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The sun shone through the window and hit Raph's face. His emerald green eyes opened, and his hand moved to get some of his long black hair out of his face. He gets up and changes out of his PJs and into his usual attire, a white tank top and black sweatpants. He looked to his mirror in the corner, all his tanned skin scarred. “Augh I need to dye the tips again,” He groaned, seeing the red tips of his hair fading. He turned away from the mirror and started to walk downstairs to have breakfast.
“Good morning bro!” A tan, middle-sized guy said in a chipper tone. His baby blue eyes sparked as his sunrise-dyed hair bounded as he did. “Morning Mikey and watch what you're making,” Raph laughed before asking, “What are you making?” Mikey replied, “I am watching them! And I’m making eggs.” Mikey flipped the eggs and then slid them onto a plate. He grabbed the plate and went to sit down. Raph wanted a simple breakfast. He poured himself some cereal and sat down at the table with Mikey. Soon a tall and pale man walked into the dining room.
“Good morning, brothers,” The man yawned and sat down. “Morning Donnie,” both Mikey and Raph said. Donnie tossed a letter onto the table in front of Raph, His chocolate brown eyes looking at Raph. Donnie absentmindedly started to play with his straight and short black hair.
Raph picked up the letter and questioned, “What’s this”? Donnie's reply was quick, “A job.” With that Raph opened the letter and read. His face paled a bit as worry thought, “ oh no. ” Mikey looked at Raph. “Are you alright? What is it?” He asked with wonder dancing in his eyes. “It’s a job to get four artefacts that were lost..” Raph said before rereading the part of the letter that scared him so much. “Anything else? Is it that easy?” Donnie asked but knew something was up. Mikey chimed in, “Is someone evil trying to get them? Are the artefacts super powerful?” Raph sighed and set the letter down, “yes and yes... The person trying to get them is Aoi Kame.” The name filled the air with dread.
“Aoi Kame, the Aoi Kame, the one who is faster than sound? The one that puts killers to SHAME?!” Donnie yelled like Raph had said they were fighting a god. “Yes, that one. We don’t have to do it, but if we don’t, Aoi Kame might get god-like powers from the artefacts,” Raph said, a bit annoyed at the loud yell.
Donnie sighed “guess we’re doing this then?” Raph nodded, and Mikey gave a thumbs up. “Alright, we’ll leave soon, so go get ready,” Raph said while getting up and walking off to get his things. A few minutes later, Raph is sitting in the passenger seat of their truck. While waiting for his younger brothers, he pulled out his knitting needles and worked on a blue scarf. Donnie then got into the driver's side and sat down before starting, “Mikey will be here in-” Before he could finish his sentence, Mikey jumped in the backseat cutting him off, “Let's GO!” He states while giggling. Followed by the two older brothers sighing and Donnie starting to drive away. Thirty minutes go by before the engine stops and Donnie says, “We’re here.” The place they arrived at was an old and worn-down warehouse. Its walls look like they would fall any minute. “ Let’s hope it doesn’t fall on us, ” Raph thought as they walked into the warehouse. The inside was nothing like the outside. The walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in colourful vines thick and thin. Raph felt like the place watched them like it was alive.
“THIS IS SO COOL!” Mikey exclaimed while spinning around. Donnie and Raph shared a disagreeing look but said nothing. Raph led the group as they walked farther into the warehouse. As they walked, vines grew more colourful, bright and unnaturally coloured.
“Some of these shouldn’t even exist!” Donnie exclaimed in amazement. Though it was the opposite for Raph, it worried him greatly “ then why do they exist? What if the vines are here to protect the artefact?! ” His thoughts of what-ifs filled his head. Then Mikey ran ahead of the group. “Mikey!” The other two yelled as they chased after him. Mikey quickly ran into something that caused him to fall. Raph looked to see what Mikey had bumped into and saw him, a short man with black hair in a bun, his face covered by a fox mask. He was wearing an outfit decked in weapons and black. Aoi Kame stood in front of them and reached a hand for Mikey. With some quick thinking, Raph pulled one of his knives out and threw it at Aoi Kame. He dodged the knife with ease but also moved away from Mikey. Donnie ran over and helped Mikey up. “I’ll take him on. You guys get the artefact!” Raph demanded and left no room to argue. Then he ran at Aoi Kame. The brothers nodded and ran off following orders. Raph pulled one of his sai and tried to strike Aoi Kame. In turn, Aoi Kame pulled a sword off his back and blocked. Aoi Kame used his small size to slide under Raph and hit him from behind. “Augh! Why you!” Raph growled as the hit caused him to crash into one of the vined walls. Raph's back ached as he stood back up, yelling at him in protest. Raph saw red as his rage and anger took over his mind and body. Blinded by rage, he tried to land a hit on Aoi Kame but failed every time due to Aoi Kame’s speed. “Stop dodging and fight me!” He demanded with deadly intent. Aoi Kame just continued to dodge with the grace of a swan, moving like paper in the wind.
Raph's rage was killed by Mikey yelling with panic in his voice, “we got it! RUN!!” With that, the vines on the walls started to move, reaching for them. Raph slashed at the vines that tried to grab him and ran to his brothers. Seeing the artefact in Mikey's hand reveals it to be a paintbrush. A cry stopped him from questioning it, “help!” Donnie was the source of the cry. His leg was trapped in the vines. The vines were slowly creeping up Donnie. Before Raph could run over and help, one of his knives flew past his head, almost hitting him. It missed by the smallest amount and cut the vines that trapped Donnie.
“Thank you, now let’s go!” Donnie said while running up to him. “No…no problem Donnie,” Raph said as he ran with Donnie to the truck. “ I didn’t throw that means…Aoi Kame did? Why?” His thoughts wandered. The three got in the truck and got in and drove off. Aoi Kame watched as they left. By the time they returned home, the sun hit noon.
“That was so…cool!” Mikey gushed as he pumped his fist in the air as they entered the living room. Donnie retorted, “Sure ‘cool’ if you call almost being taken by vines ‘cool’ Mikey!” Mikey's name was said with annoying anger. Raph sighed “you two can fight later but right now is anyone else hurt? Because I got a sword to the back by that damn Aoi Kame.” He spat out as he sat down. That grabbed the others' attention, and Donnie rushed over to look at Raph's back. Donnie gasped in shock and stated, “You only have a 7-inch long scratch! It’s not even an inch deep!” This shocked the other two in the room. It was as if time stopped before starting again when Mikey and Raph yelled, “WHAT!?” Raph's thoughts began to race, “ how!? Why didn’t he kill me? Does he want a challenge to get the artefacts? Is he just toying with me? ”
He was pulled out of his panic by Mikey asking, “What do we do with this?” In Mikey's hand was the paintbrush artefact. The two older brothers shared a look before Raph said, “You keep it to yourself for now.” Mikey hugged Raph and thanked him before yawning while asking, “When’s the next mission to get the next one?” Raph looked at his younger brothers and saw Donnie still shaken up. Mikey was tired. He smiled, “Both of you should rest. We will go get the next two artefacts tonight.” His tone was soft but didn’t leave room to negotiate. Donnie groaned while Mikey smiled. They both headed off to their rooms and left Raph alone. Raph pulled out his knitting needles and the blue scarf and continued to work. Soon a photo on the stand next to him caught his eye. It was a photo that contained the brothers as teens smiling, though there was one more person in the photograph. That being a short boy with black hair in a braid and eyes that held the ocean. Raph quickly turned the photo down before tears could start up. Time flies as he finishes the scarf. The sun leaves the sky as the stars and moon start their shift.
“You guys ready?” Raph asked, looking at the other two who stood in front of the truck. They nodded and got in. Donnie is in the driver's seat, and Mikey is in the back. Raph then got in the passenger seat. Mikey asked, “So you two are getting the next two?” this confused the other two brothers, “what? Why?” They asked Mikey simply stated, “Because I got the first one?” Mikey laughed. “I guess we could do that”? Raph said, wondering what harm it could do. “We have arrived,” Donnie said as he stopped the engine. Before they got out, Raph stated, “Just in and out, alright?” The two other brothers nodded. As they got out they stared at the building in front of them. It was new and made the brothers look dirt poor. They walked inside to see it was fancy looking, with riches all around them.
“Which ones are the artefacts?” Donnie questioned as he looked at Mikey. “That’s up to you guys to find out,” Mikey said while staring at everything. With that, an argument started between the two brothers. Raph lightly hit the back of both of their heads. “GUYS! Stop fighting, now, Mikey, how did you know the last artefact was what we were looking for?” Raph sighed. “Well, it was just a feeling, like it was calling to me,” Mikey shrugged. “Right…well then, let’s start looking,” Raph said as they split up. He walked around for a few minutes before he got the feeling of being watched. Raph knew not to ignore it, so he shouted, “Show yourself! I know you're there.” Aoi Kame jumped down in front of Raph while holding a different sword than last time. The sword had ancient writing down its blade.
“You have an artefact!?” He said in a panic. Then he felt something, a feeling like something was calling to him. He dared to look at what was calling him, revealing a pair of knitting nettles. “ Their artefacts!” He quickly grabbed them and launched at Aoi Kame. As the battle continued, needles clashed with a sword. The two looked as if they were sparing.
“Raph, we found it!” Donnie and Mikey yelled as they turned the corner. Raph didn’t take his eyes off Aoi Kame to look. Though he could swear, there was fear in Aoi Kame’s eyes for a minute. The fight continued, and Aoi Kame’s eyes kept pulling at something in Raph's gut. They held something familiar in those eyes, but Raph couldn’t figure out what. Then a scream filled his ears.
“Mikey!” Donnie yelled. Raph turned to look at the two. He saw a knife had cut Mikey's leg deeply. “You…you hurt my brother… IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO DIE!” Raph roared with a fire burning deep in his eyes. Worry and regret shot across Aoi Kame’s eyes though Raph didn’t care. The two were locked in a deadly dance. Raph was on a heavy offensive, leaving Aoi Kame with no room to do anything but defensive. Raph's fiery eyes and burning rage caused a fire to be born from the knitting needles. The fire reflected in Aoi Kame’s eyes threw Raph's mind to the past. A fire had surrounded two teen boys in a house. One was a younger Raph, and the other was a short boy with his hair in a bun and ocean-blue eyes.
“Raph take care of our little brothers for me?” The boy somberly said. Raph was confused by the statement and asked, “What are you saying? You can do that just fine!” Worry filled his voice. The fire danced around the boys, laughing at them. “Because I’m not making it out,” The boy said and pushed Raph out the fire and out the door. Then a beam from the ceiling fell and separated the brothers. “Leo!” Raph cried as his older brother’s scream filled the quiet night.
Raph was snapped back to the present by the same shriek. His rage fizzled out as he saw the sword that Aoi Kame had held clattered to the floor. Raph looked down to see those ocean-like eyes staring back at him. Raph let go of both knitting needles to see one embedded in the lower quadrant of Aoi’s abdomen. “Leo…?” Raph shakily asked. Leo just put a hand on Raph's cheek. Raph lowered Leo to the ground. With that, the other two brothers overcame their shock and ran over. Donnie picked up the sword artefact that was dropped as he ran. Raph pulled Leo's mask off to reveal it was him, but his face had horrible burns on his skin.
“We have to help him! We can help him, right Donnie?” Mikey asked as he fell to Leo's side. “Yes, though not in the normal way. We have to use the artefacts! Just think about the wound being gone,” Donnie said in a worried tone. With the intrusions, Raph pulled out the knitting needle as his eyes watered. “ I’m not losing you again, never again.” Raph thought before a blinding white light came off Leo. When they could open their eyes again, they saw Leo sitting up with his wound healed. A warm but sad smile adorned his face. The brothers quickly tackled their oldest brother while crying and laughing. Once they calmed down, Raph asked a few questions, “One, how did you survive? Two, where were you? Three, WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY IT WAS YOU!?” He fired off. Leo looked away from the brothers before signing his answers, “One and two, I was with the people who saved me, and I lost my memory for a few years. Three, as you can see, I can’t talk, and I tried to tell you, but you attacked me before I could.” His face had turned to look at the brothers again to show he was annoyed.
“Oh, sorry about that Leo,” Raph said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, we’re all probably tired, so why don’t we head home?” Donnie said as he nudged Mikey as he started to fall asleep. Leo smiled at the word home. “Home we go,” Mikey yawned while sleep was fighting him. Raph helped Leo up. With Leo now up, he picked up Mikey, who promptly fell asleep in his arms. The three walked to the truck. Donnie got in the driver’s seat, Raph in the passenger seat and Leo and Mikey in the back. The engine started up, and they drove off. During the drive home, Raph grabbed the blue scarf that he finished. He looked at Leo and handed it to him. Leo just smiled, put it on, and signed “thank you.” Once they got back home, they all went to their rooms. Leo had carried Mikey to his room before heading back to the couch to sleep. As they slept the sun took over the sky again, sending the moon and stars away. The sun shone through the window and hit Raph's face. He got up and got ready for the day. He walked downstairs to hear Mikey yell happily, “Leo IS NOW THE SHORTEST OF US!” Followed by Mikey's laugh. As Raph gets to the living room, he sees Leo sign, “That may be true, but I can still kick your butt.” Leo followed that up by tackling Mikey.
“Morning…little brothers,” Raph said, smirking at Leo. Causing Mikey to start cackling and Leo to launch at Raph, who fell to the ground. Donnie walked into the living room and said, “The artefacts are safe,” before he saw Mikey dying of laughter and Leo and Raph wrestling. “What is going on?” He asked, not knowing he had sealed his own fate. The other three brothers shared a look of chaos before they all jumped at Donnie, taking him down. Laughter filled the home as it was finally whole again.