AN: Here's the second chapter. Hope you people continue to read! Please review I would really apprecate it!
Disclaimer: No I do not own TMNT (wish I did though, lol)!
It was two days since the incident had happened, things had been going relatively well, and no major problems had arisen. Mikey was just making his way out for breakfast, (it took a bit longer to reach the kitchen now that he was so small!)
Raph, Leo, and Don were in the dojo for morning practice. They had just finished doing katas and had stated to spar. Leo and Raph were busy doing hand to hand combat, each trying to over power the other. Leo threw some punches at Raph who in turn dodged. Raph blocked another punch to the head but missed the kick Leo had directed to his chest, sending him flying backwards toward the hallway.
Mikey passed in front of the dojo just in time to see a shadow come over him. Looking up, he recognized the flying form of his red banded brother, and tried to duck out of the way, before he was crushed beneath it.
Raph felt his arm land on something and with dread filling his heart he quickly leapt to his feet and turned to stare at the area he had just vacated. There on the floor, laying completely still was his baby bro, Michelangelo!
"Donnie, Leo! Git over here now"! Raph yelled, panic rising up inside him.
Leo was the first to reach him and immediately understood what had happened. "Oh no! What have I done"? Leo kneeled down next to the prone form of the younger turtle. "I should have known better than to make such a stupid move, he's so small and fragile he could have been completely crushed"
"Hey Leo, it's not your fault. There was no way ya could have known he would cross in front of da doorway right at dat exact time." Raph said, his voice uncharacteristically soft.
Donnie had ran up as Raph was speaking and quickly got to work examining Mike. After several more minutes he let out a relieved sigh. He looked up at his older brothers before gently lifting Mikey up off the floor.
"He'll be fine". Leo and Raph shared a relieved look. "There aren't any broken bones. Mike has a small cut on the left side of his head from when he hit the ground, that's the reason he's unconscious." Don found a small piece of clean cloth and made a makeshift bandage to wrap around his wounded brothers head.
"Raph didn't land directly on him, most likely it was either an arm or leg. He should wake up soon and he will most likely have a killer headache. You two can apologize then. For now keep an eye on him, I'm going to go out and look for more parts so we can get him back to normal". With that he laid Mikey down on the couch and headed for the door.
Mikey groaned as he came back to his senses. Man, was his head ever killing him! He lifted a hand up to try rubbing the pain away only to find that he had a bandage wrapped in a tight circle around his head. The events of earlier came rushing back- the shadow coming from above, running to get out of the way, not fast enough, a crushing weight hitting him, falling toward the ground, a sharp pain in his head, then nothing. "Raph must have landed somewhat on me, which caused me to fall and hit my head on the floor. Ouch, no wonder it hurts like shell" Mike thought to himself.
"Hey Mikey glad to see ya up, sorry bout landing on ya like dat" Raph reached over and patted Mike's shoulder with the tip of his finger feeling bad about accidentally hurting the young turtle. "If I would've known ya were there I would've avoided it at all costs"
"I'm sorry too Mike. I should have been more careful, especially with the way things are right now". Leo apologized, regret evident in his voice. "I never meant for you to get hurt like this"
"No problemo dudes"! Mikey gave a huge smile "If a little headache is the Worst I get out of this mess, I'm getting off easy!"
All three broke out in fits of relieved laughter, breaking the tense atmosphere that had clouded the room since Mikey first fell unconscious. They got breakfast soon after, seeing as how the youngest had never made it out to the kitchen. Then they sat and talked about all the fun stuff they would do together once he was back to normal.
Don got home a little while later and started asking medical questions. "Mikey I see that you're awake, how are you feeling?" Don asked as he entered the room that the other three occupied.
Mikey turned toward the voice of his newly arrived brother and smiled, "I'm feeling fine" he replied. When he saw the disbelieving look from Donnie he quickly added, "mostly, my head hurts a bit is all".
"That's good" Don said, looking his only baby bro over carefully. "A headache is to be expected in this type of situation. It's only natural after hitting your head so hard. Can you see okay? No blurring, double vision, anything out of the norm?"
"No. Everything's normal". He sighed at his brother's obvious concern. "The headache was way worse when I first woke up, it's faded a lot now. You don't need to worry so much bros, I'm not little anymore!" His brothers all gave him a skeptical look, and he sighed again. "I mean I'm not a little kid anymore dudes".
The three older brothers looked at each other and smiled. Leo spoke for all of them, "You may not be a little kid Mikey, but you will ALWAYS be our little brother, no matter how old you are, that will never change." Each of his brothers agreed, embarrassing him so much he started to look like a tomato from the blush that spread over his face like a wildfire.
"We all love ya Mikey and dat will never change, ya hear"? Raph added in a rare show of affection, which made him blush all the more.
"Yea thanks guys, it means a lot to me, ya know"? Mikey was so choked up with emotion that it came out as little more than a whisper. "You guys mean the world to me too and this mess hasn't seemed as scary with all of you supporting me like you do." He gave them all a shy little smile before continuing more boldly, "Now Donnie, how's the Shrink-O-Whatever coming? I am SOOO done with being small, it's such a drag!"
Don laughed and said, "I only need to find a couple more components, then we'll be ready to get you back to your normal, energetic, shell- kickin self." Mike let a relieved smile cross his face thankful that he would hopefully be back to normal before much longer.
Over the course of the next few days Mikey kept himself busy and entertained by creating new and fun ways to enjoy himself, and worry his older brothers half to death. First he decided it would be an awesome idea to go sliding down the furniture on a piece of cardboard. All was going well until he tried the steepest part of the couch. He would have landed on his head if Leo hadn't walked in at that very moment, saw him go flying off into space, and dove to catch him! Needless to say that activity was banned forever.
The next thing he chose was to fly. By making a paper airplane and jumping off the highest point that he could reach, he yelled "Cowabunga!" at the top of his lungs as he took flight. Mikey circled through the air doing various stunts- corkscrew, loop de loop, nose dives, and kamikaze maneuvers. It was all fun and games until Raph walked in and Mikey's kamikaze hit him right between the eyes.
"MIKEY!" Raph shrieked furious. As soon as he hit the floor Mike took off running and hid in a little space behind the TV stand to await the dissipation of Raphs anger.
He then discovered the wonderful world of soap sliding! He would intentionally spill water on the kitchen floor to get it wet, grab the bar of soap from the sink, and propel himself across the slippery surface at amazing speeds. Mike was just getting the hang of what he called the "spin cycle" running and jumping on the soap at an angle so that it would spin at high speeds, when Don walked in. Slipping on the wet soapy surface, trying to keep his footing, Donnie was doing an amazing foot-loose floor dance! After narrowly avoiding stepping on top of Mikey as he spun to safety on the bar of soap, that was the end of that too. (Except for the clean-up).
The next morning before breakfast, before he even got out of his room, before he got the chance to come up with a spectacular new game, Mikey was cornered by all three of his older brothers. They did not look pleased with him, not one little bit.
"Mike we have something we need to talk to you about". Leo started. "It's of the highest significance".
"Does it have to do with Donnie fixing his machine and me getting back to normal"? Mikey asked hopefully.
"No it don't ya knucklehead"! Raph growled. "It's about all your crazy stunts you've been pullin' the past couple a days."
"Oh. Yea. that… Hey did you dudes see that new movie that was on TV? You could totally tell the zombies were fake. You'd think that in this day and age they could get decent makeup artists and special effect experts wouldn'y ya"? Mike said trying unsuccessfully to get them to change subject.
"That's not gonna work Mikey. We are going to discuss this whether you like it or not" Don stared him down with his intelligent, piercing eyes.
Mikey made a break for it! Ah, but he was quickly apprehended when Leo flipped over him and barred his path. He turned to head the other way when Raph bent down and caught hold of his shell, slightly lifting him into the air so his feet couldn't touch the ground .
"Ya ain't gonna git out of this one Mike, even if I've got to carry ya to the table!" Raph snarled at him.
" Major bummer dude." Mikey sighed in defeat "Fine, lets get this over with already".
After Raph placed him back on the ground, the three elder turtles led their youngest brother over to the kitchen table. Don and Leo were on his sides while Raph walked behind. Knowing from experience how Mike would do anything to get out of trouble, they figured it would discourage him from trying to make another run for it. In a couple minutes the were all situated around the table (or on top of it in Mikey's case) with steaming cups of tea in front of them, and a plate of cookies in the middle. Of course Mikey had to drink from an inverted pop bottle cap.
"Now," Leo began. "Do you want to tell us why you're almost getting yourself killed on a daily basis?"
"I was just finding new ways to have some fun around here. Man, you haven't lived till you've leapt off the highest point in the house with nothing but a piece of paper between you and certain death!" He paused dramatically before continuing on excitedly, "It's the most epic feeling ever!"
"Ya know Mike, as fun as dat sounds… I think I'm gonna have to pass on it", Raph informed sarcastically.
"And it's extremely dangerous". Don's face was deadly serious. "You could have died any number of times in the last couple of days. What if Leo hadn't caught you when you flew from the couch? What if the paper plane crumpled while you were in mid flight? What if I would have fallen or stepped on you when I slipped on the mess you made of the kitchen floor? You most likely wouldn't have walked away unscathed from any of those situations. Just thinking of all the possibilities is giving me a terrible headache".
"Donnie, you don't look so good. Maybe you should go lie down", Mike told his genius brother while trying not to laugh. Then he added, "and get off my shell! It's not like I got hurt for real".
"they're just worrying over all the possibilities that COULD have happened, don't they know needless worrying creates premature wrinkles"? he added silently, chuckling to himself.
"Mikey please, just promise us you'll stop doing these crazy stunts", Leo spoke again calmly, "then we won't have need to worry constantly, and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to get some well deserved rest, and be able to relax for awhile."
"Besides" Donnie piped up "I've almost finished repairing the damage the Shrink-O-Ray obtained when it hit the ground. Then you'll be back to your old self, and be able to do all the stuff you could before this whole disaster started!"
"I truly will be glad to be back up there with you dudes" Mikey said, glancing up at his gigantic older bros. "It'll be really nice to be able to play video games, read my comics, and go boarding again. Then he added with a dreamy expression on his face, I sure have missed doing my favorite things while I've been stuck like this" he had a dreamy expression on his face before being snapped back to reality by Raphs voice.
"Don't ya worry Mikey, I'll be beatin ya at video games again in no time"! Raph declared, snapping him back to reality with a cocky grin upon his face.
"Not if I have anything to say about it Raphie boy"! Mike retorted in his usual smart-aleck tone dashing away.
With that Raph charged after him yelling "Oh your in for it now Mike! I told ya not to call me dat! Once I git my hands on ya I'm gonna wipe da floor wit ya all the way inta next year, ya can count on it", Mike ran, slid down the table leg, and disappeared under the refrigerator before Raph had the chance to make good on his threat.
Once safe from Raph he decided to go explore while he still had the chance (since he would be back to normal in no time, thanks to Don). While he stared around him in amazement, and slight disgust, at the pieces of moldy food scattered about, he failed to notice a dark shape rapidly approaching him. All of a sudden a fierce squeaking filled the air coming directly from his left! Mike turned his head slowly, then had just enough time to dive out of the way before a pair of deadly sharp teeth would have connected with his shoulder!
"AHHH"! Mikey screamed in fear! Rushing out, (from what was supposed to be his refuge from Raph,) into the wide open space of the kitchen floor "MAD MOUSE! MAD MOUSE! MAD MOUSE!"
The rodent raced out after him, quickly gaining speed. He could feel the mouse getting closer and closer as he fought to make it to the table so he could scurry up the leg to safety. As he neared the leg he took a flying leap only to realize that it was too slick to climb. He slowly slid back down. Thankfully though, before the mouse was able to make turtle soup out of the orange clad comedian, his brothers made their move!
Seeing Mikey come running back into their line of sight screaming at the top of his lungs, the three remaining turtles knew something was terribly wrong. As they watched in horrified fascination a large mouse pursued him, viciously sharp teeth snapping as it neared it's soon to be victim, from under the fridge. They immediately launched into action trying in vain to land a blow on the frenzied creature as it chased their terrified brother in laps around the room.
"This ain't workin"! Raph steamed, after another attempt to discourage the crazed rodent from attacking the tiny turtle obviously failed.
"I know" Leo yelled as he made another dive to stop it and missed, while Mike led it between his legs in an effort to give him the advantage. "We have to keep trying though, for Mikey's sake"!
"Can you guys play keep away long enough for me to get an invention from my lab"? Don called out as he missed the mouse once again. "I think it'll help with this new calamity we're facing".
"YES, GO IF IT WILL HELP"! The other turtles shouted, (even Mikey as he made a sharp turn to the right, narrowly avoiding the mouse as it landed where he had been mere seconds before). "JUST HURRY"!
Donnie rushed to the lab and grabbed a small, black, electronic box from one of the tables before whipping around and sprinting back the way he'd come. As he entered the kitchen he managed to avoid Leo and Raph who collided with one another as the mouse raced between the two of them. They had both ended up making a move for the cunning rodent at the same time, and the impact from the collision sent them both crashing to the floor, stunned.
"Hey guys, a little help here, PLEASE!" Mikey cried out desperately just as the mouse finally managed to subdue it's prey. With a triumphant swish of it's tail, little beady eyes glowing with anticipation, teeth gleaming, lips pulled back in a gloating grin, it readied itself for the kill.
(After having tricked the two elder turtles into smashing into each other, it had leaped and hit Mikey from behind before he had a chance to do anything to prevent it. He now found himself lying flat on the floor pinned beneath the uncompromising mass of the creature who wanted to make a tasty, green snack of him). Suddenly the mouse reared up, growled ferousiouly, clawed the air with it's front feet, and quick as a nunchuk brought its head down, going straight for the jugular! Just in time Mikey rolled a bit to the right and the needle sharp teeth bit into his left forearm. Luckily that's as far as it got, for right at the moment it bit down Don turned on the device he had snatched from his lab. The "Mouseinator"-Dat da ta daa! was designed specifically to control the rodent infestation in the lair. It sent out a painful high frequency shockwave that then stunned the mice long enough for them to be taken care of.
"Get off of my little brother"! the normally docile turtle screamed as he pointed the little, black box at the offending creature.
Then four things seemed to happen at once. The mouse released it's hold of Mikey, shrieked in pain, and then sat paralyzed. Mike passed out from pain, and the sight of his own freely flowing blood. Leo and Raph rushed to their feet, leapt forward, and whisked Michelangelo to safety, hurrying into the next room. Donnie grabbed a bowl off the counter, slammed it down on the unsuspecting mouse, trapped it inside, took it to the boomerang garbage shoot (another of Dons ingenious inventions), and sent it into the great beyond.
In the meantime, Raph and Leo had taken Mikey into the living room where they'd carefully laid him on a couch cushion, and were now fussing over him, checking to see how badly he was injured. As Donnie walked in after disposing of the petrified rodent, he noticed Mike's pale green face and his arm still bleeding heavily. He told Raph to hold pressure on the wound, and for Leo to get a cloth to cover Mikey so he wouldn't go into shock. He then rushed to get supplies to care for the nasty wound, coming back in moments and shoved past his hovering older siblings to reach his injured little brother, who was still passed out.
"Hey! Watch it Donnie"! Raph barked as he was pushed none to gently to the side.
"There's no time for the attitude Raph" Don said with a pointed glare. "I need to clean this bite thoroughly before it gets any worse. Rodent bites are known to be highly susceptible to infection, and with Mikey being the size he is now that would most likely result in a very bad outcome".
"Meaning?" Leo inquired urgently feeling a sense of great foreboding closing in around them.
"Meaning he could die if this wound gets infected, because he's too small to fight off the toxins that are produced by the bacteria entering into his bloodstream!" Donnie declared as he continued cleaning out the puncture mark on Mike's arm.
Hearing what their highly intelligent brother had to say, Leo and Raph stepped back with concern clouding their faces, allowing Don to work without interruption. All the while hoping they were in time to stop the disaster that had just been described from befalling the youngest member of their family...
AN: Hope you had fun reading this. Next chapter up tomorrow. Please review!