TMNT 2003: Mikey, The Baby Of The Family
After a heated argument with his family, Mikey leaves the lair and ends up falling victim to one of Doctor Stockman's latest inventions, which turns him into a baby turtle! Can his family find a way to turn him back to his normal age, or will he remain as a baby forever?
My first Baby Mikey story. I do not own TMNT 2003.
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Chapter 1-Feeling Betrayed
It was a peaceful and quiet evening in the lair, which was no surprise since the four ninja turtle brothers were always out on patrol at night.
Master Splinter was meditating in the dojo area. He thought that he would take advantage of the peace and tranquillity within the lair to meditate and find his inner peace, since it was always difficult to do so when his four ninja turtle sons were inside the lair and making unnecessary noises.
However, his peace and tranquillity was soon shattered the moment his sons had walked in.
"Once again, Mikey, you had to be reckless and risk our identities being exposed!" He heard his oldest son Leo's angry voice first.
When he turned towards where the lair's entrance was, Master Splinter immediately saw his sons walking in and heading towards the living room.
"What was I supposed to do, Leo!? Leave that young girl alone to die!? There wasn't much time left, I had to get her to a hospital myself cos I was faster than the ambulance!" Mikey said defensively before pointing at his jacket and hat.
"Also, I was wearing a disguise, so no-one saw who I really was!" He said defensively.
"That's still no excuse for you to just take off alone and try to save a life that was already close to fading!" Leo bit back scoldingly.
"Leo, you saw how severe her wounds were; one of the bullets was close to her heart and she was bleeding heavily! Even if the ambulance did arrive on the scene, she would have died either shortly after or on arrival at the hospital! Mikey did the right thing back there, and the last thing that any of us would've wanted was to just stand there and watch her die in suffering!" Donnie countered in Mikey's defence.
"Oh, and ya don't care if da police or paramedics would call da authorities on us if they saw us tryin' ta save her? They would've accused us as bein' da ones who shot her as soon as they saw us!" Raph pointed out.
"But they didn't! We left the scene as soon as Mikey took the girl to the hospital, remember!?" Donnie reminded as he got closer to Raph.
"What is going on in here!?"
The turtles instantly stopped arguing when they heard Master Splinter's stern voice not far from where they were standing.
"Why don't ya ask 'Mikey McScrew-Up' over there?" Raph told his sensei bitterly, pointing his thumb at Mikey.
"Raph!" Donnie cried out.
"I'll explain everything, Master Splinter…" Leo said firmly but calmly before he started his explanation of what had happened.
After hearing everything from his oldest son, Master Splinter turned to look at Mikey with a firm but shocked expression on his face.
"Michelangelo, is all of this true?" Master Splinter questioned his youngest son.
"What do you want me to say, Sensei? Even if I told you my side of the story, you'll just dismiss it and believe Leo like you always do!" Mikey responded in an annoyed tone, refusing to give his father a proper answer.
"Mikey-"
"No! I wish to hear Michelangelo's side of what happened without any of you interrupting!" Master Splinter said firmly, cutting a glaring Leo off.
Mikey took a moment to calm down before he slowly told Master Splinter what had happened through his own eyes.
/
Mikey's side of the story...
During their run back home from their nightly patrol, they had witnessed a young 15-year-old girl being surrounded by a gang of Purple Dragons in an alleyway. They had overheard the members telling her to join their group or be robbed and beaten up, but the girl was so scared that she just stuttered her words and stood shaking in fear. The leader of the gang became impatient and decided to end her life since she was a witness to their behaviour.
Obviously, the turtles were not going to let that happen and they took action by jumping in and fighting the gang members. During the fight, however, one of the members had a handgun and started pulling the trigger to try and shoot the turtles down.
The turtle brothers were able to dodge and unarm the gang member, but they didn't realise until a moment after defeating the Purple Dragons that one of the bullets had struck the girl. Donnie had assessed the wound and he grimly told his brothers that the bullet was near her heart and she was bleeding out quickly.
Leo demanded that they call an ambulance and make the girl comfortable until it arrived, but Mikey told Leo that it would be quicker for them to take her to the hospital themselves since she was already close to dying. Even though Donnie was in agreement with Mikey, Leo and Raph were against it and firmly told their youngest brother that they needed to stay and wait for the ambulance to come in order to keep themselves from exposing their real identities to the authorities.
Mikey had none of it and, after being confirmed by Donnie that the girl's wound was bandaged up securely, he carefully picked her up bridal-style and made a dash towards the hospital that was a couple of miles away, much to Leo's anger and Donnie's and Raph's astonishment.
He had managed to get the girl to the hospital within 10 minutes, and by the time he was near the door, the girl's condition started to deteriorate. Mikey immediately pressed the emergency buzzer next to the door before carefully placing the girl against the wall and hid around the corner. Seconds later, a doctor and a nurse came out to find her laying on the ground before they assessed her condition and radioed for a bed to be brought out in order for them to take her in and treat her bullet wound.
By then, Mikey felt that the girl was now in safe hands and decided to leave the hospital and head back to his brothers, whilst preparing himself for the biggest scolding that had awaited him.
End of story...
/
"And you know the rest after that…" Mikey finished his story.
"Oh…This is most upsetting, indeed…" Master Splinter sighed in despair and disbelief with a paw covering his eyes.
"I did what I had to do, Master…I know that it was risky and our identities could've been exposed, but I couldn't just stand around and wait for the ambulance to come when she was quickly fading away in front of us…! She's 15 years old, and she has her whole life ahead of her!" Mikey told his sensei in a sincere tone.
"And this is why you need to stop constantly relying on what your heart is telling you to do every time this happens! Your actions earlier just proves that you don't think straight when taking action and you keep putting yourself and us in dangerous situations! Constantly putting yourself and your team at risk is not the way of a ninja's honour!" Leo scolded abruptly.
"But leaving an innocent person to die on the battlefield is not the way of honour either, right!?" Mikey countered defensively as he glared back at Leo.
"…" Leo wanted to counter Mikey's words, but he turned his head away and kept himself from doing so because he knew that the youngest turtle was right.
"Yeah, I thought so…What I did for that girl was the right thing to do, and it's about time that you and everyone else stop treating me like everything I do is always wrong! That is NOTwho I am, both inside and out, and I'm done pretending to be something that I'm not just to make you feel all big and mighty in order to get Master Splinter on your side all the time!" Mikey told Leo in both a defensive and scolding manner, stunning the blue-banded turtle shortly after.
"Michelangelo, that is enough!" Master Splinter said firmly. Mikey obviously didn't like that one bit.
"Oh, so you are taking Leo's side after all!? He's right and I'm wrong, like always!?" The orange-banded turtle spat out.
"That is not what I meant, Michelangelo…I understand that you are upset, but I just want you to calm down for a moment…!" Master Splinter answered, though his tone wasn't as firm as before.
The old sensei had always believed that his youngest son was capable of handling himself in tricky situations, but he couldn't bear the thought of allowing him to lose control of himself emotionally, especially when it came to dealing with the possibility of losing a life during a mission.
"Calm down!? You're letting my brothers scold and gang up on me for saving a human girl's life, and you're just telling ME to shut up and calm down!?" Mikey questioned accusingly in a hurt tone, his anger now rising.
"Mikey, please-" Donnie tried to talk to Mikey as he held him back, but the youngest turtle was not in the mood.
"Just say it loud and clear, Master; you don't love me for who I am or see me as an equal like my brothers, do you!?" Mikey pressed harshly.
Master Splinter and the three older turtles looked at Mikey in absolute shock when they heard those words. Even though they weren't always happy with some of the choices or actions that Mikey made at times as a ninja, they were still proud of what he would do to keep his family safe and the atmosphere around them positive.
Nevertheless, Master Splinter sighed and bowed his head for a moment before he spoke.
"Do not get me wrong, my son; I will always love you and, like your brothers, you have a very important place in my heart. However, if you continue on with this unnecessary behaviour and not take your role as a ninja seriously, then I will have to remove you from my teachings until further notice…"
Shock immediately radiated in the air. None of the turtle brothers, not even Leo, had expected that kind of answer from Master Splinter, and the three older turtles looked at Mikey who was now completely heartbroken on the inside; even his own father and sensei believed that his previous actions were not enough to satisfy him and see him as a vital part of the team and family. His face then changed to show a scowl.
"You know what; you should've just said that I'll never be good enough for you…" Mikey said flatly before he turned around and ran away, heading out of the lair in the process.
"Mikey!" "Michelangelo!" The others cried out to try and stop the youngest turtle from leaving, but it was no use; he carried on running without looking back, especially now that his eyes were full of tears.
"Are you happy now…?" Donnie questioned as he looked at his brothers with a glare and his hands on his hips.
"Wha-? Hey, I didn't expect Master Splinter ta scold him like dat!" Raph answered in denial. Leo, however, was now having second thoughts on what he had just said to Mikey not long ago.
"None of us did, Raph; I think we've all been a bit too hard on him this time…He saved that girl's life, and all we did was scold him for doing so…We've definitely been giving him mixed messages on this…" Leo pointed out in a guilty tone after letting out a tired sigh when he realised the consequences of his own actions towards his youngest brother.
Whilst this was going on, Donnie noticed that Master Splinter was just standing quietly with his head hanging low and not saying a word. This worried him, so he walked up to him and spoke in a reassuring tone.
"Don't worry, Master Splinter, I'll go talk to him and bring him back home…"
"See that you do, Donatello…I will be waiting for Michelangelo in my room; I wish to speak with him alone as soon as you return…" Master Splinter replied, his voice now sounding sad and defeated, before he walked away from his sons and headed towards his room to be alone.
Leo wanted to speak to Master Splinter to make sure that he was ok, but he decided against that because he felt that his father needed some time alone before he would want to talk to anyone. Instead, he spoke to Donnie.
"Do you want us to come with you, Donnie?"
"No thanks, Leo, it's best that I'd go alone since Mikey might get more upset if we all go…I'll call you if I need you, I promise…" Donnie answered, declining his brother's offer to accompany him.
"Alright, then…be careful…" Leo told Donnie, feeling a bit uneasy on the inside due to not liking one of his younger brothers going out alone. Then again, Mikey was the youngest and was outside all alone, anyway, so he had a double need to worry and feel uneasy.
"I will…" Donnie said reassuringly before he quickly made his way out of the lair.
/
Meanwhile, in an unknown location…
Within the isolation and dim lighting of an unknown laboratory, sparks flew near a familiar figure as a new creation was being made.
"Finally, the last few adjustments to my new little weapon are completed…Maybe I should go into the city and give it a little test run…" The voice of a male cyborg spoke out before an evil smirk developed on his face and spoke again.
"And I know just the perfect set of guinea pigs to help me do it…ha, ha, ha, ha…!"
After slipping the gauntlet on his hand, Stockman put his equipment away and made his way out of his lab to head out into the city and look for his first test subjects.