Part 2: The Forest Spirit
10 Years later...
"Raph! Raph, get up! Training in five, okay?!" Leonardo called, knocking hard onto Raphael's bedroom door. He was answered by a muffled groan, and a halfhearted "okay", indicating that the red turtle was not going to get up any time soon. Leo rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. Honestly, they were fifteen now, not five. Raphael had to learn that they had responsibilities to uphold now. With the city they lived in now infested with Alien Kraang droids and dangerous mutants, not to mention the stupid amount of mutagen canisters still lost within the city, they needed to be at the top of their game, meaning they still needed to train, meaning Raph had to get up right now.
It was then that his youngest brother, Michelangelo, came stumbling out of his room, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Mornin' Leo," he greeted in a slight slur, "Raph not gettin' up yet?"
Leo sighed as he folded his arms over his chest. "Nope. Not moving a inch." Mikey sighed next to him as he too rolled his eyes. It was then that an idea popped into his head. Grinning, he turned to where Mikey stood on his right. "Mikey, you know the drill."
Mikey grinned back and nodded, and with an almighty kick, he swung the door open, sprinted into Raph's room and leapt on top of him as he lay curled up on his bed. "HEY, WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" he called loudly, bouncing ligtly up and down on his brother, laughing all the while.
Raph growled loudly as Mikey continued to bounce on him, his temper rising with each passing second. Finally, he errupted, "GET OFFA ME!", and he shoved Mikey off his shell, sending both turtles rolling to the floor in a tangle of limbs and blankets. "What're you doing?!" he yelled.
Mikey only continued to grin up at him, "Time for training dude! Can't go without you, man!" he said simply, before struggling to his feet and patting Raph on the head and running out the door.
Raph stood up, untangling himself from his blankets as he folded his arms and glared at his older brother. "Did you have to make him do that?" he growled testily.
Leo only shrugged with a grin. "You know how he is, Raph" he replied with a wave of his hand as he turned and headed for the turnstiles to meet Donatello and Michelangelo. Raph rolled his eyes. Leo was right; out of all the brothers, Mikey was probably the only one who stayed the same no matter how old they got. He would always be the same hyper-active, naive, goofball turtle they all knew and loved. No one could change that; Mikey would always be Mikey.
Unless he beat some sense into him. Which sounded very, very appealing in that moment as a grin covered his face.
He got to his feet, still wearing the grin as e walked towards the dojo. "Hey, Mikey," he called, "I gotta tell you something..."
"BOOYAKASHA!" Michelangelo cried out jubilantly, his voice echoing and rebounding off the walls of the sewers as he bounded on his skateboard and whizzed past various large piles of garbage and sewage puddles, all the while never slipping his hold of his precious cargo held high in his hand. Although Mikey was well aware that his cargo was very important and should not under any circumstances be dropped or squashed, the orange clad teenage turtle could not help but have a little fun on his way back to their lair; he was after all, the so-called "wild one" out of the four brothers that lived down here. Taking care not to drop the boxes he held, he skidded down the steps, over the turnstiles, and into the lair, coming to a stop once he hit the common area. "Dudes, the Great Michelangelo has returned!" he announced happily.
The three other turtle heads popped out from the kitchen and walked over to their little brother, who held out the pizza boxes with a wide grin on his face. That alone put them on the edge, for that smile in particular meant that he had done something he knew he shouldn't have. "You didn't eat any, right Mikey?" Raphael, inquired the younger turtle, glaring at him suspiciously.
Mikey shrunk backwards slightly, still grinning. "Nah, I didn't eat any! What kind of little brother would I be if I didn't share any of this delicious pizza with my bestest big brothers in the whole world?" he replied innocently, batting his large blue eyes dramatically.
Raph rolled his eyes and took the pizza boxes from his younger brother. Mikey grinned deviously. 'That's what you get for punching me earlier, Raphie,' he thought evilly. Did his brother really think that he would get away with hitting him before they went for training? No way!
As the turtle brothers made their way to the kitchen to feast on their pizza, Mikey paused and ran back to collect his skateboard from the pit, quietly cackling evilly at the thought of Raph's pizza surprise. As he bent down to pick it up, a small glowing object entered his vision from the bench. He looked up to find the source of the glow. His eyes scanned the lair until he found it; an acorn? Confusion clouding his features, he walked over to the small object, crouched down and picked it up with his large, green hand, rolling it around between his three fingers. How did an acorn get down in the sewers? He must have picked it up by accident somehow after he picked up the pizzas with April. And then again, a lot of things fell down here, even dollar bills every now and then.
Another small object dropped down in front of him, interrupting his thoughts as he looked up from his inspection of the acorn still in his hand. He looked around again and before long, his eyes set upon yet another small acorn, still rolling on the floor from its decent. He stepped over to it and picked it up, raising a brow. Where were these things coming from?
Standing up to his full height, he scratched his head in confusion. He was about to shrug it off and go to the kitchen before his brothers could eat without him when another sound caught his attention once again. Giving in to his childlike curiosity (and ignoring his stomach, whose loud growling could rival to that of a running tractors') he walked back to the entrance of the lair, only to find more acorns littered across the floor. They lay one in front of the other, almost in a straight line, leading out of the lair and into the sewers like a trail of little breadcrumbs. Picking them up with a large grin as he went along, Mikey followed the strange trail of acorns deeper into the sewers.
In the very back of his mind, he felt that he was playing right into some sort of trap. However, his pure confusion and curiosity conquered his common sense as he continued to follow the trail, deeper and deeper into the dark sewers.
His brothers wouldn't mind if he was gone for a little while, would they? After all, he didn't want to be there when Raph discovered his little prank. He shuddered at the thought of what Raph would do to him...
By the time the trail of acorns had abruptly come to an end, the young orange clad turtles' hands were full of acorns of different sizes, shapes and colours. He examined his prizes with a large freckled grin before attempting to stuff them all into his belt pockets. Maybe they could use these to grow another tree in the lair or something. He was sure Sensei wouldn't mind having another tree in their home.
Something rustled amongst the garbage of the sewers.
His ninja instincts instantaneously kicked in as Mikey dropped the acorns, letting them crackle and roll along the cold concrete as he grabbed his nunchaku from his belt, assuming a battle stance as he waited for whatever made the sound to show itself. He should have known it was a trap of some sort.
A figure slowly came out of the shadows.
Only the whites of Mikey's eyes could be seen as he prepared himself.
As the figure finally stepped out from its hiding place, Mikey blinked twice, nearly dropping his nunchaku in astonishment at what he saw.
A small, white rabbit looking creature, minus the front limbs, walked calmly from out of the shadows. It had large black eyes, and small almost bird-like feet. It seemed to not even acknowledge Michelangelo's presence as it walked right passed his stunned form. Mikey watched it in complete awe as it passed by, realizing that in its wake, it produced flowers and emerald green grass within the concrete floors of the tunnel. Mikey's eyes grew wide and he gasped in wonder. This must be one of those magical creatures that Sensei read to them about when they were younger; a forest spirit perhaps? But what was one of those things doing in the sewers of New York?
Better yet, why did such a thing like that even exist in the first place?
Brushing those thoughts aside for a moment, Mikey put away his nunchaku decided to follow the strange spirit creature. He could bring it back to the lair and show his brothers and his Sensei that spirits did in fact exist. Then he could rub it in Donnie's face. That would show him who the smart one was!
As Mikey wordlessly followed the tiny spirit deeper into the sewers, it finally seemed to realize that it was being trailed as it looked back at the young turtle's freckled, grinning green face. Suddenly, the spirit made a small jump and vanished into thin air, leaving Mikey to stare at the spot it once was in complete shock as he stopped dead in his tracks. He looked around in the darkness to see if it had somehow teleported elsewhere, but to no avail.
Sighing in disappointment, he was about to give up and retrace his steps back to the lair, when something white entered his vision. He turned and spotted the spirit once again. It had somehow teleported farther into the tunnels. "Ah HA!" Mikey exclaimed ecstatically, "There you are!"
The spirit stopped in its tracks at Mikey's excited outburst and turned to stare at him. That is, it stopped to stare at him for not even a millisecond before making a panicked scramble into the tunnels when Mikey ran straight for him.
"Wait! Don't run away little fella! I'm not gonna hurt ya! I just wanna pet you! Then take you to my brothers and rub it in Donnie's face that you actually exist!" Mikey called out to the retreating form of the small spirit which still left a trail of greenery in its wake as it ran. For a small creature, it sure was as fast as shell!
But naturally, as a ninja, Mikey was faster!
Just before he could catch it however, the spirit turned abruptly to the right and made a dash into one of the small cracks of the tunnel walls. Mikey slowed to a stop as he bent over to peer into the dark hole. His acute eyesight could just make out the shape of the creature as it moved quickly in the darkness. He decided to wait for it to come out as he sat cross-legged in front of the hole, his hands placed in-between his legs and his head leaning forward and his eyes wide open and unblinking. Normally, he wouldn't be able to sit still for long periods of time, but not this time, for he was determined to catch this spirit creature red-handed.
Or in his case, green handed…
He sat still and patiently waited.
And waited.
And waited...
He let out a long sigh. Maybe it had vanished again or something?
Crackling noises to his left caught his attention as he sharply turned. Oh curse his short attention span –
His blue eyes grew wide as saucers as he gazed at not one, but two rabbit looking creatures. There was the little white one he had followed before, but it was hiding behind a much larger, blue rabbit creature, this one having arms unlike its smaller cohort and carrying a sack of what appeared to be acorns on its back with a small hole in it.
So THAT'S where the trail of acorns came from! And now there were TWO of them!
Oh, Donnie was going to LOVE this!
Mikey grinned as he stood up, rushing forward to catch them. But before Mikey could grasp even one of them, the spirits made a break for another tunnel, dropping more acorns along the way. "Hey! Wait!" he cried, standing up and running after them, "get back here! I'm not gonna hurt you! Honest!"
It was only then that he realized something about the tunnels; he didn't recognize any of them at all. None of the graffiti marks were at all familiar to him, and he couldn't see any of the markings he and his brothers made whenever they explored the tunnels; whenever they explored any part of the sewers they weren't familiar with, they would put a special mark somewhere visible, so they would know how far from the lair they were, or that whenever they were lost, seeing the marks would eventually lead them back home.
Mikey couldn't see any of them as he ran. Meaning he must be farther from the lair than he thought. However, deciding it was too late to turn back now despite that fact, he continued his pursuit on the little creatures. He could always call the guys later if he lost his way completley.
However, as the spirits then took a turn into yet another tunnel, with Mikey close behind them, he was unaware that as he made that sharp turn, his T-phone had slipped from his belt and dropped to the floor.
As Mikey ran, he realized that this tunnel sloped upwards slightly, and was teeming with green life, assortments of flowers and grasses sprouting everywhere. The walls were no longer even metal; it was made of pure, rich earth. It was just like a giant rabbit hole! Just where did this tunnel lead to? To Central Park maybe?
As he finally reached the end of the tunnel, Mikey burst through a thick bush, running out of the darkness of the sewers… and instantly had to shield his eyes with his hand as the brightness of the sunlight nearly blinded him –
Wait, sunlight?
He was outside now? In pure daylight?!
Not only that, but he lost sight of the spirits.
Great.
After adjusting his eyes to the light, Michelangelo stopped for a moment to take in his surroundings. His eyes flew open as he realized that he was not in Central Park. In fact, he may not have even been in New York anymore. He thought he may have been in a forest of some kind, for he was stood upon the large roots of a colossal tree that seemed to stretch up far into the sky, its luscious green leaves shielding him from the intense heat of the afternoon as they shifted slightly in the soft, cooling breeze.
He stared around him in utter awe. Just where was he exactly? Oh man, Master Splinter was going to kill him if he didn't get back home soon. Did he or his brothers even know he was gone? What if –
His thoughts were cut short when he caught sight of a gap within the roots of the tree. It was small, but it was large enough for him to easily fit through. Gathering some power into his legs, he easily bounded over to the gap and peered inside. He caught sight of a couple of acorns that lay on a mushroom deeper down in the hole. "Hmm… must've been left from one of those spirits. So this is where they went!" he said excitedly. As he leaned over to grab the acorns, he lost his balance and slipped over the edge. "Oh jeez!" he cried as he fell head first into the gap.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
He rolled and tumbled down the hole, scraping his arms and legs on many stray twigs and stones as he fell. With a soft thud, Mikey unceremoniously fell out of the hole and landed flat on his face onto soft grass. "Ugh…some ninja I am. Lost my balance? Sheesh!" he muttered under his breath as he rubbed his head and now very sore arms and legs. "Well, at least Raph or Leo didn't see that – woah…"
He looked up and around his surroundings once more. It seemed he had landed in another beautiful forest – oh shell, all forest looked the same to him!
He stood up and looked around at the beautiful and extraordinary plant life that surrounded him, watching in wonder at the countless butterflies that fluttered in and out of flowers silently and elegantly. He had lived in the undergrounds of an urban jungle for fifteen years, and he had always wanted to see the real flowers and plants that Donnie had always shown the boys in his text books. They had been beautiful then, but they were nothing compared to the real thing.
"Wow…if only the guys where here to see this!" Mikey said, grinning to himself at his beautiful discovery. He closed his eyes took in a deep breath, and then let it out in a content and heavy sigh. It was so peaceful, so beautiful. Maybe he could stay here forever. Or maybe he could go back and bring his family here to this paradise. He was sure they would love that. No more Shredder, no more mutants, no more alien robots...what a life that would be...
Mikey nearly jumped out of his scaly green skin when a loud snore rang loud through air, coming from his right. He spun around only to find a large lump of grey fur that rested upon a flower bed.
Grey fur, that was moving.
Cautiously, he silently approached the large lump of fur. After waiting for a moment to see if it was safe, he hesitantly reached out and stroked the lump of fur, its fuzzy exterior soft and smooth to his three fingered touch, which made him smile. It felt like a giant kitty.
The lump suddenly jostled, causing Mikey to instinctively pull his hand away. As the lump relaxed once more, Mikey could not help but giggle slightly, and then he proceeded to continuously poke the lump. It jostled again, this time the tail-like appendage brushing against his freckled green face. Mikey laughed out loud and hugged the lump of fur, nuzzling against it like a giant teddy bear.
What he didn't expect was for the lump to suddenly pull him off the ground and lift into the air. He let out a panicked yelp before releasing the furry lump and falling instead onto a furry white…stomach?
Mikey looked up to realize that he lay atop of very, very large rabbit-like creature – almost ten times his size, almost as big as Splinter! It was a larger, grey version of the smaller spirits he had been chasing beforehand, with large furry paws, long whiskers that seemed to twitch subconciously, and long pointed furry ears.
And it seemed to be fast asleep.
Mikey wore a large grin upon his face and gasped in wonder at the creature he sat upon, scooting closer to the creatures' large whiskered face. This was beyond amazing! What would Donnie say if he could see this? Better yet, what would everyone say if they saw this?! He could just see their faces now!
He froze as the creature's snoring suddenly stopped, and its large eyes slowly cracked open. It stared directly at him for a time, at Mikey felt a chill run down his spine. He hadn't actually thought about whether or not this creature was dangerous. What if it decided to eat him for waking it up? However, Mikey's fears were put to rest as it slowly closing its eyes again, and it resumed its loud snoring, clearly having fallen back to sleep. Gosh, it was a heavier sleeper than even Raph!
Mikey giggled yet again as he scooted even closer to the creatures face. Out of interest, he decided to play with its nose, simply to see if it would do the same thing Splinter did when they played with his nose when he was asleep when they were younger. It twitched somewhat, causing Mikey to further poke at its nose just for fun. This resulted in the creature giving an all mighty sneeze that blew Mikey all the way to the other side of the flower bed. "Hahahaha! Whoa! And I thought Splinter was weird with his nose nuggets!" Mikey laughed, though still slightly winded from landing on his shell. Nonetheless, he climbed back onto the creatures belly, and once again shuffled his way back to its face.
This time, the creatures' eyes opened all the way as it inspected the small, green orange clad creature that sat upon him. "What the heck are you?" Mikey asked curiously, not actually sure if it could understand him, "Are you one of those forest spirits my Sensei told us about as kids? What were they called again? Umm…oh, a Ko – Kodama or something?"
In response, much to the young turtles' surprise, was a loud, almost ear piercing roar: "Toooh – toooh – ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Mikey simply laughed, unfazed by the creature's so called fearsome and released his own mighty growl: "RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! Hahahaha!" he laughed, watching as the creature's eyes grew wide with slight shock at his roar. "Dude! That was awesome!" he luaghed, "So your name's 'Roar'? That's a weird name. How about 'The Rabbinator'? I think that's a whole lot cooler! "
The creature once again repeated its growl, only this time, Mikey was able to grasp the message.
"Toh…toh…Totoro? Totoro?! Is that your name?" Mikey asked, his grin never leaving his face, and it only widened as the creature gave an unmistakable nod. "Haha! Yep! That's your name alright!" Mikey relaxed his position and lay flat on his plastron on Totoro's stomach, his head resting on his crossed arms. "Totoro huh? Man, I wish my brothers were here to see you…" He whispered.
Mikey and Totor stared at each other for some time, both gazing at each other in wonder. Totoro had never seen a young creature such as this little turtle before, and he was quite interesting. He seemed to behave like those other strange beings that populated the earth. What were they called again? Humans? Well, this little one looked nothing like them, but he sure behaved like them. So odd.
As Totoro released a long, jaw splitting yawn and began to fall back to sleep, Mikey himself began to feel very tired as he rubbed his eyes and yawned himself. He hadn't realized just how active he had been that day; he had ran to the pizza place with April, had beaten the living snot out of some Purple Dragons on his way home, and spent nearly an hour chasing those smaller spirits through the sewers. No wonder he felt so worn out…
…maybe…a small nap…wouldn't hurt…
Before Michelangelo knew it, as he lay upon Totoro's large furry chest, combined with the beasts' gentle snoring, the quiet birdsong and the soft breeze, he was lulled into a deep and peaceful sleep.
"Mikey! Come on, we're leaving now!" Leonardo called into his younger brothers' bedroom, geared up for their evening patrol. For some odd reason, no one had seen or even heard their youngest brother for hours after he had delivered the pizzas. And that was saying something. Even their Sensei had noted on how quiet it was in the Lair. Leo supposed he was probably plugged into his T-phone playing that "Mine Field" game again, but even so, he ought to have at least heard his victory cry, "Booyakasha!" in there somewhere. In fact, now that he thought of it, he didn't even come to eat his pizza.
That fact alone was very unsettling.
"Mikey?" Leo tried again after receiving no answer. He rolled his eyes and sighed as he opened the door and stepped into the room. His brow creased in confusion when he saw no orange clad turtle sat on his bed, or anywhere in the chaos anyone dared to call a bedroom. "Huh…that's weird," the blue clad turtle muttered to himself as he left the room and went to find his remaining two brothers. He found them hunched over a large map of the city in Donatello's lab, plotting on where to patrol that night. Upon hearing him entering, they both lifted their heads.
"Hey, have you guys seen Mikey?" Leo asked.
Donnie and Raph shrugged and shook their heads in unison. "Nope. Haven't seen him since he came back with the pizza…which I still need to kill him for! I knew he ate my pizza! That smug little liar!" Raph grunted, pounding his right fist hard into the palm of his left hand.
Donnie rolled his eyes a Raph's remark and looked back to his eldest brother. "I haven't seen him either, Leo," he said, "I was beginning to wonder why it was so quiet around here. Is he in his room or something?"
"I just checked. He's not in there."
"Hmm… maybe he went skateboarding again?"
"He would have at least told us though, wouldn't he?"
"…Point taken."
It was by this point that the brothers began to feel slightly concerned. Mikey never left the lair without permission, or without telling them where he was going; he didn't ask for permission but at least they knew where he was going.
"Ah great!" Raph growled, "If that little shell-brains' got himself lost or something, when I get my hands on him I'm gonna – "
"Raph, save the empty threats for later, right now, we gotta find Mikey before Master Splinter finds out he's gone again." Leo said as he, Raph and Donnie left the lab and ran out of the lair in search of their younger brother. However, as they ran deeper through the sewers, with still no sign of Mikey, their worries began to grow.
"Mikey!" Leo called, "Mikey! Where are you?!"
"Mikey?! Mikey, you hear me? Answer me!" Donnie shouted.
"MIKEY! You better not be playing any of your dumb pranks or I'm gonna beat the green offa you, then I'm gonna beat you some more for eating my PIZZA!" Raph bellowed. Though his tone of voice said otherwise, Raph was in reality very worried about the orange clad turtle. They had been running through tunnels that even they didn't recognize for far too long. If he had passed through here, what was Mikey even doing? He would never explore any unknown parts of the sewers without the others with him…
"Okay, let's try his T-phone" Leo said as he pulled out his own T-phone from his belt, dilled Mikey's number and waited for Mikey to respond. The other brothers gathered around him anxiously in silence.
Suddenly the silence was shattered by the ringing of a cell phone. The turtles turned sharply.
That was Mikey's ringtone.
Leo quickly ran in the direction the ringtone was coming from. Soon, Leo's panicked voice echoed through the empty tunnels, "It's Mikey's T-phone!" he called.
Donnie and Raph rushed to their leaders' side to find him holding their brothers' phone that he found lying on the ground, broken and abandoned. Their eyes grew wide in panic. What happened? Where the shell was their baby brother?!
"Mikey! Mikey, where are you buddy?!" Raph called out, panic now replacing his frustration as he scanned the tunnels. Leo and Donnie did the same, searching the area frantically for any clues of their little brothers' whereabouts.
Mikey never left his T-Phone; it was their only means of communication. Not only that, but they had found it broken in tunnels they had never explored before. They feared the worst.
It was after half an hour of relentless searching that Donnie spotted a large crack in the wall, close to where Leo found Mikey's T-phone, and just large enough for them to fit through. It was so dark he could have missed it, but there was also a trail of large, circular footprints. "Hey guys! Over here! I think he might have gone through this crack in the wall here!"
"What? Are you sure?!" Raph asked, trying to keep his voice even to hide his worry, though he was failing.
Donnie nodded. "No doubt about it! These have gotta be his footprints!"
"Well, let's not waste anymore time! Let's move!" Leo commanded and ran into the tunnel, with Donnie and Raph close behind him.
"Hey, why are there flowers and grass down here?" Raph asked as they ran, looking around him to find different types of small flowers and greenery covering the dirt walls and floor of the tunnel.
"Beats me" replied Leo, who just as confused as Raph. "How could flowers grow in the New York sewers? In fact, it kinda looks like a rabbits' burrow or something."
"Well, technically" Donnie speculated, "It could be possible to grow certain types of plant life in environments like this. It all depends on the natural lighting as well as the amount of soil or compost that's – Oh my gosh!" Donnie cut his explanation short as all three turtles froze in their tracks and gasped in shock.
They had finally found Mikey, but he was lying on his side, his shell facing them. He was not moving, and none of them could tell if he was even breathing.
"MIKEY!" they all cried in unison as they ran over to his prone form. The kneeled over their younger brother as Donnie looked him over, checking his pulse and scanned for any possible injuries. Agter a few silent moments, he gave a heavy sigh of relief. "It's alright," he said, "he's still breathing, and he doesn't seem to have any injuries."
The other turtles sighed in relief also, but the news was not enough to completely put away their fears. Why was he unconscious in a tunnel none of them even recognized?
"Mikey? Mikey, wake up!" Leo cried as he shook Mikey semi roughly.
Mikey stirred and mumbled something about pizza under his breath.
The brothers stared at him in disbelief.
"He's…just…asleep?!" Raph growled as he grabbed Mikey by his shoulders and shook him roughly and bellowed, "HEY SHELL-BRAIN! WAKE UP!"
Mikey's eyes shot open as he jumped awake with a gasp. As he sat up and rubbed his eyes wearily, he looked around him to find his brothers staring at him with a mixture of relief and annoyance. "Mmmf…huh? Oh, hey guys, 'sup?" Mikey said, his words slurred together due to his drowsiness.
"Don't you "'sup" us Mikey!" Leo scolded, folding his arms in disapproval. "You had us worried sick! You've been gone for hours! And what do you think you're doing, running around in the tunnels by yourself and then sleeping in a pit?!"
It was then that Mikey, now fully awake, became fully aware of what had happened and where he was. His eyes snapped open and he looked around him. "Totoro?" he muttered.
"Totoro?" the older turtles asked in unison.
Mikey stood up and spun around on the spot in confusion. "Wha - ? Where's Totoro?"
Leo shared a confused glance with his siblings, who in reply simply shrugged their shoulders as they too stood up. "Maybe you were dreaming, Mikey" he said.
"Or maybe you have a fever," Donnie speculated, placing his hand on Mikey's forehead to check his temperature. "It's possible you could have caught a cold from sleeping in the dirt for so long, judging by the fact that – "
"– or you're just stupid!" Raph interrupted harshly, pushing past Donnie and Leo to smack Mikey upside the head.
"Oww! No, I don't have a fever, and I'm NOT stupid!" Mikey cried, rubbing the back of his head. "I saw a giant rabbit looking spirit creature thing called Totoro!"
"Totoro? You mean, like a Kodama, like the ones Master Splinter told us about when we were little?" Leo asked, to which Mikey nodded vigorously.
"Yeah, but he called himself Totoro! He was, like, furry, and huge and he looked like a giant mutant rabbit, only he wasn't, he was a forest spirit – oh, and there were also little tiny versions of him that were small and carrying acorns! I saw them after I dropped off the pizza and I chased them down so I could show them to you guys, so I followed them through this tunnel and fell through this hole in a giant tree in the middle of nowhere, and then I saw Totoro, but he kept falling asleep, and I think I fell asleep on him or something 'cus – "
"Mikey! Jeez, slow the heck down, bro!" Raph said, cutting off Mikey's breathless and almost incomprehensible explanation by jamming his hand over his mouth. "We have no idea what you're talking about, and even if we did…" he shared a glance with Donnie and Leo, "…I doubt we'd even believe you."
Mikey swiped Raph's hand away from his mouth and huffed in exasperation, "Cut it out! I'm not kidding! I really DID see Totoro!" he insisted.
As his older brothers shared another skeptical look with one another, Mikey sighed and hung his head in defeat. Why did nobody ever take him seriously? First it was the alien brain thing inside a robot body, and now this? It actually stunned him that they didn't believe him, what with everything they have dealt with so far; the Kraang, mutants, Ninjas in New York, Robot ninjas, and they can't believe in forest spirits in the sewers? If could only he could somehow prove it to them. The acorns wouldn't help at all, so what could he possibly use to–?
"Wait, wait! I've got it!" he exclaimed, and idea finally hitting him, "guys! Follow me! I'll show you where I found him!" Before the brothers could object, Mikey had taken off further down into the tunnel.
"Hey! Mikey, wait up!" Leo called after his youngest brother as he, Raph and Donnie ran after him down the tunnel.
Behind him, he heard Raph grumble, "Uggh, this better be good!"
"Cool it, Raph. He's probably just delusional or something from sleeping in a tunnel for too long." Donnie joked.
As they finally reached the end of the tunnel, the boys burst through a thick bush…only to find themselves standing in the middle of Central Park, filled with its familiar benches, concrete sidewalks and short neatly trimmed trees…but no sign of the great tree that Mikey had stood upon earlier.
Mikey stood there, his mouth hung open and his eyes wide in disbelief. Leo, Donnie and Raph looked around them, unimpressed. "This is where you saw him?" Donnie asked in a bored tone, leaning on his Bo staff lazily. It was quite dark by this time and hardly any humans walked around here this late at night, so they could afford to be more exposed than usual, (not completely but still enough to relax).
Mikey shook his head, "No! The last time I ran through there it lead to this giant tree! I swear it!" he cried.
Leo stared at his pleading brother sympathetically. His eyes were close to watering and his lower lip was quivering. He looked so defeated, like he really wanted them to believe he had seen these mythical creatures. Almost like that time where he had tried to convince them that there were alien brains in robot bodies, and when they shut him down, he had looked so dejected.
Raph slapped and hand on his forehead and groaned. "Quit playing around, Mikey!" he growled, his patience thinning, "I'm getting real tired of your – "
Before Raph could finish, Mikey darted past him and ran back through the bushes. "Hey! Where're you going?!" Leo cried, "Mikey, come back!"
"I'll get him." Raph growled again, preparing to run after Mikey, "Then I'm gonna smack the freckles offa him for wasting our – "
Before Raph could go after him, Mikey burst through bush directly next to them, staring around in bewilderment before looking back at his brothers. A short silence hung over the turtles, followed by a sudden burst of laughter from the older brothers. Despite the sad look on his face, they couldn't help themselves; the situation was just too humorous.
"Stop laughing at me!" Mikey cried, "I really DID see him! I'm not lying…" he trailed off as he looked down at his feet.
The laughter stopped as they looked at Mikey. Raph and Donnie could finally see how upset their brother was, with his fists clenched, his head lowered and his eyes only just brimming with tears. They couldn't help but feel bad for laughing as they grew silent.
Leo sighed slightly as he stepped forward and placed his hands reassuringly on Mikey's shoulders. "Mikey?" he said softly.
"…it's not a lie, Leo" Mikey mumbled in reply, folding his arms defensively and refusing to look up at his eldest brother.
"It's okay Mikey. Don, Raph and I believe you. Right guys?" he turned to his brothers expectantly.
Raph looked down at his feet and whistled tunelessly whilst Donnie looked to the side and rubbed the back of his head. "Well," Donnie began, "umm, well actually – "
Leo sent them a glare that would have sent even Rahzar running – and cowering – to a corner with his tail between his legs. Startled, Raph and Donnie straightened up and nodded their heads vigorously, their faces plastered with exaggerated fake grins."O-oh yeah! Sure! O-of course we believe you Mikey!" Donnie stuttered with a chuckle.
"Yeah, you, uh, did lead us all the way here to see this giant…rabbit…thing…so…yeah!" Raph stammered.
Leo turned back to his upset little brother, his glare vanishing from his features and said, "You hear that Mikey? We believe you. And I bet you I know what's going on. The reason why you can't find that giant tree might be because you may have somehow entered the spirit world. And the spirits just don't want to be seen right now. In the legends, spirits are said to only appear when they desire to be seen by the eyes of mortals. I guess you're very lucky, Mikey." He smiled as he patted Mikey's shoulder.
This seemed to cheer up Mikey a little as a small smile appeared across his face as he looked around at his brothers. "Really Leo? You think I'm lucky?" Mikey asked.
Leo winked at his younger brother and smiled. "You bet." Even if he couldn't bring himself to believe him, he had to make Mikey smile somehow; that's what big brothers do.
Mikey's smile then grew into a large grin as he ran full on into Leo and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. Leo chuckled and returned the hug. He glanced behind him to look at Donnie and Raph who looked at him strangely. Leo simply responded with a shrug and an awkward grin.
When Mikey finally released Leo, he gave a smug grin towards his other brothers and said, "Ha! You hear that guys? I'm the lucky dude! I got to see a forest spirit, and YOU guys MISSED it! How's it feel to be left out the loop now, huh? Hahaha!"
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that Mikey." Raph growled. Donnie just face palmed.
With that, the four brothers made their way out of Central Park and into the city to begin their evening patrol, having already lost track of time.
As they left the park, a small, white, rabbit creature with large white eyes crept out of the bushes and stared after the retreating forms of the turtles.
Later that night, the four boys returned to their lair, worn out from another battle against the Kraang and a gang of Foot Bots, and made their way to their way to their rooms and practically flung themselves upon their beds. Raph and Donnie fell asleep almost immediately, whilst Leo took the time to put away their weapons and make sure his brothers were fine, cracking their doors open slightly and peaking in. Once he was sure they were going to be fine, he silently closed the door and moved on. When he entered Mikey's room, he found him lying curled up on the floor, his face resting on a large sketchbook as he snored lightly. Leo smiled and shook his head before gently picking up his little brother in his arms and tucking him into his bed, not forgetting to give him his duck taped teddy bear, which Mikey hugged tightly, mumbling something under his breath in his sleep. Before he left, Leo picked up the sketch book and flicked through the pages. He sometimes forgot how good Mikey was at art…
Leo paused at a small illustration of Mikey lying upon a large rabbit-like creature. Underneath the drawing was a brief note (with horrible spelling errors, but still readable) which read:
I had a reely exiting day today! It started off with pizza, but then I met this giant kodama named Totoro! He was so cute! Kinda like Leatherhead, only less leathery! I tried to show my brothers, but they diddnt belive me as usal, but I think Leo did. I wish I culd show them somday too. I bet theyed love it too.
Leo looked up from the journal and at the sleeping Mikey and smiled. He walked over and placed a soft hand on his head. "You and me both, little brother," he whispered. With that, he placed the book at the foot of his bed, and like a true ninja, left the room without making a sound.
A/N: Are you guys liking this so far? It gets better I promise!