ROTTMNT OC Story - The Rise of Sophie

Part 15: Our (Complicated) Stuff

Timeline: S1, E19: Portal Jacked!

Leo ran across the court, bouncing the ball at lightning speed. He was looking at the hoop with determination, it was the only thing he was focused on. He jumped up, flying through the air as the basketball swooshed into the net. He walked to the bench out of breath, and lay on the bench, using his duffle bag as a pillow. He could play all night long.

Suddenly he heard the sound of a basketball bouncing and turned to see Sophie emerge from the darkness. She was wearing a t-shirt with 'Let's Play' written across it, purple basketball shorts, and a red basketball cap with her pink scarf peeking out from underneath. It wasn't very often she got to wear her sport outfit.

"Mikey said I'd find you out here," she said, passing the ball over to him, "Wanna play one v one?"

"You want to play basketball? Sis, the last time you played you tripped over the ball and had to be scorekeeper the rest of the night," Leo said, catching the ball with one hand.

"I was a great scorekeeper and you know it. How about we make a friendly bet, if I win you have to show up for Raph's training session with me, on time, for a month," Sophie challenged, walking up to him. Leo's interest was slightly peaked as she spoke.

"And when I win?" he asked, sitting up to take a chug from his water bottle.

"If you win, I'll do all your chores for a month, including the laundry," she smirked, almost causing Leo to spit out his water.

"No way, you hate doing the laundry. You're really gonna bet that?" Leo asked as Sophie ran over and grabbed the ball from him. She nodded her head and Leo chuckled, standing up to get ready to play.

As they got in position, she ran down the court but didn't get very far since Leo was able to snatch it and make a shot. So far he was in the lead, and very pleased with himself. Sophie chuckled and walked back to start again.

"So where were you all day? Juniper and I went to Senior Hueso's but you guys didn't show up," she asked as Leo bounced the ball, he hesitated ever so slightly when she brought it up today.

"We were gonna go, but there were some complications with our transportation. Through no fault of my own, my portals were jacked," Leo explained as Sophie snatched the ball and made a basket.

"Oh yeah, Donnie mentioned something about that. You got them sent to Tahiti and went to fight some pirates," she remembered, throwing the ball back to him. She was hoping he'd open up even slightly to talk about it.

"Yeah well, everything turned out fine. I got my bros back and no one was hurt," Leo reassured, as he caught the ball. She nodded her head and then sighed, stretching a little bit. This was gonna be a long game.

After it a few hours of playing, the score was pretty close. One shot and Leo would take the win but if Sophie could get a field goal, she could turn it around. She was staling though, and so was Leo, this had been the longest they had been in the same vicinity of each other since the whole Draxum lie.

"Look, Leo, Mikey said after you guys got home, you immediately came here. Do you want to talk about what happened- "

"What was that? Can't hear you over my sick moves, baby sister!" Leo interrupted to push past her to make another shot. Sophie sighed, running back to steal the ball back from him.

"Don't change the subject," she fumed, as she snacked the ball from his hand. It bounced away and now she was able to be face-to-face with him. Leo groaned as if he was being lectured by their dad.

"Listen, I wasn't scared at all. I knew they were gonna be fine because they're always fine. Raph's got his punches, Donnie's got brains, and Mikey's got the pazazz; I wasn't worried for a sec," Leo reassured, as he walked towards the ball.

"When Mikey told me, I couldn't help but think about when I went missing for a bit. We haven't really talked about it," Sophie confessed crossing her arms, she hadn't really thought about it either.

"What's there to talk about? So you lied about where you were to my face, got beat up by Draxum, and almost got trapped in the Hidden City forever. It all worked out," he said nonchalantly, a twinge of hurt slipping out. Leo bounced the ball, but he didn't start walking back, he just bounced the basketball.

"I deserve that...I didn't want to lie to you. After you told me he threw you off a building, I knew he was bad news, and I tried to handle it my own way."

"By going against a psycho scientist by yourself?!"

"I didn't think it would go as bad as it did, I got better at fighting and I really thought I could beat him. I just-I didn't want to disappoint you guys!"

"Disappointed? Sophie, we were scared. I was scared. I kept that secret even when we went searching for you, and all I could think was it was all my fault! I'm your big brother, you're supposed to trust me!" Leo confessed and stopped bouncing the ball. There was a long silence as Leo bounced the ball, thinking about what his next words would be.

"God you got me sounding like Raph," he joked, turning around to face his sister. She was almost in tears, trying to hold it in as she played with the bottom of her shirt.

"I'm sorry Leo," she choked out, taking in deep breaths as she tried to calm herself, "I do trust you, I- I just didn't want to be seen as weak..again. I need you guys, and I need my big brother back. I'm so sorry."

Leo threw the basketball to the side and walked up to her. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave a little cheeky smirk.

"You're right, you can't do it alone, none of us can. If anything has taught me today, it's that the face man needs his crew. I need my muscle guy, brains guy, gymnast guy, and, most of all, the strong silent guy. Together we're an awesome crew, and no stupid psycho scientist or creepy foot cult will change that," Leo promised, giving his sister a hug. Sophie gave a small smile as she hugged him back, letting out one last deep breath.

After the hug, she walked over to the basketball and then over to him. She gave him the ball and shrugged slightly.

"Go make the winning shot, I deserve stinky laundry chores after being a lying jerk," Sophie urged as Leo took the ball and shrugged.

"Ah come on, it's not as fun if you're gonna let me win. Besides, I'm getting pretty tired right now so let's just go get a quick slice and back to the lair. Maybe we can try this bet again over that new weird game Donnie got," Leo suggested as he grabbed the ball to put in his duffle bag.

"Yeah I'd like that," Sophie smiled and walked out of the court next to her brother.