Living With Turtles (TMNT 2012 Fanfic)

Chapter 34: Ideas

"Your elbows are too low, lift them up. Your arms need to be steady in order to significantly disable your opponent."

Dalilah did as she was told, glancing at Chris Bradford, also known as Dogpound, also known as Rhazaar, to see if she had fixed her mistake. The double-mutant nodded, his yellow eyes emitting praise as Dalilah threw a punch at a dummy.

"Put more power behind it," Bradford critiqued. "Use your hips and swing your body around."

Dalilah repeated her punch for what seemed to her like the millionth time, grunting as she did so.

"Much better," Rhazaar complimented as the dummy swung almost upside down from the attack. "You still have much to learn, but you've done well today. Xever will talk with you about stealth tomorrow."

Dalilah dared to smile nervously, hoping it wouldn't be disrespectful to her teacher. "Hai."

The double-mutant smirked. "No need to be so formal. Thank you is fine."

"Oh," Dalilah replied shortly. "Um, thank you."

"Dismissed."

"Before you go, I have two questions," Dalilah blurted out. "What should I call you? Master, Sensei, or something?"

"Mr. Bradford is appropriate," Rhazaar answered. "What is your second question?"

"What happened with this Yoshi guy and Master Shredder and those turtles? I know they're evil and stuff, but... why?"

Bradford was silent for a moment, the question shocking him. "Hamato Yoshi killed Shredder's love out of jealousy," he vaguely replied. "He later mutated normal turtles into his minions to help him fight."

"That's terrible," Dalilah gasped. Bradford nodded, clenching his jaw and swiftly exiting the dojo.

Dalilah raised an eyebrow as he left, suspicious of his behavior but waving it off as a touchy subject. She turned back to the barely-swinging dummy she had been training on.

"Well, now I really wanna get rid of Hamato Yoshi," she murmured  to herself, getting back into her battle stance. "And maybe I can convince those turtles that they're on the wrong side!"

~•~

"I am gonna go insane," Samantha groaned as she chucked a playing card at Mikey; they had been playing Go Fish. The orange-masked turtle smiled sympathetically, picking up her stray card and handing it back to Samantha.

"If you're bored, we can play something else once we finish this," Mikey offered, but the fox-mutant just sighed, drooping her ears.

"I'm not bored. Well, I am, but that's not why I'm angry. I just wanna do something about Kayla!" Samantha exclaimed, her yellow eyes gleaming with frustration. Suddenly, shouts came from the lab, drawing both mutants' attention. Mikey ignored it, facing Samantha once again.

"We aren't allowed to leave the lair until D and Abby come up with some way to help them," Mikey reminded softly as Abby stormed out of Donnie's lab. She looked exhausted; after working for an entire night without sleep, she was about to collapse from fatigue. Despite the tiredness, rage was burning bright in her eyes.

"Woah, dudette, you look terrible." Mikey exchanged glances with Samantha and Abby just rolled her eyes and stalked towards the guest room, slamming the door shut.

"Yikes, I wonder what's got her so worked up," Mikey wondered with a half-grin.

"She's probably just tired, right?" Samantha suggested. Mikey bobbed his head in agreement.

"I'm gonna go see what Donnie's up to," he decided. With a short laugh, he added, "And try to find out what happened."

Upon entering the lab, Mikey spotted Donnie scribbling down notes, and everything seemed normal.

"Uh, hey D!" Mikey greeted cautiously, in case the purple-masked turtle was as mad as Abby. "What happened in here?"

Donnie glanced at Mikey with a frown. "Don't get me wrong, I really wanna get our friends back, but I don't think we'll be able to find a cure for this," the intelligent terrapin admitted. "Abby was angry at me for giving up, and we're both just really tired and upset that we aren't coming up with anything. She kinda just... left, and she said she wouldn't be helping me any time soon."

"Oh," Mikey answered in a small voice. Donnie smiled grimly.

"There has to be a way to get through to them, but I don't think studying anything we have here will help. There may not be a cure, but it's impossible to create something without having some flaws, right?" Donnie added, trying to lighten his younger sibling's mood.

"Yeah!" the orange-masked terrapin replied enthusiastically. "Hey, what if there's no real cure?"

"Uh, what?"

"Like you can't hold the answer; it's just there."

"Oh! You mean like, there isn't a physical cure, but instead a vocal or emotional one?" Donnie questioned. "That actually isn't a terrible idea. The way to get through to them might be in a way like April's powers; we can't hold the physical item, but using the things we already have, we can break Shredder's hold."

"Then can't April's powers work?" Mikey asked excitedly, bouncing on his heals.

"I don't think so. The Kraang wouldn't be that stupid. And if they were, April would probably be captured or mind-controlled too," Donnie explained. "However, if I can manufacture a device strong enough to eliminate the MGE molecules, then maybe we stand a chance."

Mikey, confused, asked how that was using his idea if "Donnie was gonna make a fancy machine." His purple-masked brother explained that getting rid of the molecules wouldn't free the girls, just loosen Shredder's control. After that, they would have the possibility of communicating with the girls and removing Shredder's mind-control all together.

"How long will this doohickey take?" the youngest turtle asked eagerly. Donnie smiled sheepishly.

"Unless you can convince Abby to help, it'll take at least a month. With Abby's assistance, maybe two weeks at the most. Probably less if we work around the clock," Donnie estimated. Mikey grinned.

"No prob, dude. I'll get your apprentice back," he promised. Donnie flashed him a confused look as Mikey started towards the door.

"Wait, apprentice? Mikey, what is th-"

Mikey slipped out and shut the door, cutting his brother off with a click.

Donnie shrugged, chuckling at the orange-masked turtle's choice of words, and began work on the project that would hopefully save their friends.

~•~

A/N: This was fun to write tbh XD

Mikey had a smart idea! Gj Turflytle.

More importantly, this chapter was out pretty fast, huh? NINJA SPEED XD

We're almost done this book :O it's taken forever to write and I apologize, but I'm not a very frequent updater. I'm working on some other drafts for future TMNT stories, along with my Minecraft books and original story (all of which are on hold atm)

So please bear with me; I'm estimating there will be about 45 chapters in this story, maybe more, probably less. Thanks for sticking with me💓

~DY