Leo's Memories

Chapter 4 Childhood Adventures

Leo was spending another sleepless night watching his father meditate. Splinter was pretty deep into it, and not even Mikey was able to get him out of it. Leo quickly got bored of watching the silent rat. He looked over to see the martial arts book that Splinter had been learning from. He glanced back at his father before grabbing the book.

Chapter 1: Self Defense

Self Defense is the best base to start with when learning martial arts. Self Defense stems from your breathing. A good breathing technique can take you far. Start by. . .

Leo spent the rest of the night reading the book. He quickly put the book down when Splinter's aura flared, showing he was done with meditation. Leo had managed to get through the whole book and started reciting phrases in his head. Leo would spend many nights practicing from the book as well as from his Master. He would observe his master during the day and practice at night.

The Bo Staff is one of the simplest weapons to learn. Perfect for warriors who don't need focus in the battle. This weapon allows for the inquisitive mind to stay inquisitive while providing good protection and attacking prowess.

"The perfect weapon for Donnie," Leo mumbles as he expertly twirls a bo staff on his shell. He continued the practice until he had perfect every kata in the book.

The Nunchucks are harder to master. They take focus and drive. This helps warriors who lack focus to gain focus. This weapon is perfect for attacking short range and providing a modicum of protection.

"Mikey," Leo giggled as he caught the nunchuck twirling in his hand.

The sais are very formidable weapons. Meant for short range attacks, but are perfect for throwing attacks. These weapons temper ferocity in a non-lethal way.

"Raph would probably throw these through a metal pole." Leo's focus never broke as he spun the red handled weapon into a punching bag.

The only weapon that Leonardo didn't dare touch were the Twin Katanas. They were the weapon of a leader. They were too proud of a weapon for him. He did however practice with a pair of bamboo swords that Splinter had found in the sewers.

"He practically predicted our weapons of choice," Donnie whispered in awe.

"Splinter is going to send him to the Hashi when he finds out!" Raph laughed. Everyone looked thoughtfully at their own weapons.

"He's the one who told me that I would be good at the odachi and fan," April whispered. "He said that they would treat me well."

Leo looked proudly at his practicing brothers. They were now ten years old and Master Splinter had finally decided to teach them. His brothers were practicing their weapons as Leo read. Apparently Splinter knew about his nighttime activities and decided to bench the young turtle. That's okay. Leo took the time to do other things. He was reading a book on robotics. He wanted to make sure that Donatello stayed safe. He looked over at his technologically advanced brother. His aura was still curious, but even less so.

Leo closed his book and walked off into the sewers, catching his father's eye. He went to his little hideout. There he kept all of the knick knacks he found in the sewers. He opened the book back up and started gathering materials. In under 2 hours, he had fixed a computer that was all but smashed. He made sure that it connected to the World Wide Web. This will certainly grab his brother's curiosity.

He quickly made his way back to the lair, running with a small smile on his face. When he got there, they were done training for the day, and Donnie was lazing about on the couch, tinkering with an old watch.

"Hey, Donnie! Look what I found in the sewers!" This grabbed all of his brothers' attention. They excitedly crowded around the young leader.

"Wow! Does it work?" Donnie inquired as he got a closer look.

"Yeah! I figured you could use it to learn!" Leo smiled as his younger brother grabbed the laptop out of his hand and ran to their room. Raph approached his elder brother.

"You just found a working laptop in the sewers?" He asked skeptically.

"Yup!" Raph's aura flared at the lie.

"Sure," he walked off.

A couple hours later, Leo began to worry that Donnie was never going to come back out. He went to check on his little brother. What he came across broke his heart. Donnie was on the floor with his laptop in pieces around him.

"What did you do to it?" Leo asked softly. Donnie didn't even look up.

"I took it apart to see what made it click. It was very poorly put together. Whoever the manufacturer is did a very bad job. It looks like it was made by any other 10 year old besides myself."

"I gave it to you to look things up." Leo was hurt by the comment on his craftsman skills.

"Oh, trust me dear brother o' mine. I will gain a lot more by tearing this piece of junk up and using it for something else. Thanks for the thought though," Donnie still hadn't looked up from the massacre that was Leo's hard work. The eldest turtle just smiled and walked off. He walked right past a concerned Raph and into the sewers.

"Donnie!" Everyone shouted in the turtle's face.

"In my defense! I was a socially awkward 10 year old who was too curious for his own good. Plus I got some good phones from that computer."

"I'll show you socially awkward," Raph growled as he grabbed the back of Donnie's shell.

"You are apologizing as soon as we get back!"

Leo was humming happily as he cooked spaghetti on the makeshift stove that Donnie had built for the lair. His brother's were playing tag in the sewers, so he decided to make them a treat. He looked back at the small cookbook that he was using. All he had to do now was add the sauce and let it simmer. Cooking was a very peaceful pastime. When he was done, he tasted the meal. It was perfect. Suddenly he heard his brothers coming back.

Mikey entered the kitchen because of the delicious smell, thinking his father had made dinner. He frowned as he saw his elder brother leaning over the stove.

"Awww~ I wanted to learn how to cook! But, now that perfect Leo took a crack at it, I might as well forget it," Leo frowned as his brother started to walk off.

"A-actually, I kind of failed to cook this. I think I added too much of something. I mean, this is my third batch!" Mikey turned back around, "Why don't you try it? You're probably much better at it! Use the cookbook!" Leo quickly threw out his 'ruined' dinner and handed Mikey the book. Mikey's grin grew tenfold as he snatched the book from his brother's hand.

That night, Mikey had made his first Pizza. It was good. Leo ate it with a small smile on his face. From that point on, Mikey became the official cook of the family, and Leo was practically banned from the kitchen. He kept 'accidently' starting fires in the kitchen.

"He gave up a hobby for me? Why?"

"Because you were upset you numbskull! Were you going to even try to cook if Leo was any good at it?" Mikey's face grew pensive.

"Probably not, but he could have like. . . talked to me, you know. He could have been like, 'Just because I'm good, doesn't mean that you can't do it too. You might even be better! Give it a try Mikey!'" The orange banded turtle imitated their brother. This brought grins to everyone's face.