In the dojo, Splinter, Chloe and the turtles were in the dojo for their routine training session, but Splinter had a new training session in mind for them.
"My sons" Splinter spoke, "You are truly becoming impressive warriors; this competition is a free-for-all , last turtle standing wins"
"They're five" Chloe spoke, "Are you sure you want to pit them against each other so soon?"
"It will be useful for them to know where they stand, what their strength and weaknesses are" Splinter told, "Hajime!"
When the battle began, Raphael ran so that he was behind Donatello and kicked him across the dojo, knocking him into the growing oak tree and knocked him out of the fight.
"Sorry Donnie, it's a ninja eat ninja world" Raphael taunted a bit, then ran at Michelangelo, who was busy laughing at his older brother.
Michelangelo saw him coming in time and swiftly moved out the way; Leonardo then jumped in and began to fight against Raphael.
"What are you doing Leo?" Raphael questioned his older brother as they were now fighting, "I was going for Mikey"
"What part of last turtle standing don't you understand?" Leonardo questioned as he pushed Raphael back.
Raphael was tumbling back a bit towards Michelangelo and he moved away and began to back up as well, but then Leonardo tripped Michelangelo, knocking him out of the fight as well.
"Aw man!" Michelangelo whined.
"Distraction" Splinter spoke as he stood next to Michelangelo while Chloe helped him up, "Misdirection; powerful weapons in a ninjas arsenal"
Chloe was chuckling when Michelangelo was copying what Splinter was doing, but Splinter saw and gave his youngest son a look; Michelangelo looked up and saw that he was caught and smiled nervously with a laugh.
"Looks like you leveled up to the boss fight" Raphael said as he faced his older brother.
"I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your face, permanently" Leonardo told as he stood stern and ready.
"Leonar-" Splinter placed his hand over Chloe's mouth to keep her quiet so the fight could continue.
"It could be good for them" Splinter said.
The two brothers began to fight intensely and with everything they've been taught, even pulling moves that Splinter had yet to teach them. When Raphael started to run so he could compose himself, Leonardo chased after him and when Raphael ran around the tree, Leonardo jumped onto the tree and kneed Raphael in the face just as he came around, knocking him down in front of their younger brothers, who stared in awe at what just happened.
Leonardo walked over to kneel down in front of his parents, who looked to be proud of him; Raphael was on his knees and hands looking down at the ground, panting as he felt a harden emotion well up inside of him, towards his brother and he couldn't suppress it.
Raphael gave out a war cry as he charged at an unsuspected Leonardo, who tried to defend himself, but the attack was unexpected and Raphael was hitting so hard, he couldn't recover quick enough. Raphael had then pinned Leonardo to the floor and kept repeatedly hitting him, screaming 'I hate you!' over and over again.
"Raphael!" Splinter and Chloe shouted in shock at their son's sudden aggression and violence towards Leonardo. They rushed over and Splinter pulled Raphael off of Leonardo while Chloe tended to her crying eldest.
"Raphael!" Splinter shouted a bit to gain his sons attention, "You had no right to attack your brother like that!"
"He started it!" Raphael shouted, "I should have been the one that won! I'm stronger!"
"Raphael, go to your room now, I will determine your punishment after you apologize to Leonardo" Splinter told sternly.
Raphael made an angry pouty face as his eyes started to fill up with tears before he ran out of the dojo. Chloe looked at the dojo doorway with concern rather than disappointment at what Raphael had done. Once Chloe and Splinter had tended to Leonardo's injuries, Splinter had gone to meditate in the dojo before determining Raphael's punishment. Unknown to him, Chloe made her way towards Raphael's room and gently knocked on the door.
"I'm not going to apologize to Leo!" Raphael shouted.
"Can I come in?" Chloe asked, "I just want to talk"
It was quiet for a moment before the door opened up a bit and Chloe took it as a sign that she could come in. When she came in, she saw that Raphael was in his bed with his face buried in his pillow; Chloe walked over and sat on his bed, placing a hand on his shell.
"Raphael, honey, you don't hate your brother" Chloe said.
"Yes I do!" Raphael shouted into his pillow, "He beat me! I should have won!"
"Just because he beat you this one time, doesn't mean you hate him, you have to be careful with your temper"
"I don't have a temper!"
"It's not a bad thing to have a temper, I have them sometimes too, Splinter as well, we just learn to control it better; you just have to calm down, clear your head and realize that you don't really hate your brother. Come have a walk with me"
Raphael looked up at Chloe, his eyes a bit red and tears stained on his cheeks, "But Splinter said I wasn't allowed to leave"
"Then it'll be just our secret"
Raphael smiled a bit before he got out of bed and took Chloe's hand. They made their way out of the room and Chloe managed to sneak them out of the lair without anyone noticing them and they took a walk through the sewers in silence for a while.
"Would you like to know a secret Raphael?" Chloe asked as they continued to walk.
"Ok" Raphael answered, kicking some stay cans.
"When I came back home, Splinter and I got into a fight, we yelled at each other and he said something that made me so anger with him that… I slapped him"
"You hit dad?" Raphael asked in surprised.
"Yes; I felt what you felt when Leonardo beat you and I acted without thinking; after that I went out for a walk to blow off some steam, and when I came to realized what I had done to someone I care about, I felt bad about it"
Raphael looked down at the ground, looking guilty now after hearing that and thought about it all, "My chest hurts"
"You feel bad about what you did and making up with Leonardo is the only way to make it stop, it's not about apologizing, it's about fixing what you've done"
"But what if it happens again? I don't know if I'll be able to stop it next time"
Chloe looked to be thinking about that for a bit, "Don't worry sweetheart, I'll help you, and so will Splinter, he still loves you, he may be stern, but he still loves you" Raphael sighed a bit as he nodded, "Let's head back now, Splinter must have noticed by now that we're both gone"
"Will he be mad at you?" Raphael asked worriedly.
"When I tell him why we went out, I don't think he will be"
Chloe and Raphael were soon making their way back to the lair, but on the way, Raphael thought he had saw something flowing in the larger water stream, so he stopped.
"What is it?" Chloe asked when she noticed that he had stopped.
"I thought I saw something" Raphael said, about to walk away again before he saw it again, "There it is!"
Raphael had jumped into the water stream and treaded through with the water up to his armpits and grabbed what he had seen.
Chloe reached over and helped Raphael out of the water, "Raphael, you shouldn't have done that by yourself, the water current is strong in this part of the sewers" Chloe looked to see what Raphael had saw that made him jump into the water stream and was surprised to see that he had picked up a turtle.
"Do we know him?" Raphael asked as he held the turtle up to Chloe.
Chloe laughed a little, "No sweetie, we don't"
"But he looks like me"
"Well, you both are turtles, but something special happened to you and your brothers that makes you different from others like him"
"Why is he down here? Where's his family?"
"I don't know honey, sometimes for creatures like him, when people don't want them, they just… get rid of them"
"They didn't love him?"
Chloe looked a bit sadden at how Raphael looked at the poor abandoned turtle, "I guess they didn't"
Raphael looked at the turtle for a bit before he smiled and stood up with a smile, "Well I love him; can I keep him mom?"
"That's a lot of responsibility Raphael, you'll have to feed him, keep him cleaned up; do you think you'll be able to do that?"
"Yes!"
Chloe smiled at her enthusiastic son, thinking of how cute and ironic it was that he had a pet turtle, "Ok, you can keep him; let's go home now"
When Chloe and Raphael made it back to the lair, they saw that Splinter was apparently waiting for their return and he gave a stern look with his arms crossed. Raphael gave his new pet turtle to Chloe and he made his way over to Leonardo, who was lying down in front of the TV. The two adults watched as Raphael sat down beside Leonardo, talking to each other for a bit before hugging each other.
"I don't think Raphael should be punished" Chloe spoke.
"By the looks of it, he already received his punishment" Splinter said and Chloe gave a confused look, "I saw that look you gave when Raphael left and I figured you would do something as you are his mother and you care very much for him, so his new punishment was his guilt"
Chloe let out a small puff of laughter, "You sneaky ninja"
Splinter chuckled a little as well, then he noticed the turtle that Chloe was holding, "What is that?"
"Oh, Raphael rescued him from the sewers and he felt bad about what happened to him, so he's Raphael's new pet"
"That is a lot of responsibility"
"I know, but I'll make sure he knows how to care for him, having a pet will be good for him"
Splinter sighed a bit, "Alright, Raphael may keep him; maybe having a companion will help him control his temper"
"Kind of like me and you"
Splinter smiled a bit at the memory of how quickly they made up after their first fight and how close it brought them. They were true friends that brought out the best, and worse, in each other, but that only made them grow closer to each other, hopeful that the same will be for Raphael with his new companion.