Leo's Memories

Chapter 9 Pop Quiz

He tried to stop his brother from messing with the poor guy. He really did. But in the end, poor gullible Casey Jones fell for the ploy. He was amused when Master Splinter totally dished out the hurt. Then he watched as Casey and April walked off. He went to sharpen his swords.

"Leo, Leo, Leo!" Donnie came up to him in a hurry. He was holding a small stopper of the purple ooze. The leader gave his younger brother his attention. Then, Donnie started speaking science. "Watch."

Leonardo watched in horror as the purple ooze on Donnie's hand morph his three fingers into five. He clenched his own hand. The tremors started up again, though Donnie didn't notice as Leo walked past him. The aura around Donnie's hand gained a different kind of purple. It was an ugly purple. He didn't want this for his brothers. Memories flashed of his own childhood. What if that's all the ooze did?

"If we can get our hands on more of this stuff, it could be life changing!" Donnie's now normal hand lost the ugly purple color. He didn't want to see it on any of his brothers again.

"We don't need that kind of change," Leo looked his younger brother in the eye. Donnie frowned in disappointment and half heartedly agreed, "And Donnie. Don't tell the others about this." Donatello walked off. Leo was too distracted by the memories to pick up his youngest brother's aura hiding out of sight.

"W-what happened to the aura around my hand?" Donnie clutched his normal hand to his plastron. No wonder Leo reacted like that. If the ooze wasn't perfected, then it could leave them permanently malformed. They might not have even turned human at all, just shaky and crumbling versions of themselves.

"Would taking the whole thing have changed our very essence?" Mikey wondered. The ugly purple had scared him. What would've happened if they had gone through with changing themselves?

Leo was going through his katas trying to settle the small tremble in his arms when Raph walked into his practice space.

"Pop quiz!" Leo never liked pop quizzes. That always meant that Raph had something to grind, "What are the three most important traits of a ninja?"

Leo grinned as he continued to train his tremors away, "Speed. . . Stealth. . ."

"And Honor!" Raph got real close to his brother's face, "Where's the honor in keeping secrets from your family?" Leo's mind instantly flashed to that ugly purple.

"I don't know what you're talkin about." Raph's aura flared. This argument was dangerous. He couldn't remember half of what they said in anger before Donnie came in with a break in.

"That was harsh," Raph ducked his head in apology. There were a lot of arguments they had that just seem meaningless now.

He saw the hurt on his little brother's face as he digested the incident. Mikey looked so lost. His aura wilted. His aura never wilted. It hurt. Everything hurts again. He walked away in anger.

"You can't run away from this," Master Splinter followed him.

"I don't know what to do, Master Splinter. Mikey doesn't listen, Raph's brain is in his biceps, and Donnie's head is in the clouds. I can't seem to get them to think with one mind."

"You shouldn't want them to think alike. Their differences is what makes them a good team."

"You know I kept the truth of the ooze hidden from them because I knew they couldn't handle it, and I was right." Leo began to walk off before Donnie came in again with news. Looks like they were going to Brazil.

The plane ride was hell. It was hot, and he couldn't hide the tremble in his hands. The spasms were small though, and he didn't feel like he was going to have a seizure anytime soon. Donnie told them about the approaching plane, then jumped out as Leo helped Raph with his parachute. Leo chuckled at his brother's fear before jumping out. Unfortunately, his foot spasmed just before the jump, so he went off course. Mikey was a little help as they were fastened to the enemy plane. Then he looked up to his brother falling out of the plane. He was coming in a bit fast. Leonardo immediately jumped to grab Raphael, spreading his aura to take the brunt of slamming into a plane.

He and his brothers made it into the plane and threw out the foot soldiers. They were distracted by the weird thing in the box. They all looked up to see a huge warthog and a relatively small rhino. The leader's eyes widened as he saw their auras. They were engulfed by the ugly poisonous purple aura from the ooze. Shadows of it creeping across the plane, trying to touch the turtles. It reached for Donnie the most. This terrified Leo, but he was quickly distracted by the battle. A knucklehead blew up the plane. He almost fell out of the plane. It was chaos. Then Donnie crashed the plane. The fight continued in the water. The cold was soothing to his aching muscles and brought focus to his mind. He had to get the device.

They failed. The brothers were back on a plane headed to New York. His brothers were arguing again. Why can't they just be a team? Leo watched as their aura seemed to shy away from each other. He needed to distract their anger. He said some things he didn't mean.

"How dare you!? You may be an expert in strategy, but you know nothing of feelings," Donnie was right. He knew nothing.

"Well there is one thing I do know. We may be a brothers, but we aren't a team."

"Why would you say that!? He always takes your feelings into consideration!" April shouted at the brothers. She saw how much pain they were in, seeing their brother continuously sacrifice himself for their wellbeing.

"We need to have a talk with Leo about this self-sacrificing bullshit," Raph mumbled. Casey and his brothers nodded.

Shredder had opened the portal. Krang was coming and there was nothing they could do. Except everything.

"One sip and we'll stay the same on the inside, but look human on the outside," Donnie handed him the vile. He didn't want the vile. He looked at his brothers, then held the vile out.

"I'll do whatever you want." Raph snatched the vile. A small amount of fear showed on the leader's face. Their auras grasped onto each other as Raph threw the vile. Leo smiles as they head to the surface.

They were greeted with a wall of weapons, three familiar auras in the mix. They managed to convince the police force of their want and ability to help. Now all they had to do was help.