*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Notes: Here is chapter 2 of 'Mikey's Worst Move Ever.' Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read and review this story so far. Also, thank you to those of you who have already 'favorited' and followed 'MWME'. I really, really appreciate it. Please favorite/follow/review this story if you are enjoying it. This is my first attempt at a comedy and I would love to know what you think. ;)

*Just a little information about this story . . . This is a prequel to my upcoming story, 'Slash's Revenge.' 'Mikey's Worst Move Ever' is a lighthearted short story that leads right into the episode 'Slash and Destroy.' The 'Slash's Revenge' story takes place three weeks after 'Slash and Destroy' and this one will be much, much darker.

As always, thanks for reading. I really hope you like it. CJ


Chapter 2 – The Genius and the Not-so Genius

"You what?" Came Donnie's shrill voice and the question echoed throughout the entire lab so that it sounded like he had actually said the words about ten times. While the sound of his voice resonated in the air, he pushed himself up and out of his chair so that he could better demonstrate his frustration. His now-standing position gave him more free rein to toss his arms wildly about if he so desired.

"I lost Spike, okay?" Mikey mumbled, twisting a toe into the concrete floor, and then, apprehensively sinking his top teeth into his bottom lip.

"You took Spike out of Raph's room? Are you out of your shell?" Donnie screeched and his voice somehow climbed even higher than when he had said 'you what?' just a few seconds before.

"Shhh! Raph'll hear you, bro!" Mikey said, holding his hands up and dismissively tut-tutting his older brother whose eyes now looked like they were about to pop right out of his skull.

"Do you have any idea what Raph will do to us when he finds out Spike is missing? He'll break both of our shells!" Donnie cried out, still several decibel levels above what Mikey felt comfortable with. Especially since he knew that Raph was currently sitting on the beanbag chair in the pit of the lair, not too far from his techno brother's lab.

"Dude, you need to chillax. Why would Raph break your shell? I'm the one who lost Spike," Mikey said matter-of-factly, not sure what the heck his brainy brother was freaking out about. Sometimes, he swore that Donnie's mask was tied on too tight, because the genius tended to get all spun up over even the littlest of things.

Of course, losing Raph's beloved pet turtle wasn't exactly the littlest of things . . . It was kind of a great big thing now that Mikey was really thinking about.

"Are you familiar with the ad hominem 'guilt by association?'" Donnie asked, slightly calmer, but the pitch of his voice was still a couple of steps higher than normal. It meant that he was still wigging out on the inside.

In response to Donnie's question, Mikey offered nothing but a blank expression, visually confirming that he was not at all familiar with the phrase.

"It means that Raph is gonna kill me, too, just for associating with you. It's a kill the messenger kind of thing," Donnie groaned, massaging his temples with his fingertips in a vain attempt to settle himself down. It was crucial that he regain his ability to think straight. Both of their shells were on the line here and he certainly couldn't count on his little brother to come up with any kind of feasible plan.

"You're totally overreacting, D. Raph wouldn't clobber someone for no . . . good . . . reason . . . " Even as the words were parting his lips, Mikey realized how ridiculous they sounded.

"This is Raph we're talking about, Mikey," Donnie stated the obvious.

"You're right . . . What are we gonna do?" Mikey asked and his eyes got all big and shimmery. He then held his balled up hands underneath his jaw, as if almost begging for an answer.

Narrowing his reddish-brown eyes and scrunching up his face, Donatello tapped a finger against his chin, caught up in deep concentration. His brain was busy analyzing and sorting through the endless list of possibilities now flying through his head.

"Okay, where was the last place you saw Spike?" Donnie asked, folding his arms across his plastron and leaning against the edge of his desk as he waited for Mikey to respond.

"I had him in my room and we were – " Mikey started, but was soon cut off by Donnie's 'angry' voice.

"You took him to your room? That place is like a warzone! I've seen federally declared major disaster areas in better condition!" Donnie would have continued with his rant if not for his rational side kicking in.

Focus, Donnie. Blowing up at Mikey isn't going to solve anything right now. You need to figure out a way to save your shells from Raph . . . You can yell at Mikey later, Donnie mentally reasoned with himself.

"Okay . . . so you took Spike and brought him into – "

"Borrowed," Mikey corrected, as if it mattered.

Donnie closed his eyes for a brief moment and drew in a deep, cleansing breath, trying to resist the urge to snap at Mikey again. Although chewing his little brother out at this point would be somewhat satisfying, it would ultimately be unproductive and not help matters any. Mostly because, afterwards, he'd have to squander precious time apologizing to Mikey for hurting his feelings.

"So you 'borrowed' Spike and brought him into your bedroom," Donnie said, verbally retracing Mikey's steps to get a better understanding of the situation at hand. That was how the brainy turtle worked. He gathered facts and data, processed and analyzed the information collected, formulated working theories, and then, developed possible solutions. Donnie always liked to take multiple steps to problem solving. Mikey, on the other hand, didn't bother to take steps to solve problems. That was because nine times out of ten, Mikey was the problem.

"Yeah, and we were playing with my action figures collection and . . . well . . . Spike wasn't really playing, I guess. He was just sort of sitting next to one of my figures, staring at it. He was kind of terrible at playing, to tell you the truth," Mikey said and his face fell into a frown.

"He's an unmutated pet box turtle who moves on par with the pace of a sloth. What exactly did you think he was going to contribute to the 'playdate?'" Donnie asked rather gruffly, but upon seeing Mikey's eyes suddenly light up, he held his hand up to stop his brother from answering that question. "You know what . . . forget I said that. So you were 'playing' with Spike, and then . . . " After a lengthy pause, Donnie had to motion for Mikey to continue, because his little brother had failed to figure out that that was why he had left the sentence unfinished.

"And then, when I turned my back for like five seconds to grab my Limited Edition Action Kick Unicorn Man off of the toy shelf, Spike was gone," Mikey said, splaying his hands out in front of his face so he could make a gesture of something magically going 'poof' and vanishing into thin air. As he did so, his eyes doubled in size for added effect.

"Seriously? You expect me to believe that Spike just up and disappeared in five seconds?" Donatello asked dryly. The look on his face was the very epitome of skepticism.

"Hey . . . I'm just telling you what I saw, bro. Well . . . actually, I'm telling what I didn't see . . . because I didn't actually see Spike disappear. I mean I saw him there, and then, I didn't see him there . . . because he was gone, dude. That's totally what I saw . . . or didn't . . . " Mikey rambled, talking in circles once again.

Donnie peered over at Mikey with highly cynical eyes. It was evident that the purple-clad turtle was not amused.

"We are talking about the same Spike, here, right? The one who just stands there and chews on leaves all day?" Donnie questioned, squinting one eye as he spoke.

"That's the one," Mikey said, giving Donnie an enthusiastic thumbs up, which didn't seem all that appropriate given the seriousness of the subject matter they were discussing.

"All right . . . Now, let's just think this through rationally. Obviously, Spike is still somewhere in your room. That is, assuming that you kept your bedroom door closed the whole time, right?" Donatello inquired, just to verify that he had his facts straight.

"Like a turtle do!" Mikey exclaimed.

Donnie had never been entirely sure what that particular little catchphrase of Mikey's meant, as it technically was not a grammatically sound statement, but, in this instance, he presumed that it meant that his little brother was verifying that he had kept the door to his room closed.

"And, we know that Leo will be away from the lair until later this afternoon, because he's off doing some training exercise with Master Splinter. This is good, because Leo's absence exponentially reduces the likelihood of Raph unexpectedly storming off to his room in a huff . . . " Donnie theorized and he looked over at Mikey to make sure that his younger brother was still following along. Mikey was nodding, which didn't necessarily mean that he understood the conversation, but it did mean that he was still listening . . . or at least attempting to.

"So . . . all we have to do is keep Raph away from his room until we can find Spike. How hard can that be?" Donatello asked, trying to remain optimistic.

In a serious case of role reversal, it was Mikey who took the 'glass is half-empty' approach.

"Aw, man! If Raph goes in his room, I'm a total goner! Maybe I should just run away now and live in the wilderness. Be at one with nature . . . you know . . . like that Bear Gorillas guy . . . " Mikey said, placing his hands on his hips and striking some pose that Donnie assumed was supposed make him look brave and intrepid, but the fact that Mikey had struck the pose just after suggesting that he run away from home like a coward sort of contradicted the 'heroic' gesture.

"Uh . . . I think it's Bear Grylls . . . and you and I both know you couldn't survive out in the woods on your own," Donnie said, raising an eye ridge and tilting his head to the side as he spoke.

"Sure I could, dude! I'm all about the outdoors! And you know how good I am at starting fires!" Mikey bragged, jabbing a thumb into his chest proudly.

Donnie certainly couldn't argue that last statement.

"True . . . but you wouldn't be able to survive without pizza or pre-prepared fast food and you've been afraid of squirrels ever since the whole 'Squirrelanoids' incident. Plus, there's no way you would last for more than ten minutes without the TV," Donnie added with a hint of mockery and his expression turned almost smug.

"Who said anything about going without the TV?" Mikey asked as he hopped up on top of the table next to Donnie's desk to make himself more comfortable, nearly knocking over Donnie's cherished microscope in the process. Luckily, his older brother hadn't been looking in his direction during the close call, so he had failed to notice Mikey's clumsiness. By the time Donnie's eyes ventured back over to Mikey again, the youngest turtle had already pushed the microscope aside and pulled his legs up into a cross-legged position on the table. There he sat, looking as innocent as can be, like nothing had ever happened.

Upon seeing his younger brother sitting on top of his table with that 'innocent' ergo guilty expression plastered on his face, Donnie would have normally interrogated Mikey about why he was giving him 'that' look, or, at the very least, he would have told his brother to get his lazy shell down off of his workstation. However, in this instance, Donnie ignored both the telltale angelic expression and the breach of manners. That was only because his thoughts were distracted by what Mikey had just said about the television. The genius had been puzzled by the statement and he didn't like being puzzled. He had always prided himself on having all the answers.

"And what exactly are you going to do with a TV out in the wilderness?" Donnie asked point-blank, quite curious to know the response, while dreading it at the same time.

"Uh . . . watch it," Mikey said as if the answer to that question was painfully clear and he even went so far as to give Donnie a look that somehow implied, 'Hello! You're supposed to be the smart one. Shouldn't you have figured that out on your own?'

"There are no plug-ins out in the wilderness, Mikey," Donnie stated what he thought was obvious to everyone, but apparently, it was obvious to everyone but Mikey.

"So?" Mikey asked, looking at Donnie as though what he had just stated was completely irrelevant to the conversation currently taking place between them.

"The TV . . . it needs to be plugged in . . . to an outlet . . . because it runs on power . . . otherwise, it won't – and why am I even bothering to explain this to you?" Donnie groaned, frustrated with himself for letting himself get as far into the explanation as he had. He should have realized before he had even started his explanation that he was wasting his breath.

"Explain what?" Mikey asked, as if to illustrate Donnie's point.

Donnie slapped his right hand over his face and grimaced before saying, "Exactly . . . Nevermind."

"So what are we gonna do?" Mikey asked, pushing himself off of Donnie's work table so that he was ready to spring into action as soon as his super-smart brother unveiled the plan he had not doubt put together by now. Mikey knew that Donnie was a real whiz at coming up with plans and other neat stuff . . .

"Well, I could uninstall and modify the infrared camera in the Shellraiser so that we could use the thermal imaging technology to find Spike. Spike's cold-blooded, but his temperature is still high enough to emit plenty of black-body radiation for the camera to detect," Donnie suggested, already visualizing the necessary alterations and modifications in his mind.

"Interesting . . . interesting," Mikey said, trying to sound like he had followed along with what his brainy brother had just stated, but, the truth was, Donnie had lost him at 'infrared.' The youngest turtle was still trying to figure out if that was some sort of energy drink or a new way to cook a steak. Either way, he wasn't sure why Donnie would bring something like that up at a time like this . . .

It didn't take long for Donnie to recognize that, somewhere during his proposal, Mikey's brain had gone off course. Even after he had finished his recommendation, he could see that Mikey was still robotically nodding his head and there was a vacant look in his blue eyes.

Well, more vacant than normal . . .

It occurred to Donnie that he should have done a better job taking his audience into account. When working with Mikey, a simpler, less 'sciency' plan was warranted.

Actually, now that Donnie was taking the time to stop and consider things more thoroughly, he realized that dismantling and altering the infrared camera in the Shellraiser was perhaps a little extreme. They were looking for a pet turtle in a small room. How hard could that be? He highly doubted this situation required something so technologically advanced.

Way to overthink things, Genius . . .

"Or . . . we could just go in your room and look for Spike," Donnie said heading for the lab doors, raring to get this over with so that he could get back to what he had been working on before Mikey had interrupted him with this current dilemma.

Just as the brainy turtle got within a few feet of the heavy steel doors, Mikey grabbed him by the back of the elbow to stop him. Donnie turned to see that Mikey had gotten himself all worked up into a tizzy once again.

"But what about Raph? He's probably still sitting in the pit! He'll see us the second we go out there!" Mikey exclaimed and his already bulging eyes somehow grew even wider as he stared up at his taller big brother. He was clinging to Donnie's arm as though he was incapable of letting go.

"Yes . . . Raph will see us, but we're going to have to walk by him at some point in order to get to your bedroom. That is unless you want to knock down a wall or bore a hole in the ceiling . . . " Donnie said sarcastically, and then, he let out a small chuckle.

There was a long silence that followed Donnie's last comment and the purple-banded turtle assumed that Mikey was just taking a moment to build up the courage needed to walk past Raph, but even a genius could be wrong from time to time.

"I kind of like your idea of taking out a wall," Mikey said, and, at first, Donnie had thought that his baby brother was just joking around like he always did, but when the genius took a closer look at Mikey's face, it revealed that the goofball was dead serious.

Oh, for the love of science . . .

"Mikey, we're not going to knock down a wall just so that you can avoid Raph! That would be totally uncalled for, not to mention dangerous! Besides, don't you think that knocking a wall down might be a little more likely to draw Raph's attention than simply walking by him?" Donnie tried to reason with his little brother, but the reasoning part of Mikey's brain was greatly outweighed by the unreasonable part of Mikey's brain. It always had been, even when they weren't in crisis-mode.

"I'm willing to risk it," Mikey stated gallantly, as if he was on the cusp of making the single most selfless sacrifice of all time.

"Well, I'm not! I'd rather take my chances with Raph than to have to tell Master Splinter that we blew a hole through the lair just to get to your bedroom," Donnie said flatly.

"Oh man! Either way, we're turtle soup . . . " Mikey whined.

"Not necessarily. We know that Raph still hasn't found out that Spike is missing yet. If he had, he would have been yelling his lungs out by now. So there's no need to panic." Though inclined to say it, Donnie chose to leave the word 'yet' off of the end of that last sentence. He continued on without it. "All we need to do is casually walk past Raph, head towards your room, find Spike, and put him back in Raph's room. Raph'll never know what happened," Donnie said much more confidently than he had expected. Maybe Leo was rubbing off on him.

Donnie then stressed the most important part of his message, just to make sure that Mikey understood. "The key is to stay calm. Remember, Raph can smell fear."

"Got it! Stay calm. Go to my room. Don't let Raph smell me," Mikey repeated the steps aloud for good measure, counting them down on the three fingers of his right hand as he listed them off. Once Donnie nodded to indicate that his baby brother had gotten them all right, Mikey couldn't resist expressing his enthusiasm.

"Ah, yeah! 'Operation: Spike Hunt' in full effect, brah! Let's do this!" Mikey cheered slightly quieter than normal so that Raph could not hear, but he was still just as animated as ever. He repeatedly pointed both of his forefingers at Donnie to show how pumped up he was about the plan.

"You're kidding, right? Please tell me that you did not seriously just give your colossal screw-up an operation name!" Donnie barked and a scowl creased his face.

"I sure did, son! 'Operation: Spike Hunt!' I named it that 'cause we're gonna look for Spike, which means we're gonna 'hunt' for – " Mikey tried to explain, but Donnie held a palm out to stop him.

"I get it! I get it! Let's just find Spike before Raph de-shells us both," Donnie muttered, wondering why he had let his little brother drag him into this whole convoluted mess in the first place.

Though he loved his brothers dearly, it was days like these that he envied April for being an only child . . .


To be continued . . .

Author's Note: Please favorite/follow/review if you liked this chapter or are enjoying this story. Thank you very much for reading. CJ