Donnie lifts the trunk of a car at the junkyard, Mikey looking over it. "Man! Junkyards are gold mines!" The mechanical arms from his shell explore and he sniffs a pineapple car freshener, to Mikey's boredom. "Who needs real pineapples when you have one of these babies?"
Aina looks at Donnie with confusion and wonder, she shouldn't be surprised since one man's trash is another's treasure but what scraps were he trying to find in these pile?
Mikey turns around to see the car and points up to it.
"Donnie, Donnie!"
"Oh, fuzzy dice!" Donnie doesn't notice as he's still looking.
Aina then noticed the car and pointed up. "Donnie, I really think we should-" The car drops from the magnet and Mikey pulls Aina and Donnie out of the way before they could get crushed. They tumble down the tower of cars before eventually landing in one.
"Mikey, next time I would appreciate a heads-up," Donnie states.
Mieky gave him a slight glare because he was trying to warn him, while gave a look that was mixed with annoyed and shock.
"What?!" She bellowed. "Mikey and I tried to warn you! Jeez if you would just pay attention, ya would've noticed!" After Aina finished her rant, she noticed Donnie looking down to his hands in shame, as if he disappointed her.
As her face changed back to a neutral, before expression, Mikey yelled out something.
"Okay, heads-up!" Mikey moves the rearview mirror to see a large car being brought into the junkyard. And it's not just any old car. "Is that?"
Donnie gasps at it, his eyes shining. "It is."
"Oh my God." Aina adds in astonishment.
"The Jupiter Jim Moon Buggy!" Mikey exclaims happily.
"Featured in not one, not two, but 60 sequels of Jupiter Jim's Last Trip to the Moon!" Donnie says in excitement. The moon buggy gets thrown away before landing on its wheels.
"How can anybody let that historical gem slip through their fingers?" Mikey wonders in dismay.
Aina gets a closer look at the vehicle with blissful eyes. "Agreed! This thing just cost thousands of bucks! People would pay bug time just to ride in it!"
"I do not know, Michael, but we gotta have it," Donnie says in determination before busting the car door open. They sneak over to another car that has a cat inside one of the broken headlights.
"How are we gonna get the car? We can't go up and talk to one of those human people," Mikey points out and the car right next to them is lifted up into the air by a bright purple mutant mantis.
He has long arms with jagged shoulders and forearms and two antenna on his head. He also has bright green eyes, black hair with a grey streak, styled in a 1950s comb-over, and jagged teeth. The mantis mutant wears a white tank top, a dark blue vest and a black belt with spikes and a "V" engraved on the buckle.
"Who the heck are yous?" He demands.
"Oh no, a mutant!" Donnie yells making Aina give him a 'really' look before he realizes what he said. "Wait, we're mutants too, it's okay." The three sit up.
"Wow! Nice 50s attire! I really dig old school!" Aina announces, making the purple matis touch his combed back hair in pride.
"Thanks yous little lady!"
"Dude, you better hide. There's a human guy around here," Mikey points to something.
"Easy, easy," He throws the car away. "This is Repo Mantis Salvage," He points to the sign. "The guy is me."
"This is your lot?" Mikey wonders before his face turns into pleading. "You have to sell us that moon buggy! Please!"
Donnie pulls him and the other softs away to talk. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Cool your scram jets, bud. This is a negotiation," He glances at Repo Mantis before turning back to his campanions. "We gotta play it smooth." They both put on sunglasses, approaching the moon buggy. Mikey tells the tires as Donnie runs his finger against the paint.
Aina stayed back and look at the unbelievable display and shook her head. "So, uh, how much are you gonna pay us to take this pile of junk to take off your hands, amigo?"
"Scram," Repo looks at a clipboard. "I gotta lotta fenders to count."
"I see you drive a hard bargain, sir. Well, perhaps I can interest you in a little coin," Donnie opens up his wallet, revealing a coupon from Smith's Sweets and a few coins. "I've got big silver, small silver, and I can make it rain copper, daddy," He drops some pennies near Repo Mantis and he glances at the mutant turtle.
Aina puts a hand on Donnie's shoulder, leaning closer to him. "I don't mean to stop.... Whatever this is, but I don't think it's going anywhere. Besides this isn't nearly enough!" She said dryly.
"The little lady is right! You ain't got nearly enough, but hey I could use tough muties like you three, especially the chick! She appears to have been around the block a few times." Repo exclaimed, pointing to Aina.
The purple mantis turned to face the turtles and Aina. "Ever do any repo work?"
"Of course," Mikey answered but pulled down his glasses. "No. What’s repo work?"
"I get it. It’s when people don’t pay what is due and they get their belongings repossessed," Aina spoke up.
"You’re clearly right on this, girly," Repo Mantis grinned at her. "You and your friends do a job for me today, and I’ll let you have that moon buggy thing."
Mikey laughed and stepped towards him again. "We’re in."
"And…sidebar," Donnie pulled Mikey by his shell and Aina by her shoulder again and lead them away from Repo Mantis.
"Look, Mikey, repo men have to be mean, and I don’t know if you know this, but you’re kind of a softie."
"That really hurts my feelings," Mikey whined.
Aina and Donnie both raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh. You have a point. But I can do this. Hard as nails." Mikey growled.
"Oh. You have a point. But I can do this. Hard as nails." Mikey growled.
The three turned back around to face Repo Mantis.
"You have a deal, old school." Mizuki answered and folded her arms. "So what do we need to get back?"
"I need you guys to get an RV from a real shady mutant," Repo Mantis held up the clipboard and pointed at a picture of a brown and tan RV. "Holes up in the woods on the wrong side of the tracks, in the darkest outskirts of the bad part of town."
The two brothers and Aina followed the directions Repo Mantis had given them and hitched a ride on the back of a truck. When they got to their destination, they jumped out, and went off to find this mutant Repo Mantis had told them of.
Mikey walked alongside him and held onto his arm, while Aina walked right behind him, keeping close. A flashlight shone from one of his arm on his robe shell.
"I ran a profile on this guy," Donnie whispered, checking the device on his arm. "Lawless loner, doesn’t pay his bills, lives in this very spooky forest. He is a 98% match for the Spine-Breaking Bandit!"
Aina gasped and suddenly pulled Donnie and Mikey down behind the bushes. They’re near their destination.
"Pfft. I’m not scared of some no-good dweller!" Mikey said and pulled back some bushes. "Let’s see him!"
When he pushed aside the bushes, a brown and tan RV appeared in their views.
"There’s the RV!" Aina whispered.
A light appeared from the inside of the RV. Growling noises welcomed their ears with fear.
A nose belonging to a mutant poked out from behind the door and growled, revealing sharp front teeth.
All three turtles screamed quietly and backed away.
"That is the biggest forest dweller I’ve ever seen!" Mikey said.
"He is totally gonna break our spines," Donnie replied and pulled up his device. "Maybe we should call Raph and Leo."
Mikey stopped him before he could even make a call. "No, no, no, no, no! We got this. Think of all the boss adventures we could have in the moon buggy!"
"Mikey is right! We can’t call the others!" Aina agreed. "We told the Repo Mantis we could do this on our own! And we are doing it! What could stop us?"
"Ah, all right," Donnie reluctantly agreed. "if you re dead-set on doing this, we gotta go stealth. Sneak-jitsu 101: never let a spine-breaker get behind you."
A light suddenly shone on the three inches away from them. They screamed and started to run.
“No! He’s behind us!” Donnie yelled, taking a freaked out Aina by the hand. "He is directly behind us!"
As the mutant followed after them, the turtles and Mizuki ran through the inside of the RV. Various animals barked and growled at them from the darkness as the group scrambled for their lives.
The three tripped over a tube-shaped feeder and fell to the ground. April got back up but stopped frozen in fear when she saw the mutant closing in on them.
"Look out!" She cried.
The two looked over them and gasped in terror.
The mutant growled as he held a small animal. He then turned on the light, revealing himself fully as a smiling capybara holding a puppy.
"Hey, I’m Todd!" He greeted them. "Welcome to Cuddle Cakes Puppy Rescue, the puppy-est place on earth!"
As he said this, a large horde of little dogs surrounded them and yipped in joy. A puppy Labrador Retriever jumped on Aina's legs and barked at her.
She tilted her head in perplexion, but with an amused smile. The Spine-Breaking Bandit…is a puppy rescuer? "Puppies. Right," Donnie suspiciously glanced at the capybara mutant. "And which one are you having for dinner?"
"Oh, right! It’s dinner time!" Todd pulled down a rope, which released dog food on the long tube-shaped feeder.The puppies surrounded the feeder and started to eat.
A while later, the turtles are wrapped up in blankets and sitting at a table outside the RV.
"Hey, you guys want some of my Internet-famous homemade lemonade?” Todd walked out of the RV holding a tray of glasses. "I donate it to folks in Alaska who need a little sunshine."
Like Donnie and Mikey, Aina took the glass in front of her and sipped on it. She hummed in amazement as the flavor appeared on her tongue.
"This taste great!" she nodded her head surprised.
"Wow, this is pretty good," Mikey said.
"That honestly tastes exactly like sunshine," Donnie added. "Wow. And sidebar."
He gently pushed Mikey and April off the table and huddled them close to him.
"Cute puppies, nonprofit lemonade?" He sipped on his glass for a moment. "This is no spine-breaking bandit."
"He’s the nicest guy in the world," Mikey joined in.
"And as much as I hate to be stern with hunt, we need that RV to get the moon buggy,” Aina whispered.
"We gotta be tough on him," Donnie bit on the sliced lemon. "Hard as nails!"
Mikey sipped on his drink one last time before he narrowed his eyes. "Got it!"
The three got back up and stomped back to the table. They sat down and gazed at Todd with serious expressions.
"So, Mr. Todd," Aina started, with an innocent expression on her face. "We need to talk about your RV."
"Sure thing," Todd smiled and picked up a puppy. "Could you hold Willis?"
"Oh, I d—I don’t know if I’m—no!" Mikey yelped when the puppy ran towards him, and he picked it up. "Aww, you little mischief-maker!"
Aina tried to hold back a smile when a smaller Siberian Husky approached her and started to play with her armor. Donnie repeatedly pushed back a Labrador Retriever rolling on the table towards him.
"Wait a minute," Mikey moved the puppy away from his face and glanced at Todd. "We’re supposed to be talking about your RV."
"Look, Todd," Donnie added. "You haven’t made a payment in two years, and that means—"
"Yeah," Todd understood. "Turns out all you get for rescuing puppies are million-dollar smiles."
The puppy who had been rolling himself towards Donnie barked excitedly.
"Oh, Miho wants a belly rub," Todd gasped.
Mizuki gently pushed away the Siberian Husky puppy from her and glared at with seriousness.
"Mr. Todd, as much as I want to take home all of your puppies - My hard-as-nails partners and I are here to—" She and Donnie stopped when they saw Mikey was no longer on the table next to Donnie.
They quickly noticed Mikey with bottles attached to a jacket on him and various puppies all over him.
"And I’ll call you Indiana Bones, and you Little Bones," he said a couple of them.
"Mikey, c’mon," Donnie began.
He was unexpectedly hit by a ball and grunted in annoyance, before glancing around and finding another small dog with the ball in his mouth.
Aina held back her laughter.
"Melvin wants to play!" Todd laughed. "Could you toss his ball?"
"Okay, fine," Donnie sighed and picked up the ball and the puppy. *I will toss the ball if you give us the keys to your—"
As he threw it, his foot accidentally touched something that squished underneath his step. Aina wrinkled her nose and covered her mouth.
"I am in something squishy," Donnie panicked lightly. "I am in something squishy!"
"Oh, yeah, I am so swamped, I never get to clean the yard up. But you guys are so good at this!" Todd got up from the tabled and handed the trio shovels. "Do you want to grab a couple of shovels?"
He handed them the shovels. Mikey, Donnie and Aina looked at one another deadpanned.
An hour or so later, they had finished digging up the excess left by the puppies and placed them in the back of a truck. The truck sped off after they had double checked that they got everything.
"Why did we just do that?" Mikey asked.
"I don’t know, Michael," Donne replied deadpanned. "I don’t know."
"But at least we won’t have to worry about what we’re going to step in," Aina wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"Niceness is his superpower!" Donnie exclaimed.
"Ah, you guys must be tired," Todd walked out the RV with a tray of new glasses. "Why don’t you sleep over? In the morning, I can hold Sir Chomps-A-Lot while you guys floss his giant fangs."
One of the puppies jumped up on Mizuki and licked her face. She held him and smiled lightly.
"That sounds gr—" she started.
Donnie cut her off quick and stomped towards Todd. "No, no. We didn’t come here to help you. We came here to repo your RV."
Aina saw some puppies hiding underneath the steps and whining. Her eyes softened.
"Okay," Todd said defeated and sat down on the steps.
He looked to face with teary eyes. "Yeah, I guess me and the pup will just sleep under the stars tonight."
The sky changed to cloudy and dark a second later. Rain began to pour down on the turtles, who still cradled the puppy in her arms. They glanced at the puppies underneath the steps with disheartened eyes.
"And every night," Todd went on. "Through puppy hurricane seasons!"
Donnie stared at Todd with a seemingly bored expression, Mikey with a heartbroken look. Aina felt like she wanted to cry, but she had been taught to never let any powerful emotion take over her.
A puppy carried an umbrella to Mikey and pulled it open.
"I can’t do it!" Mikey wailed and took the umbrella and held it over him.
Aina shot Donnie a pathetic look, making her eyes water up on que and her lip pout out. He didn't know that the female Softshell was faking, but seeing her look sad actually pulled a couple of his heart strings.
"Okay, Todd," he sighed with finality. "How about you trade us that dusty RV, and we make you a new place to sleep, huh?"
Todd lit up and gasped. "Really? And a place to feed the puppies, and bathe and diaper and play with them?"
"Yes," Donnie nodded defeatedly.
Aina smirked at him and nodded her head in approval. The puppy she was holding licked her again.
"I don’t suppose that—" Todd started again.
"And there will be robot assistants to help us out," Aina added, then glanced at Donnie raising a convincing eyebrow and smile at him. "Right?"
"R-Right," Donnie nodded.
All day and night, the turtles and Aina worked hard on the project they promised Todd in exchange for the RV. A few times Aina would hang out with the puppies, other times she would help build the place.
Soon, the new place for Todd and the puppies are finally finished, complete with a large dog park for the little dogs.
"Thanks, guys!" Todd walked towards the turtles, who are in the RV. "I:ll never forget you!"
"And come back if you ever want to milk the puppies!" Todd walked up next to Donnie, who rolled up the window. "They have eight nipples!"
"Don’t need to know that!" Aina said deadpanned. "No, stop! No!" Donnie exclaimed. "Hard as nails!" They both cheered as they drove of.
-/-
The turtles and Mizuki arrived back at the junkyard with the RV, Donnie and Mikey both smiling with triumph.
"All right!" Donnie whooped.
"We did it!" Mikey cheered.
"Repo!" Mizuki called from the inside of the RV. "We have that RV delivered to you, as promised."
"Wax up that moon buggy, baby," Mikey grinned excitedly.
"We did it, Old school!" Aina added.
"Not bad, not bad," Repo Mantis placed his hands on hips, smirking. "But what happened was…I ain’t giving it to you."
"What? Why not?" Aina glared at him in shock. "Down we have to do something else?"
"Well actually girly, turns out, dorky Jupiter Jim fans’ll pay big buck just to sit in that thing," he answered and gestured to the moon buggy.
The Jupiter Jim Moon Buggy was now surrounded by a line with a background, which read "Moon Buggy", behind the vehicle.
"What? We had a deal, buddy-o," Donnie said, infuriated.
“Scrapping is a tricking business, kids, and you got tricked,” Repo replied.
Aina growled and pulled out her Kusarigama. She stepped towards him and aimed one of her weapons at him.
"We are not leaving without that Moon Buggy," she threatened him.
Repo harshly pushed her backwards, sending her skidding across the ground. She yelped and grunted in slight discomfort when she landed in front of Donnie and Mikey.
"Hey, that girly’s funny!" Repo Mantis laughed evilly.
As Donnje helped her up, Repo Mantis used his strong hand-claws to pick up two broken parts and glared at the trio.
"I’m gonna break your legs halfway through…twice!" He snarled and started to try slamming the parts on Donnie and Aina.
Donnie lifted her up and jumped out of the way in time, dodging Repo Mantis’s attack.
"Mikey, the magnet!" He called to Mikey.
Mikey used his kusari-fundo to turn on the controls controlling the magnet. It turned on and lifted Repo Mantis up, who still has the parts stuck to his claws.
Mikey, Donnie and Aina raced towards the Moon Buggy as Repo Mantis tried to get down from the magnet.
"A deal’s a deal, chico!" Mikey called to him.
"Is there anything magnets can’t do?" Donnie excitedly waved his arms as they got in the blue vehicle. Mikey screamed in ecstatic and got in the passenger seat next to Donnie. The latter took Aina by the hand and lifted her up in the Moon Buggy.
"What are you waiting for, guys?" She asked them. "You guys wanted to get this! This is your Moon Buggy now!"
"Don’t mind if we do," Donnie and Mikey laughed giddily as they pressed buttons to turn on the car.
"Tallyho!" Donnie pushed the lever forward, driving the Moon Buggy out of the junkyard. "Eat crater dust, bug man!"
They soon arrived in the streets in the Moon Buggy, which was passed by fast cars and following the pace of a nearby biker. "Man, this thing is super slow," Donnie remarked.
"Of course it is," Mikey answered. "It was bull for the gravity of the moon."
"No duh! Why do you think it's called the Jupiter Jim Moon Buggy," Aina remarked, expressing the word Moon.
A loud hit from behind prompted them to yelp in fright. She looked over her shoulder find Repo Mantis trailing after them in his truck.
"Give me back my dork-mobile." He yelled.
"Moon-core lasers, activate!" Mikey yelled and pressed a button.
Aina looked behind her. Nothing happened. "Crater dust cloud…" he pressed another button.
Again, nothing occurred.
"Should that do anything?" Donnie asked. Mikey tried pressing various buttons, followed by no occurrence of anything. "Zero-atmosphere Gatling missiles? Ah, nuts."
Another hit from Repo Mantis’s truck from behind and the side caused the trio to lurch forward and grunt in pain.
"This is a movie vehicle," Donnie realized. "They wouldn’t load it up with advanced lunar artillery."
"Not unless it’s the moon buggy from "Jupiter Jim’s Third Last Trip to the Moon," Mikey pulled out a fake dashboard to reveal a whole new set of buttons. "Which had a fake dashboard to fool the Plutonians!"
He pulled up a tube, which powered up when he activated it. "Pasta fazool! I’m kicking in Jupiter Jim Titan Turbo Mode!"
The vehicle suddenly lurched forward more faster, while Donnie drove it to avoid hitting cars and other people.
"I can’t shake him," Donnie said.
"I’ll try the Gravity Grease 3000," Mikey pressed a button, activating the part where it flushed out grease on a few citizens, who groaned in disgust.
"I think we poured oil on a lot of people." Aina chuckled nervously.
The top lid on the Moon Buggy was flipped off automatically when Repo Mantis hit the trio from behind again.
"Maybe the bug-zapper button," Mikey suggested.
"What? There's a bug zapper!" Aina yelled at the orange clad turtle.
"There is a bug-zapper but—why didn’t you try that first?" Donnie yelled over the chaos.
"It didn’t have a 3000 after it."
Donnie activated one of his robotic arms and wrote down '3000' underneath the words 'Bug-Zapper'. "There. Happy?"
"Why, thank you," Mikey smirked and pressed the button.
Behind the Moon Buggy, a machine shot a bright blue ball of lightning towards Repo Mantis’s truck. A few seconds later, a loud boom, followed by a loud shriek rippled through the atmosphere.
“Yeah, serves you right, 50s.” Aina mumbled smugly.
"Hard as nails!" The trio gave one another high-threes in excitement and drove back to the lair.
-/-
Later on that evening, Aina found Donnie with the Moon Buggy and holding up a plan with his robotic arms. "Are you planning something with that Moon Buggy of yours?" She asked him curiously.
Donnie yelped in fright and nearly dropped the plans. He calmed down when he saw Aina standing there with her hands behind her back.
"Oh, hey. Nina," he stammered nervously. "Um, I, uh…I was just…looking over the original plans of that car."
"Those are the new plans, and why'd you call me Nina?" She wondered.
Donnie quickly hid the plans behind his back and chuckled nervously. "Heh, heh. Everyone’s been assuming that. And for the nickname, I just brought it was cool." Donnie answered, rubbing his hand on his neck.
"That’s why you and Mikey wanted that vehicle, isn’t it?" Aina smirked mischievously. "Upgrading it to a better, newer car? Possibly going to nerd out over the minor details, Make it fit for a king?"
Donnie stumbled upon words that he wanted to say, but it was no use. He sighed in defeat and nodded.
"All right, you got me," he replied. "But I want to save it until it’s ready. It’s just, well…"
"You know what? I had a great time today," Aina added.
Donnie looked at her with a red color on his cheeks. "What? Really?"
"Well other than getting sidetracked and betrayed," Aina said. "It was pretty exciting."
Donnie chuckled, his face still red and smiling slowing growing on his jade green face.
"Anyways, I'm gonna go and get a snack, good luck on making a new ride.” she said and started to walk off.
She turned around one last time and smiled at him. She then disappeared around the corner.
Donnie sighed contently before returning to work on the Moon Buggy.