Chapter 2

Authors note: From here on, the story will become AU, but still based on the new toon. Also there are a few parts from one of the episodes in this chapter. Italics are flashbacks. And a very big thank you to my beta!

I apologize for the long wait between updates. A combination of writers blocks, and real live were to blame.

10 years after Donatello disappeared:

Leo sighed, while looking at April, who was trying to figure out their latest riddle. When they had moved to their current lair, there had been some weird crystals on the ground near one of the walls and while cleaning they had put them on a shelf. In the weeks that followed, they had forgotten all about them. About an hour ago, Mike had accidentally knocked against the shelf, while he was teasing Raph, and two had rolled off the shelf, and against each other. The resulting sound and light had alerted all of them, and now April was trying to figure out what the reason for the strange occurrence was.

Leo smiled when remembering how they had met her…

The mousers had invaded their home, forcing the small family of three turtles and one rat to move. He and Raph had been picking up the last bit of their things, when they heard the scream.

"Let's go check that out" he said, while putting down the box he was carrying.

Raph nodded and after his brother had also, he put down what he was carrying, and then the two went into the tunnel. That was when they heard a second yell, a female's voice echoing through the tunnels. The two turtles ran and found a red-haired female trying to fend off some robots. They were the same type of robots that had destroyed their lair a few days before and had forced them to move. The fight was short and, upon seeing them, the girl fainted. They had taken her home with them and that had been the start of their friendship with April.

Then, April told them who had made the mousers and together they made sure those mousers would not attack them again.

Leo was glad they had met her

When he heard the door open, Leo turned around and saw Casey come in. He grinned, remembering how he and his brothers had met the human vigilante years ago, when they still were kids. Somehow, they had become friends, and since then, Casey had visited often.

Casey looked around and then walked towards where the others were. "Hey, guys! On the way here, I noticed the strangest thing. There was a hole, melted in then wall! And some weird footprints too! Come, I'll show ya!"

A bit later Casey had led them to the place and pointed out the footprints and the hole in the wall.

"Whatever it was, it tunneled right through the cement." Raph said, while looking at the hole. When he turned to look at the footprints, he saw something move at the end of the tunnel.

When Leo turned his head, he also saw something move.

For a brief moment, a pair of eyes glared at them in the dark, before disappearing. Leo knew he had not imagined it. Mike chose that moment to start panicking and he yelled something about movies and monsters. Leo shook his head, wondering not for the first time why Mike kept watching those movies.

When they returned back home, Leo told their Sensei what they had seen.

Splinter thought for a moment and then looked at his sons, "Maybe you should go and investigate the tunnel, my sons," and Splinter smiled when he received two positive reactions with a not so positive from his youngest.

Mike looked in panic at his two brothers, "Umm... Someone has to stay with Sensei and April! I'll do that while you two and Casey investigate that tunnel." Mike looked from one to the other, hoping that they believed him, and would let him stay at home.

Raph grabbed a bag, and walked towards his brother "Yer not gettin' off that easy." He said, while shoving the bag into mike's hands.

Casey went topside for a moment to pick up some extra things and a few hours later the three turtles and their human friend left to investigate the tunnel.

The route via the melted hole in the wall led the small group into some old, abandoned subway tunnels. When they walked into the dark tunnel some dust crumbled down on them, warning them that these tunnels were unstable. Carefully and as quietly as they could, the four continued their investigation, although Mike was still very reluctant. At one point, the falling dust caused Mike to sneeze, and that was the first time when they saw the monster. The big, rock like monster roared when seeing them, causing the tunnel to collapse. They ran and barely escaped the collapsing tunnel.

After getting up, Leonardo picked up his flashlight, and shone into the next tunnel. Because the route back was blocked, they only had one choice, and that was to follow the tunnels, deeper into the earth.

After hours of traveling and descending through a few steep passages, Casey finally collapsed on the ground. "I can't walk another step!" he said, sounding out of breath. He looked at Leo, who agreed with him.

Leo nodded, "Let's make camp." and then turned to Raph. "You up for the first watch?" He smiled when he saw his red-wearing brother twirl his sai.

"You know me!" Raph answered, while looking back at Leo.

A bit later, Raph was trying to stay alert, while the others slept. He looked briefly at Mike, who was mumbling softly in his sleep. He glanced around and then heard a noise above him. When he saw the source of the noise, he immediately woke the others up, shouting "Wake up, it's that monster again!" Raph grabbed his sai, while the others jumped up, and also grabbed their weapons.

Leonardo looked up, and saw the monster cause a rock-slide. He yelled to the others to get out of there, and after a few minutes of running and jumping over scattered debris, the small group stood in front of two doors, which looked like they had been bashed open from the inside out.

The four slowly walked into the room beyond, leaving their backpacks near the door. They had only walked a few feet, when they realized this was some kind of old, forgotten lab. The lab had several dust covered machines in it, and most of them looked like something from the lab of a mad scientist. Mike slowly walked forward, looking around, but not looking where he put his feet. Leo saw him step into the beam, but was too late to stop him. When the alarm sounded, three annoyed people turned to Mike, but before any of them could say something, a force field began to expand from the center of the room, slowly advancing towards them.

As the force field came closer is seemed to press against Casey and the three turtles, pushing them away from the door and the middle of the room, and towards the wall. Before they would completely be flattened, Raph tossed one of his sai at the machine, hitting it and damaging it enough to shut it down. It was then a video log started playing, telling the four what the underground lab had been used for. They watched the footage, which turned out to be a bit horrifying. Mike started shaking more and more from fear, because he remembered several horror movies and none of them ended well.

When the video diary ended, they heard something growl nearby.

Mike yelped and clung to Leo, shivering. "So, there's always one guy in a monster movie who freaks out because he can't take the pressure. And I am going to do an impression of him right now and it goes something like this - Get me out of here!" The panicky turtle then released Leo and ran to the door.

Raph watched his brother run and then turned to Leo. "Not that I ever agree with him but he has a point."

Leo nodded in agreement and then the four travelers grabbed their bags, and started to walk to the exit of the lab. Mike was still shivering and looking around nervously. They had almost reached the exit, when they saw that the wall next to the entrance melted and a hole was formed in the wall three monsters came out, growling at them, and blocking the way out in the process.

Raph recognized one of them as the rock monster which had caused the cave in and the rock slide earlier, but he was sure he had not seen the other two before. One was red and bulky, the other one was blue, and had a slim build But before they could grab their weapons, one of the monsters raised his hand to stop the other two from attacking.

Then, much to their surprise, the blue-skinned monster spoke "You three look just like the other one!"

Leo, who still had his hands on the hilt of his katana, looked at the monsters, surprised. "Wait, the other one? What other one?"

Behind him, the others were still ready to defend themselves if necessary, but they quickly realized that the monsters were no treat.

"There is another who looks just like you. Come, I will show you."

After gesturing to Leo and the others to follow him, the blue monster then walked to a far corner of the lab. There, in a giant capsule and floating in some yellowish fluid was a small, olive green turtle.

TBC.