Que "Save Kung Fu" by Hans Zimmer! Anyways, let's begin!
Chapter 10: Calm like the Forest
The next day after waking up, the group continued their journey through the high mountains once more, getting to the bottom a little faster than intended when Po tripped and crashed into all of them, causing them to roll to the bottom of the mountain in a giant snowball.
They traveled for several more hours, crossing a large barren desert in their path as the lowering sun behind them gave the sky above a golden-yellow glow.
Together as a team, they marched over the dry sandy dunes, their eyes narrowed into determined white slits while the Turtles' mask tails flowed in the wind as they emitted a collective aura of determination and persistence.
Donatello and Po clashed staffs, Donnie using his regular bo while Po used a makeshift staff made of bamboo.
The two then pushed each other apart before circling each other, the others watching as they roasted some tokage lizards over the camp fire.
Po then rushed forward, swinging his bamboo wildly at Donnie, to which the purple clad turtle easily blocked each strike with his own staff.
Po then attempted to sweep out Donnie's feet with his staff, but the smart turtle easily jumped over it. Po then charged, going for a wide swing which Donnie ducked under before tripping him.
Po fell to the ground face first in the dirt before sitting up to see the purple clad turtle holding his hand out in a helpful gesture.
"You're getting better." Donnie complimented him as he helped him up.
"Not nearly as good as you, though." Po lamented, rubbing his cheek a little. "You make it look really easy."
"Well, fighting with a staff is no walk in the park, but that's what these training sessions are for, to help you learn and improve." Donnie told him.
"Still, I appreciate you giving me some tips, Donnie." Po thanked him as they headed over to the campfire.
"Anytime." Donnie patted his shoulder before taking a roasted tokage lizard as his dinner.
After crossing the barren deserts, the group had once again found themselves in another forest, this one much larger than the small bamboo one they had passed through the day before.
As such, the group was forced to make camp for the night in the forest before continuing onward the next day.
"So, April, Casey, how did you end up meeting the Turtles?" Tigress asked as they each ate their tokage dinner.
April simply shrugged. "My dad and I were, um… visiting Japan as part of a little trip when we were jumped by these bandits." She partly lied, remembering how the Turtles talked about her and Casey as to not mention the fact that they were from another dimension. "We were about to be robbed when the guys came in and saved us." Of course, that wasn't the whole truth, but still it was the closest they could get. "And we've been friends ever since." She smiled at the Turtles, Donnie in particular.
"I, uh, actually went with April on one of her trips to Japan." Casey lied. "I'd just started going by, introducing myself as an awesome vigilante by thwarting some thugs when Raph showed up to stop me from doing some serious damage."
"Long story short, things got a little messy after a particular training session, so I'd gone out to blow some steam." Raph explained. "Found him beating up some thugs and we got into a bit of a scuffle-"
"Which I totally won, by the way." Casey boasted, interrupting.
Raph rolled his eyes with a grin before shoving him away. "So anyways, after our little fight, Casey here followed me back to our home and after a little battle with some bandits, we found out we made a pretty good team."
Casey then threw an arm around Raph's shoulder. "Yeah, we've been best buds ever since."
Raph laughed, giving Casey a light friendly elbow to the chest. "You got that right, old pal!"
The two laughed as they playfully wrestled with each other while the others watched in amusement.
The campfire had long gone out as the group slept in the firm grass. Mikey, however, found himself struggling to sleep as he tossed and turned, muttering incoherently about pizza and Chris Bradfrod and his Two Ruff Crew.
Just when it seemed he was able to get comfortable, Mikey felt something lightly nudge him in the side.
At first, he paid no mind to it, assuming it was just on the others poking him while they were sleeping, but then he felt his side being nudged again.
"Mm, go away, Raph." He mumbled. "Please don't give me a wet willie."
In response, he felt something kick him in the side rather hard.
"Ow!" Mikey yelped as he was immediately wide awake. "What the heck, Raph? Why'd you-"
He turned to glare at his hotheaded brother, but was shocked to see Raph fast asleep.
Glancing around at the others, he was absolutely befuddled to find them all asleep as well.
"Oooookay. That's weird." Mikey muttered, about to lay back down when he felt a nudge in the back of his shell again.
He turned around to yell at whoever had poked him again, only to find himself face to face with a large deer.
"AAH!" Mikey yelped, falling onto his behind, the deer not even flinching at his reaction.
Gazing at the deer, Mikey felt a strange calmness wash over him as he stared at the deer, the deer of course staring back at him.
"Wait, you're that freaky deer ghost from that spirit thingy!" Mikey exclaimed quietly so as to not wake the others.
The deer lowered its head and lightly sniffed Mikey, its nose just inches from the party turtle's beak.
"Huh? You want to… show me something?" Mikey asked confusedly.
The deer snorted before standing up straight and walking away into the woods.
Still confused, Mikey quietly got up and followed the deer into the deep woods.
Mikey followed the deer spirit deep into the forest, passing many many trees while the orange clad turtle kept glancing around to see if there were any squirrels (they were out to get him, he would tell you).
"So, like… where are we going?" Mikey asked, trying to make conversation with the literal deer spirit he was following. "I like this cryptic mystery stuff as much as the next guy, but do you think maybe you could at least tell me where you're taking me?"
The deer, of course, did not reply instead still staring straight before all of a sudden, it started running.
"Wha-? Hey, wait!" Mikey cried, immediately sprinting after the deer, chasing into a large clearing in the forest where the moon shined down upon him with utter brilliance.
"Woah…" He murmured in awe before he felt a drop of water hit his head, causing him to look up and see one of the leafs in the tree above him was dripping water.
A rush of wind quickly drew his scatter-brained attention away from the leafs above, as Mikey spotted the deer on the other side of the clearing, standing just outside the range of the moonlight.
"So, why did you bring me here?" Mikey asked before crossing his arms with a huff. "If it's for pizza, I don't got any more!"
The deer simply stared at him and blinked with it's always unreadable expression.
Mikey blinked back in silence, as if he was silently communicating with the spirit before he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, and calming himself for once in his life.
Slowly, Mikey slid his foot back in a small circle, creating a trail in the dirt as he waved his arms with slow careful precision.
As he moved, he could have sworn he heard the wise words of Master Splinter speak to him beyond the mortal world.
"I must commend you on your resolve... you thought you needed to improve yourself, but you had everything you already needed inside. In here."
"There is no monster more dangerous than a lack of compassion."
"You must find the space between your thoughts and learn to live there..."
"Michelangelo, your mind is overrun with distractions. Learn to be strong and calm, like the forest."
And he was.
As Mikey continued his movements, a single drop of water from the tree above him came down, with the orange clad turtle raising his arm and catching the droplet while it maintained its form, maneuvering it in his arms before lightly dropping it onto a small plant.
Opening his eyes, Mikey blinked as the deer spirit now stood before him in it's humanoid form, gazing down upon him.
Remembering his manners, Mikey lowered his arms to his sides and bowed respectfully.
As he rose from his bow, Mikey gasped when he saw the deer spirit was nowhere in sight.
"Woah, it's gone." He murmured to himself.
With a yawn, Mikey shrugged as he walked his way back to the camp where the others were.
He'd had enough spiritual mumbo jumbo for one night.
Done. And now Mikey has done the inner peace technique. Now, Po, Raph, and Donnie will get to do it eventually too, so don't worry. The reason I thought Leo and Mikey should be the first ones to be able to do the technique was because in the 2012 show, specifically the episode "Tale of Tiger Claw", Splinter basically said that Leo and Mikey were the most spiritually intuitive out of the four turtles. So I thought it would make sense for them to be able to do the technique first. (Also, I just had to include that march across the desert in the beginning as that was just too epic to cut out!)