The little turtle.
Life is not a science, it's an art.
21) Bookworm.
"What do you call these things again?" Raph asked when he critically observed the little device Donnie had given to each of us.
"A cellphone Raph" Donnie explained. "You know like how you see on tv sometimes? That way when one of us is in trouble we can call for help."
"A cellphone, cool." Mikey admired his.
"Well, it isn't exactly a cellphone, I modified it a bit, I guess it's more like a walkie-talkie but with the same reach as a cellphone but without having to pay for it."
"Cool Shellphones" Mikey joked and laughed a bit at his own joke while the rest of us just sighed.
"Donatello you are truly magnificent, I thank you for these devices."
"Thank you master Splinter, I just thought that it would help calm Leo a little whenever one of us needs to go to the surface without him."
"Yeah, actually it would. Thanks bro." Leo smiled and patted him on his back
"No prob."
I turned mine over, the little pattern on the back kinda reminded me of their shells. Cool, my brother is a genius… well I kinda knew that already
"Can I go out master Splinter?" I asked.
"Of course my child, be back by six for your training."
I bowed, "yes master."
"Boys time for your training" he commanded and they followed him to the dojo, I caught Mikey wishing me luck. I was going out again, with new determination to search for the book that my brother longed for. I wanted to give him something in return, I placed my cell in my pocket.
But after another afternoon of searching the place I still hadn't found anything that even resembled what I was searching for.
Three weeks, three weeks and still I hadn't found the book. I guess it's not something just anyone had lying around, let alone throw away.
I heard a noise, someone was coming, damn. I hid myself and waited until that person passed, it was just one of the people working at the junkyard.
"Hey you!" I heard someone yell in the distance, I looked around and saw that while I had hidden myself from the view of the employee I completely forgotten about the homeless village behind me, the old friendly guy had spotted me and made his way towards me. oh great job Theng Sjen, I was about to take off.
"No please don't run!" he yelled, "I just want to thank you!" he got closer, I didn't run but backed away from him. Something told me that he didn't want to hurt me, but he is a human so best not to take any chances.
"Don't worry, I don't mean you any harm" he held his hands out and reassured me that I had nothing to fear from him, yeah right.
I continued to stare at him, my silence seemed to make him uncomfortable.
"Well, I just wanted to thank you, you probably saved my life with what you did the other day." I nodded, I looked around, I let him make his thanks I should get going now.
"No don't leave yet, you're still searching for the book right?" that got my attention, I nodded again.
"The book about computers?" he clarified. I nodded again.
"I have something lying around in my tent, if you come with me I'll give it to you." he said, that had my senses on high alert again, STRANGER DANGER, no way was I going to walk inside that human camp.
"I can't" I said quietly.
"Why not? I'm a professor you see … well used to be actually, so I have a plenty of books …"
"… no I mean, I can't go in there." I said and gestured to the human infested part of the junkyard.
"Oh, oh!" he came to the realization that I was not that trusting, he seemed to understand and smiled friendly at me" no problem, wait here I'll go get them for you." he said and hurried off, I felt kinda bad for letting the old man run around, but there was simply no way I was going in there. It was scary enough talking to one, let alone being surrounded by a dozen of them.
I didn't have to wait long, he came running back with a couple of books just five minutes later.
"Here you go." and excitedly he pushed them in my arms, they looked pretty new. I opened them, there was a whole lot of stuff that I didn't understand, so it must be the right one.
"Wow are you sure that I can have these?" I asked, as I studied them.
"Of course you can, I'm happy to help you out any way I can, I'm forever in your dept. If you ever need anything you need only ask and I'll try my hardest to assist you." he proclaimed.
"Thank you, but you don't really need to do that." now I kinda felt bad about not trusting him.
"You saved my life little one, I owe you." he said and smiled.
"We're even now." I said and laughed as I hugged the books to my chest. "Thank you" I looked at my watch and saw that it was about time to go. "I really have to go now." I said.
"Wait, we haven't been properly introduced, my name is Lucifer, Ian Lucifer but everyone calls me professor" he held out his hand. Reluctantly I shook it, it would be rude not to after accepting his gift.
"Theng Sjen, but my brothers call me Thanny" I said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Thanny, I hope we run into each other again" he said, no offense but I hope not, I thought.
"I really have to go now" I said and ran off as quickly as I could, I waited until the coast was clear to sneak into the sewers, I'm so happy ! I can finally give my brother this, with this I could help him.
"Donnie, Donnie!" I yelled when I entered the lair.
"What's up little turtle" he answered, he was already working on something new. "Don't tell me you broke the cell already?" he laughed.
"No, of course not, I have something for you" I said proudly. And handed him the books, he looked confused for a bit but when he opened them and started to read his eyes started to twinkle and a huge smile broke on his face.
This moment right now, I will remember forever.
"No way" he said astounded and jumped up, his eyes burned to the pages of the book he was holding already memorizing everything that was written. "No way" he yelled louder and did a little dance of joy. He picked me up and twirled me around, the others came to see what all the excitement was about.
"Hey, what's going on?" Mikey asked.
"Look what Thanny got me!" he hopped over to them and showed off his gift.
"Wow, Don that's … a lot of science" Raph said when he tried to read the book.
"It's a Physics book explaining all kinds of tech, now I can finally work on that computer and learn all kinds of stuff!" he was hopping around now out of pure happiness.
I saw Mikey wink at me, Leo grabbed the other books and studied it.
"Wow, they even are in very good condition, were did you find them?" Leo asked. Uh oh.
"Well I … in the junkyard" I answered, technically it wasn't a lie … who am I kidding yes it is.
"Don't lie Theng Sjen." Leo said in a stern voice, double uh oh, he called me by my full name, never a good sign.
"I … well … it's kinda …" they will be so mad at me, talking to humans is a strict no no, plus then I have to tell them that I helped the professor before … oh shell.
"Theng Sjen." Leo stepped closer.
"Dude, you're right, not even one ripped page." Mikey said, I threw him an angry look which made him shut up immediately, come on I thought you were on my side. Donnie has stopped his frolicking and took his book back from Raph to see for himself.
"It's not something you've found is it?" Donnie asked, I lowered my head in shame and shook my head.
"Damn it Theng Sjen, have you forgotten everything that master Splinter has taught us?" Leo yelled. I wish I thought this through better. I saw the disappointment in their eyes.
"What is going on here?" Master Splinter entered the room.
"We think Theng Sjen has stolen these master Splinter." Leo explained and handed the books to our father. Wait a second … stolen? They think I steal? … well the evidence does speak for itself … kinda, but still we were taught that stealing is without honor and we only do it when we are in desperate need of food.
"Theng Sjen explain yourself." Master Splinter commanded.
"I didn't steal them." I said and looked him straight in the eye, master Splinter stared right back.
"I believe you, my daughter but how did you get them, you must admit that this is a rather exquisite find to do at a junkyard."
"I didn't really find it, someone gave it to me" I admitted. That got their attention.
"And just why would a stinky human give a fancy shmancy science book like that to you?" Raph asked.
"A couple of months ago Mikey and I were searching there too and he and a friend of him were near so in order to get away I came out and distracted them so Mikey could escape and while doing so I might have mentioned that I was looking for a book about computers." Leo glared at Mikey.
"You used your sister as a distraction to get away?!" he accused.
"No dude, it was not like that … well actually it kinda is but … I was there the whole time if something … NOTHING happened … it was her idea." He pointed at me … real mature Mikey.
"Please don't blame Mikey for that Leo, we didn't have any other choice, we had no way to go and they were coming closer." Mikey nodded along with my explanation.
"You should have been paying more attention." Leo said and crossed his arms.
"I still don't get why he gave those to you or why he has them in the first place." Raph said.
"Well he was a professor so he had all these books lying around." Please let that be enough, please believe me.
"So he just thought I'll give them away? Homeless people need money, Theng Sjen why would he just give them to you while he could get some real good money out of them?" Donnie asked.
"He kinda felt like he had to …"
"Because …" Raph stressed.
" …I kinda … saved his life from two purple dragons a week ago" I admitted I closed my eyes and waited for their outburst.
"You what?!" the four of them yelled.
"You never told me that?!" Mikey accused, "you always tell me everything!"
"Sorry" I whispered.
"Why would you do that? After last time, you barely escaped with your life and now you decide to take on two? We are ninja, Theng Sjen not vigilantes." Leo got angry again. Great, Leader-mode Leo is the worst enemy you can have.
"They didn't see me, I just sabotaged their bikes, what else was I going to do? They were going to hunt the professor around for sports. They didn't see me, it didn't feel right, I couldn't just walk away, that would be like having his death on my conscience." They grew silent after that, I turned to master Splinter who hadn't said a word during this whole ordeal.
"I'm sorry master Splinter, if I've disgraced you somehow, I realize that I put myself in danger but I had to do something. Earlier today I made a mistake while hiding and accidentally revealed myself to the professor, he felt like he owed me and gave me the books. I just wanted to help, master, I'm really sorry if I've done something wrong while doing so."
I heard him sigh.
"Theng Sjen, though I am not happy to hear that you have placed yourself directly in face of danger to save the human. I can understand that it went against your honor to ignore the matter at hand, you must understand though, that there are many ways to do the right thing. It could have turned out very differently that night, I hope you understand how lucky you are not to be discovered." I nodded and kept my head low.
"I am aware of the fact that you above all of your brothers will have the most contact with humans, but I must advice you to be cautious, not all deserve your mercy, my child. But you are right to have followed your instincts a ninja should not do what goes against his or her honor, there is no need to apologize you have done no wrong by me."
"Thank you master Splinter" he patted my shoulder and stood.
"Ninja act from the shadows and that is what you've done, though I will advise you to be more cautious in the future my daughter, not all will be so easily defeated." I nodded "Very well, I expect you in the dojo in ten minutes"
"Yes master." And he went back to his meditation.
"So that means I get to keep them?" Donnie asked, he was happy again. Leo sighed.
"Yes Donnie, Thanny has gotten them in a honest way so you get to keep them." Leo still wasn't very happy with me, but I guess that's more to do with the fact that I again had gotten into trouble when he wasn't near.
"I'm sorry Thanny, I seem to have accused you wrongly" he said.
"No problem Leo"
"Dude, that's three that you've taken care of, if you keep this up you'll be a real superhero someday!" Mikey exclaimed, Leo didn't look very happy at that prospect.
"From now on, if anything, anything, goes wrong, you call me alright?" he said.
"Sure Leo" I doubt I'll get into one of those situations again, but then again that's what I thought after the first one too.
"By the way, that goes for all of you." he turned and pointed to my other siblings.
"Yes mom." Raph mocked and sat on the couch to watch some lame wrestling show.
"Sure Leo." Donnie said, I doubt he heard any of it, he was using all of his concentration to read the book. And Mikey was pestering Raph, he didn't have much concentration so he just ignored our oldest brother.
I pitied Leo a little, as the oldest and the leader he feels responsible for us. And we are not making it easy on him either.