Chapter 10

To Protect a Friend

The Hamato Clan soon found out that the Foot had gotten some new information about them. Specifically, information on who one of their friends was.

The weekend after the fight on the docks, April had offered to swing by Murakami's restaurant to pick up lunch before afternoon practice.

But while she was gone, the Hamatos came across information that the Kraang were intending to poison the water in the Hudson, and left for their underwater base to stop that from happening.

Unfortunately, April's trip to the restaurant was hindered by a patrol of Foot Ninja ambushing her on the way there. It was clear this was no random attack. They were after her specifically, and with her ninja friends stuck underwater fighting the Kraang, there was no help coming her way from them.

April made use of her tessen, and all the skills that Master Yoshi had instilled in her over the last few months. But even with that, the redhead was severely outnumbered, and if something didn't change soon, she would not be able to get away from this.

Just when she thought for sure she would be captured, an angry alligator leapt off a nearby rooftop with a vicious roar.

April had never felt so grateful for Leatherhead's overprotective stalking.

With the mutant gator on her side, the tide of the fight quickly turned, and the two of them were soon running through the sewers to safety, leaving an alley full of beaten and unconscious Foot behind them.

But with the Foot knowing who April was, and that she had a connection to the Hamatos, it was no longer safe for the girl to go out in public anymore.

April agreed to move into the spare room in the dojo, and began taking her classes over her computer. Donnie faked a school trip form for April to give to her Aunt to give an excuse for why she wouldn't be home for awhile. If she ever needed to go out, she'd need an escort and would use one of the many secret exits hidden in the dojo so she wouldn't lead the Foot to the Renaissance Dojo's doorstep.

One good thing about getting into fights with Foot Ninja and Kraang bots every other night, was that after awhile you got really good at fighting them.

Case and point, their most recent patrol led them to a rooftop fight with a Foot patrol, and they ended up winning the fight in record time.

"Aw man," Raph groaned in disappointment once he saw that all the Foot were unconscious at their feet. He'd been having fun kicking their butts.

"Iyasa, if you keep breaking your toys, we're not going to buy you new ones," Leo said in a mock scolding tone. The codename was in case any Foot Ninja were still conscious enough to hear.

Mikey surveyed the scene before him. "Dude, It's like we just cleared a video game on easy."

"Tenshi, if Sensei has taught us anything, it's that real combat is not like a video game," said Leo with a frown.

As if to directly rebuke Leo's statement, Donnie chose that moment scoop something off the roof with a call of, "Hey, coins."

"You were saying?" Miwa asked Leo with a knowing smirk.

Leo ignored them, and continued on like they hadn't spoken. "The Foot Soldiers haven't been much of a challenge lately. Wonder why?"

"Maybe we're just that awesome," said Raph, and Miwa gave him a high five in agreement.

Leo smirked. "That sounds right."

"You know who I'd hate to be," said Donnie as he stuffed his newly acquired change into his pocket, stepping over unconscious bodies as he came towards them. "The guy who has to tell Shredder about this."

Miwa smirked. "Ten bucks says his head explodes."

Mikey looked up at them in awe. "Dude, I'd pay to see that."

After their taking out the Foot Patrol, they decided to stake out TCRI for awhile.

Leatherhead was not there at the moment. After the Foot's attempt to capture April, the gator had started focusing his energy on running patrols through the sewers near their Dojo, and escorting April whenever she wanted to go out in case any of the Kraang or Foot showed up to try and capture her again. April didn't complain about this after his over-protectiveness had saved her last time.

It was just as well that he wasn't there, as all was quiet on the TCRI front. The Kraang didn't appear to be doing anything sinister tonight.

Normally that would be a good thing. But this time it left the five teenaged ninjas very bored.

Just as they were about to call it a night, Leo spotted a lone Foot Ninja skulking around in the alley below. He quickly pointed it out to the rest of them, and they gathered at the edge of the roof to scrutinize the figure below them.

"I don't get it," Raph said as he looked the Foot Soldier over. "Just one guy?"

"Maybe they only need one guy," said Mikey in a dramatic voice. "Maybe this guy's the meanest, most baddest, deadly ninja we've ever seen."

Miwa let out a snort of disbelief. "If he was that good a ninja, then there's no way we would have even seen him."

"Unless that's just what he wants you to think so we'll let our guard down," Mikey argued, not yet ready to give up his theory.

They turned their attention back to the Foot Ninja in time to see him try and fail pathetically to jump and climb in a window of TCRI, only to fall flat on his face.

"Or not," said Donnie. He squinted and tried to get a better look at the Foot Ninja in the dim light. Something about him seemed familiar.

The ninja finally managed to knock in the window, but when he tried to climb in he apparently got stuck inside it, and was left to dangle half in with his legs kicking furiously.

"Anyone else find this dude kinda adorable?" Mikey asked.

"Well, he's not much, but he's all we've got. Let's go," said Leo, signaling for them to drop into the alley.

But as they approached the stuck ninja, more Foot Soldiers jumped out of nowhere, and surrounded them.

"Ambush!" Leo shouted as they all drew their weapons.

"Alright!" Raph cheered as he jumped into battle.

This fight didn't last any longer than the previous one, and soon the Foot were fleeing from the fight to avoid getting beaten to unconsciousness again.

But when they ran, they also left behind their stuck friend, who was still dangling from the window.

Finally the remaining Foot Ninja pulled himself free, and wandered towards them, unaware his comrades had ditched him.

"Everything okay?" he asked in a muffled sounding voice. "I heard-"

But that was all he got the chance to say, before Donnie tripped him with his staff, and sent the chubby Foot Ninja sprawling.

By the time the Foot Ninja looked up at them, the Hamato teens had him surrounded, and Donnie was holding him at staff point.

"Wait, dude, it's ME!" the ninja said in a panicked voice. A familiar panicked voice.

Donnie's stomach dropped as he realized who it was. "Oh no," he muttered as he reached forward to yank the ninja's mask off.

Free from the expressionless mask, Timothy grinned up at him sheepishly.

"The Pulverizer?" said Mikey in surprise.

"Timothy!" Donnie groaned as his suspicions were confirmed.

Timothy's eyes widened. "No way, how'd you know my name?"

"Uh," Donnie stuttered nervously.

"Your name's really Timothy?" asked Miwa, sounding unimpressed.

Timothy sent her a cheesy grin that he no doubt thought made him look sexy. "Sure is, beautiful, but you can call me whatever you like." He finished his statement off with a wink.

Miwa made a gagging sound of disgust.

Timothy didn't seem to notice, and he turned his attention back to Donnie. "Anyway, how awesome is this? Bet you guys were wondering when you'd see me again," he said excitedly.

'It was supposed to be tomorrow at school,' Donnie thought to himself miserably. How could he not have noticed that his friend had joined the Foot? Timothy was not that good at keeping secrets, how could Donnie not have picked up on this?

Unaware of his brother's inner turmoil, Raph answered a blunt, "No," to Timothy's question, to which the chubby boy laughed off.

"Hey, what do you guys think of my new threads?" he asked, holding out his arms so they could see the Foot Ninja clothing. "Way better than the sweat suit I had before."

Timothy's smile wilted when he saw the severe look on Donnie's face. "How in- What are you doing with the Foot?!" he asked forcefully.

Timothy shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Well, last time you told me I needed to practice. So I joined the Bradford Dojo to hone my craft."

"Dude, you do know the Renaissance Dojo is, like, way better, right?" Mikey interrupted.

Timothy gave Mikey a patronizing smile. "Yeah, but that place doesn't have Chris Bradford. That guy is awesome."

"Actually, he's a flea-bitten jerk," said Raph.

"Literally," Leo added.

"Anyway," Timothy continued, "I wowed them with my smooth moves, and BOOM! They liked me so much they asked me if I wanted to join the Foot Clan."

"Wow, they must really be hurting for dudes," Mikey muttered to Miwa.

"That, or their standards are lower than we thought," she replied.

"I've only been with them a few days, and already I've made the rank of Ashigaru Sha," Timothy finished, beaming at them like they were supposed to be impressed.

Donnie smacked himself on the forehead and groaned. It was worse than he thought. Not only had his friend joined the Foot, but he was also part of the rank that was most likely to get him killed in some horrible manner.

Even after explaining that Ashigaru Sha meant that Timothy was literally cannon fodder, the boy still didn't seem to get that the people he was with were bad news. He was convinced that the Foot were the good guys since they were fighting the Kraang as well.

"Why are the Foot fighting the Kraang?" Leo had to ask. "As far as I was know, only Tiger Claw seemed to have a vendetta against them."

Timothy's eyes lit up, and Donnie knew that this could lead to nothing good. "I could totally find that out for you," he said excitedly. "I could be a SPY!"

Donnie shook his head. "No way," he said firmly. "Not a chance. Timothy, do yourself a favor and quit the Foot. In fact, don't even bother quitting. Just go home, and forget you ever even heard of them."

To emphasize his point, Donnie crumbled up the Foot Mask still in his hand, and threw it on the ground.

Timothy quickly picked it back up, and pouted for a minute, before something seemed to occur to him, and he grinned up at Donnie.

"Ooohoo, sure, I'll quit the Foot," he said with an exaggerated wink, letting Donnie know he thought the purple wearing ninja had meant just the opposite.

"I'm serious," Donnie said, putting as much emphasis on the word as he could.

"Of course you're serious," Timothy replied in the same tone, winking several times.

"I AM! STOP WINKING!" Donnie shouted, trying to get it through his thick skull that this was a bad idea.

"Right," said Timothy as he ran off. "I'll recon Intel, and, uh, meet you here tomorrow. I'm in ninja stealth mode." He did a bunch of goofy hand gestures and hurried away, almost getting hit by a car in the process.

"Wait, Timothy!" Donnie called after him, but it was no use.

Donnie's face hardened. There was no way he was letting Timothy get himself killed by the Foot. He'd get him out of this one way or another.

The next day as Timothy was coming into school, he was stopped by a furious looking Donatello.

"Hey Donnie, what's up?" he asked, wondering what happened to get his friend so angry this early in the morning (he hadn't seen him this angry since his little brother mistook his coffee mix for dirt, and put worms in it).

Donnie grabbed him by the arm, and dragged Timothy to where they wouldn't easily be overheard.

"What's up is that I got a call last night telling me you joined a criminal gang!" Donnie said angrily. He wasn't even lying about that, he had gotten a call last night. A wake-up call that his friend was in some serious trouble. He just hoped he could get Timothy to listen to him better as his friend Donnie, rather than as an unnamed ninja hero.

Timothy seemed stunned for a second. "How does that guy know this stuff?" he whispered to himself, wondering how the guy in the purple mask seemed to know just who to call to tattle on him most effectively.

"Will you focus, Tim!" Donnie demanded. "What were you thinking?! These guys are dangerous! Really dangerous! I know you want to be a hero, but this is the completely wrong way to do it!"

Timothy looked at him indignantly. "What do you know about being a hero?"

"I know it doesn't involve throwing yourself to the sharks," Donnie deadpanned.

Seeing that Timothy still wasn't listening to him, Donnie took a deep breath, and tried again. "Look, Timothy," he said in a calmer voice. "I'm just worried about you. These Foot guys are seriously bad news. I don't want to see you get yourself killed."

Timothy's face softened a bit. "Ah, I'll be fine. Heroes always win, remember."

"Not in real life," said Donnie, remembering their recent failure at TCRI, and the beating they got when they first met the Shredder. "In real life, sometimes the heroes lose. And when they lose they get hurt or worse."

Timothy still didn't look like he believed him.

"Besides, you're not playing the hero in this, Tim," Donnie pointed out desperately. "You're the spy. And when spies get caught, they get terminated."

"Unless they're like James Bond," Timothy pointed out.

"Then why is he played by a different actor every other movie?" Donnie snapped back. "Besides, you are no James Bond."

Timothy looked like he was going to say something else, but at the thunderous look on Donnie's face he slumped, and looked disappointed.

Donnie put a comforting hand on Timothy's shoulder. "Look, I know you're trying to do the right thing with this. But playing spy in a killer ninja clan is not the right way to go."

He then made sure Timothy was looking him in the eye when he said his next piece.

"And these guys are killers," he said with the utmost seriousness. "I've heard of the Foot Clan before, and I know the Foot are connected to several murders back in Japan. Some of my own relatives were killed by these people just for being connected to another guy they were after. You're my friend, Tim. I don't want to wake up tomorrow to find out that I've lost someone else to them."

Finally, this seemed to get through to Timothy like nothing else did. "They killed your family?!" he asked in horror.

"My paternal grandparents, and some second cousins who stayed in Japan when my parents moved here," Donnie said softly. He had never had the chance to meet the rest of the members of his clan, and now thanks to the Shredder, he never would. "The Foot were looking for someone they all knew, but they didn't know where he was, and couldn't give the Foot any clues as to where he went. So the Foot killed them to send a message."

Timothy's face darkened. "Those-those dirtbags!" he spat angrily. "And I thought they were the good guys!"

"Yeah, well they're pretty much the opposite," said Donnie firmly. His gaze then softened. "Promise me you'll drop this crazy spy plan, Tim, please."

Timothy still looked ticked off, but he slowly nodded in agreement. "Alright, I promise. I'll let those other guys know tonight that I can't help them," he agreed sullenly, but unknown to Donnie he crossed his fingers behind his back so his friend wouldn't know he was lying.

Donnie heaved a heavy sigh of relief. "Good. And, uh," he scratched his head sheepishly. "Could you not tell anyone what I said about my relatives? If word got out I was related to them, the Foot might come after me and my family too."

Timothy's eyes widened as he heard that, and nodded emphatically. "I won't tell anyone, I promise," he said with much more sincerity than he did for the other promise.

Donnie gave him a grin, and they both heard the school's late warning bell ring. "Well, time for class. We can meet at lunch to talk about better hero options that are out there for you," he said as he hurried off to his first class.

"Yeah, see you there," Timothy called after him as he watched him go.

Once Donnie was out of sight, Timothy frowned, and felt a little guilty for lying to his friend. "Sorry, Donnie," he muttered to himself. "But the Foot could really hurt you, and that makes this personal. Watch out, Foot Clan, because soon you will face the wrath of the PULVERIZER!" he shouted the last word dramatically.

Just then the final bell rang, signaling that Timothy was late for class.

"Curse you, Foot Clan!" he yelled as he ran as fast as he could to his first class.

Donnie glared down at Miwa's tantō in his hands.

What Master Yoshi had gathered from their bragging about stomping the Foot Clan into the dirt was that they had become complacent, overconfident, and too reliant on their signature weapons. He told them for a true ninja, anything could be used as a weapon. As a result he had ordered them all to switch weapons with each other for the day.

Leo and Miwa had immediately tried to switch with each other, since theirs was a similar weapon, but both had received a whack from their father's walking stick for the attempt.

In the end, Leo got the bō staff, Miwa was given the sais, Raph was staring cluelessly at the nunchaku, Donnie received the tantō, and Mikey got his hands on the katana blades (which he claimed automatically made him the new leader).

"Look, I'm Leo," Mikey said cheerfully, waving the katana in the air. "Guys, shh, we have to be quiet. Ninjas are quiet. Quiet down," he said in his best Leo impression.

Raph, Donnie, and Miwa snickered at the impersonation, and Leo's eye twitched in annoyance.

"I sound nothing like that," the blue wearing ninja insisted.

"Yes, that's why we're laughing, because you sound nothing like that," Raph said sarcastically.

Leo glared at them all, and Donnie could tell he currently wished he had Mikey or Raph's weapons, so that he could retaliate with an embarrassing impersonation of his own.

Yoshi then had them face off against each other, with himself sparing with Miwa.

The end results were an utter embarrassment, as the five of them ended up taking themselves down tripping over the new weapons rather than do any harm to each other.

Seeing their inability to adapt, Yoshi ordered that they continue to fight with the exchanged weapons until they learned versatility. Their reactions to this news were mixed at best.

Miwa took it as a new challenge (and an insult to her abilities to not already be good at this), and remained in the dojo training with the sai long after practice was over. She managed to drag Raph in with her to give her pointers on how to properly use his weapon of choice. In return, she helped Raph figure the nunchaku out. The hothead was determined to at least get a passing ability to use the nunchucks if only to spite Mikey (whom had been gloating over Raph's inability to use them). Between the two of them, they started getting something of a proficiency in using their new weapons.

Leo was also trying to get used to his new weapon, but was determined to figure it out on his own. Thus far his progress was limited to baseball swings, and trying not to trip over the length of the staff. But the movements were clunky and lacked the grace in which Donnie had shown when using the weapon.

Donnie spent his time examining the tantō, as if studying the short sword hard enough would yield the wisdom he needed to use it properly (or at least how to avoid nearly decapitating himself again, like he did in practice). But so far all it was yielding was a blank.

Mikey, on the other hand, didn't stress over the situation too much, and instead sat himself in front of the TV, and used Leo's katanas to skewer pizza slices for him to munch on.

When it came time for the five of them to go out to meet Timothy, none of them were feeling optimistic. The only bright side of the evening in Donnie's eyes was that Timothy was going to tell them that he was giving up his crazy spy plan.

But when they reached the alley, Timothy was nowhere in sight.

"Timothy!" Donnie hissed into the darkness, wondering where he had gotten too.

Just as he was starting to worry that the Foot had caught him trying to leave, the sound of a cell phone beeping under a pile of garbage drew his attention elsewhere.

Removing the garbage, the ninja teens were surprised to see a cheap, disposable phone sitting there.

Mikey reached down to pick it up, and read the text on the screen. "Pulverizer here. Foot Patrol coming your way in ten seconds. I'll call you in five once you kick their butts, winky face," he said aloud.

Leo's eyes widened as he heard the message. "Spread out," he ordered, and the five teens took defensive positions. Mikey tried to keep stealing the leader role, but getting four death glares at once was enough to shut him up.

Just then the Foot arrived and surrounded them at all sides.

The fight against the Foot Ninjas went about as well as their spar against each other, which is to say badly. Leo was not at all used to the reach that the bō staff gave him, opposite that, Donnie was unused to the close combat that using a tantō brought about, and the less said about Mikey's swordsmanship the better.

However, Miwa and Raph weren't doing half bad against the Foot with their new weapons. It was nowhere near their usual ability to take them down, but it was a start. At the very least the training they'd been doing was paying off.

The other three quickly got fed up with getting their butts kicked, and Leo ordered that they switch weapons back, regardless of what their father said.

Leo and Donnie immediately got their weapons back, Mikey snatched his nunchucks back from Raph, leaving his brother without a weapon, and Miwa found her tantō shoved into her hands along with the sais.

Raph glanced longingly at his sais still in Miwa's hands, but instead of giving them back to him, she tossed him her tantō instead.

"I didn't take you for a quitter, Iyasa," she said tauntingly.

Raph scowled indignantly at that, and unsheathed the tantō. "I'm not," he replied in an affronted tone. "Just tell me how to use this stupid thing."

With their weapons still swapped, the two of them jumped back into the fight, Miwa shouting pointers at Raph as they went. Between the two of them they were able to fight fairly well. Good enough to take down their opponents at least.

Between their teamwork, and the others able to use their proper weapons, the rest of the fight was over quickly.

But just as they were finishing it, they spotted that some Foot Soldiers they hadn't noticed sprinting away from TCRI with canisters of mutagen in their hands.

With them gone, the rest of the Foot retreated, leaving the five teens alone in the alley.

The teens tried to follow, but the other ninjas soon vanished from sight.

"Guys, mutagen," said Donnie in a worried tone. "The Foot are stealing mutagen!"

"Shredder with mutagen," Raph speculated. "Well that can't be good."

"But why?" Miwa had to ask. "They don't have Dorkman anymore to do science stuff, so how will they know what to do with it other than the very dangerous obvious?"

Almost on cue, the cell phone they found chose that moment to ring.

Donnie snatched it up and put it on speakerphone. "Where are you Timothy," he demanded.

"You shouldn't use my real name," Timothy replied in a hushed tone.

"Where are you?" Donnie barked again, ignoring request. "Did the Foot figure you out? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," he replied. "I'm in a Foot hideout now. They don't know I'm a double agent."

Donnie paled. "What! But you promised me-I mean-your friend Donatello that you'd stop this nonsense."

Donnie's siblings exchanged surprised glances at this. They hadn't been aware the two were friends. Donnie had been actively avoiding letting them meet out of fear Timothy would figure out who they were.

"I lied," Timothy replied bluntly. "When I heard Donnie say that his family could get killed by these guys there was no way I could back out. I'm taking these guys down."

Leo glared at Donnie, knowing that he must have told the Pulverizer some of their family's secret to garner this reaction.

Donnie paid his brother no attention, and focused on trying to yell some sense into his friend. "This is crazy!" he shouted into the phone. "Look, Pulverizer, things just got a lot more dangerous! The Foot have stolen some highly dangerous mutagenic chemicals from the Kraang, and they-"

"Plan to unleash a mutant army to destroy us all, I know," said Timothy not sounding at all worried.

Donnie's heart dropped. As an Ashigaru Sha, there was no way that Timothy would be privy to that information without some kind of catch.

"Tim, what did you do?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"Shredder's going to mutate just one Foot Soldier first, as a test," Timothy explained.

Donnie winced. "Tell me you didn't," he moaned.

"I volunteered," Timothy said, sounding resolute. "With any mutant powers I'm gonna get from this, I'll be better able to take down Shredder and the Foot. They won't even see it coming. I'll be a superhero, and then there's no way they'll be able to hurt my friend after that."

Donnie didn't know what was worse. His friend's misguided attempts to protect him, or the fact it was Donnie's own big mouth that had convinced Tim to do this in the first place. Now his friend could get turned into a who-knows-what, and he might not be able to save him.

"Absolutely NOT!" Donnie all but screamed into the phone. "Tell me where you are, we'll get you out of there!"

Just then they heard the sound of Fishface's voice come through the phone. "Are you ready, Ashigaru Sha?"

Across town, the Pulverizer hung up his phone on the purple ninja's protests. "I was born ready," he said with a grin to the fish mutant. With that the two headed to the cluster of motorcycles that would take them to where the mutation would take place.

Desperate to save his friend, Donnie practically shoved his siblings into the Shellraiser, and rushed back to his lab in order to use his computer to track Timothy's phone.

He hacked the GPS in record time, and pulled up the Pulverizer's location on the map.

"Got him," he yelled to his siblings, reaching for his bō staff so that they could go.

Only to find his bō staff was no longer there.

After a quick search showed that the wooden weapon was nowhere in sight, he shot a frantic look at his siblings. "Guys, where's my staff?" he asked.

Leo winced, and looked apologetic. "When Father found out the three of us had switched our weapons back, he took them away as punishment. Raph and Miwa can still use each other's since they stuck with the program, but the rest of us have to go without. Sorry, Donnie, I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen. He thought we were making it up since before now he didn't think any of us even liked the Pulverizer."

Donnie let out a scream of frustration, but he knew that arguing with his father would take too much time. Time Timothy didn't have.

"Never mind!" he snapped, running out to the Shellraiser. "Let's go!" With that, he jumped onto the Stealth Bike inside it, and sped away.

His siblings followed behind him in the Shellraiser, and they took off towards the warehouse Timothy was at. If any of them had lingering doubts that Donnie and the Pulverizer were friends, they were cleared up now. Donnie only got this worked up over people he really cared about.

With the bike's extra speed and maneuverability, Donnie soon pulled far ahead of the Shellraiser, and made it to the warehouse way before the others did.

Forgoing stealth, he vaulted the bike into the air, and crashed through the window, halting the proceeding just before Timothy could be mutated.

Leaping from the bike, Donnie tackled Timothy away from the giant mutagen container, and over to the far side of the room.

Dogpound, who had been watching the experiment with Fishface, snarled at the sight. "Get them!" he ordered the watching Foot Soldiers.

Instinctively, Donnie reached for his bō, only to find its holster empty. In desperation, he searched the area for something else he could use as a weapon and he spotted a broom leaning against a crate a few feet away.

He snatched it up, and twirled it in his hands to get used to the different weight. Then he began fighting off the Foot Soldiers that were coming his way.

But as he was doing so, he noticed Timothy slipping away from him to run back towards the mutagen container. Distracted by this, Donnie didn't see one of the Foot Ninja coming until he got kicked in the back.

He quickly dispatched the ninja, and ran after Timothy, and again managed to push him out of the way just before a glob of mutagen hit him. "Timothy, NO!" Donnie shouted. "What are you doing?!"

Timothy only gave him a stubborn glare. "I'm gonna be a mutant," he insisted. "Then I'll be strong enough to take down the bad guys, and protect my friends."

Donnie glared back at him. "Doing the mutation thing is notoriously unpredictable, AND REALLY STUPID!" he shouted.

Just then, Dogpound managed to grab Donnie from behind and throw him across the room. Donnie then had to roll to dodge the canine mutant's giant fist as he continued to pursue him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Timothy once again running back towards the mutagen, despite Donnie's warnings.

Donnie quickly broke off from his fight with Dogpound, and tackled the boy away from the mutagen again, only for Fishface to kick him in the nose and send him flying.

While in the air, Donnie managed to grab hold of a chain hanging from the ceiling, and swing back at Fishface, and return the favor. The fish mutant went flying from the kick, and Donnie turned his attention back to Timothy.

"Now we're getting out of here," he said firmly, grabbing the other boy's arm to drag him out of the warehouse if necessary. But then he saw just how many Foot Ninja were standing between him and the door. "Hopefully," he added.

Just then the rest of his siblings burst in through the skylight, and landed ready for battle. Raph and Miwa immediately pulled out their borrowed weapons and started fighting, while Leo and Mikey had a similar realization they were unarmed that Donnie previously had.

While Donnie, Miwa, and Raph kept the enemy ninja's attention, Mikey and Leo hurried to find a makeshift weapon of their own. Leo managed to find a tire iron on the ground, and Mikey found a length of chain to swing around. They quickly adapted, and soon they were all kicking butt, and the Foot were going down.

But while the Hamato teens were fighting their enemies, none of them noticed Timothy slip away, and once again run to the vat of mutagen.

Once he got there, he pulled the cord to release the ooze, and grinned up at it as it came down towards his face. "This is gonna be-" he started to say, but then the ooze hit and he started screaming in pain.

Around the warehouse the fighting halted as they all turned to stare at the source of the scream.

Stopping dead a the sight Donnie whispered, "No," as what he'd been trying to prevent happened before his eyes.

Timothy floundered around the warehouse with mutagen coating his face, wailing that it burned. Everyone drew back as he wandered towards them, mutagen dripping from his body as the ooze took effect.

The Hamato teens had to take refuge on top of some crate to avoid the mutagen soaked boy as he came towards them begging for help. Donnie could only stare sadly down at his friend, knowing there was nothing he could do for him now, and it was only a matter of time before he changed.

Then Timothy finally collapsed in the middle of the warehouse, and (much to Donnie's horror) he seemed to melt into a large glob of goo and internal organs.

The goo creature stretched itself up, and roared at the Foot Clan angrily, and started slithering towards them, making the ninja scatter.

Angry at the experiment's failure, Dogpound ordered the Foot to block the exits, and he activated the bombs he'd placed around the warehouse in case something like this happened.

One of the explosives was attached to the crate the teens had taken refuge on, and they watched helplessly as the timer began ticking down from two minutes.

The Foot bolted out of the final door, and Dogpound locked it behind him, leaving the teens trapped inside with goopy Timothy.

Raph and Leo ran to the door, and tried to force it open. When that didn't work, Leo turned to Donnie and told him they needed a way out now.

But the genius' attention was focused on his newly mutated friend, whose goo body was currently melting a crate like acid.

"What about him?" Donnie asked.

But at that moment the goo monster turned his attention to them, and started towards them with a screech. His acidic arm blobs reaching out to them in desperation.

In a panic, Leo and Mikey threw their makeshift weapons at him, but all that accomplished was to have the acidic goop dissolve the weapons into nothing.

"He ATE Our Weapons!" yelled Mikey in a panic.

"And it looks like we're next," said Leo, as the glob that used to be Timothy started towards them again.

The five of them tried to get him to stop, yelling at him to snap out of whatever feral daze he seemed to be in. But the glob monster just kept coming towards them until they were backed into a corner.

In a fit of desperation, Donnie dropped his broom and tore his hood and mask off his head, looking up at the glob with his real face.

"Timothy, it's Me!" he shouted, as the goo with eyeballs blinked at him in surprise. "It's Donnie, remember! I'm your friend! You were trying to protect me! Let me protect you now, please!"

For a brief moment Timothy stared at him in shock, then his eyes seemed to recognize him and he let out a mournful sounding wail.

Taking a hesitant step closer, Donnie held his hands out and said in a calming voice, "I know, Timothy. I know it hurts. I'm sorry. I can help you, I promise. After all, you were trying to do the same for me."

Timothy whimpered, and seemed to relax marginally, but then he caught sight of his new reflection in the window, and it set him off again. He wailed in outrage and horror, and attacked whatever was closest to him, which just so happened to be the very friend he'd sworn he'd protect.

Mikey and Leo had to grab Donnie by his hood and yank him back so he'd avoid the attack. The ninja teens all had to dodge as Timothy kept trying to slime them again, and the timers on the explosives were still counting down with every passing second.

Leo ordered that they retreat, but Donnie refused to leave without his friend. Using the Stealth Bike, and a now empty mutagen tank, the teens managed to contain the blob monster, and bash their way out of the building just before it exploded.

The shockwave of the blast had them all falling off the bike and sprawling on the asphalt of the street outside.

Donnie managed to land next to the container with Timothy in it, and could only stare mournfully at what was left of his friend.

Within the tank Timothy's eyeballs stared back, looking lost and confused.

Donnie reached out a hand, and placed it on the tank. "I promise, Timothy. One day I'll turn you back."

The eyeballs only blinked and stared back silently as the teens loaded him onto the Shellraiser, and he was taken to his new home in Donnie's lab.

Unknown to the Hamato clan, when Dogpound reported the Foot's most recent failure, their Kraang captive heard their grievances, and offered a solution.

After all, if the factions of the Kraang and the Foot Clan couldn't put a stop to the teenagers separately, perhaps together they may have better results.

A/N I didn't save Timothy, but I did try to change his motivations for getting mutated. Donnie tries his best to stop him, and made a much bigger effort than he did in the show, but it still blew up in his face, and that's gonna come back to bite him later. As for the weapons thing, I think Miwa would be stubborn enough to stick with it despite the difficulties, and knows just how to egg Raph on to do the same. What do you all think?

Oh man, the feels of the Tale of the Yokai episode. Even though I got a few things wrong, I've decided not to go back and change my story. In this AU Oroku Saki broke off and reestablished the Foot Clan sooner than he did in the show, and then came back to claim Tang Shen, leading him to not know Miwa's name and history to happen differently as you have seen. That is where this AU branches off from the show's storyline, and all the changes it brought with it. Also, as for my headcanon of Tang Shen being a former kunoichi is staying. They never said in the show that she was not a kunoichi, just that she doubted raising children in ninjutsu was the proper way to care for Miwa. But with what happened with Oroku Saki, she saw the necessity of it to keep her children safe should he find them again.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.