Chapter Five
Following this battle, Leonardo helped Donatello and Michelangelo to quickly fashion weapons for themselves. A temporary bo staff was carved for Donatello, who felt better for having a weapon to hand again, even if it were not his own personal bo. In the short time they had for creating weapons, nunchucks could not be made, and so Leo helped Mikey carve a pair of tonfa, a wooden weapon that Mikey also had some experience with.
"You sure you'll be okay with that wrist, if we need to fight?" Leo asked with some concern.
"Hey, you know I can fight with one hand tied behind my back," Mikey said with a grin.
During the weapon-making process, which Splinter oversaw, Raphael sat on a log not too far away, alone with his thoughts. The others obeyed Splinter's strict instructions to leave him undisturbed, until it was time to go.
None of them really knew what to make of Raphael's nightmare. They had not been able to envisage a particular fear for Raph – though a lot of things seemed to irritate him, few things truly frightened him. However, upon seeing the Dark Half appear, and seeing Raph's reaction to it, they wondered why they had not guessed it before. They had seen Raphael's transgression to become less angry, a journey which had been rocky for some parts, and remembered vividly how hard the red-banded turtle had tried to rid himself of his demons, for the sake of his family, and for the sake of himself.
For this reason, no one knew what to say to Raphael following the episode. Apart from giving him a quick squeeze of reassurance on his shoulder, his brothers did not feel it appropriate to say anything.
This suited Raphael just fine – he used the quiet spell to mull over his actions, and come to terms with them. Despite the turmoil of emotions he had undergone during the fight with the Dark Half – confusion, frustration, anger, and fear – he now felt strangely at peace, perhaps even more so than after the first time he had combated with his rage. He felt a stronger sense of accomplishment, as well – most likely because of the physical element to the struggle.
"We are now ready to move on, my son," Splinter said softly. Raphael looked up to see that his brothers were now all fully equipped with weapons. How long had I been sitting there, thinking? Raphael wondered as he stood up.
As he walked a short distance behind his brothers, who were chatting quietly, probably about what they had just witnessed, Raphael smiled. He had jumped his hurdle, and he was ready and willing to help his brothers do the same in their tasks.
"You okay, bro?" Mikey asked uncertainly as Raphael jogged up beside him.
"Yup," Raphael nodded gruffly. "One less demon to worry about." He began to scratch the back of his neck and continued hesitantly, "and, erh, all that stuff that particular demon back there said..."
"We know, it's okay," Leonardo said, not wishing to see his brother in discomfort.
As the brothers continued to chatter, asking sparse and tentative questions about Raphael's experience with the Dark Half, Donatello's keen eye spotted something glinting beneath one of the large, green leaves in the bush. He stopped, hanging back for a moment to investigate.
He carefully pulled away at the giant foliage to reveal a small, square box, about the size of a Rubix cube. The cube was metallic silver, with sharp edges and pointed corners. With a puzzled frown, Donny went to pick up the cube, but his hand was roughly pulled back. He indignantly looked up to see Leonardo standing behind him, holding his arm.
"Remember where we are," he warned. He knew that, as and when his brothers came to face their fears, he could do little to help. Still, it was in his nature to remain on guard, and look out for his brothers and any potential hazards until that time came.
Donny rolled his eyes, and took his bo staff from where it was sheathed on his shell. With the tip of the staff, he poked at the metal box, knocking it over to check it wasn't booby-trapped.
"Happy now?" Donny said sarcastically, having tipped the cube in various directions. He picked it up and held it close to his eye, studying it intently.
It was somewhat heavy, and when Donatello cautiously shook it, he concluded that it was solid inside. There were no grooves in the object to indicate that there was any way to open it and investigate it further. He scratched his head, a perplexed look gracing his features.
"It's just a box," Raphael said, disregarding any notion that it could be of value.
"So, how'd it get here?" Mikey enquired.
"It is a bit out of place," Leonardo agreed. "I mean, all this uninhabited jungle, and then we find a silver box thing, out of nowhere," he added, suspicion evident in his voice. "It could be best left alone."
"But, it must do something," Donny persisted. "It must have some kind of purpose. It wouldn't just be here, on its own."
"Jeez, it's a box, it ain't looking through the personal ads," Raph rolled his eyes.
Donny shot his brother a glare before turning back to the box. "No hinges," he murmured, "can't open it." He tried twisting and turning it, with no success. He then tapped it, thinking that it might be activated by external vibrations.
It's gotta do something...
Mikey shot his brothers a sidelong glance and asked, "is anyone else just seeing a cube, here?"
But why can't I figure out what it does?
"I think it's a trap," Leo decided, folding his arms.
"When don't you think anything's a trap?" Raph said rhetorically.
Donatello ignored his brothers' banter and continued to ramble. "It's just gotta do something," he persisted, furiously turning the object over and over in his hands, looking for a clue.
Michelangelo approached Donny and suggested, "maybe it just doesn't do anything, bro."
"No," Donny snapped, "look at it! It's probably made out of silver or nickel, and it's a perfect cube! Nothing made out of those materials in a perfect cube like this just fell out of the sky! It's gotta be man-made, and if it's man-made, man has made it for a purpose! And I've got to know what that purpose is!"
Taken aback, Mikey looked down at the ground and fiddled with his thumbs. Raphael was next to put his oar in. "Yo, Don! Chill out, okay? He didn't mean anything by it, he was just saying..."
"Well, all of you can stop 'just saying', and let me figure out what this thing does!" Donny barked back.
Raph's eyes were wide. "Donny, you wanna step back and listen to yourself, here?"
The normally placid turtle was too deep in his funk to do so. "You guys aren't getting the picture!" Donny fumed. "This is what I do!"
This is all I can do...
"I figure out how things work, then I fix them! That's me! That's my thing! You guys all have your thing, and this is my thing! And if I can't do it, I... I... argh!" Shooting a venomous look at the cube, Donatello threw the thing away in anger and frustration.
"Look, Don," Leo began gently, intending to diffuse the distressed turtle. However, he did not get the opportunity to do so.
The cube had jerkily rolled away down the path for a moment, before settling on one side. Almost instantly, the top flaps of the metal box had unfolded and stretched out, inexplicably growing. The outer layers of the box did the same thing, and this process was repeated over and over, the contraption growing in size with each time. What unfolded from this small, seemingly insignificant box was a ten-foot-tall robot.
Its outer shell was made up of the different plates, around the same size as the six that had made up the exterior of the box. They seemed to be held together in unbreakable magnetic bonds. One of the creature's arms was a razor-sharp blade, and the fierce scowl on the robot's shiny, silver face told the turtles and Splinter that the mechanism was going to wield his weapon with deadly intent.
"Hey, would you look at that," Mikey said, stood alongside his family in the ready-stance, "Don figured out what it does. Now how's about you fix it, bro?"
"I think it's safe to say this could be your nightmare, Don," Leo said cautiously.
"Oh, ya think?" Raphael retorted sarcastically.
"I would think Leonardo is correct," Splinter affirmed. "And as such, only Donatello can defeat this... this object."
"Um, has anyone noticed that this thing hasn't exactly done anything yet?" Mikey said, idly twirling his tonfa in his hand.
The robot took that moment to slam his huge, metal fist to the ground. The force sent shock waves along the earth, and knocked the five of them tumbling backwards.
Sitting up, Raph shot Michelangelo a fierce look. "Remind me not to let you talk, ever," he glowered at the turtle with a sheepish grin on his face.
"Speaking of talking," Leo said, turning to face Donatello. "Donny," he said gently. "Don, this is your arena. Machines."
Donatello turned to his brother with wide eyes. "But if I don't know what I did to make this thing like this, then how am I meant to know what to do to make it go back again?"
"Don, not the time to start rambling," Raphael said, glaring at the robot, which was now making its way towards them.
"You must apply logic to solve this puzzle, Donatello," Splinter advised, stepping back away from the advancing robot. "You must be rational."
"But this thing defies logic," Donny pointed out. "How can all that metal just come out of that tiny box?"
"Dude, maybe you gotta, like, think outside the box," Mikey suggested.
"Mikey, what did I just say to you about not talking?" Raph groaned.
"Michelangelo may have a point," Splinter said in speculation.
The encouragement from his family provided a new lease of life for Donny, and he led the others in a charge towards the robot. If I can't fix it with brains, then how about with brawn? He struck it ferociously with his bo staff, Mikey pummelled it with his tonfa, Splinter smacked it with his staff, Raph plunged his sais into the metalwork, and Leo sliced it with his katana. Once they'd finished the onslaught, they landed and readied themselves before surveying the damage.
"Hey, shouldn't this thing be... you know... smashed up?" Mikey breathed.
The scratches and dents on the robot were being covered by new layers of metal, like skin knitting itself back together – rapidly. Within a few moments, it was as good as new, if not better.
The robot took advantage of their awe and fear, and struck out with his sword-hand. He let out a reverberating roar as he saw he his enemies had evaded this attack, and with his other hand, swept the ground where they were recovering from the first attack. This time, he scattered them in different directions like a bowling ball hitting a clean strike.
As Donny pulled himself out of the bush he'd ended up in, he racked his brains for the solution to this problem. "Think outside the box, think outside the box," he kept repeating to himself. "What the shell does that even mean? This thing is the outside of the box, and it won't be hurt on the outside..." he trailed off mid-thought, an idea suddenly occurring to him. "The robot's outer-layers are indestructible. The source of their strength is from within. I wonder how indestructible the inside of this thing is," he finished with a wicked grin on his face.
As Don began to assess his thoughts rationally, his family were regrouping. "Everyone all right?" Leo checked. He noted the curt nods, before looking around and asking, "where's Don?"
The others also scanned the area, before Splinter spied his son. "Donatello!" he cried, his eyes wide. Risking whiplash, the three turtles snapped their heads around to face the scene their Sensei was gaping at.
"Hey, junk-bucket!" Donny called out, getting the robot's attention with the waving of his arms. As the robot slowly and clumsily turned to face him, Donny used the makeshift bo as a pole to vault up to the machine's head. Riding on the back of the robot's thick neck, Don plunged the end of his bo into what he guessed were the joints of the robot's jaw. He guessed right. Though the robot's outer shell was unharmed, his jaw became slack.
"Raph! Can I borrow a sai?" Donny requested.
"Think fast!" Raph called back, throwing one of his weapons towards his brother.
Donatello caught it effortlessly, and with a wink to his family, flipped from the robot's neck and into his wide, open mouth, which immediately clamped shut.
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