Well, had a little trouble with the ending, but here it is! Hope you enjoyed the story, and thank you all so much for your reviews, constructive criticism, follows and favs! Heck, thanks for even reading this far! Some have asked for a sequel, but I don't think I am going to write one. But there is another TMNT story in the works, and I might post the first chapter soon...

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"Well well," said Hun, still dangling Raph by the leg, "A fighter. How exciting."

"Let me go," Raph said through clenched teeth, attempting to swing a punch at his captor.

"Not likely, freak," said Hun, "I see that you've chosen to give your loyalties to the Turtles."

"Let him go, Hun," said Donnie calmly, "He's just a kid."

"Um, actually Don," Mikey began, but a three-fingered hand covered his mouth before he could finish.

"Mhuh?" Mikey asked, realizing that the hand did not belong to Donnie, "Weo?"

"Be quiet, don't tell Donnie just yet," Leo whispered, groaning internally at a massive headache which had formed in his temple. He could barely stand, but he knew that the dizziness would soon pass.

Donnie had turned around when Mikey began to speak, but smiled when he saw that Leo was conscious. He turned back to face Hun.

"I'd like to make a deal with you, Hun," said Donnie, "A trade. Me for Raph."

"What? No way!" Raph yelled, "Leo, Mikey, don't let 'im do it!"

Mikey attempted to talk, but Leo once more kept him silenced.

"Hm, interesting," said Hun, "What's the catch?"

"No catch," said Donnie, "A simple trade."

"Donny. Don't do it." Raph warned.

"It's a deal," said Hun, throwing Raph towards Mikey and Leo. Mikey just barely caught him. "You for the pipsqueak. You would be able to complete the experiment the Doctor initiated. You do realize that you rescued your brother from the machine, only to give yourself up to it instead!" Hun suddenly began laughing.

"Machine? What machine?" Raphael asked, righting himself and jumping out of Mikey's arms.

Donnie took a deep breath, and stepped forward. "I'm ready," he said.

With a laugh, Leo stepped forward. "He may have made a deal," Leo said, "But you just traded away your only bargaining chip."

"That's right," said Raph, standing behind his older brother, "Donnie can defend himself."

Quick as lightning, Mikey raced past the room door-which someone was still naively trying to bang open-and grabbed the weapons that were lying on the floor. He picked up his own nunchucks and threw Donnie's staff to Leo. Leo's katanas were somewhere else in the building, having been taken away from him when he was first captured, but he could do just fine with Donnie's staff. Raphael still had one sai, the other was still lodged in the door to keep it closed.

The three turtles brandished their weapons, and Hun smirked.

"One injured and one helpless," he said, referring to Leo and Raph respectively, "Who is to stop me from taking the kid back?"

"We will," said Mikey.

"You made a deal, Hun," said Donnie, staying out of the fight because of the deal.

"The deal is off," said Hun, smiling, "I have all four of you right where I want you."

The Turtles all looked at one another with concern.

Hun walked over to the door and yanked the sai out of the woodwork. The door burst open, and in fell almost every Purple Dragon in the building. The Dragons wasted no time, and focused all of their guns on the four turtles.

"Raphael," said Hun, speaking sweetly to the current youngest, "These turtles are giving you to us to take care of. Tell him, turtles. We are going to take very good care of you, and keep you safe from harm. D-o-o-m is coming, and I'm sure your Uncles will tell you, it's coming for them. They will agree with me that this is only for the grown-ups. So come with us, child, and we will take you to your room."

Donnie gulped. "Um," he said, looking at his brothers, "That might be best. For Raph."

Leo, Mikey and Raph all looked at one another.

"Um Don," said Raph, "I'm staying with you guys. And for the record, I can spell 'doom' just fine."

"Oh, so you can spell now too?" Mikey asked teasingly.

"Shut it, bro!" said Raph, hitting Mikey in the arm.

"Guys, quit it," said Leo half-heartedly. He still had a terrible headache, and didn't want to deal with a fight right now. Especially one right before a fight with the Purple Dragons.

"You quit it," said Raph, "And I ain't going with Hun, Donnie."

"But Raph," said Don, kneeling down to be at eye level with his brother. He looked over and saw Hun impatiently waiting, ready to hurt Raph if he didn't agree to go with them.

"Please go, Raphie," said Donnie, whispering to his brother.

Raph leaned forward and whispered back, "Don't call me Raphie. I ain't a little kid anymore, Don."

Donnie pulled back, astonished. He looked at Leo and Mikey, and then back at Raph.

"Well I guess that settles it," Don said, standing up, "He's not coming with you, Hun."

"Too bad," said Hun, "Dragons, the goggles."

The Purple Dragons all pulled down some funny goggles over their heads, and glared at the turtles with goofy-looking smiles.

"Um, correct me if I'm wrong," said Mikey, "But won't those just get in the way of a fight?"

"Not really," said Donnie, "Those are night vision goggles!"

"You fools," said Hun, "Did you think we would make this easy?"

He took the sai he held in his arm and jabbed it into the lightswitch, simultaneously turning off the light and mauling the switch beyond repair.

Darkness filled the room. No one moved.

"Um, dude," Mikey said, his voice sounding loud and clear, "Hate to break it to ya, but we were bred in the dark!"

With that, the battle began. The Dragons all had night vision goggles, but the Turtles were experts at finding their way in the dark. Leo moved quickly past what he knew was a baseball bat, and dodged what sounded like a lead pipe.

"Raph, get as far back as possible," he said, pulling his pint-sized brother out of danger, "Raph! Are you alright? You're shaking."

"'M okay," said Raph tensely.

"Don, here, take Raph," said Leo, dodging another something, "I think he's hurt."

"Got him," said Don, grabbing Raph from somewhere to the left, "Geez, you're burning up! Are you feeling all right?"

Raph was about to respond when Donnie jumped forward to ward off a few attackers.

"Listen," said Don, speaking to Raph, "I need you to sit as far away from the battle as you can, alright? Ugh! Got 'im, ha!" Donnie knocked someone out of the way, "Mikey, take Raph away from the battle, okay?"

"Sure," said Mikey, kicking five or six people nearly at once, "Where is he?"

"Here," said Donnie, handing his brother off to Mikey in the dark, "Sit up against a wall somewhere, okay Raph? I'll give you something for your fever as soon as I can, alright?"

"Raph, are you shivering?" Mikey asked, pulling his brother as close as possible to his side.

"Hurts," Raph responded, jumping along with Mikey so that they both landed on the other side of a goon that tried to attack them.

"I know, sorry bro," said Mikey, "Figures this place would make you sick! It's too damp in here."

"Not…what I meant," said Raph, gasping for breath, "Listen Mikey, we need to escape this place and get home. Can you get to the airplane sub?"

"I guess," said Mikey, "We hid it under the building, right?"

"Right," said Raph, "Leave me by the wall, I'll be fine. You get the plane. Sub. Er, whatever that thing is."

"Got it," said Mikey, leaning his brother against the wall, "Let's hope the Dragons don't realize I'm gone!"

"I'll join you when I'm ready," Raph whispered, smiling. It wouldn't be long now.

The fight continued, minutes dragging on more slowly than eternity.

"Donnie," said Leo, fighting shell-to-shell with his brother, "We need to leave. Where's Raph?"

"Mikey has him," Don answered.

"O-kay. New question. Where's Mikey?"

"He's…" Don stopped, and called out, "Hey, Mikey! Soundoff!"

There was no response.

"Where is he?" Don asked.

A three-fingered hand that was not Donnie grabbed Leo's arm.

"Got him," Leo announced, "Mikey, is Raph with you?"

Suddenly the floor began to shake violently, and all three turtles were knocked to the floor.

"What the shell is that?" Leo asked.

"Definitely not an earthquake," Donnie said, "It sounded like something burst through the floor in the hallway."

Still in the dark, Mikey grabbed Leo and pulled him upright, then did the same for Donnie. A good thing too, because the Dragons decided not to stop fighting because of a little bitty earthquake.

"Thanks," Leo said, "Mikey, where's Raph? Did he get lost in the quake?"

Mikey leaned close to Leo's ear, within earshot of Donnie, and said, "Where do you think?"

"Raph?" Leo asked, "What happened?"

"Delayed reaction, I guess," said Raph, kicking someone in the gut, "Shell, I don't know."

"Wait, you took the antidote?" Don asked, "How come I didn't see any needlemarks on your arm?"

"Needle?" Raph asked.

"Wait, you ingested it?" Donnie asked, "That was supposed to be inserted directly into your bloodstream! No wonder it was delayed, you should be happy it even worked at all! How stupid can you be, didn't you even read the label?"

"Um, I'm the one who gave it to him Don," said Leo.

"What, you knew?" said Donnie, "Why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have bothered to swipe the extra vial."

"There was an extra vial?" Raph asked.

"Yeah. The Doctor had it by the machine."

"Machine?" Raph asked.

"What machine? And did you say 'doctor'?" Leo asked innocently.

"Urgh," said Donnie, "Come on, we've got to get out of here! I'll explain later. Where's Mikey?"

There was the sound of a loud noise, the room shook-light from the hallway burst into the room, and a smiling Michelangelo grinned down at them from his perch inside Donnie's giant sub-plane. The Purple Dragons were all blinded by the light, giving the turtles enough time to knock out the most immediate ones before rushing to Mikey.

"Hey guys!" said Mikey, "Guess what, the submarine airplane can tunnel too! Oh hey Raph, you're back to normal!"

"Yeah yeah," said Raph, wrenching open the airplane door, "everybody in!"

"Oh no you don't," said Leo, swinging the door out of Raph's hands, "You're going in first, Raphael! I don't want a repeat of last time."

"Fine," Raph grumbled, getting in the plane.

"Better hurry, they're coming up behind us!" said Donnie.

Quickly, the rest of the brothers hopped inside the plane and shut the door.

"I've got the controls," said Donnie, "Who moved the seat so low to the ground?"

"Oh, Raph flew us here," said Mikey.

"What?" asked Leo, "You let him fly when he was seven?"

"Chill, Leo, I'm right here ya know," said Raph, crossing his arms.

"Guys, let's just get out of here before they catch up to us," said Donnie.

"Fine by me," said Mikey.

Donnie yanked the controls, and the airplane took off the ground.

"Ceiling, ceiling!" Mikey warned, but it was too late. The plane crashed through the ceiling and burst into the night sky.

Almost instantly, they were out of sight of the building.

"I think we lost them," said Leo.

"Good," said Donnie, "You can be the one to call Splinter and tell him we're heading home."

Leo groaned, but sighed immediately afterward. "Alright," he said.

Mikey slapped Raph on the back.

"What was that for?" he asked.

Mikey smiled. "We're finally going home," he said, "The way we should have come home in the first place."

A few days later, the lair was nearly back to normal. Donatello was at the junkyard, and Leo was training. Having given Raph every kind of tease he could think of for acting so much like a child, Mikey was currently hiding from Raph somewhere in the sewers. Everyone accordingly assumed that Raph was also out in the sewers, chasing after the elusive Michelangelo. That was why Splinter was so surprised when Raph entered his room.

"Raphael," he said, surprised.

"Er, am I interrupting anything?" Raph asked.

"Not at all," Splinter said, gesturing for his son to join him on the floor, "I was simply meditating. What troubles you, my son?"

Raph sat down on the floor facing his Sensei.

"They got away," he said, "All of 'em. Hun, the Doctor, everyone."

"Yes," said Splinter, "But Donatello assured me that he sabotaged the machine they built. And I am told that the damage caused when you left the building destroyed all data regarding your malady."

"Yeah," said Raph, fidgeting as he sat, "Um, I didn't like feeling so helpless, Sensei."

"Of course not," said Splinter.

"But there was one thing I liked," said Raph, "It's just that…well…I was actually enjoying the time I spent with you Sensei. Back when I thought I was a kid again."

"That is something that is easily remedied," said Splinter, smiling, "I will always be your father, my son. Age has nothing to do with it."

"Yeah," said Raphael, looking guilty, "But things have changed now."

"Not quite," said Splinter, "For example, I have always wanted a ride on that motorcycle of yours."

Raphael looked at his father, and smiled.

"Right," he said, "And, don't tell anyone, but I'd like to learn how to make that special soup of yours. The kind you always give us when we have a cold."

"You have always liked that soup," Splinter nodded, "Very well. When shall we leave for our motorcycle ride?"

"Whenever you're ready," said Raphael, "I just have to make sure that Leo is out of the way first."

"That is something I can handle," said Splinter, giving Raphael a wink, "Please excuse me while I prepare for our little excursion."

Raphael bowed and left Splinter's room, then walked towards his own to grab an extra helmet.

"Leonardo!" He heard his Sensei call.

"Yes Sensei?" Leo said, rushing into the room.

The door to Sensei's room closed, but Raph leaned forward just slightly to catch what Splinter was saying.

"Leonardo, I have an urgent assignment for you, my son. It will require you to leave the lair for several hours…"

THE END