1
“Thank you, young turtle,” she said softly, gazing fondly at the light green mutant balancing against her knee. Yoshi had been caring for the small female turtles for a month and yet… she was the only one who had a name. That had to change. Making her way over to the box of books she had collected, Yoshi selected her favorite: History of Renaissance Art.
“When I was a child, I wanted to be an artist.”
As the four baby reptiles scampered over to her, the mutant rat knelt, her long tail giving a startled twitch as the Smart One tripped over the little one with freckles. “If you were to become young men one day,” she began, opening the hardcover to two very particular pages, “I would name you after them. But since you are not…”
Four scaled bodies plopped onto the corners, each covering a single artist. Eight black eyes gazed up at her and Smart One cooed.
“Since you are not, I shall give each of you different names.” Yoshi stated confidently. “Leandra—” a clawed finger pointed to the calm turtle—“Regina—” the emerald ball of fire—“Daniela—” to Smart One— “and Michelangela.” Finally to the smallest of the bunch. “May you be as swift as a lioness, as powerful as a queen, remember to let only those you love to judge you, and may you be completely different from all others.”
“Perhaps you will become something great.”
2
The plumper of the four giggled and swung a three-fingered fist out, humming happily once her protector’s hand landed atop her scaled head.
“You are alright, little Regina.” Yoshi stated calmly. “Still full of fury, I see.”
3
“I used to wonder if I had the discipline and if I was caring enough to be a proper mother…
“…for any family…
“In the darkest part of our journey, I wondered if I would have another chance to be both. I wanted to be both!”
4
“Finally, in this isolated, secret chamber, we were safe.” Yoshi opened her eyes to the four young girls in front of her.
Leandra’s now midnight colored eyes gazed at her, her dry, wavy dark brown hair tied into a little ponytail with a silky sapphire blue ribbon. Beside her was Regina, her harlequin orbs wide with interest and her slightly curled golden hair braided with a small scarlet ribbon. Daniela was beside her immediate older sister (something that had been established several months prior), sedona eyes wide with awe as she stared at her mother’s face, her straight ebony locks pulled up in a ballerina bun with a violet strip. Lastly, Michelangela, Yoshi’s youngest, with her sparkling electric blue eyes, decorated with tiger orange face paint spotted around them, her thick carrot colored curls bunched around her plump face.
“And that,” Yoshi—who was now called Mother, Sensei and Okusan—began, “is how our first great adventure led us home.”
5
“So, Sensei, now that we’re fifteen, I think we’re finally ready to go to the surface, don’t you?”
She knew the question was bound to come sooner or later and had meditated on the answer many times before, though she’d expected it to come out of Regina’s mouth rather than Leandra’s. “Yes.” Yoshi stated simply. She watched her teenagers cheer before continuing, “And no.”
The kitchen was filled with unheated protests (“I hate when she does that!”).
“You have grown powerful buy you are still young.” Yoshi stood and began making her way to the wall across from the counter. “You lack the maturity to use your skills wisely.”
“So, Sensei,” Daniela began, “isn’t that just ‘no’?”
“Yes…”
“…and no. Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from making mistakes.”
“Aha!” the sedona eyed terrapin began rubbing her chin. “So in order for us to gain the wisdom, we have to make the mistakes! So we can go!”
“No.”
“…and ‘yes’?”
"NO!"
“Sensei,” Leandra spoke up, “we know trying to protect us… but we can’t spend our whole lives hiding down here.”
…
…
“You may go—tonight."
