First of all, I sincerely apologize for the name of this story. It needs changing....I have NO idea why I thought "Safari '68" was a good title.

Safari '68

So there I stood on a New York City sidewalk. Crowds of people moved around me. Trucks and cars beeped at each other. In front of my class, my boring teacher was giving a boring lecture on the boring history of the boring science museum. ( You could tell I was bored. ) I looked up at a nearby skyscraper. When I looked back, my class was gone. Unfortunately ( or maybe fortunately) I had no idea of where the science museum was. I turned around just in time to see a man clothed completely in black dash up to a young woman and snatch her purse. Purse-snatching? That was a criminal offense! I knew that there was only one thing to do, and that I'd better do it fast.

Summoning all my strength, I threw myself at him. The purse flew back to the woman, and the man ran into the street. I followed, vaulting over a car and dashing into an alley. I stood in front of him, blocking his only escape. Though I didn't know it, a pair of eyes was watching us size each other up.

"You just made your biggest mistake kid," the man hissed as he saw who had been trailing him. He charged at me.

"I did?" I slid to the side, tripping him. "I didn't notice. I guess I'll have to be more observant." He rose and turned back, determined to get me.

"Dumb move," he said, attacking. I caught him with a snap kick and a chop, blocking his every move.

Suddenly, he made a dash for it, right down a passageway, with me in hot pursuit. A green form came out of the shadows. We attacked the guy in black at the same time, succeding only in knocking eachother backwards onto the ground. Our eyes met.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" we both screamed, scrambling backwards and onto our feet. The green guy's eyes darted from place to place, but he was trapped. He finally sighed and looked back to me.

"What were you doing?" he demanded, trying to regain his dignity by taking control of the situation.

Still surprised at seeing a mutant turtle, it took me a few moments to answer. "Stopping a robbery," I replied. "What were you doing?"

"Same."

We stood looking at each other uncomfortably. I broke the silence. "Would you be, um, really offended if I asked you a totally personal question?" He just looked at me strangely, so I continued. "Who (or should I say what?) are you?" He sighed, gave me an 'I can't believe this is really happening' look, and finally answered.

"I'm a mutant turtle. The name's Raphael. And who might you be? My fairy godmother, perhaps?"

"Lindsay Roebuck."

"Delighted." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Watch your tone with me, or I'll go home and tell everyone that the turtle rumor is true."

"No way!" he cried. He actually seemed scared of the prospect."They'll think you're eccentric!" he added, just to be safe.

"They already do," I said seriously. He even laughed a little bit at that. He paused and looked deep in thought for a moment.

"Shouldn't you be scared of me? I mean, it's not every day that you see something like," he gestured toward himself. "Me."

"I'm not scared," I told him. (I wasn't scared, honest.)

"Who said you should be?" A second green figure landed beside the first, seeming to appear out of thin air.(I knew he had come from the rooftops.)

"Well if it isn't mutant turtle number two."

"Bright, isn't she?" said Raphael to number two.

"Right," he said. "Boy, Leo's going to kill you! I'm Michaelangelo," he said, addressing first Raphael, then me.

"Do you trust me?" asked Raphael. It sounded like he was making a last ditch effort to keep Michelangelo's mind off this Leo guy.

I shrugged. "Should I?"

"Better question," he corrected himself. "Do you trust me enough to walk through pitch-black sewers and converse with myself and three other less-then-normal beings?"

I mulled that one over.Then I shrugged again. "Heck, my life's pretty weird as is."

Michaelangelo grinned. "Great. Then follow us." He wrenched up a nearby manhole cover and hopped into the manhole. Raphael followed. I raised an eyebrow but dropped through right after them. None of us spoke as we tramped deeper into the sewers. About ten minutes later, I spotted a doorway. Light spilled out of it and into the corridor. Michaelangelo opened the door and led Raphael and me in.

As I walked in, I noticed the source of the light was a lamp, sitting on a table beside the couch, where two more of the strange creatures lounged, watching television. Another door led off the room. It appeared to lead into a kitchen. A set of stairs went upward into a tunnel. The room I was in looked like a family room. The walls were covered by tapestries, paintings, and ninja weapons. Bookshelves completely lined one wall. An armchair sat near the couch. In it was a giant rat! One of the creatures on the couch spoke as it turned around.

"Hey, guys, what took you so-" he cut off as he saw me. The other creature turned, then froze. The rat said nothing. The first speaker began again. "Raphael, what the heck-"

"I'm sorry, okay?We just -uh, we kind of ran into each other." Raphael, it appeared, could talk pretty fast when the need arose. The first speaker glared at Raphael and opened his mouth. It looked like he was ready to give him a tremendous lecture. Now if there's one thing I can't stand, it's a bad lecture. I decided that this one should be stopped before it started. I released my greatest weapon. I opened my mouth.

"Great! I tramp through a sewer blacker than a pit in hell so I can listen to a bunch of mutant turtles argue!" I would and could have said much more, but the rat stopped me.

"There is no need for anger, Leonardo," he told the first speaker. Raphael looked grateful. "Raphael, Michaelangelo," he continued. They sat down on the couch with the other two. The rat turned to me. "Be seated," he told me. I gingerly sat on the edge of a stool and faced the rat attentively. He spoke.

"Long ago, in old Japan, there was a man named Hamato Yoshi. I was his pet rat, and I learned the art of Ninja simply by watching Yoshi, for he was one of the greatest Ninjas in all Japan. He had only one rival, a man named Oroku Nagi, and they competed in all things. But none more fiercely than for the love of Tang Shin, a beautiful woman. Shin's love was only for my master, and at last, she persuaded him to flee with her to America. Before they could, however, Nagi found out about their plan. He planned a devious scheme to be rid of Yoshi. He had Yoshi accused of murder, and Yoshi was disgraced and forced to leave the country for good. Nagi died, but his younger brother, Saki, was so filled with his brother's hatred for Yoshi that he came to this country to destroy him.

"One day, Yoshi returned home to find his beloved Shin lying on the floor. Standing nearby was her killer. Saki wasted no words. During the struggle, my cage was broken. I leapt to Saki's face, biting and clawing! Saki took one swipe with his sword, slicing my ear! It was the same stroke that killed Yoshi. I left for the sewers. I was forced to scrounge for food in trash cans.

"One day, a truck barreled down the street. The driver did not see the blindman in it's path. A young boy dove from the sidewalk, and the truck screeched to a stop. A canister bounced out of the backof the truck. It bounced across the street, striking the bowl of four baby turtles out of a boy's hands.Canister and turtles fell through a storm drain. I went after them. They seemed to be covered with a strange glowing ooze. I gathered them into an old coffee can, but by the next morning, they had doubled in size! Their intellegence was growing too, as were my own size and intellect. Soon they began to speak. I taught them everything that I had learned from my master, and soon I gave them all names. Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, and Raphael." He pointed to each turtle as he named them, and each gave a little bow.

I mulled over the rat's story a moment. "So what's your name?" I asked.

"I have been called Splinter," he said. There was silence as I contemplated this.

"So what's your story, kid?" Leonardo finally asked.

"My name," I told him " is Lindsay Roebuck."

"Nice to meet you," said Donatello. I nodded. "So wher're you from?"

"Clifton Park." They looked slightly confused, so I hastily added, "It's like a suberb of Albany."

"Albany is a good three hours from here by car," reasoned Donatello.

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" asked Michaelangelo.

"I was on this totally bogus feild trip. I haven't decided whether or not losing the class was to my advantage. That guy in black sure picked a good time to try his hand at purse-snatching though."

"That guy in black? Exactly what happened up there, Raph?" asked Leonardo. "You didn't try and fight that guy with her there, did you?"

"Of course not! It was actually quite the other way around.She cornered the guy," said Raphael with a grin.

"Is that true, or is he just blowing off steam?" Leonardo asked me seriously.

"It's true."

"Who was he , Raph?" asked Donatello. Raphael grinned again.

"A foot clan member," Raphael replied gleefully. He was clearly enjoying every moment of the others' confusion.

"You fought a member of the foot clan?" Splinter gasped in utter astonishment. I shrugged.

"And she was mighty good too. Speaking of which, kid, I could have sworn you were born and raised in the Big Apple. I've never seen anyone but a native vault over a taxi like that," Raphael noted.

"Oh, now she is jumping over taxis?" asked Splinter gently. I could tell he and the others were beginning to doubt Raphael's sanity. (That stupid grin he had plastered on his face wasn't helping either.)

"What, you don't think a girl could fight someone with her bare hands?" I demanded angrily.

"What technique did you use to fight him?" Donatello asked slowly.

"Ninjitsu," said I. They all suddenly sat up straighter in their seats. Splinter spoke softly.

"And who taught you this Ninjitsu?"

"Keno Vierno." I smiled, relishing the surprise on their faces. "Ha. I thought you might know him."

"Lindsay, Keno was sworn to secrecy about us. Why'd he tell you?" Michaelangelo finally asked. He sounded hurt.

"He didn't tell me. I guessed." I gave them a moment to mull that over.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but- How?" asked Raphael.

"Well, you see, in Clifton Park, there's this rumor. You see, about five years ago, this sewer worker spotted something he described as 'a big green turtle'. Everybody called it the turtle rumor. I was about seven years old, and to me, the thought of giant turtles was highly amusing. As I got older, I started wondering whether or not the worker had been nuts. The reason I'm interested is because I don't really have friends. Everybody thinks I'm weird. And I'm also smart, which doesn't do much for me."

"So where does Keno come in?" asked Raphael.

"Now. I have a little brother who has a friend who lives next door. One day this kid's cousin comes to visit. At the time this starts, I was only nine years old, and this cousin, Keno Vierno, was twelve. Believe it or not, he had found someone in SoHo who was teaching him Ninjitsu. He started showing off, and I was fascinated. So he taught me everything he learned, and he kept on teaching me. We became good friends, and we hung out together all the time. One of our favorite things to discuss was weird stuff. You know, UFO's and aliens.... and giant mutant turtles.

"Well, Keno went to New York for two weeks last summer, and when he came back, I was full of stories about the weird stuff I had read in the papers my dad brought back from his frequent buisness trips to New York. The thing was, he didn't want to talk about it. In fact, he barely wanted to talk at all! He said the Turtle Rumor was "kid stuff", and wouldn't say a word about his vacation. Then I saw the latest New York tabloids, and made my own conclusions."

"Huh," said Leonardo. "If I were any more paranoid, I'd say you were plannning to run into us."

"Well, not exactly...."

"Hey, you guys," said Donatello, breaking the silence. "Raph, Mike. Wasn't April supposed to meet you?"

"Uh-yeah. We sorta...I mean...We..." tried Michaelangelo.

"What he's trying to say is that she wasn't at the alley," supplied Raphael.

"Yeah. We split up and looked everywhere, but couldn't find her."

"We did, however, find this," finished Raphael. I hadn't noticed the knapsack he had been carrying, which he now swung off his back with a grunt, and set down on the coffee table situated directly in front of the couch.

"What is it, Raph?" Donatello asked curiously.

"It" happens to be a time machine. One which transported April O'Neil to The Gambia (a small African nation) in the year 1768. The rest of the story is about how Lindsay and the TMNT go after her, and their adventures in time....Raph gets captured by some slavers and plays hero a bit. The evil villain is Colonel Reish, the guy who leads the slavers. In the end, Raph kills him. We later find out that Shredder, after being trapped in the future (see the Future Shark Trilogy, Archie Comics), travels back in time and uses advanced medical technology to save Reish's life. By his philophy, it's always good to have another super-villain to help hound the TMNT.

TMNT (Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, Raphael), April O'Neil, and associated characters are copyright 1998 Mirage Publishing. However, Safari '68, Lindsay Roebuck, and Colonel Reish are copyright 1998 Luna Azul. Any attempt to steal, plagarize, edit, or in any way use this material will result in me doing something that you will regret sincerely.