Part 5-Dinner Disaster

Late afternoon...

After Mikey was gently transferred from April and Casey's tent to one of the turtles' two tents, which Donnie would be sharing with him whilst Leo and Raph shared the other, the group began to make dinner since the sun was starting to set.

Since she was the only woman in the group, April was allowed to cook her dinner first before the boys. Not long after that, the boys discussed who should prepare their dinner for tonight, which was curry, and they decided that Leo and Casey would do it whilst Donnie and Raph just sat and waited where the fire was lit. As they waited, Raph decided to start a conversation with Donnie to pass the time.

"Man, it's a shame dat Mikey still ain't feelin' well enough ta join us fa dinner on our first night of camp…He would've loved it!"

"Mmm, I know…but it can't be helped, and you saw the state that he was in whilst we were on our way down here…I doubt that Mikey would want to risk eating with us whilst his stomach was still doing back-flips on him…" Donnie replied with a sigh.

"Yeah, I get dat…but hey, it'll pass and he'll be beggin' fa food in no time!" Raph said confidently to try and lighten the mood, which had worked because Donnie smiled and chuckled at his immediate older brother's words.

"Speakin' of dinner, it's almost time fa ours…! Man, I'm starvin'! Even though I don't expect much outta Leo and Casey, I'm sure dat they'll make somethin' dat is at least a bit edible…" Raph said in an excited tone since he was looking forward to dinner all day.

"Err…y-yeah…I don't think you should eat it, though…" Donnie said with a bad feeling in his stomach due to knowing what was going to happen as soon as Raph tries the food, especially with the odd mix of ingredients that were going to be put in it.

"Oh, shell no! I ain't fallin' fa dat…! Ya just sayin' dat so dat ya can have it all ta yourself, huh? I can't wait ta dig in!" Raph said with a smirk, leaving Donnie with nothing more to say since there was nothing that he could do to try and persuade his red-banded brother to not eat the nearly-prepared food.

Speaking of which, Leo and Casey had just finished adding the last ingredient into the curry mix before Leo started to slowly stir it to combine it all together. However, the mixture began to curdle and split before it released a smell that was so awful that it was difficult for them to describe it. Both he and Casey noticed this and looked at each other with grimacing looks on their faces.

"Err…should we…taste this?" Leo said worryingly.

"Huh!? O-Only if you do it first, man…!" Casey answered as he looked at Leo with wide eyes and sweat dripping from his forehead.

They both looked at the bubbling mess, then looked at each other again, and nodded firmly before they began to fill the first two plates, which were for Donnie and Raph, with the gruesome food and some rice on the side. They then walked over towards where the two younger brothers were sat at a slow pace.

"Oh, man…Here it comes, Donnie!" Raph said excitedly as he rubbed his hands together when he saw the steaming food approach him and his purple-banded brother, who remained quiet and looked at the incoming food with a nervous expression on his face.

"Err…sorry fa da wait…erm…" Casey said awkwardly as he and Leo handed Raph and Donnie their plates.

Casey and Leo looked at each other with an unsure look on their faces as they did not know what to say about the food, causing the two younger brothers to develop confused looks on their face, but a moment later, Leo started to speak in the same tone as to how Casey spoke seconds ago.

"W-We've put a lot of brotherly love into it…!"

"Huh…Well, dat sounded a little cliché, but still awesome…! Ok then, chow time!" Raph said as he shrugged his shoulders before he grabbed his fork and took his first mouthful of the food.

Suddenly, Raph froze and his eyes widened as soon as he tasted the food before his face grimaced in disgust.

"Mmph…Ugh…Ack…PFFFFFFT!" He choked and spat out the food raspberry-style before he coughed and collapsed to the side, causing Donnie as well as Leo and Casey to look on in shock and surprise with wide eyes.

"Err…Hey…?" Casey called out to Raph in a concerned tone before he watched as the red-banded turtle sat back up and turned to look at him and Leo with a ticked-off look on his face.

"WHAT DA SHELL IS DIS!?" He yelled out angrily before he stood up to confront them face-to-face and continue with his complaint whilst he tried to get what's left of the food out of his mouth.

"How can ya-Ugh…cough…! Curry is supposed ta be like 'really spicy' or 'kinda mild'…dis just, STINKS! A-And it's gritty too…ugh…! Somehow it's both gritty and slimy and it's got…squishy parts in it…! It's so frickin' nasty I can't even swallow it!"

"Well, it just didn't mix too well…but it does offer a wide variety of textures and flavours…!" Leo said to try and be more positive about how the food tasted, but Raph was having none of it.

"It's nauseatin'!" He shouted.

"Oh, come on…it's not that bad, man…! Besides, dat's just your opinion!" Casey said firmly to support Leo before they both looked over at Donnie, who looked at them with a surprised and scared look on his face, knowing what they wanted him to do. Raph also looked at Donnie before he spoke out a warning to him.

"Donnie…I'm tellin' ya as yer brother…Don't. Eat it! I wouldn't even joke about tryin' dat slop…!"

Donnie looked from Raph to his food to Leo and Casey, and then he looked at his food again before he turned back to Raph with a sheepish smile on his face.

"W-Well, I guess I'll try a tiny bit…since they have made an effort to cook for us…" He said before he grabbed his fork and took his first mouthful of the curry.

A moment later, Donnie froze and his eyes widened when he tasted it before his face grimaced in disgust.

"PFFFFFFFFFFT!" He spat out his food raspberry-style before he collapsed to the side, causing Raph, Leo, and Casey to look at Donnie in shock and surprise.

A moment after Donnie regained his senses and stood back up, he and Raph firmly scolded Leo and Casey for using the wrong ingredients and for not bothering to follow a recipe, causing Leo and Casey to look down in shame and embarrassment.

"Oh…we're sorry…" Leo sadly apologised first.

"Yeah, sorry…" Casey apologised next without making eye contact with Raph and Donnie.

"What are we gonna do now? We're da only ones without any dinner! I mean if it was slightly edible, dat'll be one thing, but I'm not takin' another bite of dat 'Mystery Food X'!" Raph said in frustration.

The boys looked down in annoyance before Donnie noticed a delicious smell lingering in the air.

"Sniff, sniff…Ah, something smells good!" He said with brightened eyes as he turned around to find the source of the smell.

His brothers and Casey followed his lead, and they soon spotted April stirring something in a saucepan on another camp cooking stove.

"Hey, April!" Watcha cookin' over there? Can we have some of it please, cos we're starvin' ta death over here!" Casey shouted out to get April's attention and to try and persuade her to share whatever she was cooking with them.

"Oh, err…Sorry, guys…but I'm cooking some tomato soup for Mikey, and there's only enough for one person…" April replied sadly before she carried on with her cooking.

"For one person…? That saucepan looks big enough to feed an entire camp…" Leo said quietly when he double-checked the size of the saucepan.

"Great…is there anythin' else we can make dinner with?" Raph questioned with a grumble.

"Raph, we only have enough food to last us throughout the whole trip, which is three nights and four days…so we can't use up any more food tonight!" Donnie answered firmly.

"You're right, Donnie…And our shell cells don't get service out here, so we can't get anything delivered here either…" Leo said whilst he checked his shell cell for any signal, which showed no bars.

"Well, I guess dat means no dinner fa us tonight…" Casey said with a sigh.

"Grr…You two are gonna pay fa dis!" Raph said to Leo and Casey with a growl, causing the two to look down with sheepish and nervous looks.

"Ah, ha, ha…ha, ha, ha, ha…Err…G'night…" Casey said awkwardly before he went to grab a couple of beer cans and quickly headed towards his and April's tent to get ready for bed.

This left Raph even more frustrated before he, Donnie, and a guilt-ridden Leo decided to head towards their own tents to get ready for bed as well as check on how Mikey was doing, unaware that April was smiling as she knew that Mikey's surprise was about to be revealed as soon as they got together in his and Donnie's tent.