A bouncy lesson

Mikey smiled wide as April entered the dojo.

"What's up Ape? You here to join us?"

"You bet!" She gave him a high five when he held his hand up towards her.

Today was the first day April would join the brothers in training, she had had some private lessons with Splinter in the basics, but he had decided she could join in today. Apparently, it was an activity they needed to practice together. For teamwork.

They all sat down and waited. Though Don had this weird expression on his face, like he knew something they didn't.

"My sons, and April." He nodded towards her. "Today you will be practicing dodging."

".. What?" Leo seemed slightly surprised. He gave both Donnie and April a glance and looked back to Splinter. "Dodging, sensei?"

"Yes. Is something the matter?"

"Well…" Leo hesitated. "Not… not really?"

"You seem unsure."

"Well it's just... not what I expected. I mean, Donnie and April are.. uhm." He quickly looked down, April could practically see him squirm under his father's gaze. He might as well, that comment was slightly rude, she could dodge. And she was pretty sure Splinter was well aware of Donnie's limits.

"April will be just fine. And I did not say all of you. For today's lesson, I have enlisted Donatello to help me out. He will be in charge of projectiles while I will be the judge. 25 strikes and you will be out. 40 for April as she is still a beginner. I advise cooperation." Mikey carefully observed his sensei's face, and he could tell there was a hint of… something in there. Playfulness?

"25? That's a lot." Raph commented.

"Oh trust me you will need it." Don said with a slight smile.

Mikey's face lit up, this seemed a lot more like a game than a training session, and he wouldn't say no to that.

"Alright, bring it! Bet one pizza I can beat you all!" He cheered.

"Michelangelo this is a teamwork lesson." Splinter corrected. "As this is a dodging exercise you will not be needing your weapons." Splinter gestured for them to put them to the side. In the meantime, Don unhooked one of two big bags and put in his lap. Mikey noted then that he was in his regular wheelchair, rather than the training one. Don put his hands in the bag and gave them a big smile. Mikey was sure they were in for it now.

They all spread out slightly and got ready, April supposed this wouldn't be too hard, she just had to pay attention to Donnie and where he was throwing the objects.

However, as Donnie grabbed at the bags contents, she had a feeling maybe things wouldn't be easy. She was right.

At Splinter's signal Donnie began to throw, to their dismay, of everything it could be, he threw bouncy balls. They flew through the air, and as they dodged, the balls went bouncing against the walls, floor and ceiling, making it increasingly hard to predict in which direction they would be coming from.

He started off with just a few, but they kept increasing. April felt one hit her shoulder and leg while she tried to avoid another one thrown her way. Some were thrown directly at them, others he threw at the surroundings, making them more unpredictable.

"For the..!" Raph ducked as Don threw one right at his face. "Take it easy with the aiming!" That, however, had proved to be just a distraction, because one hit the ceiling above him, bouncing down in an angle and hit his leg.

"Crud!"

Leo threw himself to the side, hitting Raph as he tried to avoid the balls going literally everywhere, he was pretty sure this was not something you could actually win against.

"Get out of my space Leo!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Guys..! I think we're meant to not clash into each other."

"Work together!" Splinter admonished them.

Mikey seemed to thrive, he was having a lot of fun, and executed some dance moves while he kept dodging. That earned him a few extra balls his way from Donnie.

"Hey..!"

"Don't worry, I'll get you all!" Don seemed to enjoy this a lot too.

April gasped, she felt like she was doing the workout of her life, suddenly she was pulled to the side, and realised it was Mikey, and he just saved her from a hit. He smiled at her.

"Team up against the throwing menace?"

She smiled and nodded, working together was mostly beneficial for April, but she could also warn Mikey when a bouncy ball came up in his blind spot. She also had the advantage of being smaller, while Mikey had a big shell that was harder to keep away from the bouncy balls.

Raph and Leo did not have the same cooperation, Leo tripped over Raph, causing him to stumble as well, as they fell Raph got hit a few times since he ended up on top.

"Raphael is out!" Came Splinters voice.

Raph glared daggers at Leo as he moved to stand by Don's side.

"Wanna help?" He offered.

"You bet." Raph took the other bag. From that point it only took a few seconds for Leo to strike out.

"Raph! That wasn't fair!" Leo exclaimed, as Raph had ruthlessly peppered only Leo with the bouncy balls.

"It's called revenge." He laughed, but quieted down when sensei sent a look his way.

April could tell her movements were getting sluggish, she had more hits than the others, but that wasn't much of a help right now. She maneuvered to the side, only to feel something hit her back.

"April is out!"

Only a few seconds later Mikey was out as well.

"Oh yea! I won!" Mikey made a victory dance.

"It is not about winning, it is about working together to last for as long as possible. Clearly something Michelangelo and April succeeded far better in than Leonardo and Raphael." Splinter commented.

Leo and Raph looked down on the suddenly very interesting dojo mats. Raph grumbled a bit about Leo messing it up, and Leo shot him a subtle glare.

"Aw yeah!" April and Mikey gave each other a high five. "That means we get the pizza then!" Mikey cheered and then added. "Don too of course, without you we wouldn't have won the pizza~!"

"I wasn't playing favourites if that's what you think."

"Nah, we all know I'm all your favourite baby brother~" Mikey said teasingly to his three big brothers. "But also because there wouldn't be anything to win otherwise!"

"We should play this more often! Can we sensei? Pleeeease?" Mikey looked hopefully at him while the rat smiled. Raph and Leo groaned, while Don simply smiled, it had been quite fun.

April chuckled as they bantered back and forth, in the mean time she decided to get started on ordering that pizza.