I didn't like this. I've been getting bad feelings about Raph lately and it's gradually getting worse. He's more... hot headed than usual. He's been blowing me off to train instead. And I've been getting worried. Especially now that he was training against Leo.
But what was supposed to be a training match quickly turned into an actual fighting and wrestling match.
"The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle. Now quit playing games and show me what you really got!" Raph glared at his brother.
We watched from the sidelines as he started becoming more and more aggressive, punching Leo relentlessly and repeatedly before slamming Leo down to the ground.
"Raphael! Enough!" Father stepped in and pushed him back, allowing Leo to stand up as he was hunched over in pain.
"Come on, Leo. Scared of a real fight?" Raph retorted.
"No, I'm scared you've been getting more and more hostile and pulling away from the team. What gives?" Leo asked.
"I'm tired of training with kid gloves. No one's pulling punches out there. Why should we do it in here?" He glared and pushed Leo back.
"Raph-" I wanted to step in and intervene but Donnie held me back and shook his head no.
"Teishi! Because you are brothers, and your goal here is to train." Father stated sternly.
"Sensei. Why do you always stick up for Leo? I'm the only one who takes training seriously. The rest of em are just goofing off all the time. Besides Myra, maybe." He growled.
"'No one appreciates me'. Back on the everyone loves Leo' routine? Get some new material, you big baby." Donnie mocked.
"Donatello!" I scolded him.
"That's it! If you guys don't want to take this as seriously as I do, then I quit! I'm done. Through. Adios!" Raph stormed off, leaving the lair.
"Raph, baby-" I stood up and tried to go after him but he stopped me.
"No! Princess, just don't. Not now." He growled again before leaving the lair.
I sighed and shook my head, growing more worried about my boyfriend.
"How many times has he quit the team, now?" Leo questioned.
"Hm, twenty seven times now." Donnie stated.
"You have a brilliant mind, Donatello, yet you see a fire and try to put it out with gasoline. You are growing up, my sons and daughter, and you must become more mature. One day, I will not be around to remind you of your foibles." Father said.
"Father, don't say that. You still have a while with us." I reassured him.
"Is a 'foible' that little dangly thing in the back of my throat?" Mikey asked. And why did that question remind me of a song?
"Ugh. 'Foible' means a weakness of character, shellbrain." Donnie stated.
"Father, listen. You've made it through the worst of the worst, and we're gonna make sure that nothing can-"
"Everything is impermanent, Myrina. You cannot expect anything to last forever, even family. You must know this." He told me.
I sighed heavily, feeling as if I was about to cry. "Father, please. Don't remind me of how this cruel world works."
"We were going to have this discussion sooner or later. You need to understand that not everything before you is permanent. It is hard, but you must come to terms with it before it's too late."
I sighed again and just nodded my head, knowing that he was right. "Hai, Sensei."
I was just going to head back to my room when footsteps caught our attention. I was surprised to see the Mutanimals along with Mondo.
"Guys!" I smiled and ran up to them. "Been awhile. And when did you join the team, Jason?"
"A little while back. They totally love my fighting style." He smirked.
"Hey, where's Pigeon Pete?" Donnie asked, noticing that he was missing. I was wondering that as well.
"We don't talk about Pigeon Pete." Slash replied.
I gasped, thinking that something awful must've happened. I wanted to know but figured it'd be too rude and upsetting to ask so I let it be for now.
"Listen, we need your help." Rockwell spoke up. "We've uncovered plans to develop mutant-hunting weapons. I telepathically discovered that Don Vizioso wants to take control of the city now that Shredder has vanished, and the Don knows the only thing that stands between him and his vile goals..."
"Is us." Leo concluded.
"We need to take down the Don and his goons before he takes us down." Slash stated.
"Donnie, can you track Raph down in the party wagon? If he's out there alone...." I trailed off, not even wanting to think of the worst case scenario.
"Sure. I probably owe him an apology, anyway." He replied, getting his phone out his phone to see if he could track him while heading to the van.
"What happened to Raphael?" Slash asked me.
"He's been going off his hot headed deep end. I'm worried about him. I'm gonna head with Donnie. Will you be ok?" I asked, turning over to Leo.
"We'll be fine. Now go on." He smiled and leaned in and gave me a small kiss before he let me go.
Mondo and I went after Donnie and got inside the van. I had to track Raph down telepathically since he turned off his phone so Donnie couldn't track him down.
We headed out to the streets and I continued to track down Raph, picking up his presence nearby. I told Donnie which way to go and once he turned a corner, that's where we saw Raph was down in an alley way, seeming to have just stopped a bank robbery.
"Raph! Baby, what are you doing?" I asked.
"Getting along fine without them, obviously." He replied coldly before continuing walking down the street. Donnie steadily drove the van next to him as I tried to talk him down.
"Baby, I know temper tantrums are our thing, but please, don't do this. Don't leave us." I pleaded.
"Save it, princess. I'm not changing my mind. If you want, you can come and join me. After all, you survived out here on your own for a while. Why can't I?" He retorted back before continuing to walk down the street.
I felt tears sting my eyes, clutching on my Aeon crystal for comfort.
"Jeez. And I thought that woulda worked." Mondo muttered.
"Oh, man. He wasn't like this the twenty six other times he quit." Donnie added.
I groaned and immediately got out of the van, running after him. But I suddenly stopped when I got a deep feeling of dread and that's when I noticed that gang members were perched on top of a building, aiming rocket launchers and pulled the trigger, sending explosive rockets right at the van and knocking it over.
"DONNIE!" Raph and I both yelled.
"The robbery was a setup. They lured us here!" Raph exclaimed.
I rushed over to Donnie who climbed out of the broken window along with Mondo. "You two ok?!"
"Fine." He nodded.
I turned back at Raph and gasped before creating a force field around him before a rocket could strike him down. "Raph! They're loaded with mutant-hunter rockets!"
He quickly ducked for cover while I continued to keep up my force field to protect us from the bullets. Raph threw a smoke bomb down, blinding the shooters and he easily took the ones on the street down before heading up to take the ones on the roof down.
Donnie, Mondo, and I quickly rushed over to the building, climbing up to help aid Raph who was surround by more incoming gangsters and knocked to the ground. He was practically beaten to a pulp and Mondo tried to help but was knocked off the building, landing on the van.
"Raph! Let him go!" I yelled before morphing into a serpent and quickly striking down the gangsters.
"Whoa! This girl's a mutie too!" One shouted.
"I'll inject you!" I hissed out and went lunging at them, ready to sink my fang into their flesh when Donnie and I were suddenly blasted back by one of them who launched another rocket at us.
I groaned in pain as the red mist clouded my vision and senses. The pain was unbearable and numbing at the same time. I was barely hanging onto consciousness while Donnie was already knocked out.
"Boss says to take one for the road. Grab the purple one. The snake is too dangerous to bring. And this one's pretty much finished."
I growled as the guy kicked Raph aside, seeing how beaten and bruised he was. I was too weak to stand up and Donnie was carried back down and tossed into the van. They even took Mondo with them.
I saw from the corner of my slitted eyes as Raph stood up, groaning in pain and leaning over the edge only to see the van driving off with our brother and friend.
"Aw, man, you messed up big time, Raph." He sighed. I tried to gather my strength, slowly morphing back and groaning in pain which caught his attention. "MYRA! Baby!" He rushed to my side, gently lifting me up in his arms. "I'm so sorry, princess. If only I listened to you."
"I'm... fine. Just... sore. We... have to warn Leo and the others. I... I know where they are. They're at the Mutanimals' hideout." I stated weakly.
"Hold on, princess. Just hang in there."
"No. I can walk. You're more injured than me." I slowly stood up, forcing myself to use what strength I have left so I can help him stand.
He didn't protest and allowed me to help him walk, leading him down the street and to the hideout of our mutant friends. I struggled to open the door with my weak body but managed to get it open. That's when their attention was caught onto us.
"MYRA! RAPH!" Leo shouted as he and Mikey came running up to us, helping us stand and sat us down at the table.
"I... I blew it. I led em right into a trap. And I even caused Myra to get hurt." Raph sighed with a guilt ridden face.
I gently laid my head on his shoulder, placing my hand over his to try and comfort him.
"Hey, we're a team, and we cover each other's mistakes. We'll get them back." Leo reassured.
"Then we better move. Whatever he wants Donnie and Gecko for, it's not good." Raph stated.
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When I finally managed to track down where Donnie and Mondo were taken, the Mutanimals caused a distraction outside and took down the gangsters while Leo, Mikey, Raph, and I snuck our way into the Hignight Hotel. We easily took down the many gangsters that came at us and it was much easier now that Raph and I had some time to recover.
As Mikey forced the mobster to the ground, he knocks the door off where there's Vizioso and his goons, the twins, along with Donnie and Mondo who were tied up.
"Guys! Alright!" Donnie exclaimed happily.
"Let them go! Now!" I demanded.
"Well, aren't you a cutie. And you must be that snake woman I was told about. Gotta say, you'd make a good profit on the market." He chuckled darkly. I gasped in horror that anyone would ever do that while Raph and Leo growled angrily at him. "You turtles don't stand a chance. Take a look. Your biggest muscle is getting pulverized by the Hammer! He's my best guy. No one can take him down."
Outside from the window was where I could see the Mutanimals getting beat down by a guy in a mech suit, but I knew that they would make a come back and take him down.
"Then I guess he'll be too busy to protect you!" Mikey shouted.
"Why you- destroy em!" Vizioso ordered.
We all charged at the Fulci Twins like in a sibling rivalry while Vizioso shot the rockets at us with his hover chair. I gasped and dodged the explosive just before it could hit me. Raph jumped over and cut Donnie and Mondo free.
"Take care of the Don and his goons. I'm gonna help the Mutanimals!" He kicked the window, shattering it to pieces as he jumped out to help the Mutanimals and confront the Hammer.
We continued to fight against the three monsters which was now a lot easier with the added help from Donnie and Mondo. And I could tell Donnie was really riled up from being kidnapped.
We were able to easily take down the twins as Donnie stabbed his bo staff into the Don's chair, causing it to malfunction and he went soaring out and crashing out of the building. I also noticed that Raph and the Mutanimals were able to take down the Hammer as well.
"Wow! That turned out so much better than expected." Donnie laughed.
I smiled and hugged him tightly. "We're glad you're ok, D."
"Thanks, hon." He smiled back and ruffled my hair.
"Come on, let's head home." Leo told us.
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Back in the lair, I was seated between my two boys, just enjoying their company while Mondo skated around and Slash and Leatherhead were playing around with the pin ball machine.
"I'm glad you're okay, brother." Leo said to Raph.
"Sorry I got so intense when we were sparring. He apologized back.
"And I'm sorry for pushing your buttons." Donnie added, sitting down next to us.
"Okay, okay, let's stop apologizing. It's makin' me feel weird." Raph brushed him off which I laughed at.
"It goes to show that you can never let anger separate you. For our time in this world is limited, and how terrible it would be to have unresolved anger for one another. Life is short and precious." Father stated, having approached us.
I lightly laughed and wrapped my arms around about Raph and Leo, pulling them both in for a hug. "I love you two idiots."
"Yeah, we love ya too, princess." Raph smirked, placing a kiss on my cheek.
"And know we won't let anyone ever sell you on the market. You're too precious and priceless." Leo added.
"Thanks, boys." I smiled in return.
"Taco pizza marshmallow surprise! Get it while it's hot and sticky!" Mikey cakes out, having brought over his homemade pizza which just made me gag at the name of it.
"Ugh. That idiot has an iron stomach." I chuckled.