Chapter 2: Donnie

Donatello squinted up at the hole in the ceiling he'd accidentally made while testing out a rocket weapon, silently calculating how much and what type of materials he'd need to fix it. He was torn from his thoughts as an unnecessarily loud shout from Ralph blasted his eardrums.

"Mikey! What the heck is that thing?" his brother questioned.

"Uh, homemade pizza?" Mikey responded. "You want some?"

Donnie sighed, dropping the problem of the hole in the roof for the moment and shifting his gaze to the misshapen lump in Mikey's hands. He supposed it sorta resembled a pizza if you squinted and looked hard enough.

"You call that a pizza?" Raph snorted. "And to answer your question, I'll pass. Getting food poisoned wasn't on my list of things to do when I woke up this morning."

"I don't want to hurt you feelings, Mikey," Leo said as he looked up from his comic, "but that looks more like a dead rat than a pizza. Maybe you should stick to takeout."

"Well, I think it looks fine." April said kindly from where she sat chipping away at her homework.

"It doesn't look all that bad," Donnie chimed in, quickly agreeing with April.

Mikey's eyes lit up, and he eagerly dashed to April. "Want to try some?"

April looked sick. "Err… well… I just ate."

"Oh." Mikey sighed and sat down. "I'll eat it myself, then." He took a huge bite, then turned a little greener than he had been before. Opening his eyes wide, Mikey rushed out of the room, leaving his three brothers howling with laughter. Splinter walked into the room, and the three turtles quickly calmed down and were silent except for a few stray giggles here and there.

"What is all this commotion?" Splinter asked, annoyed. "Can a person have any peace in this madhouse?"

Mikey picked this time to return to the room, holding his stomach. "Ugggh," he groaned, collapsing on the couch. "I'm never eating pizza again."

This caught Donnie's attention. "Really?" he asked in surprise. "You actually mean that?"

Donnie couldn't imagine Mikey not eating pizza. He practically lived on the stuff. Mikey considered for a moment, then broke into a pained grin. "Let me rephrase that. I meant I'll never eat pizza that came from an oven YOU MADE ever again."

Donnie put his hands on his hips. "This has nothing to do with that oven!" he snapped.

"Yes, it does!" Mikey shouted. "You think I don't know how to make a decent pizza? I am the PIZZA EXPER-"

"ENOUGH!" Splinter roared, putting his hands on his ears. "Since you all have so much energy to burn, I suggest you go and clean your rooms." This produced groans all around, but Splinter continued, "a sanitary home is a happy one."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Would this be a good time to point out that we live in a sewer?"

Before Splinter could respond, a huge green blur fell from the ceiling with a cry, and everyone leapt back to avoid getting hit. Donnie blinked in astonishment. It was a mutant turtle, just like him and his three brothers. The turtle was sprawled face-first on the floor, motionless. "What the…" Leo's words faded off into nothing as they all stared at the fallen turtle.

"Is it… dead?" April squeaked out, finally breaking the silence.

Leo was the first to move. He advanced forward slowly and cautiously. "Careful, Leo!" Splinter cautioned.

"Yeah, okay," Leo murmured, not taking his eyes off of the creature. He knelt down beside it and put a cautious finger on its neck, checking for a pulse. "It's alive, all right," he informed them, "but I think it's knocked out."

"No, really?" Raph retorted. He seemed to regret snapping a moment later, because he mumbled, "do you think they're all right?"

"I… I think so," Leo answered. He gently turned the turtle over.

"It's… a girl," April gasped.

Donnie nodded. There was something very feminine in the shape of her face and the soft curves of her body, and her arms and legs were less bulky than the other turtles'. She groaned softly, shifting her head. By now, the other three had inched forward, looking at the turtle with interest.

Mikey turned to Splinter. "Can we keep her?" he gushed, giving him puppy eyes. "Pleeease can we keep her?"

"Mikey, shut it!" Raph hissed, conking him on the head. As he spoke, the turtle's eyes fluttered open, quickly going from tiny slits to huge circles of surprise. She sat up and scooted backwards, feeling along the floor for a non-existent weapon.

"No, no! It's OK!" four sets of hands reached out in reassurance. She stopped for a moment, scanning their faces in shocked surprise. Then she looked down at herself, and her eyes seemed to cloud over with memory.

"Do you think she can talk?" Mikey whispered uncertainly.

The girl now looked slightly offended. "I can talk, thank you very much. At least, last time I checked." She stood up and dusted herself off, then looked around in awe. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder," she murmured to herself. She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts before sticking her hand out to Leo, who was closest. "I might as well introduce myself. My name is Ara."

"Err… I'm Leonardo," the turtle replied, taking her hand. "But, uh, you can call me Leo, if you like."

She turned to Raph, who raised his hand casually in greeting. "My name is Raphael, and you can call me Raphael, too, until I know I can trust you."

Donnie jabbed his brother in the ribs, only to find that the girl was looking at him expectantly. "Oh, uh, hey. I'm Donatello, but I like to be called Donnie." He turned to the couch where April and Splinter were sitting and blushed a little. "That's April. Uh, not the rat, the girl. The rat's Splinter. He's our sensei." Ara smiled at April, and then gave a slight bow to Splinter.

This done, she fixed her eyes on Mikey, who was fidgeting impatiently. "Hi! I'm Michelangelo, but that's a pretty long name, so you can call me Mikey!" he chirped, happy to finally speak. "I like pizza, arcade games, and comic books. I'm fifteen, and so are they," he said, gesturing to his brothers. He started counting off facts with his fingers. "I know ninjutsu, I have some really cool nunchucks, and I know how to speak Japanese AND English, so I guess that makes me bilingual," he continued, speaking 500 words a minute. "And as a word of advice, never eat something that came from an oven Donnie made. It's dangerous!"

Donnie slapped his forehead. "Donnie is a genius with electronics and stuff, or at least he thinks he is," Mikey rambled on, grinning. "Donnie also has a huge crush on that girl April over there, and…" At this, Donatello let out a little squeak and leapt up, clapping a hand over Mikey's mouth.

"There you have it," Raph said, rolling his eyes. "Mikey's life story."

"Boys, enough introductions!" Splinter interrupted. "We should give our guest the chance to tell her story if she wishes to."

"Sorry, Master Splinter," Donnie protested, "but don't we already KNOW her story?" He turned to Ara. "Let me guess, you were a turtle, and then you came across this ooze, and then presto, you're a… humanoid turtle creature, right?"

"Actually, no," Ara said, wrinkling her brow. When I woke up this morning, I was a normal human. Like April."

Donnie blinked in surprise. "What? I don't under-"

"Donatello!" Splinter said sharply. "Allow her to explain the situation on her own."

Donnie nodded meekly as Ara sat down in the center of the living room and began her tale. She explained that she was an orphan and that she had come across a canister of ooze, then touched the glowing substance and her pet turtle at the same time.

Ara pulled her knees up to her chin uncertainly after she finished. "What do I do now? I can't just… cruise down the street anymore. There's nowhere to go… and I don't know what to do."

Mikey turned eagerly to Splinter. "Can we kee…"

"You will stay with us." Splinter said before Mikey could finish. "Any other course of action is out of the question. You may have the guest room. April will show you." With that, he turned and left the room, giving Ara no time to thank him or protest.

Everyone was still for a moment, and then April rose off the couch. "Well, I guess I'll show you the way, then," she said, smiling at Ara. Ara stood and followed April out the door, already beginning to laugh and talk with her newfound friend as they made their way to the guest room. The four brothers sat silently for the longest time, each lost in their own thoughts.