Disclaimer: We don't own anything TMNT related. So back off.

AN: This is based on the movies, live action and animated; but not the TV shows or comics.

The loud thuds echoed around the whole gym over the boisterous shouts of the crowd. Then they all stopped. There was silence for a split second before a final thud was emitted from the ring in the center of the gym. Then over three quarters of the crowd began to cheer and shout and clap. The referee came to the center of the ring, and took the hand of the only woman left standing, and raised it above her head. "And the winner is, Emily 'Lightning Strike' Fredricks!"

The woman kept her hand up after the referee dropped his. Her red uniform top was dotted with the sweat that was running from her brow. "That was for Austin!" she shouted into the crowd. Only a few of the people knew who she was talking about, but she didn't care. Emily said that every time she won a kickboxing match, which was every time she fought.

After a few minutes of congratulations and pictures, Emily made her way into the locker room with her coach, Mr. Potter. "You did a good job out there, kid."

"How long did it take me?" she panted as she pulled of her head gear. Her sweat dampened, dark brown hair was already ninety percent out of its short ponytail, so she just pulled the rubber-band out too.

"One and a half rounds on the nose." He told her as he pulled of her gloves and set them on the bench.

"Not good enough." Emily cursed at herself. Her goal was less than one round. Since she only had a week to reach that goal before the fight that she had waited the past five years of her life for. She quickly pulled off her hand-wraps and brought one hand to just below her eye. When she pulled her finger away, it was covered with blood. "Dang, the girl got a cut in."

"It's not bad. Just go and wash it off." Mr. Potter told her. "Em, are you going to be staying here tonight, or are you going home?"

"I'll go home." Emily called from the sink on the other side of the room. "Dad's probably already asleep." Emily came back and opened her locker with a little more force than necessary, sending it crashing into the locker next to it. She pulled out her shirt, a worn 3 Doors Down concert shirt, and grey hoodie. She never bothered with street pants on the day of matches; her uniform pants were comfy enough.

"You're beat up enough, Em. No need to push it. And you know Amy and I always have a place for you here. And Alex loves to talk to you. So don't go starting with the 'I'm imposing on your family' routine." Mr. Potter cut off two of her avenues of escape.

"Mr. Potter, I'll be perfectly fine at home. Like I said, Dad's probably already asleep. And if he isn't, I can just go in the window." Emily smiled at her memories of climbing in her bedroom window from the fire escape. Only in Manhattan would a girl have to break into her own house to get home at night.

"Alright, alright. But remember that practice will be pushed back an hour tomorrow." Mr. Potter reminded Emily as she put her gear back into her locker.

"Got it. See you tomorrow, Mr. Potter." She smiled at the man who took care of her most of the time before she turned and walked out of the locker room and gym.

It was about a fifteen minute walk from the gym to Emily's house, and she was in no hurry to get home, so she took her time. She walked through the spider web of alleys through the city that probably led to every inhabited nook and cranny. As she passed by the west side pizzeria, she heard a loud crash in the alley ahead of her. At her sides, her hands clenched into fists that could break bone. When she heard the sound again, she stopped in the middle of a pool of life from a streetlamp.

As she swiveled around to look all over the alley, five figures walked out of the shadows and into the edge of the light. "Hello, Ms. Fredricks." Said the man who led the group. Most of his face was covered by a black mask.

"Foot." Emily spat. "What do you want from me?" she shouted, tightening her fists.

"We came to warn you." He replied smoothly

"Yeah, just like you warned Austin. Fat lot of good that did him." Emily hissed back, tightening her hands even more. A trickle of crimson blood began to run down her fingers and hit the ground softly.

"Yes, it is the same warning. We suggest that you lose the fight next week to Ms. Aneko. We don't want to hurt you, and the offer to you to join us is still on the table." The man walked closer, not realizing how short a fuse he was working with; and that fuse had just reached the detonator of Emily's temper.

"Never." She growled and launched herself at the man.

On a roof top a block away, four shadowy figures hopped onto the fire escape. "Look at that guy hold his own." The one with the purple bandana said.

"You're right, Don. That's one guy against five Foot agents. Sure they're not the ninja's but that's still impressive." The one with the blue bandana nodded.

"I think we should help him, Leo." The one spinning a set of nunchakus said.

"No, Mickey." Leo sighed. "We can't let ourselves be seen."

"But we can't let that guy get the crap beat out of him by the Foot either!" accused the last shape, the one with a red bandana.

"Raph's right." Don said, backing up his older brother.

"Fine. But if we end up in the tabloids, I'm blaming you two." Leo warned.

"Deal." The other three said in unison. They hadn't had a good fight in almost a week. April had finally given them this lead, something about a kickboxing match being rigged.

So the four turtles leaped off the fire escape and rushed down the alley to help fight the group of Foot members. When they came into view, the leader of the group stopped his charge on Emily and turned to face the brothers. "The freaks are here." He announced to his followers.

Emily didn't look up from her opponent. She was also having a bit too much fun dropping the fighters like flies, but then they kept getting back up. The tall man who she was currently fighting threw a right haymaker at her head. Bad idea. She blocked and trapped his arm and then hooked her other arm around his, then she threw him over her hip and sent him flying five feet and into the wall of the alley.

But as she turned back around to take on the next man, he kicked her across the face. As she stumbled backwards, her hood fell down. When she walked back into the light with her fists raised in an angry fighting stance, the brothers saw their mistake; the man they were going to help was actually a young woman.

"Men, I think it's time we made our exit." The leader called to his men.

"Oh, no you don't." Emily snarled as she rushed him. He threw a punch, but she ducked and rammed her shoulder into his gut. He stumbled backwards and fell in the alley a few feet away. Unbeknownst to Emily, Mickey went off to make sure he stayed down for a bit. But then she was caught from behind by one of the others and held in a choke hold. She was so much smaller than the other that she was actually off the ground and flailing her legs around.

Raph interceded on her behalf, but not before her oxygen supply ran out. He swept the man who was choking her, sending him to the ground on his back. The man's instincts kicked in has he let go of Emily's neck and shot his arms out to break his fall. Raph grabbed Emily before she too fell and was left open to the man again. "Get the others." He told the others, pointing towards the three remaining men who were now advancing on them.

"You take care of her." Leo told his second in command as he drew his katanas.

"I'll meet you in the lair." Raph told him as he hefted Emily into his arms. She was very light to him, so he was able to make his way quickly back through the alley and to the manhole. Dropping into the sewer, he wasted little time in taking off running along them to get home. He knew the sewers as well as Emily knew the alleys.

Ten minutes later, Emily slowly opened her eyes. Her head was pounding, her neck was sore, and she was lying on something springy. That was all she knew, since her vision was still clearing. Remembering that the last thing that had happened to her was being attacked by the Foot, she willed herself to wake up faster and defend herself. That helped a little.

Her vision was still blurry when she found that she was able to move. She swung her legs around, placing her feet on the ground.

"She's awake!" she heard someone shout. Through the haze that still clouded her mind, it sounded like a woman.

"Let's see if she reacts any better than you did, April." Emily heard another voice laugh. It was deeper, obviously a man, but it sounded young.

"I'm not going over there." Said another male voice. It was deeper, older, than the first. It also came from farther behind Emily.

"I'll do it, I'll do it." The woman said. Her voice seemed to be getting closer to Emily as she spoke. Emily's vision cleared just in time to see a woman with curly red hair and blue grey eyes. Her pale face was dotted with a few freckles on her cheek bones. "How are you feeling?" she asked Emily.

"Fine." Emily said quickly. "Who are you? Where am I?" Emily looked around where she was. She was what looked to be a shabbily furnished living room; behind her was a small kitchen. There was a hallway to her left and a flight of steel steps leading to another hallway to her right.

"My name in April and you're someplace safe." She patted Emily's shoulder. "Now, what's your name?"

"Emily." She said, still looking around. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something flash to her left. Looking back into the shadow of the hallway, she saw a darker shadow than the surrounding area. The shadow was twirling something in its hand. Emily tried to stand up, but her knees gave out and she fell towards the floor. But April caught her elbows and set her back on the couch. "Thanks." April nodded, glancing over at where she knew Mickey was hiding. That was where Emily had turned towards. "Who's standing over there?" Emily asked.

"He's a friend, so don't worry." April covered, not wanting to reveal the Turtles. She preferred just to get Emily out of there.

"How did I get here? The last thing I remember is getting choked out by a Foot fighter." Emily absently rubbed her neck where she was pretty sure there would be a bruise the next day.

"A few friends of mine saw you, helped you out, and brought you back here." April was trying to skirt around the truth, and she just hoped that Emily was still too far out of it to notice.

"Who are these friends of yours?" Emily asked, not as out of it as April had hoped.

"Promise not to scream?" a man with shaggy black hair called from Emily's right. He was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Casey," April warned. "Are you sure this is the best idea." Casey only nodded.

"I won't scream." Emily told them, wondering why they would ask that of her.

"Alright." Casey pushed himself off the wall. "Hey, Mickey, come on out; and bring Don with you." He called across the room, to the hallway where Emily had seen the shadow.

"We're coming." The first male voice Emily had heard called back. There were the sounds of a slight scuffle before two figures walked into the light of the main room. They were both around the six foot range, but the one in front with the orange bandana was a bit smaller than the one with the purple bandana he dragged behind him. But the thing that struck Emily the most was that they were giant turtles. And one of them just spoke. She didn't scream, like she said she wouldn't, but her eyes widened and her mouth popped open. "Hello there. My name's Mickey. And this here," he shoved the other turtle in front of him. "is my brother, Don. We're two of the ones that got you out of the alley."

"Two of?" Emily gasped, realizing that this meant that there were more of the turtle things.

"Yeah, the others are either upstairs or in the training room. Hey, Case, can you go check upstairs? I'll go look in the training room." Don said as he turned and sprinted back down the hallway from which he had come. He wanted to get away from the ridicule that would probably be coming from the human.

"So, what's your name?" Mickey asked as he walked over to April and Emily. April shook her head at Mickey's approach, but he saw that Emily had gotten over her initial shock and was just looking at him with her head cocked to one side out of curiosity and confusion. He was glad that she at least wasn't screaming yet.

"Emily." She answered. "I don't mean any offense or anything; but what are you?"

"None taken." Mickey chuckled as he sat down on the couch next to Emily. "I'm probably exactly what you think I am. In other words I'm a giant, walking, talking turtle."

"Cool." That was all Emily could say. "So, you and your brothers saved me? How did you save me? How many of you are there?"

She would have continued, but Mickey held up his hand to stop her. "Whoa, hold up. That's a lot of questions as it is, so let me answer those first before you ask any more."Emily nodded her head and kept her mouth shut. "Yes, my brothers and I saved you. Well actually Raph saved you, but we took care of the other guys still standing. After I finish explaining all of this, I need to ask you where you learned to fight like that. But back to your questions. We fought them off, just like you were doing. Only we used our super ninja training!" Mickey cried happily and struck an exaggerated pose on the couch.

Emily burst out laughing and clutched her still sore ribs. "It… hurts… to… laugh…" she gasped in between fits of laughter.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't think those Foot guys beat you up that bad before we stepped in." Mickey dropped his pose and really looked Emily over for the first time. Her dark brown hair that touched the tops of her shoulders was as straight as an arrow, very different from April. Her skin has tanned and taught against her face, mainly her small chin and high cheek bones. On one of her cheek bones was a recent cut, surrounded by a bit of dried blood. Her eyes were a soft blue that was kind and piercing at the same time. There were several small scars all around her face, making Mickey wonder if she often got into trouble. Glancing down at her hands, he saw five very recent puncture marks. He smirked a little when he figured that she had cut her palms with her fingernails trying not to fight. He knew that he had done that before, so it didn't surprise him. Her grey hoodie was loose, and so were her black pants with a red strip running down the outside.

"It wasn't those Foot fighters. I had a match tonight and got my ribs bruised a bit." Mickey raised an eye ridge when Emily had said that she had had a match. "A kickboxing match. That's where I got this, too." She touched the cut on her cheek.

"You're a kick-boxer?" Mickey asked, looking again at her small frame. Raph had said that she was as light as anything.

"Yep. And a good one, too. I'm undefeated in the ring, even after eight years. That's one of the reasons I got into that fight tonight with those thugs. They came to 'warn' me that bad things would happen if I beat their fighter next week. But I still plan to beat her in less than one round; just like Austin did in his match five years ago." Emily's eyes got a far away gaze in them, like she was remembering something that happened a long time ago. Which she was.

April, who had remained silent throughout the conversation piped up. "Austin, as in Austin Park?" Emily snapped her head around to April, but nodded. Before Emily could ask how he knew Austin, April began talking. "I used to be a news reporter. I'm the one who covered his death."

Emily nodded and leaned back against the couch. "Austin was my best friend, more like my brother than anything. He got me into kickboxing all those years ago. Then, five years ago next Friday, he challenged a Foot fighter to a match. He won, in less than one round. Before the match, he had been given the same warning that I got tonight. And after the fight, on his way to the parking lot to meet me to go get some pizza, he was beat to death by a gang of Foot soldiers. So now I'm taking on one of their fighters on Friday. And I'm going to beat her in less than one round, too."

"My condolences." Came a new voice from the stairway. Another turtle, about the size as Don, with a blue bandana walked over to the group with Casey behind him. "My name is Leonardo, but you can call me Leo."

"Thank you, Leo." Emily stood form the couch to face him. "And also for helping me in the alley. Mickey told me that you and your brothers saved me."

"You're welcome." Leo smiled slightly. He trusted the human woman, but he was still a little wary of her.

Just then, Don came back in. "Raph's out getting pizza, but Father wanted to talk to the girl."

"Emily." Everyone else corrected together.

Then a large and elderly rat in faded grey robes entered into the room behind Leo. His brown fur was puffing in all directions, and part of his right ear was missing. His entrance was accompanied by the steady thump…thump of his wooden cane. "Greetings, child." He spoke softly.

Things clicked Emily's head rather quickly. "Greetings, Sensei." He bowed towards Splinter from where she was standing.

Splinter chuckled lightly and continued to walk to them. "It is just Splinter, child." Emily nodded and straightened from her bow. "Your name is Emily, correct?"

"Yes, Emily Fredricks." She answered.

Splinter chuckled again as Don and Mickey's eyes widened a bit. "My sons sometimes watch your fights on the television. They marvel at some of your mixes of Kickboxing and ninjitsu. Tell me, did you ever train in ninjitsu?"

"A few years ago, but I was never very good." Emily looked down at the ground, slightly embarrassed by her failure.

"I would not say that around Raphael when he returns, he may challenge you to a sparring match." Splinter tried to imagine who would win in a match like that. They both were strong, fast, observant, and had fiery tempers from what he had heard of Emily.

"Who's Raphael?" she asked.

"I'm Raphael." Came a gruff voice form behind Emily.

She whirled around to face the newcomer. He was a bit darker than his brothers; at least what wasn't covered by his battered trench coat was. In one of his large hands was an equally battered fedora and in the other was a bag full of what looked to be pizza boxes. His face was set into harsh lines, broken only by his red mask. But his caramel eyes were kind, starring curiously at Emily.

Hello! Both halves of idkaname speaking.

So, here it is. If any of you have read our JL fanfic, "There's Someone for Everyone," you might get a sneak peak at what happens. But if you hate spoilers, don't.

So, what's up with Em's dad? What will happen between her and the turtles? What about that match coming up? And now, she is associated with the turtles in the eyes of the Foot, so what will that mean for her.

Well, find out later.

Your reviews are cherished and always replied by one if not both of us.

Sincerely,

C M + L W = idkanme.