Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Please Speak Mikey

Chapter 3

Mikey started twitching slightly, not from the temptation to bring the circulation back into his body, but from the fact he could see his older brother's silhouettes behind the sliding doors. Mikey closed his pupils as the chatting changed from silence to whispers. His heart burned, pumping faster, hearing the astonishment of actually being the first one inside the dojo.

"Wow! Mikey is here early. I must be dreaming," said Raph with a smirk.

"It's not a dream, Raph, but I am surprised," said Leo, staring at his youngest brother, a little concerned that there was no response.

Donnie was also amazed to see Mikey sitting on the mat patiently, and not even fidgeting. In fact, he could not remember ever seeing his little brother so still. The purple turtle frowned, knowing that he was missing some information. Although there could be no reason at all for Mikey to be on time, perhaps he was just a new early riser. But his intelligent mind was giving him signals that something was amiss between his three brothers.

"Come to think of it, they still haven't told me what they actually said to Mikey," Donnie thought as he took a seat next to youngest. Leo and Raph sat on his left.

Splinter stood above his children, the usual gesture with his paws behind his back, his eyes forward. His senses were picking up a variety of emotions from the four.

His oldest child Leonardo was composed and waited for instructions, but Splinter watched as he quickly glanced towards his littlest brother.

Raphael, his second son, was ready for action, as patience was one of his lowest points, however, he maintained himself because of the irritation in trying to figure out what was up with Mikey.

But what worried the father was Donatello, his third boy. His dark red eyes were confused, chewing his bottom lip, as he concentrated on looking at his hands and switching to peer at his only younger brother.

Finally, the rat gazed upon his baby of the family. The strange atmosphere surrounding his child was strong. His heart clenched in a tight bind, sensing the wild imagination had subdued to a speck, and the unusual determination in Michelangelo's dark blue eyes was absolute.

Mentally pressuring himself to understand his son's recent change, he decided to first start with meditation. The sensei fluidly lowered his body on the carpet, his long tail shifting to lie beside him, as he placed his hands on his lap.

"My sons, to start, we are going to meditate. I feel there is some tension between the each of you." Splinter caught a slight flinch from Michelangelo, who continued to remain stoic and soundless. While usually he would have been proud to have discovered Michelangelo's newfound concentration, he knew that the total focus was not entirely for the normally boisterous child.

A groan from his left diverted his view to Raphael. "Sensei do we have to?" The red-banded Turtle groaned. "Didn't we do meditation yesterday?"

"This is good exercise Raph, It'll help with your temper" Leo grinned, blatantly ignoring his brother's angry glare.

"Shut it, Leo."

Donnie shook his head at the two. He focused intently, as relaxing his mind was not his strong point either. His brain ran like a clock, never turning off or sleeping, just running circuits around him, helping to brainstorm new ideas, updating the lair system to protect his family and to create flawless mutagen to save Timothy and restore April's father to human. Overall, turning off his brain was not an easy feat. And Mikey's new attitude only added to his never-ending list of worries.

Well, Mikey certainly proved that he could stay immobile for a period of time but, his facial expression was strangely nonchalant.

Donnie had never seen his little brother look so cool, calm and collected all at once. Needless to say it was quite disconcerting, the bubbly nunchuk-wielding Turtle had spoken not a word before or since entering the dojo.