Adventure #1
Midnight Snack



One boring evening in the playroom of Ramsey Orphanage, Elenore Ellerbee lay on her stomach in the car section idly playing with a blue Porsche on the car mat, slowly moving it a long the road. Her friends Dakota Carter, Joshua Littrell, Sarah, and Spencer Mortenson sat near by on the other side of the car mat playing too. Elenore sighed to herself, feeling completely bored out of her mind. She knows she should be taking advantage of playtime since bedtime was in twenty more minutes, but there was nothing to do. But she didn’t want to go to bed either. Elenore hates bedtime and is always quick to put up a fight whenever Kevin tries to put her down for the night. Even if it drives him crazy. But what can she say? It’s not her fault he tries to make her do something she just doesn’t like to do. Is it? If you ask her, the man just brings it all on himself. If there were a way she could stay up all night long and actually get away with it, she would do it in a heartbeat. She lie there watching her friends play, while contemplating what they could do to make playtime just a little more exciting. Besides, if she stayed bored much longer she'd fall asleep and wouldn't be able to give Kevin a hard time - where was the fun in that? She cocked her head to the side, as an idea suddenly struck her out of nowhere.


"Hey, who wants to play turtles?" She asked her friends, who immediately looked up at her in confusion.


"It's kinda late to play that, isn't it?" Spencer asked. "I mean, they're gonna tell us all to go to bed soon." Elenore smirked some.


"Who saids we hafta plays it rights now, huh?"


"What do you mean, Ellie?" Dakota asked, looking at her best friend curiously.


"What if we play it after everybody's asleep?" Elenore smiled devilishly. "We can wait 'till they're all snorin' aways, then sneaks off to play." Josh grinned then.


"That actually sounds like fun!"


"Buts what if we get caught?" Spencer asked.

"We're nots gonna gets caught," Elenore insisted.


"Why nots?" Spencer demanded.


"'Cause we're ninjas, Silly!" Elenore giggled. Dakota raised her eyebrows skeptically.


“Come on, it’d be fun” Elenore insisted. “Remember when you an’ Spencer gots me out of my room when I was supposeds to be grounded? Neither of you gots caught then.”


“Yeah, but almost” Spencer reminded. “If Kota hadn’t thrown the evidence out the window we would’ve”


“Only because Joshy tolds. He’d be on our side this time,” Elenore put in.


"Yeah, I'm on your side now," Josh agreed. "No way Leo's gonna tattle on his brothers."


"Exactly!" Elenore agreed. "Ninjas of the mutants kind looks out fer one another."


"But whatta 'bout Sarah?" Spencer asked. "She's no turtle."


"Sarah's April - April always helps the turtles out," Elenore reminded him. "So she can keeps a secret too. 'Sides, she don'ts talk. What is she gonna do? Yells an' tattles?" Sarah giggled softly, though it was sort of an insult, she knew what Elenore meant. “So what do you say Spence? Kota? Are you two in? Cause Joshy, Sarah, an’ I are no matter what’s.”


“I’m in,” Dakota answered readily.


“Me too,” Spencer added after a few moments of thinking it over.


"Goods," Elenore beamed. "Joshy an' I will comes an' gets you all when it's time fer the escapes."


"We should go to the kitchen and look for the leftover pizza!" Spencer suggested. "Since Brooke said they were saving the rest for anyone who wanted some tomorrow."


"Goods idea Mikey!" Elenore smiled. "We can haves a pizza party!"


"Daddy alerts!" Dakota hissed. "Shh!" The five of them immediately resumed playing with their cars on the car mat, trying to seem as innocent as possible. Nick walked over to them then.


“Kota, Sarah, its time for bed.”


“Aww…but daddy…” Dakota whined deciding it would be suspicious if she didn’t.


“Don’t you aww but daddy me, it’s getting late young lady.” Dakota stuck out her lower lip in a pout as he scooped her and Sarah up in her arms just as Kevin and Brian joined Nick in rounding their kids up. Kori called for Spencer from where she was standing over by the adults.


"Buts Kevy, we're nots tired!" Elenore insisted.


"Well, then you can lie in bed and pretend you are," Kevin insisted, scooping her up as his cousin scooped up Josh. "Now, come on." The adults all carried up the pouting children - except Kori, who made Spencer walk. Soon enough, they were all tucked soundly into bed, Disney movies playing on the TVs in each room, for the kiddies to watch and fall asleep during. When Kevin and Brian had Josh and Elenore settled they walked out of the room and shut the door behind them just a crack. Kevin narrowed his eyes suspiciously.


“Did that seem just a little too easy to you? Ellie put up a fight…but it wasn’t as big as they usually are…”


“What are you complaining for? You should just be grateful the kid didn’t give you another gray hair to go a long with all the others,” Brian insisted while reaching up and pretending to examine a gray hair in Kevin’s head. Kevin swatted his cousin’s hand away.


“Oh stop that, I do not have gray hairs!”


"Well, you never know - you just might," Brian chuckled. Kevin rolled his eyes as the two of them headed on back downstairs to help the others clean up whatever needed cleaning up. Eventually, everyone - including the adults - were in bed fast asleep. Or so everyone thought. In reality, four little ninjas and their red-haired friend were just half-asleep, anxiously awaiting for the right moment to escape. Elenore anxiously lay in bed staring at Josh who told her they would go when he gave her the say-so.


“Can we goes now?” She asked for the third time since Kevin had crawled into bed and gone to sleep. “He’s snoring. He can’t be anymore asleep then that,” she insisted.



“Okay, Okay,” Josh whispered back. Elenore grinned hugely and she rolled out of bed and onto her feet and Josh did the same and followed her to the door. She opened it up just a crack and poked her head out the door. Much to her relief, no one was in sight. She knows the place is filled with security cameras now though, so they would have to be extra sneaky. They could pull it off though. They’re ninjas after all. Her and Josh eyed one another, before they both somersaulted in opposite directions. Josh was going to get Spencer, and Elenore was going to get Dakota and Sarah. Dakota was bringing their ninja masks. Their masks were a necessity after all. They both reached their destinations quickly, the doors they arrived at both opening quickly, but quietly. A few short moments later, the five of them met up in a dark corner, where they wouldn't be seen.


"Here," Dakota said, handing out the masks. "We'll need these." While the four Ninjas were retrieving their masks, Sarah wrote something down in her notepad and handed it to Josh. Josh took it and saw that it read Cameras. He handed the notepad to Sarah again and he looked at Elenore.


“April has a point. What are we going to do about the cameras? Marcus or someone are for sure going to see us and stop us,” he whispered.


“Just stick to the shadows,” Elenore whispered back.


“We can always go through the sewers,” Dakota spoke up in a whisper and Elenore raised her eyebrow curiously. Dakota pointed to an air vent and Elenore grinned.


“Good idea, Donnie,” She whispered back, and one by one they took turns somersaulting their way across the hall to Dakota and Sarah’s room. When they got there they all leaned against the wall so they were all in the shadow and they each took turns slipping into the bedroom. When they got in there, they went inside the walk-in closet. Dakota climbed up onto the dresser, stood up, and she opened up the air vent before climbing up. When she was in she began to help everybody else. Soon enough, all four turtles – and April were inside the air vent and were hurrying a long toward the kitchen, the turtle in purple leading the way.


"Hey Donnie," Spencer began. "How're we gonna gets down into the kitchen without getting hurt?"


"There's a vent in the pantry, duh Mikey," Dakota giggled.


"Is the pantry big 'nough for us to climb on down, Donnie?" Elenore asked, trying not to show she was slightly worried about that now.


"Sure there is," Josh piped up. "I've hidden in there once before - it's a walk-in pantry. The shelves are sturdy too."


“Okay, good.” Elenore replied. It only took them five minutes to reach the air vent to the kitchen. When they arrived there, Dakota opened it up and she climbed out and began climbing down the shelves. When she reached the ground she stood there monitoring her fellow ninjas as they climbed down as well. Soon, all four ninjas and April were standing on the floor on the pantry, stifling their giggles. Elenore peered out of the pantry cautiously.


"Now, we hafta gets from here over to the fridge, withouts bein' seen on camera."


"We can do our ninjitsu!" Josh exclaimed softly. "Flips, and somersaults, and stuff like that."


"We gots to be quick though," Dakota whispered. "Who knows when Marcus is gonna looks ats the cameras."


"Yeah," Spencer agreed. "Maybe one of us should goes first, an' makes sure the pizzas there, before we all goes out."


"Who should goes?" Elenore asked, wanting and loving to show off her 'ninjistu', but wanting to be fair to her fellow ninjas and friend.


“I will,” Josh insisted bravely, as Leo was supposed to be the fearless leader of the bunch. He gently moved Elenore out of the way and slowly opened up the pantry door before sliding out and leaning up against the wall in the shadow, as if the camera wouldn’t see him at all that way and he looked straight ahead at the fridge. After a few seconds of gathering up courage, he began doing flips and somersaults toward the fridge and he made it in a matter of seconds. He then glanced around, taking a good look at his surroundings. Seeing that it was all clear, he opened the fridge door and peered in. He rooted around as quietly as possible, turning and holding up the leftover pizza he'd found with a grin.


"Found it!" He whispered.


"C'mon. One ats a time," Elenore told her friends. "Donnie, you goes first." Dakota nodded, and after making sure the coast was clear, she quickly somersaulted repeatedly right on over to where Josh stood. She giggled quietly, as she landed at his feet, quickly hopping up onto hers, so she could stand next to him. Elenore told Sarah to go next, and laughed when she saw Sarah just run across the room right quick. Which, in a way, suited 'April' since she was still supposed to be learning ninjistu. After Sarah, Spencer went next somersaulting quickly and repeatedly across the room and joining his friends. They all turned and looked at Elenore, who they all knew would have some grand entrance. Elenore glanced around cautiously, her head just barely peeking out of the pantry. She then opened the door right quick, ran two steps, and did a front flip, twisting in mid-air. No sooner had she landed, than did she immediately do a back flip, then twisted mid-air again, and did a cartwheel soon as she landed. She then did a quick somersault, and jumped to her feet upon reaching her friends. The other four all stood there with their jaws hanging open. They knew Elenore loved the turtles, but hadn't known she could flip all over like them. Elenore flashed them a grin, then glanced around. "We shoulds eat this under the table or somethin', so we're hidden."


“You all go hide under the table and I will heat up the pizza,” Josh insisted. Elenore, Dakota, Spencer, and Sarah all dashed toward the table and they crawled underneath it while Josh climbed a counter, got out a plate and he scooted over to the microwave. Meanwhile, upstairs in the security room, Marcus, Laney, and Drew were all sitting around playing cards, when Marcus suddenly noticed movement in the corner of his eye. He turned and looked at the TVs, studying them all with a raised eyebrow and suddenly he saw Josh sitting on the counter in the kitchen.


“What the…” He muttered, and he turned and looked at it more better to see that all of the kids were down there. Josh on the counter putting what looked like a plate of pizza in the microwave, and the rest of the four sitting under the table. Laney and Drew looked too.


“How in the world did they get past us?” Drew wondered in amazement and shock. Laney shrugged.


“Beats me,” he replied, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. Marcus shook his head.


"Those crazy little ninjas and April are going to get us - and themselves into a load of trouble eventually. How're we supposed to keep an eye on them, when somehow they keep sneaking past us?" Laney patted Marcus' shoulder.


"Don't worry so much," he told him. "We can see them now. They're perfectly safe. And you have to admit, it's pretty funny that us security guards are constantly being outsmarted by little kids." Drew laughed.


"Wouldn't everyone in the business love to know this. Big, strong security guards can't figure out how little kids bypass all their security."


"That's just destroying our rep," Marcus muttered, watching the kids on the screen. "And Leo shouldn't have even been using the microwave to begin with!"


"Marcus, come on. This isn't the first time a little ninja has escaped from their room and made us laugh," Laney pointed out. "Just laugh it off. We'll keep an eye on them, and make sure they get back to their rooms safely." Marcus sighed, then smiled some.


"It is rather amusing, isn't it?"


"Most definitely," Drew nodded. Back down in the kitchen, the kids were eating the leftover pizza Josh had managed to warm up for them. Lucky for them, he'd hit the right buttons and not caused a microwave fire or anything dangerous like that.


"Mm....this is good pizza," Spencer grinned. "We should do this more often."


"Yeah," Elenore agreed her mouth full of cheese pizza. "We shoulds." Dakota and Sarah nodded their agreement, as they were both too busy munching on their slices of pizza.


"I’m glad I know how to use the microwave some," Josh grinned. "Otherwise, we'd hafta eat this cold."


"Yuck," Dakota insisted, making a face, as did Sarah.


"Yum!" Elenore exclaimed, giggling when she saw the others look at her. "I likes cold pizza."


"Me too," Spencer admitted. "I am Mikey, after all." Meanwhile, upstairs, Kevin had woken from his slumber, only to find his bed empty. He sat up confused, wondering just where Elenore and Josh had disappeared too. He got out of bed and searched the whole room, before hurrying on over to the security room and barging in looking mighty worried.


"Hey Kev," Laney piped up as the eldest Backstreet Boy practically ran into the room. "Where's the fire?"


"Have you guys seen Ellie or Josh?" Kevin immediately demanded. "They're not in bed, and I searched the room. I can't find them!"


"Yeah, we've seen them," Drew replied, leaning back in his chair.


"Well, if you've seen them, why aren't they in bed?" Kevin wanted to know.


"Take a look for yourself, Richardson," Marcus replied, motioning towards the TVs they had set up. Kevin moved over so he too could view the screens, and smirked some when he saw the kids sitting under the table in the kitchen.


"So, the little ninjas snuck out did they?"


"Yep," Marcus nodded. "Probably figured they wouldn't be caught too. Knowing Raph, he had them doing some pretty crazy ninja moves." Kevin laughed.


"That'd be my little Raphael for you."


"You know, sometimes I swear that kid thinks she is a ninja turtle," Laney commented. "It's usually all she ever wants to play."


"At least we know she has a vivid imagination, despite everything," Kevin stated. The three security guards nodded.


“They all do, despite everything," Laney replied.


"Do you want one of us to go and get them, Kev?" Drew asked. "Or should we just let the little ninjas make their own way back up?"


"Hey, looks like they're on the move again," Marcus said suddenly. The four men watched the kids, as they made their way back to the pantry. Downstairs, the five kids decided it was best they head on back to bed, before anyone awoke and noticed they were gone.


"One ats a time!" Elenore insisted. "An' use yer stealth!"


"We know Raph," Josh replied, rolling his eyes. "And I'm the leader here, remember?"


"Well, then gets to it Fearless," Elenore remarked sarcastically. Josh smirked and rolled his eyes. He was always amused by how well she played her favorite turtle.


"Alright turtles, do what Raph said. Stealth! And April, run faster this time, will yah?" Sarah gave him a mock salute, then quickly darted out from under the table and made a mad dash for the pantry. Once she was safely inside, she waved for the others to follow.


"April's tellin' the turtles what to do," Dakota laughed. "Good thing she makes a good look-out."


"Shh!" Josh hissed. "Not so loud Donnie!"


"Sorry, Leo," Dakota giggled, taking her turn and somersaulting back to the pantry. Spencer went next, doing his somersaults and one cartwheel.


"Cowabunga!" He cheered, as he landed inside the pantry. Josh rolled his eyes.


"We have such noisy brothers, Raph."


"Yeah, but what can yah do?" Elenore answered, smirking up at him.


"Make 'em train harder," Josh smirked back. "They need the practice." He turned to go then, before glancing back at Elenore. "And Raph...no showing off so much this time, okay?"


"Whatever, Leo," Elenore stated, her chin stuck out in the air haughtily. Josh shook his head, then did his ninjistu moves until he was safely back in the pantry. He groaned when he saw that Elenore wasn't moving yet.


"Raph, c'mon!" He waited a moment, before calling her again. "Raph!" Elenore giggled as she heard Josh hiss her turtle name as loud as he dared. She rolled out from under the table then, and began flipping, cartwheeling, and somersaulting her way back to the pantry - unknowingly, shocking the four men upstairs watching them make their escape. The four ninjas and April very quickly made their way back up into the air vents, and quietly hurried along until they were back in Sarah and Dakota's room. They climbed down, and handed their masks over to Dakota. Dakota stashed their masks in her toy box, then waved goodbye to her friends as everyone but Sarah quickly fled the room. She crawled up into bed and lie down, letting Sarah snuggle close to her for once - deciding to be nice. Meanwhile, Josh, Spencer, and Elenore all hurried stealthily down the hall to their rooms. Spencer made it to his, waved to his friends, and snuck back in. Once Spencer was inside his room, Josh quietly cracked the door to their room open and peered in. "It's clear," he whispered, quickly ushering Elenore inside. Elenore stifled a giggle as the two of them ran for the bed they shared with Kevin - neither of them noticing that the bathroom light was on and the door closed. Soon as they were back in bed, Elenore turned to snuggle into Kevin, only to find him gone. She looked around in the dark, and in her moment of panic, didn't notice that he was just in the bathroom.


"Kevy?" Elenore whispered worriedly. Josh propped his head up and peered at her.


"What's wrong?" He asked.


"Kevy's not here!" Elenore replied, panic entering her voice. He was always there when she got back. Always.


"I'm sure he's here somewhere," Josh re-assured. "I'll protect you 'till he gets back Raph, don't worry."


"Buts Leo!" Elenore whined softly, looking ready to cry as lack of sleep finally caught up to her.


"Ah, so my little ninjas have returned," a voice spoke then, startling the two who'd just gotten back into bed.


"Kevy!" Elenore exclaimed, quickly turning and latching onto him tightly. Kevin chuckled softly and scooped her up into his arms, as he sat on the edge of the bed.


"So, did you ninjas enjoy that pizza?" Josh's eyes went wide.


"You know!?!?"


"Only because I always know when Ellie's not in bed," Kevin replied. "I saw you guys on the security cameras. You amuse security greatly." Elenore giggled quietly, though her eyes were starting to droop.


"That's our job. They likes our mini ninja adventures."


"Yes, that they do," Kevin agreed, as he gently lie her back down next to Josh. He then maneuvered so he was lying next to her. He kissed her forehead, and began to play with her hair. "Why don't you two little turtles get some sleep, alright? It's pretty late."


"Kay," Elenore murmured, as she felt Josh snuggle up behind her, as she snuggled into Kevin more. Kevin hugged them both closer, making sure his arms were wrapped around them both, before settling back down himself and falling into a deep slumber once more.