I can't make any mistakes.
This is the first thought that peeked in his mind when he tilted the test tube, pouring few drops of blue liquid on the beaker, just upto the lower miniscule. Though he's quite used to working with dangerous chemicals almost every day, he felt a trickle of sweat roll down his temple and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't worry less.
Yes, that's it. Slow and steady.
He took deep breaths, a failed attempt to calm down his nerves and trembling hands. He could hear his heart beating insanely against his plastron. Bringing out another test tube filled with transparent liquid, he tilted this one too and decanted it into the blue liquid.
Nothing happened for a second.
After a minute or two, the concoction gurgled. Donnie took a step back from the glass beaker, which was now oozing smoky bubbles and vibrating in his wooden desk, followed by an astringent smell throughout his whole lab. Donatello gave an audible gulp.
But the erotic reaction settled down after a few minutes of shaking and popping steamy bubbles, though the concoction was still foaming. The color darkened and darkened, till it slowly turned murky green, just like he hypothesized. A smile tugged in his lips.
Donnie wiped the sweat with his palm and took out four neat and clean test tubes. Slowly but carefully, he took tiny samples of the compound on each test tube for further research and to observe whether the compound is stable enough for use or not, until –
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" A loud yelp pierced from the living room.
Startled, Donnie stumbled on his own feet and soon found his face smashed against the dusty sewer floor, along with his blueprint over his face which was stuck up on the hardwood board. Unfortunately, he had grabbed his blueprint during the fall, and now the blueprint was neatly torn from its corners.
His cherry brown eyes stuck on the green liquid on his desk even when he felt a tingly pain spreading through his carapace. The fragile glass tubes were shaking threateningly on the edge. He saw in horror as the test tubes fell off the table, almost spilling the compound. Thank God to his quick ninja reflexes, he caught them before it collapsed on the floor and shattered into thousand pieces.
Donnie gave out a loud growl, thumped his blueprint on the desk, cautiously placed the beaker on the desk, swung the door open and marched out of his lab, infuriated.
The whole living room was a complete mess. The floor was covered in slices and boxes of leftover Pizzas and Mikey's comic books. An empty airbrush can rolled to an inexplicable tangle of hands and arms next to the couch, which soon turned out to be Raph on top of a screaming Mikey and Leo holding off Raph's fist from punching the youngest turtle.
"What the shell is going on?" Donnie screamed at his brothers.
Nobody paid any attention to the raging purple turtle. Raph lifted his fist again, only to be caught by Leo. The fist missed Mikey's face by an inch.
"I'LL KILL YOU, MIKEY!"
"Calm down, Raph!" screamed Leo. He was having a hard time holding the hothead off. "Mikey just played a joke -"
"Played a joke?!" Raph roared. "He painted my shell while I was asleep, and you dare to call it just a joke?!"
Leo moved his head back and caught a glimpse of Raph's shell, which wasn't brown anymore, rather it looked colorful as if a package of rainbow exploded over there. Leo could see the picture of a pizza drawn on the topmost corner of his shell with an airbrush and below that, was a figure that might be Raph's face. Leo could've burst out laughing only if the situation wasn't so serious since Raph was on a murdering rage. He suppressed his laughter and forcefully frowned at Mikey.
"You painted on his shell?"
"Yeah! Do you like it?" said Mikey cheerfully, as if Raph didn't tackle him on the ground few minutes ago.
"No, Mikey." sighed Leo, and ignored the glare Raph gave him. "You shouldn't have done that."
"Oh…right…I was supposed to take permission first!" Mikey's face lit up. "That's why you are angry with me! I get it!"
"Raph! No!" Leo yelled when Raph lifted his fists again, but instead of hitting Mikey, Raph turned his massive fist to Leo and punching him square on his face so hard that he fell on the floor.
"Oh, I know where this is going." Leo gritted his teeth. "You just want a fight, don't you?"
"Not with wimps, Lameonardo."
"We will see who's a wimp."
Leo pushed himself off the floor and reached out behind his shell, unsheathing his twin Katana. Raph imitated the motion and brought out his Sai from his belt. They placed themselves next to the practice dummy, circling around each other and their eyes boring on the opposite one.
Raph made the first move.
Using his left leg against the couch, Raph jumped above Leo and pointed his Sai at him. Leo trapped his Katana blade in between the Sai and using it as a lead, he swung his sword sideways. Raph flew backwards and fell on the ground with a loud thump, just like Leo fell earlier.
This made him more furious than before.
But this time, it was Leo who attacked him when he got up. He ran around Raph in a semi-circular path, and in a swift move, he brought down his Katana. Raph used his Sai to defend himself from the swashing of blades.
Mikey had already broken free out of Raph's headlock and ran as much far as he could get from his brothers.
"Whoa, didn't see you there." Mikey peeked at Donnie and stared with a wide gaze. "When did you come?" He gave a cheeky smile. Donnie groaned and rolled his eyes.
"I've been here for a million years, Mikey…"
"But you still look fifteen!" Mikey gasped. "Does…does that mean I'm million years old too?!" He touched his face and began to wobble his cheeks, as if he suddenly grown two heads.
"No! It's physically impossible to be million years old! Our cellular structures are not made up for living such a long life, because everyday accurately thirty million skin cells are disintegrated…"
"Uh huh…uh huh…uh huh… got popcorn?" Mikey nudged Donnie's hand with his elbow. "They're putting up a good show."
"No." Donnie replied. "I was busy creating Dimethyldichlorosilane serum to mutilate the Kraang interface that can transmute into their system which can help us to be aware of their next mission!" He smiled proudly at Mikey, but then remembered why he was here in the first place.
"Until you screamed and almost spilled my serum. Do you know how much dangerous that can be?"
Mikey averted his longing gaze from the Pizza box lying over to the couch next to Leo and Raph and looked at Donnie's irritated eyes.
"Yeah, bro!" He shook his head vigorously. Donatello, knowing his brother, wasn't persuaded. So he turned his attention towards the duel.
"Whoa…" Mikey exclaimed as Leo's Katana flew towards the practice dummy and hit it where the heart would've been.
Raph grinned boastfully and Leo scowled at him. Leo gripped harder on his only Katana, staring at Raph for his next move. Raph knew he was already on the wining line, so he went for it. He ran towards his brother and swiveled his Sai around his fingers, aiming to drop the other Katana too.
Or at least he thought he was.
Out of nowhere, a strong hand found its way to Raph's upper arm by which he was holding his Sai, and spun him around until he landed on the ground on his shell. Leo winced as his hand was seized onwards and twisted behind his back. His Katana fell on the ground with a loud clank.
"Ohhh…that must've hurt…" Mikey whispered to Donnie. Donnie cringed and nodded in agreement.
"Sensei!" Leo screamed when he finally managed to look behind him.
There stood Master Splinter, staring irritably at Leo and Raph. Donnie suddenly remembered that it was the time when Splinter used to meditate in the Dojo. Certainly the brothers have disturbed him like they had done with Donnie.
As if to make the matters worse, the practice dummy fell off its hook.
All of them except Master Splinter flinched.
"The Dojo." He said with a surprisingly calm voice, nonetheless Leo swore that he heard a thin veil of warning and trouble in his tone.
So he pulled out his Katana from the dummy and followed his brothers to the Dojo.
"All of you, sit down." said Master Splinter once they had reached the training room. Donnie kneeled next to Leo, Raph and Mikey and stared downwards to the rug. They could feel Splinter's sharp red eyes pierce through them. Donnie braced himself for the outburst.
"I was meditating." Master Splinter spoke after a long pause. "And suddenly I heard some noises that broke my meditative trance." He stopped pacing and suddenly halted in front of Leo.
"Leonardo, explain."
Leo looked up and coughed.
"Mikey drew some stuff on Raph's shell, Sensei."
"Colorful, huh?" Mikey looked up at Sensei, clearly not seeing the glare Raph has been giving him. "I've found my new artistic skills, bro!"
His brothers gave him a blank expression.
"What? Shells are great canvasses!" Mikey defended himself.
"No, they're not!" Raph almost got up. However, he stopped and went back to kneeling when Master Splinter kept a hand over his shoulder.
"Michelangelo."
Mikey cringed at the voice. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"
"Yes, indeed." said Master Splinter. "In fact, all of you are in trouble."
The turtles snapped their head and looked up to their father with bewilderment.
"Sensei…you can't -"
"What did we do –"
"I don't understand…"
"Silence." Splinter hit his stick on the floor, immediately shushing up the turtles when they protested. All of them kneeled like they were before, head hanging low and hands on their thighs.
"I swear I'll murder Mikey when he's asleep." whispered Raph under his breath.
"All of you shall receive extra training for a week… and my decision is final." Master Splinter added when the turtles shifted uncomfortably.
"But Sensei…" Leo said. "Why would you punish us for what Mikey did?"
Raph glared at Mikey and he sank further in his position.
"Because, my son, all of you work as a single unit. All of you must share the same feeling inflicted upon one, so that you all can understand the true sense of brotherhood. It does not matter whether you are guilty or not, the only thing that matters is that you are there when your brothers need you the most."
"Sooo…" Mikey raised his hand. "When I get beaten up by Raph, Leo and Don will get beaten up by him too?!"
"No, Michelangelo." Master Splinter sighed and nodded.
Leo looked to his right side at Raph and Donnie, and they gave him a gloomy nod. He looked at his left side to Mikey and sighed when Mikey grinned at him.
"We understood, Sensei."
"Almost all of us." Said Raph and looked at Mikey, who was still grinning and staring back and forth at his brothers, trying to figure out what was happening.
"Training starts in ten minutes." Master Splinter said.
"Now, Sensei?" Leo's voice rang out, looking at Splinter's back when he started to leave.
"Yes, now, Leonardo." Master Splinter turned sideways to the turtle. "Unless you are willing to give up on Pizzas too."
"NO!" Mikey gave an outburst. "Not Pizzas! Please Sensei…" Mikey yelled and grabbed his head. "I can't live without Pizzas! That's my everything!"
Master Splinter slightly smiled and nodded. "Well, then, go get your weapons and-"
"Please not Pizzas!" Mikey screamed in the middle. "NOT PIZZAS!"
"And I want you all here when I come." said Master Splinter and ignored Mikey.
"Hai, Sensei." Leo said, stood up and bowed down with Raph and Donnie.
"How can you ban Pizzas?!" Mikey cried, still kneeling on the rug. "Pizzas! With Anchovies and cheesy toppings! The hero of food that kept us ALIVE!"
Master Splinter rolled his eyes and left the Dojo. Once Master was out of earshot, Raph hit Mikey on the back of his head.
"Pizzas are…OW!" Mikey rubbed his head, looking disheveled. "Why would ya do that?"
"Ask yourself." Raph scowled. "Let's just hope the color will come off."
Leo sheathed his twin Katana on his shell and sat down on the rug, waiting for his brothers. Raph sulkily got up to have a bath, but not before glaring at Mikey with a red face that matched with his bandanna. Mikey scooted away from him and joined Donnie in the hallway.
By the time they reached in front of the kitchen, Mikey made an abrupt halt. His eyes twinkled with delight.
"Sensei told us to bring out weapons, Mikey." Donnie said.
"No need to worry, dude." Mikey said and entered the kitchen. "I'll just prepare some of my Pizza milkshake. It'll give nice refreshment after all that training!"
"Pizza…milkshake?" Donnie didn't like the sound, but Mikey chortled.
"Yeah! That's my newest recipe, bro! It's gonna be prepared in no time! And-" Mikey grabbed a leftover Pizza from the counter and brought it very close to Donnie.
"You'll be the first to taste it!"
"Uh...err…thanks, Mikey. That…" He gulped. "…means a lot."
"Mhmm!" Mikey mumbled.
Donatello went to his lab, leaving Mikey humming and fidgeting on the refrigerator. Although the room was dimly lit, Donnie could see his inventions and works. His staff was leaning against the table in the corner. The time he took his staff, he heard a far-off sound, more like Mikey whooping about how he made to the training room before Raph.
Some things never change. He chuckled to himself.
With a swift flick, he hung his BO staff on his shell, fastened his belts and went towards the Dojo, since now he got extra hours for muscle strains.