Ashton slowly staggered into the sewers, and collapsed as she entered the lair. Her back was extremely sore, and her neck was throbbing with pain.
"Oh dear me!" said Pidgina.
Raph and Mikey rushed over and helped her up.
"What happened out there?" asked Mikey as he and Raph laid Ashton down on the couch.
" I don't know. The last thing I remember was meeting up with that assassin guy Ashton was talking about." said Rita.
"You saw him?" asked Leo.
"Yep, and believe me, he's scary looking." said Donny.
"She scratched him, told us to run, so I guess they had a pretty brutal fight." said Rita.
"And she took a thrashin." said Mikey.
Ashton slowly sat up, and winced in pain.
"Lay down, rest." said Splinter. "You have had quite a battle."
"But I didn't lose." said Ashton. She smiled a little. "I gave 'im heck."
Raph smirked. "Thatta girl Ash."
"What happened to you?" asked Donny.
"I was thrown up against a brick wall, nearly strangled to death, and thrown to the ground."
"Like, whoa." said Shelly.
"Yeah." Ashton smirked. "And I thought falling out of a tree in the rainforest was bad."
"Well, let me get you some pain killers, you just lay here and rest." said Rita.
Ashton settled down on the couch.
Later on in the day, Venus had woken up from her weakened state.
Her solemn expression as she entered the living room was all it took to get everyone's attention.
"What's the matter Venus?" asked Mikey.
"I fear I have bad news." said Venus.
Leo came out of her room, looking just as distraught. "Very bad news."
"What? What?" Shelly asked impatiently, and nervously.
"We know what Dragon Lord is planning." said Venus.
Master Splinter took a deep breath. "Go on."
Leo sighed deeply as he and Venus exchanged looks. Then they began telling what they've heard.
"Awful! Simply awful!" exclaimed Pidgina after the explanation was done.
"How did they find a remote laboratory that still manufactures the ooze? Better yet, why is it still being manufactured?!" asked an extremely puzzled Donny.
"We don't know." said Venus.
"This ain't good man. They drink that stuff, they'll be almost as tough as me!" said Raph.
Cori hit him upside the head. "Tell your ego to take a hike huh?"
Raph just looked at her as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Those dragons will be tougher than all of us put together!" said Mikey.
"That like, really sucks." said Shelly. "Ohmygosh, they're gonna like, eat us! Euww! That's sooo scary."
"So let me get this straight." said Rita, thinking very hard. "The dragons have found an old laboratory where a former T.G.R.I. scientist is still manufacturing the same ooze that transformed us all. Am I correct so far?"
Venus nodded.
"Okay, so, they plan on going to this laboratory, taking over it, ingesting the ooze while forcing the scientist to continue making more, and conquering all who stand in their way of world domination."
"That's pretty much the plan." said Leo.
"So where does this Schiam guy come in?" asked Ashton, who was feeling a bit better by now.
"Well, since you're the most agile, and fight much differently, and often stronger than the dragons do; you'd get in the way. You'd get in the way of the invasion of the laboratory as well." said Venus.
"Ah gee, great." Ashton sighed. "I shoulda stayed in Brazil." she mumbled as she laid back on the couch, still woozy from the pain killers.
Everyone sat around, nervous and confused.
Splinter took a look at everyone. "Why are you all just sitting there on your shells?"
Everyone looked up at him.
"Make a plan." said Splinter. "We have never let the Dragon Lord defeat us before, and we are not going to start now."
"Master's right. We can't give up without a fight." said Ashton. "I mean, I've been knocked against brick walls and nearly strangled to death, but I'm still ready to go at it all over again."
Raph nodded. "I think we all need to take Ash's attitude. Dragon Lord ain't done nothin yet except hire this assassin guy, and that guy ain't after us. We can still go out there and take care of business."
Rita smiled knowingly. "And I think I have some great ideas."
