Chapter 20: Underground Part 2
Pete's P.O.V.
We were staring at the three monsters that were coming towards us with weapons drawn and ready to attack. I did a backflip to get away from the acid one of them spit my way.
"Alright, you guys take the three on the left." Mikey stated. "There are only three." Raph said sounding kind of annoyed. "Yeah, one for each of you." he said. "What about me?" I asked. "You and I can be the odd bros out." Mike said. "You're telling me." Raph growled. I ignored Mikey and jumped out of the way of a flying machine that the red monster threw at us. We split up and started to go on the defensive.
I went to help out Raph who was going against the biggest one which was the grey and ugly one. It roared and charged at us, Raph followed its lead, tackling it to the ground. 'Wow, Raph would be really good on the football team at school.' I thought. It got back up and tossed Raph to the side. So I had idea. I jumped on top of it and wrapped my weapon around its head and rode it like a bull. But soon it knocked me off but not before I lead it to his red friend.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Don asked as he helped me up. "I just made it up as went along." I said. The grey one got back up and had started to scale the ceiling and tunneled right above Mikey.
"Mikey!" Raph and I said. Mike looked at me confused and started scratching his head. "Duck Mikey." I said. "Huh?" he asked. Mikey ducked just in time for me and Raph to tackle the monster. "Watch your back ya oddball." Raph said. "You just called me odd, didn't you?" Mikey asked. I shook my head as I went to fight the other monsters. But I could see that my brother was just standing like an idiot with monsters around him fighting the rest of us as he thought about what Raph said to him. Then Don and I flew to him as we got hit by one of the monsters.
"I'm not odd, I'm eccentric." Mikey said. "What's the difference bro?" I asked with a smile as I stood up. "Don. Raph and Pete think I'm odd." Mikey complained. "You're just being sensitive." Don said as we jumped back into the fight. "Sensitive? If there's one thing I hate it's when people call me sensitive." Mikey exclaimed as he hit rocks that were flying toward him.
"Way to prove Don's point big brother." I said. I jumped in to help Raph who looks like he could use some help. "Hey Raph, need any help?" I asked. "What do you think?" he asked. "Alright, no need to get all testy with me." I said. "I got your back." I said. Raph nodded and we silently agreed on a plan and attacked.
I sent some web in front of the monster's legs so it would trip him. Raph was leading him in my direction. We tripped him and when it fell down, we high fived and then we regrouped. I helped Leo off of Mikey; I wasn't going to ask how Leo ended up on top of Mikey anyway.
"I vote that we get the shell out of here." Don said. "I second that." I said. "Run away? That ain't my style." Raph said. "Call it a tactical retreat. Let's move!" Leo said. "Tactical retreat, I can live with that." Raph said. I had followed my siblings into a room but the door at the other end was sealed tight. It was even tough for me to open it as well.
"It's sealed tight." Don said. "Of course. It's just our luck." I said. Right behind us the monsters were heading for us. Raph and I got to the door and closed them before they could get to us. The monsters on the other side were banging on the doors to try to get in.
"Anybody gonna get that?" Mikey asked nervously. A couple more hits to the door and it came off its hinges. The red monster was there waiting and behind us the grey monster popped out along with the blue one. We all got ready to fight until one of the spoke.
"No!" the blue one ordered. He approached us slowly, cautiously while acid was dripping from his mouth. Leo lowered his swords so I followed his lead by putting mine in my belt and stood up straight.
"Just say the word Leo." Raph said. "Easy guys it's okay." Leo said as he stood completely still while the blue monster sniffed him. "Who are you?" the monster asked. "Not who you think we are." Leo responded. "Then why do you carry those?" he asked pointing to Donnie's bag. Don opened the bag and brought out the two crystals. The three monsters went to defense mood and I got ready to wrap them in my webs. "Don, close the bag." Mike said.
"Whoa, wait a minute. We found these crystals in a cavern where we're staying, that's all." Leo said. "Yeah, and just what business is it of yours anyway?" Raph asked. "Those crystals are the embodiment of evil." the blue monster answered angrily. "Why have you come here?" he asked. "'Cause one of you ogres went sniffing around our place looking for trouble, so we're here to….Ow." Raph said as I punched his arm. "We're just looking for some answers, that's all." Don finished.
"I'm Leonardo and these are my brothers Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo and Peter." Leo said. "We were drawn to your habitat when your crystals were activated." the blue one said. "I wonder who could have done that?" I asked glaring at Mikey. "Their energy is a sign of danger to us, we considered you dangerous. Though we usually sense them from deeper below." blue said.
"Below?" Don asked. "You mean there are more of those crystals down there? We'd just like to find out where they came from, that's all and maybe…" I said. The blue one suddenly turned to me. "No, it is a forbidden place. Something unspeakable dwells there among the crystals. There are some things man was never meant to tamper with." he said.
Mikey's P.O.V.
I wanted to say something on that matter but Pete clapped a hand over my mouth. "Okay, can we all just stop saying that line so that Mikey won't be forced to say anything about it." Pete said. "He is an odd one." blue said. We had followed the monsters back into the lab and all this was giving me a weird feeling.
"I don't trust these guys." I said. "I know what you mean Mikey." Pete whispered to me. "Why?" Raph asked. "They're monsters Raph." I said. "Yeah well to some people so are we." Don said.
"I can't believe Shredder had you genetically altered as diggers just to search down here for some enemy." Leo said. "Yes, and he did so without remorse. We were forced against our will to do his bidding." blue said. "He just snatched you at random? From where?" Leo asked. "Our offices, our homes, anywhere a shadow could conceal a Foot Soldier. We don't know why we were chosen." blue said. "What's your name?" Leo asked. "I am Quarry of Tunnel Squad three. The others are Stone Biter and Razor Fist." Quarry said pointing to the others.
"I think what my brother was trying to say was trying to ask what your real name was." Pete said. "S-Si. My memory is….the experiments performed on us have stripped us of who we are." Quarry said. "Yes, we saw the video logs." Don said. "Well, we don't have to worry about the Shredder anymore." Raph said. "Yeah, he made the mistake of messing with us." I said. "There's a lesson in that if you know what I mean." I continued.
Alarms started going off in the lab. "Mikey, what did you do?" Pete asked. "Don't look at me bro. I'm innocent I swear." I said. "He did nothing. It's the others. They tripped the alarms in the east delta tunnel. Hurry, we must activate the energy shield." Quarry said as he went to the computer. He typed in a few commands and I could swear that his faced paled. "No, no." he said.
"Don't do a no, no. I hate no, no's." I said. "It's no good, the shield will not activate. We have no force field and they're headed this way." Quarry said. "Uh, yeah we kinda met your force field." Raph said kinda nervously. "And Raph kinda broke it." I said with a smirk. "Only because it was the only option at the time." Pete said.
"What is out there?" Leo asked. "The others." Quarry responded. "Other what?" Leo asked. "Other test subjects like us. They endlessly prowl the tunnels." Quarry said. "Why do you have to keep them out?" Pete asked. "Because they attack us," he ripped out the computer and started messing with the wires inside. "They're violent, uncontrollable, their minds have deteriorated." Quarry said. "From the genetic mutation?" Leo asked. Leo was asking a lot of questions which was kind of getting annoying.
"Yes," Quarry responded. "Then what about you three?" Pete asked. "Madness looms in our future as well." he responded. "Great." Pete muttered. Quarry connected some wires together and for all of 2 seconds the crystal lit up and then went out.
"The crystal is completely burnt out. It's hopeless." Quarry said. We all pulled out our weapons ready to defend ourselves. "Weapons will do no good. Without the force field we won't stand a chance against them." he said. "You expect us to give up?" Pete asked. Another set of roars echoed around us. "They'll be on us in minutes." Quarry said.
Don and Pete had jumped up on the generator and Don pulled out the crystal which fell apart in his hands. "Is that what the crystals are? Power sources?" Don asked. "Yes, but that was our only one. When we found it in the catacombs we paid dearly for it." Quarry said. "Well, what about one of ours?" Leo asked. Leo pulled one out of the bag and showed it to Quarry.
"They're too small. It would not last." Quarry said. "It only has to last until they give up and move on." Pete said. Pete put it only to see that nothing happened. "Come on." Don said trying to adjust it some. As the roaring got louder Stone Biter, Razor Fist, Raph and Pete went to close the doors before we could get swarmed by the monsters coming towards us.
Quarry continued to type in different commands but we got absolutely nothing. "There is no spark." Quarry said. "For some reason they just won't power up. Maybe the connections to these contact nodes were charred." Don thought out loud. "Or maybe you just got the thing upside down." I suggested. "It's not upside down Mikey." Don said. "Well hurry and do something because we can't hold this thing any longer!" Pete yelled from across the room.
The doors could no longer be held up so Pete, Raph and the two sane monsters surrounded us and the crazy monsters were heading right towards us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Don turn the crystal around and the force field came to life. The blue shield pushed the unwanted monster out and away from us.
"Don't think I didn't see that Donnie, it was upside down." I said with a smirk. The crystal was flickering and I was hoping that it would last longer so that those monsters outside would leave.
"It's overloading." Quarry said. We looked at the other monsters and pretty soon they abandoned the shield. "They're leaving. But tomorrow they will be back, they always come back." he added. "Then you better have a bigger crystal." Leo said. "We will not survive another journey to the forbidden zone." Quarry said.
"What makes the place so forbidden?" I asked. "The ancient catacombs stretch for miles. We were forced to explore it, many of us never returned." Quarry said. "Uh, maybe they got lost." I said. "They were taken by a ghostly entity, there is never any sign of a struggle, and they're just gone." Quarry said.
"Look I understand why you don't want to go down there, but there aren't a lot of options. You need another crystal and fast." Leo said. "And since we're the ones who kind of fried your security system we'll go with you. Right guys." Raph said. "I'm in." Pete said. "Absolutely," Leo said. "We're there." Don said.
I chuckled nervously when they all looked at me. "You know, the corner hardware store has a sale on generators that would really get this force field humming. So I'll just pop up top and clip the coupon and…" Raph and Pete grabbed me and dragged me out.
"Okay, let's keep our wits about us." Leo said as he followed Donnie who had the remaining crystal. "Don't worry Mikey, you can share my wits." Raph said. Pete chuckled as he jumped ahead of us. "Oh, so now I'm witless. Must be why I'm the only one bothered by the fact that we're heading to a place that even monsters are afraid of." I said.
We soon found ourselves sliding down a rock hard slide that Quarry said was a short cut. This was fun for a little while, until we hit the bottom. "A short cut? In what mutated imagination can that be considered a short cut." Mikey said. "Sorry we forgot that you can't scale rock except for your brother here." Quarry said. "Let's try and avoid that mistake in the future, okay." Raph said.
I waved my hand in front of my face at the smell. "Whew, who cut the cheese?" I asked. "Your smelling a sulfur pool, Mikey." Don said. "Coming from a turtle who grew up in a sewer trust me when I say this place stinks." I said. "We must keep moving, the others wander down here. This is their territory." Quarry said.
We made our way across the sulfur pool making sure to stay on the stones. A bubble burst up in front of Leo and a little creature came out of it. Quarry shot his tongue out and ate. It kind of reminded of Jar-Jar Binks from Star Wars.
"Ew," Leo said. "We've learned to live off the land or it lives off us." Quarry said. We came out of the tunnel and we had to walk with our shells to the wall. All expect for Pete who was crawling on the wall. Leo ventured out first and had almost slipped off.
"Leo, you okay?" Don asked. "Whoa, that was a little too close for comfort. Watch your footing guys." Leo said. Slowly but surely we made our way to a busted out bridge and down below was a giant swirling whirlpool. Quarry, Stone Biter and Razor Fist jumped in first followed closely by Pete.
"He's crazy!" Don shouted. "Well, let's follow." Leo said. He jumped over and into the whirlpool. So we all followed his lead. The cold water washed over me and then suddenly something grabbed my head and pulled me out of the water.
"Let go of his head Stone Biter." Quarry said. I was released and I patted my head to make sure everything was okay. "Do that again and I'll give you a real taste of the turtles, dude." I said.
"How far from the crystals are we?" Leo asked. "There here in the catacombs. But from this point on we must be very quiet." Quarry answered. We started walking further into the catacombs in our search for a bigger stronger crystal.
"Hey Mikey, recognize these carvings?" Don asked. "Whoa, these are just like the carvings in the lair." I said. "Yeah, the same interior decorated." Raph agreed. We followed the good monsters into the tunnel. "Good, this crystal will do." Quarry said. He picked up a crystal from the wall. "We needn't travel any further in this evil place." Quarry said.
Pete's P.O.V.
From behind me I heard the growling from the other monsters. "Guys! Guys! Guys!" Mikey yelled running back to us. "We've got monsters right behind me." he said as he reached us. "Everybody let's get to cover." Leo ordered. We followed after the panicked brother. "But that way leads to…" Quarry started to say. "No choice lets go." Leo said.
We ran to a large, strange door and Razor Fist started to pound on it and Stone Biter head butted it but nothing happened. Even Quarry and his acid spit did nothing to the door.
"Stand back!" Don said. He put the small crystal in the slot next to the door. "Come on, come on. Oh never mind." he said. The crystal didn't open the door. Another set of roars echoed from the tunnel behind us. "Battle ready boys." Leo said. I motioned for Don to turn the crystal upside down. He did and the door opened.
"Hey it worked." Don said. Then a strange blue light came flying towards us and before we could do anything it wrapped around us and I blacked out.