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It was a cold rainy night…
Well, not actually, it wasn’t. I live in the sewers; I don’t know what the weather is like. But I’m trying to seem cool, so stay with me, dudes.
It was a cold rainy night in the sewers… I—the one and only, the coolest, Mikester!—was bored, so so bored! There had been no training today, and it was Raphie’s turn on the TV, not like there’s anything interesting anyways. There was nothing to do! I couldn’t go to dad, he’ll probably just make me meditate. And I super mega hyper suck at meditating! I always get a lecture after because I keep making noise and it annoys my brother! Well, sorry, but I just can’t understand how everyone can stay still for so long while thinking about nothing! (Is that even possible?)
So yeah, I don’t want to meditate. I had already tried to do something with Raph, play a game or something, but he just pushed me and told me to ‘get away from the TV, Mikey!’, seems like someone is moody today—he’s always like that.
After that, I went to find Donnie. I thought that he’d surely want to do something with his favorite brother, or at least help me find something to do, but the guy was working on something and didn’t seem to need—or want—any help. Don had said something that I could not understand. Like always. The dude’s ten! Am I supposed to talk like that too?
…
The subatomic laces of… a… bio-gra-feet.
Whatever.
And Leo was, of course, meditating with dad. Cowabummer, dudes.
Soo… that brings us here! To this cold, rainy night in the sewers… That was actually more of a morning—it was still morning?!—in some wet, gross sewer with god-knows-what touching my ankle as I walked through the water in search of something to do.
We don’t normally go outside alone—especially since Raph found that giant croc!—but desperate times (my boredom) call for desperate measures (going alone).
However I didn’t find anything except some unknown substance that tasted as if a pizza and some bleach had a baby; don’t ask me how I know what bleach tastes like, it was a fun, scary day and everyone almost had a heart attack, especially Raph. He might say he doesn’t care, but I know he does—deep, deep inside.
There was also a long rope and two rocks that caught my eye because of their sharpness.
I could throw one at Raph’s head!
No no no no, bad thoughts! Bad thoughts!
I’m not hitting my bro with a rock, even if he acts like he deserves it at times.
Anyways, the things I found could be used to make some sort of weapon! Sensei has been training us with some sort of wooden weapons lately, Leo almost lost an eye using his for the first time. I was given nun-chucks. But don’t ask me why they’re called like that, (didn’t nuns pray all day?) With a rope this long… I could make a really long ‘chuck!
If only I knew how to tie a knot… But I can’t even tie my mask! My brothers always have to help me…
Asking someone for help isn’t an option now, though. They would only try to take away my work of art!
Eh, I’ll have to do it.
I grabbed one end of the rope and a rock, scratched my chin and… A loop there, cross it in that place, make a bow in there and voilà!
My finger may or may not have gotten stuck in it, so I had to repeat the knot. And repeat it again on the other side of the rope.
How long has it been since I left? What if they’re looking for me? Maybe they’re worried. Is it time to eat already? I’m hungry.
Meh, I’ll test this bad boy and go home.
This is gonna be so cool! I’ll get back home after practicing with it for a while, then I’ll go home and amaze my bros and Sensei! They’ll have to stop treating me like I’m stupid.
I took hold of one of the handles and tried to spin it around over my head. What I didn’t keep in mind was that it was too long, it started moving dangerously and I… Might or might not have lost control of it.
It spun and spun and it flew from my hands.
A girly screech escaped me as I saw one of the rocks fly down towards me.
My eyes closed tightly and I saw white as it hit me, feeling myself fall flat on my butt. A sharp pain quickly covered my full forehead and something wet went down my face.
I felt a sob trying to leave my throat. Man, that hurt!
I tried to open my eyes, but something instantly got into my right one, so I was left with only one eye. My hand went up to touch whatever got on my face as pained tears left my eyes.
Blood.
There was blood on my hand.
Lots of it.
Am I going to die?!
Tears escaped my eyes at a faster pace, and once they started…
I started bawling my eyes out.
I’m not four anymore, I shouldn’t be crying like this anymore!
But I couldn’t help it, especially since the sight was making me lightheaded. I had never seen this much blood before.
Okay, okay. Calm down. Breathe-in, breathe-out.
What would Leo do…?
He…
He would go back home and find dad.
Yeah, just…
Give me…
A second…
The last thing I saw was the roof of the sewer as the rest of my body joined my butt in the water.
Ew.
“What is that bonehead doing? He should be back by now!”
“Calm down, Raph.” Leonardo said, sitting down on the sofa next to his brother. “He’ll be back soon. You know Mikey, he wouldn’t miss a single meal.”
Raphael got up from the couch aggressively. “What!? I am calm! I just want that idiot to get back so we can eat!”
“Could have fooled me...” Donatello muttered from where he sat on the floor next to the other boys, never once stopping to look at them. His full concentration was on an object he was tinkering with.
Raph glared at his brainiac brother, his hands curled tightly into fists on his sides. He made a soft growl sound that he always produced when annoyed.
“I’m going out.” That made both of the cold-hued turtles stare at him.
Leonardo tried to speak. “Master Splinter wou-“
The red-banded turtle gave an exaggerated groan, “Master Splinter this, Master Splinter that! I don’t care what Splinter says.” A sharp intake of breath from Leo was heard across the room.
“I’m going to find Mikey and drag him here if necessary.”
“There isn’t anything I can say to change your mind, is there?”
“What do ya think?” He answered in an annoyed tone.
After thinking for a few seconds, Leo sighed. “Guess we’ll go with you.”
Raph rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Sure.”
“Let’s go, Don.”
Donatello groaned, but got up. “Let’s please not split.”
Despite Donnie’s demands, they ended up splitting to cover more ground. He isn’t exactly happy that, thanks to Raph’s worry, he has to walk through the sewers while screaming Mikey’s name and possibly facing his father’s disappointment when they get back. But he can also understand it. Mikey is a troublemaker who thrives on attention, and their younger brother, so it makes sense to worry when he hasn’t been home in a few hours without even telling anyone he was leaving in the first place!
But it’s also such an infuriatingly Mikey thing to do that he can’t be mad for long.
However, Donatello insists, they’ll probably just find him playing or doing something stupid and drag him back home.
Right now, Donnie really wishes he had been right.
They had been searching for about thirty minutes when the scent hit him. It smelt… Metallic.
His heart stopped for a second. He recognizes that smell.
“Mikey!” He shouted and started running as fast as his tiny legs could take him, sewage splashing around him as he did.
The sewer twisted to the left up ahead, he rounded the corner and saw his brother laying as still as a corpse. His heart jumped to his throat.
Mikey was never still.
A wet sound left his mouth as he ran to a stop, falling onto his knees next to his only little brother.
His head was almost fully submerged, only a little bit of his face could be seen, the water next to it was dyed a deep red…
Okay, breathe. He seems to have an injury on his head.
‘Head injuries tend to bleed a lot.’ His father had told him once.
What to do? Sensei told them to get him immediately if anything ever happened to them.
“How can I take him home…?” He muttered to himself, cradling his brother’s head on his lap. The water was dirty, that won’t be good for the injury.
An idea suddenly reached him. The turtle smiled narrowly, suddenly grateful for the training his father made them go through since they were small–well, smaller than now–.
Their father once taught them a way to grab each other safely, fireman’s carry, he believes it was called. He grabbed one of his brother’s legs and one of his arms, putting them over his shoulders and grabbing them in one arm.
Donnie grunted at the strain his muscles were going through as he got up.
Oh man, he’s going to be so sore tomorrow.
Hopefully the other two will go home after they realize they aren’t going to find Mikey.
Little footsteps could be heard entering the small home in the sewers. “Dad! Dad!”
The old rat turned to the sound, worried. He was about to go out to find out about his sons’ whereabouts, but all that was forgotten when he heard the urgency in the voice.
“Sensei!”
“Donatello,” Splinter spoke, “What is wrong, my son?”
He froze when his child appeared in his field of vision. Donatello seemed extremely shaken and out of breath, his younger brother being carried limply in his arms. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.
“Lay him there.” The rat pointed towards the centre of the room. “Where are your brothers, Donatello?” He questioned without looking at him, walking towards his youngest as the other laid him down. His skin was clammy and his pulse faint, but at least it was there.
“We all went out to search for Mikey, he wasn’t anywhere and we were starting to get worried so we went out to the sewers to find him, but we split up an–”
“It is okay,” Splinter interrupted, going to the freezer for an ice pack. “We will have to talk about that later. Now, could you go find your brothers?”
Donnie blinked harshly, “Sure.”
Splinter didn’t like the idea of his son going alone to find his brothers, but he needed them to get home before they got hurt, and he has to take care of his youngest. Donatello has taken care of his brothers’ injuries several times before, but they were lesser than this, and Michelangelo needs immediate care to avoid any infections.
He found his brothers searching together, and their eyes lit up when they saw him.
“Donnie!” Raphael exclaimed, “We were searching for you!”
“Yeah.” The oldest nodded. “I convinced Raph to let us get Master Splinter, we should have told him earlier…” He muttered that last part.
“I found Mikey.” Donnie blurted out.
Both pairs of eyes widened, snapping up to look at him.
“Where is he!?”
“Is he okay?!” Raph coughed, trying to dissimulate. “I mean, is he okay?”
Donnie scratched the back of his head. “Well, yes. Kind of.”
The red-banded turtle grabbed him by the shoulders. “What is that supposed to mean!?”
Leonardo separated them, getting in between. “Where is he, Don?”
“At the lair, with father.”
“So why are we still here? Let’s go!” Raph ordered.
The sound of running footsteps echoed through the small home in the sewers, but this time Splinter wasn’t worried.
“We were wondering when you would show up, my sons.”
“Mikey!” The three brothers exclaimed, seeing their youngest brother sitting on the sofa next to their father as he drank from a juice box.
The oldest two jumped on him for a hug, but Donnie didn’t. He stayed awkwardly on the door while he fiddled with his thumbs, not wanting to hurt him anymore than he already was.
“Dude, Donnie." Mikey's voice came from beneath his two brothers. “This is kinda empty without you!”
The purple-banded turtle approached slowly, hugging Mikey’s left side, as his other sides were covered by their brothers.
It lasted a few seconds before the four parted.
“How’s your head, Mikey?” Donatello questioned, making the oldest turtles’ eyes snap to it, not having noticed the bandages surrounding his forehead.
“What happened to you?!” Raphael exclaimed, on the brink of having an aneurysm.
The mentioned turtle shrugged, pulling the tip of his tongue out of the side of his mouth. “It doesn’t hurt much now, dad gave me some painkillers.”
Donnie breathed a quiet sigh of relief, although the other two weren’t really that calm.
“That’s good, my son.” Splinter began, “However, there is a question that I believe we all want answered.”
He giggled nervously. “Yeah… Well, how to start…” He scratched his chin thoughtfully, like the old dudes in movies. He thought maybe that would help.
Michelangelo sighed, “I hit myself with a rock.”
Everyone stared at him with wide eyes, even his dad!
“You what?” Donnie asked.
“I was bored so I went out for a bit!” He started, attempting to ignore everyone’s glances. “I found a rope and some rocks, I was stupid. I am stupid! I tried to make some nunchucks with them but I’m too stupid to even tie a knot! So the rocks separated from the rope and one of them fell on my head…”
It was silent for a few seconds.
“I understand.” The rat nodded. “Although, Michelangelo, you should tell me if you're going to go out on your own, or else this might happen again.”
“Yes, Sensei…”
It was Raph who spoke next. “You don’t know how to tie a knot?” He whispered with a small smirk.
Leonardo glared at him. “That’s the first thing you think of?”
The youngest looked down with tight lips, trying to appear smaller.
“Mikey, you’re not stupid!” Donatello exclaimed. “Sure, you might be absent-minded at times, and not the best at logic, or-”
“Are you trying to help me or insult me?” He grumbled.
Donnie’s nonexistent brows furrowed. “What I’m trying to say is; you might not be the best at the things we are good at, like science or meditating, but you are really smart in other aspects!”
“Yeah?” Mikey muttered, “Like what?”
“Donatello is right.” Splinter continued, “There are several things that you excel at. For starters, there is something called emotional intelligence, that is something in which you can not be rivaled.”
“Yeah!” Don yelped, “There are different types of intelligence, and that’s yours!”
Raphael groaned, “Great, now he’s not going to stop bragging” He complained, but the corner of his mouth was pulling upwards slightly.
The youngest smiled. “That’s… Good to know, and all. But that doesn’t stop me from doing stupid things."
“Because that’s part of who you are, Mikey!” Leo piped-in. “Without you doing stupid things, who would entertain us on boring days? It’s who you are.” He smiled gently, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Just… Try not to do something like that again, Raph almost had a heart attack!”
“Wha-” Raph was perplexed. “Was not!”
“You were the reason we went out in the first place!”
He crossed his arms, pulling his head slightly inside his shell. “Shut up…”
“A bored Mikey is a dangerous Mikey…” Donnie whispered to himself, “I’ll have to keep that in mind.”
Mikey’s eyes brightened at that, but they quickly lost their imp-ish look for something warmer. “Thanks guys.” He smiled at them.
“But I really want to go to sleep now, my heart hurts a lot.”
The brothers laughed, and their father chuckled.
“Was this just an excuse to skip training for the next days?” Raph joked.
“Well, duh!” He giggled.
He’s… Definitely not going to do that again, it hurt. But he sure does feel better than he did in the morning! At least mentally… Physically… Ouch!
But Raph is right! This means he can skip the next few days of training. Cowabunga!