This episode is by far one of my favorites!

Anyone ever been mildly curious about what happened in between Donnie stealing the brother's masks/Mikey heading into Donnie's lab and Donnie suddenly hounding Ice Cream Kitty/the family noticing Mikey's gone missing? 

No? Just me?

Ah, well. I answered the unrealized query anyway! XD 

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"Give them back, Donnie!"

Leo and Raph barely managed to corner their younger brother in the dojo; their masks firmly clenched in his hands. He huddled down in a protective ball and buried them beneath his arms. Like someone half his age, he stubbornly proclaimed, "Nuh-uh! Nope! No way!"

"Hand them over or I'm gonna-!"

Raph stomped forward, ready to resort to whatever violence the situation called for. His sudden action pried an giddy "eep!" from his younger brother, who evidently had come to the same conclusion. He lurched to his feet and barreled through his older brother in a very un-Donnie manner, knocking Raph off-balance.

Leo tried to grab his arm as he shoved past, but Donnie threw himself back, stumbling right into the tree. He looked up to the branches and then to his approaching brother.

Leo caught the spark of an idea in wide eyes and growing smile. "Donnie, don't-"

Donnie sprung up and caught a branch, pulling himself and planting himself on top of it. "King of the mountain!" He paused, contemplative. "Tree? Tree! KING OF THE TREE!"

"Donnie! Get down!" Leo commanded, exasperation drenching his tone as he watched him continue up it.

"Wheeeeee!" Was the ecstatic response as Donnie locked his knees on a higher branch and hung upside down, gleefully swinging and waving the masks at his brothers.

Raph stopped at Leo's side and considered climbing up after him. He quickly decided that he didn't care nearly enough to do so. Then again, he didn't have the patience to wait for him to get down. It's a pretty lose-lose situation.

"What's the plan, chief?" Raph glanced at Leo.

His older brother's face was pitched with sudden nerves, tension lying in his shoulders. "He's going to fall."

"Probably." Raph agreed mindlessly. "You think he has any idea how insane he is right now?"

"I doubt he has a clue. Memory loss seems to be a common recurrence with this brain stuff." His brows furrowed. "Guess we should be grateful he knows who we are."

Raph looked to the ground, letting that unnerving prospect sink in. "...You don't think-"

A sickening crack echoed. His gaze shot up just as the branch came to the conclusion it was unable to hold a ninja turtle's weight and split from the tree.

Leo dashed past Raph and tackled Donnie as his younger brother cried out, successfully catching him and lessoning the crash as they hit the ground.

Donnie peeked an eye open, glancing at the brother whose plastron he was now lying on in surprise. He relaxed as a bright smile lit up his expression and he happily reached over to tap Leo's beak with the blue fabric. "Boop!"

With a relieved sigh, Leo carefully pushed Donnie off of him. "You need serious help."

"Hugs-!" Donnie tried to catch him before he got to his feet, but Leo kept some distance between them. "No hugs. Masks."

The beaming smile dropped into a pout.

Leo remained unfazed, giving his tone a calculated edge while sternly holding out a hand. "Masks, Donatello."

Any trace of joy eradicated itself in that instance, confusion lacing darting eyes. The leader kept firm, and the shock was quickly overcome by heartbreak, face scrunching with the untold pain.

Leo pulled back his hand uncomfortably as his eyes started to water, masks clutched protectively to his chest as the first tears fall-

"Alright, alright, one hug." He agreed because he's a weakling when it comes to puppy-eyes and they all know it. He tried to bargain anyway. "Then you give the masks back. Okay?"

A soft sniffle. A tiny nod.

With the heavy sigh of sacrifice, Leo dropped to his knees.

Donnie buried himself in open arms, nuzzling against his older brother. He made a small, happy sound and Leo shook his head, ignorant to the smile the creases his own lips.

Raph rolled his eyes at the show of affection. "This is just sad."

"There are worse things than hugs, Raph." Leo accused. There's an obvious show of indifference but the gentle edge betrayed him.

Donnie pulled away from Leo to look up at Raph, eyes shinning with recognition, and he stayed silent.

Donnie agreeably handed over the fabric. He seemed disappointed, but only for a moment. He jumped to his feet, hurrying to duck around Raph with new enthusiasm.

Raph grabbed his arm and snapped, "Oh, no, you don't! No more trouble-making for you."

Donnie huffed a sigh and that's when April came dashing in the room, her t-phone in hand as she demanded, "I thought I heard a crash. What happened?"

"I'd like to know that as well." A stern voice spoke up.

All teens turn to see their Sensei now standing near the tree, no doubt shaken from his meditative trance during all the commotion.

"Uh, well, Splinter, the thing is-" Leo started, but he was interrupted by a joyful, "Squirrel!" as Donnie jerked himself free from Raph's hold and dashed over to Splinter to wrap him in a tight hug.

After a few seconds of surprise, Splinter returned the embrace with one hand and turned a questioning look to his other sons.

"Squirrel?"

"Donnie's gone nuts, Splinter." Raph explained as he ties the red mask now tied around his head once more. "He got brain serum stuff spilled on him and now he's lost all his smarts."

"I see." Splinter mused as Donnie peeked behind him and towards the open decorated doors with interest before pulling away from his father to go explore. Splinter watched after him warily as he asked, "Do we have any idea of how to cure him?"

"Not yet, Sensei, we-"

"Wow! The fire followed us home and had babies!"

It took his family approximately seven seconds to fully process his joyful announcement before they dashed towards the entrance and found Donnie holding one of his father's lit candles joyously.

"No- Donnie- Put it down-" Leo tried to cross the distance, but Donnie jerked his cupped hands away from his older brother stubbornly. They all panicked when he brought way too close to the paper images along the walls for comfort.

The eldest was quick to step back and this seemed to satisfy Donnie, who brought it back to his face for examination and then moved as though to tap the flame.

"Hamato Donatello," Splinter scolded sharply, jerking his attention away from the candle and to him instead, green hand drawn back a bit. "I want you to give me the candle and go to the main room with your brothers so we may sort this out."

"But-" Donnie tried to plead, but Splinter simply held out his hand and stated, "Now, Donatello."

Donnie stared down at his baby fire and then sighed, shoulders slumping as he handed over the candle and then began making his way out of the room. Leo was quick to nervously move to his brother's side as the disappointed turtle exited the room. Raph and April took the rear as Splinter lagged behind to put away the current fire hazards.

Donnie entered the main room and glimpsed the area around him. His expression immediately snapped back into excitement. With a wild squeal, he dashed away from Leo and bounded for the pit.

Leaping over the edge of the couch and unnecessarily bouncing a few times, Donnie then tossed himself to the floor and grasped a comic from on it, flipping rapidly through the pages so fast that even he couldn't possibly have read all that it had said.

It didn't take long for him to grow bored of this and he turned his attention to his surroundings as the unsettled April approached the unpredictable turtle who had once been her endearingly OCD-prone friend.

Holding out both hands as though trying not to spook a wild animal, she coaxed, "That looked like a nice comic, Donnie. Don't you wanna sit down and look at it a bit more-?"

He responded to this by chucking it and watching as her recently heightened reflexes allowed her to catch it before it slammed her in the face, letting out an incredibly unsettling mad-man cackle as he scrambled to his feet and sprinted towards the kitchen.

A frazzled Leo hurried after him as April glanced at the comic in her hand and then back to Raphael, who had given up on Donnie and was now beating his punching bag nearby. The redhead let off a soft sigh as she glanced over to the kitchen, hearing the frustrated pitch of Leo's tone rising as Donnie probably messed with something he shouldn't be.

The redhead simply turned and tossed the comic to the side before making her way to the couch and planting herself on it, brushing her hair back as she leaned against it. "I swear babysitting five-year-olds would be easier than this."

"I'll let Donnie know you think he's less stable in the brain then a five-year-old." Raph's gruff voice responded as they were both dimly aware of Leo's shouting something in the background.

"You know what I mean." She huffed, side-eyeing him when she became aware of the sound of wood hitting the floor before Donnie came running out of the kitchen with a sleepy and confused Ice Cream Kitty in his arms.

With an evil cackle, he dived behind the tv and then crouched there, the mutant cat in his possession staring at him like he'd gone mad, something the rest of them had already- mostly- accepted a while back.

The kitty gave a frustrated yowl and swatted at him. The startled turtle yelped and released her, allowing the frozen mutant to shimmy away from him. Looking genuinely surprised by her hostility, Donnie leaned forward with round eyes and watched her move to duck around the tv stand.

Turning his attention back over to April, he pointed at her and proudly announced, "I found a snow alien in the pantry!"

"You stole Ice Cream Kitty from the fridge." Raph corrected dully as he made his way to the other end of the couch, watching Donnie's eyes widen with a realization that probably had nothing to do with what his older brother had just explained to him.

"Kitty! Cat! Snow cat! ALIEN SNOW CAT INVASION!" He proclaimed while shooting Ice Cream Kitty a horrified look.

She hissed as Raph facepalmed and Leo seemed to choose that moment to enter the room. "So, Donnie just stole Ice Cream Kitty from the freezer and- Oh, good, he didn't run off."

The leader paused behind Raph and April upon realizing the others were already aware of the situation and that Donnie seemed to be fairly occupied with giving Ice Cream Kitty suspicious stares as he moved forward and poked her.

She responded with a swipe and a hiss, to which Donnie hissed back and then tried to tackle her, only succeeding in bumping his already messed up head into the tv stand when she moved out of the way.

Donnie recovered quickly and continued to hound the "alien threat" as Leo spotted Splinter emerging from the dojo.

As the wise Sensei gave his previously intelligent son a disapproving once-over, Leo was silent for a minute to allow him to fully comprehend how bad it had gotten.

Finally tilting his head in their father's direction, he questioned, "What do you think, Master Splinter?"

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Was this necessary?

Not particularly.

Did I do it anyway?

YOU BET!

Why?

Because I can~