The start of a weight-gain series for  Pictorium-Emporium, involving everyone's favorite mutant reptiles! How could I say no?

TMNT © Mirage Studios

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Michelangelo groaned, slumping back in his seat on the sofa. He'd been so close to beating the new fighting game April had loaned him! He'd pegged the final boss down to a half-bar of health, but then one of the buttons on his controller got stuck, sending his character into an endless stream of shouting and swinging right hooks and leaving them wide open for a devastating combo. Game over.

Admittedly, he'd been at this game for a few days now, and had been mashing the buttons like crazy, probably harder than he should have. But still! So unfair. The only thing left to do was hope the repairs didn't take too long. He knew Donatello had a big queue of projects he was working on. One little game controller wouldn't take -too- much time out of his busy schedule, though, right?

Marching himself out of the recreation area and over to the door to Donnie's lab, he mashed his thumb over the call button. There was a faint buzz from inside, followed by the intercom crackling to life. "This had better be good, Mikey."

"Dude, how'd you know it was me?"

"Not only are you the only one who holds the call button longer than three seconds, but everyone else knows not to bother me while I'm busy."

"Oh! Ha, cool, I thought you'd developed psychic powers or something! But, uh... If you're busy and all I guess I can ask later..."

Donatello audibly sighed. "Did you break your controller again? ...Fine, bring it in, but DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"

The heavy metal door's lock disengaged, and Mikey tugged on the handle, sliding it aside and stepping into the lab proper. He couldn't help but grin to himself; Donnie's lab was full of awesome things and strange gizmos and half-finished projects that just begged to be touched, but he reminded himself that he'd have to stay on his older brother's good side if he wanted to get back to beating Lord Evicerous any time soon.

Donnie turned on his stool, lifting his goggles to rest them on his forehead. The arch of his brow under the purple mask said plenty about his annoyance at being interrupted, but the slight smirk at the corner of his beak hinted that it was a welcome interruption all the same. Admittedly, Donatello half-enjoyed Mikey's visits because the youngest turtle was at least genuinely curious about his inventions, as opposed to Raph's complete disinterest and Leo's half-hearted attempts to look like he knew what Donnie was talking about. Of course, Mikey's curiousity also meant he'd end up poking and prodding his big fingers where they didn't belong, and it was nothing short of a miracle he hadn't blown any of them off yet.

Regardless, Donnie held out his hand and Mikey sheepishly handed him the controller. "Let me guess; another stuck button?"

Mikey grinned. "You sure you're not going psychic on us, dude? That'd be pretty cool, anyway."

Donnie set the controller on his work desk, opening it up with practiced ease. "As developed as our brains are, and mine in particular, developing precognition, telepathy, telekinesis, or clairvoyance is a bit out of our league. At least without aid, anyway. Hm..." Donnie paused in his work for a moment to reach out to a nearby pad of paper, scribbling a couple of notes down for later.

Meanwhile, Mikey kept his hands tucked behind his shell as he idled around close by, eyeing all the strange mechanical gizmos, the colored liquids in stoppered vials, the half-dismantled robots, and --

"Ooh, whoa, what's this thing, Donnie? Some kinda mini-spaceship?"

Donnie looked up from his work again to see what project had caught Mikey's interest, and couldn't help but laugh. The punchbowl-sized dome of glass and metal flanked by streamlined handles was supported on three legs, and did look like a classic UFO, now that he thought about it. "Oh! That's is something I've been working on, using some of that Kraang technology we, uh, liberated. I reverse-engineered the stuff, and thought, hey, why not try putting it to good use? So I cobbled together some old microwave parts..."

It was Mikey's turn to arch his brow, out of sheer amusement. "Dude, you used Kraang tech to make us a new microwave? I woulda thought you'd have made some a teleporter, or a laser sword like in those movies. Ooh! Or laser-chucks! Wait, how would you even hold those...?"

Donnie rolled his eyes and rested his hand on the small appliance to interrupt Mikey's runaway train of thought. "This is not a microwave, Mikey. Using manual input and stored information, it rearranges sub-atomic particles into molecules that can then be rearranged into more complex inanimate forms, like spare parts, medicines, or even food."

Mikey's blue eyes widened behind his orange mask. "Dude, you made a food replicator?? For reals? Like the ones in Leo's space journey show?"

Donatello couldn't help but puff up proudly. He enjoyed it when his brothers thought he was some sort of sci-fi wizard. "Ha, well, I guess that's what you could call it, sure. It's still untested because I'm not exactly sure how much radiation this thing would put out, but in theory we could completely negate the need for ordering out for pizza, Chinese, or any other cuisine with just a few swipes of the finger. It's easy enough that a child could do it."

"Ooh, so if I want a large pepperoni with meatballs and extra cheese, we wouldn't have to even wait thirty minutes? How do I add bacon?"

Donatello was about to remind Mikey that the replicator was still untested when he looked down to see his brother's finger gliding over the replicator's dome, the interactive holograms reacting and confirming the desired ingredients and recipe. "What? MIKEY, DON'T--!!"

Too late, Mikey hit the spot labeled 'Start' and the replicator hummed and trembled, a bright light rapidly building inside of it. Donnie and Mikey had just enough time to shield their eyes before there was a very anti-climactic *ding* and the glass dome slid open to reveal a fully formed and steaming pepperoni pizza with meatballs and extra cheese. Donnie couldn't help but blink in wonder as Mikey licked his lips and reached for the meal. "Ooh, and it's hot like it's fresh from the oven, too! Awesome! Aw, no bacon, though..."

Donnie didn't even have enough of his startled wits gathered to stop Mikey from taking a bite, his younger brother pulling away strands of gooey cheese, a smile on his face as he chewed. "Mmh, and it tastes even better than Antonio's! Totally a successful test!" Mikey offered a slice, and Donnie took it, still dumbfounded at the sheer amount of luck that his invention had worked perfectly on the first try.

"...Well, I guess that just cleared up my schedule..." He took a bite of pizza, expecting to at least taste a hint of ozone, but no, it really was perfect enough to remind Donnie he had almost skipped lunch. His stomach growled, and Mikey broke into another big grin. "Hey, wanna see if it can make sodas...?"