Splinter: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is owned by Nickelodeon, as is anything seen on the show. Otherwise it is owned by the author unless noted otherwise.
Luckily for the citizens of New York someone was dispatched quickly to deal with the pipe problems Leo and the others were forced to create in order to get rid of Shredder's invading mutant army. That however was the least of team turtle's concerns.
"We've had to make the retro mutagen twice as potent as normal." Donnie started to explain as he ran his fingers gently up and down April's back.
"Where they uniquely mutated like I was?" Karai questioned as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Not entirely." The purple masked turtle responded. "As far as I can tell Stickman must have been trying to make retro mutagen of his own and it somehow got mixed up with the special mutagen he was making to turn us into those serpents that Shredder wanted to control. That's what allowed you to go from serpent to human but also what was destroying your mind. I'm still not sure how he reversed the damage however…"
"Donnie, while we're young." Raph interrupted the long winded explanation that he sensed coming from the smartest turtle that he knew they didn't have time for.
"Right." Donnie caught himself and changed tracks. "As for Claudius, Commodus, Nero and Caligula they were previously mutated when he tried to make his own rat people and when that failed he took that knowledge from Master Splinter. Then when the Kraang mutated them they essentially became double mutated."
"But not exactly mutated." Aaliyah added. "That's why you doubled the retro mutagen, to try to counteract Rat King's original experiment." Donnie smiled at the white masked turtle in confirmation.
"But there is no way to know for sure that it will actually work?" Leo asked his brother with his arms folded across his chest.
Donnie shrugged. "Not without tests. Since they don't exist outside of those four rats the only other way, however implausible, would have been to get a sample of their DNA and do it from there."
"And that would only work if Rat King wasn't forcing this confrontation to go with the Kraang's next invasion plot." April added.
"Well that's great for you, but what about us?" Casey asked the purple masked turtle. "We have to worry about stopping this newest Kraang invasion without you guys. How do we make that work?"
"I will be accompanying my sons to confront the Rat King and his ninjas." They heard Splinter say from the entrance to the lab. "As for how the rest of you will help out, please come into the living room." They obeyed their sensei's request and were surprised to find the Mutanimals in there.
"Hey guys." Pete said as he gave up his roosting place on the tire swing to land on the living room floor. "I hear we're going Kraang busting."
"Long time no see, my friends." Slash said. He looked to his former owner. "Nice to see you brother."
"Good to see you to Slash." Raph said with a smile.
It was clear Raph and Slash weren't the only two members of both teams to feel the same way. "Hey." Candy said as Aaliyah came over and gave her a hug. "I'm so glad to see you again."
"Me too." Aaliyah said and then pulled back to look at the axolotl girl. "You look good, I guess living with the Mutanimals agrees with you."
Candy laughed lightly. "Yes. It's so great and I love listening to Mondo practice his guitar, at least when Rockwell was able to salvage one for him. We separated the water pool they have there because according to him I need mine to have some salt mixture in it. Works like a charm." She glanced around at the lair. "How are you doing?"
"Very well." Aaliyah answered with a smile. "Jennifer has been so amazing, I mean everyone has but being with her is like having a sister…" The female turtle drifted off as she was about to say again but only Renet knew of that part of her life right now. "And Leo and I have so much in common it's…well it's…" She wasn't certain what she wanted to say but Candy had her theories.
"Leatherhead." Mikey said excitedly as he went over to the giant alligator. "How's it going?"
"Well my friend." Leatherhead answered. "And you?"
"Great." Mikey agreed as he then brought Renet over to meet his friend. It was hard to know though if he should identify the apprentice time mistress as his girlfriend or not. "Renet this is our friend Leatherhead, though come to think of it you might already know that. I named him and he likes my world famous pizza noodle soup."
"Which isn't really world famous or even known about or liked." Raph added with a smirk.
"Details, details dude." Mikey said with a wave of his hand. Renet didn't want to point out that in this case his red masked older brother was right and that it would never catch on.
"So you're going to help us stop the Kraang, huh?" Casey asked. "That is so cool."
"That's the plan man." Mondo replied. The two high fived with a, "Cowabunga."
"Once we win this fight, we so need to throw ourselves a pizza party." Mikey declared. "Nothing says we saved the world like a pizza party."
Renet giggled. "Sounds good to me." She said. Being an apprentice time mistress wasn't necessarily conductive to celebrations.
"Renet should be able to take you to the Kraang base in New Jersey where according to the information Donatello obtained from the communication orb they are going to stage their entrance into this world." Splinter said. "We will take the Shellraiser to deal with Rat King and his mutants."
Donnie gave each of his brothers little squirt guns full of the retro mutagen. "All we have to do is squirt them with this, but we have to make sure we hit them or it will be days before I can make more retro mutagen, if we even get away." He told his brothers.
April knew they actually had three doses left over. One for Splinter, one for Candy, and one for Aaliyah if they wanted it. That however was supposed to be a surprise. Regardless there were only three making it difficult in the first place to repeat the process with all four if need be.
"Alright then." Leo said. "Slash take care of everyone."
The large black masked turtle nodded. "Will do Leonardo." He looked to the Mutanimals, Aaliyah, and their human allies. "Alright, let's move out then. We have to stop the Kraang before they invade."
April and Donnie hugged each other and kissed each other gently. Raph and Jennifer hugged each other as well. Mikey and Renet were kind of being shy about wanting the other to be careful. Aaliyah came over to Leo. "Be careful and come back to m…us." She said and hugged Leo quickly before heading out with the Mutanimals.
Splinter had to take a moment to be amused at each of his son's slight discomfort while being elated that each of them had a girl specifically worried about their safety and return. Then he cleared his throat. "Let us go, my sons."
They each nodded and the four turtles headed toward the Shellraiser with their master.
Meanwhile Renet stood just in front of the area that lead to the bedrooms. "Okay scepter." Renet whispered to the complicated device. "We really need you to work for us, okay?" She then opened up a door. "Okay, who's first?"
Each of them hesitated only a moment until Rockwell closed his eyes and then moment later opened them. "She has us within one mile of the jersey base." He announced. "So let's get this show on the road." Each of them stepped through the door and emerged on the other side.
For the moment it was quiet but it was just a little early for the information if what they heard was supposed to be right. "Do we rush the base?" Casey asked the huge turtle that used to be Raph's pet.
He hesitated only for a moment before responding, "Yes. We charge in and find the command center. If we can take control of it we stop the Kraang from summoning reinforcements from Dimension X."
They started toward the facility entrance. "Looks like they managed to repair the damage done from Newtralizer's break in." April noted, hating to admit she was somewhat impressed by that. Of course she wasn't sure that Kraang ever slept.
"Then we'll have to make our own break in damage." Slash declared, still somewhat miffed by the fact that Newtralizer had betrayed Slash in an attempt to destroy the Kraang. "Leatherhead, you and I are going to ram that door down and then Rockwell will use his psychic powers to lead us to the command center."
"Sounds like a plan." Leatherhead agreed and the two massive mutants started toward the door.
Jennifer frowned a bit. "Shouldn't the Kraang have some sort of plan for us?" She wondered aloud. "I mean they had to have known that we'd try something like this, even if they hadn't anticipated the Mutanimals."
"They don't seem to think too highly of us." Karai replied. "So maybe not…though it would be stupid since we infiltrated their base not too long ago."
The two large mutants slammed into the door. They had to repeat the process but it crumpled at the impact.
"Man, how do they do that?" Mondo questioned with a shake of his head.
"Just be glad it's not us." Candy decided.
While that had transpired Jennifer heard Leatherhead growl something that she wasn't sure she understood. "Anyone know what a Crag is?" She asked.
"Crag?" Karai questioned the blonde.
April's eyes widened as she thought back to what Donnie had told her about going into Dimension X. "Wait, I don't think that was Crag but it can't be…" She stated.
Slash and Leatherhead went flying and landed in front of the rest of the team. From the broken doors emerged smaller versions of both Traag and Grantor. Both of them belched fire from their mouths though the former actually belched lava.
"That might have been why they weren't too concerned about just us." Casey noted.
"Donnie told me about bigger versions in Dimension X that guarded Kraang facilities." April said. "I guess they decided they needed something smaller for their facility after we stole the mutagen."
"Then we'll just have to get past them." Slash declared. "Oh, and them too." He added as several Kraang droids were seen coming up from behind the miniaturized rock warriors. "I'll get the blue one, Leatherhead you get the red one. The rest of you take out those Kraang droids."
The team moved in to engage their enemies.
Leo pulled the Shellraiser by Central Park and the four brothers and their master headed inside and toward a small clearing in the middle of the park by the lake. As they were walking it struck Leo how long it had been since it had just been the four of them. Not that having April, Casey, Jennifer, Aaliyah, the Mutanimals and even their own older sister Karai was a bad thing but it had just been the four brothers and their master for over fifteen years. It was a nice adjustment but an adjustment none the less.
It was like Donnie had read his mind. "You know, as much as I've enjoyed making new friends and finally getting the girl of my dreams it still has really been a long time since it was just us as a family." He voiced.
Mikey nodded a bit. "Yeah, it's weird the direction that life takes you sometimes." He reflected seriously. The orange masked turtle was rarely serious and sometimes even when he tried to be it was sometimes met with ridicule from his older brothers. But not this time.
"That is generally the essence of life." Splinter said to his sons. "The only thing constant in this world is change. We should all be thankful that for the most part that change has been good, and not just for us." He thought briefly of Jennifer who had certainly only gained since having come across the turtles, not that she hadn't done her share for them, especially his hot headed temperamental son. "What matters is making sure that we not lose sight of those we have always loved in the face of those who just come into it."
Raph nods. "Makes sense. As much as I care about Jennifer I can't forget about my brothers or you, sensei." The red masked turtle said.
"At what point does someone become family?" Mikey asked curiously. "I mean is Slash family since he used to be Raph's pet? What about Ice Cream Kitty? How about Karai who is your daughter even though she hasn't been around us long enough? Or ou…Raph and Donnie's girlfriends?" He listed.
Splinter chuckled. "In the long run, family is also what you make it." The rat master replied to his youngest son. "And that is something we have had for years, and most recently have strived to improve it, be it girlfriends," He deliberately did not mention names since in his opinion Renet was quickly becoming Mikey's and he was waiting for Aaliyah and Leo to start dating. "Pets or even friends."
"What a touching comment about family, rat." Rat King said from around them though he slowly coalesced from a small scope of trees from in front of them. "It's too bad that we're going to make your little family crumble into dust." On all four sides of them emerged his rat warriors ready to fight the turtles.
"We'll see who wins this fight." Leo declared as he and his brothers withdrew their weapons.
"Attack my rat warriors." The Rat King ordered. The four rat mutants converged on the four mutant turtles. Then he looked at Splinter. "How nice of you to come and witness your son's end."
Splinter shook his head. "You are wrong, Falco." He answered, using the villain's true name. "You may have stolen my skills, even those that I have yet to teach my sons, but they will still win this fight regardless and send you packing."
Rat King laughed. "We shall see, we shall see." He said.
"He's sure got a lot of confidence in us." Donnie noted as he twirled his bo staff in anticipation of Nero and his long scythe weapon.
"I hope we don't let him down." Mikey added as he turned his nunchuck into the kusarigama chain as he prepared to face off against Commodus and his spiked ball chain.
Raph twirled his sais around as he prepared to face off against Claudius who in turn mimicked the action with his own twisted sais. "We send these rats back down the bottom of the ninja food chain and we won't let sensei down." The red masked turtle declared.
Leo had his twin katana out and crossed in front of him as he waited for Caligula who was drawing his broad sword. "We know what needs to be done, so let's make it happen." The blue masked turtle stated.
As if that were their cue the rat mutants attacked the turtles. Each swung their weapons and as if moving in concert the four turtles back flipped out of range of the original attacks.
Leo moved into range while the broad sword was down. He kicked his opponent in his furry chest with one foot and then brought his other foot down onto the hands that held the broad sword. He then kicked Caligula away from the weapon.
Raph met Claudius head on sai to twisted sai. They clashed for a minute before Raph realized the futility of this particular fight. He took several leaps back and sheathed his weapons as he did so then reached for the broadsword his older brother had forces his opponent to drop moments ago.
Claudius looked momentarily shocked since everything he had been taught about the red masked turtle said he would never do that. Raph was barely able to lift the weapon but once it was hefted he charged the rat mutant and swung for the head. He could only bring up his weapons to block the attack and while it was deflected enough the twisted weapon's points were taken off. "Much better." Raph stated as he tossed the broad sword hard into some bushes and then kicked him hard.
Commodus swung the spiked ball portion out and Mikey dodged it as he used the kusarigama to trip him up. His rat opponent recovered and tried again but the orange masked turtle used his weapon to intercept it and then rapidly stepped on the chain to draw him in, then with a, "Booyakasha!" kicked him in the face, the sudden impact forcing him to drop his weapon.
Donnie dodged the scythe portion and then brought his bo staff up against Nero's face, then turned around and exposed the blade of his weapon, using the naginata to chop the scythe in half. He quickly used the staff to slap the pointed end of the scythe piece toward Nero.
The rat mutant moved to immediately dodge it, which was Donnie needed as he then turned to slam his staff into Nero's stomach and then followed up with an uppercut to his face.
Each turtle knew it was time. They took out the little squirt guns that Donnie had put the retro mutagen in (Raph wondered if his younger brother could have found something more embarrassing to do this with, maybe water balloons courtesy of Dr. Prankenstein) and they each released the retro mutagen at the dazed rats.
"Shows over Rat King." Mikey declared triumphantly. "Now to take you down and make you change your name." He looked about ready to do a victory dance.
Raph was about to slap his orange masked younger brother upside the head when Donnie gasped. "Um, guys. I recommend we don't start celebrating things just yet." They all turned to him and then saw what the purple masked turtle was talking about. The four rat mutants were standing up, seemingly unaffected by the retro mutagen they were just hit with.
"Ah, sewer bunnies." Raph muttered as he dropped the squirt gun and drew his sais.
"Donnie?" Mikey asked, not looking forward to the upcoming retaliation, even without the rats having weapons.
"I don't know." Donnie confessed but moved on to hypothesize, "But as I said before we left the lair these guys were kind of double mutated as they were made from the serum that Rat King developed prior to stealing the knowledge of how we came to be from Master Splinter."
"Does that mean we just used up our trump card?" Leo asked reluctantly as he drew his katana blades again and prepared for combat.
"If you did then it seems to me you just lost." Rat King stated gleefully. "I'd say this game has just become mine."
Can the Mutanimals and the turtle's allies stop the Kraang without the turtles? Can the turtles stop the rat mutants if the retro mutagen has failed? Is this Rat King's final gambit or our heroes? The adventure continues.