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Amongst the shadowy rooftops of New York, four figures struggle for an upper hand, fighting one another within an inch of their lives.
The katana wielder is keeping his own, expertly avoiding the blows of the other's nunchaku.
He swerves and ducks around the blur of the nunchaku, katana serving as a barrier between them when a nunchuk gets too close.
"Oh yeah, Michelangelo is on the move!" Michelangelo continued to dart around him, his nunchaku never staying in one place.
But he was willing to bide his time. A single opening and Mikey was toast.
"You don't know what to do." He added, dancing out of reach just as he made a slash in his direction. "I'm here-" he rolled away in another dodge. "I'm there-" Michelangelo pounced over him, landing behind him in another roll.
"I could be anywhere!" He finished smugly, barely missing Leo with another strike.
Michelangelo paused in order to do a quick dance. "How do you stop what'choo can't even see?"
"Like this."
Just as Michelangelo spoke, he was knocked to the ground with an expert swipe of the leg.
"Oof!" He squeaked out, lifting a shaky thumbs up. "Good one Leo."
Just as Leo turned to the fight, he spotted Raph dueling Donnie.
The prize was close. He only needed to reach it before the others did.
Donnie was spinning his tech bō, eyes zeroed in on Raph.
"Drop the staff, and no one gets hurt." Raph rolled his shoulders, getting the crinckes out of his neck.
"Not this time, Raph. Besides," He lunged at him, and the two began to brawl, sai against bō. "We both know that's a lie."
Donnie was holding back, they all knew. He had refrained from using his tech bō's many features for a few reasons, though it was mostly because he preferred to keep them alive . It wouldn't do to gloat over a corpse.
Still, his calculated movements and precise jabs always did exactly what they were meant to, so there was really no need.
Raph's fighting style was polar opposite to Donnie's. The way he baraged the opponent with furious swipes and jabs from his sais was surprisingly efficient, often catching Donatello off guard with their ferocity.
As Donnie attempted to keep his distance, shifting between coming up close and avoiding attacks, Raph went right in, sais swiping mercilessly at Donnie.
Each blow missed, one after the other. Donnie swiped his bō at Raph's feet, only to turn it at the last second to his hand, successfully knocking a sai away.
Raph didn't back down, twisting away from him only to shove Donnie's staff down with such force the bō wielder tripped, before catching himself, only to be pushed to the ground by Raph's other sai, which was tangled around his arm.
"Ouch…" Donnie rubbed his arm. "Shoulda dropped the staff?" He added in a semi-joke.
"Shoulda dropped the staff." Raph agreed.
As Raph spoke, Leo seized the opportunity the distraction gave him.
He swiped at Raph, who ignored the sai that clattered to the ground, and made an attack on Leo with his bare hands.
Leo dodged blow after blow, each being quicker than the previous, despite their predictability.
"Onegaishimasu." Leo taunted. How predictable.
"Whatever you say." Raph rolled his eyes, never stopping his attack.
Leo aimed the butt of his sword at Raph's plastron, hoping to knock the wind out of him, only to find his hand empty.
"How-?"
A moment later, Leo fell to the ground, his defeat tasting like concrete and failure.
Twirling his sais, Raph smirked, already reaching for the prize.
"Noooo!" Mikey cried out from the floor.
Still smirking, he took a large bite. "Man," He swallowed his first mouthful. "Pizza sure does taste good when you get first slice."
"And, per usual, Raph wins. Anyone surprised? I know I am." Donnie offered sarcastically as Raph helped him up.
"I've heard the first slice of pizza is the freshest…" Mikey licked his lips dreamily as Leo dragged him into a standing position.
"Well, I'll gladly take my second slice." Leo marched over to the pizza box, carefully choosing the second best slice.
"And that leaves… yup. Mikey with last." Donnie concluded, grabbing a third seemingly at random.
"Aww man." Mikey said, before somehow taking a large bite out of Raph's.
"MIKEY!" Raph shouted, already tussling him to the ground.
Mikey all the while cackled.
"Right, we should probably head back to the sewers. Splinter might get worried." Leo suggested.
Donnie raised a single brow, and it was Raph's turn to laugh.
"Seriously?" He barked out another laugh. "Now that's hilarious."
"Haha! Yeah. You know he's got Treadmill of Doom on. He's gotta be hooked! I know I was, ever since that last episode with the spiders, and the moldy cheese-!" Mikey began, only to be cut off by Donnie.
"I'd like to be spared the gross details, thank you."
Leo couldn't help but shudder. Some of the stuff Dad watched was beyond disturbing.
"Still, it's almost daytime. We should get some sleep anyway."
They all groaned.
"Fiiine." Mikey agreed, dragging his feet. The others soon followed.
As Raph leapt from the roof, he caught sight of something in the nearby construction site.
Was that a…?
Slam!
Raph found himself face first with the opposing building.
As he climbed up, the others laughed a bit. Raph didn't mind, he would have joined them, if not for what he had just seen.
"Guys, look!" He pointed down below.
A small, unsuspecting puppy(?) was shivering, a wary look in its eyes as it lay curled in some human's arms.
It was so tiny, and it looked so scared and lonely and sad, and Raph wanted nothing more than to protect it at ALL COSTS.
Oh, and some huge never-before-seen MUTANTS were threatening the two. He had forgotten about that.
"We have to help her!" Donnie immediately drew his tech bō.
"Guys, don't you think we should-" Leo began.
"DUDES! Are those MUTANTS! Do you think they wanna be friends???"
"Guys! A poor, innocent PUPPY is in danger!" Raph shouted above the clamor.
Raph was right. No time to waste.
"Guys." Leo spoke firmly. "This could be dangerous."
"So? There's a PUPPY in danger! What more could you need?" Raph snapped.
"I'm just saying, we have to be sure about this. Donnie, Mikey?"
The two glanced at each other. "We have to do something." Donnie finally said.
"I still think we should give 'em a chance." Mikey said.
"Let's… talk to them, first. I guess. Are we in agreement?" Leo said.
They all nodded. "Let's make the chit chat quick, though. I wanna get straight to the butt-kicking part." Raph decided.
__________
April stood defiantly, trying to keep her shoulders straight.
"If you wanna mess with this, um, dog… thingy? Yeah. You gonna have to mess with me. You got that?" She tried to push as much confidence as she could into her voice. Do NOT be intimidated. Her parents always taught her to stand up for herself, and she was ready.
"You do not intimidate us, little girl. Give us creature and no one gets hurt." One of the large joggers says. "How you say… pretty please. Or I'll destroy you."
"No way, no-how, bucko! You aren't laying a finger on him… her? Forget it. Just get lost, or face the wrath of- what the heck?"
The earth vibrates slightly as four guys around her age land behind her, looking… green? Whatever. Point is, now that those joggers have backup, she's screwed.
Except, they weren't joggers anymore. In their place, two beings unlike anything she's ever seen before were riding atop two HUGE beast-dog things. And not the cute kind of beast-dog, either. These guys clearly meant business.
Good. So did April.
"Us too." Said one of them. He had a purple mask thing on. "You'll face our wrath too. So…"
Another one face-palmed. He was wearing red. "Basically, keep your paws off the pet!" He snapped.
"Dudes, you guys from around here? You guys are also mutants, right??" Asked a third, who wore an orange mask.
"WAIT." And she was gonna beat these guys up. "You're on MY side???"
"Uh… yeah? Didn't we just say that?" The red one said.
"Hey, I'm just happy for the back-up." April said.
The two enemies glared down at them.
"Your nerdy turtle friends do not intimidate us either. Now give us creature. Or face consequence." The same one spoke as before.
"Sorry, but we can't let you have the little guy." Said the fourth one, who wore blue. "What was your name again?"
She grinned. "I'm April."
He nodded. "April, let's play a game of keep away, shall we?"
"Let's do this." She responded.
The construction site turned into a battlefield in an instant.
She dodged behind one of the big guys and made a dash to the other side of the clearing. Her new friends apparently had weapons, and were split up trying to defeat the goons.
"You cannot keep agent from us!" One shouted, attempting to slice at her with his giant purple blade. She ducked under it, kicked the guy in the shin, hoping to distract him long enough to bring the dog thingy to one of the green guys.
The kick had no effect, and she barely got away as one of the guys threw a three pronged weapon at him. It distracted him long enough for her to reach the purple masked teen, who as he reached for the pet, was blasted by a large purple beam of energy.
"Expert tip! Don't get-" He coughed. " Blasted by the inexplicable glowing light. Ouch." He collapsed back onto the pile of debris.
"Are you okay?" She asked, just to be sure.
"Mmmhf."
She took that as a yes. She then caught notice of blue guy now, who was running right at one of the baddies.
Clang!
His blades broke clean off the hilts. Oof. Not good.
"I don't need my weapons, because good always prevails!" He exclaimed, confidently dodging a swipe, only to meet the concrete face-first.
She winced. That's gotta hurt.
Red and orange weren't doing much better.
"PLAN B!" Shrieked red. "HIDE!"
"Ninja mode on , dawg." Agreed the orange guy, who slunk into the shadows.
Red hid behind a thin support beam, and orange clung to one slightly above him.
"Dude-" Orange guy squeaked. "I think he can still see us!"
He blasted them.
The two were soon being chased in circles by one of those terrifying hounds, only to be tossed unceremoniously onto the pile of green teens, who all groaned at the extra weight.
"My sais!" Red attempted to reach for them, only for them to melt away. "Shi-"
"My nunchucks! Dude…" Orange bemoaned the destruction of his own weapons as well.
Time to get serious.
"In here, little guy." She ushered the puppy thing into her jacket.
She charged right at them, fists only. I can do this.
"Aprilllllll-" She was thrown to the ground. April got up again, chewing on the guy's shoulder. She yanked and pulled at him, but to no avail. The dog thing was surrounded by a translucent orb of purple glowyness, and was being pulled slowly from her jacket.
"NO!" She wrapped herself around the orb, refusing to let go even as her feet dragged through the dirt.
"Enough!" He blasted her. April landed on the ground with a thud. Her skin felt singed all over.
"Eugh… no… stop…" She tried to get up, but the thought of even moving felt painful.
Still, April forced herself to stand up. They were opening some sort of portal, though she had no idea where it led.
The small pup looked so scared. They tried to teleport out, but they were immediately pulled back in.
The two goons jumped.
And so did April.
A heavy silence settled between the four of them.
"She… she seriously just jumped?" Donnie exclaimed. "What even was that? Some sort of trans-dimensional portal? Radioactive energy-?! Is she-"
Leo sat up, rubbing his head. "I'm sure she's fine. After all, those guys went through whatever-that-was first. And they probably wouldn't go into something too dangerous."
"Well, who knows what they're gonna do to that puppy thing! Or the girl!" Raph insisted.
"Her name is April, she said."
"Right. Point is, we need to save the pet. And maybe April." Raph concluded.
"We'll need a plan." Donnie pointed out. "Leo?"
"Right. A plan." He said. "We'll need to figure out how to get where they are, but how do we…"
"Dudes!" Mikey piped up. "Isn't that symbol from the Olympics??"
"Umm… no." Donnie said upon closer inspection. "That is a completely unfamiliar symbol, on an unfamiliar wall, in an unfamiliar area. Why?"
"Nah, dude. It's definitely familiar. Now that I think about it…"
"What?" Leo prompted.
"I KNEW IT!" They all jumped. Mikey grinned.
Donnie frowned. "Please don't say the Olympics. It's not. Trust me."
"It's the same symbol on that doohicky of Splinter's!" He explained.
"You don't mean…" Leo began to remember.
"I do. It's from Splinter's "Do Not Touch" cabinet."
The cabinet lay innocently in the living room. Almost as though it didn't know the secrets held in its depths.
Splinter, of course, refused to lend them the living room. So they turned to more nefarious schemes.
"Donnie, do you have the rubber chicken?" Raph demanded.
" What rubber chicken?!"
"Leo, please tell me at least you got the three gallons of cement?"
"Don't worry! I got it!" Mikey exclaimed.
"The cement?" Raph asked hopefully.
"Nah, dude. I just went straight for the key." He held it out for them to see.
"How?" Leo asked.
"It was my ninja stealth, dude."
Raph deadpanned. "Sure."
Still, they all congratulated Mikey on the success, and returned to the wall.
Upon making it to the mystical city under New York, they found April. But to Raph's dismay, the critter was locked away in the particularly intimidating building nearby.
"Well, what'r we waiting for?" Raph said, already stalking ahead.
The group exchanged glances, and followed.
They watched a guy get mutated into imitation crab, a scary scientist monologue, and all decided to take a pit stop in the weapons aisle.
"Good thing we didn't go with Leo's plan." Donnie muttered.
"Yeah." Raph agreed.
The glowing weapons immediately caught their attention.
"Guys, I'm not sure this is a good idea." Leo spoke uncertainly.
"I'm not sure, either." Donnie began to agree. "Maybe it's a- Woah…"
The almost staff-like chigiriki caught his eye, a chain coiled beneath it, large spikeball attached as the spear-headed weapons lay suspended in the air.
"Imagine all the possibilities…" He whispered in awe. "And… it's purple."
Leo groaned as Donnie carefully cradled the weapon in his arms, as though it might break. With his track record, it made sense. The reason he had switched his weapon to a sturdier metal was his terrible luck with broken weapons.
Mikey of course grabbed the kusari fundo, announcing its name to be "Fun-Fundo".
Raph was relieved to get the tonfas, as they were the most similar to his sais, and their glow was the signature red of his bandana, which was a plus.
April grabbed a green baseball-bat like weapon, that, while it wasn't outright emanating a green glow, it seemed unnaturally light in her hands, unlike its harsher impact.
Donnie was practically drooling just thinking about the technological enhancements he was going to add to his mystic chigiriki.
And Leo decided he'd stick with his Katana, despite April's prompting.
Magic, after all, couldn't compete with true skill.
They all jumped right in, though April was the first, hoping to catch the sheep man off-guard.
…It hadn't worked.
"You DARE attack BARON DRAXUM?"
"Hey, toaster head! Our fight is with YOU. Not some Draxum jerk!" Raph leaped at the guy, attempting to stab him single handedly with his tonfas.
"Um, Raph. How do I say this? I think he is Draxum." Donnie explained, wincing as Raph got thrown to the ground.
"Gah!" Raph barely dodged another blow
"Ouch, dude." Mikey sympathized.
Raph attempted to glare at Mikey as he was tossed across the room.
"Alright. Raph's down." Leo drew his katanas. "Take THIS, villain!" He dashed at Draxum, actually managing to land a hit or two, but was unfortunately forced to go on defense when the large vines attempted to circle him.
"Uh, guys…" Leo said. "I think we need a new plan."
Donnie opted to ignore the leader in blue, instead charging at the self proclaimed baron, Mikey fighting right beside him. Or, right on top of him.
"Stop crushing me for the millionth time!" Donnie dodged Mikey's fundo for the thousandth time. He was still unsure how to even use his chigiriki, forget enhancements.
"Sorry dude!"
Raph sprang up, once again attacking the warring scientist, who was easily kicking his butt.
Raph couldn't understand why his tonfas weren't doing what he wanted.
Every disarming move he tried resulted in the tonfas hitting him square in the face, spinning uncontrollably.
He was using it just like his sais, after all. How hard could it be?
Leo dived in just as Draxum had knocked Mikey to the ground, attempting blow after blow on the scientist.
"Impressive. If undisciplined." Draxum sounded curious, dodging each and every attack.
"I'm not undisciplined." Leo insisted as he swung his sword at the mutant scientist.
"Really?" Draxum sneared, breaking Leo's stance with an expert kick.
Leo found himself being pushed to the ground. He ducked, and managed to skid back, away from Draxum.
"A weak stance, and weak attacks. Yet," Draxum continued. "Under a proper teacher, you could have been great."
"I already have a great teacher!" Leo snapped, pulling himself up.
Sure, Splinter wasn't exactly formal with his teachings…
"Well, then. Perhaps-" Draxum began to say, just as Mikey darted past him with a shriek, literally being tugged through the air by a flaming Kusari Fundo.
"What in the name of SEWER APPLES was that?!" Raph demanded in a shout.
Mikey managed a sheepish look, before hitting smack into the giant glowy green thing attached to the ceiling, only to be yanked to another wall to be smacked into.
Raph looked down at his own weapon.
He looked at Mikey.
...and cracked up.
"PFFFFT! HAHAHA!" Raph cackled. "You look ridiculous!"
"Why, thank yOUUUUUU!!! AAAAAH!" Mikey then continued to shriek.
Raph grinned. "My turn."
He ran straight at Baron Draxum, tonfas lit up in a red construct.
"Hyyya!" The tonfa slammed so hard into the Baron the ground shook. Raph's grin turned smug.
"Woah! That was a crit hit!" Mikey exclaimed, having finally landed. Raph fist bumped him.
Draxum recovered quickly, already on his hooves again.
"Woah… these weapons really are magic." Donnie breathed.
"Jealous?" Raph teased, nudging Leo.
"I think I'll stick to my katanas, thank you."
"Well, I'm itching to do a test run on this thing." Donnie swung his weapon, turning it mid thrust so the spikeball was aimed at Draxum.
Nothing happened.
"My turn." Draxum ran at them, vines darting at the group from every direction.
April, in that moment, crashed between them and Draxum, clawing and biting at the two gargoyles as she attempted to take them down.
Mikey offered a thumbs-up. She returned it, a poor gargoyle hanging from her jaws.
Draxum paused, before deciding to continue his attack, vines narrowly missing April.
"That's it!" Donnie announced, just as more vines nearly grabbed his brothers.
"Hya!" He swung his chigiriki, running at Draxum.
The spikeball more-than-barely missed the baron,
It smashed into the floor with drastic force, huge cracks forming as the large pieces of floor began to float, the jagged edges taking on a purple glow.
Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, the cracked tile floating upwards along with everything else in the room.
Donnie's feet were no longer touching the ground, the only thing preventing him from being pulled away was his firm grip on the chigiriki, which stayed stubbornly attached to the ground.
His hand began to slip.
"Oh."
He flew off his weapon all at once, arms flailing as he attempted to return his grip.
He was now suspended in midair, limbs flailing as he rose upward.
Draxum floated across the room, already reaching some vines to return his feet to the ground.
"Donnie!" Leo shouted to him. "Do something!"
"Dude! Just grab the chig!" Mikey shouted as well, hanging from a floating piece of debris with the chain of his kusari fundo.
"R-right!" No problem. That definitely wasn't IMPOSSIBLE. Yup.
He scanned the clearing. He spotted his weapon where it was before.
Calculating in his head, he made the jump.
Jumping from one floating piece of debris to another, he reached it, managing to grab the staff-like weapon and tug.
They all fell, each crashing to the ground with a thud.
April fell beside the gargoyles she was fighting, even in midair.
Raph crashed into a chunk of floor, Mikey falling directly on top of him.
Leo attempted to catch his fall with good balance, but ended up face-planting anyway.
A moment later, they were all bound in some strange, vine-like substance.
Draxum glared at them, annoyance clear on his features.
"Why are you fighting my plans!" The evil guy, Baron Draxum, demanded. "Do you foolish yokai care so much about humans?"
"First of all, we're not 'yokai'. I dont even know what that is. Second, we have a human friend right here, so clearly we do. Also-" Donnie suddenly looked past him, eyes filled with panic. "-YOUR LAB IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE!" Donnie shrieked.
Just as Donnie said that, a large piece of debris fell from the ceiling, casting a shadow above the baron as it began to fall.
"Oh crud."
And thus fell BARON DRAXUM. Crushed by a piece of ceiling.
"Hey little guy, mind doin' your thing and gettin' us outta here?" April asked the small creature, and they all vanished from the bindings in an instant.
Without hesitation, Mikey scrawled on the symbol, and soon they found themselves back in the construction site from before.
"Thank goodness." April sighed with relief. "You really handled that well through all that mayhem." She perked up. "Hey, that's a cute name! Mayhem!" The mystic creature, or rather, Mayhem wagged their tail.
"Thanks, by the way, for helping me out. I dunno what would've happened to Mayhem if you guys hadn't stepped in."
"Sure thing." Donnie replied with a yawn. "We do this stuff all the time."
"You know, for some reason, Donnie, I can't seem to think of us ever doing something even CLOSE. Weird, huh?" Raph elbowed him.
"It's way past bedtime. Let's head back." Leo suggested.
"What! We can't sleep after that!" Mikey exclaimed, before yawning loudly.
"Really selling it, Mikey. Let's get outta here." Raph turned away.
"Hey, uh, April, was it?"
"Yeah, and you were… Donnie? Right? That's what red-guy called you?" April tilted her head slightly.
"Yeah!" Donnie nodded vigorously. "Um, are we gonna see eachother again?"
"I hope so, you guys are pretty cool."
"You too." He said. "Especially in that lab-"
"HEY, DONNIE! YOU COMIN'?" Mike shouted way too loudly.
Donnie rolled his eyes. "See ya."
"Don't die, y'all!" April shouted after them.
"You too!" They chorused in response.