A/N: Cameron & Soren belongs to MariChat3.

Eclipse belongs to GeekyCookie1.

"Alright, since you're here, let me ask you a question. What makes a place feel like home? Warmth and familiarity? Some idealized make-believe version of the American Dream? Love and acceptance? Simple safety? Or it could be none of those things. And it's a place where your adoptive father could be hiding the truth from you or maybe it's a place where everything you know is threatened to be wrong and you can't help but wonder what's the truth. For me, it's both. I used to think that maybe I didn't need—well, more like I didn't want to know why my parents gave me up. At least until something came into my life that made me question everything that I thought I knew about me and I realized that my adoptive father may know more about me than I do myself."

CAMERON CHANDLER WALKED through the empty sidewalk of New York City, looking in every direction and every spot that he could find. With the fact that he still hadn't found the princess just yet made Cameron frustrated since all he wanted was to find the princess and bring her back home in hopes of becoming the hero and getting the princess to be his. It was just like in the fairytales his mother had read to him when she would put him to bed and that's exactly what Cameron wanted: being a hero, saving the princess, and marrying the princess and becoming the king.

He wanted it and so be it that he would get it no matter the cost.

He wanted that life and no matter what stood in his way, he'd do whatever it took to get himself that life.

"Where could she be?" Cameron mumbled to himself. "Mother said that they sent Princess Briana to Hamato Yoshi. I wish I knew who he was, it'd be a lot easier to find her if I did."

The sound of laughter suddenly reached his ears, causing him to look up towards the rooftops upon hearing the sound. Cameron could've swore that he saw a group of figures jump onto the rooftops and with his curiosity peaking, he walked into a alleyway and climbed the fire escape ladder, slightly peeking out once he reached the top to see what was causing the laughter. His eyes widened in surprise and shock when he caught sight of five mutant turtles and two disguised human teenagers.

"Great," Cameron muttered under his breath, mentally groaning in annoyance at the sight of the mutant turtles. "More freaks. And I thought I'd seen enough freaks back in the Crystal Empire."

But then his eyes landed on the purple haired teenage girl that was wearing her suit. His heart started beating faster in his chest just from the sight of Captain Violet and his eyes turned into hearts. "Could she be Princess Briana? I mean, she is pretty," he whispered to himself. "Though she could leave the fighting to the guys."

Cameron continued to watch the scene in front of him while keeping himself hidden. With the group of seven teenagers on the rooftop as they jumped onto the next one, making Cameron climb down from the ladder and follow them from below. On the rooftop, Raphael smirked as he jumped, knocking the seven of them onto the ground of the rooftop.

"Hey, what was that? You didn't do any flips." Donatello informed as they all stood up from the ground.

"Oops." Raphael said with a grin on his face.

Suddenly, they all heard a creaking sound, causing them to freeze in their spots. They got their weapons out in case it was an enemy and went around the corner, only to find a kitten.

"Don't give up, Leo," Raphael mocked. "You might actually win this fight."

"Aw! She's so cute!" Captain Violet gushed, picking up the kitten as the kitten gently nuzzled her face.

"And it's name is—" Michelangelo began, looking at the name tag.

"Mittens!"

"Good guess." Michelangelo said as the seven of them looked to see a guy looking out the window as Captain Violet handed the kitten to the orange masked mutant turtle so he can have a turn at holding her.

"I think that's the owner." Donatello said.

Michelangelo got ready to head over to him before being stopped by the others. "What are you doing?" Eclipse asked.

"What? I'm returning Mittens to her owner." Michelangelo stated.

"Are you a idiot? Let me rephrase, you're a idiot." Raphael told him seriously.

"You can't show yourself to a human." Donatello told him.

"Why not?" Michelangelo asked with a confused expression on his face.

"Because they'll freak out, that's why." Eclipse said.

"No, they won't," Michelangelo said in disagreement. "I'm not so scary."

"You're a mutant turtle armed with ninja weapons." Captain Violet reminded him.

"You didn't freak out when you met us." Michelangelo told Boy Danger, reminding him of when they first met.

"That's because I don't judge anyone unlike most people in this city." Boy Danger told him, reminding that the citizens of New York City tend to be very judgmental towards things that they don't understand.

"Look, this guy's gonna see that I'm just a regular, cat-loving dude like him. Next thing you know, we'll be best buds. This is gonna be awesome!" Michelangelo said excitedly.

Despite the protests coming from the others, Michelangelo still hopped down. From down below, Cameron watched as the orange masked mutant turtle attempt to return the cat back to her owner, only for it to go completely wrong. He couldn't help but winched as the orange masked mutant turtle fell into the dumpster while the guy headed back inside his apartment.

"I mean, he deserves it for being a idiot." Cameron muttered under his breath, watching as the others hopped down from the rooftop.

"Face it, Mikey. Humans will never understand you. Heck, we don't even understand you." Raphael told him.

"Yeah," Michelangelo said with a sigh before he looked up and gasped. "But I bet that guy would!"

"Chris Bradford," Leonardo said, reading the sign he was pointing at. "The martial arts superstar. With a chain of dojos across the country. He's your soulmate?"

"We've got so much in common!" Michelangelo said excitedly.

"What if you stop standing like that?" Eclipse questioned him.

"We'll have a little less in common, but still a lot," Michelangelo said. "And look, he's in town for a martial arts expo. Maybe he'll show me his secret kata, the death-dragon, and I'll show him my secret kata, the secret kata."

"Catchy." Captain Violet said with her natural wide smile.

"Check it out," Michelangelo said with a grin as he did his little move. "But don't tell anyone you saw that."

"No problem." Boy Danger assured him.

"Face it, Mikey," Raphael said seriously. "Chris Bradford is the last person on Earth that would be friends with you. Well, tied for last, with everyone else on Earth."

Before anyone else could reply to that comment, they were suddenly surrounded by a group of ninja, catching the attention of the teenage boy that was still hidden while watching them. "More ninjas?" Cameron whispered to himself. "At least they're not freaks."

"Ninjas? In New York? Other than us?" Donatello questioned as the group of seven teenagers took their weapons out.

Just as the fight began, Raphael noticed Leonardo smiling and questioned him, "Why are you so happy?"

"It's just nice to finally be fighting people instead of robots, aliens, or weed-monsters." Leonardo admitted with a grin.

The seven of them were doing pretty well in the fight until there was only one soldier left but neither one of them were able to land a hit on them. Soon, it was only Captain Violet left standing as she stood in a defensive stance with her katana ready while the soldier just stood in front of her, leaving Cameron to narrow his eyes in confusion at the sight.

"Why is he just standing there?" Cameron mumbled under her breath.

"Looks like Jake was right," the soldier said, staring at the purple haired girl as realization drawn on him. "It's nice to see you, Princess Briana."

Cameron instantly felt his eyes widened at the sight. "That's Princess Briana?" He whispered quietly amongst himself. "I guess that makes my job easier... sorta."

"I think you got the wrong person, buddy. I don't know what you're talking about but I know I'm not a Princess." Captain Violet informed.

The soldier chuckled, taking a few steps towards her, causing Captain Violet to step backwards. "Are you sure about that? Why don't you ask your so-called father the truth? I'm sure he knows."

Before Captain Violet could said anything, the sound of sirens caught their attention as the ninja and the soldier quickly ran off while Captain Violet gathered the others and they all escaped through the sewers. Quickly and without getting caught, Cameron turned around and speed-walked away, following the shadows of the strange ninja jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

"If I'm gonna get Princess Briana away from those freaks," Cameron said to himself. "I'm gonna need some help."

👑👑👑

CAMERON FOLLOWED THE strange ninja to a building within the city. He walked up to the door and turned the knob, finding it open. He slowly opened the door and stepped inside, taking small steps as he entered the building. Cameron looked around the empty hallways and it was completely quiet. If he'd were to call out then, his voice would definitely echo throughout the building.

"What do you think you're doing here, kid?"

Cameron froze in his steps, his eyes widening at the familiar voice. He slowly turned around and came face to face with Soren Chandler. "Father?" He questioned.

Soren stared at him with a face filled of recognition. "Cameron?" He asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I escaped the Crystal Empire before the fog completely covered it," Cameron explained to his father. "Mother sent me to find Princess Briana and bring her back home. I followed the group of strange ninja along with the soldier here."

Soren couldn't help but frown when his son mentioned his mother.

"I saw her, father," Cameron spoke up again. "Princess Briana, she was with some other boy and five mutant freaks. I wanna know what's going on."

Soren placed a hand on his son's shoulder and led the way down the hallway. "Trust me, buddy, I can explain everything and together, we'll get Princess Briana with the help of our friends."

👑👑👑

"THEIR LEADER WAS crazy good," Leonardo informed Splinter as himself and Henry were explaining what happened to him inside the kitchen. "By which, I mean, he was good and seemed a little crazy."

"We couldn't land a single hit on their leader either." Henry added as Leonardo nodded in agreement.

Leonardo then added. "Besides, he had all these guys with him. It wasn't a fair fight."

"What do you mean fair fight?" Splinter questioned.

"A fair fight," Leonardo explained. "You know, where either side could win."

"So," Splinter said. "A fair fight is a fight you could lose."

Leonardo nodded. "Well, yes, but—what I mean is—" he looked over at Henry. "I'm not making sense, am I?"

"You're not." Henry said in agreement.

"You don't want to assure your victory." Splinter said, gaining their attention.

"Why do I feel like we're about to get a lesson?" Henry questioned somewhat suspicious.

Splinter smirked a little. "Perhaps."

Both Henry and Leonardo glanced at each other when they heard that. Suddenly, Splinter had knocked the two off of their feet, causing them to fall onto the ground, which gave Splinter the chance to pin them against the floor.

"Hey!" The two of them shouted in unison, not seeing it coming.

"Was that fair?" Splinter questioned.

"No!" Both Henry and Leonardo said in unison once again.

"Did I win?" Splinter asked with a small smirk as realization came over their faces.

"We see your point." Henry said as Leonardo nodded in agreement.

Splinter then helped the two of them up. "Seek victory, not fairness."

"Hai, sensei." Leonardo and Henry replied as Splinter left the kitchen, leaving the two of them lost in their thoughts.

👑👑👑

"WHOA, THAT'S RAD! Oh, I wish me and Chris Bradford were friends!" Michelangelo said. The rest of the others were sitting around in the living room, doing their own things with Kaz and April.

"Mikey, you already have a human friend," April said with a smile. "Henry, Kaz, and me."

"April, you don't count. We saved your life, you have to like us. Kaz and Bri like each other, and so do Henry and Clips." Michelangelo explained, sending a quick smirk to Eclipse, Briana, and Kaz when he saw them blushing a little.

"Too bad there's no place for freaks to meet people where no one can see how hideous they are." Raphael said.

"Well, there's the internet." Kaz said and April nodded in agreement.

"Donnie, can I see your laptop?" April questioned the purple masked mutant turtle.

"Uh, uh, sure! Just a sec." Donatello said, quickly pressing a button on his laptop to hide his laptop's wallpaper of April before giving it to her.

"Check it out, it's a site where you can make friends with anybody online." April said, showing them a website.

"Sweet!" Michelangelo said before he gasped and quickly took the laptop, already typing something in. "Ohh, Chris Bradford's on here! He'll be my first friend!" He stared at the screen, waiting for it to be accepted.

"Mikey, people don't always immed..." Kaz started but was interrupted by the sound of the laptop beeping. "But sometimes they do."

Michelangelo gasped in excitement. "No way! Chris Bradford has accepted my friendship! I have a friend!"

Michelangelo quickly jumped up from his seat and headed towards the entrance of the lair to leave.

"Where are you going?" Briana asked.

"To hang out with my friend, Chris Bradford." Michelangelo replied.

"This guy's famous. He probably has thousands of friends." April tried to explain.

"And guess who's number 5,286?" Michelangelo questioned.

"You?" Eclipse asked.

"Daniel Ramirez! And I'm right next to him. Later!" Michelangelo said as he quickly left the lair.

"Well, this ought to be interesting." April said.

"Should we after him?" Donatello questioned.

"Eh, he's gotta learn somehow." Eclipse said with a shrug while Raphael nodded in agreement.

👑👑👑

"THEY MUST HAVE been watching us from here." Boy Danger said as the five mutant turtles, Captain Violet, and Boy Danger himself were checking out the area where they were attacked by the strange group of ninja.

"The perfect place to stage an ambush. It wasn't very fair, was it?" Donatello questioned.

"It's not about fairness, it's about victory." Leonardo said, recalling Splinter's words in his head.

"And then, Chris Bradford put on his hakama. Man, that guy can rock a hakama!" Michelangelo said excitedly and Eclipse rolled her eyes, annoyed with the nonstop chatter of Chris Bradford.

"Yeah, maybe he'll wear it again when he takes you to prom." Raphael said sarcastically, annoyed with all of the Chris Bradford talk that the orange masked mutant turtle had been doing.

"And then after that, he—" Michelangelo started again but was interrupted.

"Oh, enough! You've been going on about this for three hours." Raphael complained.

"Ooh, someone sounds jealous." Michelangelo teased with a smirk.

"He's not jealous if he's right." Eclipse admitted.

"You just can't admit that you were the 'R' word," Michelangelo said as they all looked at him. "Rong?"

"I'm not wrong." Raphael said.

"Oh, yeah? If you don't want to talk about my friend," Michelangelo said as he ran over to where Leonardo, Donatello, and Boy Danger stood. "I've got three other brothers who do."

"After the three hours you talked about him? No thanks." Boy Danger said.

"Actually, I'd rather talk about anything else." Leonardo said.

"Like the concept of the silent 'W' perhaps." Donatello added.

"Well I still got my two sisters." Michelangelo said.

"No," Eclipse said with a annoyed sigh. "I can't listen to anymore talk about Chris Bradford."

"And I think Violet's little busy thinking about a certain boy." Raphael said with a smirk, looking over at Captain Violet, who was lost in her thoughts.

Captain Violet couldn't help but blush a little and looked away shyly from the mention of that, ignoring the smirks that she was getting from the red masked mutant turtle and the golden masked mutant turtle.

"Fine. I'll go talk to a guy who likes to talk about Chris Bradford more than anyone else: Chris Bradford." Michelangelo said as he jumped away.

👑👑👑

"AND THEN HE kicks, twists, and sweeps the leg! Ha!" Michelangelo said as he showed the move to the others later that day in the dojo. "The death dragon."

"That was amazing!" Leonardo said with a grin.

"I won't lie," Henry admitted. "That's pretty good."

"Yeah, it's devastatingly effective and complex." Donatello added.

"And yet even Mikey could learn it." Raphael finished.

"Thank you," Michelangelo said before realizing what he said. "Hey!"

A beeping sound came from the laptop and Michelangelo quickly grabbed it. "It's Rad-Brad! That's my little name for him. He wants to get together for a little B-ball. Can't wait to find out what the B stands for!"

"You're going now?" Briana asked, watching as he headed towards the entrance.

"Sorry, guys, human friend stuff. You know how it is," Michelangelo said as he headed out of the lair. "Oh, wait, you don't."

With Michelangelo leaving the lair and everyone else deciding to give the move a try, Eclipse walked over to Raphael with a smirk. "You're worry about him, aren't you?" She questioned.

"Who, Mikey? No way, that knucklehead has to learn somehow," Raphael attempted to deny it but saw Eclipse looking at him with a smirk. "Okay, fine, maybe a little. Don't tell anyone."

"Relax, your secret is safe with me, you big softie."

👑👑👑

AFTER PRACTICING THE move for hours, neither one of them managed to get it so far. "Wait, I think I got it." Leonardo said as he did the move just as Splinter walked into the dojo.

"Where did you learn that?" Splinter asked angrily.

"Mikey learned it from his new friend." Henry explained, helping Donatello get up after the move was done.

"The man who taught him that kata is no friend. It comes from the Shredder." Splinter informed.

"Shredder? You mean Bradford is one of his students?" Eclipse asked.

"He must be." Splinter said.

"So, Bradford was just using Mikey to get to you then." Briana said with a look of realization.

"Oh, what a relief! Everything makes sense again." Raphael said before realizing the weight of the situation. "Mikey's in trouble!"

"Let's go, guys!" Leonardo said as they grabbed their weapons and ran out of the dojo.

Before Briana went to catch up with them, she looked towards the mutant rat with a nervous look on her face. "Master Splinter? When we first fought against the soldier, he called me Princess Briana and told me that you knew more about me than I thought." She asked.

Splinter felt his insides freeze from the mention of that, knowing that it was true. But he couldn't tell her or let her find out, especially not when the truth was dangerous and had to kept away from her.

"Sensei?" Briana spoke up again, seeing the look on his face. "Do... do you know something about me? About my past?"

Splinter quickly snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. "I do not believe so, my daughter. I'm as confused by that as you are."

Briana stared at him for a bit before she nodded, choosing to believe him before she turned around and ran off, catching up with the others. However, the moment that she left the dojo, Splinter walked back into his room and over to where a basket stood in the corner of his room.

The very basket that Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Eclipse found Briana in when she was just a baby.

Splinter frowned a little as he closed his eyes, recalling memories of his time as human with his one of his best friends. "I'm afraid I don't know how much longer I can keep the truth hidden from her any longer, my old friends. But I have to try."

👑👑👑

SNEAKING IN QUIETLY was easy for our heroes. Silently taking out the guards, they made their way over to the orange masked mutant turtle. "Dudes, dudelettes! That was sporadic!" He said.

"Shh!" They quickly shushed him as Leonardo cut him free then patted his head.

As they were leaving the building, Boy Danger and Leonardo glanced at each other with smirks and nodded, knowing that they were being followed. The group of seven teenagers climbed back into the sewers, leading Bradford and Xever the same way. Neither Bradford or Xever realized that it was all trap as the seven teenagers attacked, creating a fight between the two sides.

"They knew we were following them!" Bradford shouted as Michelangelo jumped over to him, sweeping his leg under Bradford's, knocking him down.

"That's right, sweep the leg! Hit it!" Michelangelo said, knocking Bradford into Xever and they both fell onto the ground.

Leonardo and Boy Danger then turned the water on, causing Bradford and Xever to get swept away while the seven of them met up with each other.

"Well, that didn't seem very fair." Boy Danger said with a smirk.

"No, it wasn't." Leonardo replied with a smirk.

"High three!" Michelangelo shouted as the seven of them cheered and did a high-five.

👑👑👑

"UM, SENSEI, AREN'T you hungry?" Donatello questioned, getting everyone's attention as they all looked over at him.

"I fear we are celebrating too soon." Splinter said with a shake of his head.

"Too soon?" Raphael questioned. "The bad guys were swept away in a river of raw sewage. By my watch, that makes it the perfect time."

"Shredder knows I'm alive. And worse, he knows about all of you. It's my worst nightmare come true." Splinter confessed to the group, looking away a little.

"So, it's not over?" Eclipse asked.

"Oh, no, it's just beginning." Splinter admitted.

Raphael went over to Michelangelo as the laptop beeped. "How you doing, Mikey?"

"This is all my fault. I should have never thought that I could be friends with a human." Michelangelo said with a frown.

"Eh," Raphael said with a shrug. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"So, it's not my fault?" Michelangelo asked hopefully with a smile.

"Of course it's your fault," Raphael said before he sighed. "If you tell the others, I'll beat the green off you, but you're an awesome guy."

"Bradford didn't think so." Michelangelo said with a sad frown.

"Eh, he's a psychotic killing machine," Raphael said. "You deserve way better friends than him."

"You know what? You're right," Michelangelo said, his frown turning into a smile. "Thanks, Raph."

"Anytime." Raphael said as he patted the orange masked mutant turtle on the head.

Michelangelo then pressed a button on the laptop. "Unfriended!" He laughed.

"Never again, right, Bubba Twin?" Eclipse questioned him.

"Never again, Sissy Twin." Michelangelo agreed.

As the seven teenagers were doing their own things together, Splinter couldn't help but worry for what was coming their way as he glanced over at Briana, hoping that she'd never have to find out the truth.

But all he could was hope that the truth would never find its way out.

Meanwhile deep within the purple haired girl's mind, there was darkness and within that darkness was a cage with a symbol on it that kept something locked behind it. A demon like creature with evil red eyes was locked up inside as she looked towards her right, watching everything from Briana's eyes and she couldn't help but smirk evilly when noticing the worry expression on his face.

"Ah, yes," the demon creature smirked evilly with a laugh leaving her lips. "You should worry, rat, because one day, I'll finally be free from this prison and it'd all be thanks to the girl's buried anger and pain."

"Hope. A word so close to home, and just as tricky. As much as I wanted to ignore what he said about me being Princess Briana, to go back to thinking that I thought I knew everything already, or to just feel safe again but it was impossible to feel safe because Master Splinter was right about what he said. Not only was it dangerous for me to know the truth but he was also right about another thing: the Shredder knew he was alive and he knew about us. And with everyday that passed, our hopes dimmed more and more. There's that old cliche saying: it's the darkest before the dawn but sometimes, there was just darkness. And in my case, there was a storm of raging and boiling darkness inside me just waiting to come out."