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Altar-of-Wishes: Not yet, but he will.

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Jumping to treetop to treetop, limb to limb, Michelle found herself enjoying swinging and jumping to tree to tree and dodging all of the bamboo in her path. She laughed to herself and almost had forgotten what she was doing and what she sought to do. She should be thankful she almost hit a limb through the thickness of the bamboo limbs. Thanks to that she remembered quite well what she was doing to begin with. She sighs to herself and tries to focus at the task at hand and putting all the fun behind for now, which really isn't her style. She'd rather be playing and having fun than to do this, but she knew someone had to. And it was only Donna and she at the time and one of them had to take the action; which led to Michelle because Donna wasn't as naturally skilled and as fast as her. Michelle was the tomboy type that loves to climb trees and do daredevil stunts, even stunts that they were afraid to do. She is very playful, sweet, but she is most definitely not one of those girly types; like Donna is, and for this many people misjudge Michelle and say that she is dishonorable because of her ways. So, what if she's not a girly-girl? So, what if she decides that she doesn't want to wear those frou-frou dresses and kimonos and wear all that make-up that all the other girls wear? The only point she gets for being around is being very sweet and helpful. Donna is nice, very polite, respectful, very pretty and well favored among the males, and quite the intellectual. Michelle could swear that if Donna could, she could invent something big. She had made things before, but she could see it in her eyes that something crazy could be made, but very helpful. She is beauty and smarts in one package and Michelle couldn't help but feel kind of envious of it. Let's face it, it hurts. Even though Donna and her are suppose to be the best of friends, she can't help but feel as if she is no match for her. Donna will always be admired and respected, while Michelle is always the one looked down upon along with Rafael. Donna always seemed to attract all of the gentlemen, while Michelle seemed to attract the rogues and hooligans. Donna is always admired, even when she creates crazy things out of just ordinary things; like wood and stone.

When it comes to doing something really crazy, however, it is usually Rafael and Michelle out of the four warriors that do it. Rafael and she would sometimes do the craziest things. He is noted for his bad attitude and sarcasticness, while Michelle is noted for her very happy, mischievous ways, and sense of humor. Both of them have a sense of humor, but Raff's is very dark and even very sick, while her sense of humor is just normal humor, but they do share some sick humor together. Leo always disgusted it a lot and tells them to grow up. Leo, the unofficial leader, always the calm and collected, is always serious and wants everything to run out smoothly and perfect. He might deny that fact at first, but even he realizes that he's quite the perfectionist. It is in his nature, you could think, since everyone seems to think that he's the apple in their master's eye and is a totally teacher's pet. Michelle didn't mind it much and neither did it to Donna, but Rafael was a different story.

Rafael hates and seems even to loath how Leo always gets the attention, how he always seems to be the one who is best or right at everything. Leo tells him over and over that he himself is not perfect and that he, too, makes mistakes just like everyone else. But Raff always scoffs at what he says and then leaves. He even told Leo, in fact, everyone that he doesn't have a leader and that he leads himself and not anyone else will. His attitude seems to always be negative, violent, and even hurtful. Rafael is the lone wolf, the total loner. Michelle figured he never really had any friends growing up. In fact, he only had his mother and the rest he won't even say. He never tells them anything about himself or his past, except Michelle, but even with her he won't tell much.

-Flash back-

A smiling Michelle turns to a listening Rafael, who sat beside her on a grassy hill. "Do you remember anything about your past? You know, your childhood? Did you have anyone who you could to turn to at all?" She asked him hopefully.

"All I ever had was my mother and she didn't even seem to care!" He shot angrily at her. He then turned his head away and then up arrogantly and scoffed, "Not like I blame her! All I ever was to her was a burden! I never liked the old wench anyway!"

-End of flash back-

Too afraid to, she guessed. She'd always find herself going out at night looking for him to see if he is still there at the dojo or is at least safe. She couldn't help but follow this impulse, an impulse she couldn't describe, at least not yet. By just seeing, hearing, and even the mere mention of his name seems to always make her heart pound and even ache with sorrow, but there was another emotion there. She doesn't know what it is, but she could feel that Raff seems to feel the same. That is if she can stand the feeling of being near him. Whenever she is with him, she can barely think to herself and her breathing seems to be irregular and she always feels a real zeal of some kind whenever she just touches him, even if it's not his skin. She also loves hearing his voice, even when he gets angry or agitated, but she never feels happy to see him like that. It pains her, it pains her a lot because she cares a lot about his wellbeing and it hurts to see him hurt or upset. Most of the time, that's all she ever thinks of, is about him and the past experiences they've all shared. And just thinking about him and their past also leads her into thinking about her past…her childhood.

She sighs and tries to get these thoughts out of her head. "C'mon. Think straight for once." She laughed to herself at that, because many people and other things think that she never does, that she doesn't think at all. Remorse settled in after that thought. She sighed again. 'Sighing?' She laughed. She is supposed to be the most optimistic one of the four and here she is sighing to herself. She sighs to herself again, 'If only they knew who I really am… That I'm not all sunshine and that I feel sadness, too…..a lot.' She frowned and continued to think, 'They all don't know anything about me or my past and I'd rather them not know, really.' After that thought, her thoughts were immediately back on Rafael. When she really thought about it, they we're not much different from each other, they had the same likes and all, except she is yin and he is yang. She smiled to herself again. Just the thoughts of him made her smile and sometimes smile sadly. They seemed to always be around each other, even more than her being with Donna. Sure, they have their fights and they get aggravated at each other, but most of the time it usually turns out being for fun and they could never stay angry at each other either.

Before she could continue with anymore thoughts, her attention is quickly directed to the sounds of someone sobbing. 'Who's crying?' she thought as she went to investigate. She listens to the sounds carefully and follows them to where they coming from. She remains in the trees once she arrives to the source of the now light sobs. She smiled as another thought came to her. She remembers, every time she hides in the trees or in or behind something, that Rafael had insisted that she should do that when it comes to investigating. What made her laugh about it was that Rafael was trying to give her advice, which really wasn't his place to do so. He needed advice himself, let alone him giving it. He is much worse than her, although some might disagree with it. When it came to following advice, no one knew which one was worse at it-- him or her? However it is usually answered in the end—it was Raff that is the worse. But still, she thanked him anyway, mainly because he never really shows any concern for anyone, except for her. Even though he seemed mean about it, she felt like he at least cared about her like a friend or a sibling would.

After those thoughts, she immediately looked down at the crying figure who sat on the ground. She couldn't believe her eyes at first when she saw that it is a turtle just like her. She looks more closely at the turtle below and studies it. She saw, by the frame and the structure of the muscles, that it is a male. He has aqua green skin and wears an orange bandanna with brown elbow and kneepads with wrist bands and a matching belt. She looked closer and saw he has weapons, nunchucks of the same sort she has on her.

"Whoever this male is," she whispered quietly to herself as she leaned more forward. "He must be one of the creatures she felt arrived on this planet, because our kind is-"

Just then, the limb underneath her unsuspectingly cracked and then broke, causing her to fall to the ground. She yelped as she fell and landed with a thud. 'Oww… That's gonna leave a bruise.' she thought as she got up on all fours. She rubbed her sore spot, the top of her head and the chest part of her plastron.   

"Who are you!?"

--

'I'm getting closer!' Rafael thought as he ran through The Sacred Forest. He still ran at top speed, dashing through the bamboo like it was nothing. He even cut the thickest of bamboo in half with just one swing of his sais. His nostrils flared as he sniffed the air like that of a wild animal. 'Yes, very close.' He can also sense it, that she's not too far from him and also that she came to a stand still and is no longer on the run. He could also sense that someone is with her, someone he doesn't know. He growled at that, "Whoever it is, better not touch her! I'll kill the bastard if whoever it is lays one finger! I SWEAR IT!" He tried to pick up his pace as much as he could. He could also sense that the others were following and trying to catch up with him. 'Too bad I'm noted for being one of the fastest.' He smirked proudly to himself. His smirk faded as he then turned his attention back to the girl. "I'm coming, Shelly! Hold on!"  

--

"What's taking Mikey so long!?" Raphael said gruffly although deep within he is beginning to get deeply worried about his younger brother. "He should be back by now!"

"I don't know, Raph." Donatello answered back with concern. "I just hope he's okay out there… I mean, this isn't like Mikey at all." Donatello got up and got his stuff ready, that is, the stuff he had made for them while Mike was out searching for food.

"Just wait guys," Leo said, trying to hide the worry in his voice. "I'm sure he's fine. It is Mike after all. He's probably sight seeing or something. He does like the woods a lot."

"Yeah, but…I seriously doubt he'd be gone THIS long." Donny replied as he sat back down. "It must've been at least thirty minutes or more. It doesn't take THAT long to find food."

"Unless there's nothin' out there!" Raph growled and stood up. "I'm gonna go find'im!"

"Okay," Leo said and nodded. "Bring him back, Raph… But be careful… Who know's what's out there. And if anything has gotten Mikey, make sure it doesn't get you, too."

Raphael smiled as he took out his sais and gripped them tightly. "I will. I'll make sure to that." He then left into the direction he last saw Mikey went and disappeared out of his brothers' sights.

"I hope he finds him." Donny said to Leo with a worried expression.

"I hope so, too." Leo answered back with a frown.

--

"Who are you!?" She heard an unknown voice in front of her; it had an accent she never heard before. Her attention then immediately changed as she looked up and saw who had said that. It was the turtle she was spying on. She blushed and gulped. He was twirling his nunchukus in the air and all about around him. She looked at his face and saw that is was serious, but it also had nervousness and fear. "I-I don't want to hurt you!"

She gulped and then smiled friendly at him, "Its okay. I'm not here to hurt'cha!" She held up her hands as a sign meaning of no harm. 'Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me.'

He looked at her and gasped as he saw her get up. "No way…" He said unconsciously as he stared at the figure before him. He studied it. "You're….you are…you're a girl! A girl turtle! A femme-turtle!"

She sweat dropped at this. "Yeah, I am." She said nervously.

He studied her even more. He looked her all over as much as he could from where he is standing. He saw that her figure was feminine but quite built, especially in the arms and legs. Her skin has almost the same shade of green he has, except it is a softer shade. Her outfit is unique to him. He never saw anyone, not even a turtle wear armor like that. However, it is the same color of his bandanna along with other colors such as black, red, gold, and brown. Speaking of bandanna, he also noticed she has one, too, the same color, expect it is way much longer. But what really caught his attention is her face. In her face, he saw innocence, kindness, and even love. She has a pretty face and looked to be very gentle and kind in the heart. He then caught her eyes. They were bigger than his and feminine, and the color of them is that of a true blue. A blue you'd rarely ever see. Her eyes are bright and seemed to even be blinding. He studied her face more and saw that there was no sign of her wearing any make-up. He gasped at her in awe, "Wow! And quite the babe, too."

She immediately blushed at his comment. "Ehhh…thank you." He noticed that her voice sounded just as the way she looks. She has a pretty voice and he could tell that she could change its tones as much as she wanted. "Who…are you?" She asked with a curious smile.

Mikey smiled. "Sorry about that, babe." He said as he put away his nunchuckus. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is… The Incredible Michelangelo! But you can call me Mike or Mikey for short."

'I like this guy!' She giggled and smiled brightly, "Okay-dokey then. My name is Michelle, but you can call me M'shell, Shell, or Shelly! But not Shell-head, Turtle-shell for brains, or any of that junk that my friends call me. They have a knack for doing that to my name." She sticks out her tongue at that and then smiles.

He smiled back. "Yeah, well, my bros do that, too." He laughs as he walks up to her and reaches his hand out to shake her hand. "Nice to meet'cha, Mi-"

From out of nowhere, he was kicked hard from the left side and went crashing into a bushel of bamboo, breaking them instantly. He let out a huge shriek as he did. He then looked up and saw what appeared to be his brother Raphael, except this turtle is wearing a whole different outfit than his brother. He is wearing red armor that seemed to be quite spiky at the edges; however he only was covered by it on the arms and legs, just like Michelle is. In his hands he held sais, just like his brother, but they had longer blades. He also noticed that his armor had three blades on his right hand. His red bandanna seem to flow even in the light breeze. He looked at his green eyes and saw a great harshness in them, his eyes seemed piercing and at the same time very chilling. This is his brother Raphael, he could tell not only by the way this guy dressed, but by the way he looked and acted. He seemed to be much crueler than his brother and this scared him.

"Stay the hell away from her!" The turtle is red armor said very brutally and snarled at him.

Michelangelo watches him closely as much as the other turtle watches him. Mikey can most definitely tell that this guy meant serious business. And then Michelle came into view when she ran toward the other turtle and grabbed him by the arm.

"Raff! What do you think you are doing!?" She shrieked at him.

'Raph?!' Mikey gasped in horror. 'That can't be my brother!'

Michelle wanted to say more, but Rafael interrupted her. "Did he hurt you!? Did he even lay one finger on you!? Cause if he did, I swear I'll kill him!!"

Mikey gasped and then gulped as he tried to stand. Not only does this guy appear to be his brother and even have his name, he even sounds like him. Voice and all, it is a perfect match. 'This is getting weird, even for me.'

She clings onto Rafael and says, "No, he didn't! Raff, listen, I-"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

TO BE CONTINUED