Hamato Samurai

Episode 7: Monkey Brains

*This means a line is dramatic, emphasized, or in the background*

It has been crazy for the turtles lately. During another battle with the Kraang, Donnie's bo-staff broke, which frustrated him to no end. "How am I supposed to fight advanced alien technology with a STUPID STICK?!"

He felt it was unfair that he had such a feeble weapon compared to his siblings. When they were turtle tots, Master Splinter gave them their specific weapons for a reason, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Donnie wanted a different weapon, no matter how much "encouragement" he got from his sister. "There, there, little Don-Don. I like your stupid stick."

Therefore, he decided to use the remains of a Kraang droid to build a turtle-shaped fighting robot he called Metalhead. As useful as the robot seemed, the other turtles didn't like the idea of it fighting the Kraang instead of Donnie... mainly because it was made from Kraang tech.

They were proven right during their next battle, when a Kraang brain took control of Metalhead and used it against them. With encouragement from Splinter, Donnie went to help his siblings with his bo-staff and managed to bring down a pillar and pierce the robot with it.

Despite this, however, Donnie still seemed determined to have a different weapon and made it into a missile-guided staff, which malfunctioned and exploded. Since then, he has kept his old weapon and set his sights on another project...

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Donnie and Mikey were training in the dojo, attempting to perfect their "Seoi Nage" attacks. Donnie makes the first move, but Mikey ends up back-flipping to defend himself, which Donnie found improper.

"Dude, what're you doing?" Donnie asked in exasperation. "You don't defend against Seoi Nage with backflips."

"Why not?" Mikey asked. "Backflips are where it's at."

Apparently, Donnie believes there is only one right way of doing something. "The best defense is to roll along my back, take me to the ground, and put me in an armlock. Unless, of course, I counter with a..."

"Hey, man," Mikey interrupted. "You can't take the fire out of... HUAH! Dr. Flippenstein!"

"I don't even know what that means." Donnie saw Splinter walking out of his room and decided to have him settle this matter. "Master Splinter, what would you do if someone tried to throw you with seoi nage?"

"I don't know." Splinter answered casually. This only served to confuse Donnie more. "Come on, you must've planned a response for every attack."

"If you think too much about what is coming, you lose sight of what is. You must be fully in the moment so you can fight without thinking."

"Why would I wanna fight without thinking?" Being the brains of the team, Donatello was always thinking. The idea of fighting without thinking seemed undoable.

"Allow me to demonstrate. Prepare to defend against Seoi Nage!" Splinter attacked Donnie like he said he would, but it wasn't what he was expecting, which led to Splinter pinning him down almost immediately. "Ow! That wasn't Seoi Nage!"

"No. But you thought it would be." Splinter chuckled, letting him up. "Now, would you like to prepare to defend against a spinning back kick?"

"No... I'm good." Donnie moaned, rubbing his head. He was still confused by what Splinter meant by fighting without thinking.

"Know what would've worked there?" Mikey asked. "Backflip!"

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Later, Donnie was in his lab, drawing something out at his desk. That "new project" he had been working on was a personal affair that he had been wanting to do since they first went topside. He was so lost in what he was doing that he didn't notice his siblings were standing right there watching him.