A/N: This is one of those chapters where I felt like the chapter would never end. It wasn't really a chapter that I was too excited to write (there wasn't anything wrong with it, and I'm happy with how it turned out, but I'm telling you, I am ready to introduce Donnie and Raph), and yet this chapter ended up longer than my average chapters usually do, which was cool, but also a little annoying. I hope you guys appreciate this chapter (I'm sure once I give myself some time from writing this chapter, I'll like it just fine. This has happened before).

As they made their way back to the village, Mikey lingered a little behind his brother and dad. Ever since he and Leo were young, Mikey had felt like a bit of a third wheel when they were both with Splinter. Mikey knew their dad loved both of them, and he loved them equally, but he didn't love them in the same ways. They were both Splinter's son, but Leo was also his pupil. Taking care of the village meant a lot to Splinter, so of course showing Leo the ropes around being a leader and having so much responsibility would add something more to their relationship.

When Mikey was younger, he had been jealous of all the extra attention Leo seemed to be getting. Mikey had felt really lonely because not only was Splinter really busy, but then Leo had started spending a lot of his time helping him as well. Mikey had been bitter for a little bit, but then he'd started spending more time with Casey and April. Once he wasn't alone anymore, Mikey had been able to adjust to not being able to spend as much time with his family as he would have liked. And now that he was older, it barely bothered him at all.

The key to not feeling left out was to find his own ways to spend some alone time with Leo and Splinter. Mikey had learned how to recognize when Splinter wasn't busy doing work for the village, and that was when he would ask Splinter to teach him more about having an appreciation for life. It was from his father that Mikey had learned so much about plants, and to live every day to the fullest. When Mikey spent time with his brother, they just spent their time exploring the island and sharing with each other something that they had learned.

Mikey had accepted that his relationship with both Leo and Splinter was different than their relationship with each other. He was fine with that, and for the most part nowadays he barely ever noticed it. When it was just the three of them though, like it was now, Leo and Splinter almost always started talking about their work around the village. It was because of this that Mikey had gotten into the habit of distancing himself slightly from them. This way if they wanted to talk just between the two of them, he wouldn't be in their way, but if they decided to include him, he would still be right there.

Mikey almost always had something to do to distract himself. Like then, he was observing the plants as they made their way back to the village. The wildlife was looking good...for the most part. On the surface, the plants all looked happy and healthy, but appearances can be deceiving sometimes. When Mikey took a closer look at the plants, he saw that there were a lot of leaves that weren't normally eaten by insects that had holes in them anyways. The leaves weren't as vibrant a color green as Mikey thought they should be, some of the leaves even looked a little closer to yellow than green. The plants were drooping more than they normally would. There were just so many signs that there was something wrong with these plants.

Mikey frowned in concern and slight anxiety. He may have learned a lot about plants and wildlife, but nature has a way of taking care of itself. If nature couldn't thrive without his interference, then there wasn't a lot that he could do to help it. If the earth, or even just their island, really was dying, then it would happen no matter how hard Mikey might try to reverse it. He could encourage nature to take its course, but if nature's course was going in the wrong direction…

"Splinter!" The three of them paused when they heard Casey calling out to them. He sounded really distressed. "Splinter!"

"Casey!" Leo called out in response. A moment later the boy tripped out of the bushes and onto the path. Mikey wasn't happy that Casey had been running through the plants, probably crushing everything under his feet, but he didn't say anything about it. Casey had obviously come looking for Splinter for a reason, and there seemed to be a lot of urgency to whatever was on his mind.

"Here you are," Casey was gasping for breath, but he didn't stop for very long to find his second wind. He immediately moved on to what he had come out here for. "Something's really wrong back at the village. You gotta come,"

They had already been on their way back to the village, but hearing that there was apparently a problem, they picked up the pace. The four of them began running back to the village, though they made sure to stay on the path this time. When one person is traveling, it may be faster to just cut through all the plants, but with four of them, it would definitely be safe for them to keep to the path. Not to mention how much better it would be for the plants themselves.

They ran all the way back to the village, and continued to follow Casey as he lead them past the outer buildings and living areas, straight to the center of the village, which was more of a gathering area than anything. There weren't a lot of buildings in this part of the town, but there was a medical hut, which was where Casey lead them.

Everybody on their island was fairly healthy. Unless there had been a big accident, or an illness was going around, the medicine hut was fairly empty, which was why it was such a small building. Right then though, it looked more crowded than Mikey had ever seen before. So many people were there. Some of them looked in better condition than the others, but everybody looked scared.

"What's going on?" Splinter asked as Casey pushed past some people waiting outside the hut to get them inside.

"We don't really know," Casey said. The inside of the hut wasn't nearly as crowded as the outside, but there were still more people here than the building had been made for. Mikey immediately spotted April and her father, and it looked like they were talking to the main medic. The looks on their faces showed that whatever they were talking about it wasn't anything good.

April, who was sitting on the ground, still looking pained, smiled weakly when she saw them. "Hey, guys,"

"Hey, April," Mikey kneeled down next to April. Casey sat down on April's other side. Splinter pulled the healer aside to talk to them somewhat privately. Leo seemed conflicted about whether he wanted to join Splinter, or stay close to April. He compromised by standing between them, close enough to April to offer support if she needed it, but also close enough to hear what was going on between Splinter and the healer.

""Are you feeling okay?" Mikey asked April.

"What's going on?" Leo seemed to ask the room in general. He didn't care who answered.

"There is...something going around the island," The healer said. "Miss O'Neil here isn't the only one who has come here today complaining of a headache. Many of them have also reported this not being the first time that they've had a headache, and that they've had stomach aches as well."

Mikey frowned. "What's getting everyone sick?"

"I don't know yet," The healer admitted. "The symptoms themselves aren't worrying, but when I saw how many people had been suffering in silence for a few weeks, I wondered just who else was having these problems, and, well, you saw how many people came."

It's affecting half the village," Leo muttered. He looked at April in concern. "I thought it was just a headache."

"It is," April insisted,"

"For now," The healer cut in. "Your headache has been getting worse, and so has everybody else's. For all we know, it'll only get worse."

"What can we do?" Splinter asked.

"Unfortunately, I don't even know what's going on," The healer said. "We can relieve the symptoms, but if we don't tackle the real problem, we won't be able to solve anything."

Mikey and Leo looked at each other. Leo gestured outside, and Mikey went ahead and followed him. He may not want to leave April, because he was worried about her, but Leo wouldn't drag him away if it wasn't important.

Leo and Mikey walked outside the hut, and then continued on past the village. Leo didn't say anything at first, he just lead the way to the cliff that overlooked the ocean. Leo frequently went there when he was feeling stressed. When they got there, Leo turned towards Mikey.

"Do you think this is another one of those 'the Earth is dying' kinds of things?" Leo asked, though his tone implied that he thought he already knew.

"I'm afraid it might be," Mikey sat down and stroked his fingers over the grass. Everything felt normal, but that didn't mean anything. "You saw how our crops and plants were dying, even though they look really healthy. A lot of our food comes from plants or animals."

"If we thought our food was good and it actually wasn't…" Leo paled. "If the food is getting people sick…" Leo closed his eyes and shook his head. He took a moment and took in a deep breath. Leo calmed himself and when he opened his eyes there was a determined look on his face. "Fairy tale or not, we can't put this off anymore. If we're going to do something, we have to do it now!"

Mikey nodded and looked down at his necklace. The Heart of Miwa. "But we can't just sail away. The first time you went on a boat was this morning, and you really didn't do that good."

"And fishing boats weren't meant for actually sailing in the middle of the ocean." Leo rubbed the back of his head. We need to take an actual boat,"

"And we need to know how to sail it," Mikey said, because it would be a big mistake to sail off out onto the ocean with such a minimal knowledge about how to even work a sail.

A strange look came into Leo's eyes, and Mikey knew that he had a plan. It wasn't uncommon for Leo to have a plan, however the look in Leo's eyes told Mikey that it would be more like one of his own plans. The kind of idea that you knew very well could backfire, but you were going to go through with it anyways.

"Well, luckily, we know someone who knows how to work one of those fancy boats," Leo looked out towards the ocean before turning around and running back towards the village. Mikey was confused at first, not really understanding where Leo was running off to in a hurry, but then he remembered what their dad had told them about just a short time ago, about how he used to go sailing when he was younger.

"Leo, wait!" Mikey rushed to his feet and ran off after his brother. He understood the urgency to trying to fix this problem, but Splinter had been so upset just talking about sailing. The memory of Tang Shen was fresh on his mind at the moment. And now Splinter was probably stressed about trying to deal with whatever was making so many people feel unwell. This wasn't the time to ask him to not only allow them to go out onto the water, but to teach them how to do just that.

Mikey was a fast runner, but so was Leo. Physically, they were pretty evenly matched, except for the fact that Leo was taller than Mikey was. Leo's longer legs allowed him to travel just a little further, so Mikey wasn't having a lot of luck catching up to his brother.

Mikey wasn't far behind his brother, but just a little bit of a distance between them was all that Leo needed. It allowed him to get to the medical hut first. "Sensei, can we talk to you?" Leo asked the second that he got through the door, before Mikey was able to catch up to him.

"Wha-no!" Mikey grabbed his brother's arm and tried to pull him back a little, but Leo stood his ground. "No, don't go dragging me into this. This is all your idea,"

"But we'd both be going," Leo pointed out, like there was no question about it, and there wasn't. Mikey may think that his brother lacked tact, but that wouldn't be enough to dissuade him from standing at Leo's side.

Splinter looked from Leo to Mikey, a calculated look in his eyes. "You still want to go out there, after all I told you." It wasn't a question. Splinter knew all too well what they were doing there.

Leo's daring boldness softened slightly, though he still looked extremely determined. He wasn't going to take no for an answer, but he wasn't going to be unreasonable and unempathetic either. "Sensei, our island needs help. Our people need help."

"It is not up to the two of you to shoulder the responsibility of the entire island," Splinter said. It sounded fairly logical, but neither Leo nor Mikey were convinced.

"We all live in this world, and that makes it all our responsibility to take care of it," Mikey said.

"Splinter, you're the one who taught me to put the good of our people before my own needs," Leo said earnestly. "If there's anything I can do to help out people, I can't just not do it."

Splinter took a deep breath. "Come," That was all Splinter had to say to get Leo and Mikey to follow him back out of the huts. Leo looked relieved. If Splinter was bothering to take the conversation somewhere more private, then he might not be so quick to just dismiss them. This was a good sign that Splinter was actually going to be allowing an actual discussion.

They didn't go far, as Splinter always wanted to be close to the village when there was a potential problem. They just went far enough to not be overheard. Once they were alone, Splinter turned and put his hands on their shoulders. "I won't be able to convince you boys to change your minds, will I?"

Mikey was caught off guard. He had thought that they'd have a chance to convince Splinter that they needed to go, but he really hadn't expected Splinter to be so easily resigned to it.

"I'm sorry, Sensei," Leo said, and he really sounded like he meant it. "I know there's no guarantee that any of this is going to work, but if there's even a chance that it'll work, we have to try." Mikey nodded, because he believed it too.

Splinter eyed them both for a few long, tense moments. Finally he sighed and squeezed their soldiers before letting his hands fall. Splinter turned and began to walk. They automatically knew to follow him. Both of them were surprised to see that Splinter wasn't actually heading back to the village, like they thought he would, but towards the cliffside cave that he'd found them at earlier.

"It takes time to truly master sailing, and even longer for it to become second nature," Splinter said as they walked. "But if you're going to be running off anyways, I'm going to at least make sure that you have enough sailing knowledge to hold your own out on the ocean." Mikey felt his breath get caught in his throat. Even after everything he'd told them, he was still letting them go. He was trusting them to come back home. Leo hadn't even gotten around to asking Splinter to teach them how to sail, but he was doing it anyways.

Leo really was a lot like Splinter. They certainly thought alike.

When they got to the cave, Splinter headed straight to the sailboat that had the flower symbol on it. It was the sailboat that was in the best condition, and it was also the one in had caught Mikey's attention the most. He was drawn to the boat that shared the same symbol as the one on his necklace. And if this stone really was what they thought it could be, then the shared symbol could mean a lot for their little quest.

Splinter stepped onto the ship and grabbed the rope that was used to manipulate the sails. Splinter showed handed the rope to Leo, who took it like he was afraid it was going to bite him.

"Relax," Splinter said. "If you don't allow yourself to feel comfortable with the sails, you won't be able to get them to work for you."

"R-right," Leo took a deep breath and relaxed.

"Good," Splinter said. "Now, pay attention, and remember what I'm going to teach you," Splinter continued on with the lesson. Leo paid complete attention, while Mikey just half listened. He tried listening at first, but he'd never been as good at learning theoretical learning. He was a hands-on learner. It was one thing to be told what to do, and another thing to be shown.

Mikey knew that he would have to learn how to sail. They were going to be working together on this, which meant they both had to do the work. But Leo was good at learning from Splinter. He knew how to put theoretics into practice. Mikey knew that his brother could teach him once they were out on the ocean.

Mikey hummed to himself and stepped off the boat. He looked briefly at all of the other boats, but then walked past them towards the water that came flowing into the cave from the ocean. He walked along the water's edge. He loved the feeling of the water at his feet. Mikey bent down and fingered the stones at his feet. He found one that was about the size of his palm, fairly smooth. This would do nicely.

Mikey stood up, fidgeting with the stone. He turned towards the water and drew his hand back. He flicked his wrist forward and released the stone, letting it skip over the water. Mikey had never been very good at doing this. He could usually just get the stone to skip three, maybe four times. He had once gotten it to six though, which had been really cool.

As Mikey tossed the stone, he hadn't really expected it to go very far, but to his surprise it got to seven skips, and then it just kept on going. Mikey watched in awe as the stone reached eight, nine, ten skips, and it showed no sign of slowing or sinking. If anything, it seemed to be going farther and faster. The stone skipped right out of the cave, out into the ocean, until he couldn't even see the stone anymore.

Mikey frowned. There was no way he had magically gotten so good at rock skipping that he could probably beat any world record. He grabbed another stone, not nearly as perfect for tossing as the other one, but it would do. Mikey tossed the stone, just like before. Once again, it started skipping across the water like that's what it was created to do, though Mikey thought he saw something weird. When the stone hit the water, it didn't just bounce off of it, but it kinda looked like it was pushed.

Quickly, Mikey grabbed another stone, one that was in no shape to be skipping on anything. It was too jagged, too round, but it was just what Mikey was looking for. He sat on the ground and just threw the rock at the water. He didn't even try to get it to skip, but it did anyways. This time, Mikey didn't watch the stone, but he watched the water. He definitely wasn't imagining it. The water was pushing the stone, making it skip.

Mikey didn't know what was going on. The water was acting weirdly, but that couldn't be a thing. The ocean couldn't 'act' like anything, it was just water. It wasn't a sentient being. Except...Mikey fingered his necklace. He slipped it off and looked at the stone. He remembered the day that he had found it. At least, he thought he did. Over the years he had started telling himself that he had found the stone when it had washed up on the ocean, and that was at least partially true, but Mikey swore that he hadn't just stumbled upon the stone, it had been given to him...by the water.

Mikey lowered the hand that held the stone into the water. The normally purple stone turned to a pinkish color and seemed to glow. Mikey watched it for a moment, feeling how the ocean rose and fell, like water had a tendency to do. It felt a little like there was some more water pressure near the stone than elsewhere. Mikey bit his lip and let the stone fall from his hand. It didn't even begin to sink. It just flat there in mid water.

Mikey stepped back, away from the water, and away from his stone. Things were still for a moment, but then the water around the stone rose until it made a bit of a pillar. Mikey watched in awe as the water pillar moved towards him until it was just right in front of him. The stone floated up in the water until it was at the top of the pillar, which then bent over Mikey's head. Mikey watched in awe as the pillar took the stone necklace and put it back on over his head.

"...Hey, Leo!" Mikey excitedly turned back towards his brother. "You remember when we were really little, how we imagined the ocean having a mind of its own?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Leo looked towards Mikey. He looked barely curious at first, but Leo very quickly saw where Mikey was going. "You...it...how?"

"The ocean…" Splinter sounded in awe, but not particularly surprised. He looked from Leo to Mikey. "Has this kind of thing happened before?"

Mikey nodded eagerly. "The day I found the amulet. The ocean brought it to me...to us." Mikey may have claimed the stone and adopted it as his necklace, but Leo was the one that the ocean had first come to. They were both involved in this thing.

Splinter frowned, though it looked more thoughtful than concerned. "I've always believed that the ocean and the Earth were one. If someone is wrong with the sea, the land will be affected. If something's wrong with the land, the ocean will feel it too. If the Earth is dying, the ocean would feel it, and it would do anything it could to fix things.

"So, is the ocean asking for our help?" Leo looked at their father.

"It very well might be," Splinter said. "I imagine that the sea will help you on your way."

"Well, that's a relief," Mikey laughed slightly. "We barely know how to sail, and we don't even know where we're going. I definitely feel better about this now that we apparently have the freakin' ocean on our side."

"So do I," Splinter said. He still looked upset and unprepared for this, but he wasn't going to stand in their way. "Still, I ask you two to be careful. The world is a lot bigger than our small island."

"That's what I'm counting on," Leo said, his eyes glistening with excitement. They may just be leaving because they felt it was necessary, but that definitely didn't stop Leo from looking forward to going out on the ocean, seeing new places.

"We'll watch out for each other," Mikey promised. He stepped back on the boat and embraced Splinter. Their dad wasn't big on physical affection, but he returned the hug without hesitation. Leo waited for a moment before joining them. They stood like that for a long minute before Splinter pulled away.

"I must get back to the village," Splinter said. "And you two need to hurry and get some supplies so you can leave while you still have a few hours of sunlight."

"That sounds like a good plan," Mikey said. Leo put his arm over Mikey's shoulder. Neither of them completely knew what they would have to bring with them, but they would figure it out. They both had a lot of work in front of them, and they didn't really know just what to expect from any of this, but they would figure it out together.