A/N: - Ok, here's the next chapter…I'm not going to waffle on like I did at the beginning of the last chapter so just READ, ENJOY AND REVIEW!
Next morning, Raphael was up before anyone else and headed towards the makeshift dojo that Casey had created especially for them when they had all gone to bed the night before. He began to beat up the punch-bag, which was made out of several pillowcases filled with various foam mattresses shredded up and then the pillowcases were stuffed in a large plastic bin-bag. It made quite a sufficient punch-bag and Raph was more than happy to beat it up. However, when he looked to the clock, he saw the time. It was five to six; the report was on in five minutes. He ran into the room he shared with Casey and Donnie and woke them up roughly. He sent Donnie to wake Master Splinter and Casey to bang on April's door while he went to wake his other two brothers.
"Master Splinter, the report's coming on!"
"April, babe, time to get up and see the report on our deaths!"
"Mikey! Leo! Get up! Report's coming on! You're gonna miss it!"
The group gathered around the television and switched it to the correct channel.
"Wow, this is so exciting, dudes!" Mikey was jumping up and down in his seat excitedly.
"Hello, this is Boris McCormick reporting for Channel Six news for the first report on the deaths of our top reporter, April O'Neill, and a local 'crime-fighter', Casey Jones. In a tragic accident, her news van crashed into the back of the Butcher's shop. We are almost certain that neither victim survived. This is Boris McCormick reporting for Channel Six news."
"Well, that's it, then." Leo croaked.
"Yeah, no turning back now, huh?" Donnie laid a hand on Leo's shoulder in comfort. Leo shook it off and walked out of the room.
"Dude, should we go after him?"
"No, Michelangelo, you must leave him to be alone. Raphael…you will go after him in ten minutes. But not until then…you two have things you need to sort out with each other."
"Yes, Sensei," Raphael bowed to his Master and went for a walk outside, calculating that it would take ten minutes to find Leonardo, let alone get up the courage to talk to him.
Twenty minutes later, Raph found his brother sat by the lake in the woods with his knees huddled up to his chest. He was staring blankly out over the waters and flinched when Raph spoke.
"You ok? Still afraid of what's gonna happen to us?"
"Not afraid; just in a bit of pain."
"It still hurts, huh? What is it; the pain inside or the pain outside?"
"A bit of both, really. I just feel like I'm in a constant battle to stand up. My legs ache from where I pulled all the muscles in them and I just feel drained; like I should give up or something. I cannot believe that all this has happened. I hate seeing you guys so concerned all the time."
"We're worried about you. Shredder hates you because you were the one who turned down his alliance. We don't wanna lose you."
"But you guys are in just as much danger!"
"Maybe, but we need you…" Donnie had followed Raph along with Mikey.
"Yeah, dude, I mean come on, you're our leader. We need you to come up with plans…last time Raph tried to do it, it all ended in disaster!"
"Aw, shuttit Mikey," Raph growled.
The reports continued on the 'deaths' of Casey and April for the next five days, and Shredder seemed to be taking advantage. He was now sending out more and more Foot ninjas to rob people and let people know that there was more than just the Purple Dragons lurking in the deserted alleyways and suburbs of New York.
Tuesday came and the turtles were beginning to pull their lives back together. Raph was helping to train Leo back up to his old self. It took many endless sessions of Leo being beaten by Raph before he finally managed to get back into the swing of things. Leo finally beat Raph; once, twice, three times and many more. When it became apparent that Leo was back to his usual fighting standard, if not better, they all began to take part in sparring sessions together again. Leo was beating them all again in no time; competing in his usual way.
"Nice one, Leo," Donnie groaned.
"Lucky," Raph grunted.
"Not so lucky for my tail; it just got whipped," Mikey joked, "God, I've missed saying that so much!"
"Yeah, well now you can say it every session!"
"Aw, you wish, sword boy! We'll get you next time!" Raph got up and put his Sais away. His brothers also put away their weapons and helped each other up. Splinter walked in,
"I have been told to fetch you; lunch is ready."
"Good, I'm starving! Is it a cheese pizza?"
"No, Michelangelo…it is a pepperoni pizza!"
"Haha, you know what I mean! It seems ages since our last pizza!" Mikey rubbed his stomach as it growled in hunger.
"Come on, guys…another sparring session tomorrow at three?" Leo suggested cheerily, knowing he had a pretty good chance of beating his brothers.
"Whatever," Donnie sighed, going to lunch, followed by his three brothers.
Lunch consisted of several large pizzas and fries with everyone drinking soft drinks except for Donnie and Leo, who opted for orange juice instead.
"So," Casey began between mouthfuls, "What are you gonna do for the rest of today?"
"Dunno," Raph shrugged, "I guess we could help ya renovate a bit…"
"Raph, do my ears deceive me? You're offering to help?!" Leo blinked in amazement.
"Shuttit bro," Raph glared at Leo and kicked him under the table. A vicious game of kick-fighting began under the table between Leo, Raph, Casey, Donnie and Mikey. Mikey kept moaning because he couldn't get at anyone because they kept moving; Donnie was laughing too much to do serious under-the-table fighting; Casey was threatening to get his hockey stick and hit the arguing turtles over the head with it; Raphael was being very serious and trying to make his kicking of Leo very subtle but it was failing; Leonardo was getting bored and gave up with the fighting and carried on eating, waiting for the kicking at his legs to stop.
Lunch was over quickly and all four turtles were sent to their rooms, along with Casey as he had taken part in the activity and said he'd rather go to the rooms than face a lecture from Splinter and April!
"So," Casey fiddled with a little gadget belonging to Donatello, "what we gonna do now?"
"Dunno," Raph shrugged, conducting simple exercises to improve the accuracy of his kicks.
"What are you doing, Mikey?" Leo asked in the next room, looking up from his book he was reading.
"Re-arranging the furniture…making this place look better."
"Well, you're not moving my stuff anywhere but what you do with your own stuff is up to you!" Leo exclaimed, folding his arms and looking disapprovingly at Mikey.
"Hey, just chill will ya, dude?"
"Whatever," Leo shrugged.
"Whatever…you can't move my stuff…blah, blah, blah…" Mikey imitated, dancing round the room and mocking Leo until his irritated, but amused, brother in blue threw a pillow across the room at him, hitting him square in the face. Mikey stopped dancing and flopped onto his bed, staring at his brother in thought.
"Why do you like reading?"
"What?"
"I mean, you read magazines and that's ok…but you read proper books as well! How can you find them interesting; heck, you even read fiction books without pictures!"
"Yeah, but that's because I use my imagination to think of the pictures in my head…you know, using my brain...? Any of this ringing a bell with you, or not?"
"Nope, not really," Mikey rolled onto his back and began studying his fingers.
"You're hopeless," Leo muttered irritably before continuing with his reading and ignoring his orange brother's snores once he fell asleep.
When everyone met for dinner that night, the atmosphere was tense. Shredder had murdered Casey's friend Angel and also Angel's grandma. If Casey went forward to give evidence against the Shredder then their plan would be ruined. Casey faced a choice: he could go to Angel's funeral and help catch the Shredder, but put the turtles in serious jeopardy. Or he could stay in hiding with his friends and they could keep the plan moving. The turtles were his family now and Splinter was getting more and more like his father while he was treated as the fifth brother by the turtles. April, however, was still the object of Casey's desire. His crush on her was bigger than ever and he longed to impress her and prove he wasn't just the immature ten year old trapped in a man's body, but actually a bright and capable young man. When he tried to explain this to Mikey and Leo they burst out laughing, as did Donnie and Raph. But he was heartened by Splinter who told him that April did, in fact, think very highly of him and he was somewhat a hero in her eyes…in a weird, twisted sort of way.
Michelangelo slid out of his bed and began to try and creep out of the bedroom without waking his brother. But, when you're Mikey, stuff like that always goes wrong! Sure enough, he was almost out of the door when he tripped over and fell onto Leo's bed. Expecting to hear his brother's angry voice, Mikey cringed. But Leo wasn't there. Confused, Mikey pushed himself up off the bed and crept out of the room.
He arrived in the living room and found that his brother wasn't there either. Nor was he in the kitchen, the bathroom or the garage. Mikey, temporarily forgetting his original mission to find food slipped out of the front door and walked towards the woods, at one with the shadows. He eventually reached the lake and found Leo throwing stones in it, dejectedly.
"Hey, bro," Mikey broke the silence, causing Leo to physically jump in shock.
"Mikey, what are you doing here?" hissed Leo.
"Looking for you; you weren't in the bedroom or anywhere in the house so I came to find you. I was getting worried…anyway, what are you doing out here at this time? It's one thirty in the morning. Hardly the sort of time to go for a walk by the lake!"
"I needed to think…"
"You can do that during the day…we have nothing else to do. So, why do it now, Leo?"
"Because…"
"That's not a reason," Mikey waggled a finger jokingly at his brother. But Leo obviously wasn't in a joking mood.
"I don't have to give a reason, ok?! Why does everyone always have to know where I am all the time? Why can't I get some time on my own?"
"I just wanna talk to ya!" Mikey pleaded.
"Well, I don't wanna talk!" Leo retorted and cannonball dived into the lake.
"Ok, be that way…but I'm just gonna keep following you until you give me a proper reason," Mikey sighed, jumping into the water and swimming after his brother, who had reached the centre of the lake.
"Why won't you just leave me alone?" Leo asked, getting stressed by now.
"Ok, here are three reasons for you: One – I'm your brother and I like to know what's going on in the family. Two – You're the 'fearless leader' so if you're afraid I wanna know so I know what's so frightening. And three – I hate seeing you, Raph and Donnie so depressed." Mikey's voice was just a whisper.
"You're just as bad," Leo stated bluntly.
"Am not…I only get like it because you lot are all like it."
"Whatever," Leo shrugged, swimming further away from his brother.
"It's not 'whatever', Leo. This is serious…wow, I never thought I'd hear myself say that!"
"Neither did I," Leo muttered under his breath.
"What…?"
"I said: Neither did I!"
"Ok, you're going down, Leo!" Mikey laughed as he lunged at his brother, ducking him underwater. The two fought in the water for a while but then something went wrong. The weed at the bottom of the pond latched onto their legs and dragged them under. Reaching desperately for his younger brother's hand, Leo tried to stay calm, as always. Mikey found Leo's hand and they held onto each other tightly, trying in vain to stay above the surface. But it was no use; the weed had wound itself round them when they were fighting under the water. This meant that they were in trouble. If they were kept underwater to long then they'd drown…they couldn't hold their breath forever. And even if they could, how would anyone ever find them? All they could do was wait…
A/N: - This was a really risky chapter to write…and I mean really risky! I wasn't sure whether Turtles could breathe underwater or not…but they can't! They can just hold their breath for a long time! Heh heh…I'm very glad about that! Next chapter up as soon as is possible!