Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT…for the nth time.

Ann: So…this is just something I thought of randomly. I wanted to write something and didn't know what to write and somehow thought of this idea. Don't ask. My mind goes to many different places without telling me. This is rated T just because of one swear word that gets used a couple times. Nothing major. Enjoy.

The Invention of "Shell"

"Shit!" Mikey, a seven-years-old turtle, shouted when his lollipop fell out of his hands and hit the ground. He frowned at the blue lollipop that now lay on the ground. He bent down to pick it up. He had just opened it and licked it and now it was all dirty.

"What was that?" Leo, his brother, had poked his head into his brother's bedroom.

"I dropped my lollipop," Mikey inspected it, hoping that it was still good enough to eat. "That's all."

"Oh." Leo didn't really care what his brother said or did. He just knew he sounded upset and thought that he should come check up on him. However, he had never heard of that word before. He stared at Mikey wondering if he should say anything or just walk away.

Mikey began to blow on his lollipop, hoping that might help it. He didn't have any other lollipops left, so it wasn't like he could get a new one. Then he noticed that his brother was watching him. "What is it? Do you have another lollipop that I could eat?"

Leo shook his head and leaned against the door frame. "No. I was just wondering something."

Mikey stared at his brother, who didn't say anything else. "So…? What is it? What did you want to say?"

"What was that word you just said?" Leo asked. "Before I came in here."

"Shit?" Mikey had to think about it for a minute.

Leo nodded. "That's the word."

"What about it?" Mikey gave him a odd look. Leo was sometimes weird like this.

"What does it mean?" Leo wondered.

Mikey shrugged. "I don't know. I just made it up."

"Oh," Leo straightened up. "Okay. I'll see you later." Leo walked away.

Mikey shrugged at whatever Leo was thinking and got back to worrying about his lollipop.

Leo was practicing with his katana swords in the dojo, when he threw a katana at a practice dummy and missed. "Shit." He let out a long sigh and staggered over to where his weapon had landed to go pick it up.

However, his brother, Donny, was walking by the dojo at the time. He saw Leo try to strike the dummy with his sword and heard him talking to himself. He stopped walking and cocked his head to one side, trying to figure out what Leo had just said. Usually Leo, or any of his brothers, were asking Donny what certain words meant. Now it was the other way around.

"Leo, what did you just say?" Donny took a couple steps forward to get a bit closer to Leo so he wouldn't have to yell across the room.

"Shit?" Leo asked, confused. It was kind of random that his brother was just eavesdropping on him and watching him. "That's all I said. Shit."

Donny raised an eyebrow. He was puzzled at this new word. "What's shit? What is that? What does it mean?"

"I heard it from Mikey," Leo explained. "It doesn't really mean anything. He said that he just made it up."

Donny gave his brother a slight nod. "Oh. Alright." Then he walked away, off to his lab to do some more experiments.

Donny had mixed a few chemicals together and he stirred them all together in one beaker. He had one more chemical to add to the mix and had his hypothesis all written out on what would happen to the chemicals. He thought that they would just simply change the color. Although, once he poured the final chemical into the beaker, it made a small explosion.

Donny walked away from the table coughing from the bit of smoke that appeared because of it. Once he finally caught his breath he glanced back at his experiment. The smoke still wasn't all cleared up, but from what he could see, the color was still the same since before. "Shit…" He sighed.

Raph had seen the smoke from the living room. He was playing video games. "Are you alright, Don?" He called out to his brother, not moving his eyes from the TV screen. "What did you just say? What are you doing?"

Donny walked over to him and sighed. "My experiment just blew up…"

"What's shit mean?" Raph asked, he didn't seem to care what happened in Donny's lab. Donny wasn't hurt or anything, so he was fine. He was just annoyed that his experiment didn't turn out the way he had planned it to.

Donny gave his brother a weird look. "It doesn't mean anything, really."

Raph hit the pause button on the game. "Really? I didn't know that you actually used words that don't mean anything."

"I just heard Leo say it. He told me that he heard Mikey say it, who had just made the word up. So, it doesn't mean anything. It's just something to say." Donny shrugged.

Raph nodded. "Oh, okay. Sounds cool." He began to play his game again, and Donny realized that that meant that he had been dismissed. Raph was no longer going to pay attention to him, so he just went back to his lab.

About an hour later, Raph was still playing his video game. He was playing a fighting game.

Master Splinter had just gotten out of his bedroom from meditating and was headed to the kitchen to make himself some tea. He had walked just walked by Raph in the living room, when Raph began to lose the battle.

"Shit!" Raph shouted as he frantically pressed buttons on the controller.

Master Splinter stopped dead in his tracks and paused for a second, taking in what he had just heard. Did his seven-year-old son really just say what he thought he just said? He slowly turned his head to look at Raph, who was now standing up and inching his way forward toward the TV. As if that was going to help him win the battle.

Master Splinter walked over the couch and stood behind it. "Raphael." He stated, hoping that Raph would pause the game and actually pay attention to him.

"What?" Raph was still furiously pounding on the buttons.

At least he replied. Master Splinter walked around the couch and hit the pause button for him.

"What are you doing? What is it?" Raph stood up straight and looked at his father and mentor. He wanted to finish his game.

"What did I just hear you say a few moments ago, Raphael?" Master Splinter asked him. He just wanted to make sure that he misunderstood his son. Or he was at least hoping that he had misunderstood his son.

Raph hesitated. Usually Master Splinter acted like this when he was about to get into trouble or something. He knew he did something that he shouldn't have. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. What did you say?" Master Splinter then could tell that he did not misunderstand his son.

"…Shit…?" Raph still hesitated a bit.

"That's the one," Master Splinter sat down on the couch. "Where did you hear that word?"

"Donny." Raph was very quick to blame his brother.

Master Splinter noticed this and thought that he was just trying to blame his brother on his own fault. Then again, he usually blamed Mikey for the bad things he did. "Donatello had said that word?"

Raph didn't say anything. He just nodded his head.

Master Splinter stood up again. "Donatello?" He called.

"What?" Donny appeared from his lab.

"What is this new word that you have been saying?" Master Splinter asked.

"Whatever do you mean?" Donny shrugged.

Master Splinter laid a firm gaze on his son. "You know exactly what I mean. What word did you just recently teach Raphael?"

"Shit…I heard it from Leo first." Donny replied, then quickly added.

Master Splinter was beginning to detect a pattern here. "Leonardo?" He called to the dojo.

Leo came over to where his they were all standing. "Yes, Master Splinter?"

"Have you been saying the word…" Master Splinter sighed. He didn't want to repeat it. He didn't like that kind of language and he also didn't want to repeat it again for his sons. "…Shit?" He finally asked.

Leo nodded. "I heard it from Mikey."

They were all so quick to blame each other on this.

Master Splinter nodded. He thought that this was where it was going to lead. They all blame each other and it goes in one big circle. He was hoping that Mikey would not blame Raph, otherwise they would have a problem. "Michelangelo?" He called to the balcony.

Mikey had come out of his room. "What?"

"Come here," Master Splinter gestured and began to speak while his son was walking towards them. "Have you been using and teaching a certain word to your brothers?"

Mikey nodded. "I heard it from Casey."

That was a shock to Master Splinter. He was honestly expecting him to blame it on Raph or any one of his other brothers.

This was also a shock to his brothers, seeing as Mikey told them that he had made it up.

"Casey had taught you this word?" Master Splinter repeated, making sure he heard right.

Mikey nodded. "I heard him say it when he was fixing his bike."

Master Splinter sighed. How was he going to tell his sons that this was not a nice word? He needed to have a talk with Casey about this. Casey was allowed to say whatever he wanted…just not around his sons.

"Listen, boys," Master Splinter sat back down on the couch and all four turtles surrounded around him to listen to what he had to say. "Sh--that word, that you all have been saying, is not a nice word. You should not be saying it."

"Why isn't it a nice word?" Leo asked.

"What does it mean?" Donny wondered.

"I call Mikey mean words sometimes, but those are okay. Why can't I use this?" Raph asked.

"Does this mean that we can't see Casey anymore because he taught us a bad word?" Mikey wondered.

Master Splinted looked back and forth between his four sons. He had not prepared for this topic of conversation…especially with all the questions that they were asking.

"Uh…" Master Splinted had to think of what he was going to say. "It is not a nice word because it means something inappropriate," he killed two birds with one stone as he answered both Leo and Donny's questions in one answer. "Michelangelo, you will still be able to hang out with Casey. Just as long as he does not use that type of language around the four of you."

Master Splinter looked at Raph. "And I do tell you not to use those other mean words whether you are talking about your brothers or anything. You are not supposed to use them. However, this word is worse than all the other words that you have used," he tried to explain as best as he can. "I just do not want the four of you using that word, okay? I'll explain more to you when you are older."

All four of the turtles nodded. They understood and they wouldn't speak of this again. They wouldn't say the word again.

Master Splinter stood up to leave the room and finally go make himself some tea in the kitchen. "Good. I am glad that we had this talk. Thank you for understanding, boys." He smiled at the four of them. He had no need to punish them. This was an innocent mistake.

"Yes, Master Splinter." Raph, Donny, and Leo said in unison.

Mikey had already started to leave and banged his leg against the coffee table. "Sh…" he began, but then glanced at Master Splinter, who was giving him a look. If he said it again, then he would be punished. "--ell…" Mikey added on a random sound at the end so he didn't say the actual word.

"Shell?" Leo repeated.

Mikey held his leg and shrugged.

"That sounds catchy." Donny smiled.

Raph rolled his eyes at his brother. "You would think that it sounds catchy…"

Master Splinter smiled. "Shell. I think that word is appropriate to use."

Mikey smirked at his three brothers. "See? This time I really did make it up."

"Why didn't you just say Casey said it in the first place…?" Leo asked.

Mikey shrugged and walked away back up to his bedroom.

Master Splinter just walked away from the silent stares of confusion Leo, Donny, and Raph were exchanging with one another. "Well, I am going to make myself some tea. I shall be in the kitchen. You boys can get back to doing whatever it is you were doing. Just make sure that you never use that word again."

"We have to use shell?" Donny asked.

Master Splinter nodded. "Yes. Use shell." he smiled as he walked away into the kitchen. It was nice that the boys understood him and resolved the conflict themselves. They have a new word now and they have no reason to use the other word.

The End.