Author's note: Ok, I really miss my little turtle tots. So I decided to do a oneshot all about them. Well, mostly about them anyways...
"Thane!" Ty hissed at his cousin. "We aren't supposed to be out here!" The seven year old was nervously looking around. Nervous because this is the farthest they had ever gone into the tunnels, and they didn't have their parents with them. "We are gonna get lost!" The little turtle was seriously starting to have doubts about this.
"Then you shoulda stayed home Ty!" Six year old Thane snapped back. Even at this tender age you could tell whose son he was. "I wanna go see where they go all da time."
Which brought up the reason they were out in these tunnels alone this late. One of Donatello's alarms had gone off and the adults had all scrambled out the door. This was different than so many other nights because this time, the smaller ones weren't quite asleep as it had been believed. And they had put their already learned ninja training to use and had slipped past a preoccupied Caitlin as she tried to sort through the mountain of laundry that never seemed to dwindle in this family. That moment of inattention was all it took for five pajama wearing mini ninjas to sneak out the door. All because they were curious to where their parents slipped off too all the time.
"Slow down!" Lavi called from behind them where she was bringing up the rear with five year old Ari, and the big pink teddybear she was holding firmly under one arm.
"You hurry up!" Thane wasn't slowing down for any of them as he trudged on.
"You sure this is okay?" Dante asked. His own six year old face a little worried. "We gonna get into trouble."
"Not if ya don't tattle. Which way did they go?"
"I dunno." Ty shrugged as they stopped at another intersection. "Maybe that way?" He pointed off to the dark tunnel on the right.
"It's dark down there." Dante mumbled.
"They all dark!" Thane irritably told him. "It's nighttime!"
Ari and Lavi took that pause to finally catch up. "Dat way." Ari firmly pointed to the one on the left.
"How do you know?" Dante curiously asked her.
The youngest just shrugged before she confidently led the way, holding her bear close to her chest. The others quit wondering about it and scurried after their youngest cousin.
The five turtle tots wandered some more, hoping to catch a glimpse of their parents around each corner they turned. Their curiosity bringing them ever further from their safe home and ever deeper into tunnels they never explored before. After what seemed like ages they finally were rewarded with a faint sound in the distance.
"That's gotta be them!" Ari happily chirped before she took off in a waddling run, still trying to hold her large teddy close to her.
"Wait up Ari!" Ty called after the surprisingly quick youngster before running after her.
He caught up with her just as they heard something else, and it wasn't what they were expecting to hear in the tunnels.
"Hey, anyone else hear that?" A strange voice echoed back to them. Then the tunnels lit up as flash lights turned on. "There is something down here."
"Maybe it's those freaks. They do hang out down here." The beams started bobbing as the unseen men started walking in their direction. The sheer amount of those beams strongly hinted that there were way more than just two.
"Nah, if it was them you wouldn't hear them coming. Someone else is down here. Let's go find out who it is, we don't need no surprises trying to pull this heist off tonight."
"Uh oh..." Dante muttered, more than a little scared now. "Them not our Mommies and Daddies..."
Quickly Ty grabbed his little cousin and began to drag her back the way they came. "Go go!" He urged the others.
Thane shorted. "I ain't scared of them. I'll beats them up."
Lavi and Dante had other ideas about that however as they each grabbed an arm and began to pull Thane backwards the way they came.
"Stop it!" He almost yelled at them. "Turn me loose you scaredy cats!"
"That came from this way! Come on!"
"Big mouth!" Lavi snapped at her younger cousin even as Thane got the big wide eyed oops expression on his face. Finally Raph's son finally gave into the wisdom of a tactical retreat. The only problem was their retreat was way more noisy than their arrival as they started screaming as they ran. These turtles weren't quite s battle hardened as the more well known ones, and they couldn't quite put the concept together that it's easier to run away and hide when you weren't trying to see how many eardrums you could pop with your vocals. They were scared, and like all scared children would do in a similar circumstance, they screamed the sewers down.
"It sounds like a bunch of kids!"
"I don't care! They know we are down here and can point us out to the police! Get the little brats!"
The little ones screamed even more when they heard those heavy footsteps chasing them. Suddenly home seemed a lot less boring now. But no matter how much they voiced their opinion, those lights still came closer as the men behind them quickly caught up with tiny turtle feet. Ty finally figured out that maybe their built in sirens weren't helping matters and shushed his companions right as they got to an intersection. They looked around in consternation when they realized...they had no clue which way to go...
"This way!" Thane led the way this time as he drug Ty to the right a moment before they came in the field of light coming up from behind them.
All of the unusual children were very glad they could at least see with out the lights, but their night vision really didn't do much against the dead end they soon found. And they couldn't go back because they were already cut off, the lights searching for them as those scary men reached the intersection. They were trapped.
The only thing they could do was huddle in a corner and hope these men would go in another direction. But even little turtles suffered from that notorious turtle luck it seemed.
"Spit up! They couldn't have gotten far."
Now they held each other and whimpered in fear as they tried to stay quiet, their eyes locked on the lights closing in on them again. Then one of those lights was suddenly yanked back into the tunnel they just left even as an outline of a body dropped in front of the scared children, followed by another, more slender one. From the other side of the group a startled scream rang out as yet another one was lost in the darkness.
Little eyes watched in wide eyed wonder as Leo and Donnie closed the distance to the group on this side and let their own skilled attacks flow out. Soon enough all the lights were out, and the bodies started flying all over the place.
"Hit 'em again!" Thane shouted, now brave at the presence of his parents. And he felt even braver still when he ran towards the fight. "I hits him too!" Then he proceeded to kick the closest shin in front of him.
"Why you little brat!" The man growled at his unseen little tormentor and started to reach out to grab the little boy. He was quickly deterred from that notion as the little brat's father grabbed that arm, turned and flung the guy face first into the wall.
"I bets that hurt!" Thane cackled.
Now, of course the others couldn't be out done. Suddenly the adults found themselves in the awkward situation of trying to fight and not step on their children at the same time. Mikey had the added effort of trying not to laugh when his daughter was trying to beat one into submission with her teddy bear...
That little blonde cutie was going all out too. "You" (smack) "are a" (bop, thud) "big mean man!" (thump, plop, thwack)
"Will you quit you little pest!" The goon her teddy was beating up snapped as he reached out to snatch it from her. Then he tossed it to the side as he picked her up by an arm. Those amused chuckles died off real quick at that. Ari didn't give Mikey the chance however as she glared at the man in the darkness, then kicked him in the stomach, hard. Very hard. He dropped her, but she didn't fall far before she was caught, and the guy was kicked again...super hard this time. He hit the wall too, but back first this time and he slid to the floor.
The little turtle already forgot all about him. "Mr. Pinkums!" She wailed as she looked around for her teddy.
It was placed in her arms again, with another quiet chuckle. "I don't think Mr. Pinkums was made to do that lil bit."
Ari just hugged her teddy as she was put back down and gently scooted out of the way.
Ty stuck his tounge out in intense concentration as he snuck up on one, waited for an opening and squarely kicked him in the back of the knee. Once it buckled and he fell over Lavi took a more direct approach...she nailed him in the nuts. Ty wondered if that high pitched squeal could be heard topside...
Lavi was beaming with pride, right up until the guy gathered himself enough to try and lunge at her, and was met with a much bigger foot in the face that came around her. He didn't move after that one, and Lavi looked up, wided eyed, to see their father glaring back down at her. "Move. Now. Over there." He calmly pointed to an out of the way spot, then looked at his son. "You too."
That was one of the quicker times they listened to their father as they scrambled out of his way.
Dante found a fascination with feet. And was methodically going down the line stomping every one he could, keeping track of how many. Stomp. Ow! Goddamn it! "One." Stomp. Motherfucker! "Two." Stomp. Son of a bitch! "Three." Stomp. Fuck! "Four." Stomp. Oops, he missed. Now he would have to start all over... Dang it...
"Come here you!" Came the furious voice of the owner.
Dante squeaked and back peddled out of reach of the goon he missed.
"I'm going to-"
"Do absolutely nothing." Donnie cut the man off right before the bo staff collided with his side.
And he was the last one. Suddenly the tunnels were quiet and still except for the three mothers who walked up from the other side of the group, their own foes laid out around them.
Now the small group found themselves looking up into angry adult faces as they got glared at from six set of eyes. Mikey was the only one trying to hide an amused smirk...and was failing.
"I think we is in trouble." Thane told Ty. "I told you we shouldn't go out this far..."
The older boy just had time to look incredulously at the younger one before another voice cut in. "Does any one of you feel like explaining to me what in the hell you are doing out here!" Leo demanded.
The kids winced a little. He was mad...
Ty swallowed hard and stepped forward a little. "I'm sorry Daddy...we...just wanted to see where you go all the time. Don't fuss at them, it was my idea."
This time Thane stared at Ty, not really believing he was hearing what he thought he heard... It had actually been his idea...
Leo closed his eyes and took a very slow, deep breath before he let it out just as slow. "Boy, do you have any idea why we set certain boundaries for you to play in the tunnels? And why we tell you not to go past those boundaries?"
Ty swallowed as he looked at the men around him. "Because it's not safe out here..."
"So, you mean to tell me you knew that but you came out here anyway?"
Ty was trying to dig a hole in the ground with his slippered foot by that point. "Yes."
"Do you have any idea what could have happened if your Aunt Marina hadn't been able to track you?" Leo's eyes flashed in anger as he and the others still glared at their children. "Not to mention all the noise you were making could have drawn more in!"
"You know..." Mikey said calmly from where he was leaning against the tunnel wall. "I remember a certain rat that almost had a heart attack when his four rascals decided to follow him topside one night when he went to forage for supplies. And almost ran right into a truck as they tried to cross the street to keep up with him. I wonder who those four idiots were..."
Leo's mouth snapped back shut right before he could launch into another tirade. The other two looked at each other with guilty expressions before all four of them began to laugh.
Even Vicky had lost some of her anger as she looked amused at her husband. "Never heard that story..."
"I was trying to avoid telling it." Was the amused reply. Then Leo sighed and shook his head. "Come on, let's go home before they wake up." The look he gave them was still a little angry, but he controlled it better. "And we are going to have a very long discussion about this on the way. Aren't we?"
Five little heads nodded in agreement before they were led away by their parents.
"You think they got spotted?" Cris asked, her tone a little worried.
"Doubtful." Donnie replied. "The kids managed to stay just out of range of the lights and it was too dark for them to make anything out really. They may know there were children down here, but who exactly they are could be anyone's guess. Not the first time we've had to step in and save sewer wanderers down here."
Ty was a little astonished on how far out they had actually came, and how tired he was when they finally got back home much to a very worried Caitlin's relief. He didn't really get to see her face though because by then he was being carried in the strong arms of his father and was asleep before he was even put back to bed.
The next morning, it all seemed to fade like a dream and he really couldn't believe they actually went out and did that. But he was very clearly reminded of it when he got a good look at the main door after breakfast...and the new locking mechanism that was placed well out of reach of little hands. Well...dang it... There went that fun...