Donatello, I Don't Understand... (Book 2)

Training Hard

(Donnie POV)

For the next few days, everyone was in the dojo. The dragons watched, me and the guys, along with Naomi, helped train Julie. She kept most of her old fighting styles and understood the basics quickly like she did before.

Naomi really didn't join in as much, and Sensei let her not participate. But it was mostly with the harder and rambunctious fighting. Like when most of us decided to join in a dog, or in our case a turtle, pile. Raph even started to notice Naomi's inactivity.

Eveutally, they stopped coming to the training sessions. I was stuck more with Julie now since she had gotten better to the point of sparring with the rest of us instead of turtle piling with us all. She reminded me of what she was like in the past. Her movements were fluent, eyes locked on her target, and very quick to react.

Yet for the next few weeks, which turned into a month, she could never take me down and pin me to the ground like she was really good at in the past on most occasions. But I thought it was the lack of training that made her like this, even though she had remembered most of her moves rather quickly like her body rememebered it.

Even though Sensei tried to continue teaching Julie which she knew way back when, she was really impaitent To get a weapon like mine or Mikey's. She was always messing with the weapons shelf that held all sorts of weapons.

I was the one that usually had to pry her away from the shelf to continue with the training. She would agree evenutally, but it took a while. Because the arguments would sound like this:

"I want a weapon!"

"Not yet."

"Why?"

"You'd hurt yourself."

"Would not!"

I would sigh and look around for a moment before looking back at her, "Sensei hasn't given you permission."

Julie would pause at this moment and then sigh in defeat and set the weapon down, "You're right..." But she would usually would try and pull a slick one by looking at Sensei and asking, "Can I have a weapon yet?"

Sensei would reply, "No..."

She would get ready for another spar.

This was how it was while she was training for the month and a half. Then around the second month of training, she actually took me down in a fight! It was like any fight...

Sensei yelled out, "Hijamae!"

Julie, like always, feinted a right attack. I went into the feint this time to throw her off and tried a simple punch. She was shocked when I leaned into her feint, but she saw the hit coming and blocked it with her forearm.

She then pushed me back, sweeping her leg out to trip me. I took a step back, yes, but the sweep unbalanced me for a second. She felt the unbalance and pushed me back again. I fell on my sheel and grounded my teeth together.

Her eyes were wide with shock and the fact that she actually took my down before jumping up with her arms raised. "YES! I got Donatello on the ground!"

Sensei chuckled on the other side of the room. I sat up and blinked for a second, trying to get my bearings, then watching Julie jump up and down in delight. She waggled her butt and her tail swished back and forth. I had to stop myself from admiring her...

She looked at me before offering a hand to me, smiling and wagging her tail. I blushed and smiled and took her hand. She helped me up and then hopped around her. "You wanna go another round?"

"Really?" I asked.

"I wanna see if it wasn't a fluke or if you had gone easy!" she pointed her finger her at me and glared softly.

I held up my hands in defense and nodded, "Okay, okay..!"

She smiled and flikced her tail and nodded, "Good! Sensei?"

Sensei was watching us before smiling, "I have not said Yamae yet. You two may still fight."

Julie and I looked at one another before she lunged at me and, I was a little distracted, and Julie kicked me down. I was stunned and I thought I saw stars. I heard Julie chearing again and Sensei finally calling Yamae.

I sat up when my thoughts were back in their slots and looked up. Julie was looking at me with the happiest smile I'd seen in a while. I couldn't help but smile as well. She took me off guard twice, but if she was happy, I was happy.

Sensei finally stepped up and Julie stopped bouncing on her heels and looked at Splinter, bowing respectufully as I got up. He looked at the two of and smiled softly.

"Donatello, retrieve Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and Naomi.," he said as he turned to me. I bowed as I left.

Naomi and Raph were in their room, Raph surprisingly doing something nice and giving Naomi a back massage. When I opened their cracked door, Raph looked up and growled, Naomi stopping him with a whap from her tail to his side.

"What is it, Donnie?" he asked, holding back a snarl.

"Sensei wants us in the dojo," I replied.

He looked at Naomi and Naomi smiled and nodded. Raph looked at me and nodded. I nodded back and left to find Leo and Mikey. Mikey was cooking a short supper and Leo was watching some rerun shows of the super mega robot team.

They all came in the dojo, but Naomi was sitting down near the wall, watching with Raph beside her. I watched in curiosity. They seemed expectant...

"Now," Sensei interuppted my thoughts. I turned to him and Julie. Julie was in front of him, smiling and swishing tail a little. "I have brought you here to watch Juliet retrieve her weapon."

I looked up in intrest. She's getting a weapon now? Not that I was complaining... It was just shocking. Shol cooed near the tree, watching with Topaz beside him. Julie looked at them wearily like they would switch to evil firebreathing dragons in an instant.

Sensei left for his room before coming back in with a bow. Not just a regular bow, but the bow. The bow that his wife, Teng Shen had used for a short time in her life. It was an elegant weapon. It had a light wood finish near the ends where the string connects with the other side. Then, it was a darker color in the middle.

I smiled as Julie nearly dropped her mouth in awe and shock. She probably didn't know how important this was to Sensei, or her past. This was the bow that she held in the battle with Shredder. And the bow that made Naomi blind in one eye for a short period of time.

Sensei offered the bow, "I give you, Juliet, the bow of Teng Shen. Make sure you use it wisely. Bows are a beautiful and deadly weapon that require sharp accuracy. I believe you posses these traits." The bow was in Sensei's hands as he offered Julie the bow.

She took it carefully and gleefully, her tail flicking. But, she suddenly paused. We all watched curiously, Shol shuffling and Naomi getting up, as we noticed her eyes flick from her usual brown to a silver before back to brown again.

Then, she fainted.