Boys, I am going out to get some food. It seems that someone drank all me tea again. Behave and clean up after yourselves and I'll think about letting you stay up another hour tonight. –Splinter
The giant rat finished writing the note and attempted to find someplace to leave it where his young sons would be sure to find it. He had left them home alone before, but they had never woken up to find him gone. He wanted to see how well they fared in this new situation. That, and Leo had once again emptied his tea stash.
Finally deciding to stick it to the door of the training room, he gathered his hat, trench coat, and money and headed out. His sons were smart boys, and they had all just turned seven. Not to mention they lived in an area that not many people ever went. What was the worst that could happen? He didn't see the note slip off the door and float gently under a nearby stepstool. They would be fine without him for an hour or two.
Yyyyy
Donnie yawned and stretched, sitting up in bed. Something seemed off, but he couldn't put his finger in it. Deciding after a moment that he was just being paranoid, he got up and headed to the kitchen for breakfast. Blearily rubbing his eyes, he ended up bumping into Leo in the hall.
"Oops. Sorry, Donnie." The older caught his arm and steadied him. "You okay?"
"Yeah, fine." They rummaged around in the kitchen for something to eat, helping each other out for the higher up stuff. It wasn't until they had cleaned up their dishes that Donnie realized that the strange feeling from before hadn't gone away. "Hey, Leo?"
The oldest turtle turned to face him. "What's up?"
"Do you notice something . . . odd? I cant put my finger on it."
Looking around, Leo, too, noticed something was awry. "Isn't Master Splinter usually done meditating by now?"
"Yeah. Lets go see if he fell asleep or something." Donnie bounded towards their Master's bedroom and threw the door wide. Leo followed after, hoping that nothing was wrong. Their Master was usually such a meticulous per-, uh, rat. The chances that he'd fallen asleep in the middle of meditating were slim to none. In the doorway of the room, Leo paused and stared. It was empty. Where was Splinter?
"Leo!" Donnie's distraught voice made him turn and focus on his brother. He was shaking and pointing at the far corner. When Leo saw what had him so upset, he froze.
"S-Splinter?"
Yyyyy
Raph woke up to someone shaking him roughly. Donnie's tear-filled face hovered just inches above his own. Instantly, he swallowed the snarl he had been about to unleash on whoever dared to interrupt his sleep. If Donnie was crying, that meant something serious was going on. "What's wrong?"
"S-Sp- Splinter. H-he, he's," The turtle in purple broke down in uncontrollable sobs.
Raph's heart sank like lead. Something had happened to their father? "Donnie, take a deep breath. Calm down." When his brother didn't, he gripped him by the shoulders and shook his roughly. "Look at me!" The other's eyes flew open in surprise, not used to being manhandled. "Calm down and tell me what happened." Donatello whimpered and pointed in the general direction of their father's room. Instantly, Raph was up and running. He tore through the open door and found his older brother clutching the front of his shell tightly, looking worried. Glancing around the room, he saw that their father was nowhere in sight. "Leo? What's going on? Where's Splin . . . ter." He finished in a horrified whisper when he finally was noticed that his brother wasn't clutching his shell at all. He was clutching something to his shell. Something small and furry and grey and . . . a sewer rat. It was a sewer rat.
"H-he shrank. He's a normal rat now. He doesn't," Leo began to tear up, "he doesn't even recognize me."
Raph was still staring in shock at what their father had become. He was looking around with tiny, black eyes, occasionally giving a small squeak. There was no sign that he knew either of his sons, or even where he was. "What's going on? Did someone do this to him? Are they going to attack us?"
"I-if this was done by an enemy, I think they would have already attacked us." Donnie walked in, still sniffling. He pointedly refused to look at Leo's hands. "I think that that ooze that made us big might have worn off. W-we might be next."
The three turtles froze and stared at each other. They might . . . shrink? Did that mean they wouldn't be able to be ninjas anymore? What would happen to them? They had never been normal turtles before, would they be able to survive? And what about Splinter? Would they ever see him again?
"Guys? Where are you?" Mikey's voice rang out from the other room.
"Leo?" Raph asked nervously. "Do we tell Mike?"
Yyyyy
A dark figure crept into the lair, making sure to create absolutely no noise. He removed his hat and trench coat, hanging them on a nearby rack, and looked around. His sons weren't in the main room, nor (he realized when he went to put his newly acquired items away) were they in the kitchen. Not sure if they were planning a sneak attack on him, he made sure his guard was up and went to inspect the rest of their home.
Each of their rooms was empty, though his bedroom door was wide open. He knew he had closed it before he left, so they must have been in there at some point. He was just approaching the dojo when he heard rustling coming from inside. Suddenly, his youngest son's voice tore through the door.
"Master Splinter! No! Come back!" Surprised, the giant rat was just about to run in, when a tiny creature bolted out from a crack in the door. The young turtle dove out after it, catching it in a display that made his father wonder why he never performed so well in his lessons. "Splinter, please. It's for your own good."
"My son, what are you doing?" Michelangelo stiffened up comically and eyed the rat in his hands.
"S-Splinter? You can talk again?" The rat struggled to get loose.
"Michelangelo." The turtle looked up and began freaking out.
"Sensei!" He threw his arms around the other's furry waist and squeezed him tight, blubbering and sobbing the entire time.
Master Splinter patted him on the shoulder, and then reached up a paw to slide open the dojo door the rest of the way. His remaining three sons stood like deer in headlights. They had apparently been raiding the training room for whatever rope they could find, as it was all tied around their waists.
"What are you all doing?" As one, they ran over and tackled him.
"Splinter!"
"We thought you shrank!"
"Where were you?"
"Calm down, calm down. What is going on here? What were you all doing?" He eyed the three turtles connected by rope, and the tiny rat, still vying for freedom.
"W-well, see, Donnie and I woke up and thought you were still meditating, but you weren't, and we couldn't find you, and, and we found you, and-,"
"Leonardo, take a breath. Calm down. I'm right here. I just went out to get some things." Splinter stroked his eldest son's head.
"W-well, we found him in your room," he pointed to Mikey's hands, which still held tightly to the false 'Splinter', "and thought that you'd shrunk. Donnie said that the ooze might have worn off or something, and we thought that we might be next. We didn't want to get separated, so we found all the rope we could and made sure we wouldn't lose each other."
Splinter realized what had happened and knelt down in front of them. "Well, it sounds like you all handled the situation to the very best of your abilities. For that, I am proud of you. However, panicking and assuming things that turn out to be not true can end up being very dangerous." The four of them dried their eyes and nodded. They had been terrified, and without a leader, yet had come up with a plan of action.
"Wait," his youngest suddenly froze, "does that mean this is a real sewer rat? Like, eating garbage and carrying diseases?"
An hour later, after they had all bathed and settled down to read, Master Splinter found himself thinking. He knew that tomorrow was never a guarantee for anyone, but for them, would they be able to face their tomorrows together?
Yyyyy
Please let me know what you all thought! This just came to me and I had to write it. Review! :3