********* epilogue ***********

"Raph? Raphie?" Raph rolled over in his bed away from the voice, grumbling as he pulled his blanket over his head. Something started ticking, faster and faster. It was annoying Raph to no end. As he turned over to find the source of the noise, there was a ding and…*SPLASH* Raph was covered in water from a timed water-balloon launcher set up next to his bed.

"MIIIIIIIKEEEEY!" Raph angrily threw off the wet blankets and ran after the young freckled turtle. Mikey squealed as Raph plowed out of his bedroom and laughed a thrilling, full-hearted laugh. Raph smiled to himself as he continued to run down his youngest brother. It had been a couple weeks since the turtles got Mikey back. It took Mikey a day to recover from the soul-sickness he was experiencing before he was pulled out of the darkest part of his mind. Things were starting to go back to normal, except for one major difference…Leo, Don and Raph appreciated Mikey so much more now-a-days. Mikey, also, was being more considerate of his brothers when they were out on the streets; no more carelessness during a fight. The brothers were also closer than ever, talking more with each other, being more open with their feelings; even Raph. "Gotcha!" Raph tackled Mikey to the ground, and began to tickle him mercilessly.

"AAAAAAAHHAHAHA! Raph, STOP!" Mikey screamed and laughed as Raph continued his "torture."

"Not gonna stop, this is pay-back for that water balloon!" Raph laughed with Mikey, tickling him for a few more seconds, then finally letting up; Mikey breathing hard after the elongated laughing fit. The smile was still plastered on his face as he grabbed Raph's outstretched hand to help him up. Once standing, Mikey heaved out a sigh and joking, baby-blue eyes looked into Raph's neon-green ones.

"That wasn't water, Raph." Mikey's lips turned into his mouth to hold in a laugh. He stayed just long enough to see Raph's expression change from having fun, to confusion, to understanding….but Mikey was down at the other side of the room before the pure rage entered his eyes. The lair exploded with the sound of a volcano erupting, causing an alarmed Leo to enter the room. A green and orange blur darted behind the leader of the team.

"Mikey?! What. Did. You. Do?" Leo asked, eyes darting around the room, looking for the angry Raph he knew was coming.

"Oh, Leo…why does Raph being angry have to be my fault?" Leo turned to give Mikey a "are you serious" look, cocking one eyebrow. "Okay, okay! You're right." Mikey held his hands up in surrender. A roar was heard around the corner, and Mikey flinched back into his place behind his oldest brother. "Please don't let him kill me" Mikey squeaked out. Leo rolled his eyes and smiled. It was nice to have Mikey back. He especially missed the banter between Raph and Mikey, and he sort of did miss getting in the middle of their fights. Turning his attention to the steaming Raph coming towards him, Leo placed a semi-forced stern look on his face. It was hard because he was so happy to have things back to normal.

"Move it, Leo! I will break your arms!" Raph growled out.

"Cool it, Raph! Whatever Mikey did could not have been that bad!" Leo stood his ground.

"Did he not tell you!?" Raph, now face-to-face, chest-to-chest with Leo, grabbed around him at Mikey and growled, "Tell him you little green imp!" Mikey jumped out of Raph's reach and stuck out his tongue, eyes full of mischief.

"I was kidding, Raph!" Mikey called out in a sing-song voice. Leo placed a hand on Raph's shoulder as Raph began to cool off…not completely, but enough to get his head together.

"I can't even…Why would you…Mikey, you little…" Raph stuttered as his anger settled.

"Actually," Donnie came into view, obviously eavesdropping on the situation. He walked up to Mikey's side, a sly grin on his face. "That wasn't water, it was a special blend of highly corrosive materials, that if combined in just the right amount causes extreme body odor…" Donnie looked at the clock he was carrying with him. "…about ten minutes after exposure." Donnie and Mikey exchanged a smile and fist bumped each other, proud of their work. Leo looked at Raph, scrunching his nose as he got the first whiff of, the now stinky, Raphael.

"Ewwwww…." Leo held his nose with his fingers and turned around to face Mikey and Donnie, wondering why they wanted to aggravate their brother. *SPLASH*

"Boo-yeah!" Mikey screamed as another water-balloon, probably filled with the same stuff, hit Leo square in the face. Donnie and Mikey burst into laughter, as Leo froze in shock at what just happened. Wiping the not-water from his face, Leo turned angrily to Raph, a silent understanding passing between the two brothers.

The laughter stopped. Eyes opened wide in terror, as two very strong, very talented, very angry ninjas turned their attention on the allied pranksters.

********* meanwhile ***********

Master Splinter sat under the tree in the dojo drinking tea, listening to the screams, shouts and laughter coming from his sons…all four of them. He chuckled to himself as he felt peace wash over him. Smiling, Master Splinter continued to listen to the sounds of family.

The End

So, that is it, folks. The end of my TMNT fanfic. I hope you all enjoyed my story. I have gotten a lot of comments talking about how Mikey cannot be as smart as I made him out to be, but I think that he just hides it really well. In the most recent episodes, Mikey triangulates Casey's position using the T-phones, he is awesome in Dimension X, and he came up with a way to make tons of retro-mutagen super fast…by himself. He acts dumb, but that's because he doesn't really care about being smart, he only cares about having fun and his family…and pizza. I just hoped I could give some evidence to support my claim that Mikey is smarter than he lets on. Thanks again for all of your support and comments. I really appreciate all of you! Thank you!