Day one
"Do you think they can hear us?" Mikey asked as he tapped the glass of the incubator; while his red-masked brother Raph, just scowled, his other brother Donatello answered.
"It should be logical that they can." Don answered "If their hearing mechanisms are developed."
"Oh." Mikey said and tapped at the glass of the incubator again "You think they'll look like us?"
Leo snorted "If they're our kids, of course they will." He said and crossed his arms.
"What if Bishop messed with their DNA and turned them into freaks of mutant nature?"
"And we aren't?"
"You know what I mean."
Don walked up to his desk and picked up a document "It says here," he said and flipped through the papers "according to Stockman's notes; these four were, miraculously, the only four survivors out of hundreds. Even if their paternal DNA is ours, their maternal DNA belongs to a normal female turtle, one who's egg cells were mutated. Many of these egg cells belonged to different species of turtle."
"Like what?" Leo asked his genius brother.
"Well," Don flipped to another page "it's a very long list, so I'll just name a few; slider, red-eared slider, box turtle, painted turtle, sea turtle, side-necked turtle, leaf turtle, map turtle, marsh turtle, black wood turtle, bog turtle, chicken turtle, red-bellied turtle, soft-shell turtle, snapping turtle, golden thread turtle and so on. Huh, even a tortoise, go figure."
"Wow," Mikey whistled "how many types of turtles is there anyways Donnie?"
"Thousands if you count the sub-species." Don answered.
".Is there really such a thing as a chicken turtle?" Mikey asked.
"Uh huh."
Mikey smiled a trademark goofy grin and looked into the incubators again; a few days ago, they got tangled with Bishop again and had, in one of his labs, discovered an incubator of giant eggs Donnie had found a nearby document and upon reading it, he explained to them (very slowly) how the eggs were their biological offspring.
From the document, it explained how Bishop had taken the egg cells of normal female turtles, and using microscopic amounts of utrom ooze, mutated the egg cells so they would bond with the turtles DNA correctly and created 'purebred' mutant turtles. Several hundred embryo's were created, but in the end only four had survived proper development unflawed. These four were placed into eggs, color-coded to match the turtle who's DNA it had been created from.
Ironically; there was one for each turtle; one blue egg, one red egg, one purple egg and one orange egg.
So, in their time of panic and confusion, they decided on stealing the eggs and leaving. Don built and incubator (with the designs of the original incubator that was also in the document) in their Lair and they were slowly processing the fact that soon they would be parents.
Mikey was excited he was already a father, during his seven months of self-exile from the family, he had adopted an orphan street toddler, who he later named 'Moth' and was currently raising her as his daughter and student. Upon his return last Christmas, more than a year ago, Mikey confirmed that she was part of the family and the turtles welcomed the four-year-old with open arms almost instantly. Even Mikey's (and reluctantly, the other turtles) adoptive sister Karai acknowledged her as Mikey's daughter. Recently, her wooden swords had been traded in for a real pair of swords, twin Scimitar.
As for his brothers. They were a little nervous about being parents, they never thought such a thing would happen to them... let alone so soon in their lives; they were only twenty-one. At least in rat-years, Splinter had been middle-aged when he was mutated. Raph, who hated kids beyond rhyme and reason and still had trouble adjusting to his human neice, was the one was having the most trouble coming to terms with the whole 'soon-to-be father' thing.
Speaking of which, though Master Splinter had been a little overwhelmed to hear that four more members would join their family, he reminded his sons that these were their children like it or not, and it was their duty to raise them.
"Hm, a sea-turtle would be pretty cool." Mikey said and prodded at the glass again the incubators that Donnie had build were a little different than Bishops. Like Bishops, it also monitored heart-rate and temperature, but unlike it, it kept the eggs sectioned off from each other, and in each box-section their was a broadcast of their individual fathers heart-beat, so they'd be more 'bonded' with their fathers similar to the way human babies were to their mothers. "I wonder if mine is a sea-turtle."
"You better hope not." Don said "Sea turtles have flippers at least sliders like us had feet. A mutant sea-turtle might not have hands or feet and have to slide on it's belly all the time."
"Kill-joy." Mikey scoffed playfully he stopped prodding at the section where his orange-colored egg was and turned to Leo "What do you think their gonna be?"
Leo shrugged "A surprise I know that much." He replied and glanced over to the blue egg that belonged to him.
"Raph, what do you think?" Mikey asked the turtle in mention, who was about to leave the room.
Raph swiveled back to them "I think I'm sellin' that thing," he pointed at the red-colored egg "to the zoo."
"Oh come on Raph, why do you hate kids so much?" Mikey asked one thing that definitely contrasted these two, was that Mikey loved kids and Raph well.. Did not.
"I don't hate kids," Raph told him "their just really irritatin', and annoyin' and break everything they touch. No wonder we call you the childish one."
"Low blow, low fucking blow." Mikey hissed a left the room in anger. Raph flinched and shook his head with a sigh.
"I just uh. Touched a nerve didn't I?"
"He left the room, didn't he?" Leo reminded "Leave him alone, he'll get over it."
Raph exited.
Another thing Mikey, after everything that had happened to him in the past few years (the 'incident ' that shall never be spoken of, being tortured and trained by the Shredder, trying to kill Raph and nearly succeeding more than once, being captured and tortured by Bishop, his evil alter-ego being brought to life, than the same evil-alter-ego kidnapping him and torturing him whilst poisoning him with dark magic.) he had changed; he had grown up and matured and after some time a healing was regaining his warm nature, but at the same time there were still parts of him that were cold and hard. One thing that his brothers especially did not like was that Mikey hated the way he used to be; lazy, hyper-active and annoying. All in all he hated his old childish nature, it was never wise to touch the wrong nerve and bring it up.
"So Leo," Don asked his blue-masked mate "do you think we're ready for this type of stuff?"
For the longest time, Leo was silent in a very contemplative way. He was staring off into space seriously and a wise look beheld in his light-brown eyes. Finally, very seriously, he answered.
"I don't know."
Don did an anime fall.
Day Two
"What are you doing, Leo?" Don asked as he came into the kitchen and found Leo flipping through a book, several piles of books stacked on the kitchen table.
"Looking for names," Leo replied and flipped another page in the history book "since we were named after Renaissance artists, maybe we should so something similar with our kids." He explained.
Donnie thought for a moment "Good idea." He said and sat down; Leo looked at him and noticed he wasn't reading.
"Aren't you going to look?" Leo asked and flipped another page.
"I already read all those books," Don reminded "I'm thinking of historical people right now. Do you have anything in mind yet?"
"Actually," Leo said "I already chose a name for a boy, I'm looking for a girls' name now."
"Really, what?"
"If it's a boy, I'll name him Yoshi." Leo explained, flipped a page again and threw the book to the floor
"Geeze Leo, what'd the book ever do to you?" Mikey said as he walked into the kitchen with a cup of orange juice in hand.
"I think he got frustrated because there weren't many famous women in history." Don shrugged; he must have been right because Leo didn't say anything.
"Do you know any?" Leo asked, if he had hair he'd bee tearing it out right now.
"Hmm" Donnie thought, and you could swear a light bulb went off over his head "You like Japanese culture, right? The first novel ever written was written in Japan by a woman, her name was 'Lady Murasaki'."
"Murasaki?" Leo said "Hn, I like it; okay, if it's a girl I'll name her that."
"Picking names?" Mikey asked and guzzled his orange juice down, he sat down at the table too and picked up a book. "Sounds like Leo's all decided, what about you Don?"
"I think if I have a son, I'll name him Shakespeare, but if it's a daughter, I'll name her Lavinia, after Lavinia Fontana, a female Italian painter."
Mikey looked to the cover of the book and pointed it at Don "If I have a son, I'll name him this."
Don looked at the cover; it was Master Splinters favorite book. Art of War, By Sun Tzu.
"Sun Tzu huh? What if it's a daughter?" Don asked.
Mikey thought for a moment "That's easy; Tang Shen." He replied. Don almost laughed when Leo shot him a glare that said 'you stole my idea'.
It was then Raph made himself apparent; yawning, he rubbed his eyes and groggily looked at the table with his brothers and the books.
"Startin' a book club or somethin'?" Raph mumbled and yawned again, he went over to the cupboard and got a bowl, then poured cornflakes into it.
"Naw, that's on weekends," Don tolf him sarcastically "we're picking names. You want to?"
Raph groaned. "That egg-thing is not my kid!"
"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt." Mikey joked, then moved his head to the side just in time to dodge the spoon his brother threw at him. "Come on Raph; the 'egg-thing' is going to need a name when it's born."
"You want a name?" Raph mumbled and picked up a book, "If it's a boy I'll name 'im Mashimi, afta' Yoshi's brotha'."
"What if it's a girl?" His orange-masked mate asked, Raph snorted.
"Fat chance." Raph snorted sarcatically "But lets sat the egg-thing does turn out to be a chick; I'll name her Joan-Of-Ark, you know, afta' that chick who heard the angels and lead an army or something than got burned at the stake for it. She was pretty cool."
"Since we got the names figured out now," Leo said "will you guys help me put these books away?" He bent to pick up the book he'd earlier thrown at the floor; when he turned back around, all of his brothers were gone. "Very funny guys." He muttered and started to put the books back onto the shelves.
Day 3
Don turned then eggs as he did daily, when he came to his purple egg at the end, he did it with just a little bit more care. Don checked the heart-rate, one thing about this egg that always astounded him was the heart-rate; it was fast, very fast, way faster than the heart-rates of the other eggs. His scientific mind gave him a red flag; fast heart-rate told of a creature that would be hyper-active.
Donnie almost shot away in surprise when the egg started to rock; he had no idea how developed the turtles inside actually were, for all he knew they could hatch in the next two minutes.
'Oh god not yet.' He thought. The genius tried to mentally will the egg to stop rocking and sighed in relief when it did.
"Donatello?" A small voice came over from the entrance of his lab, he turned and saw an undersized human with wild dusky-brown hair and amber eyes framed by a green mask standing there, said human was no older than five; she wore all black clothes in form of a sleeveless turtle neck, shorts, and black volley-ball gear.
"Oh hello Moth, can I help you with something?" Don greeted his niece; he wondered what she was doing up this 'late'. Mikey's daughter was nocturnal, a habit she'd picked up while she lived in the Mountains of Minnesota with Mikey. Right now it was ten in the afternoon, the equivalence of ten at night for her.
"What are those?" Moth asked as she tilted her head in confusion; she walked over and put her hands on the warm glass of the incubator while she stared at the giant eggs in awe.
"Is it Easter?" She asked excitedly and pressed her face to the glass.
"No Moth." He said "But soon you won't be the only kid here; you'll have siblings to play with."
"Really?" She squealed in joy "Will them come out of there?" She asked, pointing at the eggs again.
"Yeah what are you doing? !" Don pulled the child away when she tried to pry into the incubator.
"I'll crack the shells open so they can come out they must be cramped in there." Moth explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Don sighed in annoyance.
"They're not ready to come out yet they uh, need to get ready before they come out to meet us, okay?" He told her, she accepted the excuse.
"Okay" She said and hung her head in disappointment, but brightened up when a thought came to her "Did I come from an egg too?"
"Go to bed Moth."
Day four
"Leonardo my son, what are you doing?" Master Splinter asked as he came into the dojo and found his katana-wielding son sitting in lotus position. With the blue egg that belonged to him lying in front of him.
"Isn't it obvious sensei?" Leo said and opened his eyes "I'm trying to sense its spirit so I can know what it is."
Master Splinter's rat ears twitched in amusement; he wondered if Leonardo really could meet the turtle before it was born through spiritual meditation. "Have fun with that, my son." Master Splinter chuckled before leaving the dojo, silently he muttered "Kids"
Then he realized his sons were not kids anymore, soon they would be fathers too.
Day five
Raph walked into the living room and stopped when he saw his orange-masked brother sleeping on the couch; Moth was curled up on his right arm between him and the couch, also asleep, and he was holding the orange egg that belonged to him against his chest plate.
Don had recently told them that the eggs were developed enough to be out of the incubators for some time since the life inside could now generate body heat of their own, and Mikey being, well Mikey, then put it upon himself to carry his egg everywhere except patrol.
For a moment, his mind flashed to the thought of fatherhood having to tend to the every beck and call of a screaming brat. Would he have time to bust sculls with Casey, to even have free time? Mikey had gotten it a little easier when he adopted his daughter she was only three when he adopted her so she hadn't been a screaming infant.
"I don't wanna be a fatha'" Raph mumbled quietly and stalked out of the room, cursing Bishop and everything the whacko stood for.
Day six
Mikey woke up when he felt squirming on his plastron; he was lying on his bed, which was where he'd fallen asleep last night. He frowned; he didn't remember Moth crawling into his bed, he just went to bed holding the egg
The egg Squirming. Oh shell, that meant - !
Mikey lifted the covered and he would have fallen over if he wasn't already lying down when he saw a squirming turtle surrounded by pieces of eggshell on his plastron and chest plate.
"DONNIE!"
"What's wrong with it?" Raph whispered to Donnie as they all gathered into the lab; Mikey was sitting on the cot, and on his lap was what appeared to be an over-sized turtle crawling on all fours.
The baby turtle had piercing icy blue eyes. But the strange thing about it was that it wasn't green. It was a yellow-ish tan color, it's shell was black and spiked, and it's plastron wasn't yellow like theirs, it was white like bone.
"Nothings wrong with it." Don said and studied the baby turtle closer "Mikey, I think your uh, offspring, is half-tortoise." He said; the baby half-turtle looked up at him with wide eyes quizzically.
"Hi there little dude." Mikey said as he picked the baby turtle up and held it out in front of him "So why doesn't it look like a baby anyways?"
"It's a turtle, Mikey." Don reminded "It'll walk on all fours for a while like we did when we were first mutated; in fact, it'll probably be able to talk in another few days."
"Really?" The genius's brothers all asked in unison.
"Turtles are animals; animals are usually on their own once their born." Don explained "I estimate that the baby turtles will be born with the mentality of a toddler rather than a new-born."
"Does that mean we won't have to change diapa's or nothin'?" Raph asked. He sighed in relief when Don nodded.
"Hmm," Mikey said and tilted his head a little "do you think it's a boy or a girl?"
"I took a blood sample when they other turtles are born, I'll have a blood test to see what gender they are." Don said.
"I think mines a girl." Mikey said and cradled his offspring "Awe, aren't you cute?" He cooed and the little turtle only blinked.
"You sure she's Mikey's?" Leo asked "She's way too quiet."
"Oh ha ha Leo." Mikey scoffed "Go wake Moth up I'm sure she'll like to meet Lavinia."
Donnie shot him a look "That's the name I chose Mikey."
"Hey, mine was born first; you can trade me." Mikey said with a grin.
Raph realized something "When do you think the others will hatch?" He asked.
Master Splinter then made himself known "What is going on my sons?" The aged rat asked his eyes widened a little when Mikey showed him the baby half-turtle.
"Look sensei mine was born first!"
Day seven
Lavinia was still crawling on all fours but a few times she had stumbled onto her feet before falling back down again, Donnie assured that she'd be able to walk in a matter of days.
However, the baby half-turtle still had not made a single sound and it was worrying Mikey.
"Hey Donnie?" Mikey asked as he came into the lab with Livonia under his arm.
"What is it Mikey?" Don asked, hoping Mikey didn't have another baby care question in the seven days since they'd acquired the eggs, Don hadn't once actually studied baby care because he never thought the lives inside had developed this far.
"What's wrong with her?" Mikey asked as he placed the baby half-turtle onto the cot "She won't make any noises or anything. Not even cry."
Don raised a ridge "Hold on," he said and picked something up from his desk "don't freak out, kay Mikey? I'm just going to do a little test." He said and he and tapped the baby turtle on the head with a small instrument of some kind it opened it's mouth as if it were squeaking in pain, but no sound came out.
"Mikey." Don said and shook his head "I think Lavinia is mute." He said and his little brothers expression dropped.
"Oh." Mikey said and looked at his offspring sadly.
Day eight.
Don came walking into the lab to turn the eggs, but when he came to the incubators, he saw an egg was missing from one of the sections.
In its place was a baby mutant turtle.
"Leo!" The purple-masked genius called.
"Wow." Leo drew out slowly when Donnie handed him the baby turtle; the little one looked, well, just like him. What appeared to be the same build from what he could tell, the same features and its skin color was pretty close too; rather than leaf-green, it was jade-green. Its eyes however, were different from his; they were dark-brown rather than light, and strangely enough they were slanted.
"Yours must be the same breed as us Leo." Don said; this baby turtle must have been one of the sliders, a slider like them. Yes were a little strange "Maybe it's an Asian sub-species of slider, I don't know of any species that has eyes like that."
"Ph, just what we need, another Leo" Raph mumbled; the one thing he noticed above all else about this baby turtle was that it looked exactly like Leo.
"I think it's a boy." Leo said and cradled it a little like he'd seen Karai do with hers and Chaplin's baby son, Reiki. "Hi Yoshi." He said and the little turtle squeaked a little.
Master Splinter came into the room "I hear another one has been born." The Ninjitsu master said "Ah, it was Leonardo's. Show me my grandchild." He said and Leo turned around to show Yoshi to his rat father.
Master Splinter smiled, he noted the baby turtles resemblance to Leonardo but his expression turned to shock when he looked the baby turtle in the eyes; in the dark, slanted eyes that stared wide-eyed at him.
In shock, Master Splinter stumbled away "I must go." The rat explained plainly and left the room, almost in a hurry.
"That was weird." Mikey said as he came into the lab with Moth at one side and Lavinia under his arm on the other side.
Day nine
Already Lavinia and Yoshi were walking on their feet. Being mute, Lavinia could not speak. But Yoshi was making odd sounds that sounded like gibberish speech, which meant he would be able to speak soon.
Mikey again got it easy when it came to kids; Lavinia seemed to be passive and quiet so Mikey had yet to get trouble from her. But Leo already seemed to be getting a little trouble from Yoshi. And it seemed the presence of another turtle tot was affecting Lavinia
"You brats!" Raph growled as Lavinia and Yoshi jumped into the pizza box with a pizza and were taking the slices out and eating them despite the slices being close to their own size.
Yoshi giggled and threw a glob of melted cheese at him.
"OWW!" Raph grunted as the cheese burned his skin, he peeled the cheese off and glared at Leo's little brat only to get a pepperoni thrown at him by Mikey's second brat.
Lavinia looked away innocently and ate a pepperoni.
"I hate kids." Raph mumbled as he walked away and let the little brats tear the pizza apart.
Day ten
"I wonder when mine and Raph's will hatch." Don mused aloud. As read away at the document, trying to see if there was a hint to what the breeds of the last two eggs were, but still he had no clue. Sighing, he threw the document down.
He felt a faint tapping at his knee; he looked down and saw Yoshi staring at him. The turtle tot tried to say something but it came out as gibberish.
"What is it Yoshi?" He asked, the turtle tot then walked away, Don watched in interest. The turtle tot stopped a few steps away and looked back at him; the jade-green turtle said more gibberish. Don got up and Yoshi continued to move, Don followed. Yoshi kept looking behind to make sure Don was following.
'A little strange for a toddler' Don thought, and briefly wondered why Master Splinter seemed to avoid Yoshi. Ever since the little turtles hatching, Master Splinter had only held it once, but only for two seconds. And Master Splinter stared at Yoshi like he had two heads or something. Clearly, Master Splinter's sixth sense must have told him something about Yoshi was off.
Master Splinter had a soft spot for Lavinia though, in the time the half-turtle wasn't with her father Mikey or playing with Moth and Yoshi, she was hanging around Master Splinter.
Don was pulled from his thoughts when Yoshi stopped at the dojo; the jade-green turtle prodded at Don's knee at pointed at Leo who was practicing a kata.
Don looked at Leo and then to said turtles offspring "That's your father; Leonardo."
Yoshi nodded and ran over to his father, he prodded at Leo's knee but the blue-masked turtle would not divide his attention.
Don watched at the toddler frowned but brightened up when an idea seemed to hit him. Yoshi opened his mouth.
"Lee... ar... do" Yoshi managed to squeeze out a little broken and mispronounced, but still more than gibberish. Leo snapped out of his legendary concentration and snapped his gaze at his son; his light brown eyes were wide.
"What did you just say?" Leo asked.
"Leeardo!" Yoshi squeaked cutely, Don repressed back snickers as Leo practically melted to the toddler. Leo picked his toddler son up and kept trying to get him to say different things; his katana forgotten as they lay by his feet on the floor.
Forget questioning honor; cuteness was Leonardo's ultimate weakness.
Day eleven
Seeing the two brats running around the lair made Raph finally come to grips with soon becoming a parent. He knew it was only a matter of time before his egg would hatch. Even if Yoshi and Lavinia were annoying as shell, and there was no doubt his would probably be even more annoying, living in denial would not help him.
So he came walking into the lab where the incubators were; he glanced at the red egg and saw it was rocking a little; Don told him that the lives inside the eggs would move around a lot, like a fetus inside of a mother would.
"Hey, little brat." Raph addressed the egg, feeling rediculous for doing so "If ya can hear me; ya betta' be like ya old man. But be quiet once ya hatch, I might chuck ya at a wall at some point if your not." He was joking, but a bit of him was serious. He knew his temper was in better control now, but he was still prone to temper flares, the last thing he wanted was to actually hurt his own kid. At couple years back, he still remembered how he almost bludgeoned Mikey with a pipe. And how bad he had hurt Mikey while he was angry and drunk, starting a chain reaction of unfortunate events. With all the times Mikey had been captured and tortured; it could all be traced back to the 'incident'. So, all of those scars that adorned Mikey's body were because of him.
Raph heard a couple of peep-like sounds and turned away from the red egg that belonged to him and instead looked at the purple egg; it was rocking back and forth and was covered in cracks, a few pieces of eggshell had broken off and a very small hand was trying to pry out of the egg by shoving it's fingers out of the openings and tearing more eggshell off.
"Don!" Raph yelled, unsure of what else to really do.
"Wow Don; yours doesn't look like you at all." Leo commented "Except maybe in build."
Don was holding the squealing, thrashing infant on his lap and was struggling to dry it off with a towel since it was still covered in goop from inside the egg. Once it was dry enough, he put the now-clean turtle tot on the cot for everyone to look.
This time, everyone had been there to witness the turtle hatching; it had gotten out rather fast since it was bipedal.
"Actually," Don said as he tilted his head to the side and studied his offspring ". It looks kind of like Mikey."
The turtle tot was small compared to the other two turtle tots, and had midnight-green skin, which was just a much darker variation of Mikey's, and copper eyes that were very wide like Mikey's used to be. However, the baby turtle was built like Donnie and shared some features with him. Most prominently, it had bright red streaks running down either side of its neck that ran down from where its ears were supposed to be.
"It's a red-eared slider, right?" Leo asked as he pointed at the bright red streaks; Donnie nodded, for that had been one of the listed breeds of 'mother eggs'.
"What do you think it is, my son?" Master Splinter asked, like he had with Yoshi he seemed to be distancing himself away from this turtle tot as well.
"I think it's a girl." Donnie guessed; he did not know, but it's voice was high-pitched and it's eyes sort of reminded him of a girl. "So I guess her name is Tang Shen."
Tang Shen squeaked seemingly in approval.
Mikey was writing something down on a piece of paper "Lets see; we have Moth, Lavinia, Yoshi and now Tang Shen, that only leaves Raph's kid. Place your bets; I think it's going to be a boy."
"Ditto." Everyone else, even Raph, chorused.
"Wait a second," something seemed to dawn on Mikey "I just realized something guys!"
"What is it, my son?" Master Splinter asked curiously.
Mikey grinned and pointed at Raph "My kid is the oldest, and Raph's kid is going to be the youngest!"
Mikey, Don and Leo started to laugh.
Day twelve.
While Raph's egg had yet to hatch; the hatched turtle tots got much worse whenever Tang Shen joined their group; Yoshi could talk more, Lavinia was still mute but decided to do whatever the others did anyways.
"This remind of you of anything?" Leo asked as he, Don, Raph and Mikey watched the turtle tots and Moth eat a pizza.
"Pizza!" Tang Shen, who had been the quickest to learn how to talk, squawked.
"Mine!" Moth grumbled and pushed Tang Shen away - Moth was sort of on a power trip since she was no longer the youngest/smallest in the Lair anymore.
"Pizza dude!" Yoshi said as he jumped onto Moth's back and then they all started to fight over the slices of pizza. In the end, they all got a slice and were covered in cheese.
"It's kind of eerie, isn't it?" Mikey asked with a small chuckle, his brothers agreed.
Day thirteen
"Not that I'm complainin', but Don, why is mine takin' so long?" Raph demanded ads he walked into the lab where Don was apparently watching something on Youtube.
"Well Raph," Don started to explain "they were all conceived on the same day and probably same minute; but their about as individual as a human baby, they grow at their own rate, this is especially true since they are different breeds. Some human babies are born two weeks early, some two weeks late." Don paused the video and went up to the incubators where only the red egg was left, Raph followed.
Don picked up the egg and put it near a lamp "Watch." He instructed and turned the light one; with the assistance of the light, the shell had become translucent and Raph could now see the shape of the life inside.
He was a little bit stunned.
"See Raph?" Don said and pointed at the dark shape inside that occupied the entire space of the egg "whatever breed yours is your is definitely big, almost twice the size of the others. Yours probably needs more time to form because it's so big."
"So mine will be the biggest?" Raph asked a grinned; of course. Pride welled up under his plastron.
"I sure hope it doesn't act like you, I don't want to fix twice as much stuff as usual." Don mumbled quietly, but Raph heard him anyways.
"Just for that; first thing I'm teaching this kid is how to break stuff." Raph said with a cocky grin.
Don banged his head against a nearby wall.
Day fourteen.
Moth was reading a comic book, sitting in front of the couch and minding her own business, she flipped a page and her eyes were wide as Virgil's uncle was kidnapped by the bang-baby Blinder, who was-!
"Surprise attack!" Yoshi yelled and Moth was suddenly knocked over by a barreling trio of baby turtles.
"Aack!" Moth shrieked as she got up and tried to shake her new siblings off "Come on guys! This isn't funny, I want to see if Teshome' is going to live!" The scimitar-weiling five-year-old shouted as she ran around and the turtle tots kept hanging on her, pulling on her hair, ears and nose (which no one else in the Lair, except Master Splinter, had)
Moth screamed more and kept running, continually trying to shake her mutant siblings off.
Nearby, her adoptive father Mikey and his 'sister' Karai were sitting at a table, watching. "I am gone for two months," Karai said and sipped her tea "and all of this happens?"
"Only a day in the life of a talking mutant turtle" Mikey shrugged; their attention was suddenly brought back when they heard a blood-curdling scream.
Moth had stopped running and her mouth was open agape, her amber eyes as wide as a stoners; a few feet in front of her, Yoshi was holding her comic book and he had ripped it to pieces. He, and the other turtle tots, were all laughing and rejoicing over the ripped pieces of comic book pages.
Moth screamed again, finally shook them all out and unsheathed her scimitar. "YOUR SHELLS ARE MINE! TONIGHT I DINE ON TURTLE SOUP!" She shrieked and came at them; in sudden terror that they were going to be gutted; Lavinia, Yoshi and Tang Shen ran away from their human sister, all screaming.
"Moth, no!" Mikey yelled and chased after her to stop her from skewering the turtle tots.
"Just another day in the life of a mutant turtle" Karai mumbled and took another sip of her tea, a small smile on her light-colored face.
Day fifteen
Like many a mornings, Don woke up hunched over his desk on his chair; his neck hurt from being bent so awkwardly and he groaned when he tried to swivel it back into place without hurting.
Yawning, he got up to check on Raph's egg; when he got there, he immediately looked at the heart-rate and was surprised to find it so low; he then looked at the egg and gasped in shock.
Only one half of the egg was in tact; the rest of it was reduced to tiny bits around it, and spilling out of the remaining eggshell was an unconscious baby turtle.
"Raph; your offspring is sick." Don said; he had kept the baby turtle inside of the incubator to keep it warm, but he had cleared out the eggshell bits. The turtle tot was indeed sick; it temperature was too low, its heart rate was slow and it constantly shivered. The turtle tot must have been born a few days premature; but it couldn't stay in its shell any longer because it was too big for the egg. Being hatched prematurely had made the little turtle sick.
Raph's offspring was large, easily twice the size of the other turtle tots even though it was hatched premature. It's skin was mint-green, and it's eyes were pale yellow. For the most part, it bore a striking resemblance to Raph with it's thick, compact limps and thick build. However, this turtle did not have 'buck teeth' like the other turtles were born with It had fangs.
"Damn." Raph cursed as he put his hand to the glass of the incubator "Mashimi; I hope your were born a fighta'."
The others didn't say anything; with the size and build, there was no doubt that Raph's kid was a male.
"Of course it was born a fighter." Mikey assured and put a hand to his mates shoulder "You're the dad, after all."
"Why does Mashimi have fangs anyways, Don?" Raph asked, off-subject.
"I believe his breed is snapping turtle, that's why he's so large, and why his teeth are sharp." Don answered, then went onto the previous subject. "The sickness isn't serious; it'll be weak while it still develops and will need to stay in the incubator for a while, but in a few days or maybe a week it'll be perfectly healthy." Don said, then he pricked the little turtles finger and got a blood sample, which he put with three other small samples of blood; each were labeled; L, M, D, this new disk was labeled 'R'.
"What's the blood for, bro?" Mikey asked curiously.
"Now that all four of them are born, I'm taking a blood test so we can be positive what gender they are." Don said "Mikey, erase the names you've already written, don't start their birth certificates until we're sure what they are."
Mikey nodded.
Master Splinter teetered towards the incubator; Mashimi opened his eyes and looked at his rat grandfather with fever-hazed pale yellow eyes and made a strangled noise before falling back asleep.
Master Splinter, like he had with Yoshi and Tang Shen, backed away from the newborn and left.
After processing the blood samples through a machine, complicated bionary code appeared on his monitor screen; Donnie however, could read bionary code as easily as others his age could read a novel.
With all the data processed, and all the information acquired, he called the rest of his family in.
While Donnie held Tang Shen, Leo was holding Yoshi and Mikey was holding Lavinia while Moth was at his other side, Raph was again looming near the incubator where his offspring is.
"It seems," Donnie began to explain "that we got things backwards; Tang Shen is actually male and so is Lavinia."
Mikey gaped and glanced at his mute turtle tot.
"And Leo," Donnie added "Yoshi is female."
"Oh." Was all Leo could say.
"Huh; a team with only one chick? Wouldn't that have problems?" Raph asked aloud, Donnie gulped.
"Uhh Raph. Mashimi is also a female."
Raph stared bug-eyed at his brothers. "You have got to be kidding me!" Raph yelled and punched a nearby wall, cracking it in the process. "My kid is a chick!"
"Calm down Raph." Don reprimanded, trying to quell his hot-headed comrades temper flare "If it makes you feel any better; the blood tests also revealed that the female turtles have the same physical potential as males like us do; so they aren't going to be physically weaker." He said "They'd be just as strong, or fast as a genetically identical male."
That seemed to calm Raph down; the last thing he would want would be for his kid to be a weak, whiny female.
Leo also sighed in relief.
Mikey had a ditzy smile on his face as he patted Lavinia's head "Sorry I thought you were a girl, little dude."
Master Splinter picked up a notebook and they discussed it before finally deciding on the full names of the turtle tots. He put them under Moth's;
Michaelangelo's (first-born) child
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Ethnicity: Unknown.
First name: Moth
Middle name: Buonarroti
Full name: Moth 'Buonarroti' Hamato.
Birth date: July 15th
Michaelangelo's child
Gender: Male
Breed: Slider/Tortoise
First name: Sun Tzu
Middle name: Low Profile
Full name: Sun Tzu 'Low profile' Hamato
Birth date: January 14th
Leonardo's child
Gender: Female
Breed: Slider
First name: Murasaki
Middle name: Yoshi
Full name: Murasaki 'Yoshi' Hamato
Birth date: January 16th
Donatello's child
Gender: Male
Breed: Slider/Red-eared slider
First name: Shakespeare
Middle name: Tang Shen
Full name: Shakespeare 'Tang Shen' Hamato
Birth date: January 19th
Raphael's Child
Gender: Female
Breed: Slider/Snapping turtle
First name: Joan-Of-Ark
Middle name: Mashimi
Full name: Joan-Of-Ark 'Mashimi' Hamato
Birth date: January 23rd
Day sixteen
"Master Splinter, we need to talk with you." Leo said as he, Don and Raph approached their rat father; their sensei was currently meditating but he opened his eyes.
"About what, my sons?" The Ninjitsu master asked, but he already had a pretty good idea what about.
"Why do you hate our kids?" Donnie asked, straight-foreword, Leo elbowed his brother gently in the plastron.
Master Splinter flattened his ears "Donatello, I do not hate your children. I love them as I did you all." He answered it was true.
"Than how come you avoid all of them except for Mikey's?" Raph demanded.
"What they mean, sensei." Leo cut in "Ever since you fist saw Yoshi I mean, Murasaki; you shyed away from her. The same goes for Shakespeare and Joan-Of-Ark. You sense something about them, don't you? Something that you didn't sense with Sun Tzu, what was it?"
Master Splinter sighed and shook his furry head "My sons, trust me; it is nothing bad, after several days of meditation I have concluded that my hunch was correct, but it is best that you not know now while your little ones are so young. I ask that you trust me and don't question any further. Know that I am sure about them, I assure you I will no longer 'shy away' from them."
Though they seemed reluctant, they listened.
Unaware to them, Moth was nearby; she had listened. Now that she had over-heard their conversation, she silently crept away and decided it was a big secret so she shouldn't tell either.
Day seventeen
"They are so cute!" April squealed as she goggled at the sleeping turtle tots; Donatello had built a sun lamp to keep the newborn reptiles warm; under it was a rectangle-shaped box filled with tattered cloth. It was sort of a make-shift 'nest' that all of the turtle tots slept in. They had decided to bond the little turtles with each other so they could have strong family relationships with each other like the grown turtles do. Even Joan-Of-Ark slept in the nest, and the warmth and light was improving her health.
Casey had a big stupid grin on his face "I can't believe mutant turtles beat me at the kid game!" He joked, his wife shoved him a little.
"We're not ready for kids yet, Casey." April told him with a small smile; he grinned back. Secretly, April already was pregnant; two months, but they would wait a little longer to tell the guys the good news.
"Cute, but destructive." Don grumbled from his desk as he tinkered with an appliance that Murasaki and Shakespeare had managed to break. Seeing the destructive behavior that was most prominent in Shakespeare, Donnie had a hard time believing that Shakespeare was his and not Mikey's. Since Shakespeare did have a keen resemblance to the orange-masked terrapin, along with similar behavior of breaking things and being really loud. And Sun Tzu acted more like Donatello than his own father; at a young age he was calm and not near as destructive as his other siblings.
"This one is Raph's right?" Casey asks as he pointed at Joan-of-Arks sleeping form.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Donnie asked; Casey never was the brightest crayon in the box
"Yo, it's kind of obvious." Casey snorted and tapped the biggest turtle tot on the snout; Joan-Of-Ark growled in her sleep and sank her fangs into Casey's hand.
"OWW OWW OWW!" Casey yelled as he hopped around, shaking his arm furiously to shake Joan-of-Ark off, but it seemed Raph's stubbornness was heredity because she woke up and refused to let go of the raven-haired mans hands. "GET IT OFF!" He screamed as the sharp teeth sank further into the flesh of his hands. The turtle tots teeth had managed to pierce right through his thick brown/orange gloves and right the flesh of his hands.
April was laughing at her husbands misfortune and savored it for a few minutes before deciding to pry Joan-Of-Ark off of his hand.
After five minutes of pulling and coaxing, Joan-Of-Ark finally released Casey's hand and fell asleep while April was cradling and rocking her in her arms.
"Oww, oww, ow.." Casey mumbled lowly and sulked over his hurt hand "That thing ain't a turtle; it's a freaking vampire I tell ya!" He shouted obscurely and pointed at the innocently sleeping turtle tot. "That thing is evil!"
Just as he was shouting obscurities, Moth came into the room, and hearing her uncle Casey call her new little sister evil made her upset. She ran over to Casey and kicked him in the shin.
"You're not allowed to be mean to my little sister!" Moth shouted and kicked him again.
Casey grunted in pain; for an under-sized five-year-old girl, Moth had a pretty hard kick.
"April," he moaned "kids hate me!"
April laughed again.
Day eighteen
"My sons; we must talk about something." Master Splinter said; he called in the entire family, including the April and Casey, Karai along with her husband Chaplin and their baby son Reiki.
"What is on your mind, Sensei?" Leo asked, concerned and a little anxious; he knew that the news would either be wonderful or horrible if Splinter had called over the entire family.
Master Splinter waited a second before announcing "I am sending you all, my sons, away."
"WHAT?" Everyone chorused in shock.
Master Splinter held up his paw to call for pause "Let me explain" He begun "My sons; you will take your children and go somewhere else. Anywhere, for a year you will raise them on your own. This is so you will be bonded with your child and they would acknowledge you as their father and sensei. After a year, you shall return and they can be raised with each other. In this year you are gone, you will begin their training whenever you think the time is right."
His sons were rendered speechless.
Moth frowned; she loved her new siblings, she didn't want to leave them.
"Do I have to stay?" Moth asked sadly.
Master Splinter shook his head "No Moth; you will leave with Michaelangelo and Sun Tzu." She instantly brightened; at least she'd have one of them
"But Sensei!" Don protested "Where will we go?"
"Anywhere you desire; you can wander around if you'd like, or find a temporary home." Master Splinter explained, when it looked like they were going to argue, he added "That is a direct order."
They looked to the ground disappointed before saying "Yes Sensei."
Raph spoke up "When do you want us to leave, Sensei?" He asked.
"Tonight." Master Splinter announced, everyone in the room gasped. "Except for you Raphael; your daughter is still sick and you must wait a few days until she is strong enough to travel."
Karai spoke up, to Mikey "I will miss you, brother." She said solemnly "This is the second time you are leaving."
"I'll miss you all too." Mikey admitted "But hey, at least none of us will be alone." He added with a half-hearted smile, his brothers agreed.
"Do you still have that credit card I gave you last time you left?"
"Uh huh still has more than eigth thousand dollars in it"
".What did you do with the first thousand?"
"Don't make me answer that." Mikey said cryptically and then turned to his human daughter "Moth; we're going back to our home in Minnesota, okay?" He told her and a big smile filled out on the dusky-haired childs face. Even if she had adjusted well, and was used to life in the sewers of New York; in her mind, that secluded cave in the Mountains of Minnesota would always be the first real home she ever had.
The brothers were standing out of the exit of their home; each of them had a backpack and duffle bag. All of them were dressed in a trench coat and fedora, and had their child in one arm; except for Raph, who was staying behind for this one.
"Bye guys." Mikey said sadly; "See you bro's in a year.''
Raph looked down to Moth "You take care of ya dad, okay?"
"Okay Uncle Raphael." Moth said with a nod, the green-masked ninja in training was also wearing a trench-coat and a fedora; more to keep warm than to stay concealed since she was human and didn't need to hide.
"And you two," Raph added to his two other brother, Leo and Donnie "take care of those brats of yours, okay?"
They nodded, then turned to all of their friends and their father.
"Before you leave, my sons, there is something I must give you all." Master Splinter added "Show me your children; even you, Raphael." The turtles knelt down and held out their turtle tots; Master Splinter took something out from his robe and he came up to each of them.
He tied bandanna's onto each of the heads of the turtle tots; the kind that covered the top of their heads along with their eyes like the turtles had when they were younger. Murasaki was given a white mask, Sun Tzu was given a gray mask, Shakespeare was given a yellow mask and finally, Joan-Of-Ark was given a megenta mask.
His sons thanked him before turning back.
"Goodbye, we'll see you all in a year." Leonardo, Donatello and Michaelangelo all said at the same time before leaving in different direction; disappearing into the shadows.