DONATELLO: The city has a life all on its own, especially at night. Sometimes it's quiet….too quiet.
It was a clear night as Sam, April and Jazz had just finished cleaning up the shop after closing for the day. Sam and April picked up a couple of rubbish bags and headed out the back to the alley to throw them in the dumpster.
But you don't notice and maybe you should. Because in the darkness, when you're all alone, you never know what could be lurking around the next corner or even at your own back door!
April opened the dumpster, the two of them unaware that a rope was hanging now down from the top of the building and someone climbed down, reaching for the globe of the backlight and twisting it till it turned off and it was now dark in the alley.
And you always think, 'nothing bad is ever gonna happen to you'! So you have to ask yourself…..
That took April and Sam completely by surprise and they heard the sounds of the figure landing on the ground and coming at them with some sort of weapon.
Are you ready? Well….are you?
THE LESSON
Danny and the Turtles snuck under the cover of darkness at the front of April's home and shop. They waited a moment, checking that the coast was clear and then entered the store, smiling at Jazz as they saw her dusting off some of the antiques.
"Hey Jazz. How are you?" Danny asked.
Jazz smiled back and gave each of them a hug as she answered, "I'm good. How are you guys?"
"Fine thanks. Hey, is April home?" Leo asked.
"Yeah and Sam's here as well. They just went out the back to take out some trash." Jazz answered.
Speaking of the two, they both suddenly heard their screams coming from the back alley and the sounds of something being hit could also be heard.
"The girls are in trouble!" Donnie exclaimed.
They all pulled out their weapons and ran to the alley to help April and Sam, but they found April holding the bat in defence and Sam standing in a defence position. Their assailant was already on the ground.
"I give! I give!" The man shouted, holding his arms up for them to stop.
Leo reached up and screwed the light bulb the other way till it turned back on and finally saw what was happening. On the ground was no mugger or even a thief, it was just Casey Jones and it looked like Sam and April kicked his butt hard.
"Easy girls! It's only me!" Casey shouted.
"Casey! What the heck are you doing?" Sam demanded as April dropped the bat.
"That has to be the dumbest thing in the history of dumbest things anyone could ever do! What were you thinking?" April said, clearly mad at him.
Raph and Donnie helped Casey stand back up. The vigilante rubbed his head in pain as he answered, "I'm thinking I'm glad that's just a whiffle bat. Sheesh! And Sam, do you really have to wear those hard boots all the time?!"
"I think the real question is, why the heck would you do this anyway?" Jazz asked, confused by Casey's actions.
"April asked me to." Casey answered.
April frowned and denied, "I did not!"
"Sure you did!" Casey insisted. "You was bragging about your ninja fighting skills and I said, I ought to sneak up on ya sometime and test how good you were and you said that sounded like an interesting idea. Though I didn't think Sam was going to be here and I didn't think I would get my butt kicked by her either!"
April walked over to the door as she asked the boys, "So, how are you guys doing? I was about to make some hot chocolate. I can easily make enough for eight."
The boys cheered for that and began to follow Sam and Jazz to the door. Casey smiled and said, "Great! I love hot chocolate."
April counted them off, including herself showing she was still mad at Casey, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight!"
Before Casey could enter, she slammed the door closed and locked Casey out. He then tried pleading with her, "Come on April! You weren't scared! You clobbered me!"
When no-one answered him or made any move to let him in, he decided to just head back home muttering along the way, "Geeze! Everybody's so sensitive around here!"
The boys, Sam and Jazz sat in the living room as April made the hot chocolate. Mikey then asked as he read his comic book, "Think Casey's okay out there?"
Donnie's Shell Cell began to ring. Leo then guessed, "That's probably him now."
"He's such a bone head." Raph commented.
Donnie answered his phone and asked, "Hello?"
However instead of someone talking, it just made a weird noise almost hurting Donnie's ear. He hung up and said, "It's not Casey. Sounds like someone's trying to send me a fax or something."
April placed the tray of mugs down on the table and the others joined at the table, each grabbing a mug of the hot beverage. April growled, "That Casey makes me so mad!"
"What are you talking about April? You and Sam totally clobbered him!" Danny said, trying to cheer her up. "If anything, it was kinda awesome."
"It's just that we should've heard Casey coming. Ever since we began our training with Master Splinter, we still haven't kicked into that second sense thing you guys seemed to have." Sam explained.
"Mastering the art of Ninjustu doesn't happen overnight girls." Donnie said, encouragingly. "It takes a lot of practice."
"Master Splinter spent a lot of time training us to be aware of our surroundings at all times." Leo said, also encouragingly. "After a while though, if you study hard enough, you will get that sixth sense for it."
April smiled and suggested, "Maybe you guys could help with our ninja training?"
That made their eyes widened and they immediately shook their heads and said, "No way."
"Why not? We're quick learners! Is this because we're girls?" Sam asked, frowning.
"No Sam, it's not you two at all or the fact you're girls. It's us." Danny answered, trying to calm her down.
"Last time we tried to play sensei, well….let's just say it didn't work out too well." Leo added.
"Really? So what happened?" Jazz asked.
"Basically, we thought we could teach this kid (chuckles), but we were just kids ourselves." Raph answered.
"Raph, that's no way to tell a story. Here let me do it." Mikey offered. He then placed on a deep voice and began, "It was a dark and stormy night, in a galaxy far, far away…."
Raph cut him off with a warning, "Mikey…."
Mikey took the warning seriously and began to tell the story properly, "I mean back when we were nine years old, on night just like this one we faced one of the most horrible dangers of dangers. The Wrath of Master Splinter!"
FLASHBACK
Nine year old Danny, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo sat in their old home as Master Splinter showed them a map of the sewers.
"We'd been warned. We knew what were not supposed to be doing." Leo continued.
As the four brothers trained, ate and even explored the sewers with their sensei, Master Splinter had repeatedly given them the same warning, "Do not go to the surface! Never, ever go up to the streets! It is far too dangerous! Under no circumstances should you ever go above ground. If you ever even think about going topside, just do not! You had better hope that I never catch you going out of the sewers!"
Danny and his brothers gulped in fear of their father's warnings. But their curiosity got the better of them one day.
"So what did you guys do?" Sam asked.
"We went top-side. When we finally got the lid off." Donnie answered.
The four of them opened the lid of the sewer hatch in an alleyway together. Raph snapped at Mikey as the two of them climbed out, "No cutting in line!"
"Then move your big fat shell!" Mikey snapped back.
But once they were all out of the sewer, they looked up at the sky in amazement and awe. Especially Danny, since it had been a long time since he had been on the surface.
"It's amazing! All this open space." Leo commented as they stood in the alley.
"Man! Master Splinter has been holding out on us. Up here its….its…." Raph said, not having the words to describe it.
Donnie though had the word for it and finished for his brother, "Beautiful!"
"Danny dude! Don't you miss this? Being up here?" Mikey asked.
"Sometimes dude. Sometimes I do." Danny answered.
"What we didn't know, was that just around the corner was destiny. Or it was some kid who needed help." Mikey continued.
Down the street not far from the alley, two thirteen year old boys stopped in their tracks as they saw a bunch of fourteen year olds playing hockey in the middle of the street. The first thirteen year old boy had short blueish hair and wore a red shirt and blue jeans. The other thirteen year old boy had a hoodie jumper on, a beanie, jeans and glasses.
"Man! Those guys think they own the streets. How come they got to play in front of my steps Stevie?" The first boy whose name was Arnold asked his friend.
The second boy whose name was Stevie said to Arnold trying to sound brave, "I'll help you! We'll stand up to them!"
He looked back the boys and then gulped in fear, feeling less brave now. Arnold shrugged and simply said, "I'd like to, but they'd just beat the crud out of us. You go around and head home. I'll be okay."
"Be careful. I'll see you tomorrow." Stevie said and then began to head home.
Arnold began walking towards the steps of his home, but before he could even go up them, the other boys surrounded him and cut off his escape.
"Hey guys, here comes Arnie-dork! You forgot to pay your toll yesterday." The lead boy, who's also name was Donald sneered. "This here is our street!"
"I don't want no trouble." Arnold said.
"Well you got trouble, doesn't he boys?" Donald said and he and his friends raised their hockey sticks up in the air, ready to start hurting Arnold with them.
Arnold thought quickly and pushed his way out and began to run. Donald and his friends began chasing after Arnold, wanting to teach him a lesson about who owns the streets.
Meanwhile Danny and the Turtles were having fun playing in the alleyway. Raph climbed on top of the trash filled dumpster shouted, "I am Raphael! King of the trash!"
Mikey, Donnie and Danny climbed up and tried to pull Raph off, but Raph pushed them all down. But while he was distracted, Leo snuck up from behind and tripped him by pulling down his leg.
"Sorry Raph, but you're the trash and I'm the king!" Leo cheered as he stood victorious of their game.
"All hail Leo! King of the trash dump!" Mikey cheered, causing the others to laugh.
Donnie then heard the sounds of people and warned, "Guys, somebody's coming!"
All five of them quickly hid under the dumpster and watched as Arnold ran down the alley and suddenly found himself trapped. He saw Donald and the other boys now closing in on him and he gulped, "Oh crud!"
"Oh poor little fella! He ran into a dead end." Donald teased as he and his friends got closer to Arnold who was leaning against the brick wall at the end of the alley.
Danny and the Turtles watched in shock as the boys started hitting Arnold with their hockey sticks and even their own fists. Danny then spoke, "Somebody ought to help that kid."
"Yeah! Finally some real action." Raph said and was about to climb out, but Donnie grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"Remember, we can't be seen." Donnie reminded him.
Remembering that rule, Danny and the Turtles managed to find another way of helping Arnold. Raph first picked up a trash can lid and threw it at one of the boys like a frisbee, hitting him in the back. Danny then picked up one of the bags of rubbish and threw it at the back of another one of the boys. Leo grabbed another bag and threw it high in the air. It landed right on top of one of the other boys and the bag split right open, all the rubbish fell right all over him. Mikey threw a rope around one of the other boy's feet and tripped him forward, causing him to fall on top of Donald.
"Hey! Watch it!" Donald snapped, pushing his friend off him.
He then turned his attention back to Arnold and was about to go back to hitting him, when suddenly a female voice called out, "Donald! Lunch time!"
Knowing that it was his mother calling him, Donald gave Arnold one final warning, "Next time, pay the toll if you wanna use the street!"
With that, Donald and his friends left the alley, leaving poor Arnold a little bruised from their attack. Arnold rubbed his head and began to leave the alley as well.
"That's when young Master Leonardo here convinced us to help the kid out." Mikey said.
"To train him so that he wouldn't need little green or half-ghost guardian angels all the time." Danny added.
"We thought we already knew everything there was to know about ninjustu, so how hard could teaching be?" Leo continued.
"And it had to be better than being stuck in the sewers." Raph added.
Leo finished putting on his disguise, using some clothes they took from the washing lines hanging across the buildings. He was now wearing a light brown long-sleeved shirt, a brown short-sleeved shirt over it but left it open, jeans, a pair of trainers and a red cap.
"Okay, you guys know the plan." Leo reminded them. "We each take turns teaching the kid what we know. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Raph, Donnie, Mikey and Danny all said with a salute.
"But remember guys, no matter what happens we can't let Master Splinter know what we're up to." Donnie also reminded them seriously.
"Yeah. If he finds out we not only broke his rule of coming to the surface, but also helping this kid; he'll be making us to do back-flips for hours." Danny said, slightly fearing of Master Splinter's anger.
Leo nodded and then walked off to find Arnold. He found him standing near the alley, rubbing his sore head from the beating he took earlier. He then spoke to him, "Hey kid, I saw what happened earlier. You know, you really shouldn't let those bullies push you around like that."
"It's no biggie. I'll heal." Arnold said, rubbing his sore arm.
"It is a big deal!" Leo said. "It's a matter of honour. You can't just surrender your honour so easily. The street belongs to everybody."
"Not for guys like you and me. We're too small." Arnold said, looking down.
Leo shook his head and said, "No! Those guys are small because they have no heart and no honour. My sensei…..my teacher always taught me, that true strength comes from within."
"Yeah maybe. But how do you get it on the outside?" Arnold asked.
Leo then demonstrated a couple of katas as he answered, "You train. Train in the art of self-defence."
Arnold watched in awe. Leo then faced him again and offered, "I can help you. Teach you."
Arnold smiled and nodded, believing it would be great to find another way to deal with Donald and his gang of friends. A few minutes later, Leo and Arnold were sitting on the rooftop of the building, beginning their first lesson.
Leo instructed as he sat in the lotus position, "First of all, you have to be serious about wanting to change things. You have to feel the power, connect with the power and find your inner core, your honour, your true heart."
Casey struggled to stay in the lotus position. Leo then asked, "Have you found it yet?"
"Uh…I don't think so." Arnold answered, feeling awkward about what he was doing. He then said as he tried moving his legs, "Uh little dude? I can't feel my legs."
"That's a good thing. Stay focused and breathe. And you'll find your true strength." Leo said.
"The hard part of that day was keeping Master Splinter distracted so he wouldn't find out what we were up to." Mikey said.
Meanwhile back at their underground home, Mikey and Donnie were sparring against each other as part of their lesson with Master Splinter. While Raph and Danny were sitting in the living room watching the TV, using a green stuffed bear with one of Leo's masks around its head, using it to cover for Leo.
"Excellent Michelangelo. Donatello, lift your leg higher in your kicks." Master Splinter instructed as the two sparred.
Donnie tried to do that, but Mikey flipped over him and swept his leg tripping Donnie and causing him to fall on his back. Donnie rubbed his head and said, "Sorry Master Splinter."
Splinter simply smiled at his son and helped him stand up. He then said to the two, "That is enough for now. You may rest my sons, it is Leonardo's turn to train."
Danny and Raph's eyes widened when they heard that. Leo still wasn't back yet and now it was his turn to train. What were they going to do?
"Oh boy." Danny and Raph whispered in panic.
"Come Leonardo." Splinter repeated.
When no answer came, Splinter was about to walk over there but Donnie and Mikey held him back by his sleeves and Mikey lied, "But Master Splinter! We want to keep practicing."
"But it is Leonardo's turn." Splinter said, confused by his son's actions.
"Leo won't mind! Will you Leonardo?" Mikey asked.
"Um….wave if it's okay Leonardo." Donnie called out.
Raph raised the bear's hand from the couch to make it look like Leo was there. Mikey then said, "See? Leo doesn't mind."
Splinter however was not convinced and it only made him now suspicious. He continued on his way over to the couch to see what was going on. Danny looked over and saw him coming and tried to think of something.
He jumped off the couch and stood in front of Splinter and said, "Uh…..Master Splinter! What if I went next instead? I really could use some more practice with my katas."
"You have already had your turn at individual training Daniel." Splinter reminded him and just moved around him, continuing his way over.
Mikey then asked as he and Donnie tried sparring again, attempting to prevent Splinter from going over to the couch, "Uh….is this right Master Splinter?"
Donnie jumped over Mikey's legs as he asked, "Or this? Leaping over the leg sweep? I think I'm getting better right?"
Splinter had enough and told his sons sternly, "I said enough practice."
"Leonardo? Leonardo?" Splinter tried calling out again as he got closer.
All their eyes widened in panic. Mikey even whispered with fear, "This is it! It's all over! We are so cooked!"
Splinter reached his hand over and placed it on a shoulder as he repeated, "Leonardo!"
They all gasped, but then their fears were diminished when the voice of Leo spoke, "Yes Master Splinter?"
Raph, Danny, Donnie and Mikey all silently sighed with relief as Splinter saw Leonardo was really there. Their plan was still on.
Splinter was a little confused, but he shook it off and told his son, "It is time for your practice."
He turned and walked back over to the training mat as Leo said while winking at Raph, "Oh okay. Coming sensei."
Leo leapt over to the training mat and said while rubbing his eyes, "Sorry I didn't answer earlier. I kinda dosed off there for a moment."
He faked a yawn and then began his training session with Splinter. As their father was distracted once again, Mikey snuck off to take his turn at training Arnold.
"What we didn't realise that even though Leo had gotten the kid off to a good start, we didn't exactly discuss a lesson plan." Danny said.
Mikey hid behind one of the skylights as Arnold was still meditating as Leo had instructed him to do and placed on the disguise.
"Now the student has become the master." Mikey said with a laugh as he placed on the cap.
He came out and asked Arnold, "Ready for more learning?"
"Well, I've been trying to be serious and doing this breathing stuff to find my inner strength like you said but, it kind of makes my head hurt." Arnold said as he rubbed his head and then his legs. "And I still can't feel my legs."
"What are you kidding me?! Get up! Get up!" Mikey said, helping Arnold stand up. "Forget all that baloney! The first and most important lesson is this; you need the right attitude."
Arnold blinked at that part, confused by this kid's sudden change of mind. Mikey however continued, "And part of having a winning attitude, is having a cool battle cry. A heroic super-hero kind of battle cry. Like in the comic books!"
Now Arnold was really confused! What did having a battle cry have to do with learning the art of self-defence?
Mikey then said, "I got it! Goru-goru-sama!"
Arnold then tried to say it, "Goru….goru…ru….whata?"
"Goru-goru-sama!" Mikey repeated. "It means Mr Thunder. Goru-goru-sama! It's perfect for you. If you yell out Goru-goru-sama while charging into battle, your foes will flee like cowards before you."
That gave Mikey an idea and he began to drag Arnold towards the ladder as he said, "Ooh! I really wanna see that! Come on, let's try it."
Arnold groaned, "They're just gonna cream me again."
"Not with your cool new heroic battle cry." Mikey said, positive that what he was teaching him will work.
They climbed down the ladder and stood at the edge of the alley, right across where Donald and his friends were still playing hockey.
Mikey then said encouragingly, "Remember, Goru-goru-sama. Now go get them."
Arnold gulped nervously and walked out onto the street. He took a deep breath and yelled out, "Goru…go…go…bo…ama!"
Donald and his friends looked at him confused, but then smirked and came over and Mikey cringed as they began to beat him up. Mikey then wondered, "Maybe I didn't give him the right name?"
They went back to the roof, where Danny was waiting for him. Danny changed into the disguise as he asked Mikey, "So how'd you go?"
"Um….great." Mikey lied, not wanting to tell him about what happened with Arnold.
"That's good. Hopefully I can teach him something good." Danny said as he placed on the cap.
He then came out and saw Arnold standing there waiting for him. He then asked, "Ready for another lesson?"
"Anything that's better than what you just tried to teach me." Arnold said, rubbing his once again bruised arms from the beating he took earlier.
Danny thought of what to teach him. He smiled and then snapped his fingers and said, "I got it! The first and most important lesson is; learning to sneak up on your enemy. It's kind of like a game of hide and seek. Now you close your eyes and I will demonstrate what I mean."
Arnold was confused, but did what he was told. He waited for a moment and then opened his eyes. He then saw that Danny was nowhere to be seen at all. He looked around, but still couldn't find him.
Danny then silently began to walk up behind him. He then tapped his shoulder, causing Arnold to scream in fright. Danny then said, "You see, if you sneak up on your opponent like that he won't know when you're going to attack."
He then took Arnold back down to the alley and said, "Now, I want you to do exactly as I did. Sneak up on your enemy."
"I don't know about this…." Arnold said nervously.
"Trust me. You can do it." Danny said, smiling at him.
Arnold gulped and quietly walked over, hiding behind one of the parked cars. Seeing that Donald's back was turned, he came out but too quickly and ended up yelping as he tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground.
Donald and his friends heard and then they all laughed as they once again began beating him up. Danny cringed as he watched and then said, "Okay….maybe I should've let him practice first before sending him out."
Back at the lair, the Turtles were doing their afternoon cleaning of the lair before their group training session. Splinter placed a few garbage bags down on the ground and called out, "Daniel, Donatello would you mind taking these out please?"
There was no answer from Danny. He then asked the Turtles, "Where is Daniel?"
"Oh! Um…..he….he….." Raph tried to speak.
Splinter frowned and once again asked, "Where is Daniel?"
Just as they tried to think of an excuse, Danny finally appeared with his face covered with dust and said, "Right here sensei!"
Splinter looked at his son with furrowed eyebrows and asked, "Why didn't you answer me earlier?"
"Sorry sensei. I was really focussing on cleaning the dust under your bed." Danny lied. "There's still a lot of it under there."
Splinter hummed in thought and then said, "Now that you've finally come out, please take these garbage bags out with Donatello."
Danny nodded and then grabbed a couple of them, while Donnie grabbed the other two. The two then exited the lair and then Danny handed over the disguise to Donnie as he said, "You're turn bro. Better get to it."
Donnie placed the cap on and said with a smile, "Cool! I've got something really special planned for him. He's gonna love it."
Donnie sat across from Arnold on a made up table back on the rooftop. On the table was a chess board. Donnie instructed as he moved his chess piece, "It's really important to think your actions through. It's all like a game of chess; you have to think three to four moves ahead of your adversary. Planning and knowing what's coming."
Arnold looked his pieces and tried to think of what to do. About ten minutes went by and Arnold still made no moves. Donnie tapped his finger, trying to be patient. Thirty minutes had now passed and still, Arnold did not make his move. Donnie was almost falling asleep as a pigeon landed on top of his head and then flew off again.
"Well….it might take a little more time I guess." Donnie said. He stood up and said, "I'll be right back."
He left and walked behind the wall, giving the disguise to Raph who was waiting there. He then left saying, "Good luck."
Raph placed the disguise on and sat on the seat across from Arnold, who still hadn't made a move on the chess board yet. Arnold then said as he looked at one of his pieces, "I've been studying the board like you said and I still don't get it. I like the horse though. I'm trying to think it through but I don't know."
That's when Raph began his lesson, "Listen pal, the first and most important lesson is; never think. Never! Just act and react and always attack."
"I'd sure wish you'd make up your mind!" Arnold whined. "Be serious….use your battle cry….be sneaky….think it through….never think….I don't get it!"
"What you need is a weapon. It's all about the weapons." Raph said. "We gotta find you some kind of weapon."
They looked around for anything to use as a weapon. Raph then noticed the chess pieces and got an idea. Placing some cans on the ledge of the building, he and Arnold stood a fair distance from them. Raph then threw some of the chess pieces expertly at the cans, hitting each one dead on in their centre and knocking them down.
"Ha! You try." Raph told Arnold.
Arnold looked at his cans and then threw the chess pieces at them, but he completely missed and instead of hitting the cans, he hit the bricks instead causing the pieces to bounce off and hit them instead.
That got Raph thinking and so he suggested, "Maybe you just need a better target. Let's see how you do in combat."
They went back to the alley. Raph then reminded Arnold, "Now remember, focus on your weapon. It's all about the weapons."
Arnold looked back and forth between Donald and his friends and his weapon. He walked over near them and then threw the chess pieces at them, but once again missed. But the noise got their attention and they once again beat Arnold up.
Raph cringed and then said, "Maybe we need to work on the kid's aim a little or find him a bigger weapon."
Back at the lair, Danny, Leo, Mikey and Donnie lined up for their group lesson with Splinter. Their sensei instructed them, "Now, I wish for you to take what you have learned and use it in groups. Leonardo and Michelangelo. Donatello, Daniel and Raphael."
He then finally noticed that Raph wasn't lining up. He asked them all, "Where is Raphael?"
"Uh…he's in the shower." Donnie lied nervously.
The other three nodded in agreement and smiled nervously, "Yeah / that's right / the shower."
Splinter looked at them suspiciously and said, "You five have been acting very strangely today."
"Uh…Raphael! Time to get out of the shower!" Leo called and ran off.
Donnie, Mikey and Danny all smiled nervously and then ran off as well, leaving the bewildered and very confused Master Splinter behind.
Raph was about to enter the lair, when the others came out. Leo grabbed a bucket of water as Mikey told him, "Raphie, hold still."
Raph yelped when Leo just dumped all the water right over him. Raph snapped as he was dripping wet, "What was that for?!"
"You just got out of the shower." Leo said.
Raph growled but then stopped as all of them saw Splinter now standing before them, his hands on his hips as looked down at them. Raph smiled nervously and said, "I just got out of the shower sensei."
The others smiled nervously as well. Splinter hummed in suspicion and then asked as he crossed his arms, "I can see that. Do you always shower with your mask on?"
Raph just continued to smile and lied, "Uh….yeah! It's a great way to keep it clean."
Splinter looked at his sons, he knew that they were now up to something but he couldn't quite figure it out. He then said, "Come, let us resume your training."
That evening, Leo now wearing the disguise stood in front of Arnold at the alley and said, "Now it's time to try out what you've learned. To face your enemies."
"But you've already made me face them three times and they creamed me!" Arnold exclaimed.
"I did? Well, just try it again and use everything you've learned." Leo said, nudging him to go.
With a sigh, Arnold left to go and do what he was told. Donnie, Danny, Raph and Mikey peaked from the alley and watched him go.
"So, do you think he learned anything?" Mikey asked Leo.
"I hope so. I mean, you taught him basic self-defence right Mikey?" Leo asked. "Like how to punch and kick and I covered inner strength."
"I didn't teach him any fighting skills. I thought Raph was gonna." Mikey answered.
"I didn't. Danny, did you teach him any of that?" Raph asked.
Danny shook his head and answered, "Nope. Donnie, what about you? Please tell me you did."
"Oh shell!" Donnie exclaimed, confirming that he didn't.
They looked and watched as Arnold first failed at sneaking up on Donald and his friends and then tried shouting out his battle cry, "Go…sumo…gala!"
They all cringed as they watched once again Donald and his friends beat poor Arnold up. Leo then said, "Okay….we're gonna start over tomorrow, but this time with the real basics."
"Right! Or as Master Splinter would say, 'the foundation of any house must start strong and…." Mikey began to quote, but a shadow fell upon them all.
They all screamed as they saw who it was. They all shouted, "MASTER SPLINTER!"
It was true. Standing before them was Master Splinter himself and man! He did not look happy one bit!
He looked at them furiously with his hands on his hips. They broke his rule about going to the surface and basically revealed themselves to a human. Leo tried to speak first, "Umm….Master Splinter, we can explain."
"We've been teaching." Donnie then continued.
"Like you! But….not as good as you." Mikey said.
"Yeah! Just like you. Trying to follow in your footsteps." Danny added.
Raph then tried, "You see, there's this kid who was getting beat up by some bullies and…."
Splinter had heard enough and ordered, "Enough! Home now!"
"But the kid…." Raph tried to reason.
"We can't just abandon him." Mikey said.
Splinter crossed his arms and said sternly, "You are not ready to teach! You could do more damage than good! The boy must find his own path, as you must find yours. Now come, we are going home."
The boys all looked down, knowing that they were in so much trouble.
FLASHBACK END
Danny, the Turtles, April, Sam and Jazz all laughed as they ended the story. Mikey commented, "Oh man! Was Splinter angry!"
"He must've made us practice for seventy hours straight." Leo said.
"I think he wanted to make sure we were so tired, we wouldn't be able to go top-side." Donnie said.
"That was so funny! Now I get why you guys don't want to help in our own training." Sam laughed.
After calming down, April then asked, "So whatever happened to this kid?
"Yeah. I mean, did you ever see him again?" Jazz asked.
"You know…I don't know." Leo answered. "We were grounded for a really long time, so we never got a chance to sneak back out and find out what happened."
FLASHBACK
Arnold began walking home looking down. He then muttered, "I'll just have to tell that kid in the red hat that the training isn't working. Guess I just don't have what it takes."
He then heard Donald's voice and turned to see him and his friends now taunting Stevie. Donald held his book away from him and continued to tease, "Hey geek boy! Doing a little reading? Oh look he's gonna cry!"
"Give it back!" Stevie shouted as he tried to get his book back.
Arnold was now angry. They were messing with his best friend. With new-found motivation, he quickly hid behind the car, quietly snuck up and punched Donald right in the back knocking him down to the ground.
"Get him!" One of Donald's friends shouted and two of them charged at Arnold.
He swung his hockey stick at him, but Arnold ducked down and allowed the stick to instead hit the boy behind him. During his distraction, Arnold grabbed the stick and elbowed the boy in the gut and then punched him the face knocking him down as well.
He was unaware that Donald got back up and was about to hit Arnold from behind with his own stick, but he saw it coming and blocked the strike. Donald tried again, but Arnold blocked each strike. He then whacked the stick out of Donald's hands and tripped him down with the stick in his hand.
Donald's friends ran off, now afraid of Arnold. Donald looked up and saw the anger on Arnold's face and immediately high-tailed it out of there.
Arnold then shouted with bravery, "That's right! You better run! You bullies better watch it, because Arnold Casey Jones ain't letting you push nobody around no-more!"
He was about to try the battle cry Mikey gave him, but then shouted his own, "Goongala! Goongala! GOONGALA!"
His cry echoed all around the street and Stevie looked at his best friend with awe, wondering where he got his new-found courage. Arnold turned around and gave Stevie his book back with a smile.
"Come on Stevie, I'll walk you home." Arnold said and the two friends headed off.
Danny and the Turtles never knew, that the boy that they tried to teach so long ago was Casey and they made a huge impact on his life.
THE END
NEXT TIME ON DANNY PHANTOM AND THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES…
Different time lines? Travelling across the infinite realms? While finally having the chance to explore the Ghost Zone, Donnie, Raph, Sam and Tucker suddenly come across Frostbite's home which has been attacked by Vlad Plasmius who has stolen the powerful Infi-Map! Now it's up to them to find Vlad and get the map back. Can they do it? Find out next time on Danny Phantom and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in: The Infi-Map!