Raphael looked out at the dark night sky, the stars shining brightly in the heavens. His feet planted in the hard earth floor. He was alone, yet, he was always alone. Never making conversation with anybody, Raph kept to himself. Staying in the forest, he lived in a simple rock and earth cave, all by himself. He hadn't talk to anybody in over 5 years. Being as he was, he didn't really want to be seen, let alone talk to somebody. Every time he tried to help out a traveling passenger whenever they got robbed by bandits or something, they would never show him appreciation, they would only scream and run away, taking what they had with them, or being so afraid they would just leave it behind. Raph didn't mind the living by himself part, but every once in awhile, he wished he could go out in public areas and buy something, instead of having to hunt all the time.

Raph sighed and walked back into the cave, sitting down beside his bed of stolen blankets and animal skins he had gotten from the animals he had hunted down. In front of him was a pile of sticks, mostly twigs, but it would do for a simple fire. He slowly outstretched his hand in front of the twigs, and muttered.

"Burn..."

Fire shot from his hand and swallowed the twigs. He sighed and looked at his hand, the fire had not even caused a bit of pain. Ever since he could remember, Raphael had been able to control fire, able to use it in many forms he was forced to live in the wilderness due to his power, or curse as he called it, and also because of his appearance. Having green skin, three fingers on each hand, and two toes on each foot, and also being a mutated turtle, Raph couldn't really go out and socialize without somebody screaming or him being stared at. Being alone since he was small, Raph didn't have any idea who his parents were, or how he came to be the way he was. He didn't know if he was born the way he was or if it was an accident that caused it. He watched the fire, completely lost in thought. He watched as the flames danced and twirled with each other, completely transfixing him in a daze. Then, he got an idea, a idea that would cause him some amusement. Raph rose to his feet, dusting off his bottom as he did and walked out of the cave. He walked into the middle of the large field that stretched a long ways in front of his cave.

Raph sighed, breathing in the night air, and exhaling it. Then, in one swift movement began running as fast as he could through the field, creating fire enemies of himself behind him, which he had trained so hard to learn how to do it. His fire figures chased him, blasting at him with fire of there own. Raph jumped in the air, avoiding a burst of fire, then spinning through the air, destroyed his clone with a kick. When his feet touched the ground, he was surrounded by his clones. Raph smiled, and drew his Sais that were at his sides. all at once, his clones charged, attacking him, shooting fire at him, but Raph blocked every attack, dodged every blast. Even though they were clones of himself, they had minds of there own, which made training with them a lot more fun. Raph slashed them with his Sais, destroying them one by one, soon, he was all alone in the field, and breathing heavily. Slipping his Sais back into his leather tied belt, Raph made his way back to the cave, ready to call it a night, seeing as there was nothing better to do. Reaching the cave, Raph laid down in his bed and covered himself up, extinguishing the fire with a snap of his fingers. He drifted off into a sleep where he had a pleasant dream.

He was not stared at by people, he was able to talk to everybody, and he didn't have to live in the forest. It was a nice dream. He awoke slowly, opening his eyes finding he had his face snuggled deeply into the padded furs that he used as pillows. Raph sighed and sat up straight, yawning loudly and stretching as he did. The sun shined in from the cave entrance, giving Raph's small, tiny home a nice look. He looked to his side, he didn't have any food stashed, he had to go hunting again. Seeing as it was already daylight, Raph decided to just go hunting now and save himself the trouble. He stood from his bed, giving one last look before stretching again then heading out of the cave and into the thick, dense forest. Seeing no wildlife after walking about for a bit, Raph sighed and turned back to go home, but then he heard a shout, making his head snap in the direction it came from. Without hesitation,

Raph rushed towards the shout, now hearing metal against metal, and the occasional slash as if water were falling. He rushed forward, the trees and bushes but only a blur to him as he raced towards the fight. He came to a clearing, and there, in the middle of the road, stood a large group of bandits, all brandishing swords and knives. Raph gasped as he seen a cloaked figure fighting them, taking all of them on with two Katanas. The figure danced through them, attacking them, blocking there attacks, jumping over them, performing brilliant slashes and thrusts that made Raph want to know who this person was. Soon enough, every bandit was on the ground, either knocked out of dead. Raph stepped back, ready to walk away, when his foot landed on a twig, snapping it in half, causing a sound to flow through the air, and the mysterious fighter to look straight in his direction. Being too far away, Raph couldn't tell what the man looked like, but what the man did was what shocked him. The man raised his hand, and around his hand, water began to form, creating a ball of clear liquid.

Raph gasped and tried to move, but he was so shocked his body wouldn't let him. Them man hurled the ball of water at Raph, who is desperation, created a fire shield in front of him to protect himself, but it did no good. The water shot through the shield and hit Raph right in the center of his plastron, sending him to the ground, clutching his chest in pain. Raph felt pain surge through him for the first time in a long time, it stung, it made him want to scream, and to his disbelief, he did. It was loud and ear piercing. Slowly, Raph leaned up and looked in front of him, the figure was moving towards him, his Katanas at his sides, the blades gleaming in the light as he moved. Raph tried to move, but a searing pain coursed through his chest, causing another scream to escape his lips. The figure drew closer, Raph still couldn't make out the figures face, because he now seen it was wrapped in a cloth, only his eyes were visible, a shade of brown, chocolate brown his eyes were. Raph stared into them, anger swirling in his own.

He slowly got up, breathing heavily, he didn't understand how such an attack could cause him such damage, but it was the least of his worries at the moment, in one movement, Raph unsheathed his Sais, twirling them and taking his fighting stance. The figure stopped as he stood, now having a good look at Raph, seeing what he was. Raph stood stone still, waiting for his enemy to attack, or just walk away. He wanted to avoid conflict but he was in quite the problem at the moment. The figure stared at him, those brown eyes completely emotionless, then he sheathed his swords. Water began to form in the air, all around the figure, Raph's eyes widened and he quickly sheathed his Sais, making fire swirl around his hands as he crouched low, ready to charge his opponent. The figure stepped forward, then, all at once, the water drops turned to sharp ice spikes and plunged towards the golden eyed turtle.

Raph's eyes widened in horror as the spikes shot towards him, acting on instinct he began to roll, dodge and jump past the spikes, trying his best to get to his enemy. Dodging a spike that would have plunged right into his chest, Raph spun around and a wave of fire flared from his hand, melting the spikes in mid air. The figure began to form more water, but Raph jumped in the air and flames slashed from his fingers like two whips, slashing him, causing his cloak to have two burning slashes across it. Frantically trying to not touch the fire, the man quickly threw his cloak to the ground, then stared at Raph, anger beginning to rise within him. Raph landed on his feet and smiled, then charged, his fists blazing with fire. The man took a fighting stance, which Raph knew very little of. Raph collided with the man, both of them locked in furious battle, Raph's fire against the mysterious man's water.

When Raph's fist connected with the man's, a loud cracking sound echoing through the forest. There power was equal. Raph jumped back and began to repeatedly punch and kick at the man, performing combos that would have easily killed someone who was normal, but apparently the man he was fighting wad not normal. Raph growled and kicked the man in the face, causing him to fly backwards, slamming into a tree. A loud smashing sound echoed through the forest as the tree snapped in half. The man groaned and stood, his mask slipped off his face, revealing a light shaded green face, not that different from Raph's. Raph began to charge towards him, but stopped and gasped as he seen his face. The man breathed deeply and slowly, his brown eyes locked with his enemies. Raph felt his body loosen, the adrenaline from fighting gone, he stood still, staring at the man who apparently was a turtle, just like him. The turtle slowly began to walk towards Raph, who now tensed up, fire swirling around his hands and arms. Around the turtles hands, water swirled, making his hands seem transparent. The turtle stopped in front of Raphael, who was on high alert, but the turtle just stared at him, and asked, his voice full of authority and demanding.

"Who are you? And how is it that you have the power to control fire? How is it you look like me, except slightly different?"

The turtle clenched his fists.

"Answer me...now!"

Raph glared at the turtle, then spoke, his voice cold and dangerous.

"My name's Raphael, but ya can call me Raph, who the fuck are you?"

The turtle smiled, his smile was mocking, he thought he was better then Raph.

"My name is Leonardo, but you may call me Leo. I'm quite curious...Raphael. How is it you have control over fire?"

Raph slowly let the fire swirling around his arms die down, then he answered.

"Ever since I can remember, I can control fire, I don't know how, but I just can..."

Leo stared at Raphael, then spoke again, his voice somewhat different, less commanding.

"And you were born the way you are?"

Raph nodded, he had guessed so, that was the best conclusion he could come up with. Leo looked to the side, then back at Raph, his stare now deadly, and serious. Water formed around his hands again, Raph tensed up.

"I see, then you...are my enemy, I cannot have someone like you, who can destroy whatever he wants, wandering wherever he pleases."

Leo clenched his fists and took a step back, then took his fighting stance.

"This is where you die, Raphael."

Raph laughed and fire swirled intensely around him, giving him an evil look.

"We'll just see about that...Leo..."

Raph smirked and they began fighting, exchanging blows, repeatedly throwing blow after blow, and with each block, the loud cracking sound rang through the forest. Raph jumped back, then did a back flip, avoiding an ice spike, then rolling to the side, avoiding three more. Leo smiled and behind him, a giant wall of water formed, tall then both of the two turtles. Raph looked up in shock, then he glared at Leo and growled. But Leo only smiled as the wall became bigger.

"Your no match for me, I told you, this is where your going to die..."

Fire danced around Raph's body, swirling in an uncontrollable manner. Raph placed both of his hands together, a scorching ball of fire forming, growing to be the size of a bowling ball. Raph smiled smugly and growled, making the ball grow more in size, he had only done this a few times, and he could only do it once. And he hoped, that once would be enough to defeat Leo. Leo smiled and shook his head, clicking his tongue as he did.

"You don't know when to give up, your going to end up killing yourself if you keep fighting me, you know that right? But then again, the easier and quicker you die, the better."

Raph didn't reply, the ball of fire grew larger, it was now the size of 4 bowling balls.

"You wanna kill me, eh! Then try it bitch!"

Raph screamed at Leo as he threw the giant ball of fire at him. Leo smiled and as the ball of fire rushed towards him, he knocked it away with just his hand, making Raph's eyes widen in disbelief. Leo smiled widely and the wall of water rushed forward. Raph gasped in horror as he desperately formed a complete fire wall around him, but as the water connected, it extinguished the fire as if it was just a little spark, and flooded Raph completely in water. Screaming in pain as the ice cold water flowed around him, he fell to the ground, completely spent, having no strength left, none to even stand with, he breathed heavily and panted frantically, unable to move. He heard movement, then he felt a presence beside him. Raph looked up, and seen Leo looking down at him, his face completely emotionless. He looked down at Raph, then chuckled in amusement.

"I see your still alive, yet no strength to speak of, I'd say so after that attack you just took head on. I'm going to tell you something, and maybe, just maybe, it will get through that thick skull of yours. I was barely trying, you stand no chance against me, so, let me put this is physical form for you..." Leo smiled and kicked Raph in the side hard. Raph groaned in pain, then Leo kicked him again, and again, while saying.

"You don't *kick* stand a *kick* chance against *kick* me! Your nothing but a novice, you wouldn't last a day in a real fight, let alone against me. Your nothing but filth, insolent trash...and deep down, you know it's true."

He turned and walked away, leaving Raph all alone, unable to move. Raph panted heavily, trying to overcome the burning pain that coursed through his body, was he this vulnerable to water, how could that be? He had taken baths in water before, but the water was hot, almost boiling. maybe he was only hurt by cold water, whatever it was, he didn't know. His body hurt too much for him to be able to think right. With a deep breath, then an exhale, Raph feel into the welcoming hands of unconsciousness.