TMNT 2003: I'm Sorry I'm Useless
As the turtles continue their recovery from their intense fight with the Shredder, Leo suddenly develops a hatred towards Mikey which causes the young turtle to question his worth in the family. Will the two brothers resolve their issues or will Leo drive Mikey further away from the family altogether? The 2nd episode of the story series 'I'm Sorry'.
Takes place in between the Season 4 episodes 'Sid' and 'The People's Choice'.
I do not own TMNT 2003.
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Chapter 1-A Brother's Resentment
It was beautiful and peaceful morning at Casey's Farmhouse, and the turtle brothers were outside doing some training whilst Master Splinter was on the porch having a cup of tea as he observed them from afar.
However, things were not so peaceful with the turtle brothers during their training session.
"Get up!" Leo shouted when Mikey collapsed due to a sharp pain in his still-healing legs.
"J-Just gimme a minute, Leo…" Mikey said shakily as he slowly tried to stand up on his aching legs.
"I said, GET UP! Stop slacking off, Michelangelo!" Leo commanded, more harshly this time.
"I'm not slacking off! My legs are-"
"Yes, you are! In fact, Master Splinter almost died on that spaceship because of you and your lack of awareness, so don't start doing the same with me!" Leo scolded, cutting off Mikey's sentence in the process.
"Leo…!" Donnie cried out crossly.
"Don't deny it, Donnie! You're thinking the same as I am!" Leo snapped at the purple-banded turtle.
"I'm sorry, Leo, but I can't help it if my legs still hurt after they got busted by the Shredder…!" Mikey told his oldest brother firmly.
"Stop making excuses, Michelangelo! Even the most severely wounded ninja still stands back up and keeps fighting! If you don't step up to the plate and be a proper ninja, you're going to get every single one of us killed one day!" Leo told Mikey in a threatening tone.
Those words ticked Mikey off; he had never deliberately put anyone of his family members in danger in his whole life, and he would always do his best at his level as a ninja to help those in need.
"Let me tell you something right now, Leo; I didn't ask for Master Splinter to save me from being electrocuted by the Shredder! In fact, the Shredder was coming from behind me, so I didn't know that he had an electric cable in his hand until it was too late!" Mikey explained defensively.
"Dat's da problem with ya, Mikey; ya never pay attention ta what's around ya!" Raph spat out angrily in frustration.
"Raph's right, and you always try to run away like a coward whenever things got tough!" Leo added in agreement.
"I can't do the things you do cos I'm not the same as you! We're all different, Leo! In other words; I'm NOT you or anyone else! I am ME! You gotta accept that and deal with it!" Mikey pointed out in frustration.
"Why should I!? You do nothing vital for this family at all! Raph, Donnie, and I are the only ones who actually do something to keep our family safe! All you do is mess around like everything's just one big JOKE!" Leo said cruelly.
"Wha-? No, it's not like that at all…!" Mikey strongly denied.
"You know what, Michelangelo; just get out of our sights and don't ever join our training sessions again! Because no matter how many times you train with us, you never use what you've learned in a real battle!" Leo demanded harshly.
Mikey was extremely shocked; he had never been scolded in such a cruel way by his oldest brother before. Normally, whenever Mikey did something wrong or unnecessary during training or missions, he would be given a firm telling off by either his brothers or Master Splinter before being given caring advise on how he should improve himself in the future. This time, it was far worse; Leo was scolding his youngest brother as if he had murdered someone close to him, and he had been like this since everyone arrived at the farmhouse to heal and recuperate from their intense battle that they had with the Shredder.
He was in so much shock that he didn't realise that he had been silently standing still for the past minute.
"Hey! Are ya deaf or somethin'? He said, LEAVE!" Raph shouted before he shoved Mikey hard, causing the youngest turtle to fall and hit the ground with a grunt.
"Mikey! What was that for, Raph!?" Donnie scolded his red-banded brother before he helped Mikey sit back up.
"Go…leave us…You are no longer our brother…" Leo demanded in an emotionless tone as he looked down on him with his arms crossed.
"Yeah, I want nothin' ta do with ya either…! Now, get outta my sight!" Raph told his brother cruelly.
Those words made Mikey's world crumble around him. The emotions that he was feeling were between sadness and anger, to a point where he tightly clutched his hands into fists whilst his eyes filled with tears, despite developing a frustrated expression on his face.
"Mikey, go back to the farmhouse…there's no point in trying to fight back right now…" Donnie whispered, desperately trying to get Mikey away from Leo and Raph in order to prevent another fight from breaking out.
As much as he wanted to protest against Donnie's plea for him to leave, Mikey knew that fighting Leo would just make things worse for all four of them, so instead, he agreed to Donnie's words with just a slight nod before he got up, turned around, and hastily walked back towards the farmhouse without looking back at his brothers.
Master Splinter had concern on his face when he saw Mikey come back over to the farmhouse with a heartbroken look on his face.
"Michelangelo-"
"I'm so sorry, sensei…" Mikey cut off Master Splinter's sentence with an apology as he stormed past him with tears now falling down his face.
Master Splinter saddened even more at his youngest son as he watched him go inside the farmhouse before he turned back around to look at his older sons with a stern expression on his face.
Seeing their sensei look at them in this way, both Raph and Donnie looked at him with guilt and sadness showing on their faces. Leo, on the other hand, was not so sympathetic as he just turned around and crossed his arms in a huff.
"Come on, you two…we'd better go and explain to Master Splinter about what's happened…" Donnie said with a sigh, knowing that the old sensei would want to know the whole story whenever something serious happened between the four turtles.
Despite their reluctance, Leo and Raph followed Donnie back towards the farmhouse to inform their sensei and father-figure of what just transpired.
/
20 minutes later…
After hearing their story, Master Splinter looked down with a sad and disappointed face; he couldn't believe his ears when his sons told him that they didn't want Mikey on their team or joining them on their training sessions anymore because of what happened during the events of their battle with the Shredder.
Even though he wanted to agree with some of what his three older sons said about Mikey, Master Splinter had never thought of him as a horrible son just because he was not as serious as his brothers or for what the Shredder did to his family.
"Where is Mikey now?" Donnie asked April and Casey, both of whom were looking at him and his older brothers with similar expressions to those of Master Splinter's.
"He's upstairs in the shared bedroom…We saw him walk up there not long ago…" April answered sadly.
"Good! He can stay up there without any food for the rest of the day too!" Leo suddenly said angrily. Those words shocked the others.
"You can't be serious, Leo…!" Donnie said with wide eyes.
"He needs to think about what he's done to our family, Donnie, and being confined upstairs without any dinner tonight will be his first punishment!" Leo snapped.
"Yeah, and besides; he's almost eaten everythin' in dis place already!" Raph said strongly in agreement.
"Also, no-one is allowed to talk to him for the remainder of our time here, understood?" Leo then said firmly before he walked out of the door to resume training, with Raph following him from behind.
"What kind of a sick joke is dis, man!?" Casey said furiously at Leo's idea of everyone ignoring Mikey for the rest of the group's stay at the farmhouse.
"Casey, I don't like this either, but whatever Leo says goes…once he's made up his mind about something, he sticks to it, no matter what…!" Donnie said sadly and fearfully before walking away to follow his older brothers.
April, Casey, and Master Splinter watched the three older turtles leave to continue with their training. They all knew that Donnie wanted to disobey Leo's orders, but they could tell that he was too scared to do so as he didn't want another fight to break out and cause more grief for Mikey.
For now, the trio just made some hot drinks and headed towards the living room to try and calm their nerves.
/
Later in the evening…
It was dinnertime, and everyone was quietly eating their food in the living room, except Mikey who was currently banned from having anything to eat tonight. After finishing their meals, Master Splinter and the three older turtles were now sitting in the living room drinking warm beverages, whilst April and Casey were in the kitchen secretly preparing a meal for the youngest turtle.
The atmosphere during dinner was a bit awkward and tense at the same time; Leo was still wearing a frustrated look on his face whilst eating his food because he felt that he, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were not doing enough to improve themselves during today's training.
Raph and Donnie hardly said a word because they were both feeling concerned about Leo's recent change in attitude and treatment towards Mikey, despite Raph feeling a similar way to the blue-banded turtle.
Master Splinter was quietly meditating in his single arm chair whilst holding a warm cup of tea on his lap. He was trying to both soothe his spirit after the events of earlier today and connect with his youngest son's spirit at the same time, which he was struggling to do because he noticed that Mikey's spirit was distancing away from him, as if he was scared of his own father. This worried the old sensei greatly; he didn't like the idea of his youngest son believing that he was the main cause of everyone's downfall just because Leo and Raph told him so during their earlier training session.
After Casey plated up the food, he passed it to April who quietly headed towards the staircase and was about to go up them when she saw Leo looking at her.
"April, where are you going?" Leo asked suspiciously after sensing her movements.
"I'm going to the bathroom. Why? Am I banned from doing that too?" April answered firmly whilst hiding the plate on the stairs, nearly snapping at her blue-banded turtle friend due to still feeling upset with his current attitude towards his youngest brother.
"…No…go ahead…" Leo said quietly whilst looking away, despite still feeling suspicious of her true intentions on the inside.
April huffed before she resumed her walk up the stairs to sneak the meal she made into the shared bedroom.
When she entered the shared bedroom, April couldn't find Mikey at first before she heard the sound of muffled sobbing coming from the right corner of the room. She approached the area slowly and what she saw next broke her heart; Mikey was curled up against the bed and he kept his face hidden in his folded arms, which were resting against his knees, as he cried his heart out.
"Hey, Mikey…I've brought you some food…" April said kindly as she placed a gentle hand on Mikey's shoulder, making him jump slightly and look up to see her in front of him.
"A-April…? W-What are you doing here? If Leo finds you up here with me-"
"I don't care what he might do! I'm not going to just leave you up here to starve…!" April hissed firmly, cutting off Mikey, before handing him the plate.
Mikey accepted the plate whilst giving April a sad but grateful smile. He then started to eat the food, but at a slow pace since he was still trying to calm down from his crying fit. Eventually, he was able to finish his meal and he put the plate down next to him before letting out a sad sigh.
"I'm so sorry about what happened, Mikey…I never knew it had gotten so bad between you and your brothers…" April said sympathetically.
"D-Don't be…I'm the one who almost got my own father killed for a second time…!" Mikey replied tearfully.
"Hey, you shouldn't blame yourself like that…It's the Shredder's fault for causing this mess…!" April soothed whilst holding Mikey's hand.
"W-What am I gonna do now, though? Leo and Raph hate my guts now and don't want anything to do with me anymore, and Donnie doesn't know whether to be on my side or not! And I'll bet Master Splinter wants to disown me cos I almost killed him again!" Mikey said in despair whilst wiping his tears away, though more kept on falling.
"Don't worry, Mikey; everything will be alright with a bit of time…Leo's just going through some emotional issues that he's struggling to control right now, and Master Splinter would never disown you because he loves you...Be strong, ok?" April reassured her youngest turtle friend before giving him a hug.
"Thanks, April…" Mikey said gratefully as he accepted the hug for a moment before letting go and handing the plate back to April.
"You're welcome, Mikey…" April replied as she took the plate and stood back up. "I have to go, now; Leo might come up and look for me if I stay here for too long…"
"It's fine, April…I don't want you getting into trouble cos of me, anyway…" Mikey replied in understanding before standing up and heading for his bed.
"Besides, I'm gonna turn in for the night…" He added as he removed the blanket and climbed into bed.
"Ok, Mikey…Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning…" April said with a warm smile as she made her way towards the bathroom.
"Sure…goodnight…" Mikey replied with a small smile before he climbed onto the bed.
However, Mikey didn't fall asleep yet as he started to feel unsure of whether he might see her and his family again or not, because now that he was no longer part of the team, he was starting to think about the possibility of leaving for good.