Raph glared at himself before switching his glare to his completely shocked brothers. "This is stupid! Really stupid!"
"Raph…" Leo blinked at his brother, "You're so-"
"Cute!" Mikey finished as he ran up to his tiny brother and scooped him up into his arms.
"Am not!" Raph squeaked as he quickly began to squirm in his brother's arms. "Mikey! Put me down!" He yelled; punching his brother over and over again on the arm.
Mikey ignored the weak punches and gazed at his stunned brothers and father, "Anybody know what happened?"
"It must have been the Kraang ray. I'm guessing it messed with the molecules in Raphael's cells… causing him to shrink… de-age?" Donnie said as he took Raphael from Mikey.
"Put me down! You guys! This… this isn't fu-unny!" Raph weakly punched Donnie before burying his face in brother's shoulder and crying.
Mikey's eyes widened. "He's crying… Raph's crying…!" Michelangelo's mouth fell open as he looked at everyone for an explanation.
"Shut up!" Raph snapped; sniffing.
"Do you think it did something to his mind too?" Leo asked.
Donatello shrugged. "I have no idea. It's alien tech, stuff that I've never seen before."
They watched as Raph wiped the rest of his tears. He turned and put his shell against Donnie's plastron and folded his arms before pouting. "We're going to have to keep an eye on him." Donatello added.
Leo nodded and took Raph from Donnie's arms, ignoring the whine of protest that he received. "So… uh… Master Splinter, you're the only one with experience with this kind of stuff, what do we do?"
They each turned to look at Splinter, his eyes were wide. He opened his mouth before closing and humming. His surprised emotion turned into a calm one. "Raphael," He said, getting the young turtles attention. "How are you feeling?"
Raph shrugged and looked away at the ground.
Splinter nodded. "Do you want some milk, my son?" Raph immediately nodded and reached out to Splinter who gladly took the child and carried him to the kitchen.
Leo waited until the kitchen door had closed before looking at Mikey and Donnie, "ok, we need a plan."
"If I can study what did that to Raph, I might be able to find a way to reverse it." Donnie said.
"So… what you're saying is, is that we need to go back to T.C.R.I.?" Mikey asked.
"If that's the only option, then yes." Leo replied.
Mikey groaned, "But we just got back from there!"
"You stay here then." Leo said as he nodded towards Donatello who ran off towards his lab. "Me and Donnie will go, get what we need and come straight back. You stay here and help Splinter with Raphael."
Mikey groaned. "But I don't know anything about kids!"
"Well I guess you're going to have one heck of a learning day today."
Michelangelo gave a long defeated sigh and trudged his way into the kitchen where Splinter and Raph were. He stole a quick glance over his shoulder to see Donnie come back over to Leo, a large duffel bag in tow, before they shared some words, nodded in agreement and finally sprinted out of the lair.
Mikey turned back around and blinked. Splinter held Raphael on his lap; slowly rocking him as Raph carefully drank the milk.
Raph made a small satisfied gasp as he finished the small cup of milk. He licked his lips and then looked up and smiled at Splinter who smiled back.
"Raphael has explained something's to me," Splinter said; talking to Michelangelo, but still watching his red-masked son as Raph tried to hide a yawn. "He has told me, that the last thing he remembers was being surrounded by his big brothers on the couch." Splinter took his eyes off of Raph and looked towards Mikey.
"Big brothers?" Mikey asked quietly.
"I remember Christmas." Raphael pitched in, "I remember that we got fruit this year, actual fruit. I got an apple. Leo got an apple to. Donnie got an apple…" Raph paused and thought for a second. "We all got really good apples." He finished.
Mikey blinked. "How… h-how old was I when I got that apple, Raph?" He asked.
Raph blinked and creased his eye ridges as he thought. He grabbed his head. "I don't… remember. It hurts."
Splinter propped Raphael better on his knee. "Do not exert yourself, my son." Splinter coaxed.
"Why can I only remember something's?" Raph asked; slowly bringing his hands down off of his head.
Splinter began to rock the small turtle again. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "You just recovered from a fever, you are still recovering. Your memories are escaping you because your body is still healing."
Mikey blinked at how easily Splinter lied and how easily Raph believed it. "I don't feel sick anymore." Raphael said rather happily.
Splinter chuckled. "For that, I am glad."
Raph yawned again. He rubbed his eyes and blinked groggily in front of him. "Michelangelo," Splinter turned his attention to Mikey, "Would you mind taking Raphael to bed? I have some things I would like to meditate on."
Mikey nodded slowly, still a bit in shock. He walked over and took Raphael from Splinter. Raph started to squirm. "No," He whined; trying to reach back to Splinter, "I'm not tired!"
"Come on, Mirco-dude," Mikey said; bouncing the turtle up and down slightly. "Bed time."
The city glowed beautifully in the dark of night. Nobody noticed the two silhouettes scale the side of the huge T.C.R.I. building. Leonardo's eyes seemed to be completely white as he peered into the skylight on the top floor; his brother Donatello right next to him. The blue-banded turtle gave a swift nod before carefully opening the window, allowing his brother to go in first before following.
They snuck silently to the shadows as they pressed themselves against the wall; glaring as the watched the Kraang.
"You get to the machine." Leo whispered; not taking his eyes off of the alien robots. "I'll take care of the Kraang."
Donatello nodded before slowly slinking his way, still in the shadows, towards the machine. Leo watched him for a moment before unsheathing his swords. He crouched down and narrowed his eyes. He suddenly lunged at the nearest Kraang. His Katanas swept professionally through the air, cutting three droids. He was already doing a round-house kick on another before the three droids all suddenly fell apart.
Leonardo felt hot plasma beams start to shoot around him. He flipped and spun; dodging them inches from hitting. Leo quickly stole a glance at Donatello who had achieved reaching the machine, but was having his own problems with the aliens.
Leo quickly destroyed the couple Kraang who had managed to get a close distance, and then sprinted to where Donnie was.
"How we doing Don?" He shouted over the loud blasts of the Kraang guns. He spun and amputated one before back-flipping and knocking down another.
Donnie ducked a plasma beam. "It'd be a lot easier without all of these Kraang shooting at my face!" He quickly spun around; kicking a droid, and then turned back around and continued his work.
The machine suddenly started to turn. Donnie gave a startled cry and looked up. In the firing seat sat a blue alien robot. It blinked lights at Donatello's fierce glare before shooting Donnie with the ray. Donnie gasped and dove out of the way as the beam went to the spot he had been previously standing and absorbing into the ground.
"Leo!" Donatello whined slightly. Leo looked up at the Kraang on the machine and groaned.
"Sorry Don." He said sarcastically through gritted teeth as he plunged his sword into an exoskeleton chest. "I didn't mean to miss one!"
Donnie rolled his eyes before unsheathing his Bo staff and hitting a Kraang to the ground.
Leonardo charged at the machine; both of his swords unsheathed and held behind him as he ran. The Kraang suddenly seemed panicked and started to continuously shoot at Leo. The beams missing or being dodged as Leo maneuvered towards the huge device.
The Kraang tilted the machine in every direction as it tried to follow Leo's movement patterns. Finally, it succeeded. Leo flew back with an 'oof' and hit the opposite wall. Donatello's eyes widened as he watched his brother fall limp on the ground. The Kraang droid at the shooting seat leaned forward and watched Leonardo carefully. When nothing happened it kicked the machine. "The fixes Kraang did to Kraang's machine did nothing of the fixing."
"Leo!" Donnie shouted. He quickly ran back to the machine and took out his T-phone. He scanned the whole thing before ripping off a piece of metal with his Naginata. He quickly scanned the inside before grabbing a couple of the wires. Donnie spun his Bo staff and whacked a couple of robots out of the way as he turned and raced towards his fallen brother. He fell to his knees and checked Leo's vitals. "Leo? Leo can you hear me?"
The only reply he received was Leonardo's sudden scream as he grabbed his head.
"Leo!" Donatello shouted. He felt plasma rays begin to get shot at him again as the Kraang started to approach. Donnie quickly picked Leo up in a fireman's carry and threw down a smoke bomb, which didn't exactly help as Leo continued to scream.
Donnie struggled to run with Leo's extra weight, but as he ran, it begun to get easier. This only made Donatello worry more as he felt Leo's mass begin to decrease.
Leo was shrinking.
"Hang in there." Donnie said mostly to himself as Leo's screams began to decrease and soon were just exhausted pants. Donatello switched Leo around in his hold, so he was soon cradling a three year old Leonardo. "This isn't good." Donnie murmured.
Leo's breathing had become calm and even as he slept in Don's embrace. Donatello dove through the still open window and carefully scaled halfway down the building. From there he jumped to the next building's roof. He sucked in a large breath to control his panicked gasps.
He looked down at Leonardo who stirred slightly in his sleep, but continued his slumber. "Let's go home," Donnie murmured, "I've got some explaining to do."
Donatello was greeted by silence when he entered to lair. He looked around curiously. He spotted Michelangelo slowly sneak out of Raphael's room; shutting the door quietly. "What's go-"
"Shhhhh!" Mikey scolded, pressing a finger to his lips. "I just got him to sl- whoa." Michelangelo's eyes fell to Leonardo, causing Donnie's attention to go to the sleeping turtle also. "What happened?"
"Same thing that happened to Raph. He was shot with the Kraang's machine." Donnie replied. "But, I'm hoping with my scans, that I'll have enough information to make a reversing ray."
Mikey nodded; not taking his shocked gazed off of Leo. "Two turtles in one day."
Donatello replied with his own nod. "Let's not make it three." He said.
Mikey's shocked gaze turned to a bright smile. "It feels cool being one of the oldests."
Donnie's eyes widened a bit. He was oldest now, well after Splinter anyways. But he still felt the bricks of responsibility crash onto him. He pulled Leo closer, suddenly scared that something bad was going to hurt him. Was this how Leo felt like all the time? Having the worry that one of his little brothers was going to get hurt? That he wouldn't be able to protect them?
Donatello gulped slightly. "Yeah." He replied weakly. He handed Leo off to Michelangelo, who gladly took the slumbering turtle, "I'm going to go talk to Splinter." He murmured and then turned and left for his father's room.