I own nothing, taken from the 1987 series episode entitled "Shredded and Splintered," which is the last episode of season 1 of that series. Mostly from Splinter's perspective of these events in close third-person narrative style.

Of course, his students had not been silent all this time. When his old enemy had first appeared onscreen, Leonardo had stated with his usual, direct, leadership-style, "The Shredder."

Then in "his" usual way, Raphael had asked "Since when did 'he' get his own daytime talk show?"

When Shredder had disappeared from their TV screen, after stating 'if (they) wanted it (the retro-mutagen ray), to come and get it, Raphael had shouted back, "You bet we will!"

He had had to quickly intervene. Putting things in his best, determined, yet calm sensei voice, he insisted to his students, "I alone must get that retro-mutagen device away from the Shredder. The ray could restore me to my human form, but what if the Shredder used it on you!" He gazed piercingly at his students.

Raphael had stared at him with an open mouth throughout part of his objection to his shout. Donatello, however, was bent over while looking up at him from under green eyelids nervously. He answered. "We'd be changed back into …" Donatello glanced sideways to meet, an equally grimacing, Michelangelo's eyes. They gulped together in unison as Donatello finished, "Ordinary turtles."

Despite the fact his ultimate mission was a solitary one, he allowed his students to accompany him part of the way. The plan was to allow them to face any enemy holding any weapon "save" Shredder with the retro-mutagen ray. Splinter had a strong suspicion his old student would not give that up to anyone else.

He and his current, and much more loving and obedient students went up an elevator together. It stopped inside a telephone booth on a sidewalk of the city. Donatello had constructed this device, so they could have quick access to the streets of the New York City in an emergency threatening it. This seemed to be happening quite a lot lately.

They all ran out of the door together and toward a large hole in the street. It was a crater so large they could all jump into it at once. But Donatello, perhaps in the haste of his curious nature, reached the edge of it and jumped first. He and Leonardo leapt in after him. Raphael and Michelangelo came last, Michelangelo giving a "Cowabunga" as he did so. Then they all came flying out of the hole in the blue, streamlined, flying car their recent visitors from Dimension X had left behind.

Splinter smiled. Even he was enjoying the air moving through his fur, though it made him ponder how it might soon feel to have air hitting the skin of a human face of soon instead. This thought made him smile all the more. He was not the only one.

His students were all smiling too, and cheering various things, enjoying the unusual car-ride not just for them, but for anyone without a flying car. However, the trip did not last long. Only a few moments had passed before sounds came from the engine like something was turning over with a thud inside instead of a roar.

Donatello was driving. He looked down at the dashboard with a grimace on his green face and asked, "What now?"

From the backseat, Raphael asked "Who bought this jalopy?" And then exclaimed, "Piece of junk!"

His other students had like things to say, if they were less colorful. As they began smoothly gliding downward. He began planning how to keep peace between them and find his way to his old enemy and possible cure for his condition some other way.

He and his other students leapt from their seats after they landed. Raphael, however, slouched in his. Then he said, "Well that was a short trip." He got out with a drooping mouth and partially drooped eyelids.

Donatello lifted the hood of the vehicle. Splinter stood off to the side waiting to hear from his brightest student (in the ways of machines) whether or not the problem was easily fixed. If it was, he could proceed in his mission more quickly just by waiting a few seconds. His purple-clad student looked inside their planned mode of transportation and said, turning toward him as he did so, "Looks like we're out of fuel."

Michelangelo waved his hands to gesture to the engine his fellow student stared at while asking him, "What kinda juice does this crate take?"

Donatello gazed at what his sensei assumed must be the source of the problem before answering. "Ummm Plutonium, I think?" He turned to the orange-clad turtle while closing the car's hood.

Splinter straightened at these words and the tone his student had used to say them. Donatello was hardly ever this uncertain about something mechanical. But then, it was a vehicle from another dimension.

Raphael jumped upon the obviousness of the predicament this put them in. "Ah terrific, maybe we can get a tow to the nearest plutonium station?"

Michelangelo began to speak with his usual earnestness waving his arms down and then forward as he did so. "So, let's just hot-foot it on over to the technodrome."

Raphael had a snide expression and tone as he replied to that putting his three-fingered hands on the hood of the vehicle giving them so much trouble and leaning over it toward Michelangelo to emphasize his point. "Are you kidden?" He then straightened back up, putting one hand on the shell over his hip while pointing with the other toward the car's hood. "We need the weapons on this thing!"

Donatello straightened himself then. The turtle's form and face melded seamlessly back into a confident stance and expression. "I saw something at Baxter's workshop. It would need a little work, but I bet it would do the job."

After saying this, finishing with a confident grin and a wave of his hand, he rushed back toward the telephone booth. "I'll meet you at the techonodrome."

Splinter smiled at the booth one of his students had just disappeared from sight in off to do a job by himself to help them all. Raphael's next words expressed his own feelings. "There goes a good turtle!"

What do you think?

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes