Hey, everyone! This is the first part of the special two-parter story I was telling you about earlier. I'm REALLY sorry for not updating; hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things. To anyone still reading this, thank you so much for sticking by this story and supporting me. It means a lot. Anywho, enjoy! :)

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It was a normal, peaceful afternoon in New York City, and down in the sewers, you could say the same thing....well, more or less.

In the lair, Hamato family was up to their usual shenanigans. Splinter was in his room, meditating. His red-brown eyes were closed gently, his breathing steady, his hands resting gently in his lap. Although he was relaxing, his large ears were pricked up and alert as he listened to his sons frolic out in the main room of the lair.

There was a lot to listen to.

Out in that main room, the four tiny turtles were doing the exact opposite of behaving themselves. Raphael and Michelangelo were fighting over a crayon, while Leonardo and Donatello desperately tried to break them up. They all squealed and cried, arguing and shouting.

"Gimme back my orange crayon, Raph!" Michelangelo wailed, tugging on the crayon.

"I need it!" Raphael growled, tugging back.

"Then wait 'till I'm done, you meanie!"

"Raph, give Mikey his crayon back!" Leonardo huffed as he tried to drag the little red-masked turtle away.

"Lemme go, Leo!" Raphael struggled.

"Stop fighting, you guys!" Donatello helped Leonardo pry Raphael off of the crayon.

Everyone kept pulling and tugging, squealing and growling and fussing, their little green hands grabbing and fumbling.

And then the precious, glorious orange crayon snapped right in half.

All four little turtles gasped, watching with eyes bigger than saucers as the two halves of the crayon went flying across the lair. They rolled rapidly across the floor of the lair, away from them, heading in different directions.

For a moment, everyone was still and quiet.

Then Michelangelo broke the silence.

"RAPH!" he shouted, tears welling up in his baby blue eyes. "Now look what you did! Now the crayon is broken!"

"I didn't mean to break it!" Raphael insisted, his green eyes blazing. "You shoulda given it to me!"

Little Michelangelo gave a frustrated huff, clenching his hands into tiny fists. Suddenly, he broke away from his brothers, chasing after the front half of the crayon as it rolled away from them toward the lair exit.

"Mikey! Stop running!" little Leonardo called, his voice heavy with worry. "Come back!"

But the orange-masked turtle did not stop. He kept chasing the crayon, which was getting ready to roll right out of the lair.

"Oh, this isn't good. Daddy says we're not supposed to leave the lair without him," Donatello whispered in shock, his reddish-brown eyes wide. "Mikey's gonna be in big trouble."

"I got it!" Michelangelo's triumphant squeal sounded suddenly. "I got the crayon piece! Now all we need's the other piece, and we can fix-"

His words were suddenly cut off, replaced with a high-pitched scream of terror. His brothers all froze like baby deer in headlights, their eyes huge. There was a terrible snarling sound from somewhere outside the lair, and then the tiny turtles heard teeth snapping, followed by another one of Michelangelo's horrified screeches.

"MIKEY!" his brothers all screamed.

They were starting to shake now. Little Leonardo, terrified as he was, clenched his tiny hands into fists. He wasn't going to let some mean old monster hurt his little brother! He started forward, trying to ignore his trembling knees.

"Leo! Wh-where are you going?" Donatello squeaked over the snarling from where he cowered behind Raphael.

"To save Mikey!" Leo declared, his deep blue eyes gleaming with determination.

But there was no need. The little orange-masked turtle suddenly exploded into the lair with a terrified yelp. His bright orange mask was torn, dropping across his face, and one of his knees trickled with blood. Tears streamed down his freckled cheeks, and deep scratches criss-crossed his plastron.

"Mikey!" Leonardo cried, hugging his little brother tightly. "What's wrong? Did the monster get you?"

Michelangelo was too shocked to reply. There was an angry roar from somewhere, and the four tiny turtles looked up...

...and screamed as they found themselves staring into the murderous eyes of a beast.

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Splinter had been meditating in his cozy, quiet room for quite a while. But the moment he heard the screams of his sons, his red-brown eyes flew open and he gasped with horror. His ears pricked up and his heart seemed to stop for a minute. Leaping to his ratlike feet, Splinter grabbed his green walking stick and shot out of his room, dashing into the lair. His heart was pounding in his chest, his thin fur bristling and long whiskers quivering with panic, as he burst into the main room of the lair.

The sight awaiting him there left him frozen in shock.

His four little sons were huddled together, quivering with fear and backing away slowly as a massive alligator stalked menacingly toward them. Its razor-sharp, yellow teeth snapped at the tiny turtles, barely missing Raphael's hand. The little red-masked turtle moved his hand just in time, his electric green eyes wide with panic and pure fear.

The alligator advanced on them, scaly tail lashing and claws extended. Its eyes, two menacing yellow pits of fire, gleamed with a terrible, murderous light. Splinter stiffened as he realized he recognized those two beady, evil eyes. He realized with a jolt he remembered this scaly beast.

This was the same alligator that had attacked his sons all those years ago. This was the exact same alligator that had taken the chip out of Raphael's plastron.

And now it had returned years later, hungry for vengeance.

The alligator had certainly grown since the last time he'd seen it; it was at least three times larger. Its claws were longer, its teeth sharper, its tail longer. Now, it was more like a hulking dragon than an alligator. Which was not good at all for him or his sons.

Stop standing like a fool, Yoshi! Splinter scolded himself, his tail lashing angrily. Protect your sons!

With a furious battle cry, the mutant rat lunged for the alligator. The enormous beast snapped its head up to glare at him with a snarl, turning its attention away from the turtle tots. The four little turtles were frozen in place, too shocked and scared to move.

Michelangelo was clinging to Leonardo's arm, shaking furiously and sobbing hard, blood dripping from his knee and his mask ripped apart. Donatello cowered behind Raphael, tears spilling from his red-brown eyes.

Raphael, although he wasn't crying or shaking, actually looked the most spooked. He was standing unmoving, straight and tall, his three-fingered hands balled into fists in an attempt to look brave. But his bright green eyes were round and wide with all different kinds of fear, his expression a mix of emotions.

The poor little turtle must be scared half to death, knowing an alligator...this same creature...had hurt him so long ago.

The four young brothers watched with wide eyes as their father hurled himself at the monstrous gator. The creature growled and snapped at him, saliva dripping from its jaws, and Splinter barely had time to twist out of the way of its sharp teeth. He landed on the ground in front of his opponent, his long tail lashing to keep him balanced.

"Go, my sons!" Splinter shouted, leaping out of the way as the alligator tried to bite him.

The tiny turtles obeyed, diving behind the sofa in the main room. They peeked out from behind it, their little eyes wide.

The mutant rat jabbed the point of his walking stick forward, knocking the gator in the side of the head. The scaly beast hissed and stumbled back, but suddenly it lunged again, jaws snapping. Splinter dodged the attack with a grunt.

But he wasn't fast enough.

The alligator grabbed Splinter's long tail in its jaws. Splinter let out a shriek of pain as the monster's teeth sank into his tail before briefly letting go. He struggled to escape, but sharp teeth buried themselves in his side, biting down hard. Splinter's scream was that of pure agony as his attacker's teeth pierced his flesh before he was flung away, crashing with a sickening thud into a wall.

"DADDY!" his sons all shrieked at once from their hiding place.

Splinter began scrabbling about on the floor of the lair, struggling to get up as the gator closed in on him, snarling menacingly. Its teeth were stained slightly with blood now.

"Get up, daddy!" Donatello urged, his voice cracking miserably. "Get up! Fight him!"

Somehow, Splinter managed to stumble to his feet. Blood roared violently in his ears, pounding hard in his head. He felt dizzy, his vision swaying, pain pulsing through his body. His bleeding tail lashed wildly to keep himself balanced, and he felt the wound on his side oozing with bold as well, staining his robe.

The mutant rat realized with a jolt of dismay that this was a fight he could not win.

"Go, my sons!" he called weakly. "We must leave the lair!"

All four turtle tots looked ready to protest, their faces shocked at the thought of leaving their home. But then Leonardo took off. Dashing from their hiding place behind the sofa, he ran across the sewer floor until he'd rushed straight out of the lair, his mask tails flying behind him. Donatello followed suit, breathing heavily with fear, and Raphael dragged a sobbing, bleeding Michelangelo out with him.

Splinter watched until his sons had disappeared into the sewers, then turned to face the alligator. Its yellow eyes watched him, waiting for him to make his next move.

"You may have won this battle," Splinter rasped with a weak cough. "But I assure you, you have not won the war. My sons and I shall return, and we shall reclaim our home."

With that, he dropped onto all fours and raced as fast as he could out of the lair. Shame made his ears lay flat against his thin-furred head as he made his way through the sewers, searching for his sons.

He'd tried. He had tried his hardest, but he wasn't able to do the one thing he had sworn to do. He could not protect his children, his family. First with his precious Miwa, and now the little turtles he had come to love as his own sons. However hard he tried, he just couldn't save them. And now he had cost himself his home...his family's home...for the second time in his life.

What kind of a father was he?

All the while, all he could hear was the alligator's triumphant roar ringing in his ears as he left his home behind.

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Well, that's part one! Hopefully I made up for not updating with an action-packed chapter full of feels. I hope you guys enjoyed this part!