What Fascinating Specimens
My, What Fascinating Specimens!
As was usual in good old New York City, rain was pouring down in torrents and humans and mutants alike fled from the streets and sewers to the warmth of their homes. But in the lazy, wet, Sunday morning atmosphere one turtle felt trapped in the dull, endless hours of the day. To put it simply; Michelangelo was bored.
He had tried watching TV but there was nothing remotely interesting on. He would have played video games but the console had ended up broken a few days ago in the midst of a play fight, and Donnie didn't have the parts to fix it yet. And of course he couldn't go skateboarding because the sewer water had risen too high because of the horrid rain that had imprisoned him in the first place!
Sighing he stood up from the worn orange couch and stretched widely, until he felt the satisfying pop of his joints. Mikey knew of only one way to throw off the shackles of such extreme monotony; turtle-watching! For a moment he pondered on whom he should seek out first, then he heard the scrape of metal against the rough stone walls of the dojo. He grinned happily
As he meandered into the dojo Michelangelo saw his brother's katana now resting against the wall and Leonardo himself was meditating on one of the itchy straw tatami mats Mike hated so much. Smile firmly in place Mikey stood, hands on hips, in front of his oldest brother and stared at him intently. I wonder how he can just sit there. I can't, it's so boring! Maybe he has some kind of secret for it?
"Hey Leo?"
Leonardo didn't move. He just sat there in the lotus position, silent and utterly still. Mikey frowned. How was he supposed to have fun if Leo didn't do anything?
"Leo?"
No reply. Frowning Mikey crouched in front of his eldest brother, peering closely at Leonardo's blue-masked face, devoid of any emotion.
"Leo! Leeeooo! C'mon, dude. I need to ask you a question."
Still nothing. But Mikey had one trick that was practically guaranteed to work and it seemed the time to use it had come.
"It's about meditation." Darn! Despite his certainty that his tactic would work Mikey found himself disappointed as the older turtle continued to meditate unabated. But that wouldn't stop him. Happy-go-lucky smile still firmly in place Michelangelo flopped down beside Leonardo, not noticing the sudden tenseness in his brother's muscles.
"You see, the problem when I meditate is that I can't stop thinking. I keep thinking about not thinking and then I think that it's silly to not think because we never stop thinking during a fight. And then I start thinking about monster trucks and space ships fighting each other! And they're all like; Pow! Zap! Kaboom!" That was it. Leo snapped. Without any warning Leonardo hastily lunged at his younger brother, a look of fierce annoyance written on his face. With a yelp Mikey sprang to his feet and dashed from the dojo, blazing down the hall and away from his enraged brother.
Crash! Michelangelo's sprint for freedom was brought to an abrupt end as he slammed into a wide open door. Curious of the ruckus coming from inside Mikey decided to take refuge in the most unlikely of all places; Raphael's room.
Slowly peeking into the room Mikey was greeted with a truly hilarious sight. The clutter that usually resided on the floor of Raph's room had miraculously vanished but at the back of the room Mikey could see Raphael, growling and straining, as he struggled to shut the door on a closet filled to the brim with all manner of junk. With the skill acquired from years of ninjitsu training drilled into his head, Mikey crept silently into the room; I must be careful not to disturb the dreaded Raphie in its natural habitat. Now stood behind Raphael (who continued to fight for victory against the closet door), Mikey grinned cheerfully, his optimistic side insisting that this would go much better than it had with Leo.
"Hey Raphie!" That was a mistake. Shocked by Mikey's voice Raphael let out a cry of surprise, jerking away from the door… sending an avalanche of junk spewing down to the ground. As if he thought he had imagined the whole situation, Raphael slowly turned around, his breath ragged and every muscle in his body tensed as he glared with sharp, narrowed eyes at his little brother. Mikey gulped. Never removing his gaze from the seething turtle in front of him, Michelangelo shuffled back towards the door, growing closer to freedom with each tentative step. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't going to be that easy. Growling deep and angrily in his throat, Raphael charged towards the younger turtle! As he practically flew out of the room in sheer terror Mikey felt a whoosh of air against his skin and a flash of shining metal and crimson; a sai was now wedged firmly in the wall. Mikey let out a surprisingly high pitched scream and rushed away at lightening speed.
Finally having fled to the den Michelangelo flinched as he heard a door slam noisily. Well, at least he's not trying to kill me. Still, not even Mikey was foolish enough to linger too close to his hotheaded brother at a time like this and so he turned with hopeful eyes to look at Donnie's lab. Surely gentle, kind, understanding Donnie wouldn't mind if he hung around for a while? But was it worth the risk after the day he'd had? Mikey glanced back at Raphael's room. He smiled with his trademark goofy confidence. Nothing ventured…
With more caution than his last two attempts at 'turtle-watching' Michelangelo cracked the lab door open and peered around the corner. As he had suspected Donnie was working on some weird gadget, his shell turned to the door.
"What's up Mikey?" Michelangelo blinked. Furrowing his brows in confusion he stepped inside, not sensing any danger for the time being. Flopping down in a chair he quirked his head confusedly at his older brother.
"Howd'ya do that?"
"Do what?" Don replied absentmindedly as he fiddled with the complicated circuitry inside the gizmo.
"Ya gotta know what I mean. You just knew I was there and that it was me. How did you know all that?" Donnie smirked and his shoulders quaked with stifled laughter; Mikey stared impatiently.
"Well, forgetting that everyone in a two mile radius must have heard you screaming like a little girl…" Donnie ignored the glare from his baby brother, "Leo walked by earlier muttering something about 'revenge' and 'they'll never find the evidence' so I sorta guessed you were trying to hide from him and Raph."
"Hey! I'm not hiding, I could take those two on with one hand tied behind my shell, after all, I am; The Battle Nexus Champ-" Mikey was rudely cut off as Donnie smacked a hand over his mouth giving him a very pointed look that said quite clearly 'Mention-it-and-I-will-go-psycho-brainy-brother-on-you!'. As if nothing had happened Donnie returned to the unnamed thingamajig while Mikey slumped into his chair again and peered around the room, bored all over again. But then; a chemistry set! Perfect! Donnie always has some kind of awesome chemical hanging around, this will definitely liven things up around here. Sneaking a sidelong look at his brainy brother Mikey crept over to the bubbling electric-blue liquid and smiled with all the excitement of a child in the midst of a giant candy store, with Superman, and on a snowy Christmas morning no less!
And then he saw it. The big red button. Why must the button always be red! Unable to resist such a tantalising opportunity Mikey reached out and slammed his fist down on the enormous button. For a split second nothing happened but all around the lair Donnie's panicked shout could be heard. The next thing he knew, Mikey was on the floor, surprisingly enough being shielded by his big brother, the room now covered in a thick layer of sloppy blue goop. Very slowly Donnie shifted himself up off his little brother and fixed him with a glare that could easily send a battalion of Foot ninja running for their mummies.
"Get. Out. Now."
"Oh c'mon Don, you can't really blame me can you? It was red. Red!" The glare turned icier still. The Shredder himself may have soiled himself at such a look and even Mikey was ready to leave but Donnie beat him to it. Rather unceremoniously Mikey was thrown head first from the lab, a calculator zooming out and conking him on the skull before the door to the lab slammed shut.
Sighing at the prospect of more boredom to come Michelangelo collapsed onto the couch and began channel surfing without taking in even a second of the endless shows. I like work, Mikey thought to himself, it fascinates me. I could sit and look at it for hours. But no one will let me! As a cheesy Spanish soap opera flickered onto the screen an incredible idea came to the young turtles mind, something that could at long last lift the extra-ordinarily suffocating monotony of this particular wet Sunday…
"Oh Sensei!"
Well there you have it! Sorry for disappearing on you guys for so long but I'm working on a BIG epic for the turtles, and SATs were bringing me down. Thankfully they're over now – yippee! GCSE coursework to look forward to(!) – so hopefully I'll get more stuff on here soon. Oh and can I just say this bit; 'I like work, it fascinates me. I could sit and look at it for hours.' is actually a quote so you know the drill... the quote isn't mine, te turtles aren't mine, I own none of this yada yada yada! ;D Keep it cool dudes and dudettes!
- Georgia :D