Chapter 13: Gongmen City
As the sampan boat quietly approached Gongmen Harbor, the Turtles, Po, the Furious Five, April, and Casey silently climbed up under a large stone bridge, noiselessly maneuvering past any soldiers before making their way to the rooftops.
The roof they hid on was not very tall, but gave them a clear view of the city streets along with the Tower of the Sacred Flame in the distance.
"That must be Shen's palace, on the other side of the city." Tigress whispered.
"Looks like it." Leonardo agreed.
"Yeah, if I were an evil warlord planning on taking over China, I'd totally hang out there." Michelangelo added enthusiastically, earning a smack to the back of the head by Raphael.
"Alright! We march into the palace and proclaim: 'We are the Dragon Warrior, the Ninja Turtles, the Furious Five, and April and Casey, we are here to bring you to justice'!" Po exclaimed.
"Yeah, let's go!" Casey cheered, already pulling out his hockey stick. "I've been itching to hit somethin' all day!"
The panda and the husky were then about to jump over the roof when Mantis and Donatello quickly pulled him.
"What are you two doing?!" Mantis hissed. "This place is crawling with wolves!"
"Think, you morons!" Donnie snapped. "There are innocent lives at stake. If we screw this up, they're all goners!"
"Then we won't screw it up." Raph said, like the answer was obvious.
The group then peered down into the streets, seeing hundreds of wolf soldiers patrolling the streets below, some going on foot while others were mounted on horses.
"Hey," Crane spoke to Po, spotting a particular wolf in the streets, "isn't that the guy who hammered you in the face?"
Po looked down to where Crane was looking, spotting the Boss Wolf down in the streets.
The panda glared at him. "I do not like that guy."
Tigress quickly placed her paw on his shoulder to stop him. "We need to get to that tower without being spotted."
"Tigress is right." Leo agreed. "We go in, full ninja mode, guys."
Nodding to each other, the group crept out of sight.
Po snuck through the streets, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible when in actuality, he pretty much stood out like a sore thumb.
He looked up briefly to see the Turtles, the Five, April, and even Casey stealthily leaping from rooftop to rooftop. And to make things a little worse for him, they were already way ahead of him.
Picking up a plant pot, Po used it to try and hide his face in an attempt to 'camouflage' himself.
The problem with that was because the plant was in front of his face, he couldn't really see anything, which resulted in him tripping over another potted plant.
Now laying on his back, Po scooted along the ground, trying to find some form of cover when he found himself being drawn to a familiar scent.
Looking up, Po spotted a small noodle cart in front of him. His hungry urges taking over, Po attempted to reach one of the noodles with his tongue before noticing several more wolf soldiers were on the verge of seeing.
Acting quickly, Po back-rolled behind a market stall, sneaking around the market stalls before crashing into something unseen.
Emerging from behind a kite market and into a fruit one, Po noticed the strands of the kite hanging off of his head like hair.
Just then one of the wolf soldiers came across and looked like he was about to alert the others.
Acting fast, Po held up a random fan he had found, pretending to be a woman as he giggled flirtatiously and wiggled his eyebrows.
This seemed to work as the wolf moved closer to him, looking like was about to put the moves on him when Po dropped the disguise, head-butting the wolf and knocking him out before moving on.
The Turtles, the Five, April, and Casey leapt to another rooftop, peeking over and spotting the Tower of the Sacred Flame in the distance.
"Do you have a plan to get us to the tower, Leo?" April asked.
"Sure do." Leo replied, not taking his eyes off the tower. "First, we lower ourselves down on the ledge, and then-"
"Wait," Tigress interrupted, glancing behind her and noticing one of their group was missing, "where's Po?"
"How can you lose a guy that big?" Mantis questioned incredulously as they all looked around for the panda.
They all heard a rustle in the streets, forcing them to look down to see a large chinese dragon costume sloppily moving through the streets.
It didn't take many brain cells to realize who was in the dragon costume.
Tigress pinched the between her nose in embarrassment, Leo buried his face into his hands in frustration, and Raph facepalmed while the others simply stared, absolutely gobsmacked.
Getting into this dragon costume was hard enough, but actually walking around in it was another problem entirely.
As he shuffled around in the massive costume, Po accidentally bumped into a fireworks stall, causing several of the rockets to spark and erupt into a small bit of chaos.
"Guys! Guys?" Po quietly called out, looking around as much as the opening in the dragon costume mouth allowed him to see as he quickly moved away from the exploding fireworks stall.
"Hey, Po!" Both Mikey and Monkey said popping up behind him.
Startled out of his wits, Po immediately spun around, backhanding both of them across the face, causing them both to yelp in pain as they both held their stinging cheeks.
"Oh, sorry!" Po winced while the others emerged behind them in the costume.
"So that was stealth mode, huh?" Crane said sarcastically.
"Let's be honest, not one of my stronger modes…" Po muttered.
"Heh, pretty dope dragon costume, though." Casey remarked.
"Sure, Jones. It's the epitome of stealth." Raph said sarcastically.
"Let's just keep moving." Leo said with a long-suffering sigh.
Still hiding in the costume, the group made their way through the streets, passing several wolf soldiers harassing many of the citizens of the city while they could do nothing but watch without blowing their cover.
As they moved, Po spotted one of the wolf soldiers harassing a small sheep woman with a bowl of rice in one paw.
"This rice is raw!" The wolf soldier snapped.
"But you stole all my metal pots for Lord Shen!" The sheep cried.
The wolf snarled, throwing the bowl down. "Either you cook my rice, or I cook you!"
"Dudes! We gotta do something!" Mikey cried quietly from inside the costume.
The wolf soldier raised his fist to hit the poor sheep when he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw a giant dragon costume with Po inside its mouth.
"Hey." Po said.
"Hey." The wolf replied, about to turn back when he suddenly registered who he just saw.
Before he could even shout, Po punched the wolf in the face, stunning him, before pulling him into the costume, making it look like the dragon was eating him.
From the outside, a small bunny child watched as the dragon costume jumped and rocked about, with the sounds of loud punching coming from inside the costume before the wolf was expelled from the very back of the costume, unconscious.
The rabbit child let out a bleh of disgust, he was not going to be looking at dragons the same way again.
"We're here to liberate the city and bring Shen to justice." Po told the sheep woman.
"You will need help." The sheep said.
"Thank you, brave sheep," Po said, misinterpreting what she was saying, "but it's too dangerous. I can't let you-"
"Oh no, not me." The sheep said. "It's not safe to speak here."
"Oh, right." Po nodded before picking up the sheep woman in the dragon costume's mouth (to which the bunny child ran away screaming upon seeing).
"I'm talking about Masters Ox and Croc." The sheep whispered. "They're in Gongmen Jail at Black Dragon Alley."
The Turtles, Po, and the Five's eyes all widened at that bit of news.
"What?! They're still alive?!" Po gasped. "They must be in that jail gathering intelligence, hatching a plot to use their awesomeness to defeat the weapon! Okay, let's go!"
Po was about to put the sheep down before Leo suddenly stopped him.
"Wait," Leo said, "do you know anything about this new partner that Shen's been working with?"
The sheep woman shifted uncomfortably, glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching. "I can't tell you much, all I know is that they call themselves the Kr-"
"Hey! Stop that costume!"
The group stiffened as they heard the Boss Wolf barking orders and rapid sounds of footsteps approaching them.
"Thanks, sheep. But we gotta go!" Po said quickly, putting down the sheep woman before the group took off in the costume while the wolf soldiers pursued them.
"Right!" Raph shouted.
"Left!" Crane exclaimed.
"Forward!" April said.
"Go back! Go back!" Casey cried.
"Faster!" Monkey said.
"Slow down!" Donnie cried.
"This way!" Tigress yelled.
"No, that way!" Mantis retorted.
"Which way?" Mikey cried.
"Would you guys just go?!" Leo shouted.
As they ran in the costume, they bumped into a large cart of apples, forcing them to scramble up and over the cart in a hurry.
"Take that!" Viper said as they all used the tail of the costume to push the cart of apples down on the wolves.
They crashed through several more carts and boxes in a hurry, taking a sharp sudden turn as soon as they saw a group of wolves approaching them.
Eventually, they came out into a large portion of the street where they were surrounded by several wolves.
Knowing they had to make a quick getaway, the group used the costume to 'eat' two of the wolves before throwing them out the back into the wolves.
As more wolves came they're way, the costume 'ate' more wolves, throwing more of them out the back into more groups of wolves with Monkey even accidently being thrown out into the street as well as he landed in front of an antelope sweeping the streets.
The two stared at each other before Monkey chuckled sheepishly and rushed back to get under the costume. "Guys, wait for me!" He cried as they continued to run.
Still under the guise of the dragon costume, the group rushed through the streets, trying desperately to get away from the wolves, the city was proving tricky to navigate as the whole place was a bit of a maze.
Eventually the group found themselves cornered in a large market place as they were surrounded by dozens of wolves.
"Aw, man! They got us, dudes! The jig is up, homeslice!" Mikey cried, instantly beginning to panic as he latched onto Raph's arm.
Raph simply responded by clapping his hand over his little brother's mouth to shut him up.
Po looked around, trying to formulate a plan in his head when he spotted something right next. "Hold up! I've got an idea."
Outside, the wolves all surrounded the dragon costumes armed with swords while the Boss Wolf took point.
"Now!" He yelled. And on his command, all the wolves began stabbing at the costume with their swords. "Gotcha!"
The Boss Wolf then yanked off the costume, expecting to see his newly fallen foes…
… only to find that the swords had pierced several cabbage crates instead of flesh.
"My cabbages!" A nearby bystander cried.
"Spread out, search everywhere!" Boss Wolf ordered furiously.
As the wolves scattered in their search, they failed to notice a large pile of barrels nearby shuffling slightly, several pairs of eyes peeking out of holes in the barrels.
"Now's our chance. Go, go go go!" Leo whispered from inside his barrel.
Quietly, the group snuck away under the cover of the barrels, sneaking behind a corner into another alleyway.
Unfortunately, Po found himself unable to see his barrel as he quickly toppled over. And to make things even worse, Mikey wasn't having much luck either as he stumbled around in his barrel before tripping over Po.
The noise almost drew the wolves attention if Mantis hadn't pushed them both away and into the alley.
Mikey crawled out of his barrel shaking his head of dizziness while Tigress quickly placed her paw on Po's barrel to stop him from rolling, the others having discarded their barrels as well.
"We must be close." Po said, still in his barrel. "I can feel a kung fu chill riding up my spine."
Viper then slithered out from Po's barrel. "Sorry, Po, it's just me." She said sheepishly.
Tigress looked up, spotting a hanging sign outside a large building. "Look!" She said, pointing out what the sign said. "Gongmen Jail."
Scooting along the wall, Leo peaked around the corner to the entrance of the prison, spotting two wolves standing guard.
"There's two wolves guarding the entrance." Leo reported quietly.
Donnie hummed as he observed the area, making several calculations in his mind. "Not to mention with this narrow entrance-way, along with it being in direct sunlight, it's not going to be easy to get inside without attracting attention."
"So how do we get in?" Casey questioned.
Po glanced down at Mantis who still had his barrel on him.
He grinned as another idea popped into his head.
The two wolves guarding the doors stood by the wooden entrance. Guarding the prison was soooo boring. Why couldn't they have gotten the guarding positions at the Tower of the Sacred Flame. Guess someone had to guard the prisoners.
Just then, the two wolves spotted a small barrel roll up to them seemingly out of nowhere.
"Aw, it's cute." One of the wolf guards said as he and his partner stared down at the barrel.
There was a brief silence… before the barrel suddenly exploded as Mantis grabbed both wolves and spun them around in the air.
"Cute?!" Mantis yelled indignantly as he threw them both into the wall before tossing two barrels onto them.
After unlocking the door, Tigress and Crane quickly moved in first, the bird master kicking one guard away while Tigress tackled one wolf before sweeping another off his feet.
As the others came down into the prison, Po quickly backhanded the last wolf without even looking at him.
"Nice work, Po." Tigress complimented him.
"Gotta say, for a city that's as uptight as it is, you'd think there'd be a lot more security here." Raph remarked, noting the surprising lack of guards in what was supposed to be the city's prison.
Viper hummed. "Raph does have a point, you guys. People don't leave a prison with barely any guards just because things are going well."
Casey then peered over the deck, noticing that the many cells and cages around them were seemingly all vacant. "This place looks completely empty." He said. "You'd think there'd be a lot more prisoners here, yo."
April furrowed her brow. "Maybe they're-" She stopped mid-sentence, placing a paw on her forehead as she groaned, her head ringing with the familiar throb of her powers.
Immediately, everyone's attention was drawn to her.
"April, you okay?" Donnie asked in concern, allowing her to lean on him until the throbbing in her head went away.
April's eyes then suddenly snapped open wide in a panic. "Something's coming! Hide!"
A bit confused, the group each hid themselves behind several boxes in the shadows. Seconds later, they heard a low humming sound enter the room as it got closer and closer.
The group then each peeked out from their hiding spots and the Turtles, April, and Casey's eyes widened at what they saw.
"Impossible…" Raph murmured.
"It can't be…" Leo quietly gasped.
"It…" Donnie almost choked. "It's… a Kraang security orb."
And indeed, right there hovering in the air was a small Kraang device about the shape and size of a beach ball as it floated by, scanning the area with a sweeping pink light.
"You guys know what that… thing is?" Monkey questioned as he, Po, and the rest of the Five gazed at the orb in surprise, having never seen anything like it before.
"Yeah, but I sure we wish we didn't." Mikey whimpered fearfully.
"Why?" Mantis questioned. "It's kinda just a big floating ball."
As if on cue, the security orb suddenly let out a loud beeping sound and snapping open to reveal a whole array of blasters before it began rapidly firing laser bolts around their area, forcing them all to shrink back behind their hiding spots to avoid being blasted.
A few seconds later, the blasting stopped but the security continued to hover with its blasters out, just itching to fire again.
"Oh, now I see." Mantis whispered, eyes wide as he looked at the scorch marks that painted the walls.
Leo looked to Mikey, silently giving several hand signals that the orange clad turtle surprisingly understood.
The orange clad turtle then pulled out one of his nunchaku, extending it into a kusarigama chain.
At Leo's signal, Mikey rushed out from behind their hiding spot, throwing his kusarigama chain around and wrapping it around the security orb.
Before the orb even got a chance to fire, Mikey yanked the orb onto the deck.
"Casey!" Leo called over to the husky vigilante.
"Goongala!" Casey yelled, whipping out his make-shift taser and jabbing the security orb with it, sending an electrical surge through the Kraang device before it most likely short-circuited.
With the dust settled, the others came out from behind the hiding spot as they gazed at the fallen security orb.
"How could Shen and his goons get their hands on Kraang tech?" Casey questioned.
"Do you know these 'Kraang' beings?" Tigress asked.
"Yeah, some old friends of ours." Donnie replied. "Some we hoped to never see again."
"Long story short, they're aliens from another dimension that tried to take over the world, but we stopped them." Raph summed up.
Po and the Five blinked at the red clad turtle in surprise.
"Aliens?" Viper questioned, sounding quite stunned.
"I knew it!" Po exclaimed. "I knew aliens were real."
"So, wait, how did you know this thing was coming, April?" Mantis asked.
The young human-turned lioness shifted slightly uncomfortably. "That's the thing, I'm… actually part Kraang." April revealed.
Po, Tigress, Viper, Crane, Monkey, and Mantis now all openly stared at April with wide eyes at that little tidbit of information.
"So like, did your mother and a Kraang meet in an inn and…" Monkey started to ask.
"No! Goodness, no!" April quickly said. "The Kraang have actually been experimenting on my bloodline since my great-grandfather. That's why I was able to sense the Kraang security orb."
"Woah, so you're psychic?" Po gasped.
"Pretty much." April replied.
Donnie shifted his gaze back to the destroyed Kraang security orb. "Well, looks like we know who Shen's new partner is."
"Sure does." Leo muttered before speaking up. "Alright, we spread out and search for masters Ox and Croc. Mikey, Monkey, Crane, you guys keep watch. Alert us if anyone comes in."
"You got it, Leo." Monkey grinned, giving the blue clad turtle a thumbs-up. "At the first sign of trouble, I'll give you a signal: Ka-kaw! Kee-kee!"
"You mean like Crane does?" Po asked.
"Yeah." Monkey replied as Leo, Po, Raph, Donnie, Tigress, April, Viper, and Mantis hopped over the railing and into the cell arena.
"Excuse me, when have I ever made that noise?" Crane asked a little indignantly.
Mikey snickered, folding his arms back to resemble wings while bending over to mimic a chicken's posture. "He sounds more like this: Co-caw! Co-caw!"
Monkey roared with laughter while Crane gave the party turtle a flat look.
Down below in the cell arena, the others searched each cell, searching for Ox and Croc.
"So what are we gonna do when we find 'em? Invite them back to the Jade Palace for noodles?" Raph asked sarcastically.
"That's a good question." Donnie pointed out. "We still have the Kraang and Shen's new weapon to worry about."
"Master Ox?" Po called out, searching one empty cell. "Master-"
He immediately halted when he finally spotted a melancholy Master Croc leaning on his cell door in a darkened part of the room.
"Oh, the ferocious Master Croc!" Po gasped, rushing over to his cell before spotting another figure in the same cell as Croc. "And Master Storming Ox!" The panda almost squealed excitedly as the others rushed up to the cell. "I can't believe we're rescuing actual legends of kung fu. We're gonna free you from those bonds of injustice, no problem!"
Po then grabbed the bars to the cell door and attempted to pull it open. "Gotta be a key around here… no they wouldn't leave a key around here…"
"He-yeah!" Tigress yelled as she palm-struck the bars, knocking the door off its hinges.
"Oh great, you found it!" Po exclaimed while Tigress simply smirked a little at him. "Alright, let's go!" He said as he excitedly began to head for the nearest exit. "We're coming for you, Shen! Woo-hoo! Wahohohooooo…"
He then turned back and faltered when he noticed the two imprisoned masters made no move to leave their now open cell. "... woo?"
Leo, Po, Tigress, Raph, Donnie, Viper, Mantis, April, and Casey all exchanged confused glances.
"Hey… um, are you coming or not?" Viper questioned.
"Do you want to meet us there later?" Po added. "I mean, you do want to take back your city, right?"
"Of course we do." Ox replied as he and Croc picked up the door and pushed it back into its place. "But if we stand up to Shen, he and his Kraang allies will turn the weapon on the city!"
Po, Leo, Tigress, Raph, Donnie, Viper, April, Mantis, and Casey all collectively blinked, stunned beyond belief.
"Say wha?" Mantis asked, breaking the brief silence.
"Y-you're just giving up?" April questioned, making sure she heard right.
"Listen to yourself! You're protecting Gongmen City by not protecting Gongmen City?" Po said. He then stepped forward to move the door slightly. "If we all fight together-"
He was cut off when the door was shoved back into its place by Ox. "Then the weapon and the Kraang would kill… everyone!" Ox yelled.
"But we've beaten the Kraang before!" Raph retorted. "And we can do it again!"
"Oh, and would the weapon kill everyone?" Po added. "Then we'll use…" Ox swung the door, attempting to shove po away again, only for the panda to dodge and sideline into the cell. "... a sneak attack! We'll get inside, and then-"
"And then you will be stopped…" Croc interrupted as he and Ox pushed Po back out of the cell, Ox chopping the central bars and forcing the two halves into the door frame, fixing the door in place. "... by the unstoppable weapon!"
"Nothins' unstoppable to Casey Jones!" Casey said cockily.
"Yeah, and nothing's unstoppable except for me when I'm stopping you from telling me something's unstoppable!" Po stated.
Donnie lightly facepalmed at Po's statement. "What should we save first? China, kung fu, or your grammar?" He asked sarcastically.
Po proceeded to ignore the purple clad turtle, leaping at the door and causing it to swing horizontally, shoving Ox out.
Snorting, Ox quickly pushed himself back in while Croc was accidently swept outside, leaving the crocodile master awkwardly sitting in front of the others while Po and Ox faced off inside the cell.
"Master Ox," Po said, taking a stance, "I'm not letting you stay in this cell!"
Ox scoffed. "I'd like to see you get me out!" He then grabbed Croc's tail and pulled him back in, catapulting Po outside with the swinging door.
Tigress quickly caught the panda while he was upside down, coolly turning him the right way up before she spun him around to face the cell.
Po shakingly pointed at her with an awed expression. "You guys see that?" He said. "It's called being awesome. Come on, whatever happened to being heroes?" He then leapt back into the cell, tring to force Ox and Croc out.
"The only hero in this town is a dead one!" Croc said before the three of them got caught on the spinning door.
They spun around on the door for a few seconds before Po was flung away, crashing into the wall while Ox and Croc got off and fixed the door shut.
"Like I said, you are not getting us out of this cell!" Ox exclaimed.
He and Croc turned to go to their beds when they suddenly realized they were standing outside of their cell while Po was inside their cell.
"Oh." Ox muttered as the door to the cell door fell over, crumbling to pieces.
Po laughed triumphantly. "Yes! Haha, woohoo! Alright, let's go!"
However, the panda's triumph quickly faded as Ox and Croc walked into the opposite cell behind them.
"I get the top bunk." Croc said as he and Ox shut the cell door, locking themselves in the cell.
"So that's it?" Raph questioned, his anger rising. "You're not even gonna try? You're just gonna give up when all these people are counting on you?!"
"We did try. We did make a stand, and look where that got us." Ox stated firmly. "It's time to surrender, turtle. Kung fu… is dead."
Those very words shocked everyone to their core. For the next minute or so, the group was stunned silent.
Leo narrowed his eyes at the two discouraged masters. "If you want to stay here and remain prisoners for the rest of your days while all of China burns to the ground, that's your choice." He said calmly, keeping his frustration in check. "But wouldn't you rather die on your feet than rot away in a cell?"
Ox and Croc briefly glanced at the blue clad turtle before looking away.
"Y-you… w-woo… kung fu is… de-eaah… fine!" Po exclaimed. "Stay in your prison of fear, with bars made of hopelessness… and all you get are three square meals a day of… shame!"
"... With despair for desert." Croc muttered.
"We'll take on Shen," Po stated dramatically, "and prove to all those hungry for justice… and honor… that kung fu still lives!"
"Yeah…" One of the prisoners in another cell said unenthusiastically.
Noticing his friends' unimpressed and confused looks, Po yelled, "Are you with me?!"
Raph rolled his eyes. "Lamest. Speech. Ever. But, I'm with you." He said with a determined grin.
"Me too." Leo added.
"Me three." Donnie said.
"As am I." Tigress said with a soft smile.
"We're all in this together." April said, Viper, Mantis, and Casey all nodding in agreement.
Po nodded with a determined grin. "Then let's do this."
But before they could move out, the doors to the cell arena burst open as the Boss Wolf and two other wolf soldiers came in, snarling their teeth as they glared at them.
Done. Now I gotta say, this chapter was really fun to write. And one of the ones I was looking forward to writing the most. Stay tuned for the inevitable chase across town!