Chapter 3

For the most part, the turtles found the show pretty entertaining. Raph almost fell out of his seat at one point, and soda came out of Leo’s nose when he laughed.

 

“Aw, weak!” Raph exclaimed as his brother’s soda splashed on his head; Leo was facing Raph’s direction when the soda came out of his nose.

 

“Hey, Raph, maybe we should call you Sodahead,” Mikey said, laughing and pointing at the angry turtle.

 

“And maybe we should call you Black Eye!” Raph yelled. He got up and prepared to punch Mikey, only to be held back by Leo and Donnie.

 

“There will be no fighting here,” Leo said. “We might be seen!”

 

Raph took a few deep breaths, and Leo and Donnie let go of him. “Fine, I won’t punch Mikey.”

 

“Good,” said Donnie. “Now, let’s just enjoy the rest of the show.” He and his brothers sat back down and watched Marvel and Cato and their funny antics.

 

“Awesome! Looks like the finale’s coming up!” said Mikey. He grinned and held his binoculars up.

 

The turtles turned their attention to the stage as Cato announced to the audience, “All right everyone, pay close attention, ‘cause my buddy Marvel’s gonna chug an entire bottle of soda in under three seconds!”

 

Donnie laughed at that and said, “There’s no way he can pull that off. It’s impossible to drink an entire bottle of anything in under three seconds, no matter what the size.”

 

“Let’s see if you’re proven wrong, Mr. Smartyshell,” Mikey retorted. He and his brothers then actually paid attention to the duo on stage.

 

While the turtles were watching the show, Shireen jumped up and down and cheered for Marvel and Cato to start their final act. Her white pigtails bounced as she hopped in her seat.

 

“Yeah!” she exclaimed. “I believe in you, Marvel!”

 

When Cato said, “Go!” and started the stopwatch, Marvel opened and chugged the small bottle of orange soda he had with him. After he was done, Cato revealed that it actually took Marvel five seconds, not three.

 

Donnie turned to Mikey and said, “Told you.”

 

“D’oh!” Mikey said.

 

“Uh, that Marvel guy doesn’t look too good,” said Leo. He pointed out Marvel, who looked, well, not good. The other three turtles turned their attention back to the stage.

 

“You’re right, Leo,” said Raph. “He looks like he’s gonna be sick."

 

Marvel vomited the orange soda back onto the stage, making half the audience cry out in disgust, while the other half-Shireen included-laughed.

 

“Oh, God!” Raph exclaimed. “Gross!”

 

“Oh, that is disgusting!” said Leo.

 

Mikey laughed hysterically and said, “I don’t know what you guys are talking about! That was priceless!”

 

“Oh, shut up, Mikey!” said Raph.

 

“Uh, Donnie, are you okay?” Leo asked, which got Raph and Mikey’s attention. Donnie looked greener than he normally was, which seemed like a sign that he was nauseous and about to puke.

 

“Maybe we should get you outside,” Leo said as people began filing out of the building.

 

“I’m not gonna make it!” Donnie said. He spun around, opened his mouth and released a stream of his lunch from earlier that day. He would have fallen over if Leo hadn’t caught him in time.

 

“There goes my lunch,” he muttered to himself.

 

As the other three turtles helped their brother, they heard a man’s voice yell, “Hey! Who did that?!” They all picked up their pace and got out of the building. Raph had to carry Donnie because he was still weak from throwing up.

 

As they were running, Shireen caught a glimpse of them and said to herself, “Are those turtles?” She ran to catch up with them and headed out into the night to look for the turtles she had seen.

 

As the turtles stopped to catch their breath, Mikey asked, “Was that Bradford and Xever?”

 

“Sure looked like it,” Raph replied, setting Donnie down.

 

“Do you think they saw us?” asked Donnie.

 

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Leo. “But I don’t think they saw which way we went, so we should be okay to rest for a bit.”

 

“Oh, good,” Mikey said in a relieved voice and plopped down next to Donnie. He said to all his brothers, “Sorry about the soda-chugging thing. I read good things online about that duo.”

 

“Were the people who reviewed them actually think this stuff was funny, or were they disgusted?” Raph asked.

 

“It varied,” said Mikey.

 

“Why do they do that, anyway?” Leo asked.

 

“I dunno,” said Mikey. “But it works.”

 

“Is he gonna be okay?” a voice asked. The turtles jumped up in surprise and drew their weapons, ready for whatever fight was coming. To their surprise, they were face-to-face with a little girl, Shireen, to be exact.

 

“Well, this is awkward,” said Mikey.

 

“I come in peace!” Shireen said, holding her hands up in surrender.

 

The turtles put their weapons away. Leo said, “Sorry. We thought you were an enemy.”

 

Shireen put her hands down, seeing that they weren’t going to hurt her. “Like I asked before, is he okay?” she asked, pointing to Donnie.

 

“Oh, yeah, he just got grossed out by the finale, and threw up on someone,” said Raph.

 

“Are you sure you're gonna be okay?” Shireen asked Donnie.

 

“Yeah,” Donnie replied. “I’ll be fine. I think I’ll try standing up by myself now.” He did just that. To his relief, his legs didn’t feel weak and his stomach wasn’t turning. “You know, guys, I think I’m gonna be okay.”

 

“What a relief!” Mikey exclaimed and hugged his brother very tightly.

 

“Mikey!” Donnie gasped. “Choking! Not breathing!”

 

“Oh…sorry,” Mikey said and let go. “Guess I don’t know my own strength.”

 

“It’s okay,” Donnie said and sucked in some more air, then straightened up again. “I’m fine.”

 

“Looks like everyone’s fine,” said Leo. He turned to leave. “Well, we should get going.”

 

“Wait, you’re going already?” asked Shireen, following the turtles.

 

“Yeah, we’ve got some important top secret ninja stuff to do,” said Raph. “And you should head back home to your parents, wherever they are.”

 

Shireen frowned at the mention of her parents. “My parents aren’t even home. They're in Frisco. And my babysitter wasn’t watching me; he was just flirting on the kitchen phone.”

 

“Well, that is really irresponsible,” Leo said and facepalmed.

 

“Yeah,” said Shireen. “Stupid Gieve. Wait till my big brother Arslan kicks his stupid a*s!”

 

“Woah!” Mikey said, surprised at what Shireen said. “Where did a nice little girl like you hear a bad word like that?”

 

“My cousin,” Shireen replied.

 

“Well, that’s not a word you should be using, just so you know,” said Mikey.

 

“I don’t know, Mikey,” said Raph. “Sometimes it’s appropriate to swear. Like when your babysitter just ignores you, or when your brother’s watching a certain show on TV?”

 

“Raph, just because you don’t like Space Heroes doesn’t mean I can’t like it either!” said Leo.

 

“You watch Space Heroes?” Shireen asked, trying to stifle a laugh. “Arslan’s friend Elam says it’s a dorky show.”

 

“Well, that’s Elam’s opinion,” Leo said and crossed his arms.

 

“Speaking of big brothers, why wasn’t this big brother of yours watching you?” Donnie asked as they walked away from Madison Square Garden.

 

“Well, he was busy with helping his friends with a school project,” Shireen explained. “So he had to call Gieve to watch me. Look how that turned out.”

 

“Yeesh,” said Mikey. “Sounds like he made a boo-boo hiring this guy.”

 

“Arslan trusted him because they’re friends,” said Shireen. “Gieve’s babysat me before, but he’s never entirely ignored me like today.”

 

“Well, that was a mistake,” said Raph. “I’d hate to be in that guy’s place when your brother finds out you're missing.”

 

“Uh, speaking of that, we can take you home if you’d like,” Leo offered.

 

“Really?” Shireen asked and grinned. “Great, thanks! I’m Shireen. What are your names?”

 

“I’m Leo,” Leo introduced himself, then pointed to his brothers. “These are Raph, Donnie, and Mikey.”

 

“Okay, we’re all introduced now, so let’s get going,” Raph said and picked Shireen up. Just as they were preparing to leave, they heard a deep voice say, “Well, well, if it isn’t the turtles.”

 

The turtles turned around and saw none other than Xever and Chris Bradford, two of their archenemies. Chris Bradford did not look pleased in the least, while Xever was trying hard not to laugh. It was clear to see that the top of Bradford’s head was covered in Donnie’s vomit, revealing that Bradford was the one Donnie threw up on.

 

“Great,” Shireen said sarcastically as Raph set her down. “It's Chris Bradford. He's so full of himself, I swear.”

 

“All right,” said Bradford. “Who’s the one who did this to me?” He turned to a now laughing Xever and said, “It’s not funny, Xever!” Then he turned back to the turtles and said, “I know it was one of you!”

 

“Uh, would it help if I said I was sorry?” Donnie asked hopefully.

 

“Yes,” said Bradford. “It’ll make the beating I’m about to deliver slightly less painful.”

 

Shireen saw that her new friends were in trouble and ran in front of them and spread her arms out, trying to get Bradford to leave them alone. “Is there any chance I can get you to leave them alone?” she asked the angry man before her.

 

“You stay out of it, you little pest!” Bradford said, shaking his fist at Shireen. The little girl whimpered and ran behind the turtles.

 

Mikey got in front of Shireen and said, “Hey, you can’t treat little girls like that! What’d she ever do to you?”

 

“It’s simple,” Bradford replied. “She’s in my way. And so are you.”

 

“In that case,” Mikey said, reaching inside his shell. “I’ve got a little surprise for you.” He pulled out a string of firecrackers and a match. Before Bradford could react, Mikey lit the match and held it close to the firecrackers. He threw the firecrackers and screamed, “Run!” as the firecrackers exploded. With that said, Raph grabbed Shireen, and he and the others hightailed it out of the alley they were in, while Bradford and Xever were struggling to avoid getting hit by the firecrackers. Bradford mentally cursed himself for letting the turtles escape, while Xever mentally cursed Bradford for the same thing.