A Turtles Last Secret (TMNT book 3)

Training With Splinter

Three nights passed, and Naomi still wasn't well enough to go back to her room. It was a good thing too, because when Leo asked to have all of us fight against him, Naomi was about to join us. 

"No." Splinter looked at her. 

She slumped her shoulders. "Aw, why?" 

"You are not completely healed." 

"I'll never be completely healed," Naomi sighed, sitting back down in front of the tree anyway. 

The rest of us, though, gladly joined in. 

Leo told Splinter, "Can we have a moment, though?" 

"Of course." Splinter said. 

Mii-wa walked in about now and stood by Naomi. They watched us form a small plan to just take on Splinter. 

"Alright, Raph, you're going in first." Leo said. 

"Why me?" Raph asked. "Make Mikey do it." 

"Why Mikey?" I asked. "Seriously?" 

"Fine," Leo sighed. "Both Mikey and Mikito take the first attack. The rest of us will fall in place." 

"I think he took that the wrong way..." I muttered. 

"It's Leo." Donnie sighed. 

"True." 

We broke formation and circled around Splinter. He was just standing in the middle of the room with his eyes closed. For a minute, he seemed like Naomi. Then Mikey gave me a signal to snap out of my own world. 

We jumped at him, but he moved to the side just barely and kicked Mikey away. I landed on the ground, which was a feat (Donnie would tell me later). Turning on him, he was already grabbing Raph and throwing him away. I ducked as he tried to kick at me, but then he seemed to expect that because his tail seemed to come from nowhere and literally sweep me off my feet. Somehow, his tail wrapped around my ankle and he threw me against the wall as well. Donnie and Sophie followed quickly. 

The last one standing was Leo and he ducked a blow from his Sensei before returning one, actually landing a hit! My jaw dropped. Even Naomi, who I saw on the other side of the room, look completely shocked. That's right, when her and Splinter were fighting, she didn't land a single hit. 

"Ah!" Leo cried out, shocked by his own hand. "Sensei, I didn't mean it!" 

Splinter looked at him, then took his hand and flipped him on the ground. That looked painful. 

"Oh, no." I heard Raph say. 

"Leo's gonna get it." Donnie gulped. 

"Oh nobee doebee!" Mikey smiled. 

I looked at him, "What?" 

He shrugged. 

Then Splinter let Leo up, everyone breathing out in relief. "When you had the advantage," Splinter said. "You hesitated." 

"Hai, Sensei." Leo said, getting up and bowing. 

Splinter began to walk to his room with Mii-wa behind him before he stopped. Mii-wa ran into him. He looked at her before looking at the rest of us who were already inching toward Leo, "Unless you'd like a rematch?" 

All of us shook our head and said, "No." 

Smiling, Splinter walked into his room with Mii-wa behind him, a little farther this time. She shut the door and I saw at the corner of my eye Naomi get up. She looked at me, smirked, and then walked into the main room. 

The rest of us went over to Leo. Mikey grabbed the hand he hit Splinter, "You must never wash this hand again." 

"I can't believe you tagged Sensei!" Raph smirked. 

"It was team work, guys, honestly." Leo said, pulling his hand gently away from Mikey. 

"Do you think we're getting better than him?" Donnie asked. 

"Only Leo out of all of us." Sophie said. 

"That's true..." Donnie muttered. 

Mikey, not really getting the hang of what Sophie said, continued, "Do you think we'll need him to train us any more?" 

"Of course you do," Naomi said, coming back in. "More surprises will come, and you'll need what the training gives you. If you ignore Master Splinter's advice, you could end up gone." 

We all looked at her, but before any of us could ask her anything, she morphed into the main room again. 

"Well," Sophie said, crossing her arms. "She hasn't lost her mysterious ability." 

"That's for sure." Donnie nodded.