“You can’t catch me, Mikey!” A small voice rang out with a giggle. “I’m faster than you!”

“I don’t think so, Munchkin!”

“I do!” The blue and yellow bandana wearing turtle raced across the pipe she was on quickly. Reaching the other side, she jumped down and scurried off into the distance.

“No! I don’t wanna be it!” A pink wearing girl shrieked, as she dodged her brother. “Chase someone else, Mikey!”

Michelangelo laughed heartily as he alternated between which sister he was chasing �“ there were currently eight of them playing a fun game of tag. They had been permitted to play out in the sewers, provided they did not go outside their boundaries. “Run, run fast as you can! You can’t outrun me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

Danceingfae, Daydream, Ziptango, Arista, and HexADecimal all squealed as they all took off in different directions, deciding splitting up may be best. They had all originally been doing other things, but when the game of tag had started up, they couldn’t resist joining in.

“Don’t go too far, Dudettes!” Michelangelo reminded, as they scattered. “We wouldn’t want to make Master Splinter angry!”

“You worry too much, Mikey!” Arista commented as she popped up behind him. “Master Splinter told us to go and play!”

Michelangelo grabbed her and flipped her over his head playfully. “Well, now you have to help me catch everyone, since I got you.”

Arista clapped excitedly as she giggled. “I’m gonna sneak up on them like a ninja!”

“Go tag them, little ninja!” He encouraged. “You can do it!”

“I’m gonna get you guys!” Arista shouted as she took off running. “Mikey an’ I are a team!”

Lenni, meanwhile, just kept running and jumping on and over things. She scaled a pipe to hide, as she heard someone coming behind her.

“Lenni? Where are you? You’re goin’ too far!” Ziptango called out for her sister. “Master Splinter said we had to stay in our bound….our boundies!”

“I see her!” Daydream pointed upwards a little. “She’s climbin’ high again!”

“Don’t fall!” Mily fretted. “We’re not ‘llowed to climb high without someone!”

“Jumping back down, the tiniest turtle tot grinned at her sisters. “Master Splinter won’t catch me! I am ninja!”

“ “Yes he will!” Daydream insisted. “He always catches you! Then you get in trouble!”

“He won’t this time!” Lenni argued, hands on her hips. “’Cause I am better at bein’ sneaky now!”

“Mikey’s gonna find us if you don’t be quiet!” Ziptango pointed out. “Ninjas are quiet! That’s what Leo says anyway.”

“Let’s go this way!” Lenni told them, pointing off to her right. “Follow me, guys!”

“I see you!” Arista exclaimed suddenly, popping up nearby. “I’m gonna getcha!”

The girls squealed and took off after their blue and yellow wearing sister, since she was going the opposite direction of where their other sister was. “Run!” They all ran a ways, before stopping to catch their breath, finally noticing just where they were.

“Uh-oh. We’re outta boundies!” Ziptango stated. “Sensei be mad if he catches us!”

“Let’s go back!” Mily insisted, pointing her finger to her left. “I think it was this way…”

“Nuh-uh. It was that way!” Daydream argued, pointing in another direction. “Uh-oh. I think we’re lost…”

“I’m goin’ this way!” Lenni told them, jabbing her thumb behind her. “Bye!”

“Lenni! Wait!” They called after their impulsive little sister.

Lenni sped off, laughing merrily as she scurried along. She loved games where she got to play and climb and explore! Veering to her left, then to her right, she entered a dimly lit tunnel as she glanced back. “Come on you slowpokes!”

The other three were trying to keep up to her, but it was getting hard with her dodging all over the place. “Lenni! Slow down!”

“We never been this way! It could be dang-dang….it could be scary!” Mily shouted after her.

“I laugh in the face of scary! Hahaha �“ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Lenni let loose a scream mid-sentence, as the ground suddenly disappeared from beneath her. Feeling herself falling, she threw her hands up, hoping to grab onto something as she descended.

“LENNI!!!!!” The three turtle tots hurried to where they had last seen their sister, being extra careful as they weren’t sure what had happened to her. Moving slowly, they spotted what Lenni clearly hadn’t seen �“ a drop off with a whirlpool down below.

“HELP!!!!!!” Lenni shrieked, her hands grasping tightly to a piece of pipe she had managed to snag. “HELP ME!!!!! PLEASE!”

Ziptango immediately leaned down, reaching to see if she could reach her sister; her one hand gripped the wall next to her. “Lenni! Try an’ reach me!”

Lenni glanced up at her sisters, crying as she struggled to pull herself up to reach them or at least to safety. “I can’t!”

Ziptango learned further, screaming when she almost joined her sister down below; she would have too, had Mily and Daydream not grabbed onto her.

“I’m slipping!” Lenni yelled, as her one hand slipped off.

“Mily, Day, go get Mikey!” Ziptango ordered. “Go! Hurry!”

Daydream and Mily immediately took off the way they had come, trying their hardest to recall which tunnels they had been through. “MIKEY!!!! MIKEY!!!!”

“It’s gonna be okay, Lenni!” Ziptango tried to assure her sister.

“I WANT MASTER SPLINTER!!!!!” Lenni wailed loudly.

Michelangelo and Arista had found Danceingfae and HexADecimal and were currently searching for the others. He was sure he had seen them run off in this direction. It was as he neared the one tunnel, he suddenly heard his name being screamed loudly. “MIKEY!!!!!”

“Stay put!” He ordered the girls who were currently with him, as he hurried down the tunnel he stood before. “Day? Mily?”

The two turtle tots hurled towards him, both talking fast and all at once, trying to explain what was wrong. “It’s Lenni! She fell in a hole! She’s gonna fall!”

Michelangelo turned towards the ones he had left at the other end. “Get Raph!” The girls nodded, and scurried off, as he turned and ran off with the two who had found him. “Where did she fall?”

“In a tunnel! There’s a big swirly thing of water under her!” Mily exclaimed fearfully. “She’s tryin’ to hold on, but her fingers are slippin’!”

“We gotta hurry, Mikey!” Daydream added, as they twisted and turned through the tunnels.

“AHHHHHH! ZIP!!!!!” Lenni shrieked, as the last of her fingers slipped and she fell further down.

“LENNI!” Ziptango wailed, jumping when suddenly her brother in orange was next to her. “THERE MIKEY!”

Michelangelo spotted his baby sister holding tight to another pipe, her body dangling below. “HOLD ON LENNI! I’M COMING!”

“MIKEY!!!!!!” Lenni wailed, as she tried to swing herself up. “HELP ME!” Michelangelo carefully worked his way down to where she was, doing his best not to fall himself or knock her down any further. “Grab my hand, Munchkin!”

“I CAN’T!”

“Lenni, do it NOW!” He commanded, reaching down as far as he could. “You can do it!”

Sobbing, Lenni stretched her one hand up as far as she could; doing her best not to slip off the pipe. Relief hit her, when she felt his three-fingered hand wrap around her wrist and pull her upwards.

Michelangelo yanked her up, hugging her close to his plastron, as he felt her tiny body shake with sobs. “Hold on tight, Kiddo. I gotta get us back up there.”

Nodding, Lenni held tightly to him, terrified to let go, for fear of falling. “I’m sorry….”

He didn’t answer, reaching the ledge where their sisters watched tearfully, just as Raphael joined them.

“What the shell happened? “Raphael demanded, as he helped his brother up over the ledge.

“She just went right over,” Mily answered through tears, as she tackled her siblings. “We told you to be careful!”

“Where are the others?”

“I sent them home,” Raphael told him. “Jeez, why is it every time you guys play, someone gets hurt?”

Michelangelo stooped to pick Mily up, as his brother scooped up Daydream and Ziptango. “You girls are gonna be in a world of trouble….”

The brothers headed for home, carrying their distraught sisters; all of them wondering just how upset their father was going to be when he learned what had happened.