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Turtles of a Different Kind

For TMNT Write Fight! Yaaaaaaayyy!

@tmnt-write-fight @crack-fic-casey

For Kai, and their Prompt #4 which was: (Any iteration) Give swap one or more of the Turtles jobs! For instance, make Mikey an inventor, but in a totally radical, laid back way. Leo could be the one that takes care of everyone's feelings, Raph could be an action-driven leader, and Donnie can be a logical, aggressive bruiser.

Word Count: 1,290

I had a lot of fun writing this! This prompt had me going back and forth and thinking and re-thinking things but... I'm really happy with what I landed on.

As a disclaimer beforehand, I didn't necessarily pick a specific iteration... Because that was really hard for me to do. But I went with the basics of most/all TMNT kind. Namely:

Leo: Stoic and Brave Leader

Raph: Passionate and Aggressive Tank

Donnie: Logical and Nerdy Inventor

Mikey: Radical and Chill Artist

So those are the bounds upon which I mixed things up and twisted this little tale... Anyways, pretty short, but please enjoy!

STORY START

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We… are teenage, mutant turtles. And sometimes we dabble in Ninjitsu but…

“YO DEE! WATCH OUT!”

Not much.

I’m already wincing at the pitched screeching of the rocket, unprepared to dive to the side before a solid mass topples me to the ground. Sparks and metal zip over our heads. Accompanied by the victorious whoops and hollers of my other brothers, I watch with wide eyes as the device turns on a dime and lifts into the air. With one last heaving breath, the rocket sputters, stalls, then explodes in an array of shrapnel and dust.

“Holy shell! That was awesome! Did you see that guys, did you see that!?” Raph boisterously exclaims.

Raphael. The inventor of our little group. The one with bright ideas and even brighter explosions following him in his wake. His energy is a bit much to keep up with sometimes.

“Oh sh- uh… you guys okay?” Raph asks as he pounces over the balcony and lands by my side. Moving my limp arms about to assess any damage.

“Oi! Dad said no more explosions in the lair!” Leo says from where he’s tumbled onto the ground next to me.

Leonardo. The bruiser of the group- the tank. Large and imposing and always prepared to step in and take a hit, should his brothers need it.

“It wasn’t supposed to explode!” Raph laments.

“Hey, hey! Chill dudes, it’s alright.” Our heads turn collectively to observe Mikey as he slides down the rail of the stairs. “Ain’t nobody hurt, so we’re chill!”

Michelangelo. Our self-proclaimed ‘team leader’. Always on the look-out for adventures and ‘family bonding experiences’. I personally think he just likes to torment us.

“That isn’t the point.” Leo’s eyes grow sharp and narrow. “Donatello could have been seriously hurt! Plus, Master Splinter should be home any minute now. What are we supposed to say about this mess?”

“No worries- we’ll have it spic-and-span, lickety split. Ain’t that right team?” Mikey throws a look over his shoulder, confident and calm as ever.

When our eyes meet, I know that I- an innocent bystander in all this- have already been roped into another one of his schemes. “Yeah, sure…”

The last in our quartet is… me. Just me. I don’t know that I have much of a title like the others do… Raph calls me a visionary, Mikey says I’m the glue of the group. And Leo… Leo just calls me ‘cool’. So I guess that’s my place in all this.

A heavy, familiar sigh. Leo’s fire of indignation is snuffed out with a slow, practiced breath. “Alright then… Let’s just be quick about it.”

So we dive into the task of cleaning up the lair. Although I find my mind on other things as we work. Namely, that time months ago when I asked Leo that seemingly innocuous question.

“Why aren’t you the leader?”

“What?”

“I said-”

“N-No, sorry. I heard what you said I just…” Leo’s voice trailed off as he smoothed off the scales on his head. “... What do you mean by that? Do you think I should be a leader?”

I could sense that his question came simply from a place of wanting to understand, instead of hesitation. So I gave it some thought. “Yeah. I think you should be.” I eventually said. “I think you’re more focused than Mikey. Plus, you actually know how to fight, instead of just twirling around in the air.”

“It’s called ‘dodging’, Donnie. It’s an important part of fighting too. Mikey’s good at what he does.”

“And you’re good at what you do.” I counter. “I see the way you always think before jumping into a situation. Cutting out all the debris before making a final decision, and finishing opponents with ease. It’s impressive. And I think we should all learn to be more like you- I think it would make us a better team. An actual team.”

Leo was silent for a moment. Analyzing the situation as he always does before preparing for a fight. It was always a little bit intimidating to be under the scrutiny of such a focused gaze.

“Alright DonTron,” He eventually pipes up with a smirk, “let’s play a little game of hypotheticals.”

I was a bit taken off-guard by his seemingly mischievous demeanor but… “Alright, I’ll bite.”

“So, let’s say that I talked to dad and then tomorrow we all woke up and I was the leader.” Leo’s eyes were trained on me the entire time he spoke. “I come out of my room and I say ‘Alright bros! I’m in charge now, and we’re gonna do some training today!’ How would you feel about that?”

Another moment of thought. “Well, honestly I’d be kind of excited. Because of what I said before- I think we could learn a lot from you. I think it would be a good exercise.”

“So you’d be okay with it.” Leo confirms, his smile growing a little more mischievous. Then the dour tone comes in once again. “What about Mikey? How do you think he would feel about it…?”

His question brings me pause, even though I’m immediately sure I know how Mikey would feel about it. “I think he would feel… stepped on. Overlooked. I think he’d be sad…”

Leo nods along in agreement. “Then let’s say I bring this up with Raph. I say ‘Hey, Raph-a-Roonie! You can only make useful stuff from now on! Things that will make us a better team. Weapons and tools and shields.’ How do you think Raph will feel about that?”

“Well, Raph doesn’t really like being told what projects to work on.” I reason out loud. “So I think he would be pretty angry and unmotivated. But-”

“And what about you?” Leo charged on. “Let’s say I go to you the next day, and say ‘Hey, Dee. Let’s meet in the dojo. We’re going to train with your Bo staff until you get it right- until you’re a great warrior like me.’ And then we don’t stop training, day in and day out, until you become that great warrior. How would that make you feel?”

I’m practically glowering up at him at this point. I understand the point of the exercise, but he’s taking the hyperbole too far. “It would make me tired, and upset. But you’re not being fair! This hypothetical you’ve set up is too extreme! You wouldn’t do things like that- you’d be much more kind about it.”

Leo only sits back and stares at me with that same calculating gaze. Rolling over the words in his head, no doubt. As I do the same. 

“Maybe, maybe not,” he finally concedes. “But the point still stands- we’ve got a status quo going for ourselves. Changing up the rhythm will only upset others.”

“But change can be good at times.” 

“At times… But this just isn’t one of those times. Trust me, little brother.” Leo’s head rolled to the side, taking me in with sharpened pupils. An almost haunted gaze. “This routine we’ve got here… It’s for the best. We should keep it this way.”

And that was the end of the conversation. One that left a sour taste in my mouth. But… I tried not to focus on it too much. It’s only in quiet, escapable moments like these that I’m able to remember the look on Leo’s face as he spoke…

BANG BOOM SMASH

“RAPH!!”

Okay, ‘quiet’ isn’t exactly the right word but… you get the point.

It’s better to just be in the moment. To focus on us. Brothers. Raph the passionate Mcguyvre. Leo the stoic soldier. Mikey the radical leader. And me, the logical heart. 

Just as it always is, just as it always should be… 

… Right?

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STORY END

Hi hello. Would you like an explanation? Sure, I would too! Lol, too bad though. This is mostly just train of thought, although it has inspired a bit of an AU idea in my head that I'm interested in exploring later!

Like, in this universe, I think Casey would be a journalist who is friend's with the turtles. Then April would be the vigilante power-house they meet later day the road. Just thoughts.

Thank you for the read! Hope you enjoyed <3