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Leo was bored.
And yet, despite everything the slider tried to do to elevate some of his mental itch, the boredom refused to go away.
Eating a snack? Now he just wasn’t hungry anymore.
Playing video games? Worked for a while…before he was reminded that he still needed to work on Donnie’s game for him.
Major vibe kill.
Watching movies? Incredibly boring without his siblings to make fun of it with.
After all, Donnie and Raph were taking a visit through the hidden city to research more about the eldest’s retainer, April was on a field trip to a zoo, and Mikey was just drawing in his room.
(And nobody interrupts his little brother’s drawing time without a verbal beatdown from the one and only Dr. Delicate).
So here he was, lying on the couch in turtle form, absently polishing his blades.
But even that got too repetitive.
“Man, this seriously sucks!”, He groaned, dragging his hand across his face with a long drawn out sigh.
“Yeah, it’s a bit boring”, Mikey interrupted his thoughts from behind him.
“AH-“, Leo yelped, falling off the couch in surprise.
“Geez you almost scared me out of my shell dude. Where’d you come from?”, he asked, picking himself up from off the ground.
“Eh, got tired of drawing, plus my hands started to hurt”, Mikey explained, lazily leaning over the top of the couch.
Not one to waste an opportunity of fun, something he desperately needed at the moment, Leo perked up.
“So how about we take a break then? Take a trip to somewhere new, and exciting!”, he exclaimed with jazz hands for a bit of extra convincing pizazz.
Mikey hopped off the couch with a gasp-
“-Oh! And I have the perfect idea! This is gonna be THE most exciting vacay you can imagine!”
Leo grinned at Mikey’s enthusiasm.
Leo had a few ideas already: A beach trip, some hiking, ooo maybe a hidden city party house!?!
.
.
.
Walking through a massive gate with cheerful and bold letters spelling out “HIDDEN CITY ZOO”, was not what he would’ve called an “exciting vacay”,
but to Mikey, it absolutely was.
So there he was, wandering around getting dragged by his little brother by the wrist, as Mikey took pictures for-
“Inspiration Leo! Imagine all the animals I could draw, I mean look how cool this Rhino-Hog-thing is!”
-yeah, that.
But, he had to admit, “it’s better than sitting in the lair at least”, Leo thought, staring at a four eyed Gecko made entirely of green flames.
It stared back at him before burping a puff of smoke at the cage glass, and falling over.
“…charming”
Meanwhile, the youngest was eagerly asking a zookeeper questions, completely unaware of Leo's increasing disinterest.
“I mean, what else is there to do? Cause at this point, I’d rather listen to one of Donnie’s rants than see, yet another, elemental lizard”, he commented with a huff, looking around for something a bit more to his interests.
There were screaming kids off to the left of him, “-yeah definitely avoid that section”, and to the right were a group of elderly Yokai trying to feed a flock of weird mutated pigeons.
“Why even go to a zoo if you’re not gonna see the ACTUAL animals?”, Leo thought, snorting a bit in amusement.
But then, his saving grace, a door opened behind him-
-an employees only door.
“Now THAT'S more of my speed”, he smirked, turning to Mikey, making sure he wasn’t watching, and sneaking away.
Once he got out of the crowds, and brother’s eyesight, he pulled out his twin swords to open a portal to where he had seen behind the door.
Hesitantly he peeked his head through; but, after seeing nobody around, he confidently stepped inside.
“Alright, let’s see what’s up”, he whispered, taking note of the room around him.
It looked like a typical storage room, with boxes towering high, and partially opened crates scattered around the ground. Taking a glance inside one, they were filled with hay.
“Food stocks. Boring, what else?”
Looking around some more, Leo was surprised to spot a closed door in the corner of the room.
Walking over, he tested the handle, and found that it was unlocked.
“Perfect”, the blue clothed turtle noted in a sly mental tone.
Entering, his eyebrows raised in intrigue, as he assessed the new room.
“This must be the place they bring the animals indoors”, Leo assumed out-loud with a quiet hum, strolling past the empty stables to each side of him.
One of the stall doors was open, so Leo, the ever curious-
(“and idiotic”, Donnie would often comment)
-decided to walk inside.
“Not half bad for an animal pen”, he whistled, exploring the spacious stall.
Considering the size, and massive gate latched shut, it was probably for some of the bigger creatures they kept.
Inspecting the latch, he attempted to push it up, only for it to refuse to budge.
“Oh I see how it is”, Leo jokingly snarked, rolling his shoulders and tapping his brooch.
“Let’s see how you handle a way too bored dragon, that has nothing better to do other than pick a fight with a lock!”, he declared, fake spitting onto his hands before pulling at the latch with all of his mystic-mutant strength.
…yeah, still nothing.
At least it wasn’t as bad as when Raph tried to lift a school bus, Leo knew when to quit.
Giving the stubborn lock a final glare he turned around to leave-
-before a sudden whoosh, bang, and electrical hum berated his senses.
The open exit of the stall had slammed shut, and with it a mystic border formed along any of his potential exits…
…completely trapping him within.
He ran up to the makeshift wall, shoulder slamming it, but to no avail as he was zapped in response.
“OW-”, he hissed at the stinging feeling, shaking it off, before snapping his jaw shut when he heard muffled voices.
“Alright this is getting a bit too intense, it’s portal time!!”, he decided with a cocky grin…
…only to have his face drop as his claws slashed at empty air.
“What?, come on portal!”,he begged, trying again with little success.
“Okay, fine if that’s not working at least I’ll get caught in turtle form then”, he sighed, pressing his brooch…only for that not to work either.
As the voices got louder, he panicked and ducked behind the only spot hidden from immediate eyesight.
“-put them in for now till the vet gets here”, a light southern accent commanded, getting closer to his stall.
Leo pressed himself as close to the wall as he could when he heard multiple footsteps walk past him.
The dragon turtle sat there with baited breath, not even listening to their words anymore, as he tried to control his breathing.
“-opening the gates!”, one of the keepers yelled out.
“…oh no”
The gates started to rise, as cow like chicken-things-
(“Actually, they look like they resemble cow versions of a Hippogriff-”
“Shut up mind Donnie”)
- hurried in for food…Including his gate.
There was only one cow eager to get into his cage, that froze as soon as it saw him crouched down.
“Easy there Bessie-”, Leo tried with soothing gestures,
but that’s all he could get out before it started to scream a warning.
He flinched as he covered his ears-
(“-cutaneous plates-”
“WHAT DID I JUST SAY”)
-because MAN, those kids books did not do justice for how loud moos actually were!
“WHAT IS THAT?”
Leo jumped, as one of the workers peered through the mystic barrier and made eye contact with him.
“Uh-”, he started to talk before he was cut off by the southern zookeeper he heard earlier.
“Must be one of those mutants, looks like a turtle got stung and found its way in”, the, now identifiable as a rattlesnake, Yokai proposed.
“I guess I can roll with that, easier than getting sent to jail for trespassing”, he mentally shrugs, keeping his mouth shut, and hoping Mikey will realize he left soon enough.
“So what do we do? Tranq it and release it in the woods somewhere?”
“Yes!”, Leo thought in relief. Although he was so-so on the whole tranquilizer part, once he got into the woods he could just portal home, probably make it before dinner if he was lucky.
“You kidding me? These mutants are money machines. I mean, you’ve seen how people look at em’ around the park when they show up”, the snake brushed off the suggestion much to Leo’s growing horror.
“No!”
“It doesn’t look like it’s trying to eat the Hippogriff, so let’s get Bessie-”
(huh, he was right with the name)
“-inside through the other way, then we can let this big guy out to see how the crowd likes it”, The Yokai finished, as the other worker gave a salute and started to call “Bessie” over to another gate.
“…this is gonna be so humiliating”
.
.
.
It was, it DEFINITELY was.
Leo had been “herded” out of the stalls, and left to his own devices as an excited audience got riled up at literally anything he did.
Even just standing up to walk around the enclosure, gasps rang out, and phones were whipped to his direction to record his every step.
Normally he would love the attention, and crave that sort of validating recognition.
But this wasn’t him, and all he felt was downright embarrassed.
Still no sign of Mikey either.
It had only been 10 minutes, so not seeing him wasn’t too unreasonable, but still; as the Yokai watched him in anticipation, he just wished his little brother would show up already.
Leo sighed, laying down before resting his chin on his arms.
“Leo!”
His head shot up as he heard his brother's voice in his thoughts.
“Mikey! Where are you?”, he asked into the mind meld, looking around for him. They needed to be close for the meld to work after all, so he knew Mikey had to be nearby.
“To your right! What happened?!?”
Turning his neck sharply to the right, Leo scanned the crowd again and-
-a glimpse of orange and waving green arms caught his attention.
He wanted to run over to meet up with him, but stopped himself before he could move.
Showing that he knew his brother would put way too much spotlight on him, not good if they were trying to stealth their way out of this.
“Don’t worry about it, we just gotta find a way to get rid of this mystic-barrier thing”
And that was the problem, that annoying wall between him and the outside world.
During his “temporary stay”, he found out that it didn’t just keep him enclosed, but almost completely locked away his mystic abilities.
They were still there of course, he could feel them in his soul, he just couldn’t release them.
He assumes that’s probably why the mind meld could still connect, but he wasn’t an expert like Draxum, or even Mikey at this point-
“-Oh I know how to do that”, Mikey said, cutting off his train of thought.
“Wait, really? How?”, Leo responded in disbelief, subtly glancing over to where Mikey was behind the border.
“I was talking to that nice zookeeper earlier, remember? There’s a mystic based fuse box over there”, The box turtle explained, looking to his left.
Following his eyesight, he could vaguely make out a glowing red box on the wall.
“All I have to do is overload it so it breaks! Make a distraction, I’ll be done soon!”, his brother finished, pushing his way past the wall of Yokai pressed against the barrier to watch the mutant dragon.
“ugh, I am SO gonna have to blackmail him into never telling Donnie”, he mentally grumbled.
Leo got up and stretched a bit, then in resignation hopped up onto a large rock near the middle of the habitat.
Taking a deep breath, and sucking in his pride.
“…roar”
.
.
.
“Leo…I hope what I just heard wasn’t you, and was actually just a sickly lion
“Nobody gave me a “how to be a dragon handbook” Mikey”, he thought sarcastically with a huff, before cutting the connection.
Taking another breath, he took a moment to flex his vocal cords, contracting them, and getting a feel for how they move.
“It can’t be that hard right? I just have to do it, or be stuck in here and get mocked by my brothers for the rest of our natural lives…no pressure”
Cracking his neck, and puffing his chest out Leo closed his eyes and-
“RAHHHAGHH”-
-he bellowed triumphantly, rearing up on his hind legs, before slamming back down onto the rock with a snort.
The crowd went wild, immediately taking out their cameras to record the now stunned dragon.
“I actually did it!Mikey! Did you hear that?”, Leo started, with pride evident through his mind’s voice.
“Sure did! You sounded sick! Keep it up, I’m almost there!”, Mikey responded, as Leo could see him closer to the box, and sneaking past the shocked guards watching him.
“Now it’s showtime!”, he smirked, roaring again and galloping to the opposite side of the cage to draw their focus.
Really getting into it, he threw himself around the enclosure, clawing up the ground and making a scene away from his brother’s goal.
The Yokai rushed over to get a better vantage point and video shots, as Mikey finally reached the box and hit it with his mystified nunchucks.
A loud “ZAP” came from the box, as the lights shut off, and the mystic border disinterested.
Screams ran throughout the zoo from the lack of vision, and-
“-oops”, Leo winced as all the other enclosure’s barriers also fell, and magic creatures started to run around the place, terrifying everyone in sight.
Turning back to Mikey he noticed that he had been caught by security; his nunchucks taken, and himself restrained.
Running over, he charged towards them like a bull: full speed with a furious glare.
They of course, acting in self preservation, released his brother and ran; joining the rest of the panicked mob in their attempt to escape.
Leo didn’t lose momentum, swinging one arm around his brother as he ran past, holding him close to his plastron as he continued to weave around the crowd, and make towards an exit.
Rounding a corner, he spotted guards at the main entrance they came in from. They were trying to help people out, and keep back the dangerous wildlife from leaving into the rest of the city-
-and that included him.
As soon as they noticed him, they started to throw blue transparent balls that grew on impact, hitting him with surprising force.
“That’s gonna leave a few bruises”, he groaned, lowering his head a bit to shield Mikey from any of the spheres.
There weren't many routes he could take. The door behind the guards hadn’t closed yet, but there were too many people to push through, plus the guards.
However, glancing up at the massive archway from before, THAT gave him an idea.
“Mikey, brother ball, then help me with some mystic airtime”, he whispered downwards, loosening his grip with his arm, and grabbing Mikey with his clawed hand instead.
Mikey nodded his head in agreement and understanding, before tucking into his shell.
Now you’re probably wondering, “mystic airtime?”-
Leo threw Mikey towards the top of the zoo’s archway.
-well, it’s actually a term him and his brothers use when they implement mystics in their skateboarding tricks-
Mikey flew over top, as he sprung out of his carapace and grabbed onto the sign with his chains.
-See Mikey’s chains make the objects he chooses nearly weightless to him-
Leo sprinted, putting all his energy into his limbs as he neared the gate, mystic spheres glancing off of him as he ran unaffected.
-so often, they’ll ask Mikey to stand somewhere up on the second floor as they skate, to “assist” in their hang times.
The glowing nunchucks shot out at him, and wrapped around his waist, as Mikey widened his stance to brace himself.
Leo took one last dig into the ground with his claws; as he pushed off his hind legs, and leapt over the crowd.
His little brother used all his strength to tug him forward and up as he jumped, skyrocketing him over the in awe specktators, and into a safe landing zone.
As he landed with cracks in the concrete, Mikey simultaneously landed and clung onto his shell as he continued to run for an alleyway.
“MIKEY”, he yelled over the screaming city around him as they made their way throughout the roads towards a forest for cover.
“YEAH?”, Mikey shouted back over the wind.
“WE’RE SO GONNA GET GROUNDED IF OUR BROS FIND OUT”, he said with a mischievous smile, as his and Mikey’s laughter could be heard out throughout the hidden city.
Maybe this trip wasn’t so boring after all.
THE END- “A Wild Day off” One-Shot