April lay on one of the old beaten-up couches of the Turtles' lair, slowly thumbing through brittle yellow pages of the thick paperback novel she held, her expression bored. Nearby, Mikey lay on the floor in front of the TV, eyes trained on the moving pictures of an old-school cartoon. Leo sat on the other couch, opposite to April, shining his katanas with an old cloth. The young teenage girl suddenly slammed the book shut and sat up, sighing. Leo looked over at her. "Something wrong, April?" She turned her head to look over at him.
"Hmm? Oh, no, everything's fine. Just bored out of my freakin' mind,"
"That makes two of us," Mikey said, sitting up; the chains to his nunchucks clanking loudly in the near dead-silent room. "Hey! Do you think that we could sneak up to the surface and snag some pizza?" Leo shook his head.
"Sorry, Mikey, but you know Master Splinter's rules about going out after dark," The bright gleam in the younger turtle's eyes dimmed and he scuffed at the floor with a finger, looking disappointed.
"Darn it,"
"Sorry, Mikey. Maybe next time,"
"If there is a next time," he mumbled, turning back to the TV screen, skinny shoulders hunched forward slightly. Leo just shook his head and sighed inaudibly before going back to cleaning the blade of his sword. April leaned back into the couch and let her gaze wander around the room, seeing the Turtles' pinball machine in the far right corner. She felt the weight of the heavy paperback lying against her stomach and she shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position. A loud slam! suddenly echoed through the still air, making all three teens jump.
"What the -?" started Leo.
"What in the heck was that!?" cried Mikey.
"I… I dunno." April replied. She slid the heavy paperback off of her stomach and sat up fully, her wide blue eyes gleaming in the near darkness, illuminated by nothing but the fluorescent glow of the television. "But, we better go and - " She suddenly fell silent as a soft humming began to echo through the room. What in the -? What is that? she wondered. "Do you guys hear that?" she asked, turning to the two brothers sitting beside her. They nodded.
"Yeah. It sounded like -" The lights suddenly fizzed and went out with a loud crackle. Mikey screamed at the sudden darkness.
"Agh! Leo? April?" he called. "Where are you guys?"
"Right here, Mikey." Leo's voice came somewhere from April's right and she swallowed to wet her suddenly dry throat.
"W-What ha-happened?" asked Mikey.
"I-I dunno." replied Leo. "I think the lights went out."
"Oh. Okay."
"And I bet that Donnie had something to with it."
"Doesn't he always?" April replied somewhat dryly.
"Well…" Leo's sheepish chuckle made her giggle silently. "Now, that you mention it… he did once -" All at once his voice stopped mid-sentence and an eerie silence took hold of the room.
"Leo?" asked Mikey, voice wavering with barely contained fear.
"Leo?" April swung one of her arms out to the right and she flinched when she felt familiar scales against her hand. "Leo? What's wrong?" she asked.
"Did you hear that?" he whispered. She blinked in confusion and shook her head, even though he couldn't see it.
"No. Why? What did you hear?"
"I dunno." he reluctantly admitted. "But is sounded like some sort of scraping sound." he quickly added as he heard her exasperated sigh.
"Scraping?"
"Yeah."
"Hm." April scratched her head in thought, confused. "What in the world could possibly be down here that could make a scraping noise?"
"Rocks against each on another?" Mikey piped.
"The sewer pipes." chipped in Leo.
"The wheels on our skateboards."
"Footsteps." The air suddenly went cold again and April shivered at the abrupt silence that followed Leo's words.
"F-Footsteps?" she weakly replied. "Oh, I'm so hoping what we heard was rocks falling or something." She absentmindedly rubbed her hands over her arms from where they were crossed over her chest.
"You and me both." Mikey replied.
"So, now what do we do?" asked April. "We can't just sit here and wait for the lights to come back on."
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna go look for Donnie and ask him to turn the lights back on."
"Good idea, Mikey." Leo replied. "April, ya coming?"
"Of course." she replied. "I'm not just gonna sit here in the dark waiting for the lights t-" A sudden loud clicking stopped the young girl from finishing her sentence. "Uh, g-guys... D-Did you hear that?"
"Uh-huh." Leo replied.
"That doesn't sound like rocks!" Mikey all but squealed as he latched onto his older brother's shell.
"Agreed."
"Then what do you think it is?" April asked, turning to where she last heard Leo's voice. The blue-banded turtle shrugged his shoulders, even though she couldn't see him, but before he could reply, a familiar husky voice with a thick accent called out from the darkness.
"April? Leo? Mikey? Sie hier? " A trickle of warmth speared April's heart and she smiled as a wave of relief crashed over her.
"Ulrich!" she cried. "Over here! Near the TV." Another series of clicking was heard and before the trio knew it, a large humanoid brown wolf was standing before them, amber eyes glowing eerily in the sheer darkness.
"Seid ihr okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, we're good." April replied. "Just a little spooked about the lights goin' out."
"A little spooked?!" Mikey cried. "Try 'a lotta spooked!'" He waved his arms around for emphasis, although no one could see him due to their current situation (except for maybe Ulrich, since he's a wolf and all). Ulrich glared down at the young turtle's chicken impression and snorted.
"Feigling." he muttered.
"What was that, Ul?"
"Kein Ding." he replied.
"So, what happened?" Leo asked, chipping into the exchange before Mikey did something irrational and stupid (as usual) to upset the massive wolfling.
"Ich weiß nicht." Ulrich shrugged his furry shoulders. "Ich war Donnie helfen mit einer seiner dummen Projekte, wenn die Lichter aus, wenn alle auf einmal." He scratched furiously at an itch behind his ear, making his silver necklace jingle in the sheer emptiness of the room. "Also, ich habe keine Ahnung, was los ist." Leo and Mikey blinked from where they stood in front of the wolf before turning to where April was last standing to their right. The young girl rolled her eyes at their stares before translating.
"He said he doesn't know what happened. Just that he was helping Donnie out with something before the lights fizzed out all of a sudden."
"Oh, well, that helps a bunch!" Mikey grumbled. Ulrich growled and smacked the youngest turtle upside the head with his massive paw. "Yowch! Hey, what was that for?" he cried. The wolf ignored him and tugged on the sleeve of April's t-shirt.
"Komm, lass uns gehen, um Donnie Labor. Hoffentlich wird er in der Lage, einen Weg aus diesem Schlamassel heraus sein." She nodded and tugged on Leo's arm in return.
"C'mon, you two. We're heading to Donnie's Lab."
"Why?" asked Leo.
"So, that he'll hopefully figure something out about this mess."
"Alright." He shrugged. "Mikey, ya comin'?"
"Heck yeah!" the orange-band replied. "I ain't staying here in the dark where something might be lurking. No, thank you."
"Hier ist nichts, aber uns, Mikey, so darüber hinwegkommen." Ulrich growled. "Nun, lassen Sie uns gehen, bevor ich zu kauen jemandes Kopf ab." he grunted. April giggled at his unhappy mumble and and followed after him, tugging on Leo's arm as she did so. Mikey raced after them as he heard the clicking of Ulrich's hindclaws against the cement flooring of the sewer.
German - English
April? Leo? Mikey? Sie hier? (April? Leo? Mikey? Ya out there?)
Seid ihr okay? (You guys okay?)
Feigling (Coward)
Kein Ding (Nothing)
Ich weiß nicht. (I dunno)
Ich war Donnie helfen mit einer seiner dummen Projekte, wenn die Lichter aus, wenn alle auf einmal. (I was helping Donnie out with one of his stupid projects when the lights when out all of a sudden)
Also, ich habe keine Ahnung, was los ist. (So, I have no idea what's going on.)
Komm, lass uns gehen, um Donnie Labor. Hoffentlich wird er in der Lage, einen Weg aus diesem Schlamassel heraus sein (C'mon, let's head to Donnie's lab. Hopefully he'll be able to figure a way out of this mess.)
Hier ist nichts, aber uns, Mikey, so darüber hinwegkommen. (There's nothing here but us, Mikey, so get over it.)
Nun, lassen Sie uns gehen, bevor ich zu kauen jemandes Kopf ab (Now, let's get going before I chew somebody's head off.)
