Hamato/Oroku Dojo (5:00 pm)

Yoshi was in the dojo, finding his center and peace as he meditated. He had just gotten there when a different sense went off in his chest.

'My sons are doing something stupid and WRONG.' He thought, his father's sense of discipline kicking in. Just as he heard his children, head turning towards the sound of the disturbance, eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Guys, guys! Get in your spots!" Mikey's voice giggled excitedly as his older sons grumbled.

"Alright, alright Mikey! But this is the LAST time!" His second eldest grunted angrily as the eldest trio followed the baby's whims.

"And don't clip me this time." His second youngest whined slightly.

"Had too much cheese…" Leo groaned slightly.

-
Living Room:

"And now," Mikey crowed above his brothers on top of the stacked couches and tables. "The kid goes for the WORLD RECORD! Jumping over THREE large TEEN NINJA!"

"I can't believe he talked us into this!" whispered Raph as he turned to glare at his brother above them while Donnie heaved a small sigh.

"I can…"

"We were never able to say no to him as a baby…" Leo grumbled, rolling his eyes fondly "And it seemed to follow all the way to the teen years."

"Well, hopefully we can say no to him as an adult!" Raph hissed.

"Booyakasha!" Mikey cried skating down the makeshift ramp just as Splinter swept in.

"What is going on here?!" He cried as his eldest sons' leapt up and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Sensei-" Leo started, wide blue eyes looking at their father and teacher.

"D-Aaaaah!" Mikey screeched as he wasn't able to stop his momentum from careening towards his brothers.

"Ah!" Raph, Donnie, and Leo cried out as they turned around just in time to go down with Mikey after they all crashed to the ground.

"How many times have I told you not to skateboard in the house?" Splinter looked down at the pile of sons at his feet, eyes sharp and annoyed.

"None, sensei," Donnie grunted underneath Mikey who was still gaining his bearings.

"I shouldn't have to tell you!" He snapped, eyes enraged from their silly antics.

"You're right sensei," Leo grunted as they all stood, sending glares at their youngest brother, who shrunk under their gazes meekly. "We definitely should have known better, and we deserve to be punished...some."

They all bowed their heads to their father's towering figure, eyes closed and ready for punishment. Splinter walked forward, stroking his goatee as his eldest peeked an eye open before lifting his head. "And, what do you think would be a fitting punishment?"

Leo turned to his brothers, Raph and Donnie turned to act like they didn't hear, while Mikey took the time to actually think about it before smiling brightly at his eldest brother.

"We should clean up our mess!" He whispered as the dark haired teen nodded quickly before turning back to their father.

"W-Well," He started eyes shooting at his father with a nervous smile as Mikey shot a thumbs up from behind him. "We should clean up our mess…"

Splinter crossed his arms, obviously not liking how self doubting his son sounded. "And...think about what we did?"

His face turned flat as suddenly his two middle brothers decided it was time to rejoin the conversation with their inputs of agreement while Mikey silently began to clean up the mess behind them starting with the pizza boxes and dishes everywhere, now aware that his older brother's might just make their punishment worse.

"What about being grounded for a week?" Their father hissed, eyes narrowing on all his sons.

"..." The three eldest all stopped and tried to stutter out some words of objections.

"Otou-chan!" Mikey whined, eyes wide, as he picked up some more dirty plates. "I don't even go anywhere!"

"T-True sensei," Leo tried to cajole for his youngest brother. "Mikey hardly leaves the house aside from patrol, food shopping, and skateboarding…"

"And now, he'll be going only on food runs." Splinter started calmly. "For you are all grounded for a WEEK!"

"Man…" "Come on!" "My freedom!" "Kuso!"

A few minutes after he left, the makeshift ramp collapsed behind the boys making them jump. "And, clean this mess up!"

"You know...I'm surprised that didn't happen the minute I got on it…" Mikey muttered as everyone turned to look at him in fear.

Walk Home from School (3:30 pm)
-

"I can't believe we got grounded!" Raph growled as they walked home with April. They were only allowed to walk home with her and she could only come over for quick study sessions. No more than an hour. "Even Mikey and golden child over here!"

"First of all, Mikey has nothing to lose," Leo sighed for the millionth time it seemed. "And I'm not the golden child! I'm the same as you three!"

"Mikey doesn't even go anywhere unless you count the store and patrol." Donnie mumbled as he tinkered with something, head bowed and hands moving quickly. "Done!"

"What are you making D?" questioned April, officially deciding not to get involved with the older duo's bickering if Donnie wasn't going to intervene.

"A gift for Mikey…" He was still observing the small piece of metal in his hands as if looking for some flaw in the device's appearance. "He can only have electronics that I make and scrounge for and basically turn off since dad doesn't want anything to be linked back to us or more specifically Mikey; especially since The Mother found out that we're here. So, I decided to make one for him, since he keeps using his laptop for all his music…and besides, it's like a late Birthday gift."

"Hm…" She nodded with a hum as he resumed tuning everything out in order to completely check everything out on the device.

"Mikey's gonna love this!" He chuckled slightly. "Kuso, have to weld this into it a little better when I get home."

Seeing as Donnie was lost in his own world, and the other two were still bickering, April sighed, wishing Mikey was there to talk to her.

Hamato/Oroku Living Room (10:00 pm)
-

Raph paced back and forth angrily, muttering about how unfair everything was, Leo was doing homework and Mikey was cleaning the living room -again- when Donnie came running in with a small orange box with a purple bow on top of it. "Mikey! I have a late birthday present for you!"

Mikey looked up from where he was vacuuming at his brother, blowing a few strands of blond out of his face. "What's up D?"

"I made you something totally amazing!"

"You know what," Raph suddenly stopped his griping, turning to look at Leo with a flat look. "Let me show you how bored I am; what did you make Donnie?"

"So, you remember when I went scavenging into the military's dumping area?" The genius started handing the box to Mikey, who began to open it slowly.

"No?" "You what? Isn't that illegal?" "Yup."

Raph and Leo shared startled looks while Mikey nodded at his brother. They really needed to keep an eye on the genius if he's going to start doing dangerous things like that.

"Well, I found an incredibly advanced A.I microchip," The taller teen was basically vibrating as he adjusted his glasses mid-sentence. "Made with, get this, self assembling chain-link copolymers!"

"Oooh!" Mikey's eyes had stars as he absorbed all new information, pausing in opening his gift to listen to the rest of his brother's story. "That sounds amazing D!"

"I know right? They're my favorite!" Donnie was now focusing entirely on Mikey, understanding that his brother loved listening about his inventions and learning about them from him. "And! I'm also pretty sure there was some Kraang tech thrown in, so I used it to make your gift."

Opening the box the rest of the way, Mikey gasped softly at the sight of the small round glowing electronic. "What is it?"

"The most advanced music player in the WORLD!" Now he had his older brother's attention as well as they gathered around Mikey.

"Aww! D, I love it!" squealed Mikey as he hugged him around the neck excitedly while Leo narrowed his eyes and Raph growled slowly at Donnie's smug look. "I can't wait to test the T-Pod!"

"T-Pod?" The genius repeated smiling at his brother's bright grin.

"Turtle Pod…" The long haired male chuckled as if his brother didn't understand common sense before beginning to unravel the headphones to plug into his new device.

"You didn't test that ahead of time did you?" Raph stated blandly.

"No?" Donnie scrunched up his nose, not liking where his immediate older brother was going with this.

"So, you're gonna let our baby brother plug a piece of military and alien equipment right into his head?" The redhead stated, making a wide hand motion. "What if it melts his brain?!"

"It won't…" Donnie started with an easy grin and a wave of his hand, upon Raph's doubtful look, he bit his lip. "Wait...on second thought Mikey…"

But it was too late, Mikey had started playing the music. Flinching slightly as if being burned he let loose a small whimper, the elder brother's are all leaning forward expecting the worse. "Polka…"

Everyone around him breathed sighs of relief before sending him a flat look as Donnie leaned forward and pressed the skip button on the machine causing a beat to start resonating within his ears. Humming happily as he began to enjoy the beat of the music and started dancing slowly before speeding up.

"That's it...I gotta get outta here." decided Raph at last turned and ran for the door. Leo quickly followed after his hotheaded brother while Donnie continued to watch his brother dance, deciding to record him for a video for himself only.

"And where are you going?" demanded Leo as Raph made his way to the window. "We're grounded."

"I don't care, I gotta do something or I'm gonna go crazy." He paused, turning to stomp on a skateboard and catching it midair. "Let's head to a skate spot."

"Skate spot?" Mikey called, somehow hearing them over the loud music. "I'm in!"

"See? Even Mikey's agreeing." muttered Donnie.

"But what's Splinter going to say?" Leo threw his hands up helplessly.

"Oh, I don't know what's going on because they snuck out while I was asleep." Raph gruffed in a fake imitation of Splinter's voice.

"Oh, real mature." The blue banded teen huffed, crossing his arms. "But I'm your leader, and as your leader, I say no one goes anywhere."

"Well, as your followers," Raph started as Mikey and Donnie walked to his sides and slipped out of the window, with matching smirks. "We're going anyway."

"Well, as your leader...I'm going with you…" His eyes shifted back and forth trying to find a way to answer without sounding too obvious. "To-to lead you...away from bad stuff."

Mikey let loose another pitiful whimper, pressing his slight body against Donnie's weakly. "Polka again!"

Donnie simply sighed, patting the other's head as he pressed the skip button once more.

Rooftops (11:00 pm)
-

Three teenage figures ran silently on the rooftops, performing amazing acts of parkour and free falls as they made their way to their destination. Another figure a little ways behind them rolled along with them, head and upper body bobbing up and down to some music only they could hear, performing astounding tricks on the skateboard as their long hair flew behind them, wrapped tightly in a ponytail.

"Hey Tenjin," Mikey called out, eyes bright with energy and excitement. "Thanks for all the new songs!"

Donnie's face pinched into one of confusion as he continued running behind Leo and next to Raph before he tilted his head back slightly to look at his youngest brother. "Wait, what new songs?"

"Keep it down you guys!" Leo hissed, not even bothering to look at his youngest siblings as he kept his current pace. Donnie ignored his eldest brother, pausing in his run to wait for Mikey to catch up before leaping and placing himself upside down on the smallest shoulders, causing a barely there stop to happen; him and Mikey were close in body weight so this was nothing for the duo to do often.

"What the?" Donnie squinted at the tiny iPod in his brother's hands. "It's got thousands of songs and it keeps downloading more!"

"So?" Raph asked, running beside the duo and rolling his eyes at Mikey as the youngest rolled along, unaware as he looked at the T-Pod.

"So," Donnie emphasized back. "I didn't program it to do that." The lanky teen jumped off his younger brother's shoulders, running as if he never stopped. "It's reconfiguring itself somehow...it's that chip!"

"Whatever it is!" Mikey squealed as he neared a corner and jumped up, removing his skateboard from underneath him and free falling to the next roof. "It's awesome!"

"Guys!" Leo hissed glaring at the trio running on the roof above him. "We're ninjas, remember?! We move swiftly and here's the important part, silently-Ahhh!"

The others came to a slow down as they watched their eldest brother fall and crash into a rooftop garden house, crying out and screaming as he tried to keep balance before barely avoiding a beehive and crashing through the other end; Raph smiled as Mikey and Donnie watched in awestruck confusion as Leo then rolled down three flights of stairs before landing on a pile of garbage.

"Uhhhh…" Leo stared up at them as the world slowly spun in and out of focus.

"That wasn't very silent Fuji." Raph called back as Mikey broke into a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

They soon arrived at an empty lot and grinned in satisfaction, ready to go and have fun for the night.

"Let's grind it!" Mikey cheered quietly as Leo and Raph grinned at him, Donnie was ready to agree until a clanging noise caught his attention. He glanced at the street around the corner and frowned, eyebrows creasing as he saw a man in makeshift battle armour slowly making his way towards a bank area it seemed.

"Who the heck is that guy?" Everyone else followed his gaze and frowned in varying forms of confusion.

"I don't know, but he needs a beatdown." grunted Raph as he slammed a fist into his open palm.

"Hold on Katon," Leo interjected. "We don't know that he's gonna do anything; he could be on his way to...church."

The raven haired teen grinned weakly when his immediate younger brother gave him a flat look, poison green eyes looking back at the male once more. "Wearing powered battle armor? What church is that?"

Mikey seemed to snap out of whatever fantasy land he'd been dragged out into turning back with a wide grin. "A really awesome one."

Leo's hand smacked into his forehead as Raph rolled his eyes at his little brother's overactive imagination. "L-Look, it's my call. I decide who gets a beatdown."

They all glanced down at the slow paced male as he made his way to a locked garage it seemed, activating a small wrist laser and pointing it at the metal shutter. Dark blue eyes narrowed at the figure, his previous reluctance gone. "That guy needs a beat down."

All four quickly jumped up and landed behind the older man as he soon tried to lift the bottom of the shutter and lift it, only to curse quietly as he couldn't get his power armor to work properly.

"Piece of junk!"

"This is just kinda sad…" Donnie muttered to Mikey who was watching with a look that said he understood the feeling of uselessness.

"Yeah, I don't know if we should pound him…" The youngest admitted. "Maybe stop him instead?"

"Nah, pounding him sounds much more fun." Raph argued, cracking his knuckles.

"Halt, villain!" Leo called katana, face stoic even as his eyes were alight with childish excitement for being able to say those words. The man turned around swiftly just as the younger teens gave their brother a deadpanned look.

"Halt villain?" Raph repeated, arms crossed over his chest as he shot his brother a look. "Since when do we say that?"

"W-We're heroes. That's what heroes say..." Leo looked self-conscious as he turned to look at his brothers, his youngest brothers looked slightly annoyed while Raph looked unimpressed all together.

"You will feel the fury of my powered battle-..." The man stopped and stared at the teens for a long second before he glanced back at the two youngest. "Holy cow...you're only children!"

Mikey and Donnie felt their faces flush underneath their face masks as Raph and Leo growled. They were close to being adults…

"Hey!" Leo snapped. "I'll be seventeen next year!"

"Why is it, the ones who notice me; notice that I'm about to make an amazing robbery and get away with it, are children!" The man groused once more as he stomped back and forth angrily. "Why can it never be someone important!"

"We are important! We're the Amazing Teen Heroes!" Leo called out in a false deep voice, seemingly proud of his new team name, unlike his brothers it seemed.

"Wow…" Raph shook his head, seemingly tired of his brother's hero complex. "Just...wow."

The man in the armor crouched slightly before running at them with a battle cry as the teens quickly pulled out their weapons. Mikey stood by for a few, watching his brothers and their new...playmate for a moment before deciding something.

"Wait!" The duo haired teen cried as everyone paused to look at him. "I'm not playing a part in the bullying of a mostly harmless guy."

With that the adrogynous male sat on top of a trashcan and watched the fight with bored and disappointed baby blue eyes. The man seemed intrigued in Mikey's approach while his older brother's weren't happy with it.

"C'mon Tenpi," Leo whined slightly, throwing his hands in the air. "I'm the leader and I decided he needed a beat down. Besides, he was going to break into...this place."

"You don't even know what this place is!" Mikey scoffed at his older brother's logic. He might not say it but Leo enjoyed fighting against others or taking out his frustrations of their grounding in training, sparring, or needless fighting.

'No wonder he and Raph fight so much…' He thought. 'They're so much alike.'

"No thanks, Fuji." Mikey insisted turning away from his pouting eldest brother. "Enjoy your fun."

Leo was about to say something else before Raph grabbed his shoulder and gestured to their forgotten enemy. The elder trio all grinned at one another before racing at the guy with their weapons drawn and riding on their skateboards; treating this more like a game than like a battle. As Raph and Donnie tripped the man up, he stumbled back into a wall, his metal plated arm smashing into a security system and causing the alarm to blare as the teens panicked briefly.

Raph gestured to a dumpster as Donnie and Leo nodded quickly; grabbing the man and shoving him into the dumpster even as he cried out his protests the whole time. As the police started pulling up to check on the disturbance, the four teens leaped to the rooftops, ready to get out of there.

"Hold on guys," Mikey grunted glaring at his brothers. "I'm gonna go let that poor guy out of the dumpster. It's gross and just not cool."

"Do whatever you want Tenpi," Raph growled, slightly upset that his youngest brother was pulling a Leo and trying to spoil their fun. "Go be the wet blanket for the day."

Mikey sent him a flat look before turning and running back to the alleyway; Donnie and Leo stared after him worriedly before turning and beginning to head home. Mikey grumbled under his breath as he made his way to the dumpster. Halfway home, Leo had a bad feeling and turned on his tail.

"Fuji?" Raph called out stopping and turning around. "What's wrong now?!"

"I have a bad feeling! I'm gonna go grab Tenpi! We'll see you back in the house." He adjusted his blue eye mask once before making his way back to the location of the fight.

'Please be okay Tenpi!'

"Hey? You okay?" He asked as he opened it only to be hit by a rusty metal slab from the man inside, who seemed terrified as if one of the others had come back to harm him more. The shocking hit caused the petite blond to fall on the ground just as the man jumped out on top of him, searching him for another weapon of sorts before taking off.

"TENPI!" Leo cried; he'd just gotten to the roof only to see the skinny guy jump out of the open dumpster and run away after hitting his little brother. "Why you-!"

"Fuji, stop…" Mikey sat up, rubbing his head. "It only stunned me. It didn't even hurt that much...just startled me."

Leo glared at the man's retreating form once more before turning back to his brother, helping him stand up. "If you're sure."

"I am…" Groaning, the youngest Hamato began to collect his bearings and senses just as he realized the man had taken the T-Pod, probably thinking it to be a weapon to use against others. "Ah, sewer apples! He took the T-Pod!"

The smaller blond turned around and ran after the fleeing male, Leo following him in confusion. As they gained on the man, they were shocked to say the least when he seemingly disappeared from their sight. "What the-?"

"Come on, let's get home, Tenpi." Leo nudged him gently in the other direction. "We can explain all this to Donnie and I'm sure he'd understand but we have to get home soon. It's almost three in the morning and while I'm praying everyone is still asleep, I also have school tomorrow, alright? We'll talk more after practice tomorrow."

"Hai, Leo-niichan." The youngest finally whimpered as he began to walk, only glancing back at where their culprit once was.

Hamato/Oroku Residence (2:00 am)
-

When Mikey and Leo landed on their roof, they were pleasantly surprised to see the window open and their brothers standing guard, waiting for them. Mikey and Leo had agreed to wait until tomorrow morning to tell Donnie about the missing T-Pod for the sole reason that the resulting freak out would undoubtedly wake up the other members of the household.

"Finally!" Raph cried out, a tad too loudly. "You made it home!"

"Shh!" Donnie hissed looking behind him in case Miwa or worse Saki and their father appeared. "It's two in the morning!"

"And 'tou-chan is still sleeping?" Mikey twirled some hair between his fingers. "This is epic! And amazing! And terrifying all at once."

"Epic? No. Amazing? No. Terrifying? Yes!" Leo hushed as he looked at all his brothers. "This was a horrible idea."

"No, it wasn't." Raph chuckled as he backflipped onto a beanbag. "We stomped a sleeze-ball."

Mikey grimaced at his wording. Sure the guy had probably been up to no good but...his elder brothers went way too far. Not saying anything further and thinking about how he'll tell Donnie about the T-Pod in the morning, the youngest left without a word.

"What's his deal?" Raph cried out gesturing to Mikey's back without a care for discretion as Leo groaned and Donnie looked at his younger brother in worry.

"I think he's just tired." With that Leo turned and began to head to his own room, Raph and Donnie following his lead as well.

Baxter Hidden Lab -Abandoned Warehouse- (3:30 am)
-

Baxter panted as he sat in his hidden lab clutching the small metal device he took from the small teen earlier that night, face pale from the adrenaline and fear that he might be captured before it bloomed in a dark red at the fact that he was bested and outdone by kids!

'Well, at least one of the kids didn't participate…' He thought before he shook his head and glanced at the device again.

"What the hell is this?" He picked up the aux cord and absentmindedly plugged it into one of the hearing holes he installed in his armor. He was shocked by the red light that started to glow underneath the metal of his makeshift armor as it began to change, evolve, into something larger and more dangerous than his previous armor.

Hamato/Oroku Dojo (3:50 pm)
-

The boys tiredly went through their next set of exercises, basically trying to move on autopilot but failing as their bodies shook and wobbled. Leo attempted a handstand that he would have been able to do any other time but right now his legs lagged and his arms shook tiredly.

"Knees higher Leonardo!" Splinter scolded right as the blue banded teen flopped onto the floor.

"Expand Michelangelo!" He called as the petite blond threw himself across the room in a flip, groaning as he landed in crab before doing another.

"Raphael, you call that a Koho Tenkai?" He snorted as the redhead rolled by sleepily. "Because I do not!"

"Waah!" Donnie's lanky body hit the floor and Splinter finally stood up, not even trying to understand what his middle child was trying to do at this point.

"Yame!" He leapt forward as his children kneeled on one knee in front of him. "Hmm...is there something you want to tell me?"

"Something we want to tell you…?" Mikey looked at his brother decisively before looking back at his teacher with a small smile, face clear of all guilt. "Arimasen, sensei!"

"You all seem...tired."

"We're not!" Leo forced some energy into his voice and body as his father glanced them over.

"Wide awake!" Donnie cheered as Mikey smiled brightly at their father.

"Fresh as daisies!" Right as he said that Mikey felt a yawn trying to creep into his throat but he bit his lip to contain even as his eyes fell half lidded and Raph released a yawn causing a chain reaction between him as well.

"So, you wouldn't object to a little…" Splinter paused to lift his bokken as his son's looked at him. "Randori?"

"Uh...well," Mikey gulped as his brother shuddered next to them. Without skipping a beat or waiting for their response, Splinter whacked them each upside the head with his bokken causing them to all fall over in pain as he made his way to the door.

"I hope you have learned children," He murmured over their groans of pain. "That the truth isn't the only thing that hurts."

-
The Living Room (4:00 pm)
-

Leo sat in front of the television like a child watching a Space Heroes rerun with adept interest. He seemed to practically glow when Captain Ryan repeated his answer and smacked his Lieutenant with a force, smile growing wider as he recited word for word the speech.

"Seen this enough times yet, chief?" Raph casually asked, reading a magazine.

"Would you shush!" The eldest snapped turning around with a frown before snapping his neck back to the television. "This is the best part!"

Suddenly the news channel disrupted his show causing him to deflate as he continued to glumly watch the television. "We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. We've received shocking footage of an assault on the T.C.R.I office complex in Brooklyn."

The channel played footage of a giant robot-like figure moving about the screen as people cowered underneath their desks as he walked around looking for them.

"Haha! I will have my revenge!" The lanky man called, voice coming out robotically as the suit played his voice for everyone to hear.

"W-Why…?" One man questioned off camera as the glasses wearing man glared at them all.

"You'll never know." His angry face glanced at all of them. "I'm the thing that haunts your nightmares, I'm the nameless shadow-"

"Baxter?" Another voice interrupted his ridiculous monologue.

"No…?"

"Baxter Stockman?"

"No…!?"

"Hey everybody," The camera panned to show a man half behind his desk grinning and jabbing a thumb behind him. "It's Baxter Stockman!"

"I think his name is Baxter Stockman…" Raph deadpanned as the others continued to watch on in confusion.

"Is this because I fired you?" The boss asked, all fear gone from his tone, as he casually asked the man in the power suit.

"That copy machine was already broken when I-," The dark skinned man cut himself off, realizing how dumb that would sound. "I mean, I don't know what you're talking about!"

"How'd he upgrade his armor so fast?" Leo questioned right before the metal man took a swing at the camera and they all saw the T-Pod sticking out like a sore thumb. Raph and Donnie jumped startled as Mikey's hands flew up to the back of his head, remembering the lump given to him by Baxter Stockman out of fear and Leo turned to look at his brother, being the only one out of the eldest trio to know about what had transgressed the night before.

"He has the T-Pod?!" Donnie all but shrieked, turning to look at his paling brother.

"Shimatta," Mikey whimpered, stumbling back, big blues already watering up. "I-I can explain nii-san...really!"

"This'll be great." Raph grunted, obviously gearing up for some kind hearted speech from his brother.

"W-When I went back to let him out of the trash yesterday, he was so spooked he kind of…" Mikey trailed off, not ready to face his brothers' protective rage.

"He smacked him in the face with a slab of metal before basically mugging him…" Leo admitted finally. "We spent some time trying to find him before he got too far but it was too late...He must've taken the T-Pod during that."

As Donnie hugged Mikey close to himself when the youngest's eyes started to leak tears, Leo turned as the gears in his own brain started to grind. "So his armor is upgrading itself with the AI chip just like it did the T-Pod."

"If this keeps going," Donnie started, face pale as he stared at the eldest. "There's no telling how powerful he could get."

"This has gone way too far!" Leo decided at last. "We have to tell Splinter and the others about this."

"What? That we turned some nutjob into a super villain? Do you know what he'll do to us?!" snapped Raph, face full of annoyance. "I mean he pounded us into the ground just for being sleepy!"

"Look," The gap-toothed boy interrupted their argument. "We beat Stockman once and we can do it again. We just have to track him down and take the T-Pod back...before Splinter and Saki-ojiisan even realize what's going on."

"For what it's worth...I agree with D…" Mikey whispered as Donnie turned with a soft smile his way for agreeing with him. "But I think we should tell Mi-neechan…"

"Hell no, Mikey." started Raph, already on the defense from their sensei's. It was bad enough, he didn't think their cousin telling them the exact same thing would be much better since the situation is already getting out of hand. "Look, we'll handle this tonight and no one will ever know."

Mikey simply sighed, blue eyes sad as he looked at his brothers who nodded and began to head out of the sewer.

Unknown Location (12:00 am)
-

The four boys trapezed across the buildings in a straight line, Leo bringing up the front while Mikey brought up the back before landing in front of a large window and halting as they stared down through it at Baxter Stockman as he spoke to himself about something or other as they listened quietly.

"I am...the BAXMAN!" The lanky man tried holding a finger up as if having an epiphany before trying again. "I...am...the SUITONATOR!"

A beat.

"Aw!" He whined. "That's terrible."

Another beat.

"Captain Punch you...hard…" His face fell before he curled up. "Why is this so difficult?"

"I kinda like the Suitonator…" Mikey mumbled quietly, imagination already coming up with things for a comic dedicated to this never going to happen villain. "Kakkōī!"

"Enough fanboying Tenpi…" Leo rolled his eyes before brandishing his katana at Baxter, who stood up startled.

"You guys again?!" The man turned around and was faced with the youngest duo in front of him and the eldest duo behind him.

"Alright Stockman…" Their leader started. "Nobody wants to hurt you…"

Raph started a bit, obviously confused by this statement.

"We don't?" Green eyes met blue ones. "Did I...miss a meeting?"

Leo continued on, unperturbed by his overly aggressive brother, keeping his eyes on the power suit covered man. "We just want the T-Pod."

"Give up my source of power? Why?" The powered up man stood to the suit's full height as his next words hit home with Mikey, who was blaming this all on himself already. "So you can laugh at me again? Throw me in a dumpster?!"

"Sounds good to-!"

"No!" Mikey cried, cutting his elder brother's statement off. "We were wrong for that! But what you're doing isn't much better! In fact, it's worse! Please, if you give us the T-Pod back, we can talk this out and no one has to get hurt."

Mikey felt his brothers hold their breaths as the giant metal arm reached out for him, trailing over his head and ponytail gently.

"Nobody has to get hurt?" Stockman repeated the phrase casually, coldly. "Now see little one, that's not true for I have already been hurt. But if you move, you alone won't be hurt, for you have never hurt me."

When the small teen didn't move, Baxter felt anger at this new weaker being trying to deny his new found power trip. The metal hand suddenly grabbed Mikey around the neck tightly, picking him up off the floor slightly. "Now it's time for past dues!"

"Hey Tin-Man!" Donnie yelled outraged, causing him to drop their brother who landed on his knees holding his neck slightly.

"I think I found the perfect name for you." grunted Leo as he rolled forward and pulled Mikey away from the fight until he could gain his bearings.

"DUMPSTER MAN!" Raph was already running towards the suit, sai out and at the ready by his sides as Stockman reeled back his fist and slammed it into his chest harshly, causing the tall teen to fly back into a wall and under some rubble.

In the time it took for this, Mikey had decided to join the fight once more with his brothers and the trio ran towards the suit, hoping to take him down sooner rather than later. Using the suit to elongate the arms, Stockman slammed Mikey and Donnie into opposite walls, watching more rubble fall off the structure and on top of the younger two before turning his attention to Leo next.

He swung the arm forward and it shot towards the eldest who jumped on top of the fake limb and ran up it before flipping mid air and slicing the two extra limbs off as Stockman tried to bat him away. Landing neatly next to the cut off metal, he glared fiercely at Stockman as he laughed. His eyes widened as the man regrew the metal limbs.

"What the-!" Leo didn't even notice the cut off metal beginning to take a form of it's own behind him until it jumped onto his head as he was about to run at Stockman again. Leo went down as the thing tried to force itself onto his head.

The eldest stood back up, hands frantically touching, trying to feel his own head, only to feel smooth, cool metal. Running back and forth as Stockman laughed at the teen waving his arms up and down in panic. Raph and Donnie regained enough strength to finally pop out of the rubble and glared at Stockman balefully, unaware of the metal creature atop their brother's head as it scanned their angry features and body before deeming them the enemy to its new host and shooting lasers at the duo, who quickly jumped out of the way and landed in a fighting position, before more lasers were shot and they were disarmed.

"LASERS!" Donnie wheezed frantically as him and Raph watched the thing electrocute Leo in order for him to start running towards them.

"Ah!" The trio now ran, looking very much like one of those scenes Donnie vaguely remembers from a Scooby-Doo chase scene.

Mikey at last popped out of the rubble as well, coughing up dust and spitting out dirt. Looking up angrily at the man in the suit, Stockman had to pause in his mental gloating. Something about the dirty, beat up and slightly rugged appearance of the teen just screamed beauty to him as he watched a black and blond strand fall in front of the other's pale and slightly freckled face. "Hey...Stockman...I think it's my turn now."

"Should I go easy on you, princess?" taunted the older man, knowing a lot of teens would rise to the bait in today's world.

"I wouldn't if I were you, Stockman!" Stunned at not only the fact that Mikey didn't rise to the bait, but also made his name sound like a taunt Stockman stood there in shock as the teen quickly jumped out of the rubble at last, having finally freed his last leg.

Thinking quickly about the size and weight of the suit, the small teen used his kusarigama chain in order to wrap up the top half of the former bullied man and attempted to pull him forward; almost succeeding, before Stockman rotated his whole upper half spinning the other around. Mikey wished he'd thought this through as not only was he holding on for dear life but also trying to not vomit everywhere because bad guy or not, projectile vomit...ew.

Back with the eldest trio, Raph and Donnie continued to run, hoping the thing would run out of lasers before ducking behind some garbage and rubble left back there, covering their heads as the alien tech shot lasers repeatedly above them.

"Now what genius?!" snarked Raph as Donnie peeked an eye open anxiously, quickly spotting something that may save them. Leo screamed and continued to try and dislodge the alien tech from his own head as it continued to shoot lasers on it's merry way in attempting to annihilate his brothers.

Donnie quickly instructed Raph at what angle to hold the mirror and where to hold it right as another laser came their way...only to hit the mirror and begin to fly around the surrounding room bouncing from place to place before hitting and destroying the metal creature for good. As it fell off his head, Leo quickly adjusted his mask from the position it was with the eye holes behind on his hair to the correct way.

"Oh...thanks…" Once the room wasn't spinning anymore, he turned back to their enemy once again before all their faces contorted angrily at the sight of their brother being swung around like some yo-yo or one of his nunchaku.

Stockman laughed once more and stopped in front of them, only to swing Mikey around, and faking the noises he'd heard from the youngest as he swung him around again. Unbridled fury raged through the eldest trio's blood as they quickly grabbed their weapons and jumped at Stockman again.

Stockman started by throwing Mikey at Raph, who was knocked over but kept a grip on his younger brother while Leo cut the chain connecting Mikey to the machine as Donnie landed in front of them, his bo-staff switching to the naginata, only to be broken within a few moments.

"Hey…" He whined, looking at the remains of wood in his hands before taking a few steps back as the suited man began to walk towards him. Clenching his fists, Donnie prepared for one last chance as did the rest of his brothers as they stood glaring at Stockman.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Mikey started running forward first, the others following him.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Stockman continued as they rushed at one another.

Stockman walked through the wall carrying three of the teens in one hand and the smallest teen in his other metallic claw. Placing the smaller teen on the ground next to the dumpster, he used his other hand to slam dunk the older three teens into the dumpster.

"Haha! Foolish children, did you really think you could defeat me?" Mikey blinked wide blue eyes for a minute.

"Uh...kinda yeah…"

"All my life...others have laughed at me; the other kids in school, my coworkers...the lady who fixes the copy machine." He briefly stopped with the faux intimidating voice for this next part. "How was I supposed to know you don't pour toner in the top?!"

"...then where does the toner go?" asked Mikey.

"...No clue. I thought it was there but I WAS WRONG!" He cleared his throat to continue his story. "But when they behold the power of this suit, they won't be laughing anymore...they'll tremble in feAAAAAAAAAH!"

He was cut off a second time, this time by his own scream of pain as the suit began to upgrade itself more. The teens could only watch in mixtures of fear.

"What's happening?!" Leo's voice cracked and he mentally cursed himself as he saw Mikey tremble in the corner next to the dumpster.

"Stockman and the T-Pod…" murmured their genius brother as the upgrades began to finish and show themselves. "They're...merging….they're becoming one single entity…."

"The Stockmanpod…" Mikey whimpered, covering his head. Thinking quickly, while Stockmanpod tried to figure out what upgrades he had, Leo jumped out the trash and grabbed Mikey by the arm, dragging his youngest brother behind him as the other caught his drift and ran after them.

Just as they turned the corner, they heard the loud thundering steps of the suits close on their tails. "The Stockmanpod is right on us!"

"Please do not name him!" Raph grunted. "That's validating him and that is the last thing I want to do! Validate a nerd that isn't Tenjin."

"Split up," declared Leo after a moment. "He can't follow us all."

"No way nii-chan!" Mikey whined loudly, already pulling ahead of his brothers. "He's gonna follow me…!"

"Why would he do that?" Leo rolled his eyes at the thought, getting ready to pull away from his brothers and run down his own direction.

"Because they always chase me!" the orange masked teen whined, speeding up a little bit more just in case Stockmanpod was catching up.

"Stop being paranoid and just do it!" At that the older three teens ran down different streets, but the entire time Mikey could hear Stockmanpod's rumbling footsteps behind him.

"I knew he'd follow me!" Thinking quickly, Mikey used all the speed he'd gain from having a small body but also from his training to turn faster than the giant suit could before jumping on top of a small park attraction and just as Stockmanpod ripped the toy out of the floor, he'd already run down another alley causing the large suit to try and catch up by bursting through the wall he used to jump over.

"Pizza…?" Mikey thought for a second before grinning childishly. Without being caught, Mikey swiped two out of the four boxes off the back of the kids scooter and stood his ground as the Stockmanpod began to gain on him.

"I've got you now!"

"Oh yeah?" Mikey openly mocked now. "Well I have...HOT CHEESE!"

And tossed the pizza right onto the seeing box of the giant suit causing the man to skid to a stop. As the giant stopped, Mikey leapt onto the nearest rooftop and bolted without stopping this time.

"IS THAT THE BEST YOU'VE…" When Baxter finally managed to get the pizza off his face, he paused at the empty area around him. "...got…"

Hamato/Oroku Rooftop (Unknown Time)
-

The boys shushed each other as they made their way back into the house before the light was turned on. Glancing up, they were caught red handed. It seemed as Miwa, Splinter and Saki were all there waiting with arms crossed in front of them.

"Hey boys and Mikey." Miwa greeted casually, filing her nails on a kunai.

"Boys…" sighed Saki, seemingly resigned to listening to his elder brother scold their children.

"And where have you been?" Splinter didn't waste any time.

"N...nowhere?" Raph tried, Miwa snorted as Saki sighed forlornly.

"How did you get so hurt?"

"Oh," Leo hid his swords immediately. "That, um...w-w-we were um…"

"Hit…" started Raph before slapping himself in the eye.

"By a…" Donnie stopped, having no idea how to answer.

"...We were playing near an old construction site and some rubble fell on us…" Mikey filled in, still not okay with lying to their family members.

"Nice try lil' cuz…" snorted Miwa. "We already saw the news. Baxter Stockman?"

"Went from small, failed robberies to succeeding in terrifying people?" Saki unhelpfully imputed.

"Enough!" snapped Splinter at last, all four boys straightening at the sound of his walking stick hitting the floor. "Tell me what happened…"

"...and then I threw the pizza at him and ran away." Mikey finished quietly, face cast down and eyes forlorn at the fact he lied to his father and family for so long about this.

"Very resourceful Michelangelo." Splinter ran his hands through his youngest's hair in a form of comfort before looking at his eldest three. "I'm very disappointed in you three. The first rule of being a ninja is do no harm; unless you mean to do harm, then do LOTS of harm."

"You're right sensei, I guess we did make a mess of things…" Leo murmured, meekly turning his eyes towards his father.

"So," Splinter started, locking eyes with Leo only. "What do you think would be a fitting punishment?"

Leo looked down, deep in thought about the situation they unintentionally created with some harmless steam blowing and now must fix without help. "We need to clean up our mess…!"

"Yes, you must stop this...Stockmanpod." The Japanese man seemed tired of this situation.

"But sensei," Donnie looked at him with worried red-brown eyes. "He kicked our butts the last time...how are we supposed to stop him?"

"Oh!" Raph seemed excited at his own thoughts. "I'll hit him...REALLY hard!"

"Brute force is not the answer." reminded Splinter. "It's what caused this whole mess to begin with. So, Michelangelo, what do you believe is the answer?"

"Me?" squeaked Mikey, blue eyes wide as he glanced at his brothers.

"Yeah bro," Leo started, ocean blue eyes calm and gentle. "It was you who suggested leaving him alone and we didn't listen but now…"

"We're all ears." Raph and Donnie spoke together smiling at the youngest who blushed deeply, freckles sticking out in the dark red blush.

"Well, the ninja before us often fought against others in armor," He started, remembering the studies his father often went over with him and the stories his uncle would tell him. "And they had learned to not fight the armor but the person inside...right?"

"Correct." Splinter murmured proudly, gesturing to his wall behind him. "Which means don't fight the suit but Baxter Stockman…"

Random Rooftop (1:30 am)
-

Three figures sat on the roof, watching the street below. Waiting for their fourth to lead their target right to them.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Donnie asked skeptically as he looked at his two older brothers.

"Like sensei said," began Leo. "Fight the person inside the suit, not the suit itself. And one thing we know about the bad guys around here? They love chasing Tenpi."

"Not limited to chasing Tenpi," Raph grunted. "They love to torture and try to kiss Tenpi. He's just a trouble magnet."

"Guys!" Mikey cried out rushing towards his brothers. "Stockmanpod's got...MISSILES!"

Without waiting for a response the smallest teen ran forward and flipped over some of the smaller parts of the roof before running across the top of the water tower and finally catching himself on the wire above himself with his nunchaku. Mikey looked down at the burning carnage with wide eyes at the thought of if he had slipped.

The Stockmanpod laughed as he walked through the explosion, unaffected thanks to his suit. Thinking quickly, the elder three threw their chains around the giant machine in order to restrain him as Mikey finally came down from the wire.

"Had enough, Baxter?" He wheezed quietly, looking up with dangerous baby blues as the man growled at him through gritted teeth.

"I should be asking you that, Princess!" With that he broke free and grabbed Mikey around the middle, tossing him across the next few buildings easily.

"Tenpi!" Donnie gasped, eyes wide before they narrowed in anger towards the man.

"That's it!" growled Raph, as they readied their weapons. "You're going down!"

As they four rushed at each other once again, Donnie stopped him briefly by kicking him in the chest a few times before whacking him on the head harshly, making the Stockmanpod stumble back right towards Leo who decided to try and change the direction by slashing at him until he walked into Raph's sai. Sadly, Raph's attacks didn't have much effect, so he tried to run at the other with an uppercut...only to be swatted away like a fly.

"Katon!" Leo called standing at the ready with Donnie before they both tried to jump at the Stockmanpod. Baxter saw them coming this time, and grabbed them before slamming them into one another then beginning to spin like an overzealous merry go round.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" Donnie felt like he would puke and Leo didn't feel much better. But it all came to a stop as they were suddenly thrown off the building and almost to their deaths.

"Gotcha!" Leo glanced down as Donnie looked up at his older brother, his arm being held by Raph as he also held one of Leo's. "You guys just love to make me worry about ya!"

As they scrambled up the building once again, they all collapsed in a tired heap before looking up at Stockmanpod, defiance still shining in their eyes.

"Any last words?"

"Yeah...just one." Donnie snickered.

"Bees." hissed Leo.

"Bees?" Baxter cocked an eyebrow, believing the child to have lost it.

"Beeeeeeeeees!" Mikey cried as he swung in on his kusarigama-chan with the beehive clutched tightly in his arms. Scaling the Stockmanpod like a jungle gym, the petite blond quickly shoved the whole next in the small face opening of the suit, causing Baxter to try and swat the bees away while stumbling over his own feet and making the suit act out; all the while exposing the T-Pod.

Leo's eyes narrowed on the spot where the T-Pod was before waiting for their chance. The boys all lined up, ready to take a hit at the machine in order to cause the Stockmanpod's downfall. Starting with Mikey taking a swipe with his kusarigama, Donnie following up with a stab with his naginata, Raph taking a stab with his own sai, and finally Leo jabbing at it with his katana.

Unable to take all the hits, Baxter fell over the ledge of the roof...only to land on a smaller platform roof, groaning miserably the whole way. He looked up in fear when Leo towered over him before calmly stabbing the T-Pod and deactivating the suit as the man timidly got out.

"So...we'll call it...a tie?" He tried weakly.

"What do you say Katon?" Leo teased.

"I think-,"

"Ahem…" Mikey crossed his arms and tapped his foot. "What started this?"

"I think it's a tie." Donnie gulped.

"No lie there." agreed Raph while Leo simply nodded.

"Good." Without blinking, Mikey threw his kusarigama-chain around Baxter Stockman's shoulders, securing him tightly. "And now, to jail with you!"

"Aw come! Please don't!"

But there was no beating Mikey when he was on a mission.

Hamato/Oroku Dojo (3:00 pm)
-

"You all showed wisdom and great skill in defeating this Stockmanpod," Splinter said even as Raph made a face at the nickname. "I am proud of you all…"

"Does this mean…" Leo started after they all sat stock-still. "We're not grounded anymore?"

"Hmmm…" Splinter stroked his beard as he looked at them. From Leo and Mikey's pleading eyes to Donnie and Raph's hopeful ones. "Yes."

He smiled when his children cheered. "But first…"

They all paused in fear. "RANDORI!"

His children quickly ran and he gave chase.

Omake:

"I'm so glad you're ungrounded!" cheered April. "Now, I can come and visit Mikey again because no offense? But you guys kinda suck when you're grounded."

"Fair."

"I don't think I suck."

"You suck plenty Donnie...starting with-,"

"Enough Raph."

April smiled, happy to have her friends back to normal for now.

She just hoped it stayed this way.