Midnight

Regrets

NOTES: THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT TO THEIR ORIGINAL OWNERS

Chapter 13: Regrets

The three turtles soon managed to return to the campsite where the others were waiting before they were relieved to see them back; they were even more relieved to see that Michelangelo was back to normal and back with his brothers again.

"They did it! They got Mikey back!" April happily cried out.

The others gathered at the turtles before Splinter approached Raphael who was holding the unconscious Mikey in his arms. The humanoid rat gently touches his youngest son's forehead and said:

"My baby boy"

Splinter soon gently takes Mikey from Raphael as tears of relief came to the father who missed his young son deeply for the last month as any loving father would to a missing child and nuzzles the young's one head tearfully.

"Musuko, you're home"

The turtles smile happily at Splinter before Karai asks: "What happened to Virus and the Parasite Mutagen?"

"Let's just say they won't be bothering us again," Raphael answered.

"The Parasite is destroyed and Virus is down and out" Leonardo replied more clearly for the others.

"Sensei, we best set up a bed for Mikey, I'll go and run some diagnosis on him and see if he's fully OK" Donatello informed his father.

"Of course," Splinter nodded.

The family including the others help set up a bed in the Shellraiser for Michelangelo before they lay the young turtle down and let Donatello with the help of Kirby O'Neil run some tests and diagnosis on Mikey to see what the damage is.

Meanwhile Leonardo and Raphael were explaining what went down at Virus's ship together to the others before Splinter nodded:

"You did what you had to do, the important thing is that you saved your little brother and I'm very proud of you all"

"We would never abandon Mikey to that monster" Raphael shook his head.

"Are you guys OK? You know since Midnight really tore you guys a new one back there with his speeches" Casey quizzed.

"Even if they're sadly and mostly true, we're better than this" Leonardo replied.

"We messed up badly but all the more reason to keep trying and do the next right thing" Raphael added.

"Exactly, my sons; we're a strong family together" Splinter proudly nodded to his sons.

Soon they saw Donnie and Kirby coming out of the Shellraiser with Donatello looking very concerned as Kirby puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Dad? Donnie? What's wrong?" April asked in concern.

"Is Mikey OK?" Karai quizzed.

"The inside of his body is fine but the outside of his body..." Donnie sighed.

"He has scars, wounds that are recently healed and he looks like he's been through a lot" Kirby replied for Donnie.

"Well no kidding, he'd been stuck as that monster for a long while now" Casey pointed out.

"It's not just that..." Donnie sadly replies before he leads everyone to the Shellraiser.

Soon the smart turtle picks up the memory orb that he took from the ship and after explaining what it is to everyone, he takes a small sample of Mikey's blood and adds it to the machine. Once Donnie puts the unconscious turtle's hand on the hand scanner of the memory orb, the group soon sees Mikey's memories of the bad things that have happened to him which again, made the turtles look down in shame.