Young Turtles Chronicle 2: A Lesson in Practical Jokes
Michelangelo crouched down on the floor and waited for his unsuspecting victim. He grinned to himself when his little sister, Alex, came walking around the corner. She opened the refrigerator door and immediately jumped back screaming. Instantly her brothers, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and her sensei came hurrying to see what the commotion was.
"Something is in the fridge!" Alex pointed.
Raphael snickered and opened the door. He was met with a gruesome mask that had been placed over the lightbulb, causing the eyes to look like they were glowing. He pulled the mask out and held it up for his sister. "Is this what you saw?"
Alex nodded angrily. "Mickey!" she shouted.
Michelangelo emerged from his hiding spot laughing hysterically. "You should have seen your face!" he howled. "I thought you were going to have a heart attack."
"That's not funny Michelangelo," Leonardo scowled. "I've had just about enough of your practical jokes."
"Aw come on I was just goofing," Michelangelo stopped laughing. "Alex you know that right?"
Alex folded her arms across her chest and stared her brother down.
"Sorry," he relented.
"It's all fun and games till some one gets hurt," Donatello spoke up.
Michelangelo sighed. "Ok I wont play any more pranks," he lied, crossing his fingers behind his shell.
"Good," Leo nodded and every one returned to what they'd been doing.
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Michelangelo managed to keep his word about not playing pranks. At least for a little while. But he couldn't resist pulling a stunt. The perfect opportunity came later that night.
Leonardo was setting the table for dinner and Donatello was putting clean dishes away. When no one was looking Mike quickly slipped a whoopee cushion under one of the chair seats.
"Dinner's done!" Donnie called a few minutes later.
Raph and Alex trotted in and took their spots at the table. Leo and Donnie took their seats and Michelangelo took his. His heart began to pound. He was about the jump into the seat with the cushion but before he could, Master Splinter sat down on it.
A resounding PHHHHHHHFFFFFFFT echoed through the room and was followed by dead silence. Michelangelo knew that he was going to get it. But surprisingly Splinter only removed the cushion from underneath him and tossed it on the floor. Not a word about it was spoken during the rest of the meal.
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After dinner the other turtles waited for Master Splinter to take Michelangelo into his quarters before sitting down to have a meeting.
"Something needs to be done about Mike," Raph said. "His pranks are getting out of hand."
"The rubber snake in my bed was funny," Donatello spoke. "And the grease on my Bo was slightly amusing. But the flour in my bed, the black soap in the soap dish, and everything else he's done lately have been an irritation."
Leo sighed. "Normally I'd be totally against this…but I agree. Mike needs to be taught a lesson and fast."
"Then we all agree?" Alex questioned.
The others nodded.
"We'll need time to come up with a plan," Leo stated.
"Something really good," Alex grinned evilly.
"How about we just beat the tar out of him?" Raph suggested.
Leo rolled his eyes at his brother. "No Raph. We have to fight fire with fire. And I know just how to do it."
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"This is gonna be so sweet," Alexandra cackled. She stood at the bottom of the tunnel entrance and watched Leonardo string up a very realistic cloth dummy. The plan was to go for a walk down this part of the sewer, then Raph would shrink back and release the rope holding the dummy. It would fall on Michelangelo and scare the living daylights out of him.
"I don't know Alex," Leo confessed. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Alex put her hands on her hips. "You agreed to go along with the plan Leo. Don't wuss out now."
Leo puffed out his chest. "I am not wussing out. I just don't think this is a good idea."
Alex shrugged and waited for him to finish. He hopped down from the ladder and carefully hid the rope.
"Let's go," Leo said.
Alex turned and nearly lost her balance. There was a sharp step and about a 3 foot fall down to a hard concrete bottom. Luckily Leo caught her arm.
"Careful!" Leo hissed.
"Thanks," Alex spoke, following her brother back to the lair.
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"How come we're walking this way?" Mike asked. He had to get special permission to leave the lair after the incident at dinner.
"Some place different," Leo replied, giving Raph a sharp nod.
Raph slowly fell back and waited until Mike was just about under the tunnel entrance. He pulled the rope and the dummy started to fall.
"Oh my god it's a dead body!" Alex shrieked.
Mike let out a yelp and lurched to the side, tripping and tumbling right over the drop. He hit the concrete below with a thud, landing sharply on his arm.
"Oh no," Donnie gasped, flashing his brothers and sisters a look and hurrying to the edge. Mike was sitting on his knees at the bottom, holding his arm and crying.
"I knew this was a bad idea!" Leo shrieked, jumping over the side. He hurried to his brother and knelt down next to him. "Are you ok Mike?"
Michelangelo was sobbing and rocking back and forth. "How could you guys? What a horrible rotten thing to do!"
"We were just trying to get you back for all the jokes you played on us!" Alex started to cry. "We didn't mean to hurt you!"
Donatello slid to the floor and gently pried Mike's fingers off his arm. "Let me see."
Michelangelo yanked his arm back and then promptly hollered in pain. "Don't touch me!"
"Let him look at your arm Mikey!" Raphael ordered. "Do it!"
Donatello again reached for Mike's arm. This time he didn't jerk it away. "I think it's broken," Donnie said somberly.
"It hurts!" Michelangelo wailed. "I wanna go home!"
Alex was still sobbing. " I wanna go home too!"
Leo and Raph helped Mike to his feet and Raphael picked Alex up and carried her. Slowly they walked back to the lair, dreading the punishment they knew was coming.
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"Master Splinter we're so sorry," Alex pleaded. "We didn't mean to hurt Mike. We-"
"We were only trying to teach him a lesson about playing practical jokes," Leonardo said, his voice filled with shame.
"It was not your place to teach Michelangelo this lesson," Splinter spoke. "And you are very lucky that his arm is only fractured and that he wasn't hurt worse."
"We'll make it up to Mikey," Donatello replied.
"You are all confined to the lair," Splinter stated. "And you will be given extra chores to do for the next 3 weeks."
"Yes master Splinter," the turtles chorused.
Splinter nodded. "I hope you all have learned something from this."
"I have," Alex said. "I learned that revenge isn't always good."
"Yes Alex," Splinter said. "And that is exactly what I hope you all realize now."
"We do," Leonardo replied.
"Good," Splinter said. "And as your first chore…you can all clean up your bedrooms. They are a mess."
The turtles quickly got to their feet and scurried off. Splinter watched them go and sipped his tea. Feeling something odd in his chair he reached down to find out what it was. His hand came back with the whoopee cushion. Splinter chuckled to himself and tossed it across the room. "Kids," he shook his head. Another day, another lesson learned.
And the moral of this story is: Revenge may be sweet but the results are often bitter.