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Chapter 02

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Donatello was in his lab picking through a mess of medical supplies in the cabinet before him. He felt tired. Just the caffeine withdrawal, he thought, again feeling a pang of regret at his missing vice. But he'd promised Leo he'd give up the coffee drinking after being caught one too many times tinkering around in the lab until the wee hours of the morning. Hmmm… didn't complain about it when I finished installing that new security door though, he mused, smiling a bit. Calling Donatello brilliant would've been an understatement, as he was responsible for every bit of technological or mechanical thing they used. Without him they wouldn't have the security or nearly any of the comforts they all currently enjoyed. His medical expertise alone was enough to be proud of; in a family full of ninjas, that sort of knowledge was an invaluable resource.

He tried not to let his training suffer for it too much, though Leonardo found himself literally having to drag Donnie away from one of his projects on more than one occasion. To Leo's dismay it was usually sleep that Don sacrificed, eventually leading to his grudgingly giving up on the coffee habit. Leo didn't give him too hard of a time though, as he knew that Don couldn't really help himself. His brain was just on all the time, constantly craving input. If he wasn't on the computer, he was reading, or tinkering. Besides training it was also difficult to get Don to just take a break and relax, sometimes.

Though he was just as fierce as his brothers in battle, Donatello was the most passive in general personality. Always thoughtful, they knew he was always one to give sound advice. "Well, you guys are actually more alike than either of you realize." Donatello smiled. He knew Leonardo struggled with this situation; Leo sometimes came to him for one of these talks when it got to be overwhelming.

"How do you figure that? I swear, it seems like he could care less about us sometimes, he just wants to run off on his own all of the time." Leonardo absent-mindedly picked up one of the many pieces of junk lying around Donatello's work space, turning it over in his hands. Referring to it as 'junk' however, would certainly get him a long and boring speech on the function and importance of such a piece of hardware.

"C'mon Leo, you know that isn't true. He cares as much as you do, he just goes about it a different way. Sometimes I think he thinks he's going to get every criminal out there by himself," Eye-roll. Right, going to have to pick up some more bandages, he thought, making a note of it on the clipboard he was holding.

"Yeah, exactly – by himself. Why does he feel this need to fight alone? He's going to get himself killed." And it will be all my fault if he does. Leonardo dropped his eyes to the floor.

Donatello felt for his brother. It was a hard life, they were in constant danger and Leonardo felt responsible for keeping them out of it. He understood the burden Leo must be feeling. He picked through the various pill bottles, checking the dates on them as he spoke. "He's got a lot of aggression to begin with, it's not all coming from his interactions with you. But these arguments aren't helping. He's stubborn and hates taking orders, you just have to find a way to talk to him without making him feel like you're talking down to him."

"Yeah. You're right. I have to learn to control my own emotions better – he just pushes my buttons and I let him do it. I guess I just feel like he hates me sometimes."

Donatello chuckled good-naturedly. "Now you know that's not true. Remember when you got that nasty concussion years ago? Jeez, that was scary, I'd never seen anything like it. You were unconscious for days, we all thought you were going to die." Right, more ice packs. He made another mark on the clipboard. "I don't know if you ever really knew this, but Raphael never left your side for a second. I thought he was going to keel over from exhaustion." Donatello put a hand on Leonardo's shoulder. "Look Leo, we all know how hard you're trying. Things were kind of tough around here when you were in the Amazon. I think Raph took it the hardest. It's just going to take some time for him to adjust."

"Yeah, I suppose. Thanks, Don." He sighed, a small smile on his lips, but his eyes looked tired. "Hey, you feel like sparring for a bit? I could use a workout right about now. If you're all done here, that is."

"Well… I did promise Michelangelo I'd fix his Xbox for the umpteenth time... but I guess he can occupy himself with something else for the time being. Actually, the longer I take to fix it the better – maybe he'll treat it a little more carefully next time." Not likely though, he thought. As if on cue, a crash came in from the living room. With a loud sigh, Donatello grabbed his bo and followed Leonardo into the training room.

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Mike and Raph both sat on the living room couch, game controllers in hand. Both stared intently at the screen, the rivalry between them intensifying with each passing round.

"You're cheating!"

"I ain't cheatin', yer just a lousy playa'," Raphael said with an evil grin.

Michelangelo was determined. Raph always plays Gannondorf, he thought, he's so cheap! It was as intense a battle as any of their real-life ones. Mike prided himself on the ability to wield his controller with the same dexterity as his nunchaku. He spent countless hours in training, with the intent to overcome his greatest adversary, the turtle seated next to him now.

Raphael was really the only one of them that would spar virtually with Mike. Leo would always say he was too busy. But it's really 'cuz he sucks, Mike thought with a smile. His oldest brother might be great at many things, but video games were not one of them. And Donatello… well, Donnie did play some strategy games on his computer once in a while, but those were boring. Too much thinking, Mike would say, who wants to do all that work in a game?

Michelangelo, in general, didn't over-think too many things. He was more interested in having a good time, letting his brothers stress out about things. Out of any of them, he definitely had the wildest imagination, as was evident in the amount of junk scattered around his room. He had more games, comic books and toys than all of them combined. Raphael would always say sarcastically that Mikey was the 'comic relief' around the lair. Hey, Mike would think, with your sour puss, somebody's gotta be. Though saying so out loud would most certainly get him a pounding from the hotheaded turtle. The youngest of them, he certainly fit into the role of 'annoying little brother' often enough. In spite of that, his training didn't suffer for it. He may have been the most childlike of them at home, but on the battlefield he was lethal. Right now, however, he was taking a pretty severe beating.

"C'mon Raph, I think my controller's broken!" Michelangelo, furiously tapping buttons, jumped off of the couch and stood up, keeping his hands steady. "Oooh! Oooh! I'm making a comeback! Wooooo! Oh yeah, here I come! In your FACE!"

The match ended and Mike broke into a victory dance. Raph tossed the controller down, shaking his head. "An' all that with a broken controlla', no less. A-mazin'."

"I know! It's like I'm some sort of gaming genius!" Then, in a faux-Japanese accent: "I am ninja… both in real world and virtual one!" He flipped over in a one-handed handstand, imitating his character's ridiculous 'taunt' stance from the game. "Woo-aaaaah-"

Raphael landed a light kick to Michelangelo's arm and the younger turtle lost his balance, falling into the bookshelf. Books, DVDs and other miscellaneous junk came tumbling down on him with a very loud crash. "-aaaAAAAAAHHHH! ...ow."

They heard a loud sigh from the direction of Donatello's workroom.

Raphael was smirking. "Some ninja all right. How the rest of us'll ever live up to yer greatness, I'll neva' know." He extended a hand to help the young turtle up.

"Dude, that was shella weak." Mike grinned stupidly.

"Ugh," Raphael groaned at the joke. He hated Mike's dumb turtle puns, they were so bad. Every time he called his phone a 'shell cell', it made Raphael cringe. And if he had to hear Mikey say what the shell one more time, he was going to throttle him. He wondered if Donatello could perform a lobotomy to remove the annoying parts of Mikey's brain, he'd have to ask him later.

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