Chapter One

There Are Four Turtles


Part 7

Hooked on Donatello


Tuesday Afternoon

Splinter was there watching the wall and the children in grave intensity, Raphael's trio were in a relaxed fall-back formation alongside their grandfather.

"What?" Raphael stared at the blank wall.
"Tengu, tata." Joi answered quietly.
"I believe the children have handled it." Splinter declared, relaxing a little. "It is troubling that these tengu may come through walls without leaving a trace of their passing."
"Oh, they leave a trace, alright." Raphael stepped up to the wall and sniffed. He ran his hand across the brickwork and showed his father the fine greenish residue, "It was a Twisso." He pronounced. "Lives in brickwork, tries to jump into things that come too close." He looked at his kids. "What hit the wall to wake it up?"

Joi ran off and came back with the orange basketball. She offered it up to him.
"Must've been a heck of a surprise you kids coming after it on the rebound." Raphael grinned darkly at his kids. "What do you reckon, kids, wanna hit a few more walls with the ball?" He bounced it over to Tora.
Tora smiled back at him. "Right, dad! Keep up, Yoshi."
"I'm coming. Come on, Joi."

Raphael chuckled, watching his kids going off in a tidy line. They wouldn't be too hungry for dinner tonight.

"Raphael, is this not the same demon that caught hold of your brother Michelangelo last year?"
"Yeah, and this place's got a lot of walls and the kids just figured a neat way to get at 'em. I was wondering why I was having trouble sleeping last night even with Casey and April on shadow duty outside. Don't worry. The kids are a team."
"Yes, that is much reassurance." Splinter agreed, "Raphael, it is good to see you three together again." Splinter stated, "Only I find myself feeling Leonardo's absence all the more keen."

Raphael turned away from the view of his brothers. "Not you too, Master Splinter."

His mood darkened as he looked at his other brothers in deep discussion, "That Leo. He gets some funny ideas sometimes. Two years is a bit long for Leo to spend on one of his good intentions though."
"Perhaps not so unlikely, Raphael."
Raphael looked at his father. He knew something and Leo didn't want him letting on to Raphael. "What the heck's he got himself into, sensei? It ain't really Snow White, is it?"

"My son. He asks me the same questions of you." Splinter said matter-of-factly. "Well, except he does not ask after Snow White."
"So you're saying you ain't getting into the middle of us and you ain't picking sides."
Splinter let out a defeated sigh, "yes, my son. Just as you find yourself at uncomfortable odds when your children argue."

"It's real funny though, Master Splinter." Raphael gritted in annoyance, thumbing himself, "Because I didn't think I was doing any arguing! It's kind of hard to throw down with someone who ain't even in the ring with you."
Splinter took a sharp breath and his expression grew severe in an instant. "One may remember things differently."

The memory was vague, "I remember feeling like it had nothing to do with me. It was just before me and Casey met Orinieu." Raphael looked up at Splinter, "I wanted Leo to meet her. Get his opinion on the city dragons. I had to decide without him." Raphael watched his father's furrowed brow, "If we were fighting about something back then it still don't make sense that he ain't here now, sensei."

"Leonardo has been very busy with the things that he has put on his plate." Splinter stated. "If I am to ask such questions of him, I must also ask them of you, Raphael. Are you afraid?"
"Sure, I'm afraid." Raphael admitted, "But you know me; running away just ain't my style."
"You are ready to move forward." Splinter nodded, "That is the best news."

Now with even more questions of Leonardo hanging over him, Raphael was uneasy and he stepped over to his brothers.

"Da-ad!" Tora's shrill little voice hit Raphael's ear slits.
"You started it!"
"Jo-i, no-o! That isn't help-ing!"
"Drat. That's the sound of me being late." Raphael acknowledged and changed direction.

"Da-ad, Yoshi-."
"I don't want to hear it, Tora." He stated firmly. "Fingers and toes, eyes, tongue, teeth, remember. He's your little brother. It's up to the two of you to work it out, not me." Raphael added, "its nap time now." He picked his tired whining boys up by their middles and carried them off with their shells tucked under his arms to the bedroom. "Joi, on my tail." He called for his daughter to follow.

Raphael put Tora down on the first mat and then put the lighter Yoshi down on the far one. "Joi," Raphael looked around to her by his right leg, "You stay in between these two wimps and keep 'em straight, okay?"
Joi nodded with a mischievous smile and crawled onto the middle mat.
"I'm not a wimp!" Yoshi argued.
"No way!" Tora complained.
"Oh, yeah, you're tired alright, kids." Raphael chuckled, "Get your nap in. You're gonna feel a whole lot better for it."

Raphael stepped back out, closing the door to a crack.

He found Donatello at his workbench currently musing over portal theories. Raphael only really knew two things on the subject: one, this was how the demons were busting in on this dimension and two, who at the office to ask about when and where.

Michelangelo was fetching out a DVD from the nearby storage area. "Wanna watch some classic Godzilla action with me, Raph?"
"Don't you get enough of that?" Raphael rolled his eyes, "At home?"
Michelangelo chuckled, "Thought I'd brush up on some babysitting techniques."
"Sure, Mikey, good thinking." Raphael rubbed his head. Tora's whining wore him out real fast. "I gotta go meditate."
"I think Master Splinter's already in there." Michelangelo mentioned as Raphael headed away to the meditation area.

"Yeah, somehow I don't blame him." Raphael replied. He glanced over at his purple masked brother, "Don, remember that great invention involving a bowl and a spoon?"

In the meditation room Raphael got three spare candles from the cabinet and lit them up. He set them down in front of his father. Splinter nodded in acknowledgement as Raphael sat down. Neither of them said anything and Raphael set to quietening his mind of the trouble around him. Donatello's anxiety, Leonardo's fear, Tora's challenges, Yoshi's challenges, Joi's challenges and Michelangelo's demon apocalypse; they all needed his attention.


After a while Raphael came back out of his meditation session. His children were awake again and right now Joi and Yoshi were pestering Donatello. Raphael looked around and saw Tora practicing some more with the wooden katana. Tora really reminded Raphael of Leo sometimes… when he was behaving.

"Centre focus, Tora." He joined his son for the moment, "You never move more than you have to."
"Why, dad?"
"Waste of energy." Raphael answered him. "And you gotta remember to leave yourself room to fend off a counterattack. See?" Raphael slow-paced a counterattack move, "He can get in right under you."
"He has to be really smart to do that." Tora argued.
"So you're never gonna fight a smart guy?" Raphael raised an eyebrow at his son, "What happens if you're fighting two not-so-smart guys?"

Tora had a look of horror on his face at the idea of being ganged up on. "Omigosh!"
Raphael nodded, "The faster you get back to your centre the faster you can make your next move."
"No kidding, wow." Tora beamed up at him, "thanks, dad."

Raphael patted his son's head and passed on by to Joi and Yoshi at Donatello's side. Donatello was explaining how the Geiger-counter worked.

Donatello nodded up at him and looked back at Yoshi and Joi. "So what do you think, Joi?"
Joi screwed up her face and shook her head. She went and grabbed Raphael's hand and pulled him a step over. She then folded her arms facing Donatello.
"Joi, that's not very polite." Yoshi stated, "Uncle Don put a whole lot of work into making his toy."
Joi shook her head again.
Raphael looked at Donatello feeling a little mystified, "What's this about?" He looked down at Yoshi and ran his fingers over Joi's head, "Look, go play, you two, Uncle Mikey's over there on the couch, I'm sure his movie's 'nearly' finished."

Yoshi and Joi ran off and Raphael looked at Don, "Seriously, what was that about, Don?"
"I was just asking them what they thought about the demon detector."
"Oh, so that's what you're calling it." Raphael looked at the Geiger-counter, "So there you go. Joi reckons it don't make up for plain old-fashioned Ninja sense."

"Joi isn't talking yet? Sorry, Raph." Donatello was apologetic.
"She's not old enough yet." Raphael defended angrily.
"Well, she's sure smart enough." Donatello asserted.
"Thanks." Raphael looked at Don. "No secrets between brothers?"
"Uh, no." Donatello smiled gently, "You can tell there's nothing wrong with her hearing. You only have to ask her a question. She mightn't use words but she'll still shake her head or do something else to answer you."

Raphael sighed, "Nothing wrong with her voice box either. I can usually get a few words out of her after she's had something to eat. A snippet of Japanese, or Scandinavian. Nothing in English yet, though."
"That's great news!" Donatello was positive.
"She doesn't 'just talk', Don, you have to really press her."
"Raph, I hate to break it to you, but I don't 'just talk' a whole lot either. So you're probably pushing for something that's not even a big deal. She can talk, she doesn't want to talk. I get that. I get that a whole lot, actually."

"You get that?" Raphael raised an eyebrow. "Now I'm really worried." He teased.
Donatello snorted, "Yeah, in a few years your daughter could be on the NASA science team."
Raphael felt a twinge of guilt. "You should be on the NASA science team."
"Nobody's had much time with all these demons on the loose around here." Donatello gritted, "Mikey says I'm suffering from information withdrawal. They don't tell me everything; not because they're hiding stuff, but because they don't think I need to know it." Donatello sighed, "I guess I never had that problem with you guys because we were in together on everything."

"Well, 'you' may have been." Raphael corrected, "Me and Mikey, especially Mikey, we got what you call 'information overload' sometimes."
Donatello folded his arms, "Well, I'm not that kind of turtle."

Raphael huffed, "You sure ain't, Donny." He looked away to Joi climbing up the back of the sofa to appear by Michelangelo's head. Joi wasn't an unhappy kid; just quiet. "You really think I gave that to her?"
"Could be." Donatello answered in a friendly tone, "She probably finds her brothers talk enough for all three of them, so she can get out of it and focus on thinking."
"Well, she ain't getting out of it around me!" Raphael objected loudly, folding his arms.

Now Don was struggling to keep from laughing.
"Oi." Raphael complained. "I'm being serious here, Don."
"Sorry, you just, Joi's face earlier ... you ..." Donatello sighed, shaking his head. "She's grown a whole lot since I last saw her. I'm sorry I've been so busy."
"Well, you can look forward to retiring soon." Raphael directed. "Because I've got news for you, Don: the FPA ain't the only ones working the demon problem. You're not the only one going on about portals you know."

Donatello was excited and grabbed his arms, "Your friends've found an answer?"

"I don't think so, Don. If we had, we'd have already done it." Raphael pushed him back, "But if you wanna get more data on the demons then you're better off hanging around with the people that can get you closer to them without the risk of you getting torn limb from limb." Raphael paused, thinking, "I suppose we're spending another night sleeping over. That way if it turns into a longer night, the kids still have Master Splinter to look after them when Mike has to go off to work."

Donatello suddenly grabbed him in another neck-wringing hug. "Thanks, Raph."
"You alright, Don?" Raph asked, disturbed, "I'm sorry it's been so long."
Don stepped back, "It still bugs me, what Stockman knows, what I don't know."
Raphael was pretty confident of that answer. "Super soldiers and genetics, geez, Don, you really need help with that? The only part of the tune that's changed is that they want to target demons."

"I sure hope they're not playing with demon genes!" Donatello emphasized, "You saw what that wall demon did to Mikey."
"You gotta let Bishop learn the way he's gonna learn."
"You're right." Donatello sighed. "I need out."
"You are out, Don, you're on my team now. Get what you need done with Stockman to lick this problem but then that's it. You ain't cheating. It ain't a contest..." Raphael paused, looking at Donatello's tragic face. "Oh, so it's Stockman's contest, is it? Then just let him think he won. Nobody else cares, hey; you reckon Bishop cares so long as the job gets done?"

"No." Donatello answered, "No, I don't think so." Donatello sighed, "You're right, Raph."
Raphael gazed at Donatello, "You've still got all your limbs, Don; I'd say you've won every fight with Stockman by default."
"I'm not fighting with him!" Donatello emphasised, "what I am is harassed, and cajoled and ... and teased and harangued and I am so sick of his preaching! 'I, the great and oh-so-superior Doctor Stockman!' On and on! Raph, he doesn't have an off switch, I've looked!"

"Cool it, Don." Raphael folded his arms. "All you gotta do to beat him is put your name on your stuff."
The green of Donatello's cheeks deepened, "Oh, you... don't think that's a bit ... you know?"
Raphael shrugged. "Hey, it's your stuff."
Donatello let out a breath.

Raphael shook his head. "It's getting onto six and I've got to settle the kids before I get to work."
"Can I come?" Don asked.
"Well, knowing you, you're going to need to check out the lab first." Raphael considered, "I'll be leaving you on your own with the skeleton crew, but-."
Donatello shrugged, "You say 'lab' and I'm set."

Raphael shrugged, "So it's sorted then. I'm just gonna settle the kids first."
"Cool." Donatello stated happily.

Raphael found his trio sitting around the low square tea table by Michelangelo, listening to Splinter telling them a story.

Splinter paused in his description of the bone demon, looking up at Raphael. "You are leaving, my son?"
"Work." Raphael knelt down and hugged his children, "Be good for Master Splinter, kids."
"Hey, what about me?" Michelangelo pouted.
Raphael eyed his brother wearily, "Don't you get into too much trouble either, Mikey." He mock-punched him.

Raphael caught Joi's tiny giggle and ran his fingers over her head. "Be back soon, kids."


Chapter End

Next Chapter: The Search for Leo.


A/n: Love to hear your comments and what you want to be seeing in the upcoming chapters.