Chapter 37: Monkey Brains Part 1
Alora's POV
I was back at the Museum from my home world; the crystal was glowing to its full potential like usual. Its aural magic enveloped it like it was corrupted, glowing brighter than any star in the sky, and stretching out bigger and further from its power source. It keeps getting bigger when it reaches towards me and everything goes white…
The whiteness dims slowly, having me return to the Dark limbo. Everything seemed so quiet, having me look in every direction with suspicion but cautiousness, wondering what I was going to see this time. I still kept a watchful eye out when I suddenly heard a loud roar coming from the other side of the void, having me perk up and turn quickly ahead to the source. I didn't see anything at first until I looked up to see a huge, furry figure coming down in a leap and crashing right in front of me, having me stagger back in shock and fright. The figure that landed slowly got up, revealing a mutated monkey that was several meters taller than me, nearly the side of a gorilla with handcuff-like bracelets on his wrists and a matched belt around his waist. I knew who it was; it was Dr. Tyler Rockwell, the mutant monkey scientist who would soon help the Turtles in their adventures in the other seasons. Although, this Dr. Rockwell wasn't in his right mind since he was just mutated thanks to his traitorous partner, Dr. Victor Falco. Mutated Rockwell stared at me with a snarl, baring his teeth at me as his eyes gave off that wild animal look that had me take a step back in fright, not liking the way he was looking at me. Rockwell's stare grew more intense that made my heart beat faster and my breathing more rapid as the giant chimpanzee began growling at me. He then roared viciously then raised both monkey handed fists up in the air as he began screeching like an actual monkey. I stared wide-eyed fearfully at Rockwell with his eyes bulging out of his head, mouth opened with his sharp, front teeth showing…
AS HE THEN THROWS BOTH OF HIS FISTS DOWN AT ME AND ALL GOES WHITE!
I woke up with a jolt, a slight yelp escaping my lips as I sat up straight from my bed. I panted heavily with the hearing of my heartbeat thrumming in my ears, beads of sweat running down my forehead and the sides of my face. I was shaking majorly, trembling in fright from the vision I just saw that made me both scared and confused.
'I don't understand; Rockwell is one of the good guys in the series. Why would he try to hurt me in the vision?' I thought in my head.
I then remembered that he wouldn't be in his right mind because of the mutagen that was affecting him and the fact that monkeys are sometimes a little out of whack since they are an endangered species. I also knew that the guys, April, and I would be bumping into him today, well; Donnie and April will most likely first. Which would lead to Donnie's next lesson to learn about not thinking with your mind when attacking your opponent but just going into action to take them off guard. It won't be easy, for both Donnie and Dr. Rockwell, but at least I'll be there to give them both moral support when needed.
I looked over to see the clock that said 5:15 am, not much to my surprise. This whole 'vision' experience was starting to get a bit tiring, literally. I felt every time I wake from a dreamless sleep, I feel less awakened and little drained in the morning. Even when I do morning training, I don't feel energized when practicing my rounds of beginner katas, though the Turtles don't seem to notice while doing their katas, but Master Splinter does with the concern look in his eyes he keeps sending me. Guess he knows that the visions are affecting me more now than they normally were, which makes me relieved and grateful that he knows what I'm going through and keeping me in check on my visions.
Speaking of visions, I kept thinking that seeing Alon at the street was one, too, but at the warehouse the other night after stopping Kraang-controlled Metalhead, he appeared again and, this time, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey could see him! How crazy can things possibly be here? Then again, this is the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' series, so what's new? I still don't get why he keeps appearing and then disappearing when I try to understand what he's doing. Now with the guys seeing him, they'll probably ask me about him like 'Alora, do you know him?' or 'Have you seen him before?' somewhere along those lines. Cause, after all, I did react unexpectedly in front of them when I saw Alon again and went after him before he'd vanished. Either way, I wasn't sure if I should tell them about Alon or not, cause we were in a bit of a situation with the Kraang and that I didn't know whether it would be a good time to bring the subject up. Although, the way Leo keeps looking at me, like that night at the rooftop when Mikey was still BFFs with Bradford, it seemed like something was troubling him, then gave me that look again when we were leaving the warehouse, as if he knew something was wrong. Maybe he was concern about my strange behavior or something that might've made him thought that I was hiding something? No matter what it was, I needed to sort this all out and soon before it all gets too complicated.
After resting for the past few hours, I got up, dressed, and headed on out to the Dojo for morning training. I walked up the stairs through the front door only to see Mikey and Donnie there, standing and stretching themselves for Ninja practice.
"Hey, guys," I greeted with a wave and a smile, having their heads turned to me and happily smiled back.
"Morning, Alora," Donnie greeted back with a nod.
"Mornin', Dudette! You up for some Ninja training?!" Mikey said enthusiastically.
"[Chuckles] you better believe it, Mikey," I replied with an upbeat tone.
After greeting each other, I went over to another part of the Dojo and began working on my kicking and blocking techniques. While doing so, I would glance on over to Mikey and Donnie, seeing that they were going against each other on doing a specific kata. Mikey was on the right-hand side, doing stretches up and down from his feet to above his head, grunting every now and then while Donnie on the left-hand side was simply staring with a blank expression. Mikey then went to doing side-stretches with a grin on his face, grunting and chuckling to himself in satisfaction as Donnie got into fighting position with a karate yell. Mikey did a gesture with his left hand, saying 'come-and-get-me' as Donnie came in and did a roundhouse kick at Mikey, but the orange-clad Turtle easily dodged it with a backflip along with a grunt before spinning to give an elbow hit. Donnie blocked the attack, grabbed Mikey's arm, and twisted it, but Mikey manage to avoid getting pummeled by doing another flip that had him land on his feet again. Donnie, starting to get frustrated, pulled his younger brother up and over his shell into the air, but Mikey, once again, did a major midair-flip and landed perfectly on the Dojo rugs, sliding a little across the floor while laughing joyfully and victoriously.
"Dude, what are ya doing?" Donnie asked in confusion with face palming on the side of his head, having me stop my kata practicing and walking on over to the conversation as the purple-clad Turtle began his statement.
"You don't defend against Seoi Nage with back flips."
"Why not? Back flips are where it's at," Mikey replied happily, bending his knees up, flexing them with a triumphant grin as I chuckled right next to him while Donnie walked up to us with a deadpan expression.
"The best defense is to roll along my back, then take me to the ground, and put me in an armlock," Donnie clarified before putting his right hand under his chin, thinking aloud, "Unless, of course, I counter with a –"
"Hey, man, you can't take the fire out of – ," Mikey started out before he let out a karate yell while doing a back flip and then standing up straight with his hands waving near his face, announcing, "Dr. Flip-Enstein!"
"I don't even know what that means," Donnie states with a dumbfounded look.
"I don't know either, but hey, this is Mikey we're talking about here," I stated with a shrug and a lopsided smile.
"Eh, that's true," Donnie admitted before he notices and turns to see Master Splinter walking by from his room.
I traced my eyes at Donnie as he trots over to Sensei while Splinter keeps walking away in a calming demeanor.
"Master Splinter, what would you do if someone tried to throw you with Seoi Nage?" Donnie asked while walking from behind.
"I don't know," Master Splinter replied as he still kept on walking without even stopping or giving a single turn or glance of his head.
"Come on, you must've planned a response for every attack," Donnie stated theoretically.
"If you think too much about what is coming, you lose sight of what is," Sensei informed, finally stopping from his walk, but still kept his back turned, "You must be fully in the moment so you can fight without thinking."
"Why would I want to fight without thinking?" Donnie asks in bewilderment.
"Allow me to demonstrate," Splinter replied, having me give a wide-eyed, worried gaze at that before Master Splinter turns halfway towards Donnie while declaring:
"Prepare to defend against Seoi Nage."
As Master Splinter unexpectedly charged in to attack, everything else happen so fast that I had to shut my eyes tightly while gritting my teeth, cringing from the impacts that Sensei was throwing at his scientific son. I heard fighting grunts, hits, and painful 'OW's' coming from Donnie as they began to die down, having me squint one eye open to reveal Splinter holding down Donnie with his left foot on his shell while holding the purple-clad Turtle's right, outstretched arm behind firmly as Donnie laid on the floor, shivering in pain.
"OW! That wasn't Seoi Nage!" Donnie exclaimed.
"[Chuckles] no, but you thought it would be," Splinter stated, releasing Donnie's arm in the process.
Master Splinter removed himself off his son as Donnie got up into a sitting position while rubbing his right hand on top of his head from the sudden attack.
"Now - would you like to prepare to defend against a spinning back-kick?" Sensei offered.
"No, I'm good," Donnie wheezed out as Master Splinter, once again in a Master-like posture, began walking away.
Mikey and I went right over to the pound-out Turtle as the comedian Ninja laughed at his brother's defeat.
"Know what would've worked there?" Mikey questioned before getting into Donnie's face, much to his annoyance, doing the same waving-hands-near-his-face gesture while saying, "Back flip," and grinned.
Donnie groaned with a downer look as I came over and offered my left hand out to him. "Don't worry, Donnie, you'll get the hang of it soon."
Donnie smiled gratefully at me before taking my hand and having me help him up to his feet. Afterwards, we both began doing more of our morning training, even though I would likely glance back to see Donnie getting all-tense up and wondering to himself about the 'not thinking' business. I knew that this was gonna be hard for him since he mostly uses his brain on thinking up strategies, plans, and attacks when going on a mission or doing training. But, if there's anything about it, sometimes, you just need to be flexible and try new ways.
Few hours later…
I was on the other side of the Lab at my sewing desk, working on a new outfit design that I wanted to try. I was carefully using the sewing machine to stitch a side seam on two fabric patterns for the outfit, paying strict attention on the moving needle as it sewed the colored thread onto the cotton material. I gently pushed my foot against the peddle from under my desk that was connected to the machine that activated the needle while moving the cloth forward on the platform as the needle stitch the fabric together bit by bit. I concentrated closely and calmly at my work when Donnie's voice spoke up.
"Hey, um, Alora?"
I stopped immediately, lifting my foot off the peddle to stop the needle's work and tore my gaze away over to my right to see Donnie, looking both nervous and terrified, on the other side of the Lab at his work desk.
"C-c-could I borrow you f-for a moment, please?" he asked with a bit of stutter in his voice.
"Sure. Just give me a sec, Donnie," I replied with a nod, having me turn the nob to raise the needle from the fabric, switch the power off, getting up and out of my working space and heading over to meet Donnie at his working area.
"So what's up?" I asked, having me lean to the side with my left hand on my hip.
"Uh…w-well…" Donnie began to say, darting his eyes in every direction around the room while taping both of his index fingers to each other, looking very nervous and anxious on what he was about to ask, "I-I was wondering if you… w-well, you see… the thing is that…"
I didn't know what Donnie was trying to explain and he seem like he was having a rough time trying to put it into sentences. Feeling absolute sympathy for him, I quietly went over to him, placed my right hand on his left shoulder, having him stop stuttering and looked to it in surprised before turning towards me as I gave him a caring smile.
"It's okay, Donnie. Whatever it is you have to say, just say it. I won't laugh or do anything," I assured with ease.
Donnie looked at me in a surprisingly shocked way before relieving a kind smile as he took a deep breath.
"[Breathes out slowly] okay," He started out before staring at me straight in the eye with a determined look, "What I wanted to ask you is about April."
"Okay," I said with a nod, indicating to continue.
"Well, since I like her so much, I wanted to ask her about hanging out with me," Donnie stated, sounding a little anxious on the matter.
"So, you want my advice on how to ask her out, right?" I prompted on, wondering if that's what he meant.
"Well, yeah. Guess that's kinda obvious, huh," Donnie chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand with a sheepish grin, having me giggle into the backside of my right hand before he said, "Also, I wanted to ask; since you're the expert on all of this, do you know anything about April that could be useful to impress her by any chance?"
I then place my right index finger and thumb under my chin while my left arm was across my chest, supporting my right arm as I looked up, deep in thought. I made a 'hmm' sound in wonder, trying to think up anything that would help Donnie having any advice on winning April's heart.
"Well, from what I can think of, April is smart, strong, caring, stubborn, and judgmental. She likes hanging around you guys and is willing to help in any way she can. Other than that, I can't seem to recall on anything else that'll help win her affections," I stated before giving an apologetic look over to Donnie, "Sorry, Don."
Donnie smiled faintly with a shook of his head. "Don't be, Alora. I appreciate you helping me none the less."
"April is sort of a hard person to read, just so you know. Then again, most girls are when you get to know them," I theorized.
"Yeah. I just have a fear that she'll reject my offer," Donnie said with depression before turning away with a thinking face, placing his right hand underneath his chin with his other hand placed on his hip, "Unless, I think of the right excuses she'll say and do and have the perfect opportunity to actually spend time with her doing that one particular activity."
I knew exactly what he was implying and what he intends on doing at that time, so I happily pitched in on the idea.
"Why don't you make a specific activity chart?" I brought up with a big smile on my face, "That way, you can figure out all the activities that she'll do and will give you the right time to respond on wanting to hang out with her."
"Alora," Donnie began as he kept his back towards me until he fully turns to me with a big, beaming grin, "That. Is. GENIUS!"
He then suddenly embraces me with a tight hug, feeling overjoyed about my helpful option.
"I knew I was right about asking you on this," He stated gratefully from behind me as he squeezed me a bit tighter, "Thank you so much."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for," I stated with a chuckle, wrapping my arms around his shell to return the favor.
We stayed like that for a few seconds 'til we pulled away from each other, still smiling as I then mentioned, "And if you like, I can help you with getting it all organized."
"Great," Donnie replied happily.
We both then wasted no time like the present on working on Donnie's planning chart. I went on over to my desk to get a huge sheet of paper, a black marker, some other colored markers, a ruler, and a drawing pencil. With all of the supplies and tools we needed, we gotten straight to it by doing each task; I would sketch some pictures for the small, marker-like boxes that would indicate on what 'activity' April would do, and Donnie would use the ruler and the markers to trace lines to schedule on what presentation for what he should say on wanting to spend time with her.
It took about half an hour to forty-five minutes to create it, but it was definitely worth the time and effort. I stood up while admiring the sheeted construction, reading the title, 'Master Plan: HANG with APRIL', as Donnie was tracing the last few boxes in place.
"Looks good, Donnie," I complimented.
"Sure does. Just needs a little more touch-ups here…and a little there…," Donnie replied, bending down over on the table, muttering those last few sentences and using the squeakiness of the marker to trace over the ruler with.
I then felt three auras coming through the Lab's front doors and over to Donnie and I, telling me that it was Leo, Raph, and Mikey joining us and wondering what we were up to. Unknown to the scientific Ninja Turtle, who was still concentrating on his chart, the other Turtles sneakily, took place right alongside us; Raph standing on my right side with his arms crossed while Leo and Mikey were over on Donnie's left, leaning on the table with interest.
"What you up to, Donnie?" Leo asked aloud, having Donnie jump with a wide-eyed look before sighing to himself and refocusing on his work.
"Just putting the finishing touches on my master plan," Donnie stated confidently, still scribbling away.
"Master plan?" Raph questioned in puzzlement.
Donnie traced one last line with a tongue-sticking-out-the-side-of-his-lip expression before gazing up at his brother, answering, "Yeah, to get April to hang out with me."
Leo, Raph, and Mikey all laughed at their brother's silly accusation while I just gave a narrowed look on why they think it was funny on planning something like asking someone to hang out with.
"Try this, "April, do you want to hang out with me?"" Leo demonstrated, telling like if it was that easy to do.
When I heard him say that, I then began to thought out if he would say something like that to me; asking me to hang out with him. It would feel nice to hear him ask that, to spend some time with him, having the time of our lives…
My cheeks began to flare up and I felt my heart beating out of my chest by the way I was thinking. I slightly turned away from anybody to see my beat-red face, squeezing my eyes shut while fighting the thoughts inside my head.
'UGH! Stop this, Alora! Stop thinking about those things! You know that you shouldn't be having a crush on Leo! Just put that out of your mind and focus!'
"Yeah, ya see, it's not that simple," I heard Donnie bring up, having me turn back to the conversation with the Ninja brothers as Donnie went to trace one last line on his chart, "I have to prepare for every possible response to maximize my chances of success."
"Aw, that's so romantic!" Mikey cooed while resting his chin on the top of his knuckles with his elbow placed on the table.
"In a scientific sort of way," I added as I watch Donnie take his chart over to a flip-board to attach and show professionally as a demonstration.
"[Clears throat] yeah, for instance, if April says she can't because she has homework, then I will suggest an informal study session and serve healthy, brain-stimulating snacks," Donnie clarified, using a wooden pointer to show where his tracing lines reveal for his plan.
"Well, what if she says she can't because you're a total nerd?" Raph questions in a deadpan tone, having me send a disapproving look his way.
"Ah, that's this thread here," Donnie informs, showing another traceable line indicating about his 'nerdy' insights, "I will list my many non-nerdy qualities and suggest activities that will highlight my coolness, such as skateboarding or shark wrestling."
"Um, Donnie? What about if she wants to hang out with me?" I asked, realizing that would be one of the excuses she could bring up.
Donnie went wide-eyed at that with a blank expression as he looked over his chart for some answers, only to stand completely straight and still, keeping his gaze at the flip-board in an awkward silence.
"Um… [Clears throat] I, uh, I haven't – thought about that until now," Donnie mutters, feeling completely sheepish and embarrassed.
"Nice one, Alora! You just caught Donnie on something that he didn't think on," Raph congrats with a hearty chuckle.
"I didn't mean to! I just wanted to make sure he gets everything down just so he can be prepared," I interjected quickly.
"Guys!"
We looked through the Lab's doors to see April jogging right on over to us, having Donnie go into a major panic by crying out and flipping his board majestically from his 'Master plan' chart to a 'Space Heroes' poster before holding it in place.
"Hey, Hey, Ap – Hey, April," Donnie greeted in a stuttered-like way, trying to act cool and slightly waving nervously at her as she walks on by in a hurry.
I saw the look on her face that she was sending us that had me worried for her when she came up with Donnie's laptop in hand.
"April? What's wrong?" I asked in concern.
"You guys gotta check this out," She stated as she places it on the table, opens it, starts typing away to a news site that just posted a new video report from not too long ago.
We all stood around her as we watch from the screen the news report of one of today's headline that I instantly knew what it was all about. We all listened intently, though Donnie was secretly glancing over at April while Mikey was sticking his pinky in his left ear and inspecting it, at the reporter's announcement.
"Renowned Neurochemist Dr. Tyler Rockwell has been reported missing. I spoke with Rockwell's colleague, Dr. Victor Falco."
The video's footage change to the one man that I directly glared daggers at. For someone who can easily fool everyone with a fake emotional heartbreak of worry and fearfulness is nothing more than a sleaze ball that cares for no one but themselves.
'Falco: "I hadn't heard from him in days, so I stopped by his Lab. The place was a mess and he was gone. I fear the worst."'
'Yeah, cause you were a part of it, you liar,' I spat out in my mind, doing my hardest not to scowl aloud.
"Police say they have - ," but April had closed the laptop before we could hear any more of the report.
"So?" Raph question skeptically.
"So the Kraang have been kidnapping scientists from all over the City, including my Dad!" April theorized frantically, "Maybe that's what happened to this Rockwell guy."
"Or they may not be connected at all," Leo thought up.
"I'm with Leo," I agreed, having all eyes land on me surprisingly, "We don't know 100% percent about the Kraang or if they're really behind this. Maybe there's something entirely different about this case."
"There's only one way to find out. We should go to that Lab and look around," April declared determinedly.
"April's right. We should go check it out," Donnie agreed immediately before he put a hand to his ear and pretended like he heard something from one of us while stating, "What's that? You guys are busy?"
We all just rather looked at him weirdly, except for me with a smug smirk since I knew what he was planning.
"Guess it's just the two of us, April," Donnie informed as he began leading her out of the Lab.
Leo, Raph, Mikey, and I watched the two 'soon-to-be' lovebirds leave while April unexpectedly glanced back and Donnie turned to us with a satisfied grin and winked at us with a thumbs up as the couple were out of sight.
"Looks like things are going according to plan," I announced with a grin.
"[Scoffs] I bet that wasn't on his flowchart," Leo replies with un-amusement, having to flip the board over the other side to show the chart again as I walked right next to him with my arms crossed over my chest.
"Uh, Leo?" I said with a smirk as I pointed to one spot on it.
"Whoa. It is!" Leo proclaims with a wide-eyed look as he gently grazes the side of the picture that had me, Leo, Raph, and Mikey while the other picture next to it was of Donnie and April with a lollipop in hand walking away together, "That is spooky."
I rolled my eyes at that when I heard Raph say, "Whose dumb idea was it to make that anyway?"
"Glad you asked, Raph," I replied as I turned around to face him while spreading my arms at my sides with open hands, "You're looking at her."
Leo, Raph, and Mikey all stared at me with dumbfounded looks that made them look like I had gone mad.
"Wait. You're the one who brought up this flowchart idea?! Leo asked, utterly shocked.
"Yeah. Believe it or not, it was supposed to have been Donnie's idea, but I thought I pitch in to help him out so, I told him to create this," I explained, gesturing to the chart on the board.
"And why in the world would you help him on his chances with April?" Raph questioned in a perplexed manner.
"Because, Raphael, Donnie nicely asked me for advice on how to ask April to hang out with him. He really likes her and wants to get to know her better, even though she's more focus on tracking down the Kraang and finding her Dad, Donnie just wants to make a good impression. I mean, come on! I think those two would go great together, so I want to help in any way I can to help them see that."
"Wow, Dudette. Didn't know you were the 'matchmaking' type," Mikey quoted in amazement.
"[Chuckles] yeah, well, I'm a hopeless romantic when I want to be," I replied.
"Oy, I think I'm gonna get outta here," Raph muttered in disturbance with an eye-roll and begins walking towards the doors while stating aloud, "You guys do whatever you want, but I'm staying out of this whole 'romance' thing one way or another."
"Oh, come on, Raph. If you just learn to understand it more, you might not find it so bad," I replied with a shake of my head when I placed both my hands near the sides of my mouth, calling out, "And if you really think about it, maybe you'll fall in love with someone someday, too!"
"Not in a million years!" Raph called back yet from a far off distance.
I couldn't help but laugh at his response, along hearing Mikey laughing with me and Leo chuckling as well. Even so, Donnie was going to have his time with April, but little did both of them know that they were going to encounter another mutant while discovering some things during that time…
But wouldn't realize the true discovery about this new mutant that would catch them, along with the others, totally off guard.
Looks like Donnie is getting his actual 'alone' time with April, though not the way he expected. Alora had another vision concerning the mutated Dr. Rockwell, knowing that she and the Ninja Team are about to meet for the first time. What will Donnie and April uncover? Will the duo learn something about the Doctor's disappearance? Find out next time!
P.S. I'm not angry. Really! I'm very glad that you, my beloved readers, are enjoying my story and posting nice comments about it. Also, about the Turtles, they don't mind answering questions that any of you would like to ask. If you want to ask anything at all, just go right on ahead and we'll be happy to answer. Right, guys?
Mikey: You betcha, Dudette!
Donnie: Of course!
Raph: Eh, I don't mind.
Leo: Absolutely.
Me: Stay tuned and thanks for reading!