As Raph had predicted, Donnie had an earful to give me before I could even apologize for running off. The turtle in red, funnily enough, had stuck around while I was getting patched up to help defend me from getting my ears talked off. Once my injuries were cleaned, I asked Donnie what the machine was even for.

     Apparently, I was correct about the sonar. From what he could tell in detonating that machine, its purpose was to find the power cell's emitted frequency. It required a lot of power due to the unique waves. Odd as it was for the Kraang to attempt that, or at least in my opinion, the machine was gone. It was blown to smithereens, thwarted, done for, whatever other way you could say kapoot.

     In about two days my ankle healed up and I found myself starting to hang around Raph for periods of time. Whenever Raph would be out in the living room area or walk into the dojo, I would wander out of my room or the lab to watch. Watching Raph train was very therapeutic in its own way. If he gave me a nod of approval, I'd sit some feet away. He always trained with a rhythm. Listening and observing was...soothing. Considering what I've been through I found it odd.

     One day, he was going through different techniques with his sais in the dojo when he paused and looked at me.

     "Hey Wolfy, you wanna train with me?" I blinked. "Come on, I wanna see what you got! If you're gunna sit there an' watch me, you might as well join me."

     I blinked again. It's not like I could say no. I stood and shrugged. I might as well give it a shot. I stood next to Raph and got into what I thought was a decent stance.

     "You call that a fighting stance?" I nearly jumped out of my skin when Raph was immediately at my side and adjusting my position. "No wonder Dogpound used you as a chew toy!"

     I scowled at that comment. Sure Raph, it's totally not like I have no knowledge of fighting.

     He smirked, "Okay, now that your fighting stance is fixed, why don't ya throw a punch at me?"

     I hesitated but slowly held my fist out. I really didn't want to hit him. I didn't even know what I was doing at this point. Raph just frowned, looking very unimpressed.

     "Come on, Wolfy! Throw me a good one!"

     As a prompt, he held up his hand as a target. I was so confused. I just gave it my best shot. I threw a punch and hit his hand pretty hard, but I wasn't making a proper fist and hurt my thumb. Raph stood there awkwardly as I shook my hand.

     "Do you know anything about fighting?"

     I shook my head while singing 'no' at the same time. Raph's green eyes held me in place. What was he thinking? Was he mad? Was he concerned? Disappointed?

     His hand slowly came up and landed in between my ears. He seemed to be...sad? This was the first time I had ever seen him like this. It felt weird. This wasn't the Raphael I had come to know since I had gotten here. This was completely different from the brash, loud, protector that had been keeping a close eye on me.

     "Hey... I'm sorry I doubted you." I wasn't expecting that. "I just... I didn't want to trust you and then you escaped during the black out and I was sure you had gone back to Shredder... I thought you would hurt us. Boy was I wrong," he lamented.

     "Then why don't you take it upon yourself to get Alexis started in the ways of ninjutsu, Raphael?"

     We both turned to Master Splinter who had walked in. My surprise was an understatement. Splinter wanted to teach me ninjutsu? As if I was a student? His student? Learning ninjutsu? What fever dream was I in?

     "As you have observed, Alexis is defenseless. She is in need of proper training." He looked to me, "If you wish, I am willing to train you in the art of ninjutsu. You will be able to defend yourself and we can work together to prevent your situation from happening again."

     This was happening! This was really happening! I nodded In excitement. Who wouldn't be ecstatic to learn the art of Ninjutsu from one of the greatest martial artists of all time? Besides that fact I refused to let this chance slip away, I wanted to get stronger. I wanted to protect myself. If this world was going to follow the tv series, I would need all the help I could get just to survive. With the luck I had, it was a miracle I wasn't dead yet.

     That was the start of my training sessions with Raph. Because I was so weak, and this was naturally me coupled with the energy taken by my mutation, we started by building up my stamina. I hated exercise, but considering the surrounding circumstances, I bit my lip and began powering through it.

     Raph started out soft with my training the first week but by the start of the next, he was taking a harder route. I was frustrated as I could barely meet his expectations, but I really couldn't do much except pray that I wasn't going to die from exhaustion. I knew I was getting pushed to my limits to help me grow, but at the same time, I couldn't exactly grow if I was too exhausted to go on.

     When Donnie found out I had started training, he was hesitant to support this decision. He worried that it wasn't something I was ready to take on considering I was technically still healing. However, I argued that it would be a good thing. At some point I wanted to start venturing topside again. While I was safe in the sewers, there was only so much time before I might go stir crazy. It gave me something to do, and if I remembered correctly, the exercise would be very beneficial to me.

     It was really sweet of Donnie to be concerned for me. I appreciated it. At the same time, I didn't want to be stuck. Yes, maybe in a way, I was still healing. Part of me wanted to stay in the dark of the sewers forever. Part of me wanted to curl into a ball and cry for the next ten years. I was sleeping, according to Donnie, more than the average human and sometimes more than a wolf would, but I wanted to start standing again. I wanted to start climbing out of whatever this horrible pit in my chest was.

     Just the first day I had training with Raph made me start to feel better. Sure I was scared of the unknown and very confused about exercise names, but by the end of our first session, I felt energized. I felt like I was on my way to being myself again.

     About two weeks into my training, I found myself in the dojo. I ended up sleeping most of the day and by the time I had roused from many hours of restless sleep, the guys had already left for patrol. I took it upon myself to start going over what Raph and I had started yesterday. I had a sneaky suspicion that I was going to be fussed at for sleeping most of the day away. At the very least, I could say I did something.

     As I was running laps around the dojo, a very loud engine roared through the sewers. I froze, wondering what was going on. From what I could tell it had come to a stop in the lab. There were muffled voices from the guys.

     Raph yelled, "Great, first this doofus gets in the way of a good Purple dragon stomping, and now he knows where our lair is."

     Someone knew where the lair was?! I walked to exit the dojo. That was when I registered the new voice.

     "You were like, "let's finish this!" Oh, and you were, like, all, "you're going down!" And then you were, like-"

     Was that Timothy, the Pulverizer?

     As if to confirm my suspicions, Mikey spoke up, "Dudes, we have a stalker."

     Wait... Did that mean we were on The Pulverizer? Were we getting into following the episode story line?

     I remember at some point Timothy and Donnie would be training in the episode. Maybe I should just go to my room before he sees me. However, when I blinked, my senses got a look of my surroundings. I could just barely see a flash of movement through the wall before I was seeing the room normally again. Right as I was about to continue walking to my room, I heard glass break.

     "Hey, don't touch that," Donnie shouted.

     Instead of risking seeing Timothy, I retreated to the dojo and climbed the tree. I'd rather wait in here and hide.

     I could hear Timothy's excitement from my hiding spot and suddenly caught his scent. How in the world did this teenage boy manage to smell like gym socks, sweat and mold all at once. Even the guys didn't smell this bad! How in the world did he pull that off?

     From what I could hear, apparently Baxter Stockman was looking into stealing Kraang tech. Donnie and Timothy would be staying at the lair for now. The engine sounded again. I could only guess it was the Shellraiser considering Donnie had been working on the old subway car for weeks now. Didn't he say something about it being ready to go for a spin soon?

     I probably should have completed my escape back to my room considering I could hear the two boys in the lab, but I wanted to stay where I was. Knowing Pulverizer had a knack for showing up where he wasn't wanted or expected, I was a little scared he'd run into me the moment I walked out the dojo.

     I climbed down the tree when I heard Donnie begin working on the shell raiser. I had some time to workout some more before the two of them entered the dojo. I could hear Donnie fussing at Timothy from here. Meanwhile, I was working on my pushups. Then they went into the lair. I was working on my squats when I heard the loud squeaking of the contraption the punching dummy was on. I was tempted to go check out the damage, but forced myself to finish my workout.

     Around 8:30, I could hear Timothy talking about how he couldn't wait to get back out in the streets and kick Purple Dragon butt. I took that as my que to climb the tree again and hide in the upper branches.

     Donnie had him get on the ground and start doing sit ups with him. The big guy struggled while I admired how easily the mutant turtle seemed to do it. It never occurred to me watching the show that his shell might get in the way of training. It was just so weird see the guys train in real life. I admired them though. Especially watching Donnie, I found myself admiring their dedication to such a complicated art. Even though they were mutated and had anatomy that could possibly hinder their learning, here was Donnie, trying to help Timothy and even me learn how to defend ourselves.

     As the human worked on catching his breath after a round of squats, I went to readjust my position. However, what happened was that I nearly fell out of the tree and shook the branch catching my fall. The duo ran over to see what was going on. I grinned sheepishly at Donnie, feeling heat rush to my face out of embarrassment.

     Donnie seemed to sigh in relief, "Alex! What are you doing up there? I thought you were still sleeping."

I shrugged, "I started working out and I heard an unfamiliar voice... So I hid when I heard the two of you approaching." Donnie smiled sheepishly as I continued. "On the bright side I got an extra set in!"

     "Good for you! That's progress!" He put his hand behind his head, "Sorry for worrying you. Alex, Pulverizer, Pulverizer, Alex."

     I waved to the boy in costume. He was already grinning really big and doing a dance, almost looking like he needed to go to the bathroom.

     I frowned when he shouted, "You're so cute! You're dressed just like a neko from anime! Are you looking for a boyfriend?" He started showing off his fake muscles, "I'm a hero too! I could totally protect you and stuff!" Then he started dancing again and squealing, "Could I learn that super secret code you were just doing? I promise I won't share it with anyone!"

     I was VERY caught off guard when Donnie hit him over the head with his bo staff.

     "Look Pulverizer, first off, that was American Sign Language. She's mute and can't speak so it's not a "secret code''. Two, Alex is my friend and I can assure you she's been through a lot and was hiding because she's nervous around new people. She's off limits unless she gives you permission." A dark aura surrounded him, shocking both myself and Timothy, "If you cross her boundaries, I can promise you, you won't ever be a vigilante again. Am I clear?"

     If my jaw could hit the ground, that's what it would have done. I was definitely not expecting that, especially from Donnie. I couldn't lie. I was impressed that for once he actually had Timothy looking scared. My face started to feel hot and I put my hands on my cheeks, realizing I was blushing. I was blushing very hard.

     What the turtle in purple had done was really sweet and...kind of attractive. It reminded me that before the Kraang had dragged me to this dimension, he had been my favorite of the brothers. Now that this had happened, it hit me that this was real and he was no longer just a fictional character. Donatello was actually here in front of me, protecting me from a very dumb teenager, and making my heart beat faster.

     As I sat in the tree with this new realization, Timothy ended up rolling into Sensei's room. I flinched hearing the crash.

     "Donatello!" I almost laughed seeing how sensei held Timothy, "Does this belong to you?"

     The turtle walked over cautiously, "Sensei, Pulverizer. Pulverizer, Sensei."

     I couldn't help but feel bad for the poor guy. He may not be the brightest, all he really wanted was to be a hero. He was inspired by heroes. He was inspired by my heroes, literally and figuratively. The only problem was that he didn't understand the actual dangers lurking out there.

     I couldn't help but agree with sensei when he called the teen a doofus. It was true. Timothy had no shame. He was too naive to see what the problem was with being a vigilante who couldn't fight. Or he was too caught up in his fantasy to realize he really could not fight for his life.

     I watched Donnie and Master Splinter talk about Pulverizer, not really paying attention to the conversation. Their story was completely different. While they were here, fighting for justice, it wasn't for fun. It wasn't because they went out with the idea of being heroes for fame and glory. They became heroes out of duty and ended up finding themselves in a fight to save the world and fighting for their lives. How could they accomplish that at 15? How did they manage to handle the pressure? How did they manage the anxiety of jumping into battle, never knowing if they might die or leave victorious?

     "Alexis, you have yet to train today, yes?" I blinked, realizing Sensei and Donnie were looking at me. After processing what he just asked me, I nodded. "Be ready, you and I will start training soon."

     I bowed my head as Sensei walked away. I could only hope that maybe I could meet their expectations. More than anything, even though I was very weak now, I wanted to get stronger so that I could be more like them. I wanted to be stronger, better and most of all, courageous. Courageous enough to face my fears and start living my new life here, without having to rely on them. Hopefully, at some point, I could be one less problem for them to worry about. 

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A/N: Hello lovely people! Sorry it's been so long since the last update. Season 1 has been a huge challenge for me to write just due to the fact that it's so SHORT for Alex's arrival. There's a lot to try to fit in before the season finale, not to mention there are filler "episodes" I'm in the process of writing. So thank you kindly for reading and I hope it's a little happiness in your day.

Bye~