Rene – Raphael would have adopted his British accent from Leo, Venus and Mike. Before Raph was four, all of the adults had to frequently visit the surface to get food and supplies. Also, Mike kept going over to Sarah's apartment to watch TV (developing his obsession with cricket). So Mike probably would have been the first to adopt the accent, and then he influenced everyone around him (like he does). Yet between the ages of 4 and 8, the turtles kept coming into contact with humans more frequently, and in some cases, it would have been on a weekly, or maybe even daily basis because of how sought after they were. So Raph really would have developed his accent a lot in the last 4 years of his life.
Now that you mention it, how did the original 4 turtles get American accents if they first visited the surface when they were 15? Shouldn't they have Japanese accents because of Splinter's influence? Or did American TV take over? Oh heck, I'm too tired for this! Just read the chapter already!!
Chapter 22: Diana's Genetic Flaw.
A few weeks later. At the zoo. Diana's fourth birthday.
Venus sighed as she opened her eyes after a relatively good nights sleep. She smiled calmly when she found Leo's arm draped over her waist. Over the past couple of weeks, their relationship and marriage had been threatened and strained. But thankfully after carefully and painstakingly talking things through, they managed to overcome their difficulties and Leo had even admitted in looking forward to their new child. As Venus sounded another sigh, Leonardo awakened. He placidly placed his hand on her lower plastron, making Venus smile once again. She was now heavily pregnant, and it showed more so than ever before because this time she was housing two large eggs instead of one.
Venus gave her husband an even wider grin as she moved in to kiss him gently on the lips. After romantically greeting each other for the morning, the two parents eyed their daughter sleeping soundly by her half-brother's side. The two turtles slowly stood up and crept over towards Diana. Their movement caused Michelangelo to wake up. The turtle in orange quickly grinned, knowing what was happening in an instant. The three adults clumped together and peered down at the little girl who had just turned four very, very recently. On the silent count of three they began.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Diana. Happy birthday to you," the three adults sung in tune. Diana's eyes fluttered open and she gave a smile of excitement.
"How's my birthday girl today?" Leo asked warmly.
"Huh? What's, what's going on?" Raphael murmured his question as he groggily woke up.
"We're celebrating Diana's birthday," Leo said to the tired boy.
"Wha'?" Raphael uttered, still half asleep.
"Get with the times Raph," Mike said lightheartedly. Slowly the boy stood up and rubbed his tired eyes. He looked at the little girl beside him.
"'Appy Bir'day," Raphael said with a yawn. Mike simply chuckled and looked at Raph's arm to make sure that everything was okay. The left arm was no longer in a sling, yet it was still in plaster. His right hand however had completely healed, and now the only evidence of a past injury was a small scar on his palm from where the sharp bit of barbed wire had punctured his skin.
Every week Dr Aquel gave him a checkup to see how his recovery was going. Raphael had once said that the female scientist was surprised at his rate of recovery and suspected that it wouldn't be long until the plaster would come off, much to his delight. The boy had tried his best to befriend Dr Aquel after Leonardo had convinced him that it might be advantageous to do so, yet the human remained clinical and closed off; not willing to completely connect on a friendship level. Venus was also given checkups quite frequently because of her pregnancy, though she was usually taken unconscious and therefore couldn't establish any friendly relationships with any of the scientists. After everything Leo and Venus had argued about weeks ago, it seemed that their only way out was still through Raphael.
"Now Diana… As you've probably guessed, your mummy and I haven't been able to get you any presents. But… If there's anything that we can do for you, or something else that you'd like, we'll be glad to do it," Leo offered, bending down to her eye level. Diana nodded slowly, already knowing that there wasn't much that they could get her since they were trapped in the glass prison. The little girl bit her lip, trying to think of something else that she wanted; something that could be done while in captivity.
"Can… can I have a nim, nimjitzoo lesson? 'Cause Raph told me that he got a lesson when, when he was little, and and now that I'm older I can have a lesson 'cause I'm older," Diana did her best to reason with her father, not used to saying sentences that long. Leo gave her a gentle smile.
"Yeah, you're right. Raphael was getting ninjitsu lessons when he was your age. You too would have been taught earlier if we hadn't been captured but… I'm sure we can make an exception today," Leo agreed to his daughter's request. Diana smiled brightly, completely excited that she was going to get a proper lesson instead of just following others all the time. Leo was also anxious to teach her, curious to see exactly how much she already knew.
"Can I have a ninjitsu lesson?" Raphael tried his luck. Leo looked at his arm and shook his head, not wanting to take his chances with both his injury and the scientists.
"We could do another meditation session if you like," Venus offered. Raph sighed and nodded his head. Ever since he'd been in the glass prison he had been working on improving the spiritual side of his body and mind, and although to him it seemed quite tedious, Venus kept reassuring him that he was making a lot of progress and was growing stronger with every lesson.
With a quick glance between Leo and Venus, Leo took Diana to one side of the cell while Venus and Raph occupied the other. Michelangelo decided to watch Diana's lesson, also curious to see what she had picked up and remembered over the years. It was clear within the next couple of minutes that Diana definitely had a strong flare for learning. Leonardo grinned as his daughter reminded him of himself. Fighting didn't come naturally for Diana, yet she had the dedication towards the martial art and therefore would strive to become better at unarmed combat anyway.
Dr Yesmal entered the outside room causing the turtles to immediately stop their training. He gave them all a quick stare before letting them out into the outside enclosure for the day. Instantly Diana ran out on to the grass, completely exhilarated by the fact that today was her birthday and that she had just received her first official martial arts lesson. It wasn't long till she tried out her new moves with Raphael, who in turn was grateful that he was getting some sparring while in captivity. The three adults chuckled when Diana brought her brother's right hand into a wrist lock; a move that seemingly came naturally to her now. Leonardo frowned and lightheartedly told the boy that he should know better.
Silver watched the joyous occasion from afar, not really wanting to get involved even though Mike gave him more of a welcoming glance. The ape sighed as he tried to push back the memories of his own family that were quickly resurfacing from the dark regions of his mind. Quickly becoming lonely, Silver headed to the pond wanting a drink of water. He carefully kneeled by the water's edge and outstretched an arm. Silver tried his best to bring some water to his mouth but it kept slipping through his fingers. So he moved in closer and outstretched his arm even further. All of a sudden, Silver lost his grip on the moss-covered rocks he was holding onto and fell headfirst into the pond.
The ape started to panic and flailed his arms about, wanting to remain afloat. Like most primates, Silver couldn't swim… even if his life depended on it. Silver struggled to keep his head above the surface. His legs floundered and scraped against the edge of the deep pond. His face dipped below for a few seconds while his lungs quickly took on water. Flapping his arms furiously, Silver brought his head above the water line again and gasped awkwardly.
All of the turtles were by his side within seconds. Both Leo and Mike had jumped in, desperate to help the drowning primate. Silver panicked even more and grabbed onto Leo's shell with a terrified grasp, causing Leo to sink with him. While Leo tried to get Silver off his back, Venus outstretched her hand from the water's edge. Mike managed to grab one of Silver's frightened arms and strongly pulled the ape towards Venus. Completely overwhelmed by terror, Silver lunged at Venus' hand and almost made her fall into the pond as well. Yet she maintained her ground. With a heave, she managed to yank Silver out of the water entirely. Mike and Leo breathed a sigh of relief and, after an irked glance was shared between them, both of the turtles calmly exited the deep pond.
Raphael and Diana, whom had stopped playing to observe the incident, backed away when Silver collapsed to the ground utterly scared and exhausted. As Diana took a step backward, a sharp pain suddenly radiated from her heel. She looked underneath her foot and found a bee helplessly buzzing around amongst the grass blades; trying it's best to fly away before it died. The girl sat down on the ground to observe both her foot and the action in front of her.
"What happened?" Mike asked as Silver continued to gasp for air.
"Can't swim," Silver managed to utter once he had relaxed a little.
"Well aren't you glad that you're sharing your enclosure with water loving reptiles," Leo said rhetorically, hoping that Silver would give him more respect now that he had saved his life. Raphael smirked at Silver, disbelieving the fact that he didn't know how to swim or stay afloat for that matter. The boy smiled and looked at Diana beside him. She was lying on the ground gasping for air. Raphael giggled at her impersonation of Silver… that was until he realised that Diana wasn't fooling around.
Raph's eyes widened with fear when he observed some swelling starting to develop around her eye area. The boy practically jumped back when Diana entered a coughing fit before beginning to wheeze dangerously. "Diana!" Raph screamed his sister's name. Leo, Venus and Mike left Silver's side and ran over to the two children, worried about what was happening. Diana's airways tightened further, causing the turtle to increase her wheezing.
"Diana! What's happening?" Mike asked, starting to panic. Leo quickly looked around, trying to find an answer as to what was going on with his daughter. Looking very closely at the grass beneath her feet, Leo found the recently dead bee that had stung Diana. Leo picked it up and showed the rest of the group. "Bee sting allergy," Mike stated more to himself than anyone else.
Panicking, Leo looked up at the few people who stood on the top-viewing platform. "Help!" Leo called to them knowing that aiding his daughter was completely out of his league. The humans just stared at him and continued to simply observe action in the enclosure. "Help us! She needs help!" Leo yelled at their blank faces as tears of defeat slowly came to his eyes. "HELP!" Leo screamed once again.
Dr Aquel was going up the stairs to the viewing deck so that she could start her keeper talk, when finally a visitor who had been watching the whole thing told her that something was wrong with the turtles. The female scientist dropped everything and ran up the rest of the stairs to see if the rumour was true. Leonardo immediately noticed her in the crowd. "Help!" he called to her.
With no time to lose, Dr Aquel bolted back down the stairs, got out her keys and unlocked the enclosure doors. Worried, she started to run over to the panicking turtles. Suddenly she froze. There she was, standing in an enclosure with highly dangerous animals completely unarmed. Turning around, she realised she had left the enclosure door wide open. At any given instant, they could all escape, and Dr Aquel knew that she couldn't do anything about it if the turtle's chose to do that.
"Help," Leo called to her again. Dr Aquel sighed and gave into the reptile's request, feeling as though they weren't focused on escaping right at that moment. The woman cautiously approached them. The turtle's moved away from Diana to make the scientist feel more comfortable. Anything to help save Diana. Dr Aquel obseved the girl's wheezing and coughs, along with the swelling and itching that was slowly developing on her body. It was clear to her that if Diana didn't receive medical treatment soon, then she was going to die.
"She was stung by a bee," Mike informed her quietly, scared of his niece's future. Suddenly everything clicked in Dr Aquel's mind. Diana was showing the typical signs for severe bee sting allergy. Dr Aquel knew that Diana was going to need two injections; a dose of epinephrine to relax her heart and airways, along with a shot of an antihistamine. Knowing that she didn't have much time, Dr Aquel picked up Diana and cradled the turtle safely in her arms.
As she swiftly headed for the exit, Leonardo and Venus tried to follow. Dr Aquel stopped and looked at them, knowing that their parental instincts had taken over. She understood perfectly well why they wanted to come, however given their circumstances, she definitely couldn't allow that. "I'll go and make sure she'll be okay," Raphael said while stepping towards Dr Aquel. "She needs to check my arm anyway," Raphael reasoned with the others. Leo and Venus sadly nodded.
"Please take good care of her," Venus begged Dr Aquel.
"Don't worry. I won't let you down," Dr Aquel replied quickly. With that said, the female scientist left the enclosure along with Diana and Raphael, locking the door behind her.
Silver grumbled as he stood up, nearly fully recovered from his slip in the pond. With a quick movement of his shoulders and waist, the ape shook his fur until it was almost dry. Mike had to try really hard not to laugh at his fuzzed up fur. The ape didn't look at the three turtles remaining, yet instead he stared at the enclosure door that was open only a few seconds ago.
"Why didn't you escape!" Silver suddenly turned to yell at them. "She left the door wide open! We could have gotten out! Why did you let her go?!" Silver wailed uncontrollably.
"And risk the life of my daughter!?" Leo yelled straight back.
"So? One life to save five. Seems reasonable to me," Silver argued.
"How dare you," Leo said simply with a deadly tone. "How dare you say that after we saved your life," Leo seethed quietly. The turtle turned his back to the ape and walked away to another part of the enclosure, not wanting to hear anymore of Silver's ungratefulness. Venus and Mike quickly followed; both too worried about Diana's fate to argue with Silver.
*****
Half an hour later.
Dr Aquel entered the operating theatre and stared at the two preadolescent turtles that were sitting quietly on their separate white, stiff beds. She slowly made her way over to Diana. Already she could see a vast improvement. The turtle was no longer wheezing and the swelling and itching had subsided. Dr Aquel sighed, knowing that she had saved the girl just in enough time. There wasn't much she could do after she had injected Diana with everything she would need. So for the next couple of nerve-racking minutes she decided to check up on Raphael's arm.
"Are you feeling okay now?" Dr Aquel asked Diana. The little turtle simply nodded, still shaken up about everything that had happened.
"Will she be alright?" Raphael asked the scientist. Dr Aquel looked at him and nodded.
"She'll be fine. Just make sure she stays away from bees," Dr Aquel humored him.
"It's my birthday today," Diana said quietly, still proud of her new age.
"Really?!" Dr Aquel said with mock enthusiasm, not resisting the urge to play along with the childlike creature. Diana grinned and nodded. "How old are you now?" She asked. Diana raised her hand, though when she realised she only had three fingers, she stuck up her thumb from the other hand. Dr Aquel smiled at her antics.
"So, Birthday Girl. Do you want anything special?" Dr Aquel asked, knowing that the turtle had already had a rough day. Diana held a thoughtful expression before looking curiously to Raphael who was mouthing the word 'pizza'. Diana giggled.
"Pizza!" She said with a wide grin on her face. Dr Aquel stared at her for a moment before turning to look at Raphael.
"You guys eat pizza?" she asked the older turtle of the two for confirmation.
"Doesn't everybody?" Raphael replied with a smile. Dr Aquel let out a sigh, knowing it would be difficult to fulfill their request.
"Okay then," she said uncertainly. "I'll see if I can bring you some tonight. No promises though," Dr Aquel relented. "Hmm… Dr Yesmal's not going to like this," Dr Aquel said cheekily.
"Who's Dr Yesmal?" Diana asked innocently. As if on cue, Dr Yesmal entered the room.
"I heard you entered the enclosure without a tranquilizer gun," Dr Yesmal said briskly as he headed over to his coworker.
"Yeah, it was an emergency. We almost lost the white female," Dr Aquel informed him.
"Diana," Raphael said.
"What?" Dr Aquel looked at him without thinking.
"Her name's Diana," Raphael told the two scientists. Dr Yesmal ignored him and continued to talk to his partner.
"What did she nearly die from? What happened?" Dr Yesmal asked worriedly.
"She has a severe allergy to bee stings," Dr Aquel said.
"That's not good…" Dr Yesmal muttered to himself. "Do you think that the others could be allergic?" Dr Yesmal asked.
"I don't know. Maybe… It might have something to do with their mutation or genes," she suggested. Dr Yesmal remained quiet for quite a while. Raphael and Diana looked nervously at the two scientists.
"We really should get a second opinion on this. I don't want to risk losing one again," he said.
"Me neither," Dr Aquel admitted.
"I'll get in contact with a genetic expert. Get them to analyse the problem. In the meantime though, I want you to slowly immunise the white female over the next couple of weeks," Dr Yesmal instructed.
"Yeah okay," she agreed. "But who are you thinking of calling?"
"Dr Quease," Dr Yesmal answered.
"Dr Quease!? But he's a loony! He's just so… unorthodox," Dr Aquel protested.
"He's also the only scientist who has studied the insides of these creatures. If anyone can detect flaws in their genetic makeup, Dr Quease is the one," Dr Yesmal explained. Dr Aquel frowned and shook her head. "Look, there isn't much of a choice here. My decision is final," Dr Yesmal said before exiting the room.
Raphael and Diana nervously stared at Dr Aquel. "Is Dr Quease bad?" Raphael asked.
"Don't worry about it," she murmured in response.
"I'm hungry," Diana complained. Suddenly Dr Aquel came up with an idea.
"You know, I have some pieces of apple in my pocket. But to get them, you have to play a game," Dr Aquel tried to entice the little female turtle. Diana smiled in agreement. Raphael looked on with curiosity.
"Okay then, lift your arms up," Dr Aquel instructed. Diana did what she was told. "Good girl," Dr Aquel praised before giving Diana a piece of apple. "Now, stand up… Good girl," Diana did what she was told again and received another piece of apple. "Now, lift up your right leg… your other right leg," Dr Aquel said with a smile when Diana raised her left. The turtle swapped legs quickly, wanting another slice of fresh fruit. "Good girl," Dr Aquel praised and gave the girl another piece of food.
At first Raphael thought nothing of it, but as Dr Aquel kept asking Diana to do things, praising her after each one, he soon came to the horrible realisation that Diana was being trained and tamed within the scientists' presence. All of a sudden he understood why his parents wanted to get out of the zoo as soon as possible.