It's Electric
Age: Nine years
"Hand me those pliers, please."
"Here you are."
"Thanks."
"Mind that wire."
"I see it."
Splinter sat smiling as he watched his little Donatello work. And what a work it was.
Ever since he was little Donatello had always loved to build. In order to make their sewer home more livable Splinter had engaged in dozens and dozens of home improvement projects. Whether it was building counters for the kitchen, building bedframes for his children's bed rooms, or even the arduous task of learning how pipes work so he could outfit their home with running water. And no matter what the task, Donatello always loved to be right there lending his father a helping hand.
It had started out small. Handing Splinter a wrench here or a screw driver there. But as Donatello grew the two began to work more together. Father and son, building side by side. Not that the other children didn't love to help as well, mind you. But Leonardo viewed it more as a task to be completed than a fun time activity, Michelangelo got easily distracted in the middle of the project, and Raphael often quit whenever he found the work too boring.
The work today, however, was different. For the past couple months Donatello had been experimenting with electricity. While the other children were doing well in their schoolwork, Donatello was already working at a high school level and was eager to put his lessons on science into practice. He had started with small things like working with magnets or fixing abandoned, electric toys, all with Splinter's extremely close supervision mind you, but he quickly outgrew those small challenges and longed for something bigger. And that's when he had proposed a plan. The biggest home improvement project to date: Outfitting the lair…with electricity.
It had taken a lot of convincing on Splinter's part. For one he was a ninja. Used to living a simple life training his mind, body, and soul far outside the conventions of modern society. And for another as smart as he was Donatello was only nine and letting your nine year old work with high power electrical systems was a big parental no-no.
Still, Donatello was persistent. Not only did he write a twenty page essay on all the benefits of electricity around the house, but he even spent weeks drawing up rudimentary blueprints detailing exactly how the work could be done.
While Donatello's essay and blueprints were…interesting to say the least, what finally pushed Splinter over the edge was Donatello himself. Though Splinter was an old fashioned ninja, he knew that Donatello was a child of the modern world. Donatello's intellect was growing far faster than Splinter knew how to handle, and as much as Splinter worried about his son's safety he knew that his brilliant child would need the tools electricity provided in order to continue growing in his scientific pursuits.
And so here they were. After months of planning, preparing supplies, and working with hundreds of feet of wires, both father and son sat together as they put the final touches on all their hard work.
However, what made this time different from any other time they worked together was how they were sitting.
"Could you please pass me that wire cutter?" asked Donatello, clad head to toe in a rubber outfit Splinter had personally sewn himself.
"Of course." said Splinter, handing him the tool.
"Thank you."
Donatello turned back to the breaker.
That's right.
This time Donatello was the one doing most of the work.
And Splinter was the one handing him the tools.
"How much longer is this gonna take?" asked Raphael. He, Michelangelo, and Leonardo sat nearby quietly watching. Minus the odd complaint that is.
"I just need to connect these two wires…" said Donatello as he bound two wires together with electrical tape. He replaced the front panel on the newly refurbished breaker. "Okay. Let's test it out. Daddy?"
Splinter smiled. "I think you should do the honors, Donatello."
Donatello smiled.
He flipped the switch on the breaker.
There was a faint hum before the ceiling lights flickered to life across the lair for the very first time.
Everyone stared in wonder.
"It works!" shouted Donatello.
The other children cheered! They ran up and surrounded Donatello.
"You did it, Donnie!" shouted Leonardo.
"Way to go, Egg Head." commented Raphael, slapping him on the back.
"You hardly needed Daddy's help at all!" shouted Michelangelo.
Donatello blushed as his brothers continued to shower him with praise.
Splinter beamed as he watched from nearby. He couldn't be prouder of his son. And yet, while he was overjoyed with all they had accomplished, he was just a bit...sad.
While he knew his son didn't mean it in a bad way, what Michelangelo said was true. Donatello had hardly needed his help at all. And truth be told there weren't many ways Splinter even could help him.
When it came to school Splinter often had to study just to be able to grade Donatello's math and science homework. Which was always perfect anyway. And while they had researched electrical engineering and wiring together, Donatello was the one who did most of the planning and a majority of the actual work.
Seeing your child succeed is every parent's dream, and Splinter really couldn't have been happier. But the thought that his little Donatello didn't need him anymore was…bittersweet to say the least.
But now was not the time to dwell on such things.
"Come," said Splinter joyfully. "Let us celebrate this momentous occasion! Red bean buns for everyone!"
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!" the children all cheered as they rushed for the kitchen.
"Thanks, Daddy." said Donatello. "I have so many plans for what to do next! We could get a stove so we could cook stuff faster. I could build a lab for science stuff. Oh! And maybe we could even get a TV set! And then…"
As Splinter listened to his son's numerous plans to improve the lair one thought still echoed across the back of his mind.
"He doesn't need you anymore…"
Plop. Plop. Plop.
The sound of tiny rain boots splashing through puddles echoed through the sewers.
Today was scavenger day, and for four little turtles it was a time of adventure and excitement.
Scavenger days were one of the few days the turtles were allowed to help Splinter scavenge for supplies. They were never allowed to actually go up to the surface to scavenge, but every day after a major rain storm Splinter would take the turtles out to the sewers to find whatever treasures the rain storm had swept down from the surface.
And whatever they found, outside of stuff needed for the household, they got to keep.
"I found a racecar!" shouted Leo as he held up a tiny, red racecar.
"No way!" shouted Raph.
"I found a box of crayons!" shouted Donnie. "It has almost all the colors!"
"How do you guys always find the best stuff?!" complained Raph.
"A ninja must have a keen eye." bragged Leo.
"Grrrr. Just wait! I'm gonna find somethin' that puts both of you to shame!"
"Bring it on!"
The three boys ran off, embroiled in their traditional competition to see who could find the best treasure.
Meanwhile Mikey was far down the tunnel, jumping excitedly in puddles.
"Splash! Take that evil water monster! You're no match for Captain Mikey! Splash!"
Mikey continued splashing, unaware as he grew farther and farther from the group.
As he conquered his most recent water monster he noticed something from the corner of his eye.
He looked to the side down a massive drainage pipe filled with mud, slime, and all sorts of nasty things.
The young turtle stared, his eyes locked on something unseen.
He quickly ran into the pipe.
Meanwhile, the other boys were locked in a dead heat competition.
"Find anything yet?" asked Donnie.
"Nope." said Leo.
"Raph?"
"Don't rush me!"
"Has anyone seen Mikey?" asked Leo.
"I'll go look for him." said Donnie. "You focus on beating Raph."
"Hey! No team ups!" shouted Raph as Donnie ran down the tunnel.
"Mikey?" called Donnie.
"In here!" shouted Mikey from nearby. "You'll never believe what I found!"
Donnie quickly jogged towards the pipe entrance.
"Mikey, you know you're not supposed to—"
Donnie GASPED.
Two things stood before Donnie.
The first was Mikey, grinning like the king of his own private birthday party.
And the second, and to Donnie the most wonderful, was none other than a broken down, mud covered, slime coated, full sized, pizza parlor style, real life animatronic bear! In other words…
"A ROBOT?!" screamed Donnie. "You found a robot?!"
"Yep." said Mikey, clearly proud of himself.
Donnie looked over the animatronic in a state of sheer wonder. To call it run down was an understatement. At one point this beauty of mechanical technology had probably sung songs and delivered tons of joy to little kids in a pristine pizza parlor on the surface (not that the turtles knew anything about pizza parlors or even pizza in general.)
However, after what had to be at least a month of sitting in the filth laden sewers, this once proud machine now sat in complete disrepair. Big hunks of the plush exterior were covered in mold. The constant abuse of being swamped and battered about by sewer water had torn some of the costume away revealing the mechanical interior beneath, and what could be seen of that was clearly trashed.
"It's beautiful!" said Donnie. "I can't wait to repair it!"
"Hey!" shouted Mikey indignantly. "It's mine! I found it."
Donnie stood and turned to Mikey in full business mode.
"I'll trade all of my crayons and coloring books." said Donnie.
"No."
"I'll give you all my dessert for a month."
"No."
"A year!"
"No!"
Donnie growled in frustration.
"What do you want?!" yelled Donnie.
"Remember when you told Daddy you wanted to build a lab?" asked Mikey.
Donnie stared. "Yeah?"
"Well, I wanna be your lab assistant."
"Why would you wanna do that? You don't even like science."
"Because. That's why."
Donnie's shoulders sagged.
"You'll just get bored."
"It's either that or no robot."
Donnie groaned.
"For how long?"
"Forever."
"What?!"
"You heard me." said Mikey. "You get the robot, and I get to be your lab assistant whenever I want for the rest of forever."
"But that's not fair!"
Mikey crossed his arms and tossed his head.
"Take it or leave it."
Donnie growled again. Curse this little brother of his!
"Fine!"
"Yeah!" shouted Mikey as he jumped excitedly in the air. "Captain Mikey wins again!"
Donnie was already regretting his decision.
"But you can't tell anyone else about this." said Donnie.
"Why not?"
"Because, I wanna fix it all by myself. It'll be a big surprise for Daddy."
Mikey smiled.
"Okay! Daddy loves surprises! Except for the time he tried to fix that water pipe and it ended up being an icky pipe."
"No one liked that surprise." said Donnie. "Now, come on. Help me drag this back home."
"Right!"
The two turtles each grabbed an arm of the robot and slowly heaved it down the mud covered tunnel.
And all the while neither Raph nor Leo noticed as they continued on their epic quest to prove who could find the best treasure.
"Hrrrrrrg!"
Mikey and Donnie grunted in effort as they dragged their mechanical load into the lair. Truth be told pulling a full sized robot was a lot for two little boys, but thankfully the mud and slime that coated the machine's plush, cloth coating was extremely helpful as they dragged it across the concrete floor.
"It hurts!" whined Mikey.
"Just a little further." encouraged Donnie.
For the next five minutes the two young turtles dragged the machine across the lair, occasionally stopping for breaks before starting up yet again.
After an arduous journey they finally managed to drag the animatronic into the storage room. It was a fairly large room where Splinter kept all the supplies that they had scavenged but had yet to find a use for.
Wood of all shapes and sizes were either stacked in piles or leaned against the wall. There were big piles of miscellaneous cloth that Splinter used whenever something needed padding, sewing, or stuffing, and the rest of the room's contents were really a giant mishmash of whatever seemed like it could one day be useful, be it building supplies, miscellaneous parts, or what have you. There was even a big storage container of random art supplies that the kids used for arts and crafts, though of course they weren't even allowed to think about touching any of it without Splinter's permission.
The two turtles sat the animatronic down with a thud, panting for breath.
Donnie looked around the room with a tired smile. "This'll be the perfect spot for my lab!"
"In the storage room?"
"Of course! All the materials are here, and I can hide the robot under the cloth pile for when I'm not here. But first thing's first. We need to clean up that big trail of mud we left or Daddy will find out what we're up to."
"Do we haaave to? My arms hurt!"
"Hey!" said Donnie. "You wanted to be my lab assistant, so start assisting!"
"Fiiiine."
Mikey rolled his eyes as the two ran off to fetch cleaning supplies, at least marginally eager to clean before their trail of grime made their ninja father suspicious.
Splinter was suspicious.
On one side of the lair, right outside the door to the storage room, sat Michelangelo innocently coloring on the floor.
And on the other side of the room, next to the dojo, stood Splinter, his eyes narrowed at his apparently well behaved child.
Splinter knew his children extremely well. He was their father after all. Michelangelo sitting down and coloring was definitely not beyond the norm.
However, the fact that he had been sitting down, alone, in the exact same spot every day for the past week and a half doing the exact same activity was definitely not normal.
Michelangelo was a child of wild energy and spontaneity. He thrived on variety. When he did his school work, if he wasn't working with his brothers, he would often shift through multiple spots across the lair to do it. Reading at the kitchen table, math on the couch, take a break, more math, some science in the dojo. One time Splinter had even found him writing an essay in the kitchen cabinet under the sink.
While it was true he was much more likely to sit still if he was doing an activity he enjoyed, such as coloring, he had been doing this for many many hours at a time each day. When Leonardo or Raphael asked him to play he had always refused in favor of his coloring, which was really starting to get on their nerves since Michelangelo was generally the one asking if he could play with them. And, the strangest thing of all, every single time Splinter tried to approach his youngest son while he was coloring he would immediately start singing and always in a very loud voice.
Normally, Splinter would have been more worried than suspicious. After all, his most social child exhibiting anti-social behavior set off all sorts of parental alarm bells.
But there was one more factor that shifted him just slightly from parental worry to suspicion.
Donatello.
While Michelangelo had been sitting outside the storage room, Donatello had been spending almost the exact same amount of time inside the storage room. Donatello would usually go into the storage room early in the morning, claiming he needed a quiet place to study. Then about ten minutes later Michelangelo would take his position outside the storage room and stay there all day. They would both come for lunch, training, school, and other such things of course, but then they would go immediately back to their positions and would stay there until the end of the day.
Donatello would usually leave the storage room first. And then, almost exactly ten minutes later, Michelangelo would pack up his coloring materials and go his own way.
Their behavior was, in other words, suspicious.
Two sides of Splinter warred as he stood staring at his youngest child.
The first was his ninja parent side. To him this all seemed like a carefully devised strategy. Like Donatello was doing something behind that door and had somehow roped Michelangelo into serving as his lookout. Their timing, those ten minutes between their arrivals and departures, was just off enough to make it seem like it could be a coincidence but just precise enough to warrant suspicion.
The other was his nurturing parent side. Donatello wasn't a trouble maker. Sure, he was smart, but next to Leonardo he was the least likely of all Splinter's children to cause trouble. Maybe Donatello really was just studying, and Michelangelo was just really invested in his coloring.
Ninja. Nurture. Ninja. Nurture. Trust. Mistrust. Trust. Mistrust. What to do? What to…do?
…
Why not both?
Splinter smiled as he quickly came up with a strategy.
He walked across the room with his best dad face on.
"The wheels on the bus go round and round! Round and round! Round and round!"
Splinter's whiskers twitched as Michelangelo started singing the moment he got near.
Suspicious.
"Hello, Michelangelo."
"Hi, Daddy!" said his youngest son as he drew what miiiight have been a bear and what miiight have some kind of giant, chocolate monster.
Splinter sat down beside his son.
"What are you drawing?"
"It's a secret." said the small turtle with a giggle.
Splinter's whiskers twitched again.
"I see…You seem to be doing a lot of coloring lately."
"Yep."
Silence. Yet another reason to be suspicious.
The ninja side was quickly starting to take over.
"Is there any particular reason why?"
"Nope."
Grrrrr. Another one word answer. What could this child be hiding?!
"Is there something going on with you and Donatello?" asked Splinter, his eyes narrowed.
"Nah. He just spends all his time in his lab."
"His…lab?"
"Yep. That's what he calls the storage room. And I'm his lab assistant. I made him promise that I could be his lab assistant whenever I wanted for the rest of forever."
"I see." said Splinter with a smile. "And why did you do that?"
Michelangelo stopped coloring, his eyes locked on the page.
The ninja side of Splinter quickly went silent as the nurturing side rushed to the surface.
"Michelangelo?"
The tiny turtle was silent for a moment.
"Donnie's really smart." said Mikey. "He spends lots and lots of time on school work. We used to play together all the time, but ever since you and him started working on the electricity he spends more time with books than with us."
Mikey reached under his coloring book and pulled out a drawing of Donnie wearing a lab coat.
"In all my comic books scientists are people who go into their labs and never come out. So, when he said he wanted a lab I knew it meant he would do just like they do. So, that's why I made him promise to let me be his lab assistant. That way if he does go into a lab and never comes out I can come visit him whenever I want. And maybe we can play together. With science stuff."
Splinter could feel his heart melting in his chest. He just wanted to spend time with his brother! That was why Michelangelo had stationed himself outside the door!
Splinter quickly grabbed his youngest son in a warm hug.
He let go and smiled at him.
"Donatello should be proud to have such an excellent lab assistant."
Michelangelo smiled.
"Now," said Splinter. "How about I go get you a snack?"
"Can I have pineapple?!"
Splinter laughed.
"I'll see what we have."
Splinter got up and headed towards the kitchen, questioning if they still had any pineapple after his last dumpster dive.
Mikey watched him walk away before giving a knock on the storage room door.
Donatello opened the door.
"Is he gone?"
"Yep. No one gets past Captain Mikey!"
"Good. Come inside. Hurry!"
Mikey quickly got up and rushed inside the door, looking around once more before closing it behind him.
Inside the storage room was exactly the same as before.
Or so it seemed.
Donnie and Mikey quickly ran over to where some large panels of wood leaned against the wall.
They pulled the panels away revealing the animatronic, otherwise known as—
"Bear-bot!" cried Mikey, though he was quickly shushed by Donnie.
"Keep it down."
The two boys looked up at the robot with a smile. Much of the plush exterior was riddled with incisions where Donnie had been forced to temporarily remove it in order to make the necessary repairs. The slime and mud had been thoroughly scrubbed off, but the combination of the torn plush fabric and the exposed mechanical parts was more than a bit unsettling to behold.
Still, to the two little boys Bear-bot was a thing of beauty.
"Is he ready to be tested out?" asked Mikey enthusiastically.
"Is neon a noble gas?" replied Donnie with a confident smile.
Mikey giggled.
Donnie stared for a moment and then rolled his eyes as he got the joke, though he couldn't help a small smile.
"So, how do we make him work?" asked Mikey.
"All we need to do is plug him in and see what happens." explained Donnie as he picked up the electrical cord sticking out of Bear-bot.
"Ready?"
Mikey nodded with an eager grin.
Donnie plugged Bear-bot into the wall.
Mechanical whirring filled the room.
Slowly Bear-bot lifted his head as his limbs began to jerk.
"Hey, hey, hey kids!" said Bear-bot in a cheery voice.
"It works!" shouted Donnie, unable to contain himself.
"Yaaaay!" shouted Mikey.
The two jumped up and down together in excitement.
A loud, mechanical groan echoed through the room.
The boys stopped jumping and looked up at Bear-bot to see sparks shooting out of his neck.
The boys backed up in fear.
"Donniiiieee." said Mikey more than a bit scared.
"Hey, hey, hey kids!" said Bear-bot in a terrifyingly distorted voice.
BOOM!
One of Bear-bots eyes blew out of its socket.
Splinter stood in the kitchen cutting up an apple since apparently they were out of pineapple.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The sound of blood curdling screams shot across the lair.
"Donatello! Michelangelo!"
Splinter immediately dropped the knife and sprinted across the lair.
The first thing he saw was the abandoned coloring book on the floor.
The storage room.
Splinter threw open the door and rushed inside.
And what he saw was nothing short of a nightmare come to life.
On one side of the room were his two youngest children huddled against the wall in terror.
And on the other was some kind of horrible robot creature marching towards his children as sparks shot out of it at every angle.
Splinter immediately rushed towards the robot and struck it with a palm thrust so mighty that it flew all the way across the room and CRASHED right into the wall.
The terrifying robot twitched on the ground for just a moment.
"Hey…hey…heeeeeey…"
The machine shut down, lying still among a pile of broken wood.
Splinter turned immediately to his children.
"Are you two o—"
"Daddy!" shouted Donnie as the two boys leapt into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Splinter had no idea what was going on. He had no idea what the robot was, why it was here, or why it seemed to be after his sons. But he did know one thing.
His sons were safe. And that's all that mattered.
Splinter sat at the kitchen table watching his youngest son play silently with his breakfast while his second youngest stared down into his bowl.
It had been almost a week since the robot incident. The two boys had immediately confessed everything they had been doing the moment Splinter got them to stop crying.
Splinter had of course grounded them for their actions, but he quickly realized that grounding them was nothing compared to the punishment they had inflicted on themselves.
The first three nights both boys had slept in his bed to ward off terrifying nightmares of mechanical monstrosities. Donatello didn't speak at all the first couple days beyond a few words and Michelangelo carried his stuffed turtle plushie with him everywhere in hopes it would protect him from any more monsters.
Splinter had lifted the grounding extremely early in hopes it might cheer the boys up, but it did little if anything to help.
Right now both boys continued their streak of traumatized behavior, and Splinter really had no idea what to do to fix it.
"Hey, Mikey," asked Leonardo. "Wanna play racecars after breakfast?"
"No thanks." said Michelangelo somberly.
Leo stared.
"How about you, Donnie?"
Donatello didn't respond.
Raphael growled.
"Will you two stop acting so weird already?!"
"Raphael!" reprimanded Splinter.
"Well, they are!"
Splinter didn't respond. He decided to change the subject.
"So, Donatello, I saw a stove at the dump the other day. Perhaps we could fix it together."
"No!" shouted Donatello. "I don't ever wanna fix anything again! All it does is make monsters!"
"Scary monsters." repeated Michelangelo as he clutched his plushie tighter to his chest.
A light bulb went off in Splinter's head. That was it! That was how they could fix this!
Splinter smiled as he walked over to Donatello. He knelt down beside his genius son.
"It is true that your experiments with the robot didn't go quite as you expected."
"It came to life and tried to eat us."
"Weeell, that's not precisely what happened, but regardless. This was your first failed experiment working on your own, but think of all the other experiments that you succeeded at. You repaired your brothers' toys, you equipped the lair with electricity, and even though it didn't work as you expected you did get the robot to function…more or less."
Donnie looked up at Splinter.
"There have been many great minds throughout history, and every one of those great minds, no matter how smart, has made equally great mistakes along the way."
"Even Albert Einstein?"
"Even Albert Einstein." repeated Splinter. "As a scientist you will make many mistakes, and sometimes your experiments may not go as planned. But it is not important how many mistakes you make, but rather that you keep trying after you make them."
Splinter wrapped an arm around Donatello.
"Now, how about we give that robot one more try? This time, together?"
Slowly, a smile blossomed across Donatello's face.
Splinter turned to the side and wrapped his other arm around Michelangelo.
"And of course we'll need your number one lab assistant to assist us."
"WHAT?!" shouted Michelangelo.
"Hand me that screw, please."
"As you wish."
"Hand me the glitter, please!"
Splinter laughed as he passed the glitter to Michelangelo.
In front of Splinter both boys sat working on the robot, or Bear-Bot as his youngest had so rightfully dubbed it.
Over the past couple days the three of them had been hard at work fixing up the once horrifying animatronic. Donatello was, of course, in charge of getting the machinery operational, and Splinter had placed Michelangelo in charge of making sure Bear-bot looked, not like a run-down monster, but like the fun-time, singing animal he was originally intended to be.
Both had been extremely hesitant at first given their past failure, but with Splinter there to guide and encourage them they quickly worked past their fears and embraced the project with newfound vigor.
"How long till it's ready?" complained Raphael from behind them.
Splinter smiled.
"Have you two finished setting up the stage?"
Raphael grumbled. Since Leonardo and Raphael refused to be left out of a massive family activity Splinter had assigned the two of them to set up a space where Bear-bot could perform. Leonardo had taken to the work with great enthusiasm while Raphael insisted on complaining despite the fact that he actually seemed to enjoy being part of the project.
"It's up and ready for use, sensei!" said Leonardo excitedly.
"Hold on! I ain't done painting the background!" shouted Raphael as he quickly set to work putting the finishing touches on a very well done backdrop consisting of a green meadow covered in flowers painted on a large piece of wood.
"This is what you get for slacking off." said Leo.
"Can it, you—"
"Done!" shouted Donatello.
"Me too!" shouted Michelangelo. The two high fived.
"Well done." said Splinter. "Help Raphael set up the backdrop while I get Mr. Bear-bot on his feet."
"Kay!"
Both boys ran over to help Raphael with the backdrop.
Splinter propped the robot on his feet and took a moment to look it over.
What had once been a terrifying robot now looked like a cheerful bear with smooth, patchwork fur. In order to repair the exterior Michelangelo had pulled everything brown from the cloth supply and cut patches which Splinter then used to sew up the missing chunks of Bear-bot's fur.
The robot wore a purple vest covered in glitter and various fun shapes, while a purple painted bowler hat sat atop his head, dripping with glitter just like his vest. (Michelangelo chose to be very liberal with the glitter.)
As Splinter set the robot in place Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael all took their positions in the audience, eager anticipation on every face.
Splinter turned to Donatello who looked at the robot with a mix of hope and fear.
Splinter knelt down and held out the plug.
"Would you like to do the honors?" asked Splinter.
Donatello stared at the cord.
"You do it." said Donatello. "After all, we couldn't have done it without you."
Splinter laughed.
"Very well."
Donatello ran to stand behind his brothers.
Splinter plugged in the robot.
Immediately Bear-bot whirred to life.
"Hey hey hey, kids!" announced the robot in a clear, cheerful voice. "Are you ready to have some fun?"
"It works!" shouted Donatello.
"For real this time!" added Michelangelo.
"Who wants to hear a song?" asked Bear-bot.
All four children cheered.
Music rang out from the robot as he began singing a cheerful tune.
"Welcooome to Cheezy Town. Funneest place all around. Don't juuust sit there and frown. Get uuup and come on down!..."
As the children cheered the robot's song, Splinter stood smiling at his children with a vibrant gleam of pride shining inside his chest.
The truth was Donatello had barely needed any help at all repairing the machine, minus the odd bit of input on checking wires or double checking how something was connected. Pretty soon Splinter's mechanical help would be totally obsolete.
But that was okay. While Donatello may not need his help to build machines, he would always need a father who loved and supported him. And that was something Splinter knew he could always provide.
"Turn thooose frowns upside down. Here theeere's fun all around! Welcooome to Chee-zy Toooown!"
Author's Note: HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! I hope everyone is gearing up for some spooktacular fun and lots of candy!
It's chapter thirteen, y'all, and what a fun chapter it was! I totally loved writing it. I actually thought about writing it a long time ago, but it wasn't until recently that all the pieces clicked together so I knew exactly what it was meant to be which is a total Blessing. YAY!
Let me know what you think of this latest chapter. Thank you all so hyper much for reading, and have a HYPER HAPPY HALLOWEEN! LOVE YOU GUYS!