Accidents and Action Figures
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I don't own the Mutant Ninja Turtles, teenage, chibi or otherwise, I don't own their lair, I don't own Master Splinter. The names of the action figures they have I nicked from the new show, I don't own them either. Did I miss something, if I did I don't own it. I have one Turtle action figure, and if you've read some of my stories you probably already know that it's Donnie. I don't get paid for this, though how cool would that be? All I did was catch a plot bunny. Someone asked me what that was; if you're out there a plot bunny is basically a story idea.
A/N: It is Raphael's turn, and from the reviews I got on Some Nice Steel I fooled most of you. -) I never said that Raphael was the one in the dojo the first day. Actually up to a few days ago that was the best idea I had for Raph, but it was just too cliché, which made it perfect for Leo as far as I was concerned! hehe. I probably should have mentioned in that one that I snurched that title from one of Hun's lines that was in reference to Raphael's sais. hehe. But both the sai and the katana are metal, so I still say it works!
Four young turtles were lined up facing Master Splinter. Each held a staff and was prepared for today's weapons training session. Leonardo stood on the far right with Raphael just left of him, followed by Donatello and Michelangelo. Splinter didn't remember when they started lining up like that, but they did so almost every day, and it was strange to see them in any other order. That being said, the rat had his doubts about this being a good arrangement for them today. There were two reasons for his doubts, both of which concerned the pair in the middle. Splinter explained and demonstrated the move they were to mimic and they began.
"YOW!" Donatello cried out as Raphael's staff found the back of his knees. Having had his feet rather forcefully removed from the floor the rest of him found it quite efficiently. "oof!"
"Whoops," Raphael spun around to help the smaller brother he had just taken out.
"AH!" KLUNK,"oof!" It was Leonardo's turn to find the floor. Michelangelo had enough distance between himself and Raphael that he had escaped damage, so far anyway. Raphy spun around quickly and Donnie managed to avoid the swinging staff by returning completely to the ground. Once the staff had safely spun by overhead Donatello tried to stand again.
"Leo?" Raphael was horrified at what he had done and was trying to help Leonardo to stand again.
"Raphael!" Splinter called out making the boy drop his brother's hand and whirl around to face him. In the process Raph's staff smacked Leo's carapace, and Don's plastron sending both right back to the floor. All Splinter could do was sigh. Leonardo was getting back up on all fours and Donatello was flat on his back, pretty much all he could do was wait for someone to help him. Though they could rock back and forth none of them could quite get out of the awkward position on their own. Splinter hoped it was a problem that would be eliminated as they grew. Michelangelo warily moved in to offer some assistance to the distraught turtle while keeping a close eye on the staff still wielded by the brother who had caused the trouble in the first place.
"Raphael, why don't you put the staff down?" Splinter suggested.
The little turtle did as he was told and looked like he was about to cry. It wasn't that he tried to hurt his brothers, it just happened that way.
"Do not worry, Raphael, that is actually enough for today. We'll just try something a little shorter next time."
Raphael sniffed a moment before nodding. Splinter gathered up the staffs and put them back in the weapons cabinet. He would have preferred to start the boys on staffs, but having Raphael do something different would have been difficult for Splinter to instruct at this point and difficult for Raphael to handle. He didn't take very well to being singled out because he couldn't do something, none of them did. As it was, Raph was already going to be taking some heat from his brothers, especially Leonardo.
As the boys were leaving Splinter noticed a problem, "Donatello, your leg is bleeding, come on, let's go clean that up."
"Huh?" The turtle in question looked down and kind of behind him to the back of his knee where he had been hit, and sure enough he was bleeding. "Oh. Yes, Sensei."
-
"Good goin', Raph." Leo complained. He was massaging his wrist which hurt from one of his falls.
"Hey, I didn't mean to, Leo, so back off."
"You need to be more careful in there. Someone could get hurt! You already hurt Donnie!" Leonardo insisted.
"Leo, I said I didn't mean to hit you!"
"Leo, Raph," Mikey interjected, "you shouldn't be fighting."
"Nobody asked you, Mikey." Raphael insisted.
Michelangelo just shrugged and left the pair to their fight, Splinter would be in to break it up pretty soon anyway. Mikey sat down with a Stainless Steve Steel action figure, it was missing an arm, but the young turtle didn't care. His 'bad guy' was a Barbie with only one leg and no hair.
"Vrroomm, Krrrsshhh Pow! Take that Evil dude!" Barbie went flying from a Stainless Steve head bash.
Right on cue, Splinter entered the room. "Michelangelo, please do not throw your toys. Raphael, Leonardo, you will cease this senseless bickering this moment."
"Yes, Sensei," three little voices chorused.
"I need to go finish cleaning up your brother; you three will play quietly until I return. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sensei."
Splinter nodded and returned to the bathroom area where he had left Donatello.
"Good going, shell-for-brains." Leo sneered.
"Me!" Raph was incredulous, what had he done? Leo started it.
"Guys, Splinter's going to get madder if you start fighting again." Mikey interrupted jumping to his feet. "I have two more good guys." He offered Metalhead and Dr. Dome to Leo and Raph. The looked back toward where Master Splinter had disappeared then over at Mikey and his action figures.
Both sighed before joining Mikey in his play. Raphael moved quickly and snatched up Metalhead, leaving Leo with Dr. Dome. Leonardo was about to complain, but a pleading look from Michelangelo was enough for him to drop it and accept the toy.
"What about when Donnie gets out here?" Leo asked a few minutes into their game.
"All that's left is the bad dude." Michelangelo informed. "We only have three of the good dudes."
"Donnie doesn't make a very good bad dude." Raphael groaned.
"No, but you do." Leonardo reminded him.
"Me? I'm always the bad guy!" Raphael complained.
Michelangelo had had enough. "Stop it! He probably won't even want to play, he's got a puzzle." He pointed over to the half completed picture puzzle lying on the floor at the other end of the room.
"Chew on this, Evil Barbie Dude!" Raphael cried while having Metalhead swoop in and take a swing at the Barbie.
"'Chew on this'? Where did you hear that?" Leo questioned. It seemed like such a silly thing to say.
"I don't know. It sounded cool though."
Splinter looked over at his sons who were lined up again. They were in their usual left to right order, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael and Leonardo. He headed over to the weapons cabinet and looked through it. After yesterday he was looking for the shortest weapon he could find for them to practice with. He realized that the smallest item he had for them was the sai. He pulled out four of the wooden objects, someday they would work with two, but for now one was more than enough. Standing before his young pupils he looked at their order once again and cringed. He didn't want them in that order.
"Raphael, Michelangelo, please switch places." Splinter ordered calmly.
The four turtles looked at him strangely for a moment, but eventually the two turtles who had been called on to move did so. Now they stood from left to right Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Splinter felt much better about this order.
Sticking Michelangelo between Leonardo and Donatello would keep the carefree boy more focused than Donatello alone ever could, while Michelangelo's natural athleticism and ability to imitate moves correctly on the first try was a good example for Donatello and Leonardo to see. Raphael was also fairly decent at imitating movements, though he had a tendency to go a little overboard, as yesterday had rather dramatically proven. With luck that would draw Donatello into more forceful motions while some of his calm rubbed off on Raphael. With a little more luck that would happen without too much damage to the smaller turtle. Maybe he should have switched Raphael and Leonardo. No, those two fought too much, they needed to be as far apart as possible. Splinter couldn't help but notice that Donatello warily eyed Raphael before glancing down at the bandage on his leg as Splinter handed out the weapons.
Splinter led them through the whole routine without any catastrophes. Raphael hadn't even forced Donatello to jump aside, which had to be a first since they began training with weapons.
"And finish!" Splinter called. The four little turtles immediately stopped and bowed. Splinter dismissed them and three small whirlwinds shot out of the dojo. The fourth stayed behind a moment.
"I didn't hit him!" Raphael seemed quite proud of this fact.
"What?" Splinter was not quite sure what his son was referring to.
"I didn't hit Donnie!" The turtle exclaimed again.
"No, you didn't. You did very well today. I am proud of you, my son." Splinter praised. He headed over to the weapons cabinet to return the four wooden sais to their places.
"Master Splinter, can we use those again? I like them."
"Of course, Raphael, we will use sais again."
Raphy beamed before running out of the room to join his brothers' game. It wasn't long before Splinter heard Raphael's dismayed cry.
"I have to be the Bad Barbie Dude again?"
"Sorry," Michelangelo apologized. "We only have three good guys."
Splinter laughed quietly and made a mental note to search for another good guy action figure next time he was out.