CANDYMOUNTAIN
Mikey was wandering around in their small lair. He was so bored. He had already watched all the movies and read all the comic books they had (Donny's books he wouldn't touch even with a big ugly stick), Raph had broken his crayons so he couldn't draw until their father would find new ones and even to Mikey's own surprise, he didn't feel like playing the videogames they had. He yearned for something new, he wanted to go on an adventure!
Mikey decided to check what his brothers were doing. He walked to a couch where Leo and Raph were sitting. Leo read a book he had borrowed from Donny and Raph was watching a movie Mikey bet he had seen a million times. Nothing interesting in here. To Donny then, Mikey decided.
Donny was lying on the floor in the middle of the room. Mikey crouched next to Donny and looked what he was doing. He had a lot of weird looking pieces lying in front of him. Mikey reached to take one funny looking piece in to his hand when Donny spoke.
"Don't touch it Mikey", he said with a gentle but firm voice.
Mikey stopped his hand and just looked the piece curiously.
"What are you doing Donny? Can I help you?" Maybe Donny was building some kind of a weapon with which Mikey would be able to shrink Raph and put him in the matchbox whenever he annoyed him.
"A walkie-talkie and no, I don't think you can help me with this", Donny answered still focusing on what he was doing.
Mikey felt a little disappointed but he didn't feel like bothering Donny today. He was going to figure out something to do by himself and he wouldn't let the others accompany him. He was going to have so much fun.
So Mikey went to the kitchen as his intent to get something to eat so he could think better. He climbed on the table and opened the cabinet and, oh, what he found from there. Mikey inhaled loudly when he saw all the candy. There were lollipops, marshmallows, chocolate and so much more that Mikey couldn't believe his eyes! It was a mountain of candy, he realized. And that's when he got his idea. It was going to be so great, his brothers would love it! In his enthusiasm Mikey forgot his choice not to take his brothers with him, but that's how he was.
He found some paper and a crayon, which had survived from Raph's treatment, and started to work. Mikey drew carefully the route on the paper and marked the destination with big cross on the upper right corner. After that he decorated the paper with imaginative pictures, put the candies in his backpack and went to his brothers. They were all now watching the TV but Mikey didn't care about that. He jumped in front of the television getting his brothers to focus on himself.
"Mikey, get away from the TV!" Raph said angrily.
"There's something I want to show you guys", Mikey said eagerly ignoring Raph.
"Can't it wait Mikey? We're watching this show now. You could accompany us. Come on sit here." Leo moved so Mikey could had fitted on the couch with them, but Mikey wasn't interested in it now and he thought that his brothers shouldn't be either.
"No, it can't wait. Look Leo, I found this map. Let's go check what awaits us at the cross."
"Yeah right. Ya just drew it yerself", Raph snorted.
"Oh yeah? And how if I may ask? If I remember correct, you broke all my crayons", Mikey answered bitterly. Maybe he shouldn't take Raph with him.
"It's not like we're going up, right? I mean, this really might be fun", Donny said, for Mikey's great joy, and asked to see the map.
"I don't know Don. Master Splinter's not home and he told us to stay here so-"
"Are ya afraid, Leo? Great master Splinter will get so mad at ya if he finds out ya left to the sewers. Show me the map Donny", Raph interrupted Leo and took the map from Donny who had been studying it. He clearly got interested in the map and the adventure in the sewers immediately after Leo was against it. Raph examined the map for a while. Finally Mikey couldn't take it anymore but took the map from Raph.
"So are you guys coming with me or not?" He asked impatiently.
"I'm coming. I don't really feel like sitting here the whole day", Donny answered. Mikey guessed that even Donny needed sometimes to get away from his books and inventions.
"Donny, we really shouldn't-" Leo started but Raph interrupted him again.
"I'm goin' too."
"Please come too Leo. It will be fun, I promise", Mikey persuaded.
Leo looked like he was going to say no and forbid them going either but finally he gave a sigh and agreed to come along. Mikey jumped from the triumph.
After they packed their backpacks they were ready to go. They had sandwiches and cocoa, some Donny's tools and of course the map.
Leo still hesitated on the doorway to the sewers when the other three ran past him.
"Come on Leo!" Mikey yelled and Leo had no other choice but to follow them.
"Where do we go from here Mikey?" Donny asked when they got to the first crossroad. After all Mikey had the map and he wouldn't give it to anyone else. Though it's not like the map helped them in anyway, it was just something Mikey had drew, even though he didn't admit it.
"Hmm, to the right, no, left!" Or maybe to the right?
"Which way Mikey?" Raph persuaded.
"Right", said Donny who had sneaked behind Mikey and watched the map. Mikey pressed the map against his chest protecting it. Donny noticed that and gave Mikey a little knowing smile.
"Yeah, right it is", Mikey nodded. So right they went. Then left. Left again. Right, left, straight, dead end, back and left and yes Mikey was completely lost after the second left. But the airhead he was, he didn't give even one thought of how to get back home.
The further they got from home, more the three of them enjoyed themselves. They were jumping from rock to rock avoiding lava, fighting against giant rats (master Splinter's distant cousins, said Mikey), flitting on lianas like that apeman on loincloth, and a whole lot more. The only one who didn't seem to have fun was Leo.
"Are we soon there Mikey?" he asked nervously.
"Yeah, just couple turns and we should be there", Mikey answered. He hoped they would find some cool place so that could be the place where they'd find the treasure. And after couple turns they found the place. It was one of those bigger sewers. A perfect place for a treasure hunt.
"This is it!" Mikey announced.
They all looked the place open mouthed. None of them had ever seen this big sewer, not to talk about had none of them ever been this far away from home. After the first amaze Raph got impatient.
"So, what we're supposed to find from here?" He asked looking doubtfully at Mikey.
"Well, Raphie, we have to find it out. We need to start exploring this place", Mikey answered not caring about Raph's snorting.
So exploring they started. They decided to separate so they would find whatever they were looking for, faster. Mikey tried to find some nice place where he could hide the candies. It would be good if someone else but him found them. But not Raph, definitely not Raph. Mikey wandered farther from his brothers and there it was. Nice little groove which wasn't too easy to find but not too hard either. Mikey checked that his brothers couldn't see what he was doing and kneed to the groove. He opened his backpack, took the candies and was about to put them in place when he heard something behind him.
"You're not supposed to come here yet!" Mikey scolded the brother he thought that was behind him and turned around. Candies slipped on the floor through Mikey's fingers and his jaw dropped open when he saw who, or what, was behind him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA RRGH!" Mikey's scream echoed in the sewers. Mikey remembered Leo and Raph's story about the albino croc that had attacked them. This one time he should probably apologize from Raph that he hadn't believed his story and thought that Raph had just tried to deceive him, so he would be too scared to go to the sewers.
Mikey didn't even give a thought to the candies or his backpack while he was running to his brothers. They had heard Mikey's scream and were coming to look if their brother was okay. Mikey flailed his hands and yelled them to run. First nothing happened but then they probably saw what was behind Mikey – and judging by the noise, following him – so they turned around and started to run.
Mikey didn't know where they were running nor did he even care, just as long as there were no crocodiles and definitely not albino ones. He followed Leo's swinging backpack. It swung right, left and back. Mikey put all his concentration on Leo's backpack. Then they suddenly stopped and Mikey crashed on Leo. They were all panting from all the running, but at least the croc wasn't following them anymore. Though it did take a while before none of them could even say a word.
"That was kind of scary", Mikey could finally say between his panting.
"Ya think so, shell head?" Raph answered him also still out of his breath.
Leo was already himself when he asked: "Does any of you know where we are?" They didn't. None of them. Donny had known their location when they were in that big sewer place but he had lost their whereabouts while they were running for their lives. So stuck they were.
"We can't just stay here, we have to try to get back home", Leo stated.
"Yeah? How we're gonna do that? We don't even know where we are."
"Well, obviously we can't go back the way we just came, if we even could find it, so we just have to try to guess the right way and find a familiar place from where we can navigate back home, Raph. What way you guys think we should go?"
They all of course showed different ways. It took a while but finally they all agreed to go right from where they now where. They walked for fifteen minutes but Mikey couldn't see anything familiar, actually everything looked just same to him. When they came to the third dead end Raph had had enough.
"This isn't leadin' us anywhere!"
Leo was about to answer to Raph when Donny cut in. "He's right Leo. We'll never get home like this. I know that Master Splinter told us not to but… Leo, we have to go topside, otherwise we just get ourselves more lost."
Mikey didn't really think that getting more lost was even possible anymore, but going topside sounded tempting. It had always been a big no-no, but now that they hadn't any other option, would Master Splinter understand it? Well, what Splinter didn't know, couldn't hurt him, they all agreed to that. They soon found a manhole, but couldn't open it. Donny reckoned that there maybe was a car parked right on to it. Couple more tries and finally they found a manhole that opened, had no cars driving over it and were no humans visible.
Carefully one by one they got out of the sewers and ran straight to the shadows so they couldn't be seen. After they all got out of the sewers, they had to figure out some sort of plan. First they needed to find disguises. Thankfully there were old clothes that humans had dumped in the garbage. Trouser legs and sleeves were a little too long for them but that couldn't be helped. Not that they even had much choices, but they also had to choose clothes big enough for their shells to fit in.
Then they had to find out where they were. They were lucky that Don and Raph had been curious enough to examine New York's topsides near their home from maps. So those two took a little walk to find some familiar places, while Mikey and Leo waited them to come back to the alley, they were in. After a while of silence, Mikey got bored.
"So, how far do you think we wandered from home?"
"I don't know Mikey", Leo answered concentrating on observing the street if Don and Raph were coming back.
"It was a big croc, huh? You think it was the same that you and Raph saw?"
"Don't know." Mikey frowned for Leo's short and cold answers, but he wasn't going to give up so easily.
"Hey Leo", Mikey chuckled, "try to imagine Master Splinter's face if he knew that we're topside. He would be so mad at us!"
"And with a reason Mikey. We're not supposed to be here, remember the last time? I understand why sensei didn't want us to come here, but you don't seem to have learned anything." Leo looked at Mikey seriously and after couple seconds Mikey turned his eyes away from his brother's.
"I learned a thing or two. And our intensions were good, we were trying to help that boy, remember?" Mikey started quietly but got more self-confidence further he got.
"What about this time? What good intensions do we have now? The answer is nothing, Mikey. We're in this situation because you wanted to go on an adventure, remember that", Leo said coldly ending all conversation. Mikey felt a little bad. Leo was such a killjoy. Mikey hoped the two others would soon come back.
They waited for long ten minutes – Mikey's longest minutes if he was asked – until Don and Raph came back. Leo was immediately on their shells.
"Well? How far are we from home? Do you know how to get back?"
"Calm down Leo. We have good and bad news", Raph answered sternly. Mikey gulped, that didn't sound good.
"And what are those?" Leo asked carefully. The one who answered was Don.
"Good news is that we know where we are and how to get home." Sounded promising. "Bad news is that this is one of the New York's worst areas and the way isn't as short as one could hope." Not so promising.
"That can't be helped, we have to get home no matter what", Leo said firmly.
The four little turtles left their hiding place. They tried to be as invisible as they could, still walking normally on the street and not leaping from a shadow to another. At first everything went smoothly, no one paid attention on them nor tried to get closer contact with them. Mikey already thought that they would get like that to home, he almost started to laugh from the relief. But then everything went wrong and suddenly it wasn't so easy to get home.
Mikey was just about to say again something about Master Splinter getting to know where they were – he hoped others had better sense of humor than Leo – when someone grabbed his shoulder. He gave a high pitched girlish scream and tried to struggle free from the stranger who was holding him, but his hold was surprisingly firm.
"Let go of our brother!" Raph yelled to a stranger and took a step closer to them. Then they were surrounded. First the four of them had been alone and now there were suddenly ten or more gangsters around them and no way to escape.
"Well well well, what do we have here? Don't you boys know that this isn't a place for kids? There's only bad guys here", one of the gangsters, who looked like the boss, said.
"Oh, thanks for telling, we'll remember that. And if we see any of those bad guys we'll inform you", Mikey said hoping they would be able to go with that, the optimist he was. All he got was to be laughed at. Mikey started to feel a little terrified. They had learned ninjutsu from their master, but the guy holding him was pretty strong and he wasn't going to count on that that the other guys were a lot weaker. Mikey tried to get some help from his brothers by eye contact. He had no idea what he should do and he was almost scared off his shell. Raph looked like he would soon hit the gangster closest to him and Donny had his hand on Raph's shoulder so he wouldn't do it. Mikey hoped Don would take his hand off and let Raph take care of all the gangsters. Who knows, he might be able to do it… or not. Leo had his eyes fixed on Mikey, it was like he was trying to tell him something, tell him what he had to do. Mikey had to look pretty confused, since Leo started to look frustrated, so Mikey just nodded his head and hoped he'd figure out something before Leo would make his move. Leo gave a quick glance to Don and then he shouted:
"Now!"
They all moved fast. Don let go of Raph who immediately attacked the enemy, his purple wearing brother right after him. Leo started to move forward Mikey and the guy holding him. And then, just before it would have been too late, Mikey got it. He raised his hands and dived out of his shirt as Leo's foot hit the boss guy. The gangsters were taken back for just mere children to start to fight against them. The boys took the chance and leaped, they ran to the closest ladders and started climbing. They heard some fighting noises from the street, but what considered them more, were the steps behind them. Someone was following them. They climbed as fast as they could and soon they were on the roof and jumping to the next one. After couples of jumps, they climbed back down and straight through a manhole all the way down. Not until then could they take a breath.
"You okay Mikey?" The turtle which was spoken to was surprised to notice, it was Leo who was talking. He looked at Mikey with worried and a bit regretting eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine bro", Mikey answered with his biggest grin. Leo gave a small smile and with that they were okay again.
"Sorry to interrupt yer sensitive moment, but after that runnin', we're lost again", Raph said, taking the big clothes off, others following his example. He was right, once again they had no idea where they were, and they definitely wouldn't go back on the topside for a while. They decided to walk for a bit since they couldn't be far from the home.
After some walking, they heard something that almost stopped their hearts: steps from behind them. Quickly they hid themselves in the small indentation they found. They barely all fit in it, but that was the best they had for now, and if they were lucky, the one following them would just walk past them. But if not… Mikey gulped, he didn't want to think about it. They all held their breaths as the steps got closer to their hiding place and stopped right in front of it. Mikey, who was nearest on the edge, felt a furry hand touching his arm. He gave a terrified scream and yelled as hard as he could.
"It got me! Help! I don't wanna die! I'm too pretty, take Raph!"
"Calm down my son." A familiar voice made Mikey stop his screaming and as he looked who had pulled him out of the hole they were hiding in, he started to laugh out of relief. The others got also out of the hiding place, as they heard master Splinter's voice. They couldn't believe their luck, they were saved! Now they could finally get home.
"My sons, what are you doing in a place like this? I thought I told you not to leave the lair", Splinter said scolding.
"Erm, we… were on an adventure. Mikey found a map and we thought we should go and see what was under the cross. It wasn't far from home, so we thought it would be okay, but then we met this big albino cro-", Leo was clearly nervous and would had probably told Splinter even about them going topsides. Good thing Don was next to Leo and had fast reflexes. He slapped his hand on Leo's mouth before he could say anything else. Splinter gave him a thoughtful look, but Donny just smiled and took his hand away from his brother's mouth, who seemed to have calmed down a bit.
"I see. So you did not wander far from home, I suppose?" Boys shook their heads, they all had agreed not to tell master Splinter. "Good, though I am disappointed that you acted against my will. You will have your punishment later, but now we will go back home, eat something and go to sleep." It sounded so good that boys would have run home, if Splinter had let them and if they had had even a bit more energy left in their small bodies than they did.
"Master Splinter? Where exactly were you?" Don asked. "You're not coming from the junkyard's direction, are you?"
"No, Donatello, I am not. I have been a little here and there. I would have come sooner for you boys, but there were some gangsters I first had to teach a lesson about laying their hands on my children. But do not worry about that."
Four little turtles gulped at the same time. Master Splinter knew. Oooooh shell.