The four five-year-old mutant turtles sat in a circle in their underground, make-shift living room.

"Okay, Mikey," Donnie said, "truth or dare?"

Mikey tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Uh...dare!"

"I dare you to...kiss Raphie on the mouth."

Mikey scoffed. "That's it? Piece of cake!" He grabbed his hot-headed brother's face and swiftly pecked him on the lips.

"Bleh!" Raphael slapped Mikey on the back of the head.

"Ow! Okay, my turn! My turn! Raphie, truth or dare?"

Raph sighed. "I pick truth this time."

"I dare you to go stick your head in the..." Mikey paused, "...oh, you said truth. Man, that's no fun!" He sighed. "Okay, um...Oh! What's your biggest fear? And don't lie!"

Raph shrugged. "I don't know. Spiders, I guess?"

"Good enough..." Mikey groaned.

"Okay, well now it's my turn. Leo, truth or dare?" Raphael said.

Leonardo bore a smug expression. "Dare me!"

"I dare you to go up to the surface, and you have to leave the alleyway."

Leo scoffed. "Are you crazy, Raph? Do you even know what's up there?"

"Better yet, what Splinter would do to us for that," Donnie added.

"What's the matter? Are you chicken?"

"That's not a fair dare, Raph!" Leo argued. "That could get me in trouble."

"Hey! We never agreed that we couldn't dare each other to do stuff we could get in trouble for."

Mikey shrugged. "He does have a point."

"Exactly. So what's it gonna be Leo?"

Leo sighed. "Fine. I'll do it, but only if you guys promise to stand guard and watch for Splinter."

"Okay deal," Raph agreed.

The boys had strayed off less than half of a mile into the dark tunnels of the sewer.

"Why do I have to stand guard?" Mikey whined. "This is so boring!"

"You expect us to let you back up Leo in case something happens? Forget that!" Raphael argued.

"Look, if Splinter comes looking for us, he's almost definitely going to come through this tunnel first," Donnie explained. "All you need to do is wait here for a few minutes and distract him until we come back, okay?"

"But I wanna see too!"

"Don't worry," Leo patted Mikey's shell, "we'll tell you all about it!"

Mikey sighed. "Okay."

With that, the older three boys took off further into the tunnel.

Once the boys reached the ladder to the surface, Leo swallowed hard, beginning to rethink the situation. Raph noticed him nervously studying the ladder.

"What's the matter, Leo?" He teased. "Scared?"

"No!" Leo snapped. "I'm just...wondering what I'll see up there."

"Well then what are you waiting for? Go find out!" Raph shoved Leo toward the ladder.

"Come on, Leo. You can do it!" Donnie coaxed.

Leo grabbed onto a rung of the ladder and sighed before he began to climb.

Mikey sat against the wall of the tunnel, fuming to himself.

"Stupid brothers leaving me to do the boring job. This is so stupid!"

Mikey's ramblings were interrupted by the sight of a sewer rat scurrying by. He giggled.

"Hey little guy! You look just like my daddy, only littler!"

The rat looked at Mikey curiously and twitched it's whiskers as it sniffed the air between them. When it did not smell food, it instantly lost interest and scurried away.

"Hey wait! Come back!" Mikey chased after the critter on his hands in knees. "I just wanna pet you!" With ninja-like speed, he caught up to the rat and caught it by the end of its tail. "Gotcha...Eep!" Mikey yelped when he felt himself suddenly lifted from the ground by a large pair of hands.

"And I've got you, Michelangelo," the all-too-familiar voice said.

"What's the hold up, Leo?" Raph asked, standing on the rungs immediately below the ones that held Leo.

"It's the manhole cover..." Leo strained. "It's...it's too heavy!" After trying to push it straight up, he decided to try lifting it slightly and then sliding it off to the side. "Wait! I think I got it." It worked. Leo poked his head out of the manhole, only to be met with an alleyway that was dimly lit by a nearby streetlight and accompanied by only a rusty, green dumpster and cinder block walls coated in graffiti.

"Well...what do you see?" Raph asked.

Leo did not respond. He climbed out of the manhole and crawled onto the blacktop of the surface.

"Wow..." he mused. "Guys! You gotta see this place! It's so cool!"

Donnie and Raph silently nodded to one another and climbed out of the manhole.

"Sensei!" Mikey smiled sheepishly. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing, my son. I've been looking for you and your brothers."

Mikey froze. "...Oh."

Splinter arched an impatient eyebrow. "Michelangelo, where are your brothers?

"Uh...I..." Mikey reminded himself to distract his father. "Oh, Sensei! Did you see the rat I...well I kinda caught before you...he...h-he looked like you only he was..." Mikey noticed the unamused look that his father bore. "...s-smaller."

Splinter sighed. "No, Michelangelo, I did not see this said rat. Now, tell me where your brothers are like I asked of you."

Mikey began to tremble. "U-uh..."

"Michelangelo!" Splinter demanded.

Mikey flinched. "I-I don't know..."

Splinter firmly pinched Mikey's neck. Mikey yelped. "Oww! Okay okay! We were playing truth or dare and Raphie dared Leo to go up to the surface and Raph and Donnie are standing guard!"

Splinter released his son's skin. "They what?!"

Leo flashed Raph a smug grin. "I told you I could do it, Raph."

Raph sighed, but grinned. "Yeah, I guess you did. I guess this means it's your turn."

"Yup! Okay Donnie, truth or dare?" Leo was alarmed to not hear a response from his brainy brother. "Donnie?"

The two oldest brothers turned to the opening of the alleyway to see Donatello approaching a well-dressed man talking on his cell-phone.

"Whoa, a real live human..." Donnie mused to himself as if in trance.

"Donnie, wait!" Leo said in a hushed whisper, but it was to no avail. Donnie continued to approach the unsuspecting man.

"I just gotta see one up close..."

"Donnie, are you stupid? Get back here!" Raph snapped.

Donnie continued to ignore his brothers and reached the man. He cocked his head to the side curiously and tugged on the man's pant leg. "H-hi..."

The man screamed when he saw the small mutant tugging at his leg. "Oh my god! What is that?!"

Holding Mikey's hand, Splinter practically drug him to the ladder leading to the open manhole. "This must be it." He released Mikey's hand and knelt down to be eye-level with his son. "You stay right here. Don't even think about moving a muscle, do you understand me?"

Mikey nodded timidly.

Both father and son were startled to hear a pained wail come from the surface. Splinter leaped onto the ladder with break-neck speed and climbed to the surface. His eyes are met with Leonardo and Raphael standing next to the dumpster and trembling, staring at a crying Donatello, who was holding his face.

"Donatello!" He rushes to his son's side and scoops him up into his arms before ushering the other two back toward the manhole. "My sons, get back to the sewer! Now!"

Without a word, Raph and Leo climb down the ladder, there father wasting no time to climb down after them and close the manhole with one arm.

"D-daddy?" Mikey's voice cracked and trembled. "Is Donnie okay?"

Splinter examined the crying child in his arms. He moved Donnie's hand that covered his mouth and saw that it was bleeding profusely. He sighed. "Come, my sons."

To the four brothers, it felt like the longest walk through the tunnels they had ever taken. Once they reached the lair, Splinter placed Donnie on the counter in their makeshift kitchen. "I want the three of you to wait in your room. You are all in deep trouble once I am finished tending Donatello's wound."

Without a word, Mikey, Raph, and Leo scurried off to their bedroom to await their punishment.

Splinter retrieved a wet rag and wiped Donatello's bleeding mouth. "Tell me what happened, Donatello."

Donnie sniffled. "I saw a human. I-I've never seen a human before so I wanted to...to see him up close. I only said hi, but he got all s-scared and kicked me in the mouth. Then...th-then he ran away."

Splinter lifted his son's chin. "Open wide for me." Donnie obeyed. Splinter cringed. "Well, it looks like you're missing a front tooth, my son."

Donnie sighed.

"I am highly disappointed in you and your brothers. You all know very well that you are not to go to the surface, and this is exactly why!"

"I-I know. I'm sorry, Sensei."

Splinter went to their freezer and retrieved an ice-pack. He handed it to Donatello, and then lifted him from the counter and set him on the floor.

"Come," he said. "the five of us are going to have a serious talk."

Leo, Raph, and Mikey sat side-by-side on the edge of their shared bed.

"W-what do you guys think he's gonna do to us?" Mikey asked without looking up from his nervously kicking feet.

"We're probably gonna get whooped," Raph replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Or grounded forever," Leo added.

Mikey shuddered at the thought of either outcome.

All three of them jumped when their father and injured brother entered the bedroom. They each quickly glance at his face and immediately shift their glance back to the floor when they are burned by his furious expression.

Donatello wordlessly joined his brothers on the bed, plopping down next to a trembling Mikey.

"I am deeply disappointed in each and everyone of you," Splinter growled in an eerily low tone. "Stand up." He demanded. All four turtles hopped down from their bed and stood on the floor, still refusing to take their eyes off of their feet. Their hearts all leaped at once when they heard the sound of their father's belt being snatched from his waist.

First, Splinter snatched Leonardo by the arm and whipped him on the back of his upper thighs repeatedly with the belt. He whirled the crying turtle around to face him. "Leonardo, I can expect this sort of reckless behavior from Raphael, but not from you! You are the one to set an example for your brothers, and just what sort of example did you set today?"

Leo hiccuped. "I-I know. I-I'm so sorry, Master Splinter."

Next, he moved to Raphael and repeated the same physical action with him. "Raphael, how dare you challenge your brother to go up to the surface! You know I forbid that! Are my warnings not enough?"

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't th-think he'd really do it..." Raph rubbed his tearful eyes.

Next to be whipped was an already flinching and crying Michelangelo. Nonetheless, he got the same treatment as his brothers. "Michelangelo, do not think that because you did not go up that you are any less wrong than your brothers. You lied to me! Instead of alerting me of the situation, you lied for them...and very poorly I might add. You are never to tell me a lie, especially in such a serious situation!"

"I-I'm s-sorry..." Mikey held out his arms and went for an apologetic hug, which Splinter accepted. He kissed his forehead and set him back on the bed.

Last, in spite of his injury, was Donatello. He was whipped, and then resigned to the bed with his brothers. "Donatello, as if it were not bad enough that you went to the surface, you approached a human! You put your life in immediate danger as well as your brothers! You are lucky to have escaped with so meager an injury."

Donnie sniffled. "I know..."

Splinter sighed and enveloped them all in a hug. "I want you to know that I love you all. That is why I forbid you to go up there. I want you to be safe."

"W-we know," only Leo replied.

"We love you too, Thsensei," Donnie said, with a new-found lisp.

Raphael glanced at him curiously. "Why do you sound funny?"

"My toofh got knocked out," he replied and bared the new gap in the front of his mouth.

Raphael giggled, earning him a swift warning tap on the back of his head from Splinter.

"Sensei, will we ever be allowed to go up to the surface?" Leo asked.

Splinter stroked his beard contemplatively and sighed. "Perhaps someday, my sons. Now, run along and play. You have served your punishment, I believe."

The four boys each grinned with utter relief and toppled over each other out of their bedroom, leaving Splinter alone in the bedroom.

He sighed. "Someday...I fear that day."

Well there's my first ever turtle tot fic. Hope you enjoyed!