Running Again
It was early in the morning when Peter woke up to a sense of wrong. His spider senses tingling, Peter sat up and looked around.
The baby turtles were sprawled across the floor, each clinging to different sections of the blanket that Mr. Yoshi placed over them.
The babies had gone to sleep the other night, after finishing off Peter's last piece of Pizza. And while Mr. Yoshi and he had shared some tales, and gotten to know each other more, they had gone to sleep not long after. Peter found his talk with Mr. Yoshi had strengthened the impression he had that the rat was a good man, though he was going through hard times, due to his past and his recent mutation.
He found out in the conversation that Mr. Yoshi didn't know that the Kraang were alien robots. He made a face when Peter told him that they had brains in their stomach. Though he didn't voice it, Peter could feel the disbelief rolling off of the rat. ...Peter was so going to hold it over him when the truth was revealed.
One of the babies, the rowdy one with a slightly squarer head, rolled over and fussed a little, only calming when his hand came into contact with the calmer, narrow eyed baby's shell. It was endearing to see the four asleep in different locations, yet having at least one body part overlapping each other.
But they were not the source of his unease.
Peter glanced at Mr. Yoshi, and was not surprised to see him awake and alert as well. Though they had shared a meal and some stories, they were still strangers, and Mr. Yoshi still didn't completely trust him. Peter couldn't blame him though, as he himself was still weary of the ragtag family.
Quietly, Peter collected what little belongings that he had, and stuffed them into his backpack as quickly as he could. The old and worn down Hello Kitty bag was not as large as he would have liked, but it got the job done. Deadpool would be proud of him.
Peter moved closer to the door, making sure to keep his movements slow and steady. Mr. Yoshi was already looking out of one of the few cracks in the walls. Peter peered out, and choked down a gasp as one of the Kraang's droids passed by slowly.
The two mutants held their breaths as the robot floated by, occasionally killing some pigeons on the way. Just as it was passing out of sight, the two were startled by a loud squeal, and a thud. Whirling around, they saw that the freckled baby was rolling around on the floor; giggling and cradling a container of left-over Chinese food that Peter forgot to pack away.
Glancing outside once more, Peter confirmed that the robot was coming back, arms extended with all kinds of weapons. But before he could act, Mr. Yoshi had grabbed one of his katanas, and kicked down the makeshift door. Peter watched in amazement, as the Ninja rat took down the robot.
Thinking quickly, after being sure that Mr. Yoshi could handle himself, Peter woke the rest of the babies, wrapping them in the blanket and placing them back into the cardboard box, he stuffed all of Mr. Yoshi's belongings into his larger and sturdier bag. (Peter was definitely not jealous. At all.)
They were all ready to go when Mr. Yoshi came back up. If he was surprised, his face did not show it, as usual.
Some day though, Peter thought, I'll see his surprised face.
"We must go." Mr. Yoshi stated curtly. Peter watched as he gave his backpack a once over, then grabbing it and the box full of turtles. The Humanoid rat started climbing out of the water storage tower, but stopped when he saw that Peter hadn't moved.
"Now!"
It was then that Peter realized that Mr. Yoshi was also referring to him when he said 'we'. Honestly, he thought that they were leaving him. Everyone else in his life did. Why would they be different?
He followed the small family anyway.
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Mr. Yoshi was creative. He pulled many different stunts to lose the Kraang, sending them on a wild goose chase all over the city. And while the Kraang weren't completely incompetent, they quickly lost track of the group of six.
They rushed into a warehouse, where they decided to spend the night. Mr. Yoshi let the turtles out of the box, and as they started to explore, he excused himself to go meditate. Peter watched as the little turtles quickly lost interest in the room, and they started climbing all over their father figure. They scaled up his back, and one of them even managed to climb up to the top of the rat's head.
Mr. Yoshi sighed deeply, and Peter couldn't hold back his giggles. He didn't notice the rat glancing at him, with a worn, but warm look in his eyes.
Chuckling, the giant rat turned to face one of the turtles, who had opened up the book that his late wife Tang Shen had given him. Seeing the baby turtle sitting on the page with the Renaissances artists, he came to a decision.
"I think," he said, glancing at the four turtles and the still giggling boy, "that it is time you four received your names."
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Peter felt honored to watch as the little ones got their names. The rowdy one was called Raphael, and the slightly longer faced baby was called Donatello. The small one with freckles was called Michelangelo, and the calm, narrow eyed baby was named Leonardo. The little turtles were now eating the package of noodles that they had managed to snag before running into the abandoned building.
Mr. Yoshi had asked Peter to start calling him Splinter as well. According to him, Hamato Yoshi was a person of the past, who no longer existed. Splinter, he explained, was a nickname that Yoshi had gotten when he was young, due to his proficiency in breaking wooden boards. It, to him, symbolized going back to the start; a new beginning. He had also talked about splintering destiny, and some other deep reasons, but Peter got the message. Splinter was a cool name, anyway.