Chapter 5: Tap Dance

Immediately after they had talked to Viola, Raph's parents took him to see Rocksteady. He was a 45 year old mutant White Rhino with scars all over his body and a strong Russian accent.

When Rose and Elvis explained everything Rocksteady couldn't believe it.

"Can't sing? Can't sing?! Rubbish baby turtle, every mutant has a heart song. When I am finished your music will be giving everyone the goosebumps." Rocksteady promised.

Raph giggled slightly.

His parents silently prayed this would work. They didn't want their son to live without a mate. "Now to begin with. We must find certain feeling: happy feeling, sad feeling, maybe lonely feeling. You feel it?" He asked.

Raph nodded.

"Good. Now let it out, be spontaneous!" Rocksteady shouted. After a moment of silence a tapping sound against the dirt broke it. Rocksteady turned around and saw little Raphael tapping his feet.

"What's that?" Rocksteady asked Raph in confusion.

"I'm being spontaneous." Raph replied. Rose smiled while Elvis rolled his eyes. Rocksteady took a deep breath. "You want to meet beautiful turtle mate? You want to make the egg?" He asked.

"Oh yes." Raph smiled.

"THEN SING! And no jiggy-jag! Do not move muscle!" He shouted. Raphael froze on the spot, not daring to move an inch. Raph tried to sing a nursery rhyme, only for it to sound horrible.

His parents and Rocksteady to cringe slightly.

"ENOUGH!" Rocksteady cried. "Ok, we go back to the top. Forget body and look inside soul, feel the feeling, let it fill whole body. So much it has to get out or you explode!" He explained and stood behind Raphael.

"Now open your little green beak, lift the head and SING!" Rocksteady shouted to the sky.

Raphael opened his mouth to sing as instructed. But all of a sudden his mouth snapped shut and his feet began to tap, creating a great beat. This continued for a whole minuet.

When he stopped he could hear Rocksteady sobbing.

He turned around and saw Rocksteady headbutting a rock. His parents were very disappointed. "Disaster! Catastrophic! I have never fail before! Never, NEVER!" The Rhino cried.

Raph just looked at the ground...

As Rose, Elvis and Raph walked away you could still hear Rocksteady's cries. "Well a thought it was kinda cute." Rose said to her mate. "Well it just ain't normal!" Elvis growled.

"So what if he's a little different, I always kinda liked different." Rose glared.

She couldn't understand why her mate couldn't accept their son for who he was. "He's not different, he's a regular mutant turtle!" Elvis insisted. Seeing his parents fighting, Raph tried to lighten the mood.

"Hey know what, I could leave school! I could go to work! The three of us!" He cheered.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa little fella. You ain't going no where until you get yourself an education, get those singing muscles nice and strong." Elvis said. "I'll try Pa." Raph sighed.

"You bet you will, 'cause the word 'triumph' starts with try and what does it end in?" Elvis asked.

"Umph." Raph sighed. "That's right, a great big umph! Now I'm going to get some food. "Oh Raphael." Rose sighed as she and Raph head towards their nest...

It had been a few days since the incident with Rocksteady and Raph's voice hadn't changed.

When summer rolled around his parents worked over time to bring food back while Raphael found a place away from disapproving eyes where a funky little fella could be himself.

Raph stood near the edge of a cliff that over looked his home.

Once he was alone Raphael began to tap his feet against the ground, once again creating a great beat. Once he got started he didn't want to stop and so with a smile on his feet he danced.

"Hey." A voice suddenly said.

Raph turned around and saw three mutants standing at the edge of the cliff. One was a tiger, another was some kind of skeleton dog and the last one was a fly. "What ya doing greeny?" The dog smirked.

"Nothing, what are you doing?" Raph whimpered as they walked towards him.

"Nothing. Just jumped down for a little lunch." The dog laughed. "But there's no food here." Raph said. "I get the leg!" The tiger laughed and they started to crowd Raph.

"Whoa! Not me, I'm a turtle!" Raph exclaimed.

"Exactly. The green guys eat the fish and the big guys eat the green guys and the fish and lately there isn't a lot of fish." The fly explained. "WAIT! Watch this." Raph smiled and did a little dance.

When he was done the three mutants just stared at him.

"Yeah that's weird alright." The dog laughed. Suddenly he pinned Raph down with one giant bony paw pressed against his chest. "Hey, what's that on your leg?" Raph asked.

On the dog's left ankle was a bright yellow tag.

"Oh no! Please do not start him on that again!" The tiger complained. "Shut up! The green guy asked me a question and a question like that deserves an answer." The dog glared before letting Raph up.

"Two words: Alien abduction." He said.

That confused Raph. "There is something out there, creatures, not like use. Hairless apes. I'm sitting on a rock minding my own business when suddenly they grab me, tie me down, they take this sharp thing and stick it into me. The blackout."

"Whoa." Raph whispered.

"I woke up and then there's this thing on me. I was the laughing stock of the pack!" He exclaimed. "They could have eaten you." Raph said. "Yeah, I guess that my cries for mercy appealed to their better nature." The dog grinned.

"Can I appeal to your better nature?" Raph asked.

"Nice try kid." They laughed and tried to grab him. Raph ran as fast as he could to get away from him. Suddenly he fell down a small hole in the ground. It was to small for the bigger mutants to get through.

After a few seconds they gave up and went into the woods.

But Raph curled up and stayed in that hole for hours...

The next day in the classroom cave Leo sat down and looked around for Raph.

She soon saw Raphael come into the cave but instead of sitting behind Leo like he always did he sat at the back of the class. Leo gave him a sad look but didn't say anything.

From that day forward Raph spent the rest of his school days at the back of the class, lost in his imagination.

He thought about the worlds that where out there, far beyond the horizon. Was there ever a place were a mutant without a heart song could ever really belong?...