DISCLAIMER: I do not own TMNT – though I wish I did.
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"Hey guys, has anyone seen Leo? I wanna practise my sparring with him," Mikey came hurtling into the room.
Donny looked up from his work, welder still burning in his hand – he was upgrading the armour on the Turtle Taxi, to repair it after its last run-in with The Purple Dragons. "Nope, haven't seen him since this morning – he went out to blow off steam. He's been thinking about Karai a lot – after our last battle with her, and how we nearly…well, it really affected him. He's been mediating a lot lately as a result."
Raph was knocking the stuffing out of his punching-bag, "Hey, Mikey, since Leo's not here, why not practise your sparring with me?" He grinned wickedly at Mikey, who gulped, as he watched how hard Raph was hitting the bag – he was clearly not in the best of moods today, and Mikey certainly didn't want to go up against him while he was like this.
"Oh, that's okay, Raph. I'd much rather read my comics than train, anyway."
"Alright, Mikey, if you say so. But personally, I'd enjoy the work out on a moving target. He he." Raph strode over to Mikey, who took a couple of steps back. "C'mon Mikey, you ain't chicken are ya? Bwack, bwack, bwack." He made chicken-wing motions with his arms, to further provoke Mikey.
"Raphie, Raphie, Raphie. When are you gonna get it? I'm not a chicken – I'm the…"
"Don't you dare say it!" chorused both Raph and Donny.
"…Battle Nexus Champion!" crowed Mikey, before bursting into peals of laughter.
"Oh no…" sighed Donny, quickly pulling down his welding mask and returning to his work. This was not going to be a pretty sight.
"That's it, laughing boy, you've just earned yourself a one-way ticket to Hurty-Town!" Raph jumped on Mikey and was about to begin raining punches down on Mikey when…
"Raphael!" Raph paused, his fist clenched and just inches away form delivering a blow to Mikey's fear-stricken face. He turned his head to see Master Splinter standing a few feet away, a frown upon his face. Raph stood up, releasing Mikey, and went off into the kitchen, glancing at his sensei as he passed. Mikey breathed a sigh of relief, but he had not gone unnoticed by Mater Splinter. As he attempted to sneak off to his room to his beloved comic books, he felt a sharp thwack! against the back of his head.
"Michaelangelo!" Master Splinter reprimanded, "Why are you not training with Leonardo?"
"Erm, sensei, Leo's not here. And Donny's working, and Raph – well, he's Raph. So I don't have anyone to be training with."
"Where is Leonardo? He knows this is when the two of you should be training – it is not like him to miss a session."
"In case you haven't noticed, Master, Leo's been going AWAL a lot since our last fight with Karai." Raphael ambled into the room, crumpling a can of soda in his hand and throwing it to one side.
"Hmmm." Master Splinter frowned, deep in thought. He hoped this was not going to be like the aftermath of their battle with the Utrom Shredder, when he had attempted to leave Earth – Leonardo had become withdrawn, and acted very out-of-character, and Master Splinter feared that bringing him round a second-time would be twice as impossible as it had been the first time. "You must try to be understanding of your brother – he bears the weight of failure very heavily, even more so when he feels he has let his family down. We must be patient, and allow him to purge his mind of these thoughts in his own way. For now, Michaelangelo, you shall train with me. We can begin with a meditation session - come, my son." Mikey groaned – meditation was not his best subject by a long shot, and he found it difficult to sit still for long periods of time. But, he dutifully followed his sensei, not wishing to earn himself another smack from his cane.
Raph went back to his punching bag, and Donny continued his work. Suddenly, they felt a slight trembling from beneath the floor of the lair, accompanied by a low rumbling sound. With each passing second, the noise got louder, and the shaking more violent, until the rumbling was more like a roar and debris began to fall form the ceiling. Mikey and Master Splinter rushed into the main room. "What's happening, Donny? Is it an earthquake?" shouted Mikey.
"I don't think so, Mikey." His brother replied.
"Then what the shell is going on?" growled Raph. Glancing at Donny's bewildered expression, the leader in Raphael took over. "Well, whatevas goin' on, we gotta get out of here!" Pulling Donny, the two raced to where Mikey and Master splinter were standing. Before they got a chance to leave, they were distracted by a load cracking sound. They spun round to see the floor in the centre of the room crumbling away, followed by a monstrous machine emerging from the hole that had been formed.
"It's a tunnelling machine!" Donny gasped – but he was to gasp even more when he saw the logo emblazoned on the side of it – it was none other than the three-toed symbol of the Foot!