A/N: So, hi? I know, I have a lot of other stories to finish, but I was bored this long weekend and was going over all me unfinished stories hoping to get some inspiration to continue with one of them, only I decided that I really wanted to post/work on this one. I will get back to the others, I have a bit more time on my hands in the afternoons now. (My second job got cut back to three days a week). This is my first foray into this FanFic, so I apologiseif they seem a little OC. Oh, and these guys are based on the 2003 TMNT, its my favourite! See the end of the chapter for who is who if you get confused. I know I do on occasion. Oh Oh, this is set after the Tribunal series and before Fast Forward, so they're in the old abandoned water treatment plant. ENJOY and review.
Leo looked over at his brothers as they rough-housed upon hearing Raph growl. They were waiting for Master Splinter for their daily training. Leo had been reading a book when he heard Raph. He watched as he dived passed the table in front of the TV at Mikey after the jokester had once again taunted him into it, using his win over him during the Nexus tournament. As usual, the orange masked youngest brother Eeeeped as he was tackled before Donnie tried to pull them apart, only to be used as a shield. He chuckled as he watched, only sobering up when Raph reached for his Sai's, and drew them on the brother.
"Raph!" He called out, racing over and grabbing the hands that held the sharp weapons. "Enough. Mikey, stop it." He looked over his shoulder at the other two, seeing Don take him away. He turned back to the second youngest of his brothers. "Raph," He slowly managed to get the other's hands down to waist height, "You know he only does it to get a rise out of you, right?"
"Yeah, but it feels good when I make him jump." He chuckled and Leo joined him, seeing that the usually angry turtle was only joking. "Leo?"
The blue turtle knew what was causing the worried tone in his voice. He was looking at the Sai's in his brother's hands. "Yeah Raph?" He didn't look up from looking at the right Sai.
"What's wrong?" He watched as he went to tuck them back into his belt, only Leo found himself stopping his brother's actions. He gently grasped the hilt showing below his brother's right hand, half covering the hand holding it. "Leo?"
"Your weapons are the extensions of not only your bodies, but your soul. Only in extreme circumstances are you to ever handle the weapons of your brothers." As he lifted the Sai from his brothers grasp and twirled it, Leo heard himself quote Master Splinter as he had handed them their real weapons after they passed his tests when they were ten. He realised then that the reason he hadn't gotten a soul weapon from the Tribunal, was because he had them already. He had made them at the farm of Casey's Grandma.
"Ok, I remember that." Mikey said as he and Donnie joined them. "I asked what they were and he said only if we're unconscious or unable to carry them."
"We've only ever used the training ones when we practise the use of them." Don said, confusion in his voice. Leo heard it and finally looked up from the Sai and saw him looking at him, knowing the question in his eyes.
"I saw how you lost one of Raph's Sais when we were fighting that robot created by Stockman and Leatherhead. That's also the only time that I can remember using anything other than my nunchakus." Mikey continued, remembering the fight and thinking that they had lost the sentient croc.
"Leo, what's going on?" Donnie asked, placing a hand on his eldest brother's shoulder.
Leo looked at the Bo on the tech brothers back, "If we can't trust each other with our weapons, our very souls, we can't fight to our full potential. If a situation comes up again where we need to wield the other's weapons, we need to know how to use them with accuracy." His eyes floated to his youngest brothers waist and the Nunchuks there. "Not necessarily to the point that the owner can, but with more efficiency than we did then. Like I've said before; in this life all we have is each other, if one of us goes down, we all go down." He looked up at Mikey as he quoted to him what he told him at the Nexus rematch.
"So…?" Raph asked, looking like he didn't want to give up his, but Leo could see that he understood the need.
Leo didn't answer them for a moment, instead he went and turned the lights off surrounding the dojo and most of the lair, casting it into semi-darkness. He pointed at the dojo. "Place your weapons on the floor. Close your eyes and not a sound. We're going to do something a bit different." He pulled Donnie's Bo strap and shook off the sheaths for his blades and moved it away, so his brothers wouldn't be able to immediately tell where he was, though the missing piece of his shell would be a big giveaway. In the half light, they wouldn't be able to make out their skin colour very well, further obscuring them.
He took his place before closing his own eyes. He reached out and took hold of the nearest turtle, shuffling him to another place, at the same time he did the same thing with another of them, while moving himself around the pile of weaponry on the ground. After a couple of minutes of musical turtles, he took the bandana from his head, reached out and took the others before mixing them up and handing them back. He then knelt down, and still with eyes closed he handed out the weapons. He tapped the turtle to his left and right before reaching out and doing the same with the third, signalling them to open their eyes. He put a finger to his lips, telling them to remain silent.
He saw a Blue turtle with a Bo Staff, a Red turtle with Nunckuks and a Purple turtle holding his Katana, meaning he was now the Orange turtle with Sais. The low light made it hard to tell who was who, yet he knew if he really looked he would be able to, but he liked the unknown. He gave them a moment to look at each other before launching at the turtle holding his blades.
The 'Eeeep!' told him it was Mikey holding them, and he had to move fast as the youngest brother swung one of his blades at him. Whipping up a Sai, he heard a sharp intake of breath as one of the others got the point of the exercise. He would have thought more about how it sounded like Raph, but he was busy jumping back from a jab by the turtle in front of him.
Wood clattered together with a slight rattle of chain as the other two went at each other. Wondering who was who, and hoping that he hadn't given a bandana or weapon back to their original owner, Leo took a moment to look at the others before spinning low to knock Mikey's feet from under him.
He saw his brother frown and take a moment to collect himself before stepping back and looking things over. Leo let him have his moment, knowing that he needed to be ready for whatever it was he came up with. When he put his mind to it, Mikey was quite tricky to spar against, not that he would ever let the normally Orange bandanaed turtle know. Sure enough, Mikey jumped high and seemingly vanished into the shadowed beams overhead. He kept his ears out for him, while taking a moment to look over at the others.
The Blue turtle was holding his own against the Red, and Leo was sure it was Raph, simply because of the sharpness of the strikes. The Bo whipped in from one side and just as the Nunchakus came in a cross to catch it, the end was pulled back and down while the other came down from above. Red had to drop and roll to avoid the hit, but was quickly on his feet again. The lead turtle would have watched more, but he heard movement behind him.
He let the other get close before spinning around and catching one Katana in the cross section of one of the Sais. He twisted it, and it was dropped as the other let it go so it wouldn't break. Using that to his advantage, he advanced on him and leapt. He kicked out and managed to catch his brother on the shoulder, knocking him down. He landed and flipped onto him before he could regain his feet.
They nodded to each other, Mikey going so far as to hand over the remaining weapon as they got to their feet. He shook his head, allowing his brother to pick the dropped one up. They then turned back to watch the others. Red had lost a Nunchaku, and was now solely reliant on one.
Donnie never was able to handle two separate weapons very well. Leo thought as he watched Blue advance on Red. While everyone thought Donnie was second in command because of him being second eldest and his level-headedness, it was actually to Raph that Leo turned to should he fall or they needed to split up. He would take Mikey, simply because he was the youngest; but he knew that he could count on Raph to watch Donnie's back if the tech geek of the team needed to do something. On the other hand, he would take Raph if he knew he needed the extra muscle; while Mikey would seemingly help Don with a random idea that was actually well thought out, even if it seemed like it came from a movie or comic book. He knew that Raph, despite his rash actions, could read and sum up situations quickly. He just let his anger and need to punch something cloud his rational thinking. But if things came down to the wire, and the chips were down, Raph would be the one to take control and get everyone out of there.
He watched as the Bo wielding turtle dodged an attack from the lone Nunchaku before knocking it away. Blue jumped back from the other before launching himself toward Red, a classic Raph move. He collected his brother and both ended on the ground, Blue on top. He swung the Bo at the other's head, stopping half an inch from him. They nodded to each other before Blue helped Red to his feet. Purple went over then, holding out the wayward Nunchaku.
"Ah, good to see you already training, my sons." Master Splinter said suddenly, the sound of his doors sliding closed as he joined them in the main part of the lair. "And I hear you are also practicing the way of silence and stealth as well. Good, we will make a theme of it for today." Leo realised that in the semi-darkness, their father and teacher hadn't seen that they were holding weapons that were not their own, not to mention that they had swapped bandanas.
While he walked over to them, Leo again placed his finger to his lips, a small smile on his face, as he took the Nunchakus from Red, while handing him the Sais. He nodded to the others to exchange weapons, while he collected the Katana sheaths and Bo strap. Handing them to Blue, touching the area on his shoulder to remind him of the missing part of his own shell, and Purple respectively, he shrugged in a 'let's see how far we can go' kind of way as he adjusted his belt to accommodate the Nunchuks, before taking up Mikey's usual spot on the mat. He watched as the others quickly filed in, seeing their faces as they passed him. All had a look of amusement glinting in their eyes. He also caught sight of the trust they had in each other as well as respect for the weapons they now carried. They were carrying a piece of their brother with the weapons they had, and Leo knew, just as he would; they would protect and use them to the best of their ability.
Splinter knew something was up with his sons, but in the half light; as he hadn't bothered to turn the lights back on simply because it made for another element for them to train in; he put such thoughts out of his head. His sons had had several trying days, and long nights of patrolling; not to mention they were still recovering from their latest battle with the Shredder and the Tribunal, so he forgave their slight clumsiness. As such, he only had them train for an hour before leading them through a cool down session. "Since you have all been silent, a feat I don't ever remember happening," he glared at the youngest, who grinned at him a moment before dropping his head, "I think pizza is in order. And maybe a trip to Ms O'Neil's shop. You have all been cooped up in here for too long. Go my sons, have fun. Be careful." Yes, something is going on. He thought as they all looked at each other a moment. They high three-ed in silence before hurrying off, Donatello grabbing his bag on the way out. It wasn't until Michelangelo turned that he noticed part of his shell was missing. His eyes widened in understanding at the silence and sloppiness during the workout, not to mention why the Orange and Blue bandana-wearing sons had never allowed their left sides to be seen. Vowing to question his sons upon their return, he went to the lounge area and his stories.
A/N: So if you're confused, here is who is who after Leo finished playing musical turtles. I had them spar with different weapons before Splinter arrived so they would have a different element involved. While the moves for the weapons remain the same, how they are executed would be different. Each turtle has their own style, and it would reflect in how they use the different weapons.
Leo with Sai and Mikey's Mask, Leo is now playing Mikey
Mikey with Katana and Donnie's Mask, Mikey is now playing Donnie
Donnie with Nunchakus and Raph's Mask, Donnie is now playing Raph
Raph with Bo Staff and Leo's Mask, Raph is now playing Leo