The Fight for Mikey, Chapter 8

ROUND FIVE: Primetime & Dr. Disappointed

"HE'S A FAN FAVORITE, PROUD PART-TIME DAD, AND PROUD FULL-TIME ANNOYANCE. NOW LET'S HEAR SOME APPLAUSE FOR THE ONE, THE ONLY, PRIMETIME!"

Another turtle flipped down from the tower to land next to Doctor Disappointed, who was whooping and hollering.

"ME!" He winked before holding the mic out and dropping it.

Sparklers went off around the perimeter of the cleared area. Primetime stood up, flipped his mask tails over his shoulder, and turned to his partner. He pulled a pair of orange triangular glasses from his pocket, flicked them open, and placed them on his face. "Give it to me straight Doc, how bad are we gonna crush the competition tonight?"

Doctor Disappointed pulled a clipboard out of thin air and flipped through its pages, "According to these projections, this fight will be disappointingly short."

"Ah, that's a shame. I wanted to put on a show."

Primetime was in baggy shorts with a large blue shirt pulled over his shell. His neck was covered in flashy necklaces, and he had a baseball cap flipped sideways on his head. His arms had the same black wrappings Donatello had, with matching ones on his legs which ended below the knee. Doctor Disappointed had similar leg wraps but had placed black knee pads with sad faces stitched into them in orange over his own knees.

Both turtles looked vastly different from the other two they had fought. Neither were as large or pointy as Red Reign, but each had more body markings than Donatello. Primetime's red stripes seemed to almost glow in the dark, with some yellow stripes just visible on his upper arms. The doctor had orange and yellow dots covering his own thighs.

"This is Evil-Leonardo?" Leo whispered to himself. The supposed mastermind didn't seem all that intimating, Leo couldn't even see any weapons on him.

"Yep." Red Reign answered. Leo jumped, having expected him to have left already. Red Reign leaned down a little lower and whispered, "Just be glad we talked him out of wearing his Lou Jitsu jumpsuit."

"Alrighty! Raph! Count us down!"

Red Reign moved to the small opening they had come through. He stepped through and then leaned his head back in.

"THE ROUND WILL BEGIN IN THREE, TWO, ONE!"

Red pulled himself back out and Leo turned in time to see the duo had jumped down from their container and was charging them. Both of them were holding blue swords. Where did those come from?

They hit halfway between their starting point and Leo's team when there was a flash. Both of them had switched places. Leo had prepared himself for Primetime's katana strike and was now dodging Doctor Disappointed's glowy chain. Leo's team struggled to recover.

Casey landed hard on his back as Primetime kicked his legs out from under him with a wink. Primetime caught Raph's sais on his single katana.

"What are you smirking at!" Raph growled at him.

"You are so short. It's adorable really."

Raph threw himself at Primetime again. Primetime calmly dodged and created a second blade out of thin air, bringing it up to deflect April's tessan.

Casey pulled himself off the ground and started shooting pucks at Primetime. Primetime couldn't dodge four weapons and several projectiles at once, resulting in him backing up and swiping at the air. Suddenly the whole arena lit up in pale blue light. Casey paused and looked around to see dozens of large blue circles in the air.

Primetime kicked Raph into one of the circles. Raph disappeared and came out one on the other side of the arena, where he fell right into another one, and another one. Casey watched as Raph bounced around like a pinball.

Primetime kicked April into another circle, and she joined Raph.

Casey held his hockey stick out in front of him, trying to keep Primetime out of kicking range.

Donnie's bo was wrapped by the doctor's chain, pulling the bo and Donnie into the air before meeting the ground again. He heard the woosh of either Raph or April rushing past his head yet again.

He was pulled to the left, and this time swung into Leo. The chain released Donnie only to wrap around them both, leaving them tied back-to-back.

There was an awful screeching noise, and both Donnie and Leo looked to their sides to see Doctor Disappointed grab the edge of a shipping container and toss it at them like it was a lightweight throw pillow. Donnie and Leo shut their eyes and screamed.

There was a loud thud and the sound of rattling metal. Donnie opened one eye. The container had landed several feet in front of them. They sighed in relief.

The doctor appeared on the top of the container and jumped down. Suddenly both Raph and April fell out of the air, landing beside them. There was several clicking sounds and Donnie looked up to see a projector had been placed across from the container, using its wall as a screen. The doctor stood next to the screen and help up a remote. The projector was now showing a slide saying "HOW NOT TO TREAT OTHER PEOPLE".

The doctor wacked the wall with a pointing stick. "Hello everyone, and thank you for attending today's seminar! I'm your lecturer today, Doctor Disappointed. Does anyone know why you've been called here?"

Raph and April were still groaning on the ground. Donnie looked over his shoulder to Leo, who was just as lost and confused as Donnie.

"Uhhh… no?"

The doctor shook his head in, well, disappointment. "You all need more help than I realized."

Casey had backed himself into the maze of containers, hoping to lose Primetime. Primetime had casually followed him in there, like they were both on a stroll. Casey could hear the nonsense Primetime had been talking about coming from the container to his left.

"-and then Big Mama just let us walk out of there. And that's the story of how I saved Hueso's relationship with his brother. What about you, Casey Numero Tres? Got any siblings?"

Casey screamed. That last sentence came from right above his head. Whirling around Casey saw Primetime laying on the top of the container on his stomach with his face cupped in his hands, kicking his feet back and forth behind him.

When Raph was finally able to gauge his surroundings again, he saw his brothers chained together and Alternate-Mikey droning on like a teacher. He lifted his head a little and saw April, who was curled in a ball and looking ill. Raph slowly followed his brothers' eyes and saw a picture of Mikey eating pizza being projected onto a wall.

Mikey!

Mikey seemed relaxed and happy in the photo, which was clearly taken in this dimension. He was smiling and looked to be in the middle of his happy dance.

"Dude stop screaming."

"No!"

Primetime slid half off the container, hooking his knees on the edge as he hung upside down. His hat fell off and his shirt rode up a bit. Casey could now confirm Primetime's plastron looked like Evil-Donnie's and Not-So-Evil-Raph's. Like a very well-defined human chest.

Stop it Casey! Win the round, get Mikey, go home, then have a freak out. Casey felt his face get warm anyways. He desperately searched for a distraction, "You can make portals, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why haven't you captured me yet?"

"Honestly? That just takes all the fun out of messing with you guys."

"Huh?"

"Have you guys seriously not figured it out yet?"

"Figured out what?!"

"Oh geez, you guys need more help than I thought."

"Raphael!"

"What? What I do?"

Raph had finally managed to push himself into a sitting position while the doc was telling Donnie how disappointed he was that Donnie was only averaging five hours of sleep a night.

"How do you feel about the fact your brother is neglecting his well-being?"

"Uhh…"

"Seriously! Fine! Fine, I'll ask a easier question. Why did you come here, to my world, tonight?"

"To get Mikey back."

"Yes! Okay keep the ball rolling, why do you want Mikey back?"

"Because you stole him!"

"Andddd now we're back to slide one." The doc lifted his remote and flipped the presentation back to the beginning. "How Not To Treat Other People, for example right now Raph is placing blame instead of examining his own feelings-"

"Feelings! What do feelings have to do with the fact you kidnapped someone!"

"-which can eventually wear down a person. Tell me Raph, how often do you blame other people?"

"That's none of your business!"

"Ahh, another example. Here Raph is lashing out to hide his real feelings. This too can wear a person down." The doc flipped to a slide with Mikey, this time he was playing a board game. "Especially when someone cannot figure out the feelings that are being expressed, in this case anger, are not the true feelings. If you are worried constantly, and express that worry through anger, then that person just thinks you don't like them."

Leo attempted to raise a hand.

"Yes Leonardo."

"What if you're really busy, and keep brushing someone off, to the point they stop asking? Do they understand you are busy or are they taking your disinterest of hanging out as 'I don't like you'?"

"Leo why are you humoring this guy?!"

"Excellent question Leo! That is entirely possible yes. Making time to do things with or for that person could show them that you do in fact like them, you just don't have the time to always spend with them."

Casey had run off into the maze again. Something whizzed past his head and imbedded itself in one of the container walls. A sword? Who throws a full on sword?

"Ha! You missed!" Casey called over his shoulder.

"Did I now?"

Primetime appeared in front of Casey. He was on top of the sword in a squat and leaning over to put his head at the same height as Casey's, smirking. Casey yelled and skidded to a stop.

Primetime covered his ears. "Seriously dude, quit it with the screaming. I'm surprised your voice hasn't given out yet."

Casey swung his hockey stick like a bat at Primetime, who simply flipped off his sword perch and landed behind Casey.

Casey thrusted his hockey stick at Primetime's head, who just leaned back extra far to avoid it. Primetime summoned himself two more swords and used them to push the stick away. Casey swung again and Primetime caught the stick between his blades. Casey looked at his face in time to see Primetime's eye stripes begin glowing. Suddenly Casey was pushed back twenty feet or so.

Casey charged Primetime in confusion. Primetime spun his swords around his wrists in a move Casey had to admit made him look really cool. Primetime ran towards him first in a straight line, then sideways on the container walls. Primetime leapt at Casey, who barely got his stick up in time to block.

Casey was pushed up against a container, and in desperation headbutted Primetime. Primetime backed up immediately.

"Hey! Watch the face! This is my money maker! Looking this good might look effortless but its not!"

Casey stood there in confusion as Primetime waved at his face.

Casey aimed another hit at his head and Primetime made squawking noise. "No respect! Is this why you don't have any teeth?! Because you don't respect the No Face Shot rules?"

Casey kept swinging at his head. Primetime grabbed Casey's arm and threw him over the container walls.

Doctor Disappointed flipped to another slide. Raph groaned from his new spot next to Leo, where he had been chained up after trying to stab the doc.

Casey had started walking again. This time Primetime kept pace with him on top of the containers, drinking from a juice box. Primetime checked the time on his phone, "Okay, time to wrap this up."

A portal opened next to Casey. Primetime jumped down and grabbed Casey's arm, dragging them both in.

Casey staggered but Primetime kept him standing. Casey looked down and saw all his teammates sitting on the ground.

"Did we lose?"

Everyone yelped, having not noticed they were there. April threw a tessan on instinct, which clipped the edge of Primetime's leg.

Primetime went down with a shout. He grabbed his leg and threw his head back "I've been hit!"

Primetime gasped before going limp in the dirt. Doctor Disappointed ran and fell at his side. Primetime spoke quietly "I- I see the light."

"DON'T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT!"

"But it calls to me. It's so pretty. So-" Primetime stretched a hand towards the sky "-near."

"NO! PRIMETIME DON'T LEAVE ME!"

Primetime dropped his hand to the doctor's cheek, "avenge me…"

He went still.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Donnie watched the drama unfold in disbelief. Alternate-Leo was seriously giving himself his own death scene. Over a scratch.

Donnie reached out and poked the doctor with the end of his bo, and the doctor wailed.

"I'VE BEEN IMPALED!"

He fell back into the dirt. "I'm sorry Primetime, I could not avenge you…"

He went still and the horns went off.

"Okay what just happened?!"

A portal opened up next to their 'fallen' opponents, and a new announcer came over the speakers.

"PLEASE ENTER THE PORTAL ON THE LEFT OF THE ARENA. THIS WILL TAKE YOU TO YOUR NEXT FIGHT. THANK YOU."

Raph and April backed away, "There's no way I'm going in there."

Leo took a deep breath and jumped through. Donnie and Casey following. After a moment there was a hand on Raph's shoulder, and he turned to see Doctor Disappointed's grinning face. Doctor Disappointed tossed April and Raph into the portal like sacks of flour.

Raph landed on a tile floor. Raph looked around, they seemed to be in a locker room. His brothers and Casey were gathered around one of the benches which was set up like a miniature snack bar. Casey shoved a handful of M&Ms in his mouth as Donnie rushed over to help April up off the ground. Leo was holding up a piece of paper, reading aloud.

"Congratulations, you have made it to the semi-finals. Take a moment to rest and refresh. When you are ready for your next fight enter the room across the hall."

The room across the hall was some type of gymnasium, with bleacher seats and a waxed wooden floor. A small figure stood in the middle of the room.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE SEMI-FINALS! THE NIGHT MIGHT BE DRAWING TO A CLOSE, BUT THINGS ARE JUST STARTING TO HEAT UP HERE." The announcer's voice could now be identified as Primetime's.

"SHE'S A MADMAN WITH A GROWING EMPIRE IN BAKED GOODS, SHE WAS THE SHREDDER'S TOP GENERAL, AND SHE LOVES REALITY TELEVISION. SHE DRINKS THE BLOOD OF HER ENEMIES AND STARS IN THE NIGHTMARES OF HER FRIENDS. EVERYBODY PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR MY PARTNER IN CO-PARENTING, GRANDMA C.J.!"