happen to you: First, the near-death experience will haunt you in the back of your mind and any wounds you sustained before your 'death', will effect your body however it does in actual life. Or two, if you're not careful, your mind will truly believe that you succumb to death, that you'll end in a deep coma... Or pretty much will die, in an instant.*"

Splinter and the Rat King looked at the blue-masked turtle, stunned by his conclusion of what Victor Falco's fate shall be if he were to be killed in the humanoid-rat's mind. He may not have his previous powers to predict an opponents movement, but the Rat King can sense Leo wasn't lying and, with a single command, both he and the shadow-wolf will attack him and kill him when they get the chance. Even in the subconscious, he's no match to take on either one of them, let alone both at the same time.

"...Very well." It's pretty clear he hates to admit defeat, but proves to not be a fool to know when he has to surrender. "I shall leave, for now. But, know this, Turtle: The moment you leave, I will have him, as my eyes and bodyguard. Just you wait... He shall be mine, as will all of New York, as their king."

He slowly backed away towards the darkness, letting out a snickering chuckle that echoed all around them, before he vanished. Neither Splinter nor Leonardo can feel his presence, indicating that Victor Falco has left the humanoid-rat's mind... For now.

The shadow-wolf stalked over to Leo, a white-glow surrounding its body as the fifteen year-old kneeled to be even level with the beast and the moment it rest its forehead against the turtle's, it vanished before Splinter's eyes. The fifty year-old father got to his feet, shaky and unstable to sustain his weight from the pain going through his head. Leo immediately was at his side, silently offering assistance for his sensei to lean against him for support.

"Arigato, Musuko." He groaned out, holding his head with one of his paws. It may all be in his head right now, but they knew the pain will be there when he wakes up. "Leonardo, where are-?"

"We are all back in the Lair, including April." He answered, easing Splinter's concern. "You didn't show any signs of sensing us returning from the surface. The only idea we had was to poke you, but I decided to reach you through your mind before they have Mikey check to see how deep you are in your sleep."

His legs continued shaking, which the blue-masked turtle decided to help ease Splinter to kneel, then to lay down when it's clear his body, even in a dream, is completely overrun and overly stressed by the Rat King's influence to turn him into a slave. He pulled his hand away for only a few seconds before the rat made a quick grab for his eldest-son's hand, not wanting to lose any contact with one of his children right now. Not when he needs them right now, to be his strength to fight off against Victor Falco.

Leo didn't say anything, allowing his sensei to grasp onto his hand, while placing his left-hand to the humanoid-rat's forehead, feeling a mild fever to warn the turtle how serious the Rat King's torment is effecting the fifty year-old father.

"Anata wa mewosamasu hitsuyō ga arimasu (You need to wake up), Sensei." He glared up at the darkness, sensing out for any other presence that can still hint Victor Falco could be ready to infiltrate Splinter's mind, again. "You're more vulnerable in your sleeps, than when you are awake. He'll use your own past against you, to force you to see what he wants you to see to surrender and accept his offer to be part of his 'family'. -He can see how much stress this was putting onto his master's mind, but even he knew his son speaks the truth.- I know how much strain this is putting on your mind, but I swear to you, we're going to find Victor Falco and put a stop to this madness. That's why, you need to keep fighting and to never give up."

Hamato Yoshi stared into his son's Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes what felt like minutes, before he nodded his head. The tightening grip in his hand told Leo of his sensei's hesitance to wanna release any contact with him, but finally allowed the turtle to pull away from him and stand before him. The darkness slowly crept up the two beings, though none were afraid of what it'll do to them when they know they're beginning to wake up.

"We shall be there, when you awaken." Then, as if like a magician, his body burst and scattered into ravens, flying off into the darkness before the humanoid-rat allowed himself to close his eyes and re-enter the Conscious World like his son just did.

---

"Michelangelo is awesome!"

As Leo expected to happen, once given the Naginata, Michelangelo used the one of the ends to lift part of Splinter's right-lip to make it move and tried imitating his voice to sound like Hamato Yoshi. Raphael, Donatello, April and even Karasu gave him annoyed looks at his childish antics when he should be taking the situation seriously if their father still isn't responding to what the youngest-turtle is doing to him. They barely waited fifteen seconds to see if Leonardo was truly out of it like Splinter, after they saw the glowing light in his eyes, when they had Mikey poke both him and their sensei.

"He is the smartest, handsomest, butt-kicking-est of all my…" Before he could finish whatever he wanted to say, Hamato Yoshi snapped his eyes open, grabbed for the end of the Naginata that was against his lip and forced Mikey to let go with a firm jerk of the staff to the counter near the turnstiles. "…Sons." At least he get to finish his sentence, and retain his sense of humor.

As Raph and April went to help Mikey up, Leo slowly opened his eyes and immediately pushed his body to help Splinter stand up, using Don's Naginata to assist him.

"Sensei. Are you okay?" Donatello asked, taking his Bō staff when it was handed back to him.

"No, my sons. I am not." Splinter answered his genius son, leaning against his eldest-son to help him to the dojo. "It would seem your former adversary, Dr. Falco, has returned."

"Falco's behind this?" He asked both his father and oldest brother, as they all head for the dojo. "How is that even possible?"

Leo answered, in Splinter's place.

"No doubt, he found more mutagen to help him improve on his psychic abilities. Which, somehow, acquired him to have a telepathic connection to every rat in the city. And now calls himself, the 'Rat King'."

"Oh, great! So, now we're letting the bad guys name themselves? We gotta take him down!" Still too drowsy from entering their sensei's mind, Leo didn't say anything to Mikey's disproval of Victor Falco's new name that he, himself, didn't get the chance to recall him by.

"Yes, Michelangelo, you do." The humanoid-rat pressed a finger to his left-temple, hoping it'll help ease some of the headache coursing through his head. "The Rat King will not rest until he has total control over this city… And, my mind. -He pulled himself away from Leonardo, who remained in his spot as he and the others watch him head for the shrine he made of his past life as human, along for his deceased wife and daughter.- Everything I knew is gone: My wife, my daughter, my clan, even my humanity. -He turned to his sons and April.- You are all I have left."

Leonardo turned his head away from Splinter, refusing to look into his eyes to glare at the floor.

'…He's wrong,' he thought to himself.

He just said, with his own voice, that all of you, especially you, are all he has left. Why do you deny Father's claim of love for you, as he does for your brothers and April?

'…You know why… He doesn't need me when he has my brothers to be there for him, and he won't need me… When it's time.'

…Your freedom?

'…Yes.'

…If, or when you do leave the Clan, you'll break his heart. You're basically going to run away from your family, all because your mutation makes you think you're different from them.

'And when they figure out what I've been hiding from the them, since the day we were mutated, how do you think they'll react that I'm a humanoid-wolf/turtle?'

Well… They would be surprised, of course, but you're their brother and Hamato Yoshi's son. They love you, no matter wh-

'I'm not his son*!… Not his true son, at least. My brothers and I were born as turtles, making our actual parents turtles as well. The reason why we're classified as Hamato Yoshi's sons, is because of the mutagen fusing us with his human-DNA that made us into humanoid-turtles, before he ended up being mutated into a humanoid-rat after stepping on a rat's tail.'

No matter true birth of origin, Alpha is Pup's Father and Pup is Alpha's young, since incident… Pup knows truth, and cannot hide fact of origin now from Alpha.

Leonardo didn't want to continue the conversation, pushing it aside to refocus what's actually important right now.

"Don't you worry, Sensei. We'll stop him." Raphael reassured their father.

"But we gotta find him first." Don reminded.

"When the Rat King attempted to take control of me, I could see into his mind. You will find his Lair in an abandoned utility junction beneath Herald Square." Splinter informed, which gave the turtles a lead to know where the area is. However, what they didn't know, is that Leo knew of the many rats that resides in the utility junction who are enemies to the colony he's a part of and their allies. So, no doubt, the rats who allowed themselves to serve under Victor Falco, will be ready to stop them from entering their nest.

"Let's go play exterminator." Don and Mikey thought the term Raph decided to use wasn't appropriate, with Splinter in the room, but none said anything to his choice of words. Seconds after he spoke, Splinter grasped his head and called out in pain, collapsing to his knees thanks to Leo and April catching him from both his sides.

"Fight him, Sensei." The blue-masked turtle gently urged him to his feet, allowing April to take his place to guide him to his bed.

"I will. Just, hurry." The fifty year-old father groaned out, not knowing of his family portrait of his past left on the ground beside Leo's feet.

"It's okay, guys." April gently assured the turtles, keeping her focus on her sensei and, at the moment, surrogate father-figure, with her own father not around to parent her like the humanoid-rat has been doing. "You go after the Rat King. I'll stay with Sensei."

As his brothers went to prepare themselves to getting the Rat King, Leo kneeled down and stared at the picture he now held in his hands. His eyes flashed with great sorrow for the two girls in the picture, one who would've been his older half-sister if Hamato Yoshi was able to find her before the fire consumed the whole Hamato Household, and the other… The one who, though he would never know the experience of having two adult parents raising him and his brothers, he knew from the beating of his own heart to know how much Tang Shen loves them as if they were also her sons from the very beginning.

A pang of guilt built up in his chest, already regretting on never acknowledging himself as Hamato Yoshi's son.

'…Watashi o yurushite, watashinohaha (Forgive me, my mother).' Rather than place the picture back on the shrine, he decided to take the picture with him, keeping it safe within the gap of his shell. '…Someday, when our Master's enemies are no more, I shall leave the Clan to take my place for the freedom I longed for... But right now, I shall remain here, where I'm needed.'

…Very well. But you still have a problem: Even if you guys know where the Rat King is hiding, what are the chances that the rats under his control won't attack you when you have to fight him?

'Not all of those rats are our enemies, and from what I just saw from Ettore, I think he was able to get through to Seafra, Valerio and some of the others rats earlier ago… We're gonna need help from the Colony.'

"Leo, we're all ready to go." Donatello informed the blue-masked turtle, already stocked themselves with each containing a smoke-bomb and a few shuriken. He hates to leave them alone in the dark of what he plans to do, but it something he has to do if they have any success on taking on the Rat King and the many rats under his control… Including Master Splinter, should he end up giving in to the human's power.

"Guys, I need you to go on ahead to the utility junction, without me."

---

Fifteen Minutes Later, in the Tunnels near Herald Square…
"What's going to happen to Splinter if we can't stop the Rat King?" Michelangelo questioned his two older-brothers, as they need to search for the marks Leo has left behind the last time they came across the utility junction. "Which, by the way, lamest villain name ever."

"Let it go already." It was the fifth time the orange-masked turtle brought up on how upset that he didn't pick the name for Victor Falco, and Donatello was already having a headache from hearing the same topic over and over.

"Nothing is going to happen to him." Raphael answered, trying to not think of the possibility of what'll happen to their father. "We're gonna stop the Rat King, and Splinter's going to be fine." Neither of the younger brothers said anything to their brother's claim; they can see he's trying to keep their hope up and not think of the results should they fail. "...Leo would agree with me."

"Speaking of Leo, when's he going to catch up?" Mikey asked, staring back at the tunnel they can from, waiting for any sign of their leader and big brother to come walking around the corner and continue the path towards the utility junction, together.

"Whatever he needed to do, that prevented him to be with us to find the Rat King, it must've been important if he's having us go on without him." Don thought up, before they all heard a rat run pass them.

Since it was the sewers, they didn't pay much attention to that rat. Then, two more rats ran passed them. Followed by another two rats… Then, they all turned back to the tunnels, where they heard a bunch of rat sounds and thundering sounds of multiple paws tapping against the ground. In seconds, it didn't take long before they saw a swarm of rats, scurrying in their direction… In front of the swarm, they see their big brother running from the multiple of rats coming for them.

"You gotta be kidding." Raphael was clearly getting tired of seeing so many rats in one day.

"Aw, ra-" Also, that Mikey tends to keep making the same rat comments, which he was able to stop him from doing the same comment for the fifteenth time.

"Jump and grab for the pipe above us!" Leonardo yelled out, before he pushed his feet to launch himself in the air and grabbed for the pipe. The moment he gave them an order, his brothers pushed themselves to run and launched themselves for the pipe, avoiding the swarm of rats that continued to run to the direction for the utility junction. Mikey, being the last turtle to jump, had to kick off two rats off his feet and didn't notice a brown-rat with white underneath from its jaw to its belly bit at the top of his head.

"Ow!" The moment the turtle called out his pain, the rat jumped off from his head to rejoin the other rats. "Oh, no. They've got the taste for turtles now!"

"Come on! Just keep moving!" Leo told them, using the pipes as monkey bars to continue on down the path for the utility junction. Above the pipes, the sound of paws tapping can be heard through the swarm of rats, but the blue-masked turtle didn't worry; the rats running over his and his brothers' heads are some of his friends from his Colony and also from their allies and even the rogues who wants to help the turtle to fight the Rat King.

"Leo!" Don called out, the sound of rats making it hard to hear and needs to raise his voice. "Where the shell were you?!"

Leo flashed him a confident smile of reassurance.

"I had to meet up with some friends of mine," he answered. "They'll meet us there, to help us."

"And what kind of 'friends' are we going to meet?" The purple-masked turtle asked, uncertain on what to feel from the answer he gained. "Are they humans?"

"They're not humans… They're basically our neighbors, living in the sewers like us." Was all the answer Don and the others got, as they continued heading for the utility junction. As they continued to their destination, Mikey decided to continue his rambling about the Rat King's name.

"I'm just saying, I can think up a million better names than the Rat King. There's 'Ratzilla', the 'Verminator', Lord Rattington."

"Drop it for now, Mikey. We're almost there." Leo told the youngest, turning to face him to see all of them are still hanging on. "The utility chamber should be on the other side of that wall."

"Uh, you mean that disgusting, furry, squirming wall?" Raphael asked, having everyone see a wall completely made of rats, no doubt the Rat King having them to prevent the turtles from reaching his Lair any time soon.

"How are we supposed to get past that?" Don questioned, not certain how to get through without getting bitten, scratched or even eaten alive by the swarm of rats in front and below them.

"Leo!" Leonardo looked down to where the voice came from, seeing Seafra and Valerio standing on top of one of the two barrels on the ground. "These barrels, use them. We'll get our group out of the way."

He took their aid, without any hesitation.

"Raph, those barrels. Ventilate 'em."

"You got it." Two ninjas stars flew from his grasp, each hitting a barrel. Immediately, Seafra and Valerio hopped off of the barrels, guiding and pushing other rats out of the way who aren't being controlled.

"Uh, Leo, you do realize those chemicals are highly combustible." Don didn't get what his brother had in mind, as he pulled out Kamiizumi from its sheath.

"You don't say." He normally wouldn't do anything to harm other creatures, but because purposely follow Victor Falco and half no regrets to their past sins of harming humans and other Colonies, Leonardo didn't hesitate when he cut the wire and watching the electric hit the oil of one of the barrels, bursting into a small explosion of fire that forced the wall of rats to scatter and allowing their path to reopen. "Let's move."

It wasn't long before they found solid ground and the rats, rather than continue to run over the ground beneath them, scurried in opposite direction and head for the holes and shadows of the tunnels. The brothers let go of the pipes to continue on foot, entering a large room: Bricks crumbled on the ground, a few pipes bent and barely being stable of the few lines keeping them in place, slight flickering lights being seen from farther parts of the chamber and rats crawling through the holes of the walls.

Above them, they can see what used to be a second floor before the floor gave way from poor structure and negligence of workers health and safety, which lead to the utility junction being condemned. The sound of paws caught his ears, his nose telling him it's Ettore coming his way and climbing up his shell to sit on his shoulder.

"He's here," he grimaced. "Up there." Looking higher, Leonardo saw what Ettore was pointing his nose at… His eyes flashing in anger and a low growl barely heard through his voice when he saw the same being he saw inside Splinter's mind: Victor Falco, now known as the Rat King.

The large-hat covers the top-half of his head, the black-coat concealing whatever experience he just went through to cause the burn and changes from the mutagen.

"Ah, my turtle friends, we meet again." On his left-shoulder, an albino-rat with a cut on his right-ear, came up from hiding, sniffing the air and eyeing the turtles below him and his master, glaring daggers at the blue-masked turtle and the pure-black rat on his shoulder.

"Except last time, Falco, you weren't wearing a sad Halloween costume." Raphael commented, which ended with him and the younger turtles to laugh. Leo wasn't laughing, only glaring at the man who, upon closer look, saw a blindfold covering his eyes.

"I am the Rat King!" His voice boomed out, summoning other rats to crawl out from their hiding spots and stand above the turtles with their master, gazing down at what they hope to be their meal.

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough* "Lame." Mikey didn't even try to hide out what he said behind the fake coughing. Leo can hear other rats on the same level as him and his brothers, no doubt his friends awaiting to assist him against any of the rats who'll attack if ordered to.

"Forgive us, your majesty, but I'm afraid we have to remove you from your position of power." He growled out to the Rat King, reaching for his swords… Then, the sounds of birds chirping interrupted what was going to be their fight, coming straight from Donatello's T-Phone.

"Way to ruin the moment, Donnie." Raph said to the younger-brother, who immediately reached for his phone and turned his shell to talk without anybody looking at him to embarrass him.

"Uh, April, now's not really the best time."

"Donnie, it's Splinter. He's gone." Her voice, frantic and worried, can be heard through the T-Phone.

"Gone? Gone where?"

"Here…" A voice from afar distance answered Don's question, bringing all four turtles to turn and see a tall figure from the other side of the room slowly walking at the top of stairs… Revealing to being their sensei, their own father: Hamato "Splinter" Yoshi. He stood high and tall, no expression whatsoever… His Reddish-brown eyes, completely clouded in red… A sword tied next to his waist.

Father…!

False Alpha… Got Alpha…

Both his Conscience and Instinct were just as stunned as Leo and his brothers, though the blue-masked turtle pushed his stunned reaction behind and glared at the sword next to his sensei.

"It's like his brain is completely turned off." Donatello said, seeing no reaction that told them of Splinter fighting for control.

"You mean like Mikey?" At the same time, both Raph and Mikey said the exact same words at the exact moment.

"Dude, you are so predictable."

'And the both of you are going to end up in body casts, if you decide now is a good time to be making jokes.' "Sensei, snap out of it." He wouldn't be giving orders to his sensei, but he needs to see something to know Splinter is trying to break control.

"You waste your words," the humanoid-rat said. "This is where I belong, with my brothers."

"He is mine now." Rat King declared, satisfaction clearly can be heard in his voice. "Imagine my delight when I realized that controlling your master would not only make me invincible, but would also be the key to your demise." As if to celebrate, he let out his own version of an evil laugh, echoing all around the chamber, as the rats stared down at the four turtles and the humanoid-rat that their king will use to do what he wanted to do since knowing of their existence. "Splinter, destroy them."

As his 'master' ordered him to, Splinter calmly walked down the sets of stairs before him. Leonardo knew he would do so; showing no signs of fighting his control, restricting or even a single twitch. Ettore slightly trembled at the humanoid-rat coming before his friend and his brothers. Even if he were being controlled, no rat ever wants to see a quarrel between a father and his children that could lead one or the both of them to their deaths.

"Sensei, dont!" Leo cried out, a hint of fear barely masked by his concern for his sensei. 'He'll go all out, meaning the guys won't be able to protect themselves once Master Splinter reveals the truth behind our training session. Please, let there be a sign to reach him!'

From the call of his voice, Splinter stopped in his steps… Eyes widened a bit, in a fatherly concern. Leo saw it! However, just as that hope first appeared, it immediately went away and the red-hazed eyes narrowed right back at them. The Rat King must've sensed what was happening and pushed his powers further to regain control of Splinter's mind. Once again, he continued down the stairs, his face showing his intention to brutally harm his sons.

"Are we really going to do this?" Don asked, pulling out his Naginata.

"Remember, we did beat him once… Kind of." Raph stated, pulling out his sais and Mikey bringing out his Kusarigama Nunchakus. While gazing into the humanoid-rat's red-eyes, Leo tries to figure out what to do.

You guys can't do this! Even if you can keep up with him, you can't harm Father!

What Pup and Kins can do? Alpha ordered to kill own pups and not break away from control, Pup and Kins will perish.

Ettore can see the difficult expression in Leo's eyes, obviously fighting with his thoughts on what he should do.

"Leo… You need to try and reach out to him, again." He glared up at the Rat King, feeling the human trying to enter his mind and control him but wasn't going to fall for his voice a second time. "If only the others could see what he's doing is wrong, it might be enough to help your father to keep fighting."

Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes widen from the rat's words… He instantly got an idea.

"Wait." The blue-masked turtle said, raising a hand out to them. The three brothers stared at their leader, wondering if he has an idea to beat their sensei and stop the Rat King from controlling him. He sent a side-glance to them, whispering his plan to them. "I'll keep Victor Falco busy, to buy you guys some time to come up with a plan before he gives Sensei the order to strike." He slowly walked straight in the center, only a few feet away from the one who raised him since the day they were mutated. 'Keep fighting, Sensei, and don't give up hope.' "Victor Falco."

Just the sound of his own name made the human grimace at his direction.

"I go by that name no more, Turtle. I am the Rat King!"

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough* "Still lame." *Cough* *Cough*

'Drop it, Mikey.' "Don't take it personal, Rat King; out of respect for Bushido, I tend to refer my opponents by either their current name they gained from birth, or the name that's been used in a great battle. And since it's your name from birth, I thought you'd be happy to be reminded of your current status to your 'loyal subjects'." The blindfold that was once removed concealed the glared he knew he was getting by the human above him. "Unfortunately, there's a different conversation I wish to discuss with you." That caught the Rat King's attention a bit by surprised. "Before you order our Master to kill us, I wish for you to clear up a few things for me. Consider it as a last request before our death, since you call yourself a king."

"Leo? What are you doing?" Ettore asked, eyeing their allies who are wondering what their honorary member is doing.

"Buying time. I might be able to get some of these rats to come onto our side, if I choose my words correctly for what I'm about to say before them and Victor Falco." He whispered back, keeping his gaze on the Rat King. His brothers were just as puzzled as the rats, but forced themselves to refocus on thinking up a plan to take down Master Splinter.

"…Very well," the human replied. "Not like you'll need this information where you and your brothers are going. Nevertheless, ask away on what you want to know."

'Time to play a little game of "Clarity".' "How exactly did you gain your powers to control rats?" 'I know how he gained it, but I need to hear how it all started.'

"It's quite simple, my reptilian friend." The human answered. "Since our last encounter, I was able to find a canister of mutagen to help me continue my experiment. Unfortunately, the humans shunned my research and cut my fundings, resulting me to hide in the shadows to continue my experimentation. One night, an accident occurred and the building was set ablaze, resulting in my current condition. In a desperate act, I called out to the rats to help me escape and through their eyes, I can see the true plague upon our world. For it is not the rats who cause the spreading of disease and chaos, but humanity itself."

his answer intrigued Leonardo.

'That fire must've been massive, if it caused his body to be this severely disfigured and lead him to blindness. He even claimed that Dr. Rockwell discovered a way to temporary gain telekinesis power, until he could figure out a permanent results to his experiment… It seems that accident must've caused a permanent result, though only allowed him to communicate with rats from experimenting them.' "So, because the other humans found out about your nefarious intentions that they no longer support, you decide to renounce your origin and call yourself the Rat King? All because you claim to be able to control every single rat in the city?"

"They couldn't see what I was trying to do, to perfect humanity, and cast me aside as if I was nothing but vermin… Just like my brothers. And thanks to the knowledge I gained from learning the truth, they see me as their king and with their help, we shall rule the surface world!"

Many of the rats lifted their snouts in the air, standing on their hind legs and squeaking with glee, cheering for their king. While those on the bottom level didn't feel any joy at all, but all believe he's gone mad and can't believe they heeded his words the first time they heard him speak in their minds.

"He sure likes to hear himself talk." Ettore suggested, flattening his ears from his tone of voice echoing in the utility chamber.

'You're telling me.' "Which is why you made the rats do your dirty work, by attacking the city and risking their own lives because you told them to do so?" The cheering of rats instantly went silent to his comment. A low growl could be heard from the human above them.

"I had them attack the city, to show our power to the humans and the time for all rats to no longer hide in the shadows."

"And by all rats, you also mean the ones you couldn't control or haven't controlled yet?" His brothers were a bit surprised by his remarks. "Which means, your claims on able to control every single rat in the city, is false. I mean, you call them your 'brothers' and have young, healthy males at your service… Where are the sisters? Where are the younglings? The adolescence? The elderly? Not here, because you can't get to them."

The white-rat on Victor's shoulder hissed to their direction.

"You dare to doubt the power of our king? He has taken total control of your father, which proves he has power over all rats!"

Leo glared at the albino-rat, as Ettore and the other rats not under control are doing when he finally spoke to the humanoid-wolf/turtle.

"From your own point of view, it may seem like it. However, that doesn't prove your claim to being correct, on a count that you don't have the power. Don't you...? Aristotle..."

A sharp gasp of shock left Victor's mouth, startling the younger turtles.

"You know his name?!" He snarled, placing a hand on top of the rat's head ."And you understood what he just said!"

Leo smirked.

"I've known that rat for months and let's just say, he's no friend to my friends or any of our allies, not after he killed nearly all the younglings from the Colony I bonded with since I was ten. So, it's not that much of a surprise to see him allying himself with a human to get back at those who refused to accept him as their 'leader'. -A clear sign of confusion can be seen on Victor's face, as Aristotle hissed at the turtle.- You're not the only one who can understand the rats, let alone form a certain bond with them. I mean, why else would some of them no longer wish to be under your command and are here to help me rescue their missing members you took away from them?"

Ettore leaned his head against the turtle's had, nuzzling against who he calls his brother, before glaring back at the Rat King and let out a hiss.

"Leo is part of my Colony, a member of my family. I could never bring myself to harm him, nor his pack, when they did nothing to us, and that goes for everyone here who knows whose been part of a family of rats."

Driven by Ettore's speech, the rats hiding in the shadows came out of hiding and stood beside the blue-masked turtle and his brothers, who were a bit freaked out of their approach before Michelangelo figured out that they're here to help them.

"Dudes, we have our own army of rats!" He exclaimed, already imagining himself as a general and wanting to pretend to give them a made-up plan to properly get pizza from the surface world to the Lair and become the ruler of pizza to the rats.

"Actually, Mikey, we're more of a small troop compared to Victor Falco's obvious larger number of rats he has on his side, which wouldn't make much of a difference on how to take him down." Donatello corrected, still fascinated by the rats, willingly, coming to stand beside them and not in control of the Rat King.

All the rats hissed at Victor Falco, hides raised and lips pulled back to show off their teeth.

"And unlike you, Victor, I don't force them to do what I want them to do, because they have complete freewill to leave whenever they want to. Heck, they can choose not to fight and leave right now, and I'll be just fine with that."

"And there's no chance in hell, that we'll abandon him!" Seafra added in, pushing the Rat King's voice out from his mind. The grimace grew on the human's face, removing his blindfold as if thinking that'll increase his efforts to control the rats below him and only ended up being rejected by all of them.

"You claim to have form a bond with them, just as I have when I regained my telekinesis powers, but how can you say what I'm doing is wrong when I'm trying to restore what's been taken from us by the humans? -His blind eyes searched out for the rats below him.- Why would you reject me, brothers, when I promise you a futuristic paradise to rise above the humans?"

Leo can see a lot of the rats above him taking in what he's saying to their king, as they eyed down and saw how the rats willingly came to Leo and can see the true companionship between the turtle and their fellow rat-people. It was a clear sign that they're starting to fight the control.

It's working. Keep going!

"I'll lay out a few things for you, Victor Falco: First off, you're still a human; you don't have whiskers, you don't have a tail, no fangs nor claws, or even signs of fur. You may have made contact with the rats, but you've been injecting the mutagen into your head to avoid any cross mutation between your humanity and the rats. Therefore, calling them your brothers, even by stating because rats and humans have similar chemistry, is more false than saying a turtle will fly like a bird, just because both came out from eggs."

Not sure if that actually helps prove a point, but it kinda does make sense.

"Second, you call yourself their king… Tell me what is a king's duty to his people."

The Rat King smirked at the turtle's request.

"A king's duty is to lead his people, and to guide them in the darkest time of war, famine and death. To have all the answers to solve all their problems, and to lead them to a better life."

Leo smirked back at the human above him.

'Just as I expect him to answer with.'

False Alpha still Man… No knowledge of Earth Young, at all.

"You'd be right… In human society. But… -The Rat King's smirk came off his wrinkled face- There's a problem to your self-given title, Victor Falco: Rats don't have kings, no emperors or even rulers. There are leaders, alphas. And unlike human leaders, animal rules, laws and society differ from Man's. For you see, they don't view themselves any better or believe themselves more important than their followers."

"And you would know this, yourself?" Rat King asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Careful, Pup. Mustn't reveal secret of own origin.

"My brothers and I are born as turtles, before the mutagen turned us into humanoid-turtles. And while we act and do what normal humans would do, we still have our animalistic instincts and anatomy to still classify us as turtles. And because we don't follow human society because of our, current appearances, then yes. Again, we live like humans and learn of the ways humans developed for hundreds, even a few thousands of years. However, our instincts remind us of our true heritage and the teachings animals live by. And it's because of that single difference, you still retain your humanity and can never be seen as any form of kinship with the rats you call 'brothers' by referring to yourself as 'King'."

Some of the rat above their heads shook, let out low hissing sounds and when blinking their eyes, saw the red-hazes gone and the instinct they saw the Rat King, they scurried away from him and head for the bottom floor to be alongside the Colonies and friends they haven't seen in days.

"No, brothers!" Victor called out, reaching a hand towards the rats running away from him. "Don't listen to him! He's the enemy! I am trying to reclaim the city for ourselves, as our kingdom!"

"A 'kingdom', you say?" Leonardo chuckled. "In rat's culture, there's no kingdom. There are den, turf, territory, pack and most of all, colonies. You still speak as a human would, not a rat. Which brings me to another point to bring up: The way you treated the rats, before your accident."

"Enough!" The fifteen year-old is pushing a number of buttons and has already lost the respect of some of his 'brothers' to his words too many. "There's nothing to speak about from the past! It's all been put behind me, and now we only focus on the future! -He turned his blind eyes to Hamato Yoshi- Splinter, kill them now!"

Three rats that day on his shoulders and the top of his head got off, as Splinter pulled out his sword. Slowly, Leonardo pulled out Musashi and Kamiizumi from their scabbards, aiming the both of them at his sensei... The two swords' previous master before Leonardo.

"Ettore." Just saying the black-rat's name, Leo gave the order to have him and the rats to scurry away from what they knew is going to be a battle between the Hamato Clan.

"Leo, you and your brothers better help your father break away from the human's control. We'll do what we can to help convince as many of the rats to snap out of it." Ettore let out a few screeching sounds, leading the rest of the rats to follow him and make themselves useful to freeing their colony members.

Pup... Be careful, and neither self nor Kins hesitate...

...Do what you have to do... Just, don't-...

'If it ever comes down to it... I shall be the one to fall, by his own hands.' He glanced towards his brothers, silently asking if they thought up it a plan that they can use in their fight with Splinter. Unfortunately, the regretful expression on Donatello's face told him that they didn't have one. 'Well, I guess there's only one thing to say.' "Take Sensei down, no hesitation."

As a unit, they charged at full speed towards their sensei, launched themselves in the air and brought down their weapons. Leo's aim to strike and wound, while his brothers went to subdue their father by hitting him in the head or to pin him in place. All four weapons missed their target; Splinter already predicted what would happen and with great speed, was now behind them.

Leonardo already sensed him being behind them and crossed his blades in front of him to block the attack his sensei delivered to him and his brothers, who only had enough time to turn their heads and be knocked off from their feet. Michelangelo was sent to a ledge on the third floor, while Raphael remained on the first floor but got his shell slammed in the far corner, Donatello flew towards the second floor and got his head slammed back into his shell by a pipe, and Leonardo merely skidded where he remained.

"I just had a horrible realization: He's been going easy on us all these years!" Don exclaimed, no longer confident they'll be able to take their father down.

"Finally figured that out? About time." Leonardo replied, glaring at the humanoid-rat who showed no mercy for any of them to attack him again.

"'Finally figured it out'? What's that supposed to mean?" Don questioned his brother, charging his father and launching himself in the air, twirling his Naginata Bō over his head before bringing it down with a loud SMACK against the ground. With great speed, the purple-masked turtle made quick jabs with the bottom end of the Bō, hoping to hit a mark to make him flinch and get the chance to get him on his back.

Splinter dodged every single jab his son sent to him and when Don tried getting him from above, used his sword to slap the Naginata from his hand and in the air. Now completely weaponless and defenseless, Splinter sent a painful jab to his plastron and sent him flying backwards to the ground.

"Donnie!" Mikey called out, bringing out his Kusarigama and after a few spins in the air, sent the end not containing a scythe down to his father, aiming for the left-side temple of the head for a concussion. Splinter pulled his head back and the chain wrapped itself around his sword, allowing him to pull the chain down and Mikey to fly from his spot to the second floor and slamming shell-first to the wall, landing on his plastron on the first floor. "Whoa!"

Raphael charged, sais-first, at his father.

"Nobody hits Mikey but me!" He yelled, twisting his body and gabbing at the air where he last saw the humanoid-rat. His ears caught the rustling sound of fabric in the wind, looking up to see Splinter curl in a ball in the middle of the air before one of his foot slammed him in the face and land in front of Leonardo on the ground.

"And this is what happens when you deceive your sons by going easy on them, for all these years." Leo stated, waiting for Splinter to come at him first. "And you call yourself a Ninja Master, when you can't even fight off a mad-man who controls normal rats and lies about caring for them when he knows how he truly treats them."

Splinter ran to him, signaling the blue-masked turtle to do the same, clenching tightly to the hilt of Musashi and Kamiizumi. Then, they clashed blades with each other, Splinter's sword scraping over both of Leo's swords, going into offense while the turtle goes into the defense. The teen jumped in the air, allowing his sensei to use his strength to push him back, landing on his feet before jumping over the rat's head when he tried to strike him. Landing behind the adult's back, Leo held up Kamiizumi for another swing from the thinner-sword and forced himself to do a sideways spin flip to get behind him again.

Difficult to strike moving target.

'Yeah, but for how long will I be able to keep this up?' Splinter struck again, and this time, when he twisted himself to roll off his arm, Leo delivered a kick to his back. "Seems you can't even go at your full potential, with that human barking orders in your head like a dog in a pet show."

"Splinter!" By the command yell of his 'master', the hunched over humanoid-rat got back to his feet and brought down his blade, which was easily blocked by both blades crossed over his target. The second time he swung his sword, Leo once again allowed gravity to pull him back and flipped himself to kneel on the ground.

"Kinda proving more of my point, Victor! Which leads me to believe you don't want your 'loyal subjects' to know how you viewed them as vermin, just like any other normal human would see rats as. -He stood the moment Splinter jumped in the air and brought his sword down, blocking the attack with both of his blades.- Although, to a rat, that isn't as bad as learning how you killed the rats you capture by experimenting on them… -He pushed forward, forcing Splinter a step or two backwards from the strength his eldest son used to hold him in place- Which lead to you gaining the power to telepathically talk to the rats, who you willingly ordered to get hurt or even killed when roaming the streets in the middle of the day."

Many of the rats hissed, screeched in pain as the red-haze in their eyes flashed between their normal color to the red-haze.

"My brothers and I heard enough of your lies, vile creature." Rat King's eyes flashed red, enforcing Splinter to push back and, with his stronger strength, unarmed the blue-masked turtle of his weapons, his fangs, sending both blades to opposite direction. The instant he has no weapon, the rat delivered a kick that sent Leo skidding to the ground on his shell.

A low growl could be heard from Leo, struggling to stand but his body forced him to land on his side, coughing a substance from his throat which he soon saw that it was blood.

"If I was lying, then why aren't you answering any of my questions or countering my statements to prove your actions and motives are pure and innocent?" He asked, getting on his hands and feet to help him keep moving. "Even if you are blind and need the rats to see, you wouldn't be hiding in the shadows while the rats invaded the city. You would've came up to the surface and given them exact commands to avoid any casualties, not to just run and cause mayhem that would lead to property damage and fatal injuries."

"I do not order them on how to take the city for us!" Victor yelled, as Splinter ran at Leo and brought down his blade, missing from the swiftness of speed the turtle used when running on all-fours and getting behind the humanoid-rat. "They are free to choose what they desire to do."

'Got it. The final push…' "Well, then, if that's the case… Free them." A complete look of confusion can be seen on Victor's wrinkled face, taken back to Leonardo's suggestion on what he should do. "You claim they're free to choose for themselves. If that's so, then release them from your control. -His brothers slowly began to regain strength into their bodies, still in the process on catching their breaths from the beat down they received from their father.- You say they're not your slaves, but you go into their heads to heed your every command, just like you're continuously doing to our sensei. If you truly do care for them, as you stated, then let them decide if they want to leave or stay, of their own volition."

Aristotle snarled at the turtle.

"Our king doesn't have to prove anything!" The albino-rat screeched, as some of the rats beside them agreed. "He can do whatever he wants, which includes to whether use his powers to listen or not! As for those who gotten themselves hurt or even killed in the process for the right to claim the city, as you would know, sacrifices are intended to be made for a greater cause."

Leo forced himself to backflip from Splinter, then rolled to the side from the kick and slide on his shell when his opponents sword stab into the ground four times when aiming for his legs.

"I expect you to say something like that, from how you decided to sacrifice those younglings and expecting females by killing them to prove how a leader should become like that murderous human, Jack the Ripper."

Almost every single rat in the utility junction was screeching, more than half because they're trying to free themselves from the Rat King's control and the rest for the turtle to spew lies to the one they willingly appointed as their king.

"As for your king, rather he would release you from his powers or not, will prove the true character to us all: If he releases the rats from his control, then those who didn't want to follow him will turn against him and still being new to his powers, he'll run the risk of decontrolling our master as well, making it difficult to manipulate him and the others back into his control for a second time. If he refuses to let you all go, then that will show his unwillingness to surrender his pawns and render him powerless the less rats he has to be his eyes and do his bidding."

His eyes caught glimpses of his colony friends and their allies beside certain amount of rats losing the red-haze and leading them out of the chamber, meaning they're free from Rat King's power and will no longer heed him. Victor Falco also took notice of the rats leaving the room, extending his hands out towards the fleeing rats.

"No! Stop! Brothers!" None of them stop to his call and some even looked back and hissed at him, indicating to rejecting him and his voice in their heads, heading for their colonies and getting as far away from the human as possible. Leo smiled at the rats leaving, before having a smug smirk on his face when Victor glared down at his direction. "You will pay for this!"

Turning back to the humanoid-rat, Leonardo barely had enough time to catch the blade in-between his hands, fighting to keep it up and away from him, until Splinter swiped it to the side, the tip cutting into the turtle's right-hand, then kicking him back down on his back. This time, he placed his left-foot on Leo's plastron, pinning him to the ground and pointing a blade at the turtle's face, his blood gliding off the tip and landing on his chest and stomach.

Victor Falco smiled wickedly at the scene before him. He's finally going to get his revenge on the turtles. Him, Aristotle and the other rats who stayed at his side are all going to get back for the blue-masked turtle taking away many of their colony members from him.

Leonardo's brothers attempted to attack Splinter to rescue their big brother, but knew they wouldn't make it on time before the blade would struck Leo. They could only watch, as Splinter raised his sword over his head.

"Finish him…!"

The picture! Quickly! Remind him who he is!

"Wait!" Leo coughed up from the foot stepping directly over his stomach, leaning up a bit to grab for the item he kept safe in his shell. "Remember who you are… Hamato Yoshi!"

The sword slowly lowered, as the humanoid-rat stared at the picture his eldest child held in his bleeding hand, looking at his past-self standing beside his decreased wife and daughter.

"…Hmmm…?" Recollection slightly flashed in his red-hazed eyes. A sign of hesitation.

"Donnie, Raph, now!"

By their leader's command, the two mid-brothers sprang up at their father, pulling him away from the blue-masked turtle and pinning him too the ground. Michelangelo helped his big brother to his feet before joining their two brothers to keep the struggling rat still.

'He trying to fight it, but it won't let him go!'

False Alpha use Alpha's emotions and fear on Alpha... Ease Alpha's distress.

'...His loneliness... Back in his dreams, Victor brought up his past, his loss... He could've also used us, making him fear we'll leave him and don't need him anymore.'

You know what you need to say, Leo... For him, please ..!

There wasn't anything to discuss in this matter... And like that, he said it.

"...Please… Otōsan (Father)..." Splinter, Hamato Yoshi, froze in his spot, eyes widening to what he just heard from his eldest son, looking up at his four sons pinning him, eyes flashing with concern and wanting their father to come back to them. "We need you."

And in his heart, Splinter wanted to hear those very words from his sons. To know that his babies won't leave him. That they still needed him... Just as much as he still needs them.

"Don't listen to him, Brother." The Rat King appeared before the Hamato Clan. "Your place is with me!"

The humanoid-rat withered beneath his sons... Then, his eyes snapped open and the turtles found themselves on the ground, with Splinter standing over Leonardo and holding Musashi in his grasp, his other hand gripping the turtle's neck. Rather than try to fight, Leo remained still. There was no use to continue fighting when his body is suffering damage to be coughing up blood and with no weapons to aid him to take control of the battle, Leo can't defeat his sensei... Especially when he has one of his swords in his hands, an extended part of himself as his fangs that the Rat King will order him to kill him with.

'It is not your fault, Master Splinter. Nor yours, Musashi. Just please, snap out of it and spare your sons, my brothers.'

"My place... -Splinter closed his eyes in that moment, nobody but Leo talking notice of his grip on the teen's neck slowly releasing him.- is with my sons!" His eyes snapped open, gone was the red-haze and the reddish-brown eyes of his true eyes as Hamato Yoshi show his freedom from Victor Falco's control.

With great speed, he charged towards the Rat King and, with just the tip of his two fingers, pressed them against the human and a gush of wind blew him off his feet. He slammed his back to the wall on the second floor and fell face first to the ground, not moving to pick himself up but still breathing, revealing he's still alive.

Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo were eye-wide on what just happened, before they ran to the humanoid-rat and wrapped him in a group hug.

"Otōsan!" The three cried in unison. Splinter smiled down at his sons, before the sound of rats caught their attention and watch as the rats ran for Victor Falco's unconscious form and, as they scurried, covered his body with their own to carry him away into the darkness.

"And that's the last we'll see of Count Ratula." Mikey, once again, attempted a new name for Victor Falco, only to see the others not approving the name. He finally gave up. "Yeah, alright. It's Rat King. But I'm naming the next one."

While this was going on, none of them noticed Leonardo slowly getting to his feet and retrieving his swords… Before he immediately took off and head straight for the sewers, needing to check on something before attending to Master Splinter.

---

Forty Minutes Later, in the Lair's Dojo…
Hamato Yoshi sat underneath the tree, meditating as he would normally do in the evening. However, today, this mediation is more to healing his mind and reassurance that he's truly free from the Rat King. Although, a part of his mind prevented him from fully entering the Astral Plane to calm his injured mind when his eldest-son, Leonardo, left the utility chamber and has yet to return home when they went back to the Lair.

April went home after checking over the turtles and their father, relieved and happy to see her sensei is back to normal but concern when she didn't see Leo with them. The others wanted to go look for him, but needed to treat some of their wounds they sustained from their fight… With Splinter. Their father was deeply saddened from the pain he inflicted onto his sons. Even if those wounds were scrapes and bruises, knowing that the fact is he harmed them, manipulated or not, is more than enough to make him incapable to forgive himself.

A presence to his left caught his attention, pulling him from his meditation… It was Leonardo. Splinter immediately got to his feet, facing his eldest-son and immediately checked him over. Leo grabbed for both his hands, his expression calm and no sign of anger in his eyes, as he prevented his sensei from looking at the injuries the turtle treated, himself.

"I'm fine, Sensei." He gently reassured, releasing the hands from his grasp. "…Are you feeling all right?"

Always has to be the one to put others before himself, a trait he had for as long as he could remember. As a leader, it's one of the strongest merits to possess… As a son, it becomes his greatest downfall if that quality puts his own life to death. Splinter let out a deep sigh and wrapped his arms around his eldest son, pulling him to a firm but gentle hug.

"Thanks to you, I am." As he held his son, he noticed a slight tensing flinch when his paws rested on the forest-like skin of his son. Splinter also feel Leo turning his head against his shoulder, steering his gaze away from the humanoid-rat to behind his shoulder, and has yet to raise his arms to return the embrace*. 'Is he angry with me? Does he blame me, for not being strong enough to fight off Victor Falco's control?'

"You hesitated, and hesitation leads to vulnerability." Leonardo stated, raising both his hands to grip Splinter's elbows. "I'm sorry for taking the picture, and for my blood to stain the back of the picture frame."

Splinter wasn't in the least upset of his family picture with Tang Shen and Miwa being taken without his acknowledgement, when it's been brought back home and has aided the turtles to bring him out of the Rat King's control. Learning that the blood came from the hand he cut with his own sword, that's what truly upsets the father more. That thought also brought in a question he wanted to know the answer to.

"My son, where have you been?" He asked, pulling back to look down at the fifteen year-old's face, who still has his face looking over his shoulder. "Your brothers and I were worried when you left the utility junction and didn't know of your whereabouts. Please, tell me, where were you?"

The blue-masked turtle went silent for half a minute, before he let out a deep sigh.

"I had to check on them," he answered. "I needed to be certain that they're really free from Victor Falco. -He finally stared up to look into Splinter's eyes, no sign of anger, sadness of even joy can be seen in his Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes.- They're my friends... They saved me, five years ago." He didn't need to say anymore, not after saying those last three words that Splinter instantly understood what he said to him.

He gave a firm nod to the blue-masked turtle, then slowly, with obvious hesitation, released him from his hold. After giving him another bow of respect to his sensei, Leonardo slowly made his way out from the dojo… Then, at the front of the shoji, he stopped.

"What I said back there, at the utility chamber… I meant it, when I said that we needed you." He didn't turn his head to look behind, but he can sense how surprised Splinter was to what he just said. He let out a deep sigh. "I also want to say this: I don't know why you won't take my brothers' training more seriously like you did the three weeks intensive training you put us through, especially after we stopped Shredder's plan from incinerating the sewers with the acid. However, your reasons are your own and for that, I won't pry for you to tell me… Just as you hid the truth of their progress until it was revealed today, I held back when we fought and will continue to do so until you start taking their training more seriously. And after our encounter with the Rat King, I think it better shows how much further we need to take our training to."

With that said, he left the dojo, leaving Hamato Yoshi to take his words to heart on what he was trying to say to him.

"We're always going to need you, no matter what. Either as our sensei… Or, as our father."

TBC

---

*: I kinda feel like the guys get his name wrong on purpose some times, so I decided Leo will be the only one to get his name right. You know what would've been funny? If one of them actually said his name right and he goes, "It's Baxter Sto-! Oh, wait, that's what you just said… Finally! You got my name right!"… Does anybody remember another show, where they got a character's name wrong a lot? In Pokémon, where they keep forgetting a Team Rocket member's name: Butch.

*: We rarely see Leo play any sort of video games, besides that pinball machine and the old boxing game in season 3. So, I decided there are times that he does play video games like his brothers do. However, he prefer games that includes upgrading his characters moves, levels, abilities or anything he thinks that'll give him ideas on how to improve on his training.

*: You guys may not agree with me, but the Rat King entering Splinter's mind/sleep seems a bit more similar to the turtles, when they were trapped in their dreams by the Dream Beavers. So, to me, he could've easily killed Splinter within his subconscious, if he wanted to, instead of having him become his bodyguard.

*: You know? I'm kinda surprised you guys didn't notice that (in my story… And, perhaps in some the shows, as well) Leo rarely refers to Splinter as his father, and calls him either "Sensei", "Master Splinter" or even "Master". Also, that his Conscience calls him "Father", while his Instinct calls him "Alpha".

*: Do you guys remember TMNT 2k3, "The Ultimate Ninja" episode? When Leo defeated the Daimyo's son and the others came to congratulate him, Splinter went up and hugged him… Did anybody else saw the look Leo had on his face when his sensei, his father hugged him? He looked as if he didn't know what Splinter was doing, let alone why he's hugging him in the first place.

Also, some of you may be wondering from my last chapter: "With Bradford as a mutated-dog, shouldn't he be able to tell Leo is a humanoid-wolf/turtle, like Murakami and White Death?" Well, allow me to explain:

White Death can tell Leo's part wolf, because he's an enhanced mutated animal. His senses has been heightened three times better when Kraang experimented on him, so he's able to smell the genetic of wolf inside Leo.

While Murakami, in my chapter: "Declaration of War", can sense another person's aura. What that mean is, not only can he tell where a person is within his surrounding, but can literally "see" another person's aura. The show never said he was born blind, or ever explained how he ended up blind. They also never explained how he's so good with cooking like a ninja. So, in my story, he was also a ninja master in Japan, until a battle cost him his sight. Because he's also a ninja master, he learned how to detect aura to help him "see" other people to tell if they're good or evil. When seeing an aura of an animal, the color and personality will give off shapes to inform him what animal he sees before him. However, any non-domesticated animals will give off a darker color and a feral feeling that Murakami will be able to tell from a domesticated to a wild animal.

Now, Bradford, is another story. I mean, yes, I expect you all to think because he's now a humanoid-animal, he'll automatically smell the wolf inside of Leo… That's not entirely true: First off, he's born a human and still retains his humanity after being mutated, even as Dogpound. He never accepted his fate as an Akita Inu mutant and because he refuses to accept his fate or even try to fully adapt to his bulky form, he most likely never reached his full potential as Xever possibly did as Fishface (he didn't really talked about becoming human again, after the episode "Mikey Gets Shellacne"). Dogs, specifically canines, fully relies on their senses and because he still wants to keep living as a human, Bradford doesn't rely on his senses unless he has to or wants to track something. So, Bradford desire to keep his humanity became his downfall and since he doesn't want to embrace his animalistic DNA, he can't detect Leo's wolf DNA and can only follow specific scent trails. There are times his animalistic DNA will get him to bark, growl, snarl to those who threaten to challenge or oppose him, but will ignore any order his instincts will warn him and fight it to be in full control.

It doesn't have to make sense, really, since there are some parts of the show that never explain certain moments that didn't make any sense, either.

R&R