Okay everyone. A new chapter and this one is longer than the rest. I want to thank everyone for the reviews. It's nice to know there are people interested in what I have to write. I've also gotten some helpful tips and criticism. My thanks for that as well. If there are any Nine Inch Nails fans out there, I apologize ahead of time if I've messed up the lyrics I put in. By the way, this chapter takes place in the dojo just moments before Splinter sees the smoke.
Once again. I do not own any turtles except for little Turbo. I caught him chasing after guppies today. That was a treat.
By the way, kame is Japanese for turtle.
Linz1224: Thanks for the compliment.
LunarNinja: Maybe poor Mikey will have better luck with Pitfall.
Trillian 4210: Thanks for the tip. It's a good thing I teach art and not language skills, huh? Lol
Somellamafreak: I put a line in here just for you.
Jessiy: No Raph has not fried himself but he did manage to show a certain object whose boss.
"Thwack! Pow! Thud!" Raphael kept hitting. With each passing moment the blows became more intense. The hits were occasionally interrupted with a good kick. But, no matter how hard Raphael tried, his opponent would not back down. The punching bag just hung there from the ceiling, quietly mocking him with each passing blow.
"Stupid, Stupid, Stupid," Raphael muttered through gritted teeth. He wasn't so much angry with Leo as he was with himself. Angry at being angry. When he had talked to Yoshi about controlling his temper, Raphael promised to do the same. But each time he tried, he failed and failed and failed. What was he doing that wasn't right? The music kept playing.
Raphael stepped back from the punching bag, his breathing fast. His agitation and frustration grew with each beat of the song. The music became more intense, picking up speed, drums pounding loudly, a voice screaming even louder.
Will you bite the hand that feeds you!
Will you stay down on your knees!
Raphael could feel the pressure building inside him, that "volcano" waiting to explode. He raised his arms up and the bent back over his head. In an instinctual act to release it all, he threw his hands forward and screamed. Every bit of pent up anger, hatred, frustration, fear, and loneliness flew from between his hands in the form of a large stream of flame and intense heat.
Raphael looked at what he had done, the last remaining bits of the punching bag smoldering, as it hung on its chain, the burn patterns as they fanned out along the wall, and the smoke that hung in the air. His feelings of sweet relief were suddenly replaced by panic as he noticed how weak he suddenly was. The room began to spin. Then, darkness.
"Sensei is he going to be okay?" came a concerned voice.
"I'm sure your brother will be fine Michelangelo. But you must let Donatello and I finish evaluating his situation."
"Come on Mikey. Let's go see try our hand at 'Pitfall,' Leo said as he directed Mikey out of the room.
"OK Leo. But first, I have got to get that frog across the stupid highway."
Donatello and Master Splinter did their best to make Raphael comfortable. They placed him on his bed and secured pillows under his arms and legs for extra comfort. "Donatello, will you please go and get an extra blanket? I am concerned with how cold your brother's skin feels and the possibility of hypothermia."
Donatello left and quickly returned with the blanket and also a thermometer. He wanted to check how low Raph's temperature really was. He promptly placed the small stick under his brother's tongue and waited.
"Sensei, I don't think this is right."
"What is it Donatello?"
"The thermometer shows that Raph's temperature is at 130 degrees. That's not physically possible."
"That does seem rather improbable. Are you sure you are reading it correctly?"
"I guess. But it just seems weird. I mean, I used it on Mikey only a few weeks ago when he had that head cold and it seemed to be giving an accurate reading then."
Splinter thoughtfully stroked the on his chin and his whiskers twitched a bit.
"What is it?" Donatello asked.
"I am not sure yet, my son. Come, let us leave your brother to rest and see about cleaning up the dojo."
As the pair walked into the dojo, the smoke still hung in the air. The small flames on the puching bag had been put out earlier, when the first discovered Raphael lying unconscious. Donatello turned on the overhead vent to vacuum the smoke up and out to the rest of the sewers. It's a good thing there's a blizzard on its way. With all that snow, no one is going to notice this little bit of smoke coming up from under the manhole covers. People will be busy with other things.
"Donatello," Splinter's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"Yes Sensei?'
"Look at the burn marks on the wall. What do you suppose would cause that?"
"I don't know Sensei. Obviously a contained explosion of some kind, but its source is a bit puzzling. And do you know what else is odd?" he asked as he walked over to the other side of the room.
"What my son?"
The walls opposite the ones with the burn marks are covered in moisture. Look,"
He indicated with his finger. "There are little drops of water everywhere."
"Hmmmm. This is odd, very odd indeed."
Raphael woke up and found himself lying in the very dirty and extremely cold water of the sewers. How did I get here? He asked himself. Slowly, groggily, he got up and began to make his way home.
"Little Kame," a voice whispered. "Do you hear me?"
"What the!" Raphael turned quickly to face the direction of the voice but saw no one. "Who's there?" He whispered back but got no answer. "Who's there!" he yelled. This time it was more of a demand than a question.
"This way Little Kame. You must help them. They need you. Ren needs you." The voice was pleading with him.
"Listen up whoever you are. This isn't funny. I'm cold, tired, wet and I ain't in the mood for some stupid prank so LEAVE ME ALONE!" Raphael turned back towards home and his pace quickened. All he could think about was getting home and getting warm. The words home and warmth kept repeating themselves over in his mind.
The voice pleaded with him again. "Little Kame. They need you and your precious gift. Ren cannot do this alone."
Raphael stopped and took in a deep breath, "GO AWAY!" His voice echoed down the empty halls. Again, he turned towards home and thought about how good it would feel to be warm again.
He could see a little bit of light beginning to filter it's way down the tunnel. The light let out a bit of heat. The closer he got to the door, the brighter the light became and the more intense the heat felt. Raphael just grinned, enjoying the warmth. He thought of how good it would be to be back in the lair and out of the cold. But as he opened the door, his smile was quickly replaced with a look of shock.
Everything was in flames. He ran into the main room of the lair taking in what was happening. He frantically searched for his family. Where is everyone? He searched everywhere but he was alone. His family wasn't home. He began to panic. "Someone help me, please!" he screamed.
As if they had heard his voice, the flames leapt off of everything and began crawling towards him. He slowly began to back up and stopped when he hit the wall. He had backed himself into a corner. The flames crept up and circled around him. Then without warning, they leapt at him. Anticipating the pain of his burning flesh, Raphael screamed. Nothing happened. No pain. Raphael's eye's widened as he watched the flames dance across his skin. "This can't be real," he told himself. "Wake up Raphael Wake up."
"Raphael," Splinter spoke softly. "Wake up. Wake up Raphael." Raphael's eyes popped open.
"Sensei? What happened? How did I get here?"
"I was hoping, my son, that you could tell me."
"What do you mean? I was punching the bag in the dojo and the next thing I know is I get dizzy and wake up in my room."
"When your brothers and I found you, there were only a few burnt fragments of the punching bag left and a large burn mark on the wall. Are you sure you remember nothing else?"
"Nothing sensei." Liar he thought to himself. I can't tell sensei anything right now. I need to find out what happened first.
"Hey Raph!" a cheerful voice cried. "You're awake. Are ya' feeling okay? Are ya' hungry?" Mikey was ecstatic to see his big brother up and talking. Normally Raphael would have been upset by his little brother's outburst but he was too tired and too hungry to say anything cross to Mikey.
"Actually Mike, I could use a little snack," he answered.
GRUMBLE came the sound from his stomach.
"Dude, it sounds like more than just a snack is needed. I'll be right back." And a very happy Michelangelo made his way to the kitchen.
"Raphael?"
"Yes Sensei?"
"When I woke you a just a moment ago, it was because you were having a bad dream. Please tell me about it."
"There's not much to tell. I wake up in the sewers cold and wet. I make my way home and I can't find anyone."
"Nothing else?"
"No Sensei. Everything is kind of fuzzy so I'm really not sure what else happened.
Splinter felt a slight twinge of sadness. He just couldn't seem to get his son to understand that he could trust his father. How could he get Raphael to open up? Splinter was about to question Raphael a little further. He knew his son wasn't telling everything.
At that moment, Michelangelo reappeared with food and drink for his brother. "Grilled cheese and tomato soup for the little patient." Mike announced proudly.
Raph tilted his head and cocked an eye at his brother. "Little patient? You are way smaller than me baby bro'"
"Sheesh. You can be such a grouch sometimes Raph. Maybe Splinter should've named you Oscar. I mean, it would fit. He's green. You're green. You both live among the garbage of New York."
"You do that and I'll start calling you by the name of the pansy little dinosaur."
"You mean Barney?"
"Yup," Raph said simply. An evil grin began to make its way across his face.
Mikey set the tray down on his brother's lap and raised his hands in a sign of defeat. Mikey let out a laugh. "Okay Raph. You win. Be careful eating your soup. It is major league hot. It was up to a good boil when I pulled it of the stove."
"Michelangelo, I expect that you will keep your brother company for awhile."
Mikey immediately snapped too and saluted his father. "Yes Sir!" came a firm reply. Splinter shook his head and laughed. Convinced he was leaving Raphael in capable hands he got up to leave. But as he stopped at the door, he turned to speak to his second oldest. "Raphael." He paused and his son looked up at him with a mouth full of sandwich. "When you have decided that you do remember what happened, I hope that you will come and talk to me."
Raphael very shamefully looked at his bowl as a twinge of guilt his gut. "Yes sensei."
Splinter nodded and smiled at his son. "I love you Raphael and I am glad you are feeling better."
Ouch. Make me feel even worse why don't you. His thoughts turned back to his food and he promptly picked up the bowl of soup. He tilted it back and drank every last bit of it. The warm soup felt good as it slid down his throat. He then proceeded to take the remainder of his grilled cheese and swiped it around the bowl and soaked up the last bit of the soup. He promptly popped the remaining sandwich piece in his mouth and ate it. Feeling quite satisfied, he set his tray to the side. "Thanks Mike. That hit the spot."
Mikey just sat there in silence. His eyes were wide and he was staring at Raphael, not quite sure of what he had seen.
"Hello? Earth to Mike. Come in Mikey." Raph tried to get his attention. He tried waving a hand in his brother's face.
" I…. can't believe…. what you just did?" was Mike's only reply.
"It's called eating Mikey. Not quite the like the inhaling that you do. You might want to try chewing. It makes the food more enjoyable when you stop to taste it."
"No not that. I told you the soup was boiling when I poured it into your bowl and you gulp it down like it's nothing."
"Come on Mike. It wasn't that hot," he argued.
"Raph please. When I put the bowl on the tray, I had to hold it with a potholder! Fess up. What happened that you're not telling Master Splinter?"
"Really Mike. Nothing happened. Or, at least, not that I can remember."
"Wrong." Mike stated emphatically. "You're scratching at your arm. You only do that when you're nervous and I'm guessing you're nervous because you're lying," Mikey just stood there pointed a finger at his brother.
Raphael's mouth was open wide in disbelief. Was it that easy to read him? All those years of building up walls and pushing people away just to make himself unapproachable and it didn't work. "How did you figure it out Mike?"
Michelangelo just grinned. "You know, you and Leo argue so much that it gives me plenty of opportunities to observe. Leo, for instance, imitates Master Splinter a lot."
"Well duh. He is Splinter Jr."
"No Raph, that's no what I mean. When something serious is going on, watch Leo. He folds one arm and rubs his chin with the other. Just like Splinter when he's thinking. Besides, is it so bad to want to be like Splinter?"
"OK Sigmund Freud. What about Donnie."
"Oh No. You're not changing the subject." Michelangelo folded his arms and with a very serious tone, spoke to his older brother. "Look Raph, I know you've been trying to control your temper but you're not having much luck. We're your family, Raph. We're supposed to help and support each other but we can't do it if you don't let us. So, one last time. What happened?"
Raphael sighed. Maybe it might help. What I've been doing isn't working. It's not like I've got anything to lose anyway. After a few moments of silence Raphael looked up at his little brother. "Mikey, I think there's something seriously wrong with me."
Michelangelo got up and shut the door so Raphael would have some privacy. He spoke very softly to his brother. "Go ahead Raph. I'm listening."
Raphael told his little brother every thing that happened in the dojo the night before and the dream that followed. The two of them talked about Yoshi and the promises they made to each other. Mikey noticed how Raphael smiled when he talked about the little boy.
This was a long conversation. It didn't go smoothly. Mike had to ask a lot of questions and had to do some poking and prodding to get his brother to answer. He didn't mind though. He knew his older brother was a private person and wasn't exactly used to sharing his thoughts or feelings.
"So Mike. That's pretty much everything. What do ya' think?"
"I think you need to speak to Sensei about that dream bro. He's knows a lot about that stuff and could help you out with it."
"I figured that but what about the fact that I had flames shooting out from between my hands?" Raphael looked over at his little brother now seated across from him on the bed. "Well?" he asked again.
Michelangelo suddenly stood up, threw his hands up in the air and began to speak very rapidly, the words running together. "I THINK IT'S THE COOLEST THING EVER!HOW DID YOU GET THESE POWERS?CAN YOU FLY LIKE THE HUMAN TORCH IN THE FANTASTIC TOUR?ARE YOU GONNA' WEAR A SUPERHERO COSTUME?CAN I BE YOUR SIDEKICK?WHAT ARE YOU GONNA' CALL YOURSELF? HEY! HOW ABOUT……….."
"Easy Mike. Easy." Raphael tried to calm down his over excited brother. "No one's gonna be a superhero. I don't know how this happened. I can't fly. I like Raphael just fine and I am not, repeat, AM NOT wearing a superhero costume. Now c'mon and help me up."
"OK. Why?"
"Because, like you said. I should go talk to Splinter."
"OK. Hey Raph?"
"Yeah Mikey?"
"Do I get to be your sidekick?"
"Sure Mikey."
"WHOO-HOO!"
"Your first official act as my sidekick is to help me to the bathroom. I gotta' take a leak."
"Ugh. OK." Mikey said very glumly. "Wait! I got it. The Turtle Torch and Matchstick Mikey! What do ya' think?"
A very flat and definite NO was Raph's only response.