CHAPTER ONE

It all begins

Splinter fled down a man hole, carrying the four, now mutant, baby turtles. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He listened for sounds of pursuit. Nothing, only silence. He sighed in relief as he set the turtles down. They looked at him, confusion painted clearly on their small faces. "It is alright little ones. We will be fine." He told them. They seemed to understand him and looked at each other. Only moments before had they had barely any thought or care about the world around them. Now they understood human speech and had actual thoughts, though not much different from that of a one year old. Splinter watched as they wiggled their fingers and toes and looked around with curiosity.

He took this chance to look at him self in the refection of the sewer water. He looked like a humanoid rat. He did not care much about this for he did not have much of a life to go back to. His main priority now was to stay alive and care for these turtles. Splinter picked them up and began to look for a suitable place to spend the night. After a lot of walking he found an abandoned subway track. He followed it and came upon a space that seemed to be an old loading dock. He scrambled over the bars the best he could with the small turtles. He set them down and looked around. There were empty rooms along the walls.

This shall be suitable. He thought. He walked back to the infant turtles. Splinter sat down by them. Each was different in appearance. The smallest was a light grass green with big curious sky blue eyes. Splinter couldn't explain why, but this turtles had freckles. He began to crawl off but Splinter pushed him back gently. The next had long legs and was a pale olive green. He had a gap in his teeth and seemed to be a bit sickly. His eyes were curious and seemed to analyze everything. They were brownish red, close to his own eye color. The next was a pine green shade. His emerald green eyes showed much emotion. Some was anger, confusion and fear. Unlike the others he seemed to like to keep to himself. The last was a rather plain turtle. His skin was a light forest green and he seemed to be of medium height. The most striking feature he had were his eyes. They were a deep shade of blue with a rim of dark purple.

Once the turtles were asleep Splinter stood. "I must get supplies." He said to himself. The pale turtle was shivering. The plain turtle blinked it's eyes open and stared at him. "Take care of your brothers while I am away. I must get supplies." He told the child. It simply nodded and laid back down. I have spoken to it like I would a child. He thought. And called them brothers. But they do act like humane children. He thought. A feeling of protectiveness crept over him. He had felt this before, when his daughter Miwa had been born. Splinter winced at the memory. These turtles are my family now. They are my sons. And I will protect them, like I would have protected Miwa. He told himself.

Splinter new he would not be able to walk into his old home like he would have only hours ago, so he decided to climb up the fire escape to get to his old apartment. Splinter snuck quietly in through the unlocked window. He retrieved a large suite case from the closet and filled it with cloths, soap, blankets, close, pillows, imperishable food, bottled water, toilet paper, medicine, money (though he did not know why he need it, considering he could no longer go out in public), his training weapons and real weapons, the few toys he had (which were really more items that could be considered play things), and a picture of his wife, daughter and himself. This took him around 20 minutes to gather. He also decided to grab his calendar and watch.

When Splinter entered the Lair, as he now called it, the turtles were still asleep. He gently awakened them. "I am sure you are hungry my little ones." He told them. His reply was the sound of four rumbling stomachs. He chuckled to himself as he pulled out some food. He divided it equally amongst the turtles and himself. He glanced at his watch. It was 11:00 p.m. The small turtles were yawning. He began to lay out the blankets and pillows. He gave the pine green one a red blanket, the pale turtle a purple blanket, the freckled turtle an orange and the plain turtle a blue one. The fell asleep nearly instantly. Splinter laid down by them and soon fell asleep himself, though not before uttering one thing. "Good night, my sons."

Splinter watched as the turtles waddled around the lair. The pale one fell several times. He started to cry when he fell down three steps that were in the lair. Splinter picked him up gently. "It is alright. You will be fine." He told the turtle. The child whimpered as Splinter applied the medicine. This turtle had grown stronger after the few days of medicine Splinter had given him, though he was not yet as strong as his brothers. Splinter had an idea. Had walked to the place in their home that he practiced his ninjitsue. He retrieved a pair of wooden katana, a pair of wooden sai, foam nun chucks and a training boa staff. He also picked out one of his favorite books. It was a book of Renascences artists and their art pieces. He sat down on one of the coach cushions he had token from his apartment in one of his trips for supplies. He skimmed the pages. He stopped on one of the booked marked pages. At the top was the name Leonardo He read on about this artist. He reminded him in a way of the plain turtle. He then flipped to the next book marked page. This one read Raphael at the top. This artist reminded him of the pine turtle. The next page he turned to read Michelangelo at the top. This artist reminded him of the small turtle. The last page had a picture of a sickly looking man, in Splinter's opinion, and the name Donatello next to it. He closed the book and set it aside.

"My sons come here." He called to the four turtles. They all toddled over to him. They flopped down in front of him. Splinter looked at each in turn. " It is about time I gave you names. Come here." He said gesturing to the pale turtle. He rose slowly to his feet. He seemed to think he was in trouble. They probably didn't understand what a name was. Splinter pulled the turtle close. "I shall call you Donatello." He told the turtle. He handed him the boa staff. Donatello looked at his feet. Splinter lifted his son's chin. "Stand tall and proud my son." He told him. Donatello straitened. A smile on his lips as he sat down. His brother's looked at him enviously. Donatello stuck out his tong. The three others looked at him expectantly. "You all shall have names." He told them. He reached over to the small turtle. The child stood and raced over to him in excitement. Splinter smiled. "You shall be known as Michelangelo." He handed him the foam nun chucks. He instantly started flinging them around. He hit the pine turtle, who slapped him hard in the leg. Michelangelo let out a yelp and sat down. Splinter gestured for the pine turtle to come up. He rose to his feet with slight hesitation. "Raphael you must control that temper of yours. He is your little brother. I expect you to look out for him." He told the turtle handing him the wooden pair of sia. Raphael sat down with a huff. The plain turtle had been waiting patiently while his brothers received their names and weapons. A bit of fear was on his face, he seemed to think he would not get what his brothers had. Splinter gestured for him to come forward. He jumped up, obviously excited. "You my son shall be called Leonardo." He handed Leonardo the pair of wooden katana. His face lit up. Splinter had seen him eyeing the swords with interest.

Splinter watched as his sons played with the weapons. One day you all shall know how to use them. He thought. The weapons were all a bit to big for the toddlers. But they didn't care. They thought they were just some new toys to have fun with.