Hello everyone! So for some reason I forgot to thank you in the last chapter, but this story now has over a 100 reviews! Thanks for everything! This is so exciting!
Also, I wish I could continue to make every chapter as long as the last one, but alas! That might not happen very often. We'll see. :)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Wait a second, Mikey." Leo said, pulling Mikey back just as he was about to open the basement door, "We're going to have to make our way upstairs carefully. You're still wet from that waterfall, and I don't think we can explain that to any of the guards in the castle."
"Going into stealth mode. Got it." Mikey said, "Lead the way!"
Mikey graciously stepped aside, and Leo put his ear up to the door. As soon as he was satisfied that there was no one passing by in the hallway on the other side, he opened the door and motioned for Mikey to follow him.
The two of them carefully made their way upstairs, until finally they reached Raph's room. Naturally, Mikey opened the door without knocking.
"Hiya guys!" He shouted as Leo closed the door behind them, "We're back! Didja miss me?"
"Miss you? What are you talking about?" Raph asked, looking up from his armchair.
"You know, I thought something was missing." Donnie asked, looking up from Raph's desk.
"What?!" Mikey asked.
"Relax kid, we're just messing with ya." Raph said. So of course Mikey tackled him into a hug.
Raph took another look at Mikey and Leo, and frowned. "Wait a sec. You're all wet. And Fearless, your outfit's torn up. What exactly have you guys been doing?"
"Exploring." Mikey said, tossing himself first into a one-sided hug with Donnie and then into one of Raph's chairs, "What have you guys been doing all day?" He asked cheekily.
"Preparing for war, obviously." Donnie said, "Saki wants me to think up new ways to defend the Palace. Right now I'm thinking up different ways to make the enemy as uncomfortable as possible."
"And I'm working on a few battle strategies." Raph said.
"Have you guys been working on this all day?" Leo asked.
"Nope." Raph smiled up at him, "Got a lot more done than that. Come on, we'll have ta talk in private."
He got up and gestured that they follow them. Donnie sighed reluctantly, but put away whatever pieces of paper he was working on.
"And I was just getting somewhere," he mumbled.
"You guys gotta see this," Raph said, walking over to his bed. He grabbed the bedpost and yanked it to the left, and immediately a hole appeared in the wall next to the bed.
"Whoa!" Mikey said.
"You found another secret passage?" Leo asked, excited.
"Yeah, isn't it great?" Raph asked, clearly pleased, "Come on, I'll show you!"
Donnie handed Raph a candle, and the two of them led the way into the passage. Leo pulled the lever next to the door, and just like he expected it closed the passageway behind them.
"I found it earlier, after my 'talk' with Saki." Raph said.
The passageway took them upwards, in a steady incline, until it finally leveled off again.
"Speaking of Uncle Saki, where is he?" Mikey asked, "Is he back from the woods yet?"
"What do you mean 'back'?" Donnie asked, looking at him intently, "Mikey, the Castle is sealed off. No one can get in or out, not even Saki."
"Are you sure about that, bro?" Mikey asked, smiling broadly, "'Cause we saw him in the woods earlier. He mentioned something about a ninja army."
"I think you guys played one crazy game," Raph said, shaking his head, "At least it kept you out of trouble, Mikey. As far as I know, Saki's been in his room all day. He's taken full command over the Palace for the war."
"And you're okay with that?" Mikey asked.
"No," Raph said, "But it's not like I can do anything about it."
"High Prince," Leo began, "I should tell you where we were today-"
"Hey look!" Mikey interrupted, pointing up ahead, "Isn't that some of the treasure from the Treasure Room?"
"Yup." Donnie said, skillfully moving around the pile of treasure.
"We started moving it already." Raph said.
"Moving it?" Leo asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Hang on, we'll explain in just a sec." Donnie said, stopping in the passageway and pressing a stone in the wall.
Immediately, a portion of that wall fell outward and down. What was once a solid wall was now a pathway leading down into another passage below them.
"Come and see this!" Raph said, pulling Mikey down the pathway.
"Dudes, check it out!" Mikey said once he was in the other passage, "It's the same secret tunnel that goes from my room to the Treasure room!"
"Wait," Leo said, "How-?"
"Remember earlier today when April spotted the turtle on the ceiling?" Donnie asked him as they both stepped down into the other passage, "Well, apparently Raph found out what that turtle symbol meant."
"We think this is how Dad got the Treasure in there in the first place." Raph said, "It's easier ta bring the heavier stuff through my tunnel than to go down Mikey's stairs."
"And we're going to move it all back into Raph's passageway so our uncle doesn't find it." Donnie said.
"We know Saki's lookin' for it 'cause Dad mentioned the tunnel in the Diary." Raph added.
"The diary talks about the treasure?" Leo asked.
"Yup." Raph smiled, "It says right there in black and white that he hid his treasure in a passage ya get to from Mikey's room, and that his own brother doesn't know anything about it. And then we hear from April that the servants are going nuts, 'cause Saki's been looking for a book missing from the library."
"So of course," Donnie said, "We've surmised that our Uncle only knew that the treasure's here because he read it in the Diary. That's why he's been sending his Foot soldiers to search Mikey's room at night."
"So we're just gonna move the whole treasure room, in case he finally finds it." Raph said, "You guys missed out on a lot now, didn't ya?"
"Oh yeah?" Mikey said, "Well, you guys missed out on a lot too, you know!"
"April and Casey said they'd be here in the morning to help us more with the moving." Raph continued.
"Wait," Leo said, "Casey's in on this now too?"
"Of course he is!" Raph said.
"Dude, this is so exciting! I haven't met him before." Mikey said, "But won't Usagi be upset that we let another person in our group?"
"Meh, we'll deal with that later." Raph said, tossing the question aside.
"You know Raphie," Mikey said, wagging his finger, "You shouldn't put off later what you can do today. You just reminded me of one of the guys in a story Master Splinter told me."
"Say what?" Raph asked.
"Who's Master Splinter?" Donnie asked.
"He's this really cool guy we met in prison!" Mikey said.
Leo facepalmed.
"Prison?" Raph asked, "Prison? That's where you were all day? Playing in the prison?"
"Mikey, what were you thinking?" Donnie asked.
"And you, what were you thinking, Fearless?" Raph asked, turning to Leo, "Letting Mikey go to the prisons? He ain't allowed in that part of the castle for a reason!"
"Hey, it wasn't his fault! I made him!" Mikey defended, "Besides, it wasn't our prison! It was the Purple Dragon's prison!"
"What?" Donnie asked.
"Alright," Raph said, crossing his arms and turning to Leo, "Explain. Now."
Leo opened his mouth, but Mikey interrupted.
"It was all my fault, okay?" he said, "I wanted to warn Usagi about the Purple Dragons so I made him saddle a horse for me and then he came too, and we snuck out when the gate was open but we got captured and he pretended to be my brother and we got put in jail, and there was this really nice guy named Master Splinter and a cool guy named Leatherhead and a creepy guy named Slash and two other guys and Master Splinter told me stories, and I fell asleep, and then we escaped and saw the Purple Dragons by the gate and Saki in the forest but he was all scary and stuff, and then we snuck back into the castle and that's all that happened so leave him alone!"
Donnie and Raph's mouths were open.
"You were a prisoner of the Purple Dragons?" Donnie asked, "Mikey!"
"What?" Mikey asked, "I didn't plan it that way, bro!"
"Did they tear off your sleeve?" Donnie asked, gesturing to Leo's torn sleeve.
"No." Leo said, "The Dragons only roughed us up a bit, and the prisoners didn't hurt us."
"He tore it up on purpose so we could see in the dark." Mikey said.
"I needed to turn a piece of wood into a torch." Leo explained, "We were in a cave."
"How'd you get from the forest to a cave?" Donnie asked.
"The waterfall." Mikey said.
"It's a long story," Leo said, "We found a cave behind the waterfall and it led us to the well in the basement."
"Well, that answers how you got back in the Palace." Donnie said, "Especially with the main gate closed."
"Yeah, and with the Purple Dragons using the old guardhouse as their headquarters." Mikey said, "We would have totally used that secret passage to get in if they weren't there first!"
"The Dragons are in the old guardhouse? That's good to know." Donnie said, "Maybe we can put some chemical in the secret tunnel, like, pipe it into the guardhouse from behind the closed passageway. Hey, we could put something really stinky there! Hah!"
"Wait a second," Raph said, speaking up again for the first time since Mikey explained what happened, "Donnie, are you just gonna totally ignore the fact that Mikey was put in a prison?"
"No," Donnie said, "But don't you think some of this is good for us to know? I mean, we're most likely fighting the Purple Dragons in the morning."
"Look," Raph said, turning to Leo, "I get that you probably thought ya had no choice going with my bro. And I appreciate ya taking care of him, honest. But next time, don't let him do something so stupid, and don't let him get captured!"
"Yes, Highness." Leo bowed.
"Now get out of here!" Raph said, pointing towards Mikey's room.
Leo bowed again, and obediently started walking.
"Raph, it wasn't his fault!" Mikey said, "He's the one who helped us escape."
"I don't care," Raph said, "He put you in danger, Mikey."
"I put me in danger," Mikey said, "Yo, Servant! Get back here!"
Leo stopped walking and turned around.
"With all due respect, Highness," he bowed, not daring to look at Mikey's eyes, "I must obey the direct order of the High Prince over that of your own."
"Hah!" Raph said, as Leo turned around and started walking again.
"Wait a minute," Donnie said, "Stop! Don't go out that way, Friend. Saki took away Usagi's guard on Mikey's room, so there might be a ninja searching there for this passage. Go out through Raph's room."
"Fine. Do what he said." Raph said, crossing his arms.
Leo bowed at Donnie and Raph, then started to walk back to the other passage.
"What, you're not on my side Donnie?" Mikey asked, sounding very upset.
"It's not that Mikey," Donnie shook his head, "I just think this can all be settled tomorrow, after cranky here's had a good night's sleep."
"Hey!" Raph said, "I'm not cranky."
"That guy saved our brother's life," Donnie said, "And you're yelling at him?"
"Wait bro, before you go!" Mikey said.
Leo didn't stop until Mikey slammed him into a hug and nuzzled his head against Leo's neck.
"Thanks for everything," he said, finally letting him go.
Leo couldn't speak, he could only nod. Then he turned around, hiding all of his emotions, and started back the passage they had come in. It didn't matter that he didn't have a candle.
"What the heck was that?" He heard Raph say behind him.
"Did you just call him your brother?" Donnie asked.
"Yeah dudes," Mikey said, "He pretended to be my bro, remember? And he totally saved my life like, a million times today."
"That doesn't mean you can call him your brother!" Raph yelled.
Leo ignored the rest of what they said, which became easier as their voices became fainter and fainter. At last he reached the end of the passage and stepped out into Raph's room. After leaving Raph's room and closing the door behind him, Leo began walking towards the kitchens.
Or he would have, if he didn't turn a corner and run straight into the Shredder.
"Filth," the Shredder said, grabbing him by the shoulder.
Leo didn't dare move.
"Is this where you've been hiding?" His uncle asked, the gloved hand that grabbed pinching him tightly, "You disgusting piece of slime!"
Shredder turned around, pulling Leo down the corridor with him.
"Don't think I haven't noticed that you've been slacking off on your duties." His uncle explained, "What, you thought I wouldn't notice? Is that why you stopped your work in the Stables, you thought I was too busy to notice? Well child, for your information I did notice. You left a horse, my horse, only half-groomed. And further, the fastest horse in the stables is missing from the castle. And it is all your fault."
They were walking faster and faster now, and Leo was having trouble keeping up with the Shredder's stride.
"If you were one of my men," Shredder said, leading Leo up a flight of stairs, "I would have you executed. But you are still useful to me."
They reached a door, and Shredder opened it.
"You will have no food or water for three days." He said calmly, leading Leo inside the room, "And you will perform only the duties I give you within this room. If I find you slacking in your work again, I will punish you to oblivion."
Leo knew this room. It had been his Father's room. It wasn't the bedroom; it was the room you had to enter to get to the bedroom.
Which was now Saki's bedroom.
"You are not to leave this room under any circumstances." Shredder said, "And if I ever find you on the Prince's floor again, your punishment will be much more severe. Understand, maggot?"
Leo nodded his understanding.
"Good." The Shredder said.
Suddenly his hand, the hand attached to the gauntlet, swung out towards Leo while the other hand held him in place. Leo cried out in alarm, but when the hand pulled back there was not a scratch on him.
His other sleeve, the one that he had not torn to make fuel for a fire, was now floating lazily to the floor.
"There. Now both sleeves are equal." Shredder said, letting go of Leo and turning around, "Do not test my mercy again, Child. Remember that."
Leo felt his newly-torn sleeve and nodded again, even though Shredder couldn't see him.
"Now," the Shredder said, turning back to Leo, "We will begin your punishment. As soon as I hand you this armor, I want you to make it shine like it has never shined before."
