A Million Miles Apart

A/N: Happy Birthday to me! Another birthday, another year older. And yesterday was my 19th Birthday! Hooray! I am so thankful that I get to share it with all of you who read this story and are kind enough to favorite, follow and review! Thank you all so much for every kind word you've said to me and my story for these last few years, and I hope you will all keep following this one until the end. Though I get the feeling it's gonna take awhile before it ends.

I hope you'll like this chapter and please review, favorite and follow!

Chapter 52, His True Strength Shining Through

Okay, so I guess you could say I had had a bit of luck down on Zerij. I mean, yeah, I had handled myself pretty well against Moriah, the cave monster and everything else down there. But no one can deny that I had relied quite heavily on luck. Like I had for most of this whole journey. And it was not a secret that my training with Traximus had not gone very well. Sure, I had done fine sometimes, but more often than not it had resulted in me getting smacked to the ground. But now that I finally started to get a hold of myself and handle myself well in a fight, I hoped to do better in my training. All I had to do was talk to Traximus so we could talk about where we should move from here. And that's why I was currently looking for him, half-running without my crutch.

Funny thing about my leg. After Starlee and I had had lunch, suddenly it hurt a lot less and I didn't feel like I needed that stupid crutch anymore. It still hurt more than it felt good, but not enough that I needed that thing as much anymore. And I still had no idea why that was. I mean, I know Mona's potion was supposed to heal injuries a lot faster (or in some cases, right away) but this was a bit too fast, right? I mean, I had been drinking one drop every day for the past few days, but only now was it starting to take a stronger effect. I had no idea how or why, but it was a welcomed change. If it kept going like this, I would be healed in no time.

Anyway, I was looking around the ship to find Traximus, and eventually found him in the holo-dojo, where he was practicing with his axe against a holographic army of monsters. I understood that I couldn't just barge in while he was training, so I walked up to the big window so I could watch his match while I waited for him to finish. I watched him and couldn't help but be amazed by his strength and precision with that hefty axe. Sure, Traximus was both bigger and older than me and had had more years of practice, but still. Traximus handled that axe like it was a stick and sliced through monster after monster like it was nothing. Whenever he defeated a monster, it dissolved into a yellow, glowing mass of light.

When he finished off the last creature, he turned around and let out a tired sigh. Then he saw me and came out of the room, resting his axe against the wall. "Hello, Donatello. Did you want something?" I came up to him and suddenly felt a little nervous, but I pushed it aside, took a breath and looked up to meet his eyes.

"Well, I've been thinking of our training. I- I mean, I know I haven't exactly shown a lot of progress over the weeks, but-" Traximus raised his hand to make me stop talking, looked over to the couch where Jhanna was still resting and then gestured at the dojo, so we could talk alone. I swallowed, suddenly feeling a lot more nervous about what he was gonna say, but complied and walked into the holo-dojo, Traximus close behind me. The doors closed behind us and I turned around to look at him. Traximus gestured at me to come closer and when I got close enough, he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Donatello, I know that you want to become a better fighter. But I am starting to question whether you really, really want it. You don't show much enthusiasm during our training sessions, but in real fights you are much more focused. Perhaps you should train be yourself. You seem to do much better on your own." I shook my head frantically and grabbed his arm.

"No, no! Please, I really want you to train me. You're the only one who can show me the best ways to defeat a Triceraton. I mean, you are a Triceraton. Please, just give me a chance to prove it, and I swear I'll give a hundred and twenty percent!"

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, then sighed and gently removed my hand from his arm. He looked me in the eyes. "Are you sure that you will do anything?" I nodded.

"Anything. Just give me another chance." He hummed in thought for a second, then looked at me again.

"I think I have an idea for a test for you. A test that can prove that you're really willing to do anything. Wait here." He turned around and then left me in the holo-dojo. Through the window I saw him walk up to the computers, where he seemed to program in another simulation. The room suddenly changed and morphed into a woody forest and I found myself standing in a rather small glen. In front of me was a big, steep mountainside. A few feet away was a small table with a bow, an arrow and two round rock weights with a small holes where a strong, black leather sash went through. Traximus returned to my side.

"What are we doing here, Traximus? What kind of test do you have in mind?" Without saying anything, Traximus walked up to the table and grabbed the bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. He looked up to the mountain top, aimed the arrow and fired. It landed at the very top and buried itself almost halfway through the ground. I looked up at the arrow and then at Traximus, who came up to me with the weights in his hands.

"You wish to prove you really want this? Well, I have a little test for you: if you can climb up there and grab that arrow, with these weights with you, I will continue to train you. That's my requirement." I eyed the weights, looked up the mountainside and then back at Traximus, a little suspicious.

"Why do I need those? I mean, wouldn't it be hard enough to just climb all the way up there?" He handed me one of the weights.

"One of these weights stands for honor and discipline," I grabbed the stone by the sash, but the weight was more than I had expected and I almost dropped it because of how heavy it was, and I was forced to lean forward as it hit the ground so I wouldn't drop it. But Traximus ignored that and just placed the other one in my hand. "And the other one stands for true strength." The added weight proved to be too much for me and as I had to grab onto the other one and it hit the ground, I dropped to the ground along with it. I landed on my knees, held back a small grunt of pain due to my- still aching- knee and looked up at Traximus as he walked around me.

"In order to become a true warrior, you will require both." He turned to look at me. "Now, when you have the arrow, give it me, and we will discuss more about how our training will progress from here. Good luck." He gave me a small smirk and left the room, leaving me alone in the forest. I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to collect my thoughts. Okay, so that just happened. This was a very sudden and unexpected way of testing one's skills. Oh, well. Traximus had given me a test, might as well get on with it.

I took another deep breath and then grabbed the weights and tried to stand up with them. It was hard, but I eventually managed to get back up again. The sashes dug into my wrists and the weights tried their hardest to weigh me down again and my knees shook with exertion, but I was determined to not let them get me down on my knees again and sucked it up as best as I could. Honestly, I was also a bit distracted with the awe I felt at how lifelike the weight was- it was all a hologram, yet it was so advanced and immersive that it could have physical mass. Awesome!

… Painful, but awesome!

I eyed the mountain and realized how tall it really was. My guess was that it was close to thirty feet to the top. How was I supposed to climb all the way up there, with these weights in both hands? It would be impossible. But, then again, maybe I didn't have to climb all the way up there with them in my hands? I might be able to find another way to carry them up there, and still have my hands free. I looked down at the weights and eyed the strong leather sash through them. I smiled. I could certainly use these things to my advantage, and they would certainly make things easier.

I approached the base of the mountain, grabbed each weight by the sash and placed my arms through them, resting both over my shoulders. I felt myself stumble under the weight and almost fell to my knees again because of it, but stayed strong, placed one foot on the mountain, grabbed ahold with both hands and started to climb.

To say it was hard would be an understatement. As I got higher and higher, the weights seemed to get heavier and heavier and they constantly almost slipped down my shoulders, which made things even harder. I also felt the weights hit my sides almost the whole time, which also made things harder than it needed to be. I barely got five feet off the ground before one of the weights slipped down from one shoulder, which made the now uneven weight weigh me down and I hit the ground. I grunted in pain and felt my shell ache from the fall, but quickly got back up to try again. This time I rested the sashes a little further up my shoulders, very close to my neck, hoping it would help me a bit more, but of course not. I didn't get much higher before the weight made me slip and fall back down again.

I tried not to be deterred and tried again. But every time I tried and failed, it ate at my confidence. I don't even know how long I had at it; I just kept climbing, fell on my shell, got up and tried again. Rinse and repeat. Finally after, what, my umpteenth time trying to climb that wall, I managed to get higher than I had before. I finally managed to get past the eight feet I had managed to climb before, and it felt like I had a grab on how to climb this time. But then, of course, I slipped on a loose rock and fell down. Again. Only this time, one of the weights landed on my bad knee, and while it didn't hurt as much is I thought it would have, it didn't help, either. I glared down at the weight on my leg and forcefully tried to shove it off, only to be reminded by the sash that was still on my shoulder and yanked forward a bit along with it.

I sighed and looked up. For all my efforts, I still had yet to make it past the ten foot mark. And there was still quite the long way to go after that. I groaned and looked down at the weights.

"This is impossible," I muttered and removed the sashes from my arms. If I kept this up, I would end up breaking them because of those stupid weights. Or worse yet, break every bone in my body thanks to every time I hit the ground. And then how hard would it be to train, with OR without Traximus? I sat up, crossed my legs and started thinking. Obviously this wasn't going to work, so I had to think up another strategy. I looked up the mountainside again. It was steep, but it still looked easy enough to climb. There were plenty of bigger ledges, not far between each other, so if I only managed to get up to the first one, it wouldn't be that hard to get to the others. That is, if it wasn't for those weights. But Traximus had told me that I needed to climb up to the top with them if I wanted to keep training with him. I needed his help if I wanted to become the warrior I needed to be. At least so I wouldn't be helpless against a Triceraton.

Before Traximus had left the room, I had been tempted to ask why he didn't stay here and observe me, but I got the idea that he knew exactly what I was doing in here, and if I had ignored the weights and tried to grab the arrow without them, he would know about it. Also, for all I knew, he might have activated some kind of cameras that followed my every move, so ignoring the weights was not an option. Not that I had considered doing that...

I sighed and rested my chin in one hand and my elbow on my knee. "Okay, so how do I do this? Come on, Donnie. Use your brain; it's the one thing you know how to do." I sighed again and wracked my brain, trying to think up a good strategy. But I really couldn't see how I was going to succeed with that. I grabbed one of the weights and raised it up and down to test it. I growled lowly and threw it aside. Felt like something that even Leo or Raph would have a hard time lifting. So how was I supposed to carry it all the way up there? I sighed again and leaned back against the stony wall and closed my eyes.

"Come on, Donnie. You can do this, you know you can. Just think, what would Splinter do? What would he say?" I focused on Master Splinter and all the advice he had given me throughout my life that I could remember. Splinter had always been one to use riddles as a way to give advice so we would figure the lessons out for ourselves. But I had never been a fan of those riddles. I mean, was it so hard to give a straight answer, just for once? I shook my head to get rid of those distracting thoughts and tried to think even harder.

"Okay, Donnie, think. What would Splinter say? What would Splinter say?" I hummed and thought as hard as I could. Then a memory entered my head.

We were about fourteen years old and Splinter had decided we had to run through our obstacle course. And, of course, I had had a tough time getting over the very first obstacle: a big wall. And equally annoyingly and predictably, my brothers got over without any problems. I, on the other hand, had slipped all the way down again before I had gotten that high. Which always frustrated me to no end.

I growled and kicked the wall as hard as I could without hurting my foot. "Stupid, brainless, unscientific obstacle course!" And Splinter had decided to talk to me when he saw that I was frustrated. He came up to me and looked at me with calm eyes, and spoke with an equally calm voice.

"Is it really the obstacle course you are angry with, my son?" I froze at his words and the anger suddenly faded away as I slumped in defeat, my back turned towards my father.

"No, Sensei, I guess not. It's that no matter how hard I train, I can't seem to keep up with my brothers." I kept my head down in shame. It wasn't often I was open about my feelings and my frustrations about training, so when it happened it felt like I was revealing parts about myself that no one had ever seen before. Uncomfortable and awkward, in other words.

Suddenly I felt an arm around my shoulders and looked up to see my father smiling comfortingly down at me. "If a tree falls into a river, does the water stop flowing?" I sighed. Another 'wise ninja master quote'? How many of those did he have in storage? Way too many, in my opinion. Still, I had to answer, so I looked up at my father and tried to not sound bored.

"No, Master. The water moves around the tree and makes a new path." Splinter retracted his arm from my shoulders, but kept his smile. Though I could see a small spark of deja vu in his eyes. Like this was something we had gone over more than once. Which, to be fair, it was.

"Donatello, you are so gifted in the mind, but sometimes you overthink. The challenge is to get over the wall; nothing was ever said about having to climb it." My eyes widened and I rubbed the back of my head with a sheepish smile. Another obvious fact that had flown completely over my head.

"Hmm, is it the water?"

My eyes widened and I found myself back in a light forest with artificial sunlight beaming down at me. I looked down at the weights on the ground and back up at the mountain again. Of course, it all made sense. Traximus had told me to get to the top and grab the arrow with those weights with me. He didn't say how I had to do it. I smiled and grabbed the weights again in a strong grip.

"Thank you, Master Splinter. I will never question your advice again." I paused and thought for a second. "I will just question how you give it." I shook my head and sat up with crossed legs again.

The plan was simple: I cut through the sashes and pulled them out of the holes in the round rock and tied them together, creating a fifteen-foot-long leather rope. And, if my calculations were correct, it would be just long enough to each ledge, all the way to the top one. And if I tied both the weights in one end of the long rope, I might be able to throw the heavy end onto the ledge and use the rope to climb up the rest of the way. Simple and practical.

"I just hope these weights will hold my weight. If they don't, I'll fall all the way down again," I muttered to myself, now having the other end of the rope tied around my waist, and looked down at the stones tied to the other end. I took a deep breath, looked up at the arrow and narrowed my eyes in determination. 'I'm coming for you, you stinker' I thought to myself and started climbing. It was much easier this time, and I reached the first ledge in no time, but as I was about to climb onto it, I felt the rope go taut and tighten around my waist. I held onto the ledge with both hands, found a strong foothold, took another deep breath and heaved myself onto solid ground. The weights on the ground held me back with everything they could and I almost lost my grip on the ledge. But after quite a bit of struggling and heaving, I managed to crawl up- but I had to stay as close to the ground as possible, or I felt like I would be dragged back over the edge again.

I stayed on my knees for a minute to catch my breath before I grabbed the rope and started to pull the weights up to my level. Quite the struggle, that. I pulled and heaved as hard as I could, but I still only managed to pull it a few inches off the ground. I growled and felt tears of frustration burn in my eyes. It felt like even gravity was against me right now, and it was so unfair. And now, when I finally had come up with a new strategy for getting what I wanted, it kept trying to shoot my hopes down. But I had made up my mind; I was going to get that arrow. I was going to become the strongest turtle in the universe if that's what it took to defeat the Triceratons. So I kept pulling and heaving and shouting and swearing at how resistant they were.

Then, I felt something again. My heart started beating a lot faster, the frustrated tears in my eyes almost burned away like acid, only it didn't hurt. It just felt like they melted away or were vaporized or something. But then, and here's the really weird part, suddenly the weights felt a whole lot lighter. I opened my eyes and looked down to see where they were. And when I saw that they were more than halfway up by now, I almost dropped them in shock. How had I managed to pull them up so far, so quickly? Then I saw something flashing in the corner of my eye- the amulet around my neck was blinking again, a lot quicker and stronger than earlier today. What was it doing- and why? And how did it make me suddenly feel stronger and healthier? The ache in my knee was suddenly weaker again; almost nonexistent at this point. My brain suddenly became clouded and any questions or thoughts faded into the back of my head. Instead, I started to pull the weights up, faster and faster until they were resting at my feet.

With this new, sudden strength, I pulled the weights up by the rope, started to swing it as fast I could and then threw them up onto the next ledge. I pulled as hard as I dared on the rope to see if it supported my weight and then started to climb up. I almost found it a miracle that they did support me, but it was quite an effective tactic and as quickly as I got up on the next ledge, I was pulling them up again and throwing them onto the next one, and kept going at this as I got further and further up the mountain.

After a lot of throwing and climbing and feeling sweat run in places I didn't even think could sweat, I finally got up on the last ledge and saw that there were still a few feet until I could reach the arrow. I swore under my breath and realized Traximus probably wanted me to carry these things all the way up again. And there were no more ledges to climb up on anymore. From the looks of it, I would need to actually carry the stupid things all the way up, since it didn't seem like I could do any other way. I groaned and gripped the rope, threw it around my neck and started to climb the rest of the way. I felt the weight of those big rocks hurt my neck, and I suddenly started to feel all of that new energy and strength run out, and I felt ready to go to sleep and never wake up. But I pressed forward, pushing myself as hard as I could to keep going.

And finally, I reached the top of the mountain, sighing in relief and joy as I felt soft grass under my fingers as I pushed myself up again. I ripped the weights off my neck and threw myself on my back and took a minute to breathe and finally relax after hours of pushing and exerting myself. But after a minute, I sat up again and stumbled over to the spot where the arrow stuck out of the dirt. I grabbed it and used my remaining strength to pull it out and looked it over. Hm, what a simple and useless thing to push yourself so hard to get. But still, I had it now, so I was done. I walked up to the edge of the mountain and looked down. Did Traximus expect me to climb all the way down again with those worthless rocks? 'Cause I was not about to do that again. So I grabbed the rope and threw the rocks down the mountain and watched as they shattered once they hit the ground.

I looked down, feeling artificial wind blow through my mask tails, and took a few deep breaths, feeling quite good about myself right now. I let out a long tired yet pleased sigh before I started climbing down again.

I've never been much of a thinker. To me, actions hold a lot more weight than simple thoughts and I see it as a big waste of time. And I had heard time and time again from Dad, Moriah and Starlee that I really needed to use my head a lot more and not just rush into things like a madman. I was also not very good at strategy and usually made things up as I went along whenever I did something. And whenever I had nothing better to do, I usually found something athletic, or something that didn't involve too much thinking. But considering that Mona Lisa, Donnie and the Professor had forbidden me from doing anything other than rest, it was all I could really do. And after everything that had happened down on Zerij, I had a lot to think of.

As far as I could remember, Starlee had always been rather quiet and not so argumentative. Whenever I said something, she might protest, but not to the point where she folded her arms, sat down and said no like I could do. She seemed to just suck it up and follow the orders she was given, without much to say about it. But today, she had somehow grown enough backbone to yell at me and finally start pushing back, which was something I don't think had ever happened before. And she had stared me down, said what was on her mind and then turned her back on me, like I was the younger sister and not the other way around. And from the looks of it, Mona had agreed with everything she had said, and supported her actions.

I can't deny that I've fought with people before, like my father or Moriah, but I had never fought with Starlee before. And I didn't know how to process everything she had said about me. Like I was acting like a know-it-all and I had a holier-than-thou attitude. At first I had shrugged it off. I mean, me, a know-it-all? I knew my intelligence was not very strong and my education was very limited, so why would she say I acted like I knew everything? And that holier-than-thou thing? I hated people who acted like they were the best and knew everything, so why would I act like one? But after some time alone back on the ship, I had started to think about it a lot more thoroughly.

I knew that I usually told Starlee a lot about how the world works and that her happy little utopia was not real, but maybe I had taken things too far? Maybe I had been acting a bit like a know-it-all?

I was sitting on one of the couches in the dining room, sipping a bowl of soup after Mona had finally told me it was okay to eat again, but told me it was probably best to eat something light. Just to be on the safe side, as she said. But at the time I didn't care, I was just happy to finally be able to eat and had finished three bowls of soup in no time flat. But I was still thinking a lot of what had happened, so it had killed my appetite a little. I didn't feel so good about what I had been thinking about, which really made me less hungry. I didn't like not feeling good. I usually didn't care about the consequences of my actions, since they usually didn't hurt me or affect me, but now it felt like they had hurt someone I cared very, very much about, which made feel worse.

"Hey." I looked up and saw Mona come in with Traximus beside her. I nodded at her and pushed my hair out of my face. Mona came up to me and tried to smile. "How are you doing?" I shrugged and sipped on more soup.

"Eh, I feel fine. I just sit here and try to eat while watching Donnie work out in there." I nodded my head at the 'holo-dojo', as Donnie called it, while not taking my eyes off my soup bowl. Mona looked over at the room and tilted her head to the side, raising an eyebrow over her tired eyes.

"He's still at it? How long's it been?"

I shrugged again and removed the bowl from my lips. "I don't know. Maybe two and a half hours? I haven't really counted. But I think he'll run out of energy soon." Mona pressed her lips together and threw her head to get her bangs out of her face.

"Yeah, energy maybe. But that boy has some seriously stubborn determination issues. He's not gonna quit until he either completes the task or drops dead from exhaustion." I rolled my eyes and put the bowl down on the table again.

"Yeah, I know. But I got a feeling that talking him out of it is not gonna work. So I say we let him waste his energy for now and then pull him out of there if he faints or falls asleep. But I'm sure he'll be fine." Traximus sighed and sat down on one of the other couches. He rested his face in his hand and looked like he felt bad.

"Maybe I was giving him a too big task. I should have given him something simpler to do. He's still injured, and he's young. He does not have the same skills and muscles like me. I gave him too much." Mona came up to him, sat down beside him and placed a soft hand on his arm.

"Don't feel bad, Traximus. I'm sure you only had good intentions about giving him this test. And I'm sure he'll handle it, just maybe not tonight." She barely let those words leave her mouth before the doors to the training room opened and Donnie stepped out. Though he was quite the sight right now. He looked like he was half-dead and had a few small bruises here and there. He had dark rings around his eyes and sweat was covering his body. In his hand he held an arrow, so tightly it was a miracle it hadn't snapped by now. He came up to us and slammed the arrow down on the table in front of Traximus. He panted a little and looked like was about to faint, but he managed to smile and stood up straight.

"See you tomorrow at training, Trax." That was all he said before he turned around and walked towards the showers. Mona and I stared after him and then looked at the arrow. I leaned forward, grabbed it and looked it over.

"This is it? All those hours or training and work for an arrow? What did he do in there, anyway?" Mona came up and looked it over with me. She shrugged and folded her arms over her chest.

"I don't know. Maybe that bad knee slowed him down or something?" We looked up to ask Traximus, but he didn't seem to be listening to us right now. He stared at the arrow in my hands, and a small, soft smile spread over his face. And it showed something I hadn't seen much of. At least, not for me.

Pride and admiration.

A/N: Yes, for those who caught it, I did, *ahem* 'borrow' the test from Mulan. I couldn't help it, it's such an awesome moment in the movie. And Donnie's struggle here felt like the one Mulan goes through, entering a whole new world where everything he knows as normal is gone and he has to learn a whole lot of new things very quickly in order help his world. At least, that's how I see it.

Also the flashback I used in this chapter comes from TMNT episode 0, which you can find on Youtube incase you haven't seen it. It's really more of a gameplay of sorts, but still, it's fun to watch incase you love the 2012 cartoon.

I hope you liked this chapter and please review, favorite and follow! G'night everybody!