Chapter One

The day was drawing to the evening as the four great figures made their way out of the Dojo, accompanied by their smaller Sensei. "You have done well today, my sons," Splinter said in his ever-calm voice. "You may now relax before dinner."

Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello all headed to the living room. Leo and Raph both sat on the couch and began to bicker over what to watch on the television, whilst Donny sat on the ground next to them, tinkering with a broken ShellCell. For a few minutes the three sat in silence, only the noise of the blaring television filling the room. When a commercial break started the silence continued, until Donny raised the question, "Hey, where did Mikey go?"

As Leo looked around, searching for any sign of his brother in the living area, Raphael glanced at the closed door to the side and said, "He went to his room."

"I take it you haven't got around to apologising yet," Leonardo said wearily, turning to face his brother. The shake of the red-banded turtle's head confirmed this.

"Come on, Leo, have you seen him lately? He's still fuming from last night – if I even looked at him the wrong way now he'd probably use my head for part of a drum kit."

"I think you may have a point there. I could tell he was still angry by the way he was sparring with me today," Donatello said, rubbing a sore spot on his arm. "But you know Mikey, he's slow to anger and even slower to cool down afterwards."

"You'd better do it soon," Leonardo advised Raphael. "We're going to help clear April's basement tomorrow, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Raphael said, brushing Leo's reminder away with a wave of his hand. "I'll do it later, okay? I'll give him a chance to chill after training."

"Just as long as you do," Leo said, turning his attention back to the television.

Not far away, in his bedroom, the parting words of Splinter were still ringing in Mikey's ears. "You have done well today, my sons." Yeah, right, Mikey scoffed in thought. He drowned out his Master's reverberating words with his rock music on his personal stereo.

Splinter was not totally wrong, Mikey thought to himself - some sons had done well that day. As usual, Leonardo had performed with precision and perfection, pleasing his Master greatly. Donatello had worked hard that day, giving it his all and reaping the reward of praise for this. Raphael too had worked well, and produced results. As he tended to do, he used his anger to fuel him, something that Splinter frowned upon, but today the Sensei found that Raphael had begun to control the anger, and almost direct it rather than let it take him over, and he commended this.

Michelangelo, though, had a poor session in comparison to his brothers, and did not feel as though he had "done well," as his Master had said. He had fumbled almost every manoeuvre, lost each battle against both Splinter and Donatello, and had even managed to trip over the latter's bo staff that lay discarded on the floor. Instead of joining the others as they sat on the couch and watched the television, he went straight to his room where he could be alone with his music and his thoughts.

It was not only the practice of that evening that was making the usually animated Mikey feel so low, but also the memories of the battle the previous night. Trouble had been reported in Central Park, and thinking it could be the Foot, the Turtles set out, armed and ready. It was not the Foot, but only some young hooligans causing trouble for passers by.

When the Turtles arrived, they found the seven amateur thugs attempting to mug an elderly man. They stepped in to allow the man to escape, before the thugs took them on.

Mikey had two thugs take him on, and as Raph had put it, he got "clobbered" by the both of them. At first he took on one, and did not realise that a second lurked behind him. The second, a bulky character with a sizeable tattoo of a dragon snaking around his sizeable bicep, took both of Mikey's legs out with one swipe and kicked him swiftly in the chest, knocking the air out of him. The first thug took advantage of this, and took Mikey's nunchucks from him, not sure quite how to use them but still intent on doing damage. It was at that moment that Leonardo had noticed that Mikey was in difficulty, and so after finishing with his own foe he sprung across and into the back of the first brute, knocking him to the ground before he could strike Mikey.

Mikey was thankful, of course, but still embarrassed and ashamed that as a well-trained ninja he could not hold his own against a couple of street thugs.

After the fight was over, Donny found Mikey sitting on the ground, slightly stunned that he had required help against the amateur fighters. "We all have off-days, you'll be better tomorrow," he had said encouragingly, giving a pat on the shoulder. Mikey nodded absently, and quickly joined the others as they returned to the sewers.

On the journey home, Raphael had done nothing to help matters by rubbing salt into the wounds. "You sure you don't need extra lessons or something, Mike? If that's how you're gonna handle yourself against a couple of wannabe street kids, what are you gonna do when the Shredder wants to play?"

Mikey said nothing, keeping his teeth gritted and his eyes fixed on ground as he walked. The last thing he needed right at that moment was a scuffle with Raph, but right then it seemed inevitable.

"Enough, Raphael," Leo said sternly, aiming to put an end to the mockery there and then.

"He's got his bro to fight his battles for him, again," Raph taunted, now on a roll. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he needed to relieve some of the tension following the fight and if that meant teasing Mikey rather than physically taking out his anger on something or someone, then so be it. "What's the matter, Mikey? Lost the fight in you, huh?"

Both Donny and Leo were amazed that Mikey had resisted the verbal abuse this long, and it was of little surprise to them when he finally broke. With a roar, Mikey launched himself towards his brother, and the two tussled and tumbled in the sewer pipe for some moments, before Leo and Donny managed to wrench them off of each other.

"Mikey," Donny called, but to no avail. The moment he was freed from his brother's arms, Mikey hurried on ahead towards his bedroom in the lair, a refuge from further taunting courtesy of Raph.

Meanwhile, unbeknown to him, both Leo and Donny began to reprimand Raph. "That's not how it's done, Raph," Leo admonished, folding his arms and frowning. "Kicking a guy when he is down is not the honourable way to go. We all have our bad days, you know, there's no need to make it any worse."

Raph opened his mouth to talk back, but he stopped and shut it again. "I'll go apologise to him," he muttered, knowing he deserved the telling-off.

"Leave it a while, at least until he cools off a bit," Donny advised, knowing that Mikey was slow to anger, and slow to calm down afterwards. Even if he knew that Raph intended to apologise, Mikey would not at that moment be ready to accept, or even see him. Raph nodded, and silence resumed save the sounds of feet padding along the metal floor as the three Turtles finished the journey home.

Even a day later, after the training of the evening, Raph had not come to apologise to Mikey. Not that Mikey knew this was his brother's intention, or even cared, he was just happy to stay out of everyone's way for a while.

Alone with the rock music and his thoughts, Mikey began to ask questions. He cast doubt upon his abilities as a ninja, and wondered whether Raph was indeed right about losing the fight within him. Not only had he used up his "off-day" quota in the fight against the park thugs the previous evening, but the training session that day had also been disastrous.

"Maybe Raph's right," Mikey murmured to himself, "maybe I am losing my touch."

He wondered what he would do if he was not a ninja. More to the point, he wondered how he would survive. He would have to be totally dependable on his brothers to live, and he would not be able to risk going into the topside world, as he would not be able to defend himself if he were attacked. He was grateful for his abilities, but the thought of losing those ninja skills caused a dark fear to rise up from deep inside him. He needed those skills to survive.

"No wonder they say I'm a goof-off," he mumbled to himself. He was always the funny one, no mistaking that, but with that label came the reputation of not taking anything seriously, including his ninja training. He was bothered about it, of course, but not to the extent of his brothers. He would always be the one messing around where the others were trying to work or concentrate, and right then Mikey realised that this was his downfall.

"Raphael is right. I've got to do something about it," he said, determined to work hard and to become as good a ninja as his three brothers. In reality, he was up to their standard, but if he had been told that right then, he would not have believed it. Recent events laid heavy on his mind, blocking out other memories of when he had been successful during battle. He felt he had to catch up to his brothers, and he felt that it was miles to go before he could reach their rank. He resolved to persevere, and to do his brothers and Master Splinter proud by turning over a new leaf and doing so.


Five minutes to midnight. Mikey poked his head outside the door to his room, looking around to see if anyone was still awake. Silence, nothing moving. Stealthily, he moved across the room quickly, determined to be out of the lair without making a single noise.

At least I managed that, he thought to himself as he pounded down one of the tunnels in the sewers, now well clear of the lair. He had made up his mind to go topside for some ninja training. He did not intend to fight, but to improve his awareness, stealth, and other non-contact techniques, and to be back before the morning sun rose.

He climbed out of the manhole cover and quickly made his way towards the nearest alley. He ascended the side of the building skilfully, and once of the rooftop he began his practice.