(Mike's being lame and Raph's a pretty smart turtle. )

The lights in the hallway turned off and the two boys were left with only the small bit of illumination provided by a clock on the nightstand. Michelangelo would ask several times in any given day for a nightlight, but Splinter insisted that the boy learn to embrace the darkness. After all, he would one day be a ninja and the ninja are most at home in the shadows. Mike wondered if that just meant all ninja had something to hide, like his family.

Whether or not one day Michelangelo was destined to be a ninja, that time was a long way off. He was only ten and, for now, having a nightlight would have been better. It would have been better for Mike and it definitely would have been better for his brother, Raphael.

In the bed just a few feet from Mike's, the other turtle in the room seemed to be settling down faster than usual. Raphael was tired. A fight with Leonardo meant flips, a fight with Michelangelo meant more flips, and a disagreement with Splinter meant even more. Therefore, to repeat, Raphael was tired. Raph cared very little about being in the dark. As long as there was no danger of being attacked by a bug, Raph was fine. In fact, he wouldn't like a nightlight. Raphael slept better in the dark. But Michelangelo didn't.

"Raaaaaaph." The voice came about thirty seconds after the hallway light was turned off.

Raphael had tried ignoring him on occasion, but the best idea was just to let Mike talk himself to sleep. It would be faster that way.

Even so, Raphael only managed a questioning grunt. "Hm?"

"I can't sleep."

Raphael sighed. "Big freakin surprise." He turned onto his side away from Mike.

Mike ignored the sarcasm. "Did you ever think…" He trailed off, waiting for his brother's reply.

"About beating you silly? Yeh. Everyday. Go to sleep." The remark, though threatening, was said without the least bit of menace.

Which is why the threat went right over Mike's head. "No, I mean, did you ever think about like….us? And what if Sensei lied to us?"

There was silence in the room for about a minute before Raph turned back over to Mike. "I know I'm gonna regret asking, but, what do you think he lied to us about?"

Mike stared up at the ceiling, his eyes having a bit of a glaze that told everyone that Michelangelo's imagination was running overtime. "Master Splinter told us that he found us. We were ordinary little turtles crawling in the ooze."

"Yeh. So?" Raphael knew the smart thing would be to stop encouraging him, but once his brother got started, Raph just had to hear where this was going to go.

"But what if….what if that wasn't true. What if, he found us in a crash landed space ship like Superman? We could be from another planet!"

Again there was silence for several moments. "Mike. We are not aliens."

But by now, Michelangelo's imagination was running away with him. "But we could be! Just think about it, Raph. We could have like…superpowers."

"Mike. We are not aliens."

"We could have parents somewhere in outer space and we are the kings of a planet, but our parents sent us away because of some huge war." Mike started to talk more quickly in his excitement.

"Mike. We are not aliens." Raph figured if he said it enough, it might sink in.

"And we were in danger." There was a pause. "OH! Or maybe I am the royal prince and you guys are my servants! My parents sent you with me to wait on me and do my bidding until they call me back to save the planet."

Now Raphael was indignant. "I'm not your damn servant and we are NOT aliens, Mike."

"When we get back to my planet, I'll make sure you guys have a cool job. I bet I can fly, I just haven't figured out how to do it yet." Mike turned to Raph excitedly. "Raph, would you help me learn to fly?"

Raphael grinned. "Oh sure, Mike. I'll help you fly. Just wait till training tomorrow and you're gonna really fly."

The implied threat rolled right off Mike's shell. "Maybe my parents sent me here to get trained as a ninja. So that I can help my planet."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Mike, we are not aliens. We are ordinary EARTH turtles that walked into some strange crap and got mutated. Mutated. Not aliens. It wouldn't make any sense anyway. In fact, it's gotta be probably the dumbest thing I've heard my whole life."

Mike looked hurt for a second and then smiled. "Yeh, guess so. I mean, what kinda planet would let us go anyway?"

"Right." Raphael turned back onto his side away from Mike.

"And what kinda planet would send away their prince in a spaceship with three other turtles as servants. I mean, they would have sent me with a cool robot car or something."

"Right," Raphael murmured.

"It was kind of a lame idea, huh?" Mike yawned.

"Very lame." Raphael was now just agreeing with Mike. This was the part of the conversation where Mike would get tired and talk himself to sleep.

"Think it would make a good movie though?"

"No."