TMNT belong, sadly enough, to Mirage- but I'll tell you, if I were the owner, then there'd be a different turn of events TV show/wise!

Problem Solving 101

No one, not even Splinter, disputed that Donatello was probably the brightest of the Turtles- indeed, Splinter was constantly kept on his toes by the intelligence of this child.

Even Don had to admit that when it came to many things to do with technology, science, math- well, everything apart from what they learned in the dojo- that he was top student hands down. Even Raph admitted that Don was the only one who could beat him at mental multiplication, and Raph was no slouch, having held the title of Math Champ for eight weeks straight when they had reached that part of the school lessons.

Yep, Don was definitely the smart one- no one denied that; no one resented that.

So how is it that the "smart one" found himself in this mess?

Trapped in an unused tunnel, leg pinned when his foot had gone through a crumbled spot of floor, bringing down more debris from the ceiling, coating him in dirt and dust and cobwebs and fear, Don repeatedly asked himself as he tried to keep from crying How the heck did I get into this mess?

Because you acted like a baby, he answered himself finally. Because despite your brains, you still acted like a baby, not like a seven year old!

Don sat still and almost gave himself up to misery.

It's funny how three stray phrases can make you act like a jerk, he sighed to himself, leaning his head against the wall of the tunnel and closing his eyes.

He had become so involved with his projects lately! They had found so much neat stuff at the junkyard recently that he had been busy helping his father improve their lives! AND he had found the Holy Grail of items, the one thing he and his brothers had been searching for since they'd seen one on TV- a video game system!

It was battered, and soiled, but its parts were intact. Donnie knew that something must be wrong with it or it wouldn't be there, but over the past few months he had found partially destroyed systems and, like the good little scavenger he was, he had harvested as much undamaged circuit boards and wires and other things, partly to study, partly to save against the day when he might actually find this!

And now he had!

Day after day he struggled, building, rebuilding, testing, retesting- one lucky day it actually played for a half hour, and then the game had froze- back to the drawing board.

The frustration was that he had NOT told his brothers what he was doing. This was going to be a surprise! He had nearly begged his father on his knees to let him surprise them with this.

Splinter, against his better judgment, acquiesced, partly because Donatello rarely asked for anything special, and mainly because this was something he was doing for his brothers. After much work, he had fixed up the closet in his own room as a special "laboratory/workroom" for the enthusiastic turtle (complete with a small TV set for testing out the system).

Though the others did NOT know about that aspect of the situation, the mere fact that Don had been given his own special secret place in Sensei's room had been viewed with MUCH displeasure by all the turtles in general and Raphael in particular.

"How is that fair?" he had protested in a loud voice, tail still sore from his going into Splinter's room without permission just a few days before. "You say that your room is private, and then you let Don use your closet!"

"That is because it is mine to do with as I see fit," Splinter sternly replied, and the tone of voice was enough to warn Raphael that his tail was still in danger of a spanking.

Don hadn't thought that he was neglecting his brothers! He didn't play with them as much, sure, but he wasn't IGNORING them!

His brothers, on the other hand, thought that Don had rather abandoned them lately. Their words of today proved this. As he sat there, dust clogging his delicate nostrils, ears cringing at every stray and possibly dangerous sound, grimy and cold and scared and sad and possibly injured, he began to think about what he had heard earlier in the day... all of the hurtful things he had overheard...

"Leo, Donnie won't play with me," Mikey said, dragging out the board games. "And I'm not allowed to watch TV until after supper. I'm bored!"

Leo, trying to read "The Art of War" (Splinter had found a fairly decent copy for himself, and the Turtle had begged to be allowed to borrow it, determined to read it despite the fact it was an adult book), sighed.

"I'm reading," he said.

Mikey frowned.

"That looks boring! That looks like something Don would read," he said, spreading out the games in a manner he thought would tantalize his oldest brother. "It looks boring and very hard!"

"Well, some of the words are hard, and Don has had to help me," Leo carefully admitted, "but this is not a 'Don' type of book."

"What's it about?"

"How to make war," Leo responded. Mikey snorted.

"Raph musta wrote that book! He's good at making war. Are there a lot of pictures?"

"No."

"What? An Art book, and there are no pictures? That don't make sense. The title says 'The Art of War'... there should be some pictures of fighting!"

Leo sighed, head dizzy from Mikey-logic.

"I don't know why you wanna read when we could be playing a game," Mikey went on. "Come on, Leo! You're acting like Don! Don't be a 'Don', be a 'Mikey'! Play with me!"

Normally he would have told Mikey a final "no", but lately he, too, had noticed that Don was avoiding his brothers' company. He had been working on a theory for why, but he had so far kept it to himself. Plus, Mikey's words had hit rather close to a plan Leo had been working on, and he didn't want to risk revealing more.

Mikey fell quiet and stared at Leo with his trademark "puppy dog eyes", not making any sound, but managing to plead volumes just the same. That clinched it. Somewhat reluctantly he closed his book and joined his brother on the floor.

"What's wrong with him anyways?" Mikey continued, as they got ready to play one of games deemed more "suitable" by Leo ("I am NOT playing 'Candyland', Mikey! That game is for babies!" "But the candies look so yummy! I wish we could LIVE in Candyland!"). "He always used to play these games with me, and now he wants to work on his top secret project."

"Haven't you found out what it is yet?" Leo asked, waiting patiently for Mikey to roll the dice. In this case, "patiently" was the operative word; Mikey rolling dice was quite a performance, as he had many special rituals designed to insure a good result. Raph had NO patience for it, which is why any games requiring dice were played with Don or Leo or Master Splinter (and even the wise Rat had been known to fidget and sigh in frustration once in a great while!).

Mikey, in the middle of his "Give me a twelve o please o please o please" routine, shook his head.

The dice came up "eight".

"Shoot! You distracted me!" he grumbled, moving his piece around the board. "Nope, I tried everything, but so far I can't find out what he's doing. He don't talk to you?"

"Not lately," Leo said, casually tossing the dice and coming up with a twelve- much to the displeasure of his little brother. "He doesn't want to talk to me anymore."

"Sometimes I feel like not talkin' to you anymore," Raph interrupted, coming in from the kitchen where he had finally finished his writing assignment for Splinter (a long long very very long long theme entitled "The Way of Privacy and Why I Should NOT Snoop Around in Master Splinter's Room Looking for a Flashlight to Play a Joke on Michelangelo!"). "For craps sake, Mikey, throw the stupid dice!"

"Language, Raph."

"Stuff it, Leo."

"Have YOU found out what he's up to?" Mikey, after doing the "I REALLY need a twelve pirouette" throw of the dice- and getting a three- asked his brother. "There's something wrong with the dice- I think someone has put an evil spell on them!"

Raph was so tempted to express a view on the cursing of dice, but Leo was in charge while Splinter was gone, and Raph had already spent enough time writing. He did not wish to do any more. So he kept his comments to himself and focused on the topic to hand: Donatello.

"Nope. I started to sneak in to spy on him- but then I remembered the last time I went in Splinter's room," he said without elaborating. "And I don't wanna be in trouble for something that ain't worth it. That essay was two thousand words! I didn't know there was so many words!"

Leo tossed another high number, ignoring the scowl of a frustrated little brother who grabbed the dice, inspecting them as if they were somehow "fixed".

"I don't know- it seems like he just doesn't want to be around us any more," Leo mused, debating if he could still read while playing this game. Mikey was about to launch into some new, more "powerful" rituals in an attempt to get some high rolls, and it promised to take a lot of time. "I tried to get him to stay out here with us today, and he wouldn't even say one word!"

"What can be so facinatin'?" Raph wondered, flopping down onto the couch and lazily turn on the TV.

"I can't watch TV!" Mikey shouted, suddenly grabbing the remote and switching off the set. "I can't watch TV, and I don't wanna go to my room while you watch TV!"

"Man! YOU get grounded off the TV, and I'm the one whose gotta suffer!" Raph protested, but he made no attempt to get up and impose his will on the situation. Truth was, he was more interested in figuring out why Don had been avoiding them.

"DARN IT! A TWO!" Mikey nearly quit the game; SOMEONE had jinxed his dice but good! "Oh, maybe Don is planning an adventure!" he said, switching topics as easily as he switched on the lights. "And Splinter's letting him 'cause he's so much smarter than us- especially Raphy," he couldn't help adding, even though his brother managed to bap him one while he was still lying on the couch.

"Don planning an adventure?" he snorted mirthfully. "Don's almost worse than Leo for stayin' outta trouble! He wouldn't know adventure if it bit him on the ass!"

"Raphael, watch your language or I'll have to tell Splinter!" Leo reprimanded him in his best "I'm in charge 'cause I'm the oldest" voice, but Raph as usual made a rude sound with his mouth in response to this threat.

True, he did NOT want another punishment; Splinter had threatened- no, PROMISED- him that last time, when he'd used some words he'd heard on a late-night movie, that Raphael would stop swearing or Splinter would try the punishment some human parents resorted to- washing out his mouth with soap!

"Seriously, Don is planning something," Leo went on, picking up his book as he waited for Mikey to find a different set of uncursed dice. "But he sure doesn't want his own brothers to know. I think- well, I think he doesn't want us as brothers anymore. Not to play with, anyway..."

Mikey, in the middle of inspecting various combinations of dice, froze and stared with disbelief at Leo.

"Not- not want us..."

"Leo, you don't know that," Raph quickly sat up on the couch, concerned for all of them- but especially Mikey. Mikey could be very sensitive at times about family and all that mushy stuff. "He's just being Don."

"No, he's not. He's being 'Donatello'," Leo said, warming up to the lecture he was about to give. He'd been thinking on this topic for a long time, and he now felt that it was time to share.

After all, he was the oldest- he may not be smart like Don, but he was very wise for his age. He'd seen a lot in his seven years, and as the oldest, it was his job to figure these things out.

"See, I have a theory. Don- I mean, Donatello- has developed differently from the rest of us. We're still kids in our minds, but Donatello has become an adult."

Now two pair of eyes stared at Leo as if he'd sprouted another tail.

"You know how he is always the one Sensei goes to if there is something to be figured out with the wiring or the gas or some other thing that helps us live so well," Leo went on, nodding wisely. "Adults go to other adults- they don't go to kids. Sensei goes to Don for a lot of stuff- been doing that even more this past year. That means that, inside his head, Donatello is an adult."

Raph drew in a noisy breath, held it- and then burst out laughing, nearly falling off the couch in the process.

"Donnie ain't a grown-up in his mind," he gasped at Leo, who was very affronted by this reception to his well-thought out theory, but struggling to maintain his dignity. "Come on, Leo, that is impossible! We may have mutated and not be normal, and Don may be smarter, but he ain't no adult! That's a stupid theory!"

"It's not stupid!" Leo responded heatedly. "I've been researching it!"

"Researching?" Raph laughed even harder. "What kind of 'researching' have YOU been doing? You ain't Don!"

"I'll have you know that there is more on TV than 'Fantastic Four' cartoons and 'Sesame Street'," Leo responded loftily, striking at two of Raphael's most favorite of shows (though "Sesame Street" was supposed to be a well-guarded secret from Mikey and Don! Raph suddenly grew red in the face as he realized that his brother had broken an oath of honor!). "There's shows about development! Don is 'gifted'-"

"Gifted? Who gifted him?" Mikey wanted to know. He was having a hard time following his brother's logic, but the word "gift" he understood. "Splinter gave him a gift as well as let him have his own secret private only him allowed space?"

"I mean he's developed faster in the mind than we have," Leo clarified, ignoring the glowering glare of Raphael. "He's become an adult, probably 'cause of the ooze- and all that reading he does and stuff has helped him to become more and more grownup in his mind. Now he's an 'adult' in his mind, and doesn't have time to play games or hang with us."

"I don't believe it!" Raph insisted. "I think you're fulla crap, Leo! You been practicin' katas too hard! You musta fell outta the bed again-"

"I don't fall out of the bed!"

"Yeah, right! You forget who helps you get back in, don'tcha?" Raph smirked, having revealed one of Leo's well-kept secrets that he had sworn an oath of honor on to protect. "Leo, you're nuts! Don ain't turned into no adult!"

But Leo was stubborn. He just HAD to be right- Donatello, by reading Splinter's books, had become an adult in his mind. Leo just had to be right about this- he'd been reading Splinter's books as well- he'd been trying his hardest to be come an "adult" like Donatello- he had secret dreams of helping Splinter with the training; of becoming an assistant Sensei! Don helped Splinter; why couldn't he?

He just HAD to be right! Otherwise, why try his darnedest to get through this book?

I mean, it has NO pictures at all!

"Splinter goes to Don because Don can do it," Raph pointed out sensibly. "Don's learned about stuff from Splinter 'cause he's interested- and now he's better at it than Splinter. THAT'S why Sensei goes to him for stuff!"

"But- but- but why don't he want us as brothers anymore?" Mikey hesitantly asked, and now Raph grew quiet. "He always used to play with me- now its 'Mikey, go away, I'm busy'."

"He always said that before, Mikey," Raph reminded him. But Mikey shook his head.

"That was different. When he said it them times, he didn't mean it really- and he was always doing his secret stuff right where we could see it, even though it was top secret! Always! NOW when he says it- and he locks himself in Splinter's room- and he won't answer me even when I stand there forever and ever calling to him-"

And Mikey looked as if he couldn't make up his mind to cry or be angry- or both! Don had abandoned him! Had abandoned them all!

And after all he and Don had been through together! This is the gratitude Donnie repays Mikey with! Well, he'd show HIM! Ha! Doesn't want HIM as a brother any more? Sweet, cute, adorable, wonderful, loyal Michelangelo, not wanted by dumb old know-it-all poopy-headed "adult" Donatello? HA!

"That is it," Mikey said, standing up, games, cursed dice, the past forgotten. "I swear, on my oath of honor, that only Raph and Leo are my bestest brothers in the world and the onlyest favorite brothers I have period! I will swear a keppan!"

"Umm... Mikey?" Leo finally broke the stunned silence that this emotional outburst of their baby brother had resulted in, "umm.. you KNOW That means a 'blood oath', right?"

Mikey, fire in his eyes, nodded fiercely. He stood there, trembling all over, fists clenched, resolve hardened...

"... 'cause you KNOW that means you gotta sign it with your own blood," Leo continued. "And that means you gotta cut your thumb or finger or..."

"I'll get the knife!" Raph shouted gleefully, jumping up to go to the kitchen.

Quick as he was, Mikey was quicker, and in a blur of motion he tackled his brother and sat on him, preventing him from going further.

"Well, okay- NOT a keppan," he decided, oblivious to the angry cries of Raph to "get offa me you dumbass! I'm gonna kill you!". "But I DO mean it!"

Don sneezed, jerking awake- evidently he had dozed off while thinking of how he'd gotten here.

Forlornly he studied his situation again. The flashlight he'd been carrying still was working. He wondered how long it would last. He didn't like to admit, but being in the dark in a strange and scary place was NOT something he wanted to experience!

He had to go to the bathroom. He was thirsty. He was hurting. His tail was falling asleep from enforced sitting on debris of all kinds. And he was longing for a way to contact his father and have him come rescue him, and at the same time fighting off the tears of reality, knowing that it wasn't doing him any good to wish for stuff like that...

Yet those words of Mikey's echoed throughout his misery, and in spite of his predicament, the hurt his brother's words overtook the growing pain in his tummy and (more importantly) his trapped leg.

"I swear, on my oath of honor, that only Raph and Leo are my bestest brothers in the world and the onlyest favorite brothers I have period!"

Don, being the brainy seven year old he was, began to cry...

AN: Okay, normally I do not put stuff at the bottom, but I needed to explain that HOW Don overheard this stuff and what leads him into this trouble will be revealed in the next chapter! If you got this far, thanks for reading- I do not say that enough- I really mean it when i say thanks for reading.