TMNT Brotherhood   von -Anele-
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                             Kapitel 1: Chapter I
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„Don, get the camera!“ Mikey’s shrill scream echoed through the entire
lair. The youngest of the turtle brothers ran around in the living room, calling
everyone to join him. “It’s happening!” From the lab back in the quarter
of the big room came Donatello with a camera in his hand. He turned around and
smiled. “You okay there, Mona?”, he asked the female lizard, who was swaying
slightly.
“I don’t know, Donny”, she answered and her voice was cracking a little.
“This is all so surreal. I’ve been waiting for this moment for six month and
now… it all happens so fast…”
“Raph, get your shell out here!” Mikey continued his screaming. “You
become a father and Mona is about to faint!”
Raphael came rushing into the living room and it was hard to tell, which part of
Mikey’s phrase had alarmed him more. But he hurried over to his mate and
helped her take the steps towards the squared shaped box that had been standing
close to Master Splinter’s quarters for the past six month.
“Can I take the egg out?” Mikey asked and beamed at his bo wielding
brother.
“No way”, came the immanent reply. “I take the egg to the nest, you hold
the camera.” And Don pushed the tool into his brother’s hands. He walked
over to the box, which was filled with light and heat. Before Don opened it, he
looked over to Raph and Mona. “You should take it out. It’s your egg after
all.”
To Don’s surprise neither Raph nor Mona moved. Both managed to change the
color of their faces from dark to light shade within seconds. Don almost barked
out a laughter as he saw his usually tough older brother shake like a leaf.
“Okay, I do it then.”
He reached inside the box carefully and took out the egg, which was already
moving inside his hands. Don rushed over to a small nest in the center of the
living room and placed it inside.
“The camera is ready”, Mikey announced and bounced behind the stand he had
placed it one. “Stand here”, he gestured for Mona and Raph, who simply
followed, their eyes fixed on the moving egg inside the nest. “Raph”, Mona
suddenly said to her mate and grabbed one of his bulky arms. “You catch me if
I faint, right?”
“And who’s going to catch Raph?” The question came from Master
Splinter’s quarters. The paper walled door has opened and Leo came out,
helping his old Master down into the living room. The rat sensei had finally
succumbed to his age. His eyes and ears where still sharp enough to catch
everything around him, but his limbs didn’t want to move as fast as they used
to, let alone carry his thin body. He held unto his oldest son, but chuckled at
Leo’s question.
“You one ta talk!”, Raph yelled back at Leo. The tension was apparently too
much for him and he was in no mood for jokes. “At least I came immediately and
didn’t hide in the dojo!”
Normally Leo would have replied with another sharp comment, but not today.
Today, he just grinned cockily at his hot headed brother. Raph growled at him.
“Shut up! Ya have it behind ya already!”
Another scream echoed through the lair, but this time it came from higher above.
“Hurry up, you two”, Don called. “The shell is already cracking.” 
“Shell cracking”, repeated the high voice of Yoshi. Carried down in the arms
of his mother, he could only slowly see the egg. As soon as he did, he pointed
towards it. “Egg is hatching.”
“That’s right. You’re getting a cousin”, Vee answered and stepped next
to Mikey, who had been chased away from the camera by Don.
The room felt silent as a loud crack came from the nest and a hole appeared in
the shell of the egg. Next followed a small green foot. Raph’s face became
even more pale and he stepped back a little. Don chuckled and lifted the camera
towards him. The dark green turtle didn’t even noticed or anything else for
that matter. His eyes, which grew larger by the second, were fixed on the egg.
Another crack, now an arm popped out of the egg. It disappeared again and then
the complete left half of the egg’s shell gave in as the arm pushed through it
again.
“Come on little dude, you can do it”, Mikey whispered and began bouncing
again. Next to him, Yoshi began trashing on Vee’s arms. With his only two
years, he could hardly process the excitement around him. Vee had a hard time
controlling her son. “There!”, he screamed and pointed towards the egg,
which was wiggling and then tumbled over, so the hole was now pointing to the
lair’s roof.
For a moment, nothing was happening, then, a small head came out of the hole,
covered in slime and a thin fluff of dark hair. A pair of emerald eyes looked
around.
“Oh boy…” Mona stared straight into the hatchlings eyes, who was looking
back at her for a few moments. Then two tiny arms came out and the small
creature tried to fall into the nest. But it didn’t came far. Half way out, it
got stuck and landed on his stomach, the under half of his body still trapped
inside the egg. Apparently very displeased with that, the hatchling cried out,
turned around his head and glared daggers at the shell. Mona stepped forward,
but stopped immediately. Master Splinter had lifted his hand to command her to
wait. He smiled warm and ensuring at her.
The hatchling cried again and wiggled around to get out of the shell. When that
proved to be useless, he trashed, which caused him to roll around. The shell
cracked a bit. The hatchling felt silent, looked at his white prison with
suspicion and then continued to roll around until the shell crack fully open and
released him. To claim his utter victory and freedom, the small creature kicked
the part of the shell close to his foot. It landed at the floor under the nest.
The hatchling wiggled to the edge of the nest, looked down at the pieces that
belonged to his old home and screamed at it.
“Well, Raph, that’s definitely your child”, Don commented, his voice a
little weak, because it was torn between a gulp to swallow upcoming tears and a
laugh at the cuteness, he just witnessed.
No answer came from Raph, he still stared at the nest, his eyes now so big that
it looked like they were about to pop out of his skull. Mona next to him was
still frozen in her half step forward. The fresh parents fixed their newborn,
who had fallen on his back now. Between the cracked pieces of the shell the
small dark green creature laid and seemed to realize just now, that he had
entered a complete new world. It tried to sit up and landed on his stomach
again, but his head lifted and he stared back at his parents.
Nobody spoke, but the rest of the family – that was beside Raph and Mona –
tried their hardest not to laugh or even chuckle. They all just had a very big
smile on their faces. After a good minute, when no one had moved, Master
Splinter was the first to break the spell. He titled his head and look at Raph
and Mona. Just then, Mona gulped and stepped forward to the nest. The hatchling
watched her with big questioning eyes. The female lizard stopped forward of the
nest, she was breathing audible. Very slowly she reached inside and lifted the
new born out. The hatchling made a small surprised sound and titled its head.
But as soon as it felt its mother body against it’s own, it smiled. A big,
bright smile – then it squeaked joyfully.
That broke the ice completely. Mona sobbed and hugged her baby towards her.
Applause filled the room. Master Splinter reached to his eyes and wiped a few
tears away. Leo moved over to Vee and embraced her. She leaned back against him.
In her arms, Yoshi squeaked too. Mikey was crying too and Don just stood there
as proud and happy as if he himself was the father.
Only Raph seemed to be in a trance still. But he managed to turn his gaze a
little upwards and was now fixing Mona and the new born with his eyes. When Mona
turned to him, she chuckled lowly. A tear streamed down on each of Raph’s
cheeks. The female lizard walked over to her mate and presented the hatchling.
“He has your eyes”, she said. The hatchling looked up into his father’s
eyes. Raph stared back for a moment, but then he took the little one out of
Mona’s arms and lifted it up to his face. And then he finally smiled. “Hey
there, junior”, he whispered. Seeing his father’s smile, so did the
hatchling again and reached out to touch the turtle’s face.
“He’s smelly”, Raph commented. Mona laughed. She snuggled against her
mate.
“Hold still.” Leo had a camera in his hands. Raph placed the baby back into
Mona’s arms and then embraced her.
“He’s adorable”, Mikey exclaimed and jumped over to Mona as soon as
Leo’s hand sank down again.
“He’s a lizard”, Don noticed and pointed to the back of the hatchling. A
small, rather short tail hang out from under one of Mona’s hands.
None of them had know, what the hatchling would look like. When Yoshi was born,
it was clear, that he would be a turtle, since Leo and Vee both were turtles.
But since Raph and Mona were two different species, it was uncertain, what the
new born would be. In the very first place, it wasn’t even clear, if Raph and
Mona could have a child at all.
“You got good genes, babe”, Raph chuckled.
“So do you”, Mona replied. “He got your skin color.”
“Can I hold him?”, Mikey asked.
“First he needs a bath”, Mona said. “Trust me, Mikey, he’s sticky and
smelly, full of egg ooze.”
“I don’t care”, Mikey insisted, but Raph stepped in front of him.
“Bath first, family meeting afterwards.”
“What will you name him?”, Vee asked.
“Right”, Mona said, realizing, that over all the excitement, they almost
forgot about that. “We’ve decided for Machiavelli.” She looked over to
Raph and chuckled again. “You know, to stay in good family tradition.”
“A very good name”, Splinter commented. He was sitting on the couch now and
looked at his new grandchild with a deep feeling of joy and peace. “Wash him
now and be back quickly.” He winked at Mona and Raph.

While the fresh made parents washed the ooze of their child, the rest of the
family cleaned up. Leo and Mikey got rid of the egg shell’s pieces, while Vee
helped Don to properly contain the breeder, that Don had build for the eggs of
Yoshi and Machiavelli. Splinter took care of his older grandson. The small
turtle infant was already distracted by his grandfather and didn’t even notice
the return of his new cousin and his parents.
“Are you clean now, little dude?” Mikey was the first to approach Mona and
Raph. They walked to the couch. Only then Yoshi realized, that something was
going on. He fully understood that a new event took place, when he felt his
mother’s arms around him as he was lifted off the coach.
Master Splinter was of course the first one to greet the new edition to the
family. He held the small lizard and swayed him softly in his arms. Machiavelli
reached for the soft fur of his grandfather’s face and neck and snuggled into
it, purring happily.
“Don’t pull too much, love”, Mona said, when Splinter narrowed his eyes a
bit as the baby buried his hands deep inside his fur. “Grandpa is not a
plush.”
“I might as well be”, the rat sensei answered. “And as for the pulling, I
had enough of that in my life.”
Machiavelli purred even louder and laughed at his grandfather. Splinter lifted
him up a bit, but not too high. The baby cried out loud and spread his arms as
if an attempt to fly away.
When Splinter sank his arms again and put the small lizard back to Mona, Mikey
beamed up. “Me next.”
Raph signed. “Fine, Mikey. But remember, he’s a livin’ bein’, not one of
your toys.” The hot headed turtle watched carefully as Monas placed their son
in Mikey’s arms. “And here’s Uncle Mikey.”
Mikey beamed at his nephew and tickled his nose with his finger. “Dude, you
are like so cute. And you look exactly like your mom. Which is a good thing.”
He looked up at his brother and grinned. “Don’t get me wrong, Raph. I still
love him even if he turned out to be as ugly as you.”
Raph growled at him. “Just pass ma boy over and I show you ugly.”
“Really, Raph, not today”, Mona said. But just as if Machiavelli had fully
understood Mikey’s words, he lifted his hand and hit his uncle on the nose.
“Ow!”, Mikey cried more out of surprise then actually pain.
Raph roared with laughter. “See, Mikey, that’s ma boy. Just wait ‘til
he’s tall enough ta reach ya head.”
Machiavelli cried out loudly and tried to reach Mikey’s face, ready to strike
again. The sea green turtle held the little lizard back to Mona. “Here you go.
It’s the other’s turn.”
Everyone laughed. Mona now turned to Leo, Vee and Yoshi. Leo sat on the coach
next to his sensei and took his nephew. “See, honey”, said Mona softly.
“That’s Uncle Leo, Auntie Vee and your cousin Yoshi.”
Machiavelli looked with big eyes between Leo and Vee. Leo carefully stroked the
young lizard’s head. “I guess, he will grow hair”, he spoke to Mona.
“I know”, she replied. “He has a fluff on his head.” Machiavelli reached
for Leo’s hand, but he only managed to get hold of a finger. He examined it
with interest. But his distraction was quickly broken, when he felt another hand
on his head. He turned his head to Vee, who knelt next to her mate stroking her
nephews head with one hand. 
“He’s tiny”, Yoshi suddenly said, who hang onto the other arm of his
mother. “You were just as tiny, when you got out of your egg”, Leo said.
Machiavelli attention switched to his cousin and he laughed. Yoshi smiled
brightly. “Can I touch him, Mama?”, he asked Vee.
“Sure, but be careful. Just stroke his hand.” Yoshi did. At first
Machiavelli just held still and watched, apparently fascinated by the fact, that
there was another creature with similar small hands like him. Then he grabbed it
and kept a hold on it. Yoshi froze for a moment and looked, a bit unsure, at his
father. But Leo just smiled. “It’s okay. He likes you.”
Yoshi smiled down at his cousin. “I like him too”, he announced.
“Ya can hold him, if ya want”, Raph said. Leo opened his mouth as if to
reply, but remained silent, when Raph took Machivelli and told Vee to give
support. The small lizard understood quickly, that he was about to get another
hug. Eagerly he wept his tiny arms around Yoshi the best he could and purred
when he felt the young turtle’s arms around himself. 
Don quickly jumped to get the camera again and took a picture. “And here I
thought the flash light storm was about to calm down a bit”, Mona chuckled.
“No way”, Don said. “We have to fill a whole album with these.” He waved
the camera.
“Then how ‘bout you’re on one of these, too”, Raph said and snatched the
camera from Don’s hands. “You’re turn.” Machiavelli was passed to his
genius uncle. “Say hello ta Uncle Donny.”
Don softly stroke his nephews back. “It’s really amazing how nature has
decided for only one specie. There’s not even a hint of a shell.”
“I hope, you see my son as more than just your new science project”, Mona
remarked.
Don flushed. “Sorry, Mona. But he’s the first born mutant from two different
species. He’s something very special.” But the smart turtle quickly shut up
and grinned as he saw Raph’s and Mona’s faces. “Not that he isn’t
already very special. He’s my nephew, that alone make him cool.”
While Don tried to talk his way out of his little misery, Machiavelli had fallen
asleep in his arms.

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