The Dragon Prince
Age: Seven years
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
"Crash, bash went the dragon, as he crashed and bashed all across the kingdom."
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
Splinter watched with mild amusement as his four sons paraded around the living room in colorful, if not somewhat shoddy, costumes.
"Have at you, dragon!"
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
Today was Story Day. A day when his sons would work together to put on what he had lovingly deemed "The Play." It had started when he was trying to teach his children about theater and get them into some more creative projects in addition to their ninjitsu training and regular schoolwork. The very first time they had done it they came up with a play that was pretty much a blatant rip off of a fairy tale he had read them. Not very original, but to be fair he didn't exactly expect Shakespeare at seven.
What was truly unexpected, however, came next Story Day when instead of coming up with a new story like he had requested they performed the same play again. And again. And again. For every Story Day since the first over and over without fail. He knew for a fact that his children were more than capable of coming up with new, original stories. Michelangelo alone seemed to come up with twenty a day. But for some reason when it came to actually performing the variety in their repertoire was extremely lacking.
Splinter shook his head slightly, trying to focus on the show lest his children catch him daydreaming. In front of him each of his children was dressed in the same costumes they had created for the very first Story Day.
First there was Leo, who played the narrator. He stood off to the side with a bed sheet robe narrating the story while his brothers acted out the parts. It was the least active role, but for some reason Leo seemed to enjoy telling his brothers what to do more than doing the actions himself.
"Get 'em Donnie!"
Next there was Mikey, wearing a cardboard crown to signify his role as the king. It was a role that only really came in at the beginning and end of the show. He had the least amount of lines to memorize which meant he spent the majority of the show sitting on his "throne" and waving his wooden spoon scepter as he cheered his other brothers on.
"You shall never defeat the Prince of Sewer-land!"
Donnie was the star of the show, aka the prince. Dressed in tin can armor, he fought valiantly, if not melodramatically, to save the princess, a red-haired doll they had found in the sewer one day after a rainstorm. Mikey had originally laid claim to the toy, but ever since the doll started playing the princess Donnie seemed to always find a way to convince Mikey to let him play with her instead. Most often through a bartering system of crayons and shiny objects that Splinter had yet to truly decipher.
And that just left one role.
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
The dragon, aka Raphael. Donning a menacing finger-painted face (which was a pain to clean off), Raph rampaged across the stage, fighting with Donnie to keep him from the princess and roaring as if each bellow was the epitome of triumph.
"The evil dragon spit fire at the prince." narrated Leo.
Raph spit at Donnie.
"Ewwww! Raph, no spitting!"
"Leo said to!" defended Raph, though he was clearly smiling.
"Get back to the fighting!" shouted Mikey.
Leo nodded. "The prince avoided the fire, and with one swing of his katana he slew the big, mean dragon!"
Donnie pulled out one of their wooden practice swords and stabbed Raph through the armpit. Raph ROOOOAAARED in despair, remarkably his loudest one yet, before falling to the ground dead.
"The evil dragon died, and the brave knight saved the princess."
Donnie confidently strutted over to the doll sitting atop her trashcan tower and took her in hand before bringing her back over to Mikey.
"Noble king, I have rescued your fair daughter!" said Donnie, kneeling and milking the scene for all it was worth.
"Good job!" said Mikey. "Now as king of awesomeness I now decree you get married and live happily ever after!"
Donnie grinned.
"And so the knight and the princess did what the king told them and they all lived happily ever after." announced Leo. "The end!"
The four tiny turtles got up and took their bow as Splinter clapped enthusiastically despite the less than enthusiastic look on his face.
"Very well done my sons." said Splinter. "It was even better than the last ten times."
"You really think so?" asked Leo, already taking off his robe.
"It was cause of me." said Raph. "I been practicin' my roar. ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!"
"Trust me, Raphael," laughed Splinter. "We all know you have been practicing your roar."
"I think it was because of me." said Donnie. "Everyone knows the prince is the star of the show."
"You just wanna make kissy face with the princess. Mwah mwah mwah!" mocked Raph.
"Shut up! It's better than always dying like the dumb dragon!"
"Who you callin—"
"Yame!"
The children silenced, all eyes going to their sensei.
"All roles are important my sons. Be you the prince or the dragon—"
"Or the narrator!" shouted Leo.
Splinter laughed. "Or the narrator, a play needs everyone to be successful."
"Hai Sensei!" said the children in unison.
"Good. Now go put away your costumes and wash up for lunch."
The children ran off to place their costumes in the costume chest.
All except Mikey who sat on his throne with a pensive face.
Splinter looked down at him, curious. Mikey was usually the first one to the table when lunch was called, sometimes taking the initiative to arrive before it was called just so he wouldn't miss it. If whatever he was pondering was enough to keep him from his algae and worms it must be serious indeed.
"Michelangelo?" asked Splinter as he knelt down. "Is something wrong?"
Mikey turned to him.
"Why does the dragon always die?" asked the tiny turtle.
Splinter raised an eyebrow.
"Because he is a monster who kidnapped the princess."
"But why does the dragon have to be the bad guy?" He held out his hand and looked at it. "Aren't we kinda like dragons?" He looked up at Splinter. "Are we monsters?"
BAM! Tiny turtle fist straight to the heart!
The moment the words left Mikey's mouth Splinter could feel his heart shatter to pieces. Immediately his arms shot out and practically dragged his youngest son into a tight embrace as if Splinter could somehow use his own body to shield his son from the vile words still hanging in the air.
"You are not a monster." said Splinter, an almost desperate pleading in his voice. "Never think that."
"But the dragon."
Splinter grimaced inwardly. Though part him wanted to, he could not deny that his children indeed bore some similarities to the dragon in their story book. Green. Reptilian. Though they were far from the fire breathing lizards of lore, the fact that his son was identifying with the ferocious reptiles was more than enough to help Splinter see them in an entirely new light.
The rat sensei shook his head, the fur on his chin tickling Mikey's scalp.
"I was wrong, my son. The dragon is not a monster. He is just…different."
"So, the dragon can be a good guy?" asked Mikey hopefully.
Splinter smiled. "I believe a good guy dragon would be just what your story needs."
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"
Splinter chuckled, a tidal wave of relief and joy flooding over him as he watched the thoughts of being a monster perish from his youngest son's mind.
"We're changing the play!"
"What?!"
Three little turtles stared at their youngest brothers with varying degrees of outrage.
"I said we're changing the play." repeated Mikey. "Daddy and I worked super hard and wrote a better play!"
"But I like being the narrator!" protested Leo.
"And I wanna be the dragon!" shouted Raph.
The three eldest broke into an uproar before-
"Yame!"
The children silenced. Splinter looked down from where he stood at Mikey's side.
"Please, my sons, listen to what your brother has to say."
The three children stayed quiet. Mikey smiled at Splinter before continuing.
"Everyone will still be playing the same people." said Mikey. "It's just the story's gonna be different now."
"Different how?" asked Donnie.
"Now, instead of the prince rescuing the princess from the dragon, the dragon's gonna rescue the princess from the prince."
"What?!" shouted Raph. "That's dumb. Dragons don't rescue princesses!"
"Do too!" shouted Mikey. "This time it's gonna be a dragon princess. I'll be the dragon king, and Donnie will be the evil prince who kidnapped her."
"But I like rescuing the princess!" complained Donnie. He looked down shyly. "She has such pretty hair."
"Donatello." said Splinter. "Remember what Dr. Caterpillar says about sharing?"
Donnie scrunched up his face. Truth be told at seven Donatello was already far past the Dr. Caterpillar phase and had already moved onto much more advanced books. His current favorite was the "Detective Beaker" series, a set of middle school level books that mixed surprisingly advanced lessons on math and science with a detective novel. However, since Donnie had been so obsessed with the book series at five Splinter knew that whenever he needed to remind the brilliant child of a lesson that a Dr. Caterpillar quote was only a question away.
"To truly be good girls and boys, you must learn to share your toys." intoned Donnie with a forlorn look.
"Besides, we made you a wizard staff so that when you're playing the evil prince you can cast magic spells at the dragon! Right, Daddy?"
Splinter nodded. He pulled his hands from behind his back revealing a jo staff decorated with dark ribbons and a paper cut out of an evil eye.
Donnie took it with a look of wonder.
"This is so cool!" he shouted.
"So, you'll do the play?" asked Mikey.
Donnie nodded vigorously.
"Do I still get to narrate?" asked Leo. Mikey nodded. "Then count me in too!"
"Yaaaaaaaaaay!"
Mikey turned to the only brother left who was currently standing with his arms crossed and staring sullenly down at his feet.
"How about you Raph?"
Raph looked up at Mikey, his sullen look morphing into a vicious glare.
"No!"
"But you get to be the hero this time!" said Mikey.
"And you get to beat Donnie." added Leo.
"And save the princess!" threw in Donnie. "Even though she still likes me best."
Raph grew even angrier. "No! No! No! I'm never ever gonna do this dumb play! Ever!"
"Raphael-" started Splinter.
"NO! I won't do it and you can't make me!"
Before anyone could say a word Raph turned tail and sprinted across the lair, immediately heading into his room and slamming the door behind him.
Everyone stared after him.
Donnie turned to Mikey.
"Do I still get to keep the staff?"
The sound of tiny giggles filled Mikey's room as Splinter sat beside him on his bed.
"And then what happened?" asked Mikey.
"Then the little turtle samurai returned to his village with the jewel encrusted sword in hand. The whole village cheered for the little turtle, and threw a great big feast in his honor. And they all lived happily ever after."
Mikey let out a contented yawn as he snuggled deeper under the covers.
"That was a good story." said Mikey.
"Yes." said Splinter. "But now it is time for bed. Good night, my son."
Splinter leaned down and placed a kiss on his littlest son's head.
"Night night, Daddy."
As Mikey closed his eyes Splinter crept out of the room, closing the door behind him.
He smiled to himself. Ever since that afternoon Splinter had vowed to start telling more stories with reptile heroes so the horrible thought of being monsters never crossed his son's mind again. He even thought he'd throw in some rat heroes. Strictly for his sons, of course.
Though that small victory brought him immeasurable joy, there was still one issue he had yet to figure out: Raphael. He and the boys had tried all day to convince his son to participate in the new play for Story Day, but again and again he had refused to listen. And when asked why he hated it so much he would always reply:
"Cause it's dumb! Now leave me alone!"
A poetic and well-articulated response if Splinter had ever heard one.
He sighed as he walked down the hall hoping his hot-headed son would at let him tuck him in for the night. Provided he even let Splinter into his—
"Hi, I'm Raph. No, that's dumb…"
Splinter ears perked up as he heard his second eldest son's voice.
"Greetings! I am Sir Raphael of—No, that sounds dorky like Donnie."
Slowly Splinter crept towards his son's door, curious who he was talking to. With all the ninja stealth he possessed he quietly slid the door open just a crack to peer inside.
His eyes widened.
In the middle of the room stood Raph, dressed in his dragon costume once again. Normally Splinter would have reprimanded him for applying more paint to his face after Splinter had already taken the time to wash it off, but then Splinter spotted the other resident of the room: The "princess."
Stuck to Raphael's wall was an extremely good drawing, for a seven year old, of what he presumed was Raph's version of the dragon princess. She was green with dragon wings and a long tail. He had forgone the pink dress like the princess doll, and had instead drawn a red one for reasons that were all too obvious.
Raphael stood shyly rubbing his foot against the ground while avoiding eye contact with drawing. He cleared his throat.
"Hajimemashite." he said with a formal bow. "Watashi wa Rafu desu."
He stood up and shook his head. "Nah, she probably doesn't speak Japanese. And those are the only words I know so even if she did she'd just laugh at me."
He shook his head vigorously.
"ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!" he shouted as he stomped around the room. "I'm the big, mean, dragon and I'm here to rescue you! ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
In his mad rampage he accidently STOMPED right on a toy soldier.
"OW!" he shouted as he hopped around the room on one foot while taking the sore one in his hands. He eventually fell back onto his shell, rocking for a moment as he nursed the injured appendage. With a glare he swatter the offending toy solider away.
"Stupid toy." He said as he sat up. "Stupid princess. Stupid—"
"Raphael?" Raph jumped as Splinter slide the door the rest of the way open.
"Don't look!"
Raph immediately got to his feet, sprinting to the wall and ripping down the dragon princess drawing as fast as possible. He angrily crumpled it into a ball as Splinter walked up behind him.
A calm hand on his shoulder caused Raph to stop his angry destruction of the paper and look up at his smiling sensei.
Splinter held out a hand.
"May I see?"
Raph's face grew soar. He slowly, very reluctantly handed Splinter the crumpled drawing if for no other reason than to help lessen whatever punishment he knew he would be getting for painting himself without permission.
Splinter un-crumpled the paper and looked it over with a smile that made Raph sick.
"She's very pretty." remarked Splinter.
Raph groooaaaaned as he threw himself face first down onto his bed. Splinter walked over and sat beside him as the little turtle sulked into his blankets.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" asked Splinter.
"No." stated Raph bluntly.
"Really?" asked Splinter. He held up the drawing. "Then is there something you want to tell me, Miss Princess?"
Splinter held the drawing up to his ear.
"Uh-huh…Really?"
Raph looked up.
"What's she saying?"
Splinter looked back at Raph. "The princess seems to think that you don't want to do the play because you're afraid of talking to princesses."
"Am not!' shouted Raph. "I ain't afraid of nothing!"
"Oh?" asked Splinter. "Then what seems to be the problem?"
"It's just…" he struggled for a moment before looking back down at the covers. "What if she doesn't like me?"
Splinter resisted the urge to point out that the princess was a sheet of paper with crayon on it.
"What do you mean?"
"Princesses like princes." stated Raph. "That's how it works. They ain't supposed ta like dragons. And I'm a dragon! Why would she want a big, angry dragon like me when she could have a fancy prince instead?"
Splinter smiled as he stroked his beard.
"It is very unusual for a princess to fall in love with a dragon."
"See!"
"But then again." said Splinter. "I suppose the only way to find out for sure…is to ask."
Raph stared, confused.
Splinter scooted closer and wrapped an arm around his son.
"You are a brave, strong, wonderful boy, Raphael. If the princess does not like you then you must trust that somewhere out there there is someone else who will love you more than all the stars in the sky." Splinter smiled. "But as the saying goes a treasure unsought is a treasure unfound."
Raph scrunched his face. "What's that supposed ta mean?"
Splinter chuckled. "It means that you'll never know if she likes you…if you never try to find out."
Raph stared up at his sensei, pondering his words.
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
"Woosh went the dragon as he flew across the sky, getting ready to attack the evil prince waiting below."
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
Splinter watched with rapt enthusiasm as his sons paraded across the living room, some, like Leo, wearing the same costumes as before, and others, like Mikey, who now wore dragon paint in addition to his king outfit, dressed somewhat differently.
"Mwahaha!" shouted Donnie, as melodramatic as ever. "You shall never save the princess!"
Splinter's eyes went to the trashcan tower where the "Princess" now sat. After his talk with Raph last night Splinter had decided to make a new princess for the show. This one was definitely a dragon princess with scaly green skin and a large, slightly oversized tin can head cut to resemble the dragon head in Raphael's drawing.
Donnie had been extremely happy to learn Raph wouldn't be rescuing his beloved red-hair princess, but Raph seemed even more unnerved than before by the appearance of this new figure. Though thankfully not enough to quit the play.
"Get 'em Raph!" shouted Mikey.
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
"The evil prince threw fireballs at the heroic dragon!"
Donnie chucked painted red balls at Raph.
"Hey!" shouted Raph.
"Leo said to." mimicked Donnie with a smile.
"The dragon avoided the prince's fireballs and in one swoop stomped on the evil prince and flattened him like a pancake!"
"What?!"
Before Donnie could say anymore Raph jumped on top of him, pinning him to the floor.
Raph grinned as he sat on top of Donnie who just glared.
"The evil prince died, and the brave dragon saved the dragon princess."
Raph's grinned instantly faded.
He quickly got up off of Donnie and walked to the trashcan tower where the heavy-headed princess sat dangerously close to the edge.
He stood there for a moment before taking a deep breath and getting on his knee like he'd seen Donnie do so many times before.
"Uh, hi princess." said the normally hot-headed little boy. "I'm Raph…the dragon. I'd like to rescue you. If that's okay."
Silence.
All eyes were on Raph.
Splinter was on the edge of his seat. For the first time in a long time he had no idea what was going to happen in the story.
Everyone in the room waited, unsure what the unresponsive princess would do or even could do! And yet still Raph refused to move, eyes locked on the doll as if the tin can headed doll could somehow give him some sign or reply that she accepted him as her brave dragon champion.
Seconds passed, and no one dared to moved. But finally the tedium of waiting proved too much for Splinter's most hyperactive child.
"Get on with it!" shouted Mikey.
With surprising, and somewhat impressive, accuracy Mikey chucked his wooden spoon scepter across the room where it SMACKED right into the middle of the trashcan tower.
The jolt proved just enough. With that final bit of momentum the heavy headed doll tipped over the edge of the trashcan tower, falling through the air for just a second before landing in Raph's awaiting arms.
Slowly everyone in the room smiled.
"And so it was settled!" announced Leo with glee. "The princess accepted the dragon as her hero and flew with him back to her father in the dragon kingdom."
Raph grinned from ear to ear (figuratively speaking). He turned around and walked over to the king.
"Noble dragon king. I have—"
"No more talking!" shouted Mikey. "As dragon king of awesomeness I decree you both get married and live happily ever after with lots of dragon kissy face! Mwah mwah mwah!"
"Mikey!" screamed Raph, a blush bursting like fireworks onto his cheeks.
"And so the dragon and the princess did what the king told them and they all lived happily ever after with lots of dragon kissy face!" announced Leo. "The end!"
"Grrrrrrrrr!" growled Raph. "I'm gonna get you!"
Mikey and Leo both ran away laughing as Raph gave chase. Splinter applauded the show with genuine enthusiasm for the first time in a long time.
"That was fun Daddy." said Donnie. "Next time can I be a dragon?"
"I wanna be a samurai!" shouted Leo as he ran by.
"And I wanna be a fairy king who turns mountains into marshmallows!" added Mikey.
"I'll mash you into a marshmallow!" shouted Raph as he continued in hot pursuit.
Splinter chuckled. Despite his boys' shenanigans one thing was for certain: Story Day was about to get a whole lot more interesting.
"Kissy face! Kissy face!"
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
Author's Note: Hi hi everyone! HAPPY BELATED SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!
BIG news fanfictioners! Adventures in Parenting has just recently been nominated for the Stealthy Stories 2015 TMNT Fanfic Competition! YAAAAAAAAAY!
It was nominated in the categories of "Best Splinter" and "Best Chibi!" It is an honor just to be nominated for this totally awesome competition! A hyper ultra big THANK YOU to all you awesome readers who made this nomination possible! None of this could have happened if it weren't for all you wonderful, beautiful people who read the story. You guys ROCK OUT LOUD!
Anyway, let me know what you think of this latest chapter! Thank you all so hyper much for reading, and, as always, have a hyper happy day! LOVE YOU GUYS~!