Raph quickly wiped sweat from his eyes, not breaking contact with that of his foe. His enemy stepped warily to the side, swinging his bo staff in a lazy spin that looked deceptively easy to do and in reality took weeks of practice. Raph didn't let himself get lulled by it into a false sense of superiority. That would be sure to give his opponent the win. He could not live with giving an easy win to this foe.
The ring of combat echoed to his right. Raph didn't let himself get distracted by that either. He allowed a tiny part of his attention keep track of the combatants, lest their fight somehow gets tangled up in his that is all. Let Leo and Mike fight their sparring match. He had to deal with Don.
Raph gripped his sais and leaped forward, hoping to catch Don off guard. Don jumped back. He moved into a spinning back kick. Raph dodged it effortlessly. Don followed the kick with a couple of swings with his staff. Raph dodged those as well. He frowned. Those swings seemed far too easy to evade. Almost like…what was Don playing at? It was almost like he never meant to hit him, just drive him back.
Raph scowled blackly when he realized that and started watching his brother's moves even more closely than before. Bob. Dodge. Dodge. Spin. Step to the side. Block. Swing. Block. Block. Kick. Duck. What was he up to? What was his plan? Raph blinked as he jumped back again. Was that it? Surely Don wasn't going to do something as painfully obvious as that?
Don did. Raph reacted instantly, just as Don used his staff to catapult himself in a powerful looking flying kick. If he hadn't caught on an instant before Don got his attack off the ground, well, that looked like it would have really hurt. As he flew by, Raph got off a kick of his own, a rapid spinning kick into the brainiac's shell that used Don's own momentum to send him flying into the nearest wall of the dojo before dropping like a stone onto the matt-covered floor below in a graceless heap.
Raph flinched at the sound of impact, well imagining how much that had to have hurt. He was grateful Don managed to tuck into himself at the last second, or he might have hurt that leg badly. Then he smirked as Splinter called the match in his favor. Don got up slowly, and with a groan. He gingerly made his way over to the side, to wait out the rest of the sparring. Raph rolled his eyes, when Don pulled a book out from his belt and started reading it. It's like he now plans for losing!
Raph turned to watch the other two spar. He was just in time to see mike leap over a charging Leo. Raph shook his head as he crossed his arms before his plastron. He always knew his baby brother had something in common with that fictional character from Winnie the Pooh, Tigger. Both of them was made of rubber and springs. And He was also certain if anyone even hinted that he ever watched that cartoon, let alone liked it, he would personally bloody a lip! Raph also found himself smirking for another reason. Leo, he hated to admit it even to himself, was one of the best fighters Raph had ever seen. He was forced to give Leo that much, at least. But Mikey, for all of his scattered-brained, laid-back goofy demeanor, was no slouch when it came to ninjetsu. In fact, Raph would lay even odds that Mikey had more natural athletic ability than any of his brothers. Put together. It was getting him to focus on anything for more than a nanosecond that was the trick.
Today, Mikey was definitely on his A-Game. And Leo…well, he wasn't, not so much today. He wasn't seriously off. But it was clear to Raph that he was working harder than normal to try to focus on the match. Still, it came as a complete shock when Mikey managed to win with a clever swing of his chucks and managed to trip Leo up. Leo fell hard enough to have his air knocked out of him, though not nearly as hard as Don had. Even Mikey looked stunned. Then he started to do an improve victory dance as Leo picked himself up with the same stunned expression on his face, and made his way over to where Don was. Don's expression also showed his astonishment very plainly. He was not accustomed to sharing the 'loser' mat with Leo!
Mikey and Raph Moved to the center of the room and bowed. Mike, still high from his win, grinned a proud broad grin at Raph. Frankly, Raph didn't have it in his heart to begrudge him his little moment of victory. "Are you ready to face an outrageous amount of pain and humiliation, in the wake of my hot nunchucks of fury, Raphie boy?" Mikey taunted, swinging his chucks in a wide arch as he talked.
"You wish, Mikey." Raph sneered, falling into one of his favorite fighting stances.
Mikey swung his chucks about some more, lazily and did the same. At the signal, Raph leaped into the offensive, raining jabbing blows on and around his nimble brother as hard and as fast as he could form the thoughts to make the moves themselves. Mikey was able to dodge, and block most of them, but Raph's sudden aggressive attack seemed to have momentarily stunned the quick-witted turtle. Instead of countering blow for blow, Mikey went on the defensive, with waves of dodges and weaves.
Raph knew he was going to snap out of it at any second. He knew he had to bring down Mikey fast. He started a low sweeping kick as though trying to sweep Mikey off his feet. As he expected. Mikey jumped to clear it, just as he had jumped to evade Leo's attack earlier. Raph expected this, and he had already planned for the possibility. Reversing his kick, he turned it into a high kick, catching Mikey off guard with his foot impacting him on his plastron that sent him flying. Point. Set. Match.
Splinter walked to the center of the dojo, and gave the command that ended the sparring for that day. The four lined up before their father and teacher, though it took some time for Mikey to fond his feet and join the others. As soon as he did, the four knelt and waited.