*This means a line is dramatic, emphasized, or in the background*
Continuing where we previously left our favourite green heroes, they are standing next to the crashed van, examining the glowing canister they just found.
"So, that's the..." "Mutagen that turned us all into what we are now." Donnie finished, holding the canister. "Let's drink some!" Mikey chimed in. "What?" Raph asked, baffled. "Why would you do that?" "Cause if you mutate a mutant, you get a super mutant!"
"Or a pile of goo on the sidewalk." Sam deadpanned.
"Either way, it's an improvement."
"Guys, this is huge!" Leo exclaimed. "Whoever kidnapped those people are somehow connected to what happened to us 15 years ago." "How is that possible?" Donnie asked. "With alien robots, anything is possible." Sam remarked, clearly still not letting that go.
"Stop that! There are no such things as alien robots!" "Oh, yeah?" Sam went up to the man as he sat up and grabbed him. "Well, if there's no such thing as alien robots... how do you explain this?" She started pulling on the guy's face. "AH! My face!" He shouted in immense discomfort.
"Man, this mask is glued on tight!" Sam growled, continuing to yank. "Sam, stop! It's not a mask!" Leo shouted, realizing the guy was a normal human. Sam just threw the man back to the ground. "Okay, he's in the clear. But those other guys were totally alien robots!"
"Enough!" Raph shouted, "Time to get some answers. Who are you, and what's going on?" He asked as he grabbed the man's arm.
"Name's Snake. And I got nothing to say to you hideous freaks," he answered, glaring at the turtles.
"Well... that's 'cause you don't know us yet."
Raph tossed Snake towards his siblings, and Donnie and Mikey held him in place. They were going to get answers from this guy one way or another.
"See, we were just regular guys... until we got hit with a little of this." Raph said intimidatingly as he screwed open the canister. "Whaddaya doin'?" Snake was really scared now. "Playing a little game I like to call "Mutation Roulette." Raph loomed over Snake, holding the open canister. "Now, you could turn out handsome like me, or you might end up disgusting and deformed, like Mikey here." "Hey!" Mikey shouted, offended by Raph's comment.
"So... you feel lucky?"
Raph tipped the canister to let some of the ooze slowly spill out. Snake watched in horror as it was slowly getting closer, and closer, and closer...
...until it was mere inches from his face.
"Okay, okay! They call themselves the Kraang!" He shouted, and Raph stopped tipping the canister. "They've been grabbing scientists from all over the city!"
"Well, that worked out pretty good." Leo remarked, rather impressed.
"Of course, it did." Raph said. "Would you wanna look like Mikey?"
"I'm right here."
Brushing aside the offending comments, the turtles were just glad to finally be getting somewhere. "What do they want with scientists?" Leo asked in a demanding tone. "I don't know." Snake answered. Raph shook the canister again. "All I know is they're takin' them outta the city tonight, but I don't know where!"
Hearing this information, Donnie was filled with a sense of pleasure. "This is awesome!" He exclaimed. "That girl's dad is a scientist; I'm a scientist. She is so gonna like me!"
"I don't think you're her type."
The turtles all glared down at Snake, intimidating him more. "Where are they now?" Leo demanded.
XXXXXXXX
Soon after, Snake led the turtles to an undesirable corner of the city, where the Kraang set up their facility. They spied on it from a nearby rooftop, realizing it was heavily guarded. Perfect place to keep hostages. Mikey was tasked with keeping an eye on Snake while the others formulated a plan.
"There's gotta be like... twenty of them down there." Leo observed, looking through a telescope. "And that's just the ones we can see." Donnie added.
"Alright!" Raph said happily, pulling out his sais. "An all-you-can-beat buffet!"
"We can't just rush in there!" Leo warned. "We need a plan." "Why?" "Think, you shell-brain!" Donnie chastised. "There are innocent lives at stake! If we screw this up, they're all goners!"
"Then we won't screw it up." Raph said, as if that were totally obvious.
"Boy, I could sure go for some of that pizza right now, huh?" Mikey asked casually. Then he noticed his siblings staring at him with shocked expressions. "What? I can't be the only one that's hungry."
"Where's Snake?" Sam asked, a look of concern on her face. Mikey gasped lightly as he glanced over to where he left Snake, only to see him making a run for it. "Oh, geez." "Get him!" Leo ordered.
The turtles chased Snake down the fire escape and split up in the alley to find him. Donnie, Sam, and Mikey came to a dead end with a tall concrete wall blocking their path. "Maybe he went over the wall," Donnie wondered. "I'm on it!" Mikey said.
Donnie and Sam boosted Mikey up and over easily. "Alley oop!" Sam said playfully. However, once Mikey was over, the purple and yellow-clad turtles heard a lot of banging, crashing, and Mikey shouting in pain. "Ow. I don't think he went this way!" Mikey groaned.
XXXXXXXX
Leo and Raph had run into a separate alley, where they successfully found Snake's hiding place. Leo silently gestured around the corner, and Raph nodded, confirming he would follow his lead. Rather than capture him, they decided to trick him.
"Oh, great, we let him get away!" Leo said, loud enough for Snake to hear. "Whoa, whoa." Raph cut in. "You're the leader, which means you let him get away."
"You're not helping." Leo quietly hissed.
"I'm not trying to help."
"Okay, okay. You want me to lead? Fine." Leo then continued on with his ruse. "We go back to the lair, gear up, and at midnight, we'll drive Snake's van right up to the gate. They'll think we're him, and we'll cruise right in." Leo finished, making sure Snake heard.
"And then we bust some heads?"
"And then we bust some heads."
"I love a happy ending."
The two turtles then left the scene, leaving Snake to escape with a smug smile and the fake information he just heard. Those turtles won't know what hit them.
XXXXXXXX
Now back at the lair, Donnie was busy in his lab, using his welder to make tools they could use to infiltrate the Kraang base. Meanwhile, Raph was in the kitchen talking to someone.
"I know you're a little worried about me," he said in a sweet tone. "Look, I'm not gonna lie to you; we've never gone into a fight like this. I don't know what's gonna happen." Raph only opens up like this for one person... "But you don't have to worry. I will make it back. I love you, man." and that one person is...
Spike, his pet tortoise.
Spike sat on the counter, munching on his lettuce leaf, as Raph talked to him. He was a constant companion to Raphael, even though he couldn't talk back.
"Aww." Raph jumped and turned to see Sam and Mikey standing there, watching him. "Are you talking to your pet turtle?" Sam asked. She liked seeing her angry brother act sweetly for a change. "No. Shut up!" Raph argued. He hated it when his siblings saw him acting all soft.
"That's adorable." Mikey cooed. Raph didn't like that one bit. "Oh, I am gonna crush you!" He grabbed a wooden spoon, ran over the table, and started chasing his younger siblings with it. "I'm gonna shellac you!" Sam and Mikey ran for it; one was screaming while the other was laughing.
XXXXXXXX
In the dojo, Leo was using a makeshift diagram of the Kraang base to help him make his plan. This was his first real mission as a leader, and he wanted to make sure he was successful.
"I think this plan is gonna work." He said to himself, smiling.
"No plan ever survives contact with the enemy." Splinter told his son. "It is how you react to the unexpected that will determine if you and your brothers and sister succeed."
"Sensei... do you think I'm ready for this?" Leo asked, feeling unsure. "Leonardo. I made you leader for a reason."
"What is that reason?"
"That is for you to discover on your own."
That did not make Leo feel much better. He was nervous about something going terribly wrong. "There's so much riding on this. What if something goes wrong?"
"Failure is a possibility every leader must face, Leonardo." Splinter explained as his eyes turned distant and sad. "It is something I had to face in Japan during my final battle with my enemy... the Shredder." He flashed back to the tragic night when everything he ever loved was lost to him—when his enemy destroyed it all.
"Years ago, Oroku Saki, as Shredder was called then, had been my friend. But the love of a woman came between us. He could not accept it, and his jealousy turned outward in a vengeful attack! And while he could not defeat me that day, my world fell and crumbled around me... as the battle took the life of my beloved Tang Shen... and I lost my baby daughter, Miwa."
Splinter's head hung low as he ended his tragic story. Leo stood silently, feeling great sympathy for his father's loss. "But that's my point, Sensei. You lost everything." "I lost many things. My family. My home. My name." Splinter turned to his eldest son with a fatherly look. "But I gained many things as well... like the five of you."
Leo felt a newfound sense of determination. "Don't worry. We can handle this." Suddenly, the nice moment was ruined by the sound of screaming and laughing as Sam, Mikey, and Raph ran through. "Get back here!" Raph shouted, still threatening his younger siblings with a wooden spoon. Splinter and Leo could only sigh.
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, at the Kraang facility, the girl (April) and her dad (Kirby) were in a holding cell being heavily guarded. April pounded on the door as she shouted to their captors. "Hey! You can't keep us in here like this! We know our rights!"
"I don't think they care about that, April." Kirby told his daughter gloomily, sitting on the bench in the room with a look of hopelessness.
"We can't just sit here. We gotta do something."
"Like what?"
Right then, April came up with a plan to get the Kraang to open the cell door. Minutes later, the guards heard her writhing in fake pain. "Oh, my stomach! The pain is unbearable!"
One Kraang opened the door to investigate. While he was focused on April, Kirby attempted to sneak out the open door. Unfortunately, the Kraang sensed that and quickly turned to him with that creepily emotionless expression. April took this moment to jump on the Kraang, trying to bring him down, but it had no effect. The Kraang simply put April down and closed the cell door.
"Well... I guess we can just sit here." Kirby just sighed.
XXXXXXXX
Outside the main gate, Snake, along with a bunch of Kraang, armed with laser guns, awaited the turtles' arrival. Thanks to the fake information they fed Snake, they believed their enemies would be coming through the front door.
"They'll be here any minute." Snake told the Kraang.
"Kraang, are those who are coming to this place coming to this place?" One Kraang asked the one next to it. Did I forget to mention the roundabout way these aliens speak? My bad.
"I lack that knowledge, Kraang. I will inquire of Kraang about that knowledge." It glanced up at the platform above. "Do you have the knowledge that those coming to this place are in this place, Kraang?!"
"THEY'RE TURTLES!" Snake shouted, sick of the endless chatter. "Call them turtles! "Are the turtles here?!"
"There are lights of a vehicle which contain that which you wish us to call "the turtles" coming to this place which you wish us to call "here!" One Kraang pointed out.
"What are you talking about?!" Snake shouted. He turned around to see a speeding van coming right at them. He readied his blaster to shoot. He and the Kraang began blasting the vehicle, but it was not slowing down. They were forced to jump out of the way as the van crashed head-on into the front gate, causing it to explode.
Snake landed in a field of weeds. He looked back to see that, in the midst of the explosion, a canister of mutagen was flung from the van. It broke open, and the contents spilled all over him. Much to his horror, the mutagen began to mutate him! He grew vine-like appendages as he screamed in pain.
Meanwhile, the Kraang were examining the wrecked van, realizing there was nobody driving. "The ones coming to this place are not in the vehicle bringing them to this place." "Then in what place are the ones called the turtles?"
The turtles were scaling up the wall of the facility. The van was merely a diversion so they could sneak in. "Wow. Lucky thing that van showed up to distract them." Mikey said innocently, having completely forgotten the plan yet again. Donnie facepalmed, only to poke himself in the eye with his climbing claw.
"That was the plan, Mikey." Leo reminded him. "We knew Snake was hiding in the alley, so Raph and I made him think we would be in the van." Mikey was just more confused. "But we weren't in the van." Leo sighed. "Forget it, Leo. Just keep climbing." Sam ushered as they made their way to the roof.
XXXXXXXX
Inside the facility, the Kraang were marching up and down the halls like the robots they were, some dressed like humans, some not. Two Kraang in human disguises stopped when a vent grate fell from the ceiling. They looked up to see Leo and Raph dive at them. They took them down with their bear hands before Donnie, Sam, and Mikey jumped down too.
Donnie was amazed by the structure of the place. The outside looked like a regular building, but the inside was like an alien spaceship.
"Wow. I've never seen anything like this." He said amazed. "They're using a metal alloy that I don't even recognize."
"Gosh. A metal alloy even you don't know about. It boggles the mind." Raph spoke sarcastically, clearly not caring at all. "Dude, you wanna talk metallurgy with me? Bring it!"
"Guys! What part of "being in an enemy lair" do you not understand?" Leo scolded. They then silently crept down the hall. Around the next corner, they saw Kraang droids without human disguises. Sam scowled menacingly at them, but her brothers were shocked.
"Whoa. Alien robots." Donnie commented, not believing it. "Alien robots, huh?" Sam asked sarcastically. "Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah. I'VE BEEN SAYING IT FOR HOURS!" At that, the Kraang were alerted to their presence and started blasting at them. On the bright side, now that they knew they were robots, they didn't have to hold back.
The turtles ran at the Kraang droids and started beating them down hard, even ripping their limbs off or slicing them in half. Once they were all down, one droid started moving as the alien brain inside it burst out, screaming at them. The boys all screamed, but Sam punched it in the face, stunning it before picking it up by the tentacles.
"See! See, it's an alien brain! I told you, I told you! But did any of you believe me? NO! 'Cause you all think I'm a no-nothing baby!" Sam screamed, angry that her brothers didn't listen to her.
Just then, the Kraang brain regained itself and bit Sam's arm! She flailed around, trying to get it off, only to send it flying into the wall, where it hit the alarm trigger. A cacophony of beeping and blaring rang through the building as the Kraang skittered away from an angry Sam.
"Sam!" the boys chastised.
"Okay, that was my bad. But I was still right about the alien robots and brains! I'm not letting you live this down!" Sam stomped her foot. Her brothers just sighed, knowing all too well that she meant that. "Move!" Leo ordered. "Move where?" Raph asked.
Donnie looked to the ceiling at the glowing pink lines. "I think those are power conduits."
"Oh, that's really interesting. Thanks for sharing, Donnie."
"Meathead." Donnie glared. "The conduits are all converging that way, which means that whatever is going on in that direction is IMPORTANT!"
"You got spanked." Mikey commented before Raph grabbed his hand and flexed it the wrong way. "Ow! Ow! Mercy!" Raph let go before following the others. "Not cool."
It wasn't another minute that they came to the cell where April and her dad were being held. "We found 'em!" Donnie said excitedly. Unfortunately, more Kraang droids came in and started blasting at them. "We'll hold them off; you pick the lock!" Leo said, unsheathing his swords.
Donnie turned to the door. "Don't worry! I'll have you outta there in a sec!" "Okay, giant lizard thing!" April answered, confused by Donnie's appearance. "Turtle actually. I'm Donatello." "April." "Wow. That's a pretty..." Donnie was squished against the window when Leo bumped into him. Now was not the time to be romantic! "The lock, Donnie!" "Oh, right. Sorry."
Donnie opened the control panel next to the door and started fiddling with the wires. The others fighting the Kraang droids in the background were not helping his concentration.
"Uh, not to rush you, but HURRY UP!" April called.
"Hey. Do you think it's easy to pick a lock with these hands?" Donnie asked, holding his hands up for emphasis. "Sorry." Raph noticed Donnie struggling and instantly got annoyed. "Oh, for the love of... Get outta my way!" Raph shoved Donnie aside as he took out his sai and started stabbing the door mechanism.
Unfortunately, there was more than one door in that cell. The door behind April and Kirby suddenly opened, and more Kraang droids came in. When the turtles managed to open the other door, they saw them getting dragged away. They ran after them until they reached the yard outside. "Get the door!" Leo ordered. Raph then barricaded their pursuers inside by breaking off a droid's arm and using it to block the door.
"That'll hold them." His siblings stare at him unblinking. "What?" "You... are seriously twisted." Leo commented. "Thanks."
They turned their attention to the nearby helicopter platform when they heard April call out. They had to act fast. If that helicopter takes off with April and her dad, they may never find them again. "Let's get 'em!" Leo said as they ran to save them.
Unfortunately, something blocked their path. There before them was a humongous, green, and hideous plant monster with green skin, vine-like arms, a visible beating heart in its chest, and misshapen yellow eyes.
"You did this to me." It rasped. "Now you're going to pay!"
"It's Snake!" Leo said, realizing who it was. "He mutated into some... giant weed!" Snake brought down one of his spiked vines.
"That's weird. You'd think he'd get mutated into a snake." Mikey commented.
"Yeah, you would... if you were an idiot!" Raph said annoyed.
"But his name is "Snake."
"So? What does that have to do with it? It doesn't mean anything." Sam tried to explain.
"You guys don't understand science." Mikey just wasn't the logical type.
Just then, Snake uprooted his tree trunk-like legs and advanced on the turtles. "I'll crush you turtles!" "Uhh... would it help if we said it was an accident?" Donnie asked hopefully. Snake just roared and showed off his giant seed pod claws, showing that he was not in the mood to talk. "So, I'll put you down for a no?"
Snake tried to strike, but Leo sliced his arm, causing purple plant goo to spew out. "EEEW! Don't let it touch me!" Mikey shouted, scooting away. A splash of purple goo hit his leg. "Ah, it touched me!" Snake's missing vine arm then regenerates itself, forming a stronger vine. Like a real plant, the more you prune, the stronger it becomes.
"It grew back?" Donnie said. "No fair!"
The whirring of a helicopter starting up then filled the air. It was about to take off with April and Kirby. "Donnie! Go!" Leo ordered before boosting his purple-clad brother to the roof. Donnie ran toward the helicopter with determination. He had to save April and her dad before they were gone forever.
On the ground, the other turtles kept hacking away at Snake's vines, but they just kept growing back. It was hard to fight something that can regenerate. Snake tried to strike Raph, but he grabbed the vine and pulled him to the ground. But he countered by grabbing Raph and throwing him away.
"Snakeweed is really powerful!" Mikey commented. "Snakeweed?" Sam asked. "Yeah. His name was Snake, and now he's a weed, so..." "We get it!" Raph shouted. "We just have to hold him off until Donnie gets back." Leo reminded them. Just then, the other Kraang droids broke down the door. "While not getting shot by alien robots." "With brains!" Sam yelled pointedly. "Let it go, sis," Raph said casually.
The four turtles were now surrounded by Kraang droids on one side and Snakeweed on the other.
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Donnie had reached the helicopter platform just as it was taking off. Seeing April in the window, Donnie grabbed his staff and pole-vaulted up to the flying vehicle, grabbing hold of the landing gear. The Kraang noticed him and sped up the chopper to shake him off, but he held firm.
XXXXXXXX
The facility yard was now in total chaos as everyone down there battled against everyone else. The Kraang were blasting everything that moved, and Snakeweed flailed his viney appendages in all directions. He whacked down the turtles and a few droids.
"What's the plan again, Chief?" Raph asked Leo, totally fed up. "I'm working on it!" Suddenly, Snakeweed grabbed Leo by the ankle! He shrieked as he was suspended above the ground, but then he noticed the building conduits. Just then, an idea came to him—one that would beat both Snakeweed and the Kraang.
"The power conduits!" "Are we really gonna start talking about that again?!" Raph shouted. Leo then noticed the power generator. "Perfect. Raph! Sam! Mikey!" Leo gave his siblings more hand signals, and this time, they understood him.
XXXXXXXX
Donnie was still holding onto the helicopter as they circled above the building. When the Kraang realized they couldn't shake him, one opened the door to try blasting him off.
"Oh, good! For a second there, I thought this was gonna be too easy!"
The Kraang fired, but Donnie skillfully flipped and used his legs to throw the two droids out of the helicopter. One still continued to fire its blaster, causing the helicopter some turbulence, which in turn caused April to fall out! She held on to the edge, looking at Donnie with fear in her eyes. "Hold on! I'm coming!"
April then lost her grip and began to fall! Donnie leapt to the building and managed to catch her, bringing them both to the ground safely. "You okay?" He asked as she panted.
"Dad..."
They could only stand and watch as the helicopter flew away, taking Kirby with it to who knows where.
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Mikey, Sam, and Raph were luring Snakeweed towards the power generator. They turned to the Kraang and taunted them into firing their blasters. Leo got on top of the generator as Snakeweed backed into it. Donnie and April were watching from afar as the plan was unfolding.
"What are they doing?" Donnie asked in shock, realizing what his siblings were doing. "They're leading him straight toward that power generator!" Leo pulled out some shurikens. "That's incredibly stupid! ...Or brilliant? Or...or both!"
Leo threw the shurikens to get Snakeweed's attention. "Hey, come and get me, Stinkweed!" He taunted. Snakeweed lunged at him, but Leo jumped and landed on his head, pinning him down. He taunted the Kraang, and they fired their blasters, which caused the generator to malfunction, electrocuting Snakeweed until he exploded!
The turtles took this opportunity to escape with April, leaving a mess of destruction in their wake. The Kraang were not pleased.
"Kraang, the ones in this place are not in this place where they were."
"The ones are called "turtles", Kraang. They are dangerous to what we are doing in this place and other places."
"Yes, I am knowledge of that. The turtles must be eliminated... from all places."
Unknown to anyone, as the seemingly dead Snakeweed lay motionless on the ground, his exposed plant heart regenerated and started beating again.
XXXXXXXX
Later, the turtles brought April to an apartment in the city. They all sat on the balcony as they pondered their next move.
"Are you gonna be alright?" Donnie asked, concerned for their new friend. "I guess. My aunt says I can stay here as long as I want... but I'll be a lot better when I track down the creeps that took my dad!"
"Won't the police help?" Leo asked. "Funny thing." April guffawed. "When you tell them your dad was kidnapped by alien brains in robot bodies, they don't take you all that seriously." "Amen to that, sister. Brothers are the same way." Sam added. "You gotta have evidence, or they'll think you're in a vulnerable state of shock!" She glanced at her brothers, scowling. She was sooo not letting them forget this.
"April, I promise you we will not rest until we find him." Donnie promised. "We won't?" Raph asked. Leo elbowed him. "No, we won't."
"Thank you. But it's not your fight." Donnie placed his hand on her knee in support. "Yes... it is." April smiled, glad to have met new friends who would go to so much trouble to help her. The turtles leapt to the roof as Donnie looked back and waved before turning to go home.
XXXXXXXX
Back in the lair, Leo told Master Splinter about their mission.
"I am impressed, Leonardo." Splinter said happily. "You proved to be an effective leader under the most difficult of circumstances."
"Thank you, Sensei. And I think I figured out why you made me leader."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"Because you sensed inside me a true warrior spirit that could forge us all into the heroes we were destined to become." Leo looked at Splinter expectantly.
"No."
"No? Then why did you make me leader?"
"Because... you asked."
Leo was confused. "That's it? But you seemed so certain you were right."
"As a leader, you will learn that there is no right or wrong, only choices."
"So, you could've chosen any of us? Even Mikey?"
Splinter chuckled. "No. That would have been wrong."
"EVERYBODY! Come here! We made the news!" Sam called from the living room.
Everyone, including Splinter, hurried to the living room to see what Sam meant. She and Mikey were sitting in front of the TV as a news story came on—a very surprising news story.
"A report of, get this, ninjas in New York! Don't believe me? After residents reported a disturbance, the police recovered this." The screen changed to show a picture of a ninja throwing star the turtles must have left behind at the Kraang facility. "For Channel 6 News, this is Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe saying HIYA!"
Mikey, for one, was ecstatic. "This is awesome! We're gonna be famous!" Splinter, on the other hand, was concerned. "You must be more careful. A ninja's most powerful weapon is the shadows. Being brought out into the light is a dangerous thing." Raph lounged on the beanbag chair, not worried at all. "Relax, Sensei. It's one little news story. What's the worst that can happen?"
Little did they know that the worst has yet to come.
XXXXXXXX
In Tokyo, Japan, a very sinister-looking man shrouded in the shadows is watching the very same news story. When he saw the picture of the shuriken, he immediately recognized the symbol printed on it: the symbol of the Hamato Clan.
"So, my old enemy is in New York and training his own army. At last, I can finish what I started so long ago." He stood up from his chair and turned to some armed men. "Prepare my jet!" He then dons his metal helmet, which shields his face. "I'm going to visit an old friend."
The Shredder.
-----------------------------------------
Author's note: I hope the format of the paragraphs and detailing was better than the last chapter. More is yet to come, but I will remind you that not all episodes will be included in the OC. Either way, I hope you enjoyed it so far.
Thank you, and please, no rude comments.