Final chapter! First time I've ever finished a story, although I can't deny that I would like to write related one-shots for it. (i.e. Piebald's and Sunita's adventure in the Hidden City getting the ingredients, the Turtles getting cursed in the first place, after the events of the movie Leo's Dragon instincts recognise Casey as his son because of some sort of scent left on him) But I know my schedule and with Uni, that's unlikely :(
I had no idea how to end this, hence what I feel like is a janky end.
10:37 PM, Shelldon waited for any news related to Aunt Piebald, (future Aunt) Sunita, and Grandfather Draxum's mission to cure his Dad's and Uncles' current state. Donnie's stomach would growl on occasion, nothing inside it being digested. He refused to eat any of the meagre food supplies, insisting it was Shelldon.
Shelldon tried reminding him that he doesn't require it. He's not hungry. Please Dad, just eat already! But he wouldn't.
Shelldon may be an AI and thus not have a physical body that has all the chemical reactions that result in that which is known as emotions, but his creator was a very good programmer and his uncles had a decent grasp on it too. Leo may have installed his rebelliousness, and Raph worriedly added a grasp of consequences and other restrictions, but Michelangelo – Doctor Feelings himself – added a proper range of emotions. The ability to detect what others were feeling, and how to feel emotions himself.
He felt pride, acknowledgement, and happiness every time Dad called him his son or creation. He understood that he was scared, not just about the reaction he'd get, but what reaction Shelldon would get if they used familial terms in front of Splinter. He was terrified because right now, his Dad wasn't in his right mind enough to take care of himself. But Shelldon was unable to eat, he was an AI in a robot. He had no digestive system.
His dad was going to kill himself trying to take care of his son he thought was sick and didn't realise wasn't a biological construct like himself. There was no news from the Cure Squad. None of the other turtles was out and about.
Raph was dozing on the ground, using Franken-Foot as a teddy bear. He hadn't noticed April had disappeared. Mikey was crying as he curled around the long cold food, his face hidden from the camera. Shelldon was editing the sound out of the feed so April and Splinter wouldn't risk themselves.
Leo… He was still trying to find Donnie. He kept diving, again and again, growing ever more desperate and angrier the longer he failed to find Shelldon's dad within the watery depths. His voice was garbled and hard to understand. The change to his vocal cords and the sound quality of the video made it hard to understand.
But Shelldon would not risk his Dad, not when he had access to so many videos and articles where Red-Eared Sliders ate Spiny Softshells. Technically, Shelldon shouldn't be able to access that much of the internet with Raph's and Dad's "Child Safety Features" installed, but he knew his coding. It was pretty easy to get around.
Shelldon could not tell what Leo was saying, but he could pick up a few things. Intruders-danger, purple-twin, and hungry-eat. At least, he was certain that's what that sound was. A warbling cry that ended with a click. Shelldon replayed the sound, wondering how he could augment it to potentially make his Dad acknowledge his hunger and eat.
There was movement in the nest, Donatello had stood up. Shelldon looked up, taking the chance to float a bit and move. "Dad? What- don't!"
Donatello had brought a hand to his mouth and bit his own claws off. Blood started dripping from it, so there were veins in the nails themselves, but Donnie didn't react to the pain or unpleasant sensation as he bit off the nails on his other hand. Shortening the nails.
Shelldon flew close to his face, letting out scared and distressed noises to get his attention. Was he so hungry that he had taken to self-cannibalism? Dad crooned, churring just as Raph would. He tried to nudge him back into the nest.
"Hatchling-sick. Hatchling-hungry. Dad-hunt. Dad gets food. Hatchling stays in the nest." Shelldon translated from Donnie's slightly garbled voice.
Shelldon tried to tell him to get in the nest with him. To not leave him alone. Donnie just called him strong and told him to wait. Dad was also strong. He would be back soon with food for him since what was in the Lab obviously wasn't suitable for him.
Shelldon sent an alert to April as Dad moved to the door and started typing in the code to unlock and open it. The keypad became bloodied but it wasn't being otherwise wrecked as the full claws would have done. The door hissed open and Shelldon shot over to land and firmly attach his body to his dad's shell.
Donatello shifted at the unexpected sensation but after so many years of battle shells, he was fine with metal touching his shell. With an amused huff that said he thought Shelldon was being cute (he wasn't!) he stopped telling him to go back to the nest and just carried him. The faded but still present smell of Mikey's food caught Donnie's attention and he started heading towards the kitchen.
Leo slid out of the water in the projector room, growling as he trudged out to the atrium. Shelldon sent another alert to April, resisting the panicked urge to spam her with the same message over and over again. It wouldn't change anything and thus was an illogical reaction to follow.
Mirror-reflected eyes met as Splinter and April arrived in the atrium. It was what they'd been fearing all day. Two of the transformed turtles were meeting.
April grabbed Splinter before he could rush in between the two. Shelldon was on Donnie's back, the Spiny Softshell would be absolutely merciless but frankly, Leo had a better chance at surviving than either of them. Their plan to try and get Mikey's attention and lead him on a chase while his brother got what he needed from the kitchen wasn't possible with Leo to also worry about.
April didn't say it was a good plan, but it was the only plan they could think of. One she hoped they wouldn't have to use since Sunita had sent the message saying they only needed one more thing.
Well, they weren't using it. Just not for the reason she hoped. But what plan did they have for this? They thought Donnie was the one they wouldn't have to worry about. He was trapped in the lab! But no, he bit off his own claws so he'd be able to use the door.
Why did Donnie still have to be a genius as a feral Dragon?!
After what felt like hours, but was actually less than a second, the fear was replaced by confusion. Leo, who looked ready to murder the first living thing he came across just a moment ago, had straightened up and chirped gleefully in greeting. He bounded over in joyful leaps to get to Donnie.
Donnie chirped back, a lot less joyful but peaceful as he acknowledged the other dragon. The fear returned when Leo got close and tried to look at Donnie's shell, where Shelldon was lying down. He got a wing to the face and a roaring hiss from Donnie.
Just as April and Splinter thought a fight would break out, Leo laughed. It was a garbled sound, but it was undeniably a laugh. He bounded back over, and slipped under Donnie's wing, cuddling into his side. Donnie shoved him away but that only got Leo to notice the state of his claws.
Leo barked at him, so Donnie stopped. Donnie rolled his eyes as he let his twin inspect his bleeding claws. Leo then tried to nudge him towards the med-bay but Donnie made it clear he wasn't going there and strode towards the kitchen.
Leo teleported in front of him to try and change his mind. Donnie's tail separated and rearranged itself to let off flames and revved a chainsaw. With a pout, Leo let him pass but insisted on walking under his wing.
April was no longer holding Splinter back, she was holding him up. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she absent-mindedly shifted Splinter so she could hold him up with one arm while checking the message. It was a transcript of the conversation Leo and Donnie just had from Shelldon.
This entire time, Leo had been searching for his missing twin. He was sure that Donnie was in the water since he loved being in the water and he could breathe under it. Without the ability to smell, he hadn't been able to know if Donnie was in the water or not by scent, and so had to search the entire thing.
Donnie had been with Shelldon, waiting for the others to secure the place and find him afterwards. But Shelldon was getting hungry and the dum-dums were taking so long that he thought that they had either forgotten about him or that they needed his assistance to deal with the threat. So, he took matters into his own claws and got out of his lab.
April turned the footage to the camera in the kitchen. Mikey had perked up as Donnie and Leo slid into the room. Dried tear tracks were on his face, but that didn't match the delighted warbling chirp he let out as he got off the island counter, stumbled over his numb legs and pounced on Leo.
The orange and blue turtles started to play wrestling, cheerfully greeting each other after not seeing each other for an entire day. Donnie scarfed down a portion of food before interrupting the two to bring attention to Shelldon. After some talking - because they were talking to each other - the complementary colour duo started laughing at Donnie who looked annoyed but also embarrassed.
Shelldon sent another transcript as April lifted and carried Splinter back to the bathroom.
Leo had told Mikey to stay put in the kitchen and defend it from anyone who wasn't the brothers. Even "Dad" since he'd just steal the pizza and they didn't want that. Donnie then told them about his son – Shelldon – and how he must be sick because he wasn't eating and was acting abnormally and needy. Leo had reminded Donnie that Shelldon can't eat, and Mikey just said Shelldon was probably relishing at getting more father-son bonding time and didn't want it to stop.
April half takes back what she thought about Donnie being a genius still after this transformation. Dropping off the stunned still Splinter, she headed over to the garage and knocked on the door. Raph jumped awake, stunned at the sudden sound. He wasn't aggressive as he trotted over to her happily, letting out a sound she now knew was a familial greeting.
"Come on big guy, I'm starving." With a light tug on a bandanna tail, he lowered her head and she took the offer to climb up. Happily, he went straight to the kitchen. Mikey and Leo jumped up onto his shell the moment he made his appearance. Donnie jumped over to greet her in particular.
"This whole time…" she whispered, giving Donnie's face a hug. He put up with it, even though he didn't like it. Mikey nudged her back, sensing her emotional distress. Her empty stomach rumbling had him jumping down to make her favourite dish.
This whole time, there was nothing to worry about. Of course, there wasn't! They'd likely gotten transformed together, Leo had probably teleported them back home! They knew they were brothers. And the signs were there!
Raph had made a nest big enough for all of them and made it out of their stuff. Donnie's portion of the mega nest was even deliberately constructed loosely so that he could burrow into it. Leo's area was piled higher than the others, Mikey's was in the dead centre while Raph's was around the edge. April even had an area fit for being their big sister and Donnie's best friend!
Mikey had made all of their favourite foods and he must have been deliberately wafting the scent with his wings. He wasn't stretching the new limbs, he was using them for their semi-intended purpose.
April almost felt like such a fool. Almost, because the truth of the matter is they had attacked Splinter. They saw him as a threat.
April's phone buzzed. They'd gotten the last ingredient and Draxum was making the cure. It'd be done and he'd be over in less than an hour. Looks like she might be getting the answer to that conundrum soon.
Whether they remember their time as Dragons or not was now another question.
9:26 AM, brain activity indicated that Dad and the others were waking up. Shelldon sent a message to April's, Sunita's, and Draxum's phones and made a note in Donatello's notes to get Splinter and Piebald their own mobile phones.
Leo was the first to wake up with a groan. His eyes clenched in pain but he spoke English. "What happened? My head." He shot up with a gasp. "Mikey! Donnie, Raph!" He relaxed as soon as he saw them nearby, but tensed as he realised that they were in the med bay.
"Hey there Leo," April greeted as she entered the room, Donnie's blanket properly washed. They will not be admitting that it had spent an afternoon on the floor of the bathroom if they didn't remember what happened. Shelldon had removed the footage and is keeping it in his secret folder instead of deleting it as he was asked. "How are you holding up, champ?"
The fact that April called Leo "champ" sent warning bells ringing in the Slider's head. "Like I had a few rounds with the Shredder in the ring. What happened? Is everyone okay?"
He asked this as he got up to do his own check-up. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, it was just that he was the family medic and he wore that title with glee.
"All vitals are normal, though they will likely feel as if they went a few rounds themselves. They're waking up, so you can ask them yourself." Shelldon said, flying over to Donnie who was trying to bury himself to get away from the pain. "You gotta get up, Dad."
With an annoyed hiss, Donatello did stop and got up. Leo got to Mikey and the youngest brother grasped onto him tightly in an attempt to ease the pain.
After looking around, Donnie focused on him. "Shelldon, what happened? How did we get back home and what happened with-?"
"Woah there, Dee," April said, coming over and draping the blanket over the softshell. "Don't overload the little guy. So you don't remember getting back to the lair?"
Donnie frowned. "Was I- Were we conscious? The last thing I can recall was being hit by that mystic blast."
"Piebald!" Mikey yelped, drawing attention to him. Raph had awoken and clambered over to pick Leo and Mikey up. He was carrying them over, and Donnie sighed with a word as he accepted his fate at joining the turtle pile. "We were meant to meet and show her the Hidden City!"
"Been there, done that," Piebald said as she faded into view. The turtles yelped at her sudden appearance. "Sunita was kind enough to be my tour guide."
"Aw man, sorry we missed it, sis," Mikey said.
Piebald shrugged and waved him off, her smirk that she directed at April unsettling her.
"Wait, we missed introducing Piebald to April, and to Sunita?" Leo asked. "Shelldon, I know Donnie records everything, do you have that habit too?"
"Shelldon wasn't there for that. Speaking of Donnie's habit though, I found out about it. The network you've got set up." April said, her hands on her hips. Dad froze as he started sweating and looking away.
His brothers got confused about the mention of a network, but Donnie remained silent in the face of April's displeasure. She showed mercy though and redirected the conversation to tell Mikey (and the rest of them) that Splinter and Draxum were spending the weekend together to bond as co-parents. In reality, they were treating Splinter's injuries and making sure he'd be fully recovered when he returned on either Sunday night or Monday morning.
Mikey was overjoyed at the thought that their dads were bonding, and Piebald came to Splinter's unknowing defence to claim they were going to have a sibling bonding weekend. They hadn't wanted to panic Splinter and so he doesn't know what happened.
"But what did happen? You said we got home ourselves, but Raph can't remember a thing!" Raph claimed, rubbing his head.
"Oh, you got cursed and turned into Dragons!" Sunita claimed as she came into the room with a few hot pizzas, straight from Run of the Mill. She arrived just in time to hear the question.
"What?!" The four jumped apart, clambering back to their feet.
"Mhm! I went with Piebald to get the cure while April and Shelldon stayed to look after you." She said, handing out the pizzas. Donnie pulled a disgusted face at the sight of Leo's Hawaiian.
April pulled out her phone to show off stills from the video feed. It served as both proof of their altered state and to show Donnie that she definitely knew and had access to it. Knowing it couldn't have been him, Dad shot Shelldon a betrayed look before getting distracted by the pictures.
"Hah! Donnie's got a short tail," Leo said, stopping on a picture of Dad and him as they reunited.
Shelldon moved the picture along to show off how it reconstructed itself and has all the technology Donnie had built into his tech-bo. He got a pat for that. "Size doesn't mean anything, clearly mine is much more impressive."
"Take that out of context," April remarked with an eye roll before stealing back her phone. "You really scared us at first you know. I came here and I didn't know if you'd recognise me or even each other! Donnie got really protective over his hatchling."
"Aww!" Mikey said and Shelldon was pushed away when he tried to jab a taser into his smallest uncle. "Sorry about the fright, but that's so cute."
April started showing off pictures of Donnie cleaning his shell, trying to make him eat, cuddling him, and nudging him into the nest. Shelldon used the connection he still had with the device to turn it off. April then revealed the video she took of Donnie cooing and churring him a lullaby.
Raph looked so touched by Donnie acting similar to him that Shelldon didn't delete the thing. He did graciously put a stop to Leo and Mikey heckling Dad and him about it.
"You were all very impressive dragons," Sunita told them, getting up and then heading out to go to the toilet.
Piebald nodded in agreement. Saying they managed to frighten her. Leo had managed to track her in the water, even though she was invisible and he'd had his sense of smell taken out. The non-dragon Leo preened under the compliment but touched his nose in confusion. The injury to his nose didn't carry over, nor did any damage transfer to Donnie's nails after he bit the end of his claws off and started bleeding.
"Yeah, Mikey even breathed fire!" April stated, giving the Ornate Box turtle a head rub. "But enough about that, let's get this sibling bonding weekend on the road! We have to show Sunita Lou Jitsu."
Piebald smirked, and Shelldon knew what she was about to do. He hovered just out of reach of his Dad and uncles.
"I can't wait until Sunita is our sister-in-law. It's a shame your still minors so you have to wait to get married."
The boys exploded, clambering April as Piebald disappeared and made her escape.
"Congrats!" "You confessed?" "Did she confess to you?" "I'm so happy for you April!"
"We're not dating!" April yelled, throwing her brothers off her before dropping her voice to a hiss. "Keep it down! If you tell her…"
April didn't have her bat, so Shelldon handed her Dad's tech-bo. The boys retreated, and Leo clasped his hand over Donnie's mouth when he tried to protest her having his weapon. Raph grabbed his and Leo's sword so they couldn't be used against them. Mikey grabbed his kusari-fundo and got distracted by it.
Suddenly, he and the weapon started glowing. Mystic energy and something else but similar surging in him. A few seconds later, a dragon stood in his place. His brothers' eyes were shining at how awesome it was and he looked. He opened his mouth and his tail ignited before flames shot out of his mouth.
April sighed and held out a hand. Shelldon gave her the cure and went to put out the fire.
"Alright, Mikey," April said before spraying him with a squirt bottle. He tried to run, crying out that he was fine and she didn't have to squirt him. Unfortunately, his vocal cords were unused to English and all that came out were turtle-dragon noises. "Get back here!"
Mikey was forcibly turned back to normal, but he wasn't unconscious from the process this time.
"Aww man, I wanted to see if I could fly!" Mikey bemoaned.
April and Shelldon blinked at him in shock. "You remember?"
Mikey seemed confused for a second before realising he didn't remember his first time as a dragon. "Yeah, and I was fully in control! Speaking was weird though."
"Tell that to my med bay!" Leo yelled, pointing at the scorched wall before, in a flash of light, jumping on his littlest brother as a dragon.
April squirted him too, but when he turned back he didn't stop wrestling with Mikey. April stole all their weapons, proclaiming it was a no-more dragon weekend and to grab their pizzas and get out here. They had a Lou Jitsu marathon to watch.
Shelldon sent a message to Draxum about this new development. Apparently, gaining the ability to turn into a dragon at will wasn't normal after this curse. Perhaps it was due to that other energy reading that Shelldon detected as they transformed.
What could it be?
Shelldon didn't get to think about it as Dad dragged him into the marathon event too. The sibling weekend was extended to son/nephew as well. It was nice.
Though they did wince at seeing all the damage they had left behind. So many rooms were wrecked, the damage to the walls and floors. Especially to the projector room! Dragon Leo had thankfully gotten the projector and other items from the room out before he ripped out almost all the flooring. The boys sweated pools as they were under the impression that Splinter knew nothing about what had transpired.
April handed Donnie the projector and Leo the films before dragging them to the mega nest Raph constructed. Raph grabbed his tonfa to have Dragon Raph make an appearance. The dragon's instincts made it easy for Raph to fix the nest so that it was finally perfect.
In the first transformation, they'd gotten overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of those instincts and the likely painful enough to be suppressed transformation. Although, none of them made any indication that their second (though brief) transformation was painful in any way. So maybe that second theory wasn't the case.
Shelldon sent a message off to Draxum to tell Splinter about that. Grandpa would be glad to know they're alright.