Episode 10: Tigerclaw's Vendetta – Part 1

The next day was one of the most exciting days of Ethan's life. Finally, it felt like he had a home again – although the Turtles were completely absent, as if they had just up and left. Jess and Kaela informed Ethan about what had happened on Jess' recent date with Mako. "For some reason, that doesn't surprise me at all." Ethan said, when reacting to learning Mako was a Purple Dragon. "Told you that he was bad news." Jess bowed her head in defeat.

Clearly seeing that things were about to get more serious, Kaela stood up from the bean bag she was lying on near the TV and stretched. "I think I'll see if I can get something cooked up in the kitchen and see if there's anything to salvage in the fridge."

"Beware the Ice Cream Cat." Ethan warned.

Kaela stood and stared at him, as if trying to riddle out what he meant. Ethan felt no need to explain further, half wanting her to experience the odd creature for herself, and she finally slipped away into the kitchen. Ethan turned to Jess and smiled smugly, "Don't beat yourself up about it, Jess. We both just crush on bad guys too much."

Jess chuckled, "Yeah, well, Mako's was an honest mistake. Karai actually does want to kill you."

"Yeah, but she didn't try and turn me into a gang banger." Ethan added back.

"Touche."

Ethan slapped her shoulder and grinned, showing a row of pointed teeth, "You know, you might have made a pretty good Purple Dragon. I can see it now! You could get a tattoo on your face, beat up freshman with Mako, and put on a Korean concert with Hun!"

"Hey! Hun is a deceptively good fighter." Jess said back. "And I'm way too good for the Purple Dragon's. I would have to put my fighting skill a few notches down so they wouldn't feel bad." Ethan chuckled, but internally had to agree with her. He was half surprised when she hadn't beaten up Mako. If Ethan were to guess, he would say that she even still had feelings for him. He understood that. Karai was the same way. Liars, criminals, but there was just something about them . . .

Ethan and Jess sat next to each other for a few moments and just drank in the comfort of being in the same terrible situation. Their moment of peace ended when Kaela screamed, followed by a loud meow from the kitchen.

"A cat!" Jess said excitedly, being a cat lover herself, and Ethan followed on her heels into the kitchen, excited to see her reaction.

He had been right in his assumption of what had happened.

The freezer door was open wide, pooling out cool mist and the poor Ice Cream Cat was writhing, trying to get away from Kaela who was pointing at it like it was some sort of monster. "What is that?" she yelled.

Ethan quickly turned to Jess to see her reaction and immediately burst with laughter, reeling over and clutching his stomach. Her eyes were wide and she was rooted to the ground, a look of confusion and disgust on her face. "What. Is. That. Abomination?" Jess asked, pronouncing each word with dread.

After managing to quiet his laughter and wiping away tears of mirth, Ethan looked up at the squealing pile of cat. It looked a lot like Neapolitan Ice Cream. "I think it's kinda cute." he admitted, going closer to examine it. It had the face, the ears, the whiskers, the paws, the tail – but all were made out of soft serve. Kaela slowly let the freezer door close and Ethan had to wrench his head out of the way to avoid being crushed.

The three stood in the kitchen for a few moments as Jess and Kaela re-cooperated from the sudden shock they had experienced. Kaela finally managed to get out, "What is this place?" Ethan could hardly tell if she was excited, freaked out, or both. "Ice Cream cats, and I saw last night in that lab room a big weird tank of organs and there was mutagen in there too. It's like some crazy scientists lab."

Jess nodded to everything that Kaela said, "Yeah, and that also begs the question of where the heck the turtles went. They obviously lived here, but it looks like they haven't been back in weeks." she brushed some dust from the counter top near the stove to prove a point.

"Great question." Ethan said quietly, looking around the kitchen as if hoping some sort of clue would explode from the stove units or that an answer would fall out of a cupboard. He stuck his tongue out again. "I don't think they are anywhere near here either."

Putting a hand on her hip and leaning back a bit, Jess said with a sense of humor, "Is there a reason you always stick your tongue out now? Some sort of animal habit?" Ethan had hardly noticed that he was doing it.

"I think it just makes our brother look even more adorable." Kaela said with a smile, patting him on the head, forcing his ears to flatten.

Ethan grimaced at her and then turned to Jess, "I don't really know how, but I feel like I can sense things better when I do that – like, like I can feel danger and stuff. But that would just be a guess. I'm not a zoologist."

"Don't snakes do that?" Kaela asked.

"Totally." Jess agreed.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders and stuck his pink tongue back behind his pointed teeth, feeling a little embarrassed with himself. Being a mutant was weird. "I really only looked around a little bit yesterday. I think it might be a good idea to check the place out more and get some solid evidence of where the turtles could be. Remember," Ethan took a deep breath to prepare himself for the next two difficult words, "Master Hamato wanted us to find them. We have to do it at any cost."

Eager to get started, the three moved from room to room. Ethan found an entire closet of spare bo-staff weapons in the dojo. He loved spending time under the tree, but rushed past it to see what new things he could find. When they looked at the picture on the little shelf, Kaela pointed to the man in the picture. "I bet that is Splinter." she said. ""Before he was turned into . . . a rat, I guess." Ethan nodded, his mind busy with trying to figure out what connection Splinter would have had with the Kraang and the mutagen.

They moved on to looking into an empty room behind the dojo that had an odd phone that looked, at first sight, like a giant block of cheddar cheese. A series of candles and a collection of scrolls sat in the corner and reminded Ethan painfully of Master Hamato. He wondered if ever he was going to get used to the pain and instead look back fondly on his memories. Instead, he always felt sick when he thought of Sensei, similar to the feeling he got when he was about to fall asleep and was shocked awake by the sensation of falling.

They moved on to the living room where Jess spent a considerable time looking at the VHS's of Crognard the Barbarian. She popped one in and watched through a few minutes of an episode which had them all on their knees crying from laughter. After they ejected it and put it back in the blue bin, they headed over to the lab doors and pushed them open. The three dodged the strange, frozen ooze filled with organs and instead took a look around the rest of the lab.

"Look at this weird stuff." Jess said, pointing at a nearby shelf. A series of objects sat on it, including a jar with a long crack in it. It appeared to be full of glowing soil and tape over the front described it as: "The Creep". Next to it sat a large venus-fly trap looking claw.

Ethan walked up to the shelf to examine closer. "I know what that is." Ethan said with a sense of grim humor as he pointed at the familiar robot head of one of the Kraang. He reached up and grabbed the strange object next to it. It was tiny, but had the same pink gleam of the Kraang technology. A long needle, not much thicker than a hair protruded from one end. "What a weird looking thing." he said quietly, trying to figure out what's its purpose was.

Kaela snatched up a book on the shelf and squinted as she slowly tried to read the title, "Obto- uh – Obtoraculum Somneorum?" she paused, looking at the thick leather cover, decorated in odd symbols.

"Sounds Latin." Jess suggested.

Kaela shrugged and put the book back and turned around to observe the strange lab from a new angle. "What's that?" she pointed at a nearby desk, a computer sitting on it, along with what looked like a huge, white, polished marble. The three slowly walked together to the desk and Kaela picked it up. "Huh." She said, turning it over in her hands, her face reflecting off the perfectly smooth surface. "It's surprisingly light." She handed it around to Jess and Ethan and they each took a turn feeling its weight.

"Looks like a crystal ball." Ethan said smiling. "I'd love it if it would tell us where the turtles were." He glanced at the computer screen and watched as a series of black and white videos flickered through like a slideshow. It looked like surveillance camera's had been set up around the sewers. That's useful. He thought to himself.

After the three were content with all of the strange things they found in the lab, including several canisters of mutagen, they returned to the living room and peeked in the two bedrooms, but left the other two unlocked. Finally, they found a bathroom tucked in the corner, including a shower. "Redemption!" Kaela cried, falling to her knees, "I don't have to smell anymore!" After a battle of Jon-ken – po! Kaela won and got to take a shower first, then Jess. As the two got ready, Ethan continued to wander around the lair, spending most of his free time near the beautiful Asian tree that twisted up towards the ceiling, coiling in on itself and shading the dojo tatami mats.

The sound of the shower water nearby was relaxing and he sat under the shadow of the tree for a few moments, letting the tiny rays of light hit the fur on his face and he half considered taking his mask off, but he hadn't done so in over a week and he stopped himself out of habit. Finally, getting a little bored, he walked out of the dojo with a bow towards the tree as if he had a Sensei there, and he walked out to take a look at the subway tunnel. He hadn't seen a single train pass by. The tunnel must no longer be in use. He stepped out past the barriers and into the red light. He looked down the tunnel by which he had found the lair and then turned the other way. His exploration had stopped there and not gone a step further.

Looking down the tunnel to his right, he could see a long, lofty shadow that stretched across the wall in a big block, the edges of it touching the red lights above. Ethan bit his lip curiously, fiddled with his mask for a moment, took one last look behind him to see if Jess and Kaela had come out, and then went down the tunnel to see what could be casting such a shadow.

It didn't take much walking before, out of the darkness loomed a huge vehicle. It looked like a giant garbage truck – but its wheels looked like they had been nabbed from a tractor. The sides had been painted in green and gratified with multiple colors. The largest spelled out what Ethan assumed was the name of the vehicle. "The Shell Raiser". He chuckled and rubbed his hands across the doors. Perhaps it had been a subway car by the sliding doors on the side. "This is so legit." He said under his breath to himself, eager to get the doors open and go inside. "Awesome!" As he made his way around the vehicle, he noticed that immediately behind it was another vehicle. Although smaller in size, this one looked like it had been converted from an old party wagon from the 80s. An odd painting of what looked like a female lizard was on one side with the words "Venus" painted over it's womanly form. She winked at Ethan like a pin-up. Whoever created these must have been a genius. Ethan concluded.

He made his way back to the lair, running his furry fingers along the side of the Shell Raiser, excited to let the others know that their was something even better than Crognard the Barbarian in this place.

After Jess and Kaela reappeared and before Ethan could say anything, Jess said, "We need to get new clothes."

"And more food." Kaela added, grabbing at her stomach as if to quiet the gurgling that came from it.

"First, I gotta show you something!"

He brought his sisters to the two vehicles and grinned, hands on his hips at their expressions. Their eyes were wide. Kaela's mouth hung open and Jess slowly reached forward and hugged the side of the Shell Raiser. "This is the coolest thing ever." She said, awe struck. "How do we get inside! I want to drive it!"

Ethan shoved his nails into the cracks of the doors and tried to wrench it open, but it wouldn't budge in the least. Kaela tried the doors of the Party Wagon, but equally found no luck there. "Besides breaking through the glass, I don't think there is a way in here. Unless there's a key of course, but I'd guess the turtles would have taken those with them." Kaela said.

Jess groaned, looking back at the Shell Raiser with disappointment.

"Tomorrow, we can get some new clothes and some food." Ethan said, trying to cheer Jess up. It seemed to work a little. "Then we can maybe search for the keys." He couldn't help but feel that he also wanted to take the Shell Raiser for a joy ride.

The three spent the rest of the day practicing in the dojo, exploring more, and Ethan spent a little bit of time with the Ice Cream cat, feeling sad that it was lonely in the freezer. Kaela eventually joined, but Jess stayed as far away from the fridge as possible. It didn't take long before tiredness set in, and they all went to the bean bags and slumped down on them, closing their eyes.

For a few moments, Ethan stared at the blackness under his eyelids and he pretended like he was back in his own room, and that if he opened his eyes he would see their bathroom, their TV, their Chris Bradford posters and Master Hamato. With those feelings comforting him, along with the knowledge that his sisters and him were safe in the sewer, he slowly fell into a deep sleep, the sounds of the dripping water vanishing into nothingness.

The dream was very familiar.

Ethan, Jess, and Kaela were standing in Washington Square again. It was night, the stars barely managing to press through the lights of New York City below. Immediately, they hid behind the white arches, knowing exactly what was going to happen next.

Ethan was right.

Without saying a word to one another, they watched as the triangular ships appeared in the air and slowly dropped a huge metal ring around the Washington Square fountain. Amber lights appeared like pillars around it and within moments, huge Triceratops dinosaurs standing on their hind legs were towering over the alien tech.

They were huge – triple Ethan's own height and width if he had to guess. Within a few moments, more appeared, and these ones had enormous guns the size of Ethan's torso. He was pretty sure he could fit his whole head into the barrel of it if he wanted. Ethan gulped. Although he had now seen this a few times, he couldn't suppress the horror that took over him when he the gargantuan monsters. If one of those things even punched me, I would probably just die right then and there. Ethan thought. Plus they have guns.

Ethan began the usual practice of piecing things together in the dream. He glanced down at his hands. Just like the last time he had had this dream, he noticed that he was human again. His fingers were as normal as they had been a few weeks ago before he was mutated with a Red Panda. Now, it almost seemed odd to look at flesh without fur. Kaela and Jess were both glancing at him from the corner of their eye. Apparently, they thought it was weird too.

His nose picked up little, his tongue was utterly useless and everything sounded almost muffled with his far less keen ears. Being a mutant is so much better. He concluded. But his attention was reverted back to the huge circle as the large dinosaurs that surrounded the black metal ring were typing things in, screens appearing out of thin air in front of them, in the form of orange holographs. It was hard to see what they were doing with their helmet like heads fanning out and tipped with spikes behind them, covering Ethan's view of their frying pan sized hands. One of them spoke, his voice low and gravely: "For the Triceraton Empire!" A blast of purple light burst from the fountain, moving in a circular formation and vanished through the streets of the city.

The lights around the park flickered for a few moments and then went dark. Within moments, the surrounding buildings also had blackened windows as the energy was sucked from the power grid. But Ethan wasn't paying attention to any of that. He already knew about those things. Instead, he was looking for the turtles. Last time he had seen the one with the orange bandanna – Michelangelo was his name, if Ethan was correct. He watched with his far less effective eyes at the bushes and trees nearby. He could see shadows behind a park bench and he nodded to Jess and Kaela to get their attention and motioned for them to follow him. They slipped through the cool green grass. Ethan's eyes were on the shadows but he would nervously glance back at the dinosaurs to ensure they hadn't see him. Ethan could actually hear a voice now – one of the turtles. "You mean – no TV? That ain't right!" The voice was higher pitched and Ethan got the odd sense of a surfer dude from California.

Another voice was speaking now – this one lower. "Alright team, this could be our last battle. Are you ready?" Ethan made a quick motion towards the shadows, but they were already moving.

"Wait!" Kaela hissed, but they obviously hadn't heard her at all. Now the shadowy figures were easier to see. Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo. All four of them moved quickly, keeping themselves low to the ground, their arms behind their backs in the same ways that Ethan had been taught by Master Hamato.

"Look!" Jess pointed. "Is that . . . Casey Jones?"

Sure enough – there he was. His outfit was familiar, but he was now wearing what looked like an old battered golf bag on his back filled with assorted sports equipment. On the top of his head was a mask that was painted in black and white to look strikingly similar to a skull. They didn't get much more time to look as suddenly one of the huge Triceratops yelled into the night: "Earth creatures! Attack!"

The turtles had been spotted.

"Duck!" Ethan hissed and he grabbed Jess and Kaela's shoulders and shoved them all down behind the park bench as a series of amber blasts filled Washington Square. He could hear the turtles yelling at the sudden attack.

Kaela perked her head up, "Ethan! What do we do?"

Ethan had already realized that they didn't have their weapons and he watched paralyzed.

A Kraang droid suddenly appeared, disguised as a man wearing a pinstripe suit and a pair of black glasses. Ethan could now hear them all as they spoke more loudly over the sound of lasers firing. "Take out their weapons!" The Kraang said.

Kaela's question vanished in a wave of confusion. "Uh, is that Kraang helping them?" Ethan asked, pointing.

The blue masked turtle, Leonardo and Michelangelo jumped into the air, flinging their bodies in opposite directions, releasing an array of shurikans with them.

That move was undoubtedly Hamato Clan.

One of the guns exploded in a blast of red fire and black smoke and the Triceratops that had been holding it roared in fury, his terrifying marbled eyes staring at the two turtles.

"This is awesome!" Jess cried.

Kaela hadn't given up though. "They need our help!"

"We have no weapons, Kaela!"

The three watched on hopelessly as Casey and Leonardo were thrown to the ground by the monolith-like monsters. Ethan gritted his teeth. If we just rush out there, we are going to get pounded by those triceratops things. And who knows – if we die in this dream, we could die in real life!

"Bishop, no!"

Ethan directed his attention to the other side of the park when he heard the cry. Michelangelo was watching as the Kraang droid that was helping them fell to the ground, body going limp. But he didn't have much time to react as a nearby Triceratops saw the moment to strike and pointed his weapon directly at the turtles face. A glow began to appear in the barrel.

"Okay we have to –." Ethan stopped talking as a shurikan flipped through the air from the shadows and slammed into the gun which exploded in a poof of smoke.

Ethan twisted to see who had thrown it.

Standing atop a nearby light, as gracefully as if it were regular ground, was a tall rat – although he looked more like a man – a red Japanese kimono around his chest and lower body. Ethan knew immediately when he heard the voice who it was and it nearly brought tears to his eyes. "We heard you might need some assistance."

He sounded exactly like Master Hamato.

And he wasn't alone.

Two others were next to him.

"Holy –." Jess hissed under her breath.

A floating monkey with a large metal helmet.

A pigeon man wearing what looked like an old military cap.

And they weren't the only ones.

With a loud honk, a car flew through the air, over the top of the Washington Arch and slammed into the nearest Triceratops, heralding in a crowd of mutants.

A fifth turtle, huge, hulking, with a jagged black shell and a black mask around his eyes, a spiked mace in his hand.

Standing next to him was a huge alligator mutant.

Next, something that looked oddly like a pile of garbage and puke with limbs.

Finally, a gecko decked out in a baseball cap turned backwards, a black t-shirt, and skater shorts, a matching skate board under his tennis-shoed feet. Leading them, was none other than April O'Neil, a black fan in her hand that had the insignia of the Hamato Clan stamped on its front.

Ethan could hardly believe what he was seeing.

"This is crazy!" Kaela hissed.

"You said it."

Ethan turned back to the fight just as Michelangelo turned and said, "Kick their Jurassic – Cowabunga!" The fight increased in speed. Triceratops were firing in every direction and Ethan, Jess and Kaela ducked to avoid some of the nearby blasts. Ethan felt his feet bobbing up and down, tempting him to move forward – to step in – to fight with them.

The blasting abated and Ethan's head emerged again just as the strange garbage monster yelled, "Stay away from my pal ya alien freaks!" But before he could do anything, he was being fired on by multiple Triceratops. He was going to –

Ethan stood to help, but stopped as his eyes rested on the rat – Splinter – Hamato Yoshi.

He ran expertly, not much unlike his father and jumped into the air. What Ethan thought had been a cane in his hand was unsheathed and with an expert flip, a rope appeared, stringing the guns to point at each others users and with a single blast, three Triceratops fell to the ground, motionless.

"He's just as good as Master Hamato." Kaela said with admiration.

Splinter straightened, "We must stop the black hole weapon from being triggered."

"Slash, Leatherhead, take that machine down now!"

Ethan turned to the turtle who had spoken but immediately was distracted as the huge turtle burst forward, smashing his mace against the metal ring.

"Black hole weapon?" Ethan asked his two siblings who were watching with him.

Suddenly, more amber beams were beginning to appear as pillars, triangle pixels merging in mid-air.

"Look out!" Kaela cried, but again, her voice vanished into the air as more Triceratops appeared. One of them immediately caught Ethan's attention. His maw looked like it had been torn in half, now covered with scrap metal meant to look like his hooked mouth. He grabbed the monkey by the head and threw him to the ground.

Ethan winced.

With a slam of his metal foot, the helmet that the monkey had been wearing was smashed into a pancake. "You vile, extinct –." The monkey didn't have a chance to finish his sentence when suddenly a red bubble formed around him, levitating him from the earth and trapping him like a fish in a bowl.

The giant blue turtle was next and levitated, trapped in a crimson bubble.

"This battle is over." The Triceratops said with the metal maw. "You have all lost." The alligator that had been called Leatherhead burst forward, but with another resounding pop, a bubble trapped him as well. "No, Leatherhead!" Michelangelo shouted and jumped forward, but the huge, cyborg-looking Triceratops snatched him out of the air. He struggled against him.

Ethan made his way around the park bench, Jess and Kaela behind him. They had to save him.

"Foolish little one, you are coming with me!"

An instant later, he was gone, vanishing into a beam of golden light with the Triceratops.

"Mikey!"

"Michelangelo!"

The sudden absence of the fourth turtle made Ethan's insides churn as he looked at his own sisters and feared the same fate would come to them. He shoved them all back behind the park benches as more Triceratops appeared, materializing from their beams of light.

The group of mutants was retreating now. But not all of them made it. With another popping noise, Casey Jones floated into the air, trapped in one of the red bubbles that now surrounded the ring – The black hole weapon.

The others were retreating. Ethan watched as the turtle in the red bandanna, Raphael, dragged April away from the battle and they vanished through the white archway. Ethan turned to the other two, but suddenly, everything was melting away.

The dream was ending.

He didn't have time to utter a single word before everything shattered around him and he was falling into blackness towards consciousness.