After giving out a deep sigh due to the dismay, Donatello fixed his gaze at his big brother. He was surprised that the tiny turtle was staring at him intently, like he could understand what was happening.

"Allow me to hold him, Raph..." the smart turtle asked the turtle in red who was thinking how they were going to explain to Splinter what had happened.

"What? Oh... yes..." Raphael reached out his arm, that way Leonardo was within Donnie's reach. After gently grabbing Leo, Donatello put him in the palm of his hand.

Donatello seemed a little worried so he focused to check on Leo and to measure him.

"What's the matter, Donnie?" The purple banded turtle closed his eyes for a few seconds. Raphael was looking at him while the genius was thinking after doing his observations and measurements.

It seems that the retromutagen Mikey has discovered not only reverted our brother to his original form but also it is... no... I don't think it is possible..." Donatello interrupted his explanation because suddenly Leo's small body began to emit a very faint shine, but it was still noticeable.

"What the shell is going on!?" Raphael muttered. The look of astonishment on Donnie's face made him feel something was really wrong.

Without a doubt, the tiny turtle, after the strange reaction of his body, had shrunk a little bit.

"This ain't happening..."

"Donatello! Do you want to keep me on tenterhooks all day!? Tell me what the shell has happened!"

"Leo... he... he is getting younger..."

Although those words didn't sound so bad for Raphael, the tone in the voice of the purple banded turtle made him understand he was wrong, even without asking.

"Are you sure?" Besides the size, Raphael didn't notice any other important change.

"Of course I'm sure! When have I ever been wrong, Raphael!?"

"Calm down, Brainiac!" Raphael barked frowning, "but to me it looks like he only shrunk a little."

"Do you remember how many concentric rings Leo had on every plate of his shell when we first found him under his bandana?"

Donatello knew too well that neither Raphael nor Mikey were very observant with certain details, so he saved his grumpy brother the waiting time.

"Well, I did. He had fifteen rings and until a few seconds ago he had fourteen and right now he has thirteen, that means I have to act swiftly, now he is thirteen..."

"Only thirteen?"

"Yes, it is not an exact science, but each ring represents a year of life, if Leo gets back to be an egg, I don't even want to imagine what might happen..."

"Great..." the grumpy turtle muttered sarcastically. He rolled his eyes to the sky to hide his concern a little.

Donatello let out another sigh of despair. He covered his face with his free hand to hide the furrowed brow he had at that instant.

Right at that moment little Leo bit him.

"Aah!" Even though the bite hadn't been so hard, Donatello's instinct made him turn his hand when he felt the pain, his tiny brother fell on the surface of the table, landing on his shell. The little turtle tried to get to his feet, but he couldn't.

"Be careful, Brainiac!" Raphael railed at him as he helped Leo to turn over himself to have him in the palm of his hand one more time.

"Leo bit me!" Donatello complained, showing his finger to Raphael, signaling the bite mark the tiny turtle had left on him.

"It's nothing serious, you are such a whiner!" Raphael mocked him after looking at the bite mark. As he was laughing, Leo bit him too. The grumpy turtle did the same as the smartest turtle. The good thing was that also on that second occasion Leonardo was close to the table again and didn't get hurt.

"What's wrong with him!?" Raphael asked, feeling very upset, but not so much because of the bite, but by the amused look on Donnie's face who was then helping Leo to get to his feet.

"It looks like our brother still has a certain degree of consciousness. A moment ago I seemed to me that he was looking at me curiously, but I thought it was his primitive instinct aware of the dangers, I was wrong. When I'm under a lot of pressure, Leo always shows his concern for me. He tells me just the words I need to hear to cheer me up or to take the load off my mind, at least for a while to relax. But now he can't talk, so he does the best he can with what he has, as always." Donnie explained, with a calmer face.

"Am I to understand he bit me because I was mocking you?" Raphael asked. But actually that question already had his answer; it was rhetorical in every sense of the word because earlier, Raphael had already witnessed his big brother's behavior. He had also sensed that Leonardo was his usual self to some extent.

A mocking glance showed itself on the face of the young scientist. Before Raphael could protest, Michelangelo was coming back from his bedroom.

Mikey was hiding something because he had his hands behind his shell. With a smile that could convince anyone of his good idea, he got close to the table and before his brothers could ask him anything, he picked up his big brother and turned around so the others couldn't see what he was doing.

Looking at each other with resignation, Raphael and Donatello didn't interrupt Mikey's suspicious action. They only had to wait a couple of minutes until Mikey turned around again to smile at them, ready and willing to show them what he had done. The young prankster was gently holding his big brother with both hands, close to his chest, that way they couldn't see him.

"Now you will see that our brother is still the same, Raphie!" With a blind faith and a lovely candidness, Mikey put Leo on the table again, but now the tiny turtle was carrying a pair of little swords made of plastic over his shell, without a doubt those tiny weapons belonged to an action figure from Mikey's collection.

Mikey was anxiously awaiting, looking at his big brother, the thrill of what he thought he was soon to see was showing all over his face. The youngest turtle's attitude displayed his hope in its full glory. One more time Raphael and Donatello looked at each other, but now their glances showed a deep sorrow and a bit of impatience.

"Mikey..." Donnie tried to say, a couple a minutes later at seeing that Mikey was beginning to show he was a little disappointed.

"We just have to give him a little more time, Donnie..." the prankster said, interrupting his genius brother.

"Listen..." Raphael also wanted to intervene; he had guessed the thoughts of his baby brother too. He knew perfectly well that a killing sadness would seize his baby brother's heart because he knew that what Mikey was expecting to see, would never happen.

Mikey ignored Raphael; he was focused on looking at Leo who was staring back at him. It seemed that the eldest turtle understood what his baby brother was expecting from him, but since he was unable to do it, in a way he was apologizing to him.

Donatello's heart ached when he saw that his little brother's hopes vanished. He didn't dare to utter any more words, but Raphael did.

"Little bro, you have to understand that Leo..." He couldn't finish what he was saying because Mikey upon feeling all the consequences of what he had done, he yelled at him: "Shut up, hothead! He just needs to get used to them because they are not his katanas!"

The only thing he had achieved with that scream, was to break the leash which was containing Raphael's rage. Without thinking about the consequences, Raphael also yelled at him: "What were you expecting to see, knuckle head!? Did you believe Leo would stand on two feet and would begin to show his special techniques with those weapons!? You are a bigger fool than I thought you were!"

Right at the start of Raphael's rant, Mikey began to sob quietly and then, at the end, he began to whine loudly, all the guilt crushing his heart.

Raphael sighed, feeling a bit of annoyed, a bit guilty and really willing to fix what he had caused due to his lack of patience. The tough turtle walked the short distance between him and his baby brother to comfort him, gently placing both hands on Mikey's shoulders.

"Mikey, please forgive me, but what I told you is true, Leo... he is not the one he used to be, maybe he still recognizes us and has simple forms to communicate with us, but the sooner you understand that he is not the same, the sooner we will get him back, do you get it?"

The freckled turtle, a few seconds after his brother had finished, raised his head and although some tears were still streaming down his cheeks, he smiled. Raphael did the same.

Donatello picked up Leo; he carefully took the little swords off of him and gave them to Mikey

"Here, Mikey, put them away, it seems it is a little hard for Leo to move with this little toy on his back."

"Yeah, it looks like it, Donnie..."

"Are you feeling better little bro?"

"I do, Donnie! Now that I have seen that my plan A is a complete failure, I will implement my plan B."

One more time both big brothers were overwhelmed with concern, they no longer wanted to see Mikey suffer.

Mikey noticed the worried looks on his brothers' faces so he told them: "Don't worry; this idea doesn't have anything to do with my idea of Leo still being who he was before, now it is just an idea that will help me to take better care of him.

From his belt, Mikey took out a little bag made of fabric; it was about the size of a small money pouch. Instantly, both Raphael and Donatello recognized it.

"Do you still have that thing!? I thought you had already thrown it away years ago." Raphael exclaimed.

"It's been a long time since I saw it for the last time..." Donatello said, feeling nostalgic.

"Our father told me I had to throw it away, so he ordered me to do it, but I couldn't get rid of it. For me it was too sad to think that his last destiny was to be in the garbage, so I kept it without anyone noticing." Mikey rubbed his cheek with the little bag affectionately.

That little object had been created by Leonardo's loving hands for his little brothers. The big brother, at that time when the others were beginning to experience some of the childish beliefs which were vital for their happiness, had drew up the small pouch to use it when the Tooth Fairy came to visit them. The fairy would see the pouch under the pillow and would put the money in it, paying for the little teeth they were losing while they were growing up.

Leonardo had chosen a small piece of white fabric to make the pouch and then he embroidered four teeth with smiley faces, patiently and for several days because of how young he was then. One tooth was blue, another was red, the third was orange and the last one was purple.

Now the freckled turtle had sewn a ribbon to the bag sufficiently long to use it as a necklace.

"Did you sew the ribbon, Mikey?" Raphael asked, seeing the big difference between the old fabric and the new addition. "I don't remember it had this ribbon."

"Yep, I sewed it. This way I can take better care of Leo." The prankster assured them and before his brothers would ask him how he was going to do that, Mikey picked Leo up once again and put him in the bag in such a way that Leo was able to stick his head out of the bag.

As soon as Mikey got sure his big brother was comfortable, he hung the money pouch around his neck thanks to the long ribbon. He proudly looked at his brothers, he knew it had been a great idea and it seemed that Leo agreed because it looked like he was smiling.

"This way I can keep an eye on him without a fear he can get hurt. Am I right?"

"Well, I think it is a great idea. Just put him somewhere else while you are close to the stove, little brother. The steam of the food cooking might burn him." The genius brother advised him.

Immediately, Mikey did what he was told, he hung the improved pouch, with his big brother inside, on a hook stuck on one of the farthest doors of the cupboard. With a lot of space around him, Leo was having a great time because he had begun to rock like he was on a swing.

"Aww, Leo is so adorable, he even behaves like a little child!" Mikey, after seeing his big brother was having fun despite being like that, he set out to keep cooking with such joy that his brothers let out a deep sigh of relief.

At some point, after hearing Mikey's comment about Leo's behavior, Donatello decided to leave the kitchen to go straight to the living room, but before he started to walk he gave Raphael a look which made him understand he had to follow him.

"We are going to wash our hands while you finish cooking breakfast, Mikey." Raphael told him. As an answer the prankster only nodded.

As soon as they got to the living room, Donatello whispered to his brother in red: "How are we going to explain this to our father?"

"Well, even though I'm sure we are going to face a big scolding, I think honesty is the best policy, Brainiac. Besides, I'm sure Master Splinter will notice that Leonardo isn't there." Raphael ended, a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"I already know that, Raphael! If Leo's internal body clock wasn't going back so quickly, I wouldn't be so worried and maybe I would appreciate your sarcasms a lot better!" The young genius reproached him with a sharp tone in his voice, but quietly.

"If you worry too much Leonardo is going back to normal quicker, Donatello? Remember that Leo is always telling us we should keep calm if something serious happens!" The red banded turtle yelled at his brother in purple with a pretty hostile tone but in a low voice. That way Mikey wouldn't listen to their quarrel. "Besides, let me remind you that this is all your fault!"

"Exactly in which time, dimension, universe or mind with a little common sense I am to blame, Raphael!?" Donatello immediately protested with a voice full of indignation.

"You are to blame because you know very well that Mikey in any time, dimension, universe or any of that bullshit of which you speak with that hideous presumption that nobody is as smart as you, that the knuckle head never listens to the warnings you have yelled at him a thousand times! If you really were the smartest, you would have those dangerous substances inside three safes one inside the other and so on with lots of safe combinations, that way Mikey couldn't even smell them!"

"Then I'm sure that all the Raphaels in all those places are just as annoying, sarcastic and a pain in the ass as you are!"

"Does that mean you are making my point, you idiot!?" Raphael has already reached the point of the discussion where he was going to regret all those offensive words he wasn't aware he was saying.

"Nobody in this world can call me an idiot, least of all you, Raphael!"

Both turtles would have continued arguing due to their concern if it hadn't been because they heard a yell coming from the kitchen.

"What happened, Mikey!?" Donnie asked him, his eyes looking for Leo. Fortunately, he was still inside the pouch made for the Tooth Fairy but he wasn't swinging anymore.

"I stared at Leo for just a second because I was having fun looking at him while he was playing and suddenly his body shone. I forgot I was slicing the veggies for the omelette and I cut my finger." Mikey replied showing his finger with the tiny cut.

Donatello only rolled his eyes, the childishness of his baby brother sometimes drove him to the limits of tolerance, and much more in that moment when he was so worried as well as Raphael, who only mocked Mikey.

"That's a huge wound! Your entrails are gonna pop out through there!"

"Donnie!" Mikey complained, "You promised me that the next time Raph was making fun of me you would open his head to replace his brain with a cauliflower!

"Your attitude invites half of humanity to behave like idiots, you moron!" Raphael kept on talking, really annoyed by those words.

"You are the worst, Raphael! I suffer a terrible accident and the only thing you do is treating me like dirt!" Mikey complained, but this time he didn't cry, he frowned.

"If you are complaining by such stupidity then I don't want to imagine what would happen to you if you had to face something really challenging! You wouldn't last a day!" Raphael mocked again.

"ENOUGH!" Suddenly Donatello yelled almost grinding his teeth because of the despair. "Shut up both of you at once! Your nonsense infuriates me!"

"He was the one who began to do silly things, he wasn't paying attention!" Raphael went on.

"I already told you I saw Leo's body shinning, hothead!" Mikey reminded him.

Donatello was about to yell once again but his sense of hearing had noticed some faint sounds that sounded like requests. Raphael and Mikey also stopped their arguing to hear too, just as the purple banded turtle did.

Mikey was the first one to realize where the sounds were coming from. It was Leo. The tiny turtle's eyes welled with tears, they could tell he had a while trying to draw the attention, but his feeble attempts couldn't impose order, until then.

Feeling very guilty for worrying his brother, everybody focused to breathe deeply to calm down.

"Forgive us, Leo, did we scare you with our yells? We are very sorry..." Mikey apologized, gently caressing his big brother's tiny head with the tip of one of his fingers, trying to calm him down.

Once they were calmed thanks to the eldest turtle, Donnie asked Mikey: "Are you sure you saw Leo's body shining, Mikey?"

"Yes, I'm sure, but it was brief. Is it something important?"

Neither Donatello nor Raphael dared to tell the truth to Mikey, so they smiled to not worry him. Now the resident genius was one hundred percent sure he had to hurry to calculate the exact amount of mutagen to bring his big brother back to normal.

"No, Mikey, but Raphael and I are going to visit Leatherhead to bring one of the mutagen canisters we asked him to keep safe. Maybe the amount of mutagen I have in my lab might not be enough. So, to be sure, we will go to get another."

"But don't take too long, your breakfast will get cold." Mikey reminded them, smiling. Both brothers departed, promising to get back as soon as possible. After all, Leatherhead and the others lived near there.

One more time Mikey stared at his big brother while he was rocking in the pouch. Touched by that, Mikey knew immediately that his big brother was happy again because his little brothers weren't arguing. The youngest turtle began to set the table.

In the midst of the deepest darkness, a pair of bright red eyes, almost at ground level, observed all the movements of the freckled turtle. Ironically, it seemed that the more narrowed they were, the more they shone. That shine clearly was mentally associated to a huge thirst for revenge. The owner of that pair of eyes full of grudge knew that the day to settle the score had finally arrived.

To be continued…