Author's Notes and Disclaimer: Hi everyone! I'm back yet again, and this time I'm on a Ninja Turtle roll! That's right; this is the first chapter of the first episode of the 1987 TV series "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"…with a twist! If you remember the intro that's the kickstarter for this series crossover, then you already know who's in this. If not, let me recap:
On December 17, 1987 in Toontown, Hollywood, California, Godzooky won a coin toss between himself and Daffy Duck, the winner of which would go buy Christmas dinner. As Zooky was going to do just that, he encountered a strange glow coming from a manhole. His investigation quickly turned into an escape route to get out of the way of an incoming truck, then a transport to 1987 New York City via the sewers. When we last saw Zooky, he was starting to embark on his newest adventure…solo. What will he find on the streets of 1987 New York? Who will he encounter?
These questions and more will be answered in the chapter below, so please, read on.
Oh, one more thing before I forget: I don't own Godzooky; Hanna-Barbera does, or should I say Warner Bros. and Toho do. I don't own the series TMNT 1987 either; the series belongs to Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, Inc. and Viacom, and is based off the TMNT comic book series created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Also, I want to credit DeviantArt author/artist kahnac for some vernacular used by Godzooky in this chapter.
Another thing to warn everyone about: I know I did the intro in the first person, but I decided to do the series crossover in limited third-person instead; meaning it'll be like you're standing next to Godzooky for the whole of this venture, so you won't see everything that occurred in the original series. I may explain some of the points in the Author's Notes before and after each chapter, but for the most part, you'll be seeing things from Zooky's standpoint.
Now, to set the scene, imagine a helicopter shot of New York City at night going into a descending close-up of the streets below as a voice-over given in a youngish, throaty voice (that's Godzooky) says…
Chapter 1
This…is the big city. New York City, USA; home of the Empire State Building, Sears Tower, the New York Giants, the Statue of Liberty, and the home state of the Mario Brothers Plumbing business and of super webslinger Spiderman.
"Heh, get real; like I'm gonna see either of them here," Zooky scoffed to himself. "Still, this is the home of one of my biggest heroes," he added with a smile.
The sound of approaching footsteps from the other side of the street and malicious laughter sent Zooky into one of the many alleyways of NYC for what felt like the billionth time in a row, and he stayed there and watched as a couple of 80's-style punks ran by, spraying graffiti on the walls and terrorizing people who were about as they went. The young kaiju wanted to run out and stop them, but he knew that he had to keep hidden; considering his appearance would only cause panic and unwanted attention; not to mention he still smelled like he came out of a sewer, which wasn't too far from the truth.
Godzooky Gojo, nephew of the famous kaiju Godzilla and honorary Looney Tune, had somehow been washed away through the sewers from wintertime Hollywood, California to summertime New York when he had stopped to investigate a mysterious glow coming from a manhole cover back on the West Coast. An incoming truck and an unthought-of impulse to jump into that very sewer had instigated his unforeseen trip, and now he had been wandering the streets of the Big Apple for a good portion of the night.
"Home of one of my heroes, and the state with some of the biggest crime waves in the country," Zooky grumbled. "And I can't do a thing about it at the moment. Honestly, I'm lucky that it's nighttime here," he sighed. "More shadows to hide in, and no-one can see me that good. Still, wish I had a blanket or my coat or something to cover myself with when I come out of these alleys; dark or not, I'm still exposed."
Now, thanks to some…special training Zooky had gotten in Hollywood, he would've reached behind his back and pulled such an item out of thin air, but he found that he couldn't, which meant not only had he been whisked to another state, he'd been whisked to another world. Or was it another dimension? Either way, the rules where he was currently as opposed to where he was previously were different, and that meant the abilities his training gave him were useless. Luckily, Zooky still had plenty to spare.
Godzooky waited five minutes after the punks had gone by before moving from his hiding place. Now, the next question: What to do now?
"Crime. It's something we take for granted," said a woman's voice from a television in an appliance store Zooky was walking by. "It's simply a day-to-day fact of life in the big city."
"Tell me about it," Zooky mumbled.
"But occasionally, a crime occurs so baffling that even we city-dwellers sit up and take notice," the woman added.
That one sentence was enough to make the young, winged saurian stop in his tracks and back up to the store window, where a set of TVs were featuring a news report being given by a young woman with orange hair and wearing a yellow jumpsuit. A baffling crime? At the moment, he didn't care if he was still out in the open; this he had to hear.
The young woman continued as a picture of a building came onscreen, then changed to two different ones, "Three scientific equipment companies, three robberies. And what was stolen?"
The scene on the screen then changed to the young lady talking to a man who likely worked at one of the robbed scientific equipment companies as he listed off the missing items: "Two positron accelerators, four reverse-flux polarity indicators, and one parabolic sine-wave generator."
Godzooky whistled in amazement. Ol' Wile E. would give his pelt to work that kind of equipment, whatever they are, he thought.
"And what does all that equipment do?" the woman reporter asked.
The man thought on that for a minute before responding, "I have absolutely no idea."
Godzooky rolled his eyes and shook his head. That guy works at the company that makes all that and he doesn't know how it works? Sheesh, it's like those places are hiring anyone, even those who may not have degrees in engineering, he thought. Don't they check for that sort of thing? Even in the 80's, they should.
"But even though the missing goods are high-tech, the method by which they were stolen is not," the woman reporter continued.
An older man with gray hair and a beard and mustache wearing glasses was then shown standing next to a doorway with a broken door leaning against the wall. What caught the youngling kaiju's attention were some notches in one of the doorposts, and the man's explanation of those notches: "These incisions could only have been made with a samurai sword."
A samurai sword?! Does that mean that the criminals are from Japan?! What is going on here?! Godzooky asked mentally, his face the picture of surprise.
For all of his life, Godzooky had been told that the humans who lived in the country known as Japan believed in honor; this was the complete opposite. But, then again, he had to remind himself, no matter what country they came from and what their country's ideals were, there were those humans who decided to follow the path of wrongdoing for their own personal gain, whether it be for money, for revenge, or just because they wanted to hurt people.
The camera then followed the man inside the building, where a security guard sat gagged and tied to a chair. The older man bent over and picked up what looked like a piece of rope.
"And look at this rope," the man said as the bound security guard struggled. "This can only be the work of ninjas, the ancient band of Japanese warriors."
First they say samurai, now they say ninjas; make up your minds, people! Those are two totally different groups! Godzooky grumbled to himself.
Indeed, samurai were Japanese warriors who lived by a code of honor and were soldiers, while ninjas mostly worked as assassins, using tactics of stealth in their work.
"And how can you tell that from the rope, Professor?"
"Well, look for yourself," the man told the woman reporter, the camera getting a close-up of a label on the rope. "It's made in Japan."
"Figures," Zooky mumbled, rolling his eyes once again.
The scene then changed to the woman reporter standing in front of a building, the camera giving a full body shot of the young lady and her yellow outfit, down to her white boots.
"Ninjas-a thousand-year old clan of assassins," she was saying. "Is it possible they're here in the city?"
"I sure would like to find that out myself," Godzooky said to no-one in particular. She seems to be the only one on this case, so maybe if I find her, I'll find my answers, he figured.
"We're at Technology Central to answer that question, for it may be the next target of these mysterious burglars."
"Then that's where I'm going," Godzooky decided. "The only thing is, how do I get there?" He then ran off to find a map, but not before he heard the woman reporter give her name as April O'Neil. He committed the name to memory; it would come in handy in identifying her when he found her. If he could find her, that is.
Well, it took some stealthy work of his own, but Godzooky managed to get directions to the building mentioned in Ms. O'Neil's TV report and was now conducting covert surveillance from the corner of a building at the end of the block. From there, he could see the news van as well as Ms. O'Neil and some of her crew, but he couldn't hear much. He'd have to get closer. He waited until he was certain no-one was looking in his general direction, counted to three, then sped towards the front of the van, which was luckily empty at the moment. He managed to quietly screech to a stop before he could hit the front bumper, making sure to stay low so that he couldn't be seen through the windshield. He also wrapped his tail around himself and held it so that he couldn't be spotted that way.
"April, we've got a million bucks in state-of-the-art equipment here. I'm not gonna let it sit around in the street in the dead of the night," a man with a rather upper-crust-sounding voice was saying.
"We're the news media, for crying out loud." That was April. "Who'd want to hurt us?" she asked.
As if in response, Godzooky's inherent sixth sense went off like an alarm bell, telling him that danger was close by, and at the same time growling and footsteps were heard from the back. Deciding to take a chance, Godzooky jumped up, used his claws to cling to the roof of the news van, and pulled himself up, staying flat so that he was somewhat out of sight. From his new vantage point, he could see April and her crew about to be harassed by a group of six NYC punks led by a short man in a brown vest bearing a long stick for a weapon.
"Uh, them, maybe?" said the same man who had spoken earlier.
The malicious six stepped closer to the news group, weapons in hand. As he watched, Godzooky assessed the danger level of each one so that he could form a battle plan.
Two—no, three clubs, a chain, a gun, a hammer, a sword-yikes. OK, we're gonna have to handle this with a good degree of caution here, Zooky told himself, as he was unarmed. Well, he wasn't defenseless, but to use his natural fighting abilities would prove devastating for all parties involved.
April gasped at the sight of the approaching punks. "The camera! Get to the camera!" she told a man in a red jacket, pointing to the equipment on the ground.
The man went to get it, but was overcome by fear and ran off, saying, "I, uh, I think I left the iron on in my apartment."
Another man wearing a gray jacket and a red cap said, "Yeah, I just remembered roller derby is on, uh, TV tonight," and ran off.
"Oh, a-and I-I've got an appointment with my, uh, dentist!" the man with the upper-crust voice stammered before running off, leaving April O'Neil to face the punk group alone. Well, not completely alone.
What a bunch of cowards, leaving a woman by herself like that, Godzooky tutted disapprovingly at the three human men. I guess for some people chivalry is dead.
The short man in the brown vest Godzooky figured was the leader growled and stepped forward menacingly.
"We got a message for you from the big boss-man," he said to Ms. O'Neil, tapping his weapon in his hand. "He wants you should stick to reportin' fashion shows."
So people in New York really do talk like that? Zooky asked himself. Man, wait'll I tell Bugs about this.
"O-OK, sure. No problem," April said nervously.
"He don't believe you," the lead punk said.
Your boss-man doesn't, or you? Godzooky asked back mentally.
The short man took two more steps towards April, and Godzooky narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth upon sensing the punk's intention to inflict serious harm on her.
Well, I knew I wasn't gonna remain hidden forever, Zooky sighed. Time to make my entrance.
Godzooky let out a sharp whistle before standing up and calling out, "Yo, Punky! Didn't your mother tell you it's bad manners to harass a lady?"
As Zooky expected, the reaction went from confusion to fearful once everyone looked up and saw him standing on top of the van.
"I-I-It's a monster!" a punk with a purple mohawk cried out in terror.
"A brilliant deduction, but you're no Sherlock Holmes," Zooky smirked, deciding to use a little verbal wit that he learned from the Looney Tunes.
"What-uh-who-where-who-who-What are you?!" the lead punk stammered.
Godzooky casually rubbed the fingernails of his right hand against his right shoulder, blew on them, and replied, "Oh, I'm just your friendly neighborhood kaiju from out of town. However, in your case…" He then jumped off the van and landed between April and the punks, eyes narrowed and continued, his tone of voice serious, "…I'm gonna be your worst nightmare if you don't leave the lady alone and go back to whatever rock you guys crawled out from under. She's just doin' her job."
"He don't look so tough to me," one of the punks growled.
"Ooh, big mistake, fella," Zooky muttered under his breath.
"He's probably just some guy in a monster suit lookin' for trouble," said another punk.
'Guy in a monster suit?' Heh, that's gotta be a new insult in my book, Zooky thought.
"I don't know, guys; he looks awful real to me," said a third punk.
Now there's someone who's got some brain cells to spare, Zooky smirked.
"Shuddup! Let's take 'im!" the lead punk ordered.
Zooky sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said before taking up a martial arts stance.
The punks initially looked confused by Godzooky's stance, but they rushed in anyway…and found themselves beaten back by judo throws, punches, and one unlucky punk found himself on the business end of a roundhouse kick.
Godzooky noticed that particular punk had put a hand to his side where Zooky's foot had hit him and glanced down at his own foot, which was shaped like the foot of a bird-of-prey (three toes in front, one in back) to see a speck of red on one of his front claws.
"Aw, great," the juvenile kaiju groaned, not having wanted to do that. "I've gotta remember that I don't wear shoes."
"Look out!" April O'Neil called out from behind.
Godzooky looked up just in time to see the punk who wielded the sword swing his weapon towards him, intent on cutting off the kaiju's head. Zooky bent backward just in time, then, feeling that his tail was supporting him, got an idea. As soon as the punk had completed his swing, Godzooky, using his tail to completely support his weight, lifted up his legs, calculated and controlled his strength, and pushed the punk back.
"I've gotta thank Tigger again for those bouncing lessons," Godzooky said to himself, fondly remembering the bouncy tiger from the Hundred Acre Wood that he had made friends with when he was younger. He then turned around to face Ms. O'Neil and asked, "Are you OK?"
"I-I'm fine. Thanks for the rescue," April said, her voice shaking a little as she was still nervous. "Who are you? And where did you come from?" she asked.
"I'm Godzooky Gojo," the juvenile kaiju responded. "As to where I'm from, well, I'm originally from the Japan area, but I've got double citizenship here in the US; California, to be exact."
"How did you get here?" April asked.
"Eh, that's a bit of a long story," Zooky answered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I'm not sure I believe it myself. You're Ms. April O'Neil, right?" he asked. "I saw your broadcast. That's why I'm here."
She looked surprised that this strange creature knew her name, but she nodded in response. "Where did you learn that?" she then asked.
"Learn what?" Zooky asked. Then it hit him that she was asking about his fighting moves. "Oh, those! Well, I'm no ninja, but I learned some of them from my uncle."
"Your uncle?" April inquired.
"Yeah, that's another long story," Zooky said nervously. His sixth sense then went off again and his ears picked up the sounds of groans from behind; a look over his shoulder confirmed that the punks were getting back on their feet for another round. "One that we don't have time for," he added.
"What's the plan now?" the lady reporter asked.
"I'm thinking a tactical retreat to a location that affords us a better advantage is in order," Godzooky said.
"You mean run away?" April asked bluntly.
"You know, when you put it that way, it sounds cowardly," Zooky responded in a tone lightly laced with sarcasm. "But in a sense, yeah. We're gonna need something to distract them while we make our getaway, though." He looked around for something to throw, but the only thing he could find was the camera. "Look, uh, I realize that that camera holds everything you have on your story, Ms. O'Neil, but…" he started.
"Don't worry, in these circumstances I'd rather throw away the camera than my life," she replied.
"OK then. When I throw the camera, you run for it, all right?" Zooky instructed. "I'll be right behind you, don't worry."
April nodded and prepared herself.
Zooky looked over at the camera again. It was only two feet away, but he decided to pull a little move that would surprise the punks in addition to what he was going to do.
I just hope I've lost enough weight to do it, Zooky prayed. Here goes…
And, just as he had hoped, Godzooky executed a perfect head-over-heels roll towards the camera, grabbed it, and threw it at the punks.
Yes! Finally! the juvenile winged saurian exulted to himself, happy that he was able to execute the maneuver.
Using his naturally heightened sense of smell, Zooky was able to track and catch up to April O'Neil. They had managed to run a couple blocks when Zooky heard April trip and fall.
"Are you OK?" Zooky asked in concern, kneeling down so that he could help her.
"I'll live," April panted, a bit tired from the running.
"Those goons'll find us any minute," Zooky said, sensing the malicious group's approach. "Any idea where we can hide?"
"Will here do?" she asked in response, climbing down into a sewer drain.
"You've gotta be kiddin' me," Godzooky said in disbelief. "I just crawled outta one of those things!"
"Well, that explains it."
"Explains what?"
"The smell," April answered.
"Sorry," Zooky apologized, a bit embarrassed. "I haven't been able to find a place to clean myself up since I got here. Which was a couple of hours ago," he muttered. "Again, long story," he added in his normal tone.
"Well come on," April urged the kaiju.
Zooky moved to follow her, but then his heartrate began to pick up and his mind began to go back to all those years ago, back to San Francisco, when he and his friends from the Calico had joined a military unit in exploring an underground tunnel created by a massive kaiju called the Eartheater. During that very mission, the Eartheater had attacked them, killing all but a few members of that unit. It still haunted Godzooky to this very day; the screams of death and pain as the soldiers in their vehicles had been tossed aside like broken toys, the smell of fire and gas when the jeeps exploded, the burning flesh and the blood…
"…Hey. Hey. Godzooky! What's wrong? Talk to me!" came April's voice through the fog of red that was that terrible flashback.
Someone was holding his hand. Someone was talking to him. Whose scent was that? Wait, that was April O'Neil, that news reporter he had saved a couple minutes ago. Focusing on those anchors, Godzooky came back to reality to see the young woman's concerned face. There was also a pain in his tail, and no wonder, for he had been twisting and squeezing it like a stress ball, as he often did when those flashbacks came.
"Are you all right?" she asked. "You started looking far away for a moment. You're not claustrophobic, are you?"
Godzooky really didn't feel like going into details, so he just replied, his voice shaking, "N-No…but…well…l-let's just say I have a…bad history of being in…underground places."
"Hey! I t'ink they went thataway!" the voice of one of the punks called from around the corner.
Godzooky gasped, feeling scared now. He was caught between facing the punks in his descending-into-panic-mode (which placed him in a serious disadvantage) and going underground, which brought back too many bad memories. He needed to find a place to hide-wait a minute; it wasn't just him who needed to hide. Holy smoke, Ms. O'Neil was with him! She was in trouble too! And he had to help her! Doggone it! Well, with that information now back in his conscious mind, there was really only one choice.
Swallowing hard, Godzooky put on a determined look and said, "But it looks like I'm gonna have to push that aside for now! Let's go!"
With that, he and April slid down the drain into the sewers.
Have to protect April. Have to protect April. Have to protect April. Have to protect April, Godzooky recited to himself over and over like a mantra; right now it was the only thing keeping him from descending into a dark place. Have to protect April. Have to protect April. Have to protect April. His heart was pounding painfully in his chest, but he forced himself to keep going for Ms. O'Neil's sake. Have to protect April. Have to protect April. Have to protect-
"Hold on!" April cried out, sounding out of breath.
Godzooky skidded to a stop and bent over, hands on knees, panting hard. He looked over at Ms. O'Neil and saw that she was breathing hard as well; she had called out so that they could stop and get catch their breath.
"This is great! I must be really on to something hot if they're trying to kill me!" April exclaimed.
Godzooky, seeing the obviousness of that latter sentence, said, "Not to give you an attitude about that statement, but gee, ya think?!"
"Are you sure you're all right?" April asked once more in concern. "We've only gone a few feet or so but you look like you've run for miles."
"You wouldn't understand," Godzooky said, growling a little. He did not want to be asked about what was going on with him right now.
"I'm sorry," April apologized. "It's the reporter in me."
Zooky was about to reply when he heard the sound of a manhole cover being removed and the impact sounds of people dropping down into the sewer. He then turned back around just in time to see April-
"Wait! Don't go-!"
-run into a brick wall.
"Never mind," Zooky groaned. "You OK?" he asked in his normal tone of voice.
April groaned from her impact with the wall, then gasped as she spotted the six punks behind Godzooky. The juvenile kaiju turned to face them, but the adrenaline from his flashback was still going, causing him to tremble as he stood in his fighting stance. It was taking everything he had not to make his mind turn the group of punks into one nightmarish Eartheater.
"Aw, what's wrong with the little lizard?" one of the punks asked in a mocking tone.
"Yeah, he's shakin' in his boots," said another.
"Not so tough now, are youse?" taunted a third.
Come on, Godzooky! Quit it with the Jell-O impression! You've gotta protect April from that thi-I mean, these guys! Zooky told himself, trying to make himself stop shaking and keep focused, but it was getting more difficult with every second.
The punk with the purple mohawk chuckled darkly and said, "First, we'll take care of the scaredy-lizard, then we'll take care of the nosy reporter lady!"
The lead punk stepped forward with his weapon and growled, "Sign-off time, April O'Neil!"
Godzooky tensed up, his brain stuck between fight, flight, and freeze, but before himself or the lead punk could do anything, a staff flew in out of nowhere, hitting the punk in the torso and making him drop his weapon.
"Chill out, homeboy," a new voice said.
That staff coming into view gave Godzooky a new anchor to focus on, as he recognized the weapon.
A bō staff? What's one of those doing here? Godzooky asked mentally.
The punk with the sword tried to make a move, but was stopped when his weapon collided with something metal and was taken out of his hands.
"Hey! Watch it with that thing, pal!" a second new voice cried out, one that made Godzooky unfreeze completely in surprise as he realized…
That voice! I-I know that voice! the juvenile saurian cried out in his mind.
"Oh, whoever you are, you are dead!" growled the lead punk as he grabbed the bō staff in front of him.
All that ended up doing was getting him lifted off his feet and tossed to the side. A similar thing happened to the sword-wielding punk when he got grabbed by the shoulders by a figure in the dark. Godzooky's ears then caught the sound of metal clanging against metal and whirling air, which meant in addition to a bō, whoever was helping them had swords and nunchuks as well. But his brain was still buzzing over the second new voice that he had heard minutes ago. He knew it, but from where?
Wait…wait…I think…Yes. Yes! That's the voice of the announcer on that 1979 Jack-in-the-Box commercial! Godzooky finally remembered. Oh, what did Bugs say the guy's name was? Rob something?
"What the-?" Zooky spoke, his olfactory senses kicking in with a new smell; one that was a combination of sewer, chemicals, and…was that Japanese silk, rat fur, pizza, and…? Before he could complete his analysis, Godzooky soon realized something else: There was a battle going on, and he was being left out of it!
"What am I standing around for; I've gotta get in there!" the winged saurian yelped, dashing into the fray.
He soon set his sights on his first target: a punk who was wielding another club. Unfortunately, there was a silhouette blocking his way, one that was holding two small swords. No wait, those were sais, Zooky remembered.
"Heads up!" Zooky cried out to the figure as he ran, then, once he gained enough speed, leaped into the air to execute a flying karate kick that sent the punk flying backwards.
Lucky I used the flat of my foot, or that move would've been messy, Godzooky internally sighed in relief. "Sorry 'bout stealin' your thunder there," Godzooky started to apologize to the stranger when-
"Your turn!" yelped the figure with the familiar voice.
Zooky was confused for a brief moment until he realized that he was being told to duck, so he got down on his knees, then on his hands, too, as he felt six, thick, reptile, clawless fingers touch his back as the figure leaped over him like they were playing a game of leapfrog.
"Thanks kid," said the figure as Zooky got off the ground.
"No problem; it's not every day I'm used as a launching pad," Godzooky responded, a little smirking, friendly sarcasm he had picked up from Bugs slipping in.
"You got some real attitude on ya, you know that?" the figure asked back in a smile, using a little sarcasm of his own.
Zooky was about to give another witty comeback when the sounds of weapons colliding brought his attention back to the fight at hand.
"I'd love to keep exchanging one-liners, but we've got work to do," the winged saurian said, setting his sights on a new target and running off.
"Way ahead of ya on that one!" the figure told him, heading off to take care of his own opponent.
"Somebody toss me a weapon! Preferably a sword!" Zooky called, feeling his sixth sense go off; there was a hostile behind him, and judging by the prickling feeling he was getting from his upper back, the punk with the sword had managed to get back on his feet and retrieve his weapon.
"Here! Catch!" called a third new voice.
Godzooky heard the weapon sailing to his position, reached up, caught it, and brought it down just in time to block the punk's attack. He thought he had heard the familiar sarcastic voice asking aloud if he [Godzooky] could handle the weapon, but his attention was now on the weapon in his hand, for he recognized it, also.
This is a katana! I recognize the feel of the handle and the design! Godzooky noticed. Sais, nunchuks, katanas, and a bō staff. Who are these guys?! More importantly, what are they? he asked himself as he parried the punk's thrusts.
As Zooky and the sword-wielding punk fought, it was clear which of the two had more experience with the weapon, and with fighting in general, as the punk grew tired from the quick movements and fast breathing, while Zooky mentally calculated and anticipated his opponent's every move, keeping his breathing steady so as not to expend his energy too quickly. Soon, the punk was disarmed once again.
"Heh, trained, you are not. Thankfully-Catch!" Zooky called out, tossing the katana back to its owner before leaning back on his tail and finishing, "-I don't need that to take care of YOU!" With that, Godzooky, pushing off with his feet and completely supporting himself on his tail, pushed the punk towards the sewer wall, then jumped back to his feet using his unusually-strong appendage.
"Whoa, dude! I've gotta learn that tubuloso trick!" cried out a fourth new voice, this one sounding like a stereotypical surfer dude.
Godzooky's eyes widened, having spotted a punk behind the source of that newest voice. Having already tossed his weapon back and being too far away at the moment, he went for the tactic of using his environment as a weapon, scooping up a handful of dirt-which made him grimace in disgust-and tossed it at the hostile shouting, "Get down!"
Luckily, the figure complied, and the sewer mud hit its target. The figure then finished the job by grabbing the bad guy and tossing him in the growing heap that was his knocked-out cohorts.
"Thanks for the ace assist, dude," the surfer dude voice said.
It was dark, but Zooky could see that the figure was giving him a thumbs-up, so he returned it with the smiling response, "Happy to help, bro."
Two growls from Zooky's left made him turn his head to see that there were just two last punks to deal with; the one with the purple mohawk and one who wore a sailor's cap. Zooky narrowed his eyes in determination as an idea entered his mind.
"This one's on me, fellas!" Zooky called out to the darkness, telling the figures he had been helping that he was going to take care of these last two hostiles. "Come at me, brawn-for-brains!" he taunted to the delinquents.
As Zooky predicted, the two ran right at him. Zooky calculated the force needed to toss them back without braining them against the wall, prayed that they would miss his clawed toes, and once they were in his intimate space, Zooky grabbed the punks, fell backwards, used his feet to kick them off him and towards the wall, and rolled over, doing a handstand to get back on his feet in the process.
Zooky took a few deep breaths to recover from the effort and thanked his lucky stars he had become limber enough to execute such a feat.
Definitely not as much baby fat on me as there used to be, thank Tanaka, Zooky smiled.
"Whoa, weird-lookin' dudes," said the surfer-dude voice.
"Yeah, and they dress funny, too," remarked the friendly-sarcastic voice that Zooky had quickly bonded with.
"Well, there's no excuse for lack of taste," Zooky remarked. He then coughed as the scent of sewer mud hit his nostrils strongly and turned to see that his back was now absolutely filthy from his backwards roll, which made him give an exclamation of disgust in kaiju-tongue, his native language. "Man! Now I really need a bath!" he groaned in English.
"Hey, you're a pretty good fighter," said the voice that had tossed Zooky the katana earlier.
"Yeah, you got some real ninja skills," the voice with the bō staff complimented.
"Aw, I'm no ninja," Zooky responded in a humble "aw-shucks" tone. "I just have experience in fighting, that's all."
"And he's modest, too," said the voice that reminded Zooky of the announcer from the 1979 Jack-in-the-Box commercial in a sincere tone.
"You all right, Ms. O'Neil?" Zooky asked the lady reporter as he helped her to her feet.
"Godzooky, if it's all the same to you, you can call me April," she told the winged saurian.
"Then you can just call me Zooky," he chuckled.
The two then turned to face the figures in the dark. Zooky counted four in all, and mentally noted that, besides being almost at his current size, their silhouettes looked very familiar.
"And I don't know who you guys are, but thanks," April told them.
The four figures then stepped into the light, revealing themselves. Zooky's eyes widened in surprise as he finally put the missing piece of his earlier analysis together.
"I knew it!" he exclaimed softly.
Standing before April and himself were four anthropomorphic, mask-wearing, Japanese weapon-wielding…turtles!
And…cut! First chapter done! So, there you have it; kaiju-meets-girl, and girl-and-kaiju-meet-turtles! I think this pretty much answers the questions asked earlier.
Now for the trivia: The reason why Godzooky recognized the voice of one of the turtles (Raphael) is because he recognized the voice as belonging to an actor who did a 1979 commercial for a fast-food place called Jack-in-the-Box named—you guessed it—Rob Paulsen, who just so happened to get his start doing commercials and live performances before getting into cartoons like G.I. Joe, Transformers, and—you guessed it again—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and is now one of the most prolific and bravest voice actors in Hollywood famous for his characters such as Yakko Warner and Dr. Scratchansniff from "Animaniacs", Pinky from "Pinky and the Brain", Carl Wheezer from "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius", Rev Runner from "Loonatics Unleashed", Experiment 625 from "Lilo & Stitch: The Series", Antoine Depardieu from "Sonic SATAM", Fowlmouth Rooster from "Tiny Toon Adventures", and, of course, Raphael from TMNT 1987. If you couldn't already tell, I'm a BIG Rob Paulsen fan, so you can expect a major amount of interaction between Godzooky and Raphael. If you've never heard of that commercial, I recommend looking it up on YouTube so that you get an idea (try inputting "Jack-in-the-Box Frings Commercial 1979" into your respective search engine to find it).
On a side note, I called Mr. Paulsen "brave" in addition to "prolific" not just because he says it takes fearlessness to be in show business at the level he and his friends and co-stars work at, but also because 5 years ago, he endured, and beat back, one of the scariest things a voice actor has ever had to face, or anyone else in any walk of life has ever had to face, for that matter: cancer. Stage III throat cancer, to be more specific. I didn't found out about his battle until at least 2019 when I was looking him up on his Wiki page for any upcoming projects he was going to be working on and just to check up on him in general; and I have to say I was shocked. At around the same time Mr. Paulsen was fighting his cancer battle, his co-star Joe Alaskey had died from his own bout with cancer; if we had lost Mr. Paulsen as well at that time…the loss would have been enormous, in my opinion. Mr. Paulsen brings his own brand of wit, charm, happiness, heart, and soul that he puts into each of his characters that can NEVER, EVER be duplicated, and to lose him would mean losing that forever. Luckily, last I heard, he's doing well, and I have nothing but well wishes for him and his family in these troubled times.
Now, not to leave the others out, they are played by Cam Clarke (Leonardo, the one with the katanas), Barry Gordon (Donatello, the one with the bō staff), Townsend Coleman (Michelangelo, the one with the nunchuks), and Renae Jacobs (April O'Neil, the female reporter for Channel 6). For Godzooky—and I realize this choice may be a bit obvious—I'm going with Frank Welker for his voice; I mean, come on, the guy is SUPER talented. He's been Fred Jones of Scooby-Doo fame since 1969, for goodness sake! Not to mention Abu the monkey from the "Aladdin" franchise, the original Megatron from the original Transformers series, Garfield since Lorenzo Music passed away, various creatures and animals in multiple cartoons and movies, and Scooby-Doo himself since Don Messick passed away in 1997. And since Messick was Godzooky's original voice…well, I think you can guess where that logic leads.
OK, I'm rambling too much again, so I'd better wrap this up. Next time, Godzooky and the Turtles get to know each other, the winged saurian and April meet Splinter, and learn about how the Turtles came to be. Expect more turtles, more action, and a lot of pizza in the future (not to mention some zippy banter)!
Until then, read and review. Thank you, and…TURTLE POWER! :D