AN: Thanks for your feedback! I wonder how the boys will handle the situation.
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Say Hello to Your Daddy
Leonardo licked the bite marks on his hand as he watched the child version of his rat father kick Michelangelo. Considering the boy was still wearing Splinter's clothes, it was a miracle that he hadn't tripped over his robe.
"Hey! Don't do that, it hurts!" Michelangelo protested, trying to catch Splinter's shoulders to keep the child at arm's length.
"Please tell me it's a nightmare," Leonardo muttered. "Someone please pinches me."
"No problem," Raphael shrugged with a half-smile, extending his arm to comply. "Always happy to help."
Leonardo yelped.
"It was just a figure of speech, Raph!"
Raphael's innocent face could have rivaled Michelangelo's on his best days.
"This is messed up," Donatello stated, completely ignoring his brothers' antics. He was looking at the Kraang device in his hand as if it was haunted. "Let's hope it has a reverse functionality."
The tall turtle tried to push different buttons while Leonardo and Raphael took a careful step backwards, but nothing happened. Splinter finally tripped over his clothes and sat on the floor, still kicking Michelangelo.
"No, nooo! Good Splinter, no kicking!" The orange-clad turtle tried to reason with the child while he danced from one foot to another to avoid the little legs.
"My name is Yoshi, not Splinter!" The rat protested, not stopping his struggle. "And why are you talking to me as if I were a baby? Are you stupid?"
"Well, now that you're asking…" Raphael began, but Leonardo nudged him with a deadpan look.
"Not helping."
"I think it's out of juice," Donatello muttered. He took a deep breath. "Okay guys, I officially announce that I won't be able to fix that on the spot. We need to find a new power source for this, not to mention I have to figure out how it works."
"So you're basically saying that we're stuck with Tiny Splinter here?" Raphael said, disbelief in his voice.
"My name is YOSHI!" The rat shouted. "Now tell me where my family is!"
"Right here," Raphael muttered under his breath, crossing his arms.
Donatello tilted his head. He spoke at full speed and with great detachment.
"Okay. You're our mutant rat father turned into a mutant rat child with the mind and memories of his youth."
Splinter looked at him in incomprehension. Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael gaped at their brother.
"Donnie!" Leonardo finally exclaimed, in English so that the child wouldn't understand. "You can't tell him that!"
"And why not? I've read somewhere that you shouldn't lie to young children," Donatello protested.
"The circumstances are special, Donnie," Leonardo said between gritted teeth.
"You think you know better?" Donatello said, clearly offended. "Be my guest."
Splinter was looking at them both, still vaguely kicking and obviously curious to know why they were arguing. Leonardo took a deep breath and turned to him, kneeling to be at his level. Right now, he wanted to be anywhere but there. He tried to meet the child's gaze, but it was as if he was looking into his father's eyes and the feeling was too weird for him. He ended up focusing on a spot on the wall behind.
"Okay, uh… Yoshi. Please stop kicking my brother and listen to me. We're not your enemies and we didn't kidnap you, we're… uh…"
Leonardo racked his brain in search of a suitable answer.
"Your…gardians," he went on. "We're from the Hamato Clan too, see?" He produced a throwing star and showed the child the symbol embedded in it. Yoshi stroked the lines with a pensive expression. "I'm Leo. The orange one is Mikey, the purple one is Donnie, and the red…"
"…and hotheaded…" Michelangelo interjected.
"…and the red one is Raph," Leonardo finished. "We're brothers. Your parents asked us to keep you safe while they deal with…a situation…requiring discretion…that is…"
He sent a desperate look to his brothers, asking for help.
"Oh no," Raphael whispered to him in English. "I want to enjoy the very rare Leo-lying-to-Splinter's-face thing. You're on your own."
He smiled smugly as Leonardo glared at him. Donatello was still sulking and didn't bother to speak. Luckily for the poor leader, Michelangelo decided to help.
"You see, bad aliens have been mutating good people," he said gleefully. Maybe glee wasn't the most appropriate emotion for such a sentence, but he didn't want to scare the child. "That's why we're turtles, and you're a rat. We're taking care of you while the rest of your clan is busy kicking the aliens' a…"
"Language," Leonardo interjected just in time.
Yoshi's shoulders slumped and his lips quivered at the words.
"Aliens? Mutating?"
He looked at his hands as if he was seeing them for the first time.
"It's not a costume?" He said in a small voice.
"Uh, no, it's not," Donatello said softly. "Sorry. But…"
He exchanged looks with his brothers.
"We'll find a cure soon. And you'll be back to normal, how is that?"
Yoshi seemed to consider the offer for a while.
"Where is my brother Saki?" He finally asked.
"He's in a separate location," Leonardo answered, inwardly wincing. "But he's in great shape, don't worry."
"That's too bad, by the way," Raphael grumbled in English.
"I want to see him," Yoshi demanded. "Bring me to him, now."
Leonardo sighed. All he wanted now was to put an end to this terribly awkward conversation.
"It's not possible, I'm afraid," he said. He kind of wants to kill you. "But Mikey will show you the lair, okay? It's a great place to be. And it won't last long anyways, because Donnie – he's a genius – will find a solution."
Leonardo stood up while Michelangelo took his place, extending a hand to the child.
"Come with me, little dude. I'll show you our home, and maybe we can find you new clothes. Then we can play videogames, or read comics, or eat pizza. Do you like pizza?"
Michelangelo's voice sounded as if it was completely normal to suggest these activities to your ninja master of a father, and Leonardo admired him for that. Yoshi didn't take the turtle's hand, but he hesitantly nodded. Leonardo sighed in relief as he left the dojo behind Michelangelo.
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"How long will it take?" Raphael asked, leaning over Donatello's shoulder as the genius began sketching at his lab's desk.
"I don't know, Raph," Donnie answered, irritated.
"Give us your best guess," Leonardo suggested, leaning over Donatello's other shoulder.
Donatello sighed.
"I don't know, Leo. Hours? Days, maybe?"
Leonardo moaned.
"We're stuck with Tiny Splinter for days?" Raphael exclaimed.
All of that right in Donatello's ears.
The purple-clad turtle took a deep breath and set down his pen. He grasped his brothers' bandana and gave them a sharp tug to move their heads away.
"And it will be more than that if you don't let me focus," he said reasonably. "So let me work IN PEACE and maybe I'll make PROGRESS!"
Leonardo and Raphael shared an awkward look. Donatello was obviously on edge – no kidding. They all were.
"Sorry, Donnie," Leonardo said sheepishly.
He headed for the door, followed by Raphael, when Michelangelo burst into the room.
"Hey, Dee! How is it going?"
"Well, as I was just telling the others, I need PEACE and QUIET," Donatello emphasized. Mostly calmly.
Michelangelo looked at him, then at his other brothers, before nodding slowly.
"Oooh. Oooh, I see. You need PEACE and QUIET, so you threw them out. I get it. Now, what are you doing? Can I take a look at it?"
Donatello rested his elbows on the desk and buried his face in his hands. Michelangelo took it as a yes and came closer to him.
Something suddenly occurred to Leonardo.
"Mikey, where is Splint… uh…Yoshi?"
"I left him in my room, he wanted to read my comics," Michelangelo announced proudly.
"You left him alone?" Leonardo asked as a feeling of dread slowly spread in his body.
"Of course I did! Why not?" Michelangelo protested.
"Oh, I don't know, Mikey," Raphael said wryly. "Maybe because he's a young child who doesn't really trust us? Did you truly believe that he was interested in your comics? I don't think he reads English!"
Michelangelo crossed his arms.
"The pictures are really cool, you know," he answered angrily. "And I did believe him! I trust people, remember? Even people who don't deserve it!"
"He has a point," Donatello interjected from his desk. "Remember Bradford?"
Leonardo didn't wait to hear the rest of the argument. He raced to Michelangelo's room, where Yoshi wasn't. He quickly searched the lair – no trace of the mutant rat.
Yoshi was gone.
Did we truly manage to lose him after not even an hour? Leonardo thought idly.
Then reality hit him. Their father, now a child, was wandering the sewers of a foreign city. Alone. As a mutant.
"GUYS!"
