Donnie walked up to the picnic table feeling a little bit better than before.
Sure, he still missed his brothers, but now he had something to hold onto. A piece of them that may not have come from them, but it was filled with the same warmth and love as anything they could possibly give each other.
He reared back in shock for a moment when he saw various other animals sitting at the table. There were three foxes, two of which were adults. The third one, a female, seemed to be roughly the same age as the kids.
There were five dogs and seven cats, three of the dogs being adults, one teenager and one kid. Four of the cats were adults and the other three were all kids.
Donnie could see the turtle kids sitting in a circle on the ground with the other kids. A little dog was stumbling around in a circle tapping everyone on the head.
"Ruff!" she barked, tapping Lotus on the head. Lotus jumped up and chased the dog around the circle, but eventually, the dog sat down where Lotus had previously been sitting. Lotus giggled and started tapping everyone on their heads.
"Bark… bark… bark… RUFF!"
She tapped a cat on the head and he jumped up, chasing Lotus much like she did with the dog. Donnie tore his eyes away from the game, focusing instead on the other guests. He heard a thump behind him and turned to see Venus, who walked up to stand beside him.
Her landing had alerted everyone else to their presence. The turtles' smiles grew as they all stood up and ran over to him, giving him a gigantic squeeze.
"Good morning, Mr. Don!" they chorused. Donnie's face turned a little red. He wasn't used to being hugged like this… this was how he and his brothers had always hugged Splinter. He hugged them back and smiled at them, getting over his initial shock.
"Morning guys," he greeted. He looked at all the mutants gathered at the picnic table, who were smiling adoringly at the sight before them. "What's going on?"
"One time every three months, all of us in the building go to one room to play!" August exclaimed. Donnie nodded, casting a glance at Venus. She could answer his more detailed questions. For now, Donnie just gestured to the other kids.
"Alright, then," he said. "Go ahead and keep playing, guys."
The kids cheered and ran back to their friends. Donnie turned his attention back to the picnic table, recognizing a couple of the mutants sitting there – they were some of the ones he and his brothers had been trying to catch. They didn't seem to recognize him.
Donnie followed Venus over to the picnic table. The others made some space for them to sit down.
"So… your name is Mr. Don, huh?" asked a cat. Donnie's face went a little red.
"N-no… my name is actually Donatello," he said. The cat smirked at him.
"Like the artist?" he asked. Donnie nodded.
"Yeah… my dad was a fan of the renaissance period," he said. One of the foxes, a female, frowned at him curiously.
"Was?" she asked. Donnie looked at the top of the table sadly. He felt a rough paw rest on his shoulder. He looked up curiously to see that one of the dogs had placed his paw on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," he said. Donnie sighed and remained silent for a moment. He then took a deep breath and sat up straight.
"It's alright," he said. "At least it was quick…"
He got a hug from Venus, which surprised him. He would have thought of her being the last person to hug him.
He appreciated it nonetheless. He leaned slightly into her hug, feeling comfortable. Finally, the two broke off.
"So… what're your names?" Donnie asked. The cat who had spoken first stuck out his hand, which Donnie took.
"The name's Will," he said. He gestured to a calico sitting beside him. "This is my wife, Claire."
She smiled warmly at him, and Donnie smiled back. He turned his attention to the other two cats, who were both male. One of them was grey, and the other was black with a white stripe going down the middle of his face.
"My name is Oliver," said the grey cat. The black and white one waved.
"I'm Milo."
Claire gestured to the three kids playing with the turtles.
"Those three are Spooky, Bumper, and Kyla. We all used to be humans except for Spooky and Bumper."
"That explains why they can walk around," Donnie intoned. "And it also explains why you guys have good grammar."
"Yeah, well," Milo said, "We're having a bit of trouble teaching Spooky and Bumper how to speak."
Donnie frowned in their direction, remembering how much work the turtles had had to put in to speak properly. His heart swelled with pride going over how much they've accomplished since he started teaching them.
"Children all learn differently," Donnie mentioned. He turned back to the cats. "Have you tried different teaching methods?"
"Not really," Lucy realized. "We've been going about it the same way we taught Kyla."
Oliver smiled gratefully at him.
"That's a very good idea," he said. "Thank you."
Donnie nodded, feeling a little hollow. He was glad the conversation had managed to steer away from home, but… he couldn't help feeling a little saddened about it.
Sometime around lunch, there was a knock at the door. All heads turned in that direction. Amy entered, followed by two bunnies and a snake. Donnie's eyes widened when he saw the snake. At first, he thought it was Karai, but then he realized that the snake's skin was black, not a purple-ish pink. Otherwise, he could've been fooled.
Donnie glanced behind the approaching party. There was another man there… he was wearing a pink shirt and had curly black hair and glasses.
Donnie's breath caught. He backed away from the entering party quickly, alerting the kids.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked. She entered the room and shut the door behind her. The snake and the bunnies stayed at the table, staring at Donnie.
"Maybe he's afraid of me," suggested the snake. The curly-haired man took a step forward, as if to console Donnie, before realizing who he was looking at. When he did, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
"Donatello?" he asked. "You… you're here?" He and Donnie were locked in a staring contest. Donnie evaluated his options, which weren't very good. Baxter wasn't much of a fighter, so he could be overpowered easily, but if he were to grab one of the kids…
"Do you guys know each other?" Amy asked. Donnie gulped and backed up a little more. His foot nudged against a stick. Weapon.
"You could… say that," Donnie said. He bent down slowly and picked up the stick, turning his expression into that of a glare. Baxter continued to stare at him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. Donnie held the stick in both hands, ready to defend in case Baxter decided to attack.
"None of your business," he said. Baxter blinked at him. Why is he being so weird?
"You aren't supposed to be here," he said. "When I called the cops they were supposed to- "
"Called the cops?" Donnie interrupted. Baxter's face paled.
"Did I say that?" he asked. Donnie shot forward, holding the end of his stick to Baxter's throat. Everyone in the room gasped and backed away from the two, but Baxter didn't flinch.
"What did you do?!" Donnie demanded. Baxter gulped and fixed his eyes on the end of Donnie's stick.
"You're bluffing… you wouldn't- "
Donnie pressed the stick into his throat. Baxter yelped.
"If you're the reason I'm here, so help me-" Donnie threatened. Baxter sighed, annoyed.
"Fine! I called the cops when I saw you in the building and told them that a dangerous mutant was attacking a friend of mine," he said. "Which, when you think about it, isn't too far from the truth."
"What?!" Donnie demanded. He tried to think back to what Baxter was talking about, but it was too blurry. It was giving him a headache. "More detail, please."
Baxter narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"What do you mean, 'more detail'?" he asked. Donnie glared harder.
"Unfortunately, the cops used a trank on me, which messed with my memory," he explained angrily. "And whenever I try to think of what happened when I was captured, I get a splitting headache!"
Baxter smirked victoriously at him.
"Guess you won't know what happened," he said. "Especially regarding your brothers."
Donnie's eyes widened in shock. Had his brothers been captured, too? But they weren't here in the terrarium… unless they were brought somewhere else.
Donnie pressed his stick harder into Baxter's throat.
"Where are they?" he demanded. Baxter shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring the stick that was pressed so hard against his throat that it was starting to draw blood.
"Probably in a lab somewhere," he said. Donnie's eyes widened and he dropped the stick.