animegamefanatic: It indeed would be nice for the turtles to have a grandmother/mother-figure in their lives, as April serves as their big-sister-figure and sometimes (or at least in some episodes) their motherly-figure. But we shall see.
= TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2003 =
= THE GIRL AND THE TURTLE P2=
Today, instead of training together in the Lair's Dōjō like usually, Master Splinter had taken the turtles to the sewers, because earlier this week he had chosen the perfect spot, where he intented to teach his next lesson to his children.
This place Master Splinter had chosen was one of many chambers in the sewers. Albeit it was rather small one, it was still spacious for Splinter and the Turtles to train.
There was a platform in the oppose end of the room, where led the set of stairs and the room was enlightened with the few sewer lamps in the walls above the platform and the entrance tunnel the turtles and Splinter had arrived. In the opposite walls of the room were several tunnel pipes leading in various directions, and which ran labyrinthine over, past, or across each other.
It was a real maze where could easily get lost, except for those who knew the area and the routes very well.
And since the turtles and Splinter had spent their entire lives underground, they have had enough time to explore and map the sewers and its dark labyrinthine tunnels, so they pretty much knew the entire sewer system like the back of their hands without any fear of getting lost down here
Although they still had some unexplored sections of the sewers that were closed or classified as dangerous, which is why Master Splinter had declared those tunnels off-limits when the turtles' were just children. And despite their vast knowledge of the sewers, they still carried the maps of the city sewers with them - or mostly Donnie did carry them in his duffel bag during of their trips - in case they "really" happened to get lost here.
"Alright, Sensei, I'll pay up." Raph said, confused of why Splinter had brought them here in the first place. "What are we doing here?"
Once Splinter had walked to the middle of the room, did he turned around to face his children, thus officially beginning his lesson.
"Today, our exercise is based not only on you working as a team, but also on our territorial instincts." Splinter started.
"In other words, "capture the flag"!" Mikey guessed with excitement.
The orange turtle just happened to love those times when the plots of the exercises were based on various games (or at least he thinks so), because they always grant him an opportunity to demonstrate his own skills and brag about them in the face of his brothers and sisters.
"Agh! Not that "capture the flag" thingy again!" Raph, Dom, Donnie and Arcee groaned, though only because of anticipating of Mikey starting to play those immature games of his at their expense for his own amusement and then brag of his successes in their faces afterwards.
However, for their fortunate, they were spared from that when Splinter opened his mouth again to correct his son.
"No exactly, Michelangelo."
"Huh?" Mikey gasped, surprised and disappointed.
"Whew!" Raph, Dom, Donnie and Arcee sighed in relief.
"The idea of this exercise is to both improve your instincts and the utilization of the environment, both familiar and strange ones. As you all know, we have lived in the sewers of New York city for fifteen years and inprinted almost every tunnel and pipe, every turn, every round, every corner, every longer or shorter, faster or slower route into our heads, which is why in the sewers we are in our own element that surpasses the surface dwellers' knowledge and sense of direction down here." Splinter explained.
"We sure do, Sensei. Down here, we're the kings! ALL HAIL, MICHELANGELO!" Mikey cheered.
However, Master Splinter's staff immediately made the contact with Mikey's head as an effort to knock some discipline into Mikey's head.
"Ow!" Mikey yelped, touching his head.
"You had to ask for it, Mikey?" Donnie said sarcastically.
"Ahem!" Splinter cleared his throat, getting his sons' attentions, before he continued. "While that is true what you said, Michelangelo, don't forget that the advantage of our regional knowledge down here does not extend to the above world, where our movement space is greatly limited to the rooftops and shady alleys. As I have told you, my children, that the world above the streets is both hostile and dangerous, full of unfriendly territories of whch you have no any knowledge, but your enemies have. That gives them that home advantage that they can use against you."
"So our lesson today is to improve our instincts and sense of direction…" Leo started, getting their master's message.
"...not only in the territories familiar to us, but also in the territories that are completely strange to us, most importantly those of our enemies' territories?" Mary finished.
"Exactly, Leonardo and Marietta. Our enemies might rightfully believe that they have the home advantage against us, but sometimes even that can be their undoing if we are capable to follow our instincts and sense of direction in the completely strange surroundings and take them out in their home turf when they least expect that." Splinter said.
"But the same thing can also be the case in the territories that we know better, right Sensei?" Arcee asked. "If our enemy has a numerical advantage over us, they can cover a lots of ground even down here."
"Which is exactly why we are going to exercise that in the territory that we know, Artemisia." Splinter said. "And that is where working in the teams comes."
Splinter then tapped with his stick the floor of the room with such of force that the turtles could feel it under of their feet.
Out of instincts, the turtles lined up in front of their master, standing straight with their arms resting at their sides. From Splinter's left to his right, first came Donnie, then Dom, then Mikey, then Arcee, then Raph, Louie, Leo and finally Mary.
"Now, I'm going to divide all of you into two teams and then send each team into one of those opposite tunnels. Your task is to try to defeat the other team while navigating in the tunnels, and to do that, you have to work together as a teams and use your instincts and knowledge of your surroundings to your advantage against the other team. Remember, my children, that as you all know these tunnels and know how to navigate in them... just as you are surely aware of each other's skills in both stealth and combat, no matter which level they are... I believe that taking the other team by surprise will be difficult."
"I don't think so, Sensei." Raph scoffed. "If Mikey gets to be in the other team, I'll have him by surprise in no time." the turtle in red bragged as he pointed at Mikey with his thump, earning an glare fromthe turtle in orange, who was offended by his brother's words.
"Oh, yeah? Well, if that's so, you better be concerned about the fact that you won't last long enough until I'll catch you by surprise." Mikey shot back in the challenging matter.
"I'm with Mikey here." Louie said, as he glanced at Dom over his shoulders. "Dom is such of loud-breather kind of guy that it is so easy to find him in the dark." he sniggered.
"Hey!" Dom snapped, not taking his brother's words kindly. "You better not to end up getting caught by me, Louie, because if and when I do, I'm gonna give you a good old fashioned school spanking!"
Louie, unconcerned of his brother's death, only smugly shrugged his shoulders.
"Like Dandelion said, dear brother, en garde." Louie said dramatically.
"Children, enough!" Splinter snapped, silencing his four quarreling children with the sharp bang to the floor with his stick.
Raph, Mikey, Dom and Louie immediately ceased their quarrel and straightened up before their master.
However, although this was rarely seen in their usually strict and serious master, a rather mischievous smile crept to Master Splinter's lips as he stroked his long chin beard while eyeing his four sons. It looked like Master Splinter had plans for his sons to demonstrate to them the whole meaning of today's lesson.
"Actually, I think I have to thank you all for speaking up first, my sons." Splinter said calmly and knowingly.
Confused by their master's words, Raph, Mikey, Dom, and Louie paid glances at each other, their eyes asking for explanation, though none of them knew exactly what Master Splinter meant... though Dom was the only one out of all four of them who could read their master's odd demeanor, the tone of his voice and his words, as if he already anticipated what was coming for all four of them... him included.
And the thought of it almost made his heart to jump out of his shell and into his throat.
"Oh, shell... please no!" he begged under his breath.
However, Master Splinter didn't hear him, nor he cared at this point, because his mind was made up.
"Raphael... Michelangelo... Domenico... and Lorenzo. You four shall be one of the teams." Splinter declared, pointing his staff's end at each of his sons upon saying their names.
Raph, Mikey and Louie's jaws dropped - and their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets - as their shared Dom's dreaded thoughts of ending up pairing with them... while Dom merely slapped his hand over his face.
"WHAT?! ME?! WITH HIM?!" Raph, Mikey and Louie exclaimed in unision, disconcerted by their master's words, with Raph and Mikey pointing at each other, while Louie pointed at Dom (though Dom didn't respond to it in kind).
"SHELL NO! NO WAY!" all three turtles were quick to refuse to be paired with one another.
However, their refusal and defy to the Master Splinter's direct order earned them the whack on top of their heads from Master Splinter's staff, though the rat master spared Dom from such of discipline.
(WHACK!) "OWW!" Mikey gasped as he put his hands over his head.
(WHACK!) "AGH!" Raph whined as he too put his hands over his sore head.
(WHACK!) "YEA-OUCH!" Louie yelped. "I think I just got bumb to myt head!" the turtle in black whined as he put his hands over his head.
Splinter them put his staff down after disciplining his three sons, though the strictness remained in his voice when he spoke up.
"I will not take "no" as an answer, my sons." he said. "Since you four appear to have a trouble in working as a team, this should be a perfect opportunity for you to practice it, if you wish to defeat your brothers and sisters, who will make the second team."
Hearing that, smiling Leo and Donnie made the high-three, while grinning Mary and Arcee fist-pumbed each other, confident that they can win this one together.
The teamwork and a predictable outcome of this little game seemed to be obvious and in favor of the turtles in blue, purple, turquoise and pink, because there was no tension between them unlike the members of the other team.
Splinter than gave his children a rather serious look.
"And before we start, here are four rules." Splinter said, as he lifted his free hand up and opened his palm, showing his children his thump and three clawed fingers.
"Rule number one: Work as the team, as a unit, not as a indivituals, unless that is part of your teamwork someway. Because otherwise your enemies can pick you all, one... by... one. And you'll become weaker the more team members you lose." Splinter said, lowering his pinky.
"Rule number two: Take each other out from the shadows and remain undetected. Because when you're in the strange and hostile territory, you have to remain within shadows and undetected as long as possible." Splinter added as he lowered his middle finger.
"Rule number three: Use stealth more than direct action. The stealth and silence can keep you hidden prolonged time, while direct action and the noise will give in your location." Splinter said as he lowered his thump, leaving only his forefinger left.
"And rule number four: All those who fall victim to your ambush from either team must leave the tunnels and regroup in here. The first team to have all members eliminated has failed, while all remaining members of the second team have succeeded. And there will be awaiting for the members of the failed team an extended stealth and teamwork training sessions." Splinter said, finishing his sentence as if in the manner of warning of what will be coming if one team ended up into failure.
Some of the turtles gulped nervously, because the extended training exercises would increasingly limit their free time, which they wanted to spend by doing whatever they wished. This was the case with Donnie, Mikey, Arcee and Louie, while it filled Raph, Dom, Mary and especially Leo with the firm determination not to fail.
"Well, my children, are you ready?" Splinter said.
"Yes, Master Splinter!" the turtles said in unison.
"Good." Splinter said, before he turned to the tunnels on his left and pointed at the entrances with his staff. "Raphael, Michelangelo, Domenico and Lorenzo, you go to the tunnels on my left.
Splinter then turned to the tunnels on his right and pointed them with his staff. "Leonardo, Donatello, Marietta and Artemisia, you go to the tunnels on my right."
Splinter then turned back to his children, and then banged his staff hard against the ground.
"HAJIME!"(1)
With that command, the turtles boved to their master before they divided into their respective teams and moved to the tunnels they had been directed, while Splinter turned around and calmly walked towards the stairs that led to the platform.
"And one more thing!" Splinter called out, without looking over his shoulders. "Choose from your teams the one to direct your strategy!"
Once Splinter reached to the end of the stairs, he turned around and sat down cross-legged, patiently awaiting for his children's progress.
In the tunnels, where Leo, Donnie, Mary and Arcee had went, the turtles in blue, purple, turquoise and pink heard Splinter's words loud and clear, before the knowing smile crept on all of their lips, especially Leo's when the turtle in blue noticed everybody looking directly at him.
"Are you guys thinking what I think you're thinking?" Leo asked from his brother and sisters.(2)
"I guess they're thinking what you think they're thinking, bro." Mary said, nodding her head at Donnie and Arcee.(2)
"And if I think they're thinking what I'm thinking..." Arcee started.(2)
"...Then why we should be thinking of it." Donnie finished.(2)
The turtles' knowing smiles went even wider when they all realized that they were all thinking the same thing.
"Lead the way, bro!" Donnie, Mary and Arcee said in unision to Leo, choosing him to lead them.
"Well, Fearless Leader, you got any strategy we can use to defeat the other team?" Arcee asked.
Leo smirked at Arcee, before the turtle in blue immediately began to think their strategy to use the tunnels' darkness and their knowledge of the area as their advantage against their brothers' team. Though Leo came up with the strategies for the ambushes without any of them being detected, he had to turn to Donnie for information about the perfect spots where they could execute their ambushes, as Donnie had the superior knowledge of the area and its labyrinthine tunnels that went beyond of theirs. Taking all of this in, and putting two and two together, Leo quickly hatched the plan in his mind and revealed it to his brother and sisters by every single detail, before giving each one of them their very own parts in it to play it out.
After going through the plan again for the couple times to ensure that everybody knew exactly their own part, Leo spread out his hands at the same time when they came upon the two-story intersection, where in both opposite walls of their tunnel was two entrances of the tunnels on top of each other, both of which initially led to the same directions, until they came across with several sharp turns and rounds to the left and right and other intersections that led into the other tunnels along the way... including a couple or more holes along the way in the floor/ceiling of the tunnels that led to the upper/lower tunnel.
"Alright! You guys know what to do! Now go!" Leo ordered.
Said and done, Donnie and Arcee spread out and moved to the lower opposite tunnels, Arcee to the one on her left and Donnie to the one on his right. Leo then hopped to the entrance of the tunnel above of the one where Arcee went, while Mary hopped to the tunnel above of the one Donnie went.
The game was on!
However, while the teamwork appeared to be obvious with one team, the same couldn't be said about the other team.
Louie, Raph, Dom and Mikey had at this point found the perfect spot, the dark tunnel leading to the dead end, where they huddled together to think over their strategy to outsmart and outmatch the other team.
However, the very first thing this team began to argue about was... who was going to lead their team.
"Alright. Listen up, guys, and listen up very carefully. This is what we do. We're gonna..." Dom said them, until he was quickly interrupted by Raph.
"Hey! Who told you're gonna be the one in charge here, Dom?" Raph said.
"Because I'm the oldest and smartest and..." Dom started to say, until he was quickly interrupted again by Louie.
"You? Smartest? And what's that supposed to make us, then? "Stupid"? Was that what you were going to say? Wasn't it?" Louie said accusingly, leaning closer of Dom's face.
""Least smartest"." Dom said as he pushed Louie away from him, making the turtle in black to roll onto his shell. "That's what I was going to say."
"Yeah, sure you did." Raph challenged. "Besides, you're only fourth-eldest after Leo, me and Mary."
"And your point is?" Dom questioned.
"My point is that because I'm the oldest turtle in this team, I'm the one who should be leading." Raph explained shortly.
Dom stared at Raph with aghast look on his face, his eyes wide like saucers and mouth hanging slack, trying to convince himself if Raph was actually serious.
"You're kidding me, right? You?" Dom said in disbelief, pointing at Raph with his finger.
"Yeah. What about it?" Raph said with the shrug.
"BAH!" Dom scoffed aloud, accidentally - or deliberately - slapping Raph in the face with the back of his hand, causing the turtle in red to stare at Dom wide-eyed, as if offended by his slap, and who understandably wouldn't.
"YOU? HAH! DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH, RAPH" Dom almost cried. "I rather laugh at you in the depths of the grave rather than follow you and your "strike first, ask later" philosophy! This was supposed to be all about stealth and secrecy, not going straight to brawl and rumble like you always do!"
"Well, jokes on you, Dom!" Raph shot back, tapping the beak of Dom's nose with his own. "I'd rather follow Leo's lead... well, almost... than your oooooooovvvveeeeeeeerrrrllllyyyyyyyy ccaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuttttiiiiiiiioooooooouuuuuuuussssssss and boooooooorrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggg methods that for sure will lead us to our humiliating defeat!"
"You're one to talk, bro." Dom snapped back, swatting Raph's hand away. "Your own impulsive temper, refusal to pay attention and your impatience is what usually puts most of our mission into jeopardy."
"You're lame and too wussy to be the leader!" Raph shot back. "You'd crack like the nut from the pressure."
"You're irritably hot-headed jerk, who definitely doesn't deserve to be the leader." Dom shot back.
Raph's eyes widened from the brief shock of such of comment, before he narrowed his eyes in anger.
"Take that back! And I am worthy to be a leader!" Raph almost growled, getting in front of Dom's face.
"No I won't! And no, you're not!" Dom growled, banging his forehead against Raph's - no matter how childish and cartoonish it was.
"Yes, I am!" Raph argued.
"No, you're not!" Dom argued back.
"I am!" Raph argued.
"You're not!" Dom argued back.
"Yes!" Raph argued.
"No!" Dom argued back.
"YEEEESSSS!" Raph argued.
"NOOOOOO!" Dom argued back.
Growling through of their bared and gritted teeth, both Raph and Dom glared daggers at each other, trying their hardest to stare each other down, though they were both very stubborn to back down when it came about the leadership of this team, and their own views of each others' incompetence to be the leader.
"Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys! Chill out, will you?!" Mikey said as he jumped in between of his arguing brothers and tried to push them away from each other.
"We're not gonna get anywhere in here!" he tried to reason with his brothers. "If we can't agree on who is leading, we'll never get to that strategic point and beat the other team. In other words, they're gonna beat us, and we'll end up having prolonged training sessions in the future!"
Both Raph and Dom turned from each other to look at their youngest brother, realizing that the turtle in orange was right about that.
"Mikey's right. This is stupid." Dom said eventuallym before he turned back to Raph. "We need to get our team organized, otherwise we aren't getting anywhere."
"Right." Raph said, before the turtle in red then moved to cautiously peek around the corner, looking into the tunnel that led back to the chamber.
Even Raph knew that if they just kept arguing here over the title of the leadership of this team, they'll be nothing but wasting their precious time and also giving their opponent team a much better chances to beat them in their own turf... and Raph definitely wasn't in the mood to let Leo, Donnie, Mary and Arcee to beat them and then brag about it to their faces, even if the members of the other team very rarely did that unlike some of the members of their own team, he included.
And so, without bothering to waste more time to coming up with the decision of who of them should lead them, Raph went to the leader mode, or something like that in his own way, as he began to develope the plan for their strategy on his own.
"Okay, guys. This is what we shall do. We're gonna..." Raph said, gesturing towards the tunnel, until he was interrupted by Dom.
Dom was dismayed that Raph just assumed the role of leader for himself even though nothing had been agreed about that.
"Hey! Who made you the boss here?!" Dom protested.
"Me, of course, doofus!" Raph said over his shoulder. "And I just got a great plan to outmatch the other team, so I'm expecting you guys to follow my lead."
"And what will that plan be, Raph?" Dom questioned. "Oh, you know what? Don't even bother to tell me. It's rather simple, really. "Just let's go out there to bash in some heads and kick some shells in good old turtle style"."
Raph turned to him and narrowed his eyes into irritated glare.
"Face it, Raph. That's a terrible plan. The king in the long and sad history of the terrible plans," the turtle in white added with the sarcastic voice.
"Oh, yeah?! Well, you didn't come up with a better plan yourself just a moment ago." Raph growled.
"That's because you started to question my position as the leader of this team!" Dom shot back.
"Well, of course I did! You would've just been a lame leader anyway, and come up with an even more terrible plan than my own you didn't even want to hear out!" Raph challenged.
"That's because you interrupted me and began to question my leadership skills!" Dom snapped back.
"Like I told you, Dom. You suck in the leadership." Raph retorted rudely.
"Comes from the guy who listens his muscles instead of his brains, if they even aren in there." Dom retorted, tapping Raph's temple with his finger. "And that's what make you suck in the leadership even worse."
With that, both Raph and Dom resumed their intense staring-each-other-down contests, while glaring daggers at each other.
It was then when Mikey popped next to his quarreling brothers, though both the turtles in red and white paid no attention in him, as they were too focused in staring each other down into submission.
"We'll compromise. I'll lead the team." the turtle in orange said confidently, putting his hand over his chest.(3)
However, such of innocent and confident suggestion from the youngest turtle earned him the fiery glares from Raph and Dom, as they turned from each other to him as swiftly like the crack of the whip!(3)
"NO YOU WON'T!" both turtles in red and black angrily declared in unison.(3)
Mikey was left stunned and taken aback by his brother's outburst aimed at him, even if he hadn't done or said anything... except volunteered to lead the team. However, instead of backing down, even under the glaring eyes of his brothers, Mikey put his hands on his hips and shot the dirty looks on his brothers.
"Well, good thing that you two can at least agree about something here!" Mikey let out, sarcams obvious in his voice. "But anyway, if all three of us have already voted themselves to be the leader, then I think that it's all up to Louie to decide which one of us shout lead."
"PFFT!" Dom scoffed at the idea. "Louie wouldn't never follow anyone of us, Mikey! He'd rather run out on his own than falls under our leadership, that's for sure!"
"Or more likely, he wouldn't fall under YOUR leadership, Dom." Raph corrected. "We are all well aware of the arguments between the two of you on many issues. You're always telling him "don't do that" and "don't do that", and you're always reprimanting him over things he does."
"Yeah! You two are just like me and Raph all the time! I'm always getting under Raphy-boy's shell and I always end up getting physically reprimanted over whatever I do." Mikey agreed, as he wrapped his right arm over Raph's neck and pulled him quickly closer, that their cheeks were pressed against each other. "We're all the same, like that "like two shells, kind-of-a-thing" stuff."
"Shut up!" Raph snapped and put his left hand over the right side of Mikey's head before pushing the turtle in orange away from him, causing Mikey to fly onto his shell to the tunnel's floor.
"Hey!" Mikey yelped, offended by the act.
"So I say that Louie would rather fall under my leadership than yours, Dom. After all, just like Mikey said, me and Louie are just like two shells." Raph declared.
"But that wasn't what I..." Mikey tried to protest, noticing that Raph was completely turning everything he'd just said about those 'two shells' upside down, making it sound more in his favor instead of Dom's.
However, Raph quickly silenced him with another warning glare, causing Raph to grin nervously and wave his fingers at his hot-headed brother.
Raph then turned back to Dom. "So I would say that the end result is obvious, cocksure, unquestionable and so on, that I am the leader of this team. So you better get used to it, Dom, or you can just lick your fingers in defeat."
"No it's not!" Dom shot back. "The decision is not in your power based on mere assumptions and prejudgments. Besides, we haven't even heard Louie's opinion. And while I don't usually expect even that much from Louie, I think we should at least hear his out, as everybody should at least have a right to give their opinions on the matter. The three of us have already given our own, which leaves just Louie's own left."
Dom didn't wait for others to either approve or disapprove of how he had expressed how they should act but turned immediately to where Louie was kneeling next to them.
"Well, Louie. Shall we hear your voice on this...?" Dom was about to say almost boredly.
However, he quickly cut himself short when his eyes landed on the spot where Louie was supposed to be.
The only problem was... Louie wasn't there.
"Where's Louie? Where did he go?" Mikey asked.
"Wasn't he right there just the moment ago?" Raph questioned.
The realization hit to Dom like the meteor crash to the Earth, causing Dom to throw his hands in the air and groaned aloud in sheer frustration over the situation, no doubt assuming that Louie had once again taken off on his own, having gone on solo instead of bothering to work with them as a team.
"ARGH! THAT SHELL FOR BRAIN JUST DITCHED US!" Dom exclaimed in irritation, before he turned to glare daggers at Raph. "Look what you did, Raph! You distracted me long enough and allowed Louie to get away!"
"What?!" Raph exclaimed at such of accusations. "What do you take me for, some sort of babysitter?! Why didn't you look after him?! After all, you're the one who babysits him all the time!"
Dom groaned again. "Ugh! Why do I even waste the time here with arguing with you, bro!"
Dom then turned away from Raph and exited from the dark tunnel, moving down the tunnel. Raph and Mikey peeked around the corner and looked after him, confused by the turtle in white's actions.
"Um... where're you going, Dom?" Mikey questioned.
"To look for that idiot, Mikey!" Dom said over his shoulder. "And you two are coming with me! This should be perfect time for us to practice some teamwork if we're going to find that shell-for-brain of the turtle!"
"But what about the other team?" Mikey questioned, reminding Dom about their brothers and sisters who were most likely on the hunt for them in the tunnels. "Shouldn't we be worried that we might end up picked one by one by them from the shadows?"
"Well, in that case..." Dom said, as he turned to his brothers. "We can always use the STEALTH and SILENCE in order to avoid getting detected by them while trying to find Louie."
With that, Dom continued moving onward, not bothering to sit and wait whether his brothers followed him or not.
"Well, then that leaves Mikey out." Raph said with his usual snarky sarcasm. "He never has the patience to stay silent for more than five-ten seconds."
With that, Raph exited from the tunnel and went down the tunnel after Dom, leaving Mikey to the mouth of the dark tunnel, to stare after him with dumbstruck look on his face over Raph's words of him not being "patient" enough to stay silent.
"Hey!" Mikey exclaimed, as he jumped out of the tunnel. "Comes from the guy with no patience to stay put."
"Hey! Wait for me!" Mikey called as he rushed after his brothers.
Walking forward in line led by Dom, followed by Raph and last Mikey, the three turtles walked down the tunnel for some time until they arrived to the first junction that led from their tunnel to both left and right. The turtles of course knew these tunnels after growing up for fifteen years in them, but they had no idea what direction Louie had taken after he haid ditched them. Dom tried for moment to think like Louie, but it was quite impossible for him to think like Louie because he never thought like more carefree and foolhardy turtle.
However, Dom ended up just randomly to pick the tunnel that led to the right. He waved his hand for Raph and Mikey to follow him as he turned to the right tunnel and the others followed him right behind.
They followed down that tunnel for some time, walking past the several other entrances in both sides. Of course, they stopped at the few tunnel entrances to see if Louie had left any trace of him in his wake, which they could follow: footprints, for example, because the bottom of the tunnel was covered with the mud and slime (which they didn't care much about), and their search was made easier by the several sewer lamps that illuminated the area dimly but enough for them to see their feet and the floor.
Unfortunately, they didn't find any trace of their brother. Whether he had chosen to go to the left instead and Dom had chosen the wrong direction, or else the turtle in black was moving with stealth and secrecy, and had chosen to be cautious to not leave any trace in his wake.
However, with Dom in the lead, they didn't go back to check it out, but kept moving forward
They kept walking, until Dom's and Raph's sixth sense kicked in, and they instantly stopped where they stood - with Mikey accidentally bumped into Raph's shell, earning to be shoved back by annoyed Raph - and they all looked around of them.
"What is it?" Mikey questioned.
"Shh!" Dom hushed, silencing his little brother before speaking in whisper. "The others are close by, already stalking us."
Hearing that, Mikey grew nervous when he looked from one side to another and into the entrances of the dark tunnels.
"Oooohhhhhhhh! I know that it's just them stalking us from the shadows, but in the name of truth, I hate MYSELF being stalked like this!" Mikey trempled.
"Quiet, Mikey!" Raph hissed, before he turned to Dom. "So, what now, leader?"
"We go into this tunnel. Move it... QUIETLY!" Dom said in whisper, pointing to the next tunnel right next to them. "Mikey! You keep watch in the rear and keep your eyes peeled... and not the sound! Got it?!"
"Got it!" Mikey said with thumbs up, until he repeated one thing Dom just said, which literally sent shivers down to his spine. "Wait? Peeled eyes?! EWWWW!" the turtle in orange gagged at the though in disgust.
"Shut it!" Dom hushed sharply, before he turned to Raph. "And Raph? Watch our shells from the middle, and keep your own eyes peeled."
"Yeah, whatever." Raph said.
Under Dom's lead, the turtles in white, red, and orange moved into the dark tunnel and moved forward along it cautiously while warily looking around for their other siblings hiding within the shadows for a possible ambush.
As the unofficial leader, Dom looked ahead into the dim darkness of the tunnel, trusting that Raph and Mikey were both watching his shell-back. Raph kept his eyes mostly ahead and in the entrances of the tunnels branching off their tunnel, peeking quickly and searchingly into the darkness, while occasionally glancing back to make sure Mikey was both on their heels and in constant alert. And Mikey, struggling to contain his own tense restlessness, kept his eyes mostly in the direction they were coming from and the tunnels they passed through to make sure they weren't being followed, but also glanced behind his shoulder to make sure he wasn't falling far behind of his brothers.
And all the while they moved forward, they called, Louie by his name, with low and soft voice in order not to reveal their location to the other team.
"Louie?" Dom called with lowered yet sharp voice.
"Louie, where are you?" Raph called quietly.
"Louie? Helloooooooo!" Mikey called with soft voice.
However, had Raph kept looking a little further into the dark tunnel he had just searched through, he would've seen a glimpse of in the dim darkness swiftly dashing figure moving to the same direction as they were in the neighboring tunnel... without letting noise as it went.
And as Mikey and Raph turned away from each other for a moment, another dark figure lowered itself from the tunnel's ceiling in similiar manner like some "dude in the blue-red tights", and remained to hang there upside down between the turtles in orange and red. However, the figure immediately pulled itself up and disappeared into the hole in the ceiling as Raph and Mikey - sensing something behind of them - turned back to each other.(4)
"Louie?" they both said at the same time, though all they could see what the tunnel's darkness.
However, both turtles in orange and red could've sworn that they saw something moving in the darkness, but it was already gone when they looked up to the ceiling of the tunnel.
"Keep moving, you two!" Dom called out, having walked a bit further away from the others that they were falling behind and he himself was walking around the next corner.
Hearing Dom out, and then turning back ot each other, Raph and Mikey ended up to shrug their shoulders at this matter before they turned around and hurried after Dom, but they still remained in high alert nonetheless and glanced constantly and suspiciously up to the ceiling in case such of occassions happened again.
However, as they ran forward, they ran past some large pile of mud and slime in one side of the tunnel. However, the moment they were gone enough and out of the earshot, the pile actually moved, revealing third dark figure from beneath all of that stuff, as it looked after the three turtles.
Dom then entered from the tunnel to the tall but narrow-spaced chamber, where there were more tunnel entrances on the right side and almost closely adjacent entrances of the archway tunnels for two stories, separated by the fenced catwalk. In the other side of the chamber, the road turned to the left.
Then, when Dom wasn't looking, from the next tunnel he was about to pass by emerged the end of the long staff, that tapped gently twice against Dom's shell, before it was pulled back into the darkness.
"Wha...?" Dom gasped as he felt someone tapping him to his shell and turned around to see who it was. But all he could see was the darkness of the tunnel.
"Oh, very funny, Louie." Dom said unamused and put his hands over his hips as he glared into the tunnel, thinking that it was Louie hiding in the darkness and playing tricks on him.
"I think you're not getting it that this whole thing was supposed to be US working as a team to stalk the other team and not the other way around! You were not supposed to go on solo to... HEY!" Dom was quickly cut short as someone lunged at him from another tunnel behind him and quickly pulled him into the tunnel ahead of him.
Dom was gone.
Raph and Mikey arrived from behind the corner to the scene right after Dom was snatched into the darkness, leaving both turtles confused by this.
"Dom?" Raph called, confused of where Dom had gone after going around the tunnel.
"Domenicoooo!" Mikey called. "No where did Dom went?"
Raph shrugged, not knowing the answer to that.
However, they were both alarmed when they felt the gust of wind behind the backs of their necks when something dashed swiftly behind them, making the turtles in red and orange turn around to see who or what it was, with Raph even drawing his Sais out and readied himself, while Mikey moved nervously behind his brother's shell for protection.
"Chicken." Raph snarled at his youngest brother's cowardice.
"Can't help it, bro!" Mikey defended. "I just don't like being stalked myself in the darkness. It's even much worse if you don't even know what is lurking in the dark. Trust me, because I've already seen a lot of horror movies where some people get trapped in a dark house haunted by evil presence for a long and scary thunderstorm night, with ugly but spooky monsters lurking in the dark places, behind the walls, under the floors and even in the ceiling, waiting for the right moment to strike and snatch their victim to their terrible deaths!"
Raph rolled his eyes before facepalming himself in annoyance to Mikey's gullibility. "Oh, boy! You have watched too much movies, bro."
Just as Raph was about to turn around to confront his scaredy-chicken brother for his gullibility, another dark figure landed unnoticed, gracefully and without letting a single sound from the ceiling behind of their shells, standing menacingly over the turtles in red and orange with its legs spread wide and hands raised over their heads.
However, Mikey did happen to heard the soft thuds of feet landing to the muddy and slimy floor behind of him, which made Mikey to turn around. Mikey's eyes went wide when he saw the dark figure standing behind them and was about to alert Raph, until the figure dashed to him, clapped his hand over Mikey's mouth and dragged him with him to the hole in the tunnel's floor.
"I'm gonna have a little talk with you and your wild imagination once this is... over?" Raph said as he turned to Mikey, only to notice that he wasn't there at all.
"Mikey? Mikey? Where did you goofball go? Mikey?" Raph said, looking into every direction, alarmed.
"Great. Just great. The good old turtle-luck is kicking once again." Raph muttered to himself. "All guys picked up, one by one. First Louie, then Dom and now Mikey. And I'm the only one left! Just great!"
Now that he himself was the only one left standing, Raph didn't care anymore about stealth and secrecy, seeing all of that as a pointless now. And so, Raph let his voice out from the top of his lungs.
"GO ON! BRING IT ON! I'M RIGHT HERE, RIGHT ON THE PLATE! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! COME ON AND GET ME! I CAN TAKE ALL FOUR OF YOU AT ONCE!" the turtle in red let out, letting his last words echo in the narrow space of the tunnels.
Nothing happened for a moment, but Raph remained ready for anything nonetheless.
However, Raph quickly heard the faint but growing and approaching spinning-like whizzing sound behind him, until out of sheer instincts, the turtle in red leaned his head and upper body backwards, just narrowly avoiding two spinning fans that flew towards him from behind. But after dodging them one time, the fans came back for him like boomerangs, though Raph managed to avoid them by jumping and spinning/flipping sideways over the fans as they flew under him.
However, after landing on his feet, Raph saw the movement in the corner of his left eye and turned to the left, only to raise his Sais up to block the attack from the dark figure attacking him from his left. He managed to catch his attacker's weapon's blade into his Sai's guards, but almost immediately his attacker flipped over his head and disappeared into the darkness. Raph turned to the direction where his attacker went, only to immediately duck his head down when another dark figure leaped at him and swung its long wooden staff at his head. Though the figure missed him and landed behind his shell, the figure jabbed Raph hard in the lower part of his shell with its staff before vanishing to the darkness.
"AGH HEY!" Raph yelped and turned around to face his attacker, only to realize that he was already gone, much to his frustration.
However, a third dark figure leaped unexpectedly out of the hole in the floor, where one of the other dark figured had earlier dragged Mikey into, and flew high in the air, holding pair of swords over its heads. The figure then swung its swords down at Raph as he started to fall towards turtle in red, knocking the Sais out of his hands before kicking him in the chest, sending him flying onto his shell.
Raph looked up as saw the figure leaping at him again and brought his sword down at him, but Raph rolled out of the way, causing the sword to hit with the CLANK to the floor.
Raph then picked up his Sais from the floor and, seeing that he was in disadvantage and realizing - albeit reluctantly admitting it even to himself - that he needed a better defenseable position than this, the turtle in red withdrew into the tunnels.
The dark figures, however, followed him right behind. The recent attacker with the swords ran after him into the tunnel, while another one with the fans leaped down from the ceiling of the tunnel and ran after him, with the third one with the wooden staff leaping from the tunnel entrance above of them to the archway on the second floor.
However, as the fourth dark figure with the blade-ended staff was just about to follow after the others, out from the darkness from behind the figure shoot couple chains at its feet, quickly wrapping around the figure's ankles, before someone in the other ends yanked them back, pulling the feet from under the figure. The figure let out the surprised yelp and fell with the SLPATS face-first into the muddy and slimy floor.
The figure lifted its head up and spat mud and slime out of its mouth in disgust, until someone unexpectedly started to pull from the chains again and dragged the figure backwards along the floor where Mikey had been earier dragged into.
The figure, realizing that it was game over for it, tried to grab onto anything solid or dig both its hands and the fingers into the floor to prevent from being pulled into the darkness. However, the muddy and slimy floor made such of attempt both impossible and in vain.
It was already too late anyway, as the figure slipped over the edge of the hole and disappeared into the darkness.
Meanwhile, in the tunnels, Raph ran down the tunnels in attempt to lose the pursuers.
First he turned at the first turn to the left tunnel and ran along it for a moment before he turned to the right by the next turn.
Afterwards he turned to the right at the third turn, and then again to the right, before he turned to the left and then proceeded to ran down the tunnel he was in currently.
However, halfway through the tunnel, the turtle in red noticed a crack in the ceiling that led to a dark space above this tunnel, and it was big enough for him to fit through. And so he decided to keep it as a perfect hiding place and possibly his vantage point if he wanted to take any of his pursuers by surprise if they happened to pass by here.
Raph then jumped towards the breach and flipped himself through of it to the dark tunnel, before he positioned himself to the edge, clad by the empty space's shadows, and remained there to wait for his pursuers.
And so, he waited and waited.
Waited and waited.
Waited and waited.
Waited and waited.
Waited and waited.
However, after waiting about 50 long minutes with no one of his pursuers passing by, Raph was starting to get both impatient and frustrated.
"C'mon! What's taking you so long? Where are you, anyway?" the turtle in red growled in impatience.
However, something suddenly emerged from the darkness behind Raph's shell and gently, albeit teasingly, patted the turtle in red to his right shoulder for the couple times, pulling his attention away from the breach.
"Huh?" Raph gasped and turned to peek over his shoulder.
However, his eyes went wide when he noticed someone standing right behind him.
"Here." said the familiar voice from the darkness.
Raph tried to turn around to face his attacker, but before he could do anything, he felt the hard whack from the wooden staff across his plastron shell, nearly knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying through the breach, until he hit with the SPLASH to the muddy and slimy floor, dropping his Sais to his sides.
Mud and slime-covered Raph moaned in pain and defeat, as he tried to get up from the ground. However, before he could the dark figure dropped through the breach and landed onto him, with its left foot over his own plastron shiled, pinning to the floor. And to add the insult to injury, the figure put its long staff's end against's Raph's right cheek and pinned his head to the floor. Raph tried to struggle, but it was no use.
He was down and defeated.
"Giving up?" the figure asked teasingly, spinning the end of its staff pressed against Raph's cheek around, causing Raph to let out slightly pained moans.
Raph really did not want to admit it that he had been taken by surprise undetected and defeated, but with his opponent standing above of him, having been pinned down to the floor by the chest and head and still feeling his wind knocked out, he growled at the realization that he was with very little choices than just to resign himself to his defeat.
"Ah! Okay, okay, okay, okay!" Raph exclaimed, albeit reluctantly, but clearly frustrated and moody over his defeat. "I'll give up! I'll give up! You happy?!"
Smirking down at Raph, the figure took its leg off from Raph's chest and pulled its staff back before stepping aside, allowing Raph to slowly get himself up from the floor.
"Very well then, off you go, good boy." the figure teased.
The turtle in red growled as he shot the dirty look at the figure as he picked up his Sais from the floor, before he turned around and began making his way towards the chamber. The figure followed Raph's going until he had disappeared behind the turn.
"Three down, one to go." the figure said victoriously and proudly, before he turned around to the other end of the tunnel. "Now, to find the last one."
However, as the figure was about to walk past the breach...
"No need to. He's already here." the voice said right above of the figure.
The figure looked up in confusion and surprise, but was unable to do anything before the pair of hands suddenly and quickly grabbed him by the figure's shoulders and bodily lifted him up from the lower tunnel's slimy floor and through the breach and into the darkness.
The figure let out the frightened yelp before it vanished from the sight, leaving behind nothing but the empty and dim tunnel.
###
Raph emerged out of the tunnels to the chamber where Splinter was waiting on the platform, still surly over his defeat in the tunnels.
And when he stepped out of the darkness and into the light, he saw that most of his team, both Dom and Mikey, were leaning side by side against the wall of the platform, in Master Splinter's left side. Both the turtles in white and orange looked to be no better mood than what he was.
And there was also Mary, leaning against the wall of the platform on Master Splinter's right, and she too looked quite surly. Her being here first came as a big surprise to Raph, as Mary is one of their family's best fighters in terms of skill, agility, flexibility and spiritual level, although she still remained in his and Leo's shadows.
Raph then turned to Mikey and Dom. "So, you guys got caught then: first you, Dom, and then you Mikey." the turtle in red said, though with the sarcasm that lacked any sort of humor like usually.
"I got ambushed when I was alone in that chamber. Distracted from one side and got attacked from behind my shell when I wasn't looking. First I thought that it was Louie playing tricks on me, but when I realized it wasn't Louie, it was too late. And If you guys hadn't fallen behind, I wouldn't have walked right into their trap." Dom muttered with the growl, as the turtle in white was in the foul mood.
Mikey turned to look at Dom, frowning eyes wide at Dom's accusations.
"Hey! Like I told you, something got us distracted in that tunnel, and I could've sworn it was one of the guys acting like somekind of Spiderman." the turtle in orange said. "And besides, when me and Raph were in that chamber, I got ambushed too from behind and dragged into that hole before I could've blink my eye."
Mikey then turned to Raph. "How about you, Raphie-boy. I though you could last a little longer than what the rest of us did."
Raph was about to answer, until he was cut off by the familiar voice, that belonged to the one who had caught up with him and ambushed him in that tunnel that had the breach into the dark space over the tunnel.
"I caught up with him and got him by surprise in that dark room above of the breach in the tunnel's ceiling." said the voice. "You guys can see that from the possible black line-like bruise in his plastron shell."
Raph, Mikey and Dom turned all towards the tunnel entrances on Master Splinter's right and saw Donnie walking slowly out of the shadows, his Bo-staff was resting on his left shoulder and his sulking head hanging low from his collapsed shoulders.
"But who am I to brag about that success, if I got caught myself due to my own methods being used against me." Donnie added as he walked to Mary.
"How about you, Mary? How did you got caught?" the turtle in purple inquired.
Mary snorted at the question, but opened her mouth to speak nonetheless. "Got dragged into the hole in the floor by the chains wrapped around my ankles, right after when Raph was all that was left... or supposedly was left, as there was no sign of the certain "fourth" member of YOUR team." the turtle in turquoise added, turning towards Raph, Dom and Mikey with the dirty look.
All three turtles in white, orange and red turned to each other once they realized who exactly was behind of Dom's and Mary's defeats the way how they described them... as well as the fact that whose fault it was that they were all caught one by one except HIM.
"LOUIE!" they all growled under their breaths.
"That sneaky shell-for-brain ditched us for the only reason: he used us all as the bain to lure us into lookiong for him in order to lure the other team members out of the hiding so that he can take them down one by one by himself... while the other team took us down one by one." Dom snarled.
"No fair! We were supposed to work as a team in this, yet all that we were were just paws at Louie's disposal!" Mikey said, equally annoyed by Louie's antics.
"Maybe, but his luck won't last long, now that he is all by himself out there, along with Arcee and Leo." Raph snarled, before punching his palm in seethed anger. "But once he steps out of one of those tunnels, I'm gonna give him a lesson about the consequences for ditching the fellow team members and using them as the bait for his own gain!"
"You have to wait for your turn when I'm done with him first, Raph." Dom said, swearing to give Louie the piece of his mind either verbally or physically, but otherwise gave Raph the firm nod in agreement. "Unless Leo catches him first and, hopefully, hurts either him physically or his oversized ego. So far, none of has has ever managed to catch Leo by surprise."
"Hopefully you're right, Dom. Hopefully you're right." Raph said, hoping that Louie would get the big dose of his own medicine.
###
Meanwhile, in the other parts of the tunnels, the figure with the fans ran down the tunnels while searching Raph.
First the figure reached to the star-shaped intersection that led into eight different direction. The figure looked cautiously to the left and right, glancing at each entrance individually, before the figure quickly picked the tunnel in between of one and two a clock and ran into it.
And when the figure arrived to the next turn, it suddenly stopped still like to the wall, as the figure's ears caught something that echoed loud and clear in the tunnels' narrowed space, not close but neither too far.
While listening the splash-like sounds a little while trying to figure out where they came from. And after moment of thinking it over, the figure thought that they sounded like running footsteps on a muddy floor of the tunnel, which owner was apparently heading away from its location.
After listening carefully a little more, the figure figured out that the echos of the footsteps came from the tunnel that led to the left.
And so, with that in mind, the figure turned to the left and left to follow the echoes of the footsteps.
Guided by the echos, the figure turned again to the left at the third turn.
Then the figure turned again to the left, before it turned to the right and then proceeded to run down the tunnel to its other end.
The figure then arrived to another narrow-spaced chamber, where it turned to the left, but entered into another tunnel that led directly forward.
Then the figure turned from the next turn to the right, and after running down that tunnel for a moment, it turned from the next turn to the left and continued onward along that tunnel, until the figure arrived to another intersection, from where led three more tunnels (not including the one the figure had just used to come here) to the three different directions.
The figure then heard more echoes of the steps from the tunnels, but this time, she couldn't tell from which direction the echos actually came from, as they sounded to be coming from every tunnel, even from the one she had just came out of.
It was as if its target was running circles around the figures location like shark for the prey stranded to the water, turning the hunter from the hunted.
And then, all of the sudden, the steps and their echoes faded away... and there was a grave silence that fell over the intersection.
Without losing the nerce due to the eerie silence, while holding the fans at ready, the figure looked around and into the darkness of each tunnel alternately, awaiting for its formerly-stalked-now-stalking prey to reveal itself, expecting its target to attack from any direction when the figure wasn't looking.
However, the figure had ignored to check the intersection's roof side, as high up there - hanging from the pipes going along the ceiling - was hanging another dark figure, who glared down at the figure in middle of the intersection with in the darkness glowing eyes.
And then, seizing this perfect chance to take the figure down below down by surprise, the figure in the ceiling let go of the pipes and let itself fall down and towards its prey, who was totally unaware of the figure that was falling towards it... and was getting closer...
...and closer...
...and closer...
...and closer...
...and closer...
...until the falling figure's feet landed to the muddy floor right behind of on the ground level standing figure.
However, nothing came upon the ground level figure afterwards of the falling figure's landing, though the small thuds and faint splashes of the mud and slime caused the ground level figure to jump in sudden fright, before the figure jumped away from whoever had landed behind of its back and turned around to face it with its fans.
However, nothing happened, as the recently landed falling figure just stood right there where it had landed, straight and still like the lifeless stone statue, with its hands raised high and palms opened wide as if in the manner of surrender.
The fan-wielding figure looked at in front of it standing figure in confusion, as if it had tried for the surprise attack from above and was very near to suggess. Then why it had just frozen in place like that without doing anything more beyond landing to the floor?
However, with the closer look, the fan-wielding figure noticed that there was the third figure standing next to the figure that fell from the ceiling to the floor, and this one was holding the long sword's blade up and near the standing figure's throat, holding it right there and daring it to move even an inch or suffer the consequences.
The figure held by the sword-point seemingly got the message and stood still, without moving an inch.
Then the fan-wielding figure took out something, the shape of which in the dim light of the tunnel looked just like a flashlight, before turning it on.
The intersection was immediately illuminated by the bright light of the torch wielded by the fan-wielding figure, and at the same time the light instantly revealed the identities of those present to each other.
The figure wielding the fans - revealed to be Pink Tessens - and the flashlight in its hand was revealed to be Artemisia.
Arcee then pointed her flashlight at the recently arrived figure who held from the ceiling landed figure at sword-point, revealing it to be none other than her big brother, Leonardo, who held his Katana with both hands in perfectly still horizontal position and stretched out forward, that its tip was nearly pressed against the last unidentified figure's throat.
Leo was momentarily blinded when Arcee's flashlight him his eyes, forcing him to take his left hand from his Katana's handle and cover his eyes from the light with it, prompting the turtle in pink to turn the flashlight's light at the figure Leo was holding in place wtith his sword.
That figure was revealed to be the missing turtle from the second team, Lorenzo. Louie had lifted his chin high up, as in the flashlight's light flashing tip of Leo's Katana had been lifted higher along the turtle in black's throat and pressed almost against his green skin, leaving only a couple inches of space between Louie's skin and Leo's blade's sharp edge.
As the flashlight's light hit the turtle in black, Louie blinked his eyes before clamping them shut and turned away from the light.
"Louie?" Arcee gasped.
"Mind to take that light off my face, Arcee?!" Louie impatiently requested.
Arcee immediatly turned the flashlight's beam away from her two brothers, pointing it towards the higher walls and the ceiling of the intersection. With the light gone, Louie glanced sideways at Leo, who was still holding his Katana against his throat.
"Agh! Blasted!" Louie swore, annoyed for ending up getting caught like this without him even noticing his big brother. "I was so close to catching Arcee by surprise without being detected. And yet I never even saw you coming, Leo."
Leo smirked at his brother rather teasingly. "And you never even saw or heard me following right behind you, Louie, especially after I noticed that both Donnie and Mary were suspiciously missing from our team after Donnie took out Raph, presumably by your hand's work, I guess." Leo remarked, before the turtle in blue lowered his sword down.
Once Leo's blade was pulled away from his throat, Louie gasped for breath he hadn't even noticed he was holding all the time had Leo kept his cold steel weapon's ice-cold blade pressed on his throat.
However, Arcee quickly pointed her flashlight at Louie again, the look on her initially surprised faces turning quickly into annoyed frown. And when the flashlight hit him again, Louie covered his eyes wth his hand to block out the light.
"I thought that it was Raph whom I was pursuing in these tunnels, yet it turned out to be just you." Arcee said, her voice sounding more accusing rather than surprised anymore.
"Yeah. So?" Louie shrugged indifferently.
Also Leo's smile faded away and his voice turned to serious when he spoke next. "And we didn't see you with him or Mikey and Dom, as you should have per Master Splinter's instructions. Did you just run away from them to go on solo mission, even though this exercise was supposed to be about working with others as a team in addition to stealth?"
"Well, what do you think, Leo?" Louie said with the eye-roll as he turned to Leo. "Unlike what you did when you selected you as the leader of your team according to Master Splinter's instructions, the guys in mine were too busy of bickering about each other's incompetence to choose the leader from among us. Ask Raph and Dom. Those two know better than what I do, as I left them before their argument could've escalated."
"I intend to, Louie." Leo promised.
The turtle in blue then sheathed his sword and taking a strong grip on the turtle in black's left shoulder while Arcee grabbed on his right shoulder while keeping a flashlight in her free hand pointed forward to enlighten their way back to the chamber where others wee waiting.
"But then you too get permission to explain your reasons for going on solo against Master Splinter's instructions. And don't expect him to be happy with your reasons." Leo added.
"Well... Louie said, shrugging his shoulders. "At least I'm not alone in the boat when it is about the shared failure to work as a team."
With that, Leo and Arcee led Louie out of the intersection, back in the tunnels and towards the chamber where the others were waiting for them.
TO BE CONTINUED...
TRIVIA
1) = Splinter in 2003 series has never said Hajime, unlike the other incarnation of Splinter in 2012 series whenever he and the turtles are training, so I decided to add that one just this once.
2) = The turtles, at least Leo's, Donnie's, Mary's and Arcee's "thinking-riddle" is the reference to the similiar - though slightly changed - scene from the episode "Return To New York, Part 1", where the turtles went through the thinking-riddle about them all thinking about the same thing, regarding to the Shredder's belief of them being dead and thus being ill-prepared for their attack.
3) = The reference to the similiar scene from the episode of the 2012 series' "New Girl In Town", where Mikey innocently voted to lead the team during of Leo's and Raph's heated argument about Leo's leadership skills and Raph constantly questioning them, only to be glared down by the two.
4) = A clear reference to Spiderman, as he sometimes lowers himself down upside down.