A/N: Hey all, I am back from Thanksgiving. I appreciate the reviews! This one was a lot longer than I originally planned, so I apologize for it taking so long. It originally was going to be published early Saturday. Nevertheless, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Aerrow was accompanied by Junko, Stork, Radarr and Shinigami.

"Aerrow?" Donnie said, confused.

"Shinigami?" April said, even more confused as to why Shinigami was there with them.

"Hands up!" Aerrow continued moving closer. He then got a whiff of them.

"On second thought, put them back down." Aerrow said before lowering the staff.

"It's good to see you guys again." Holding out a hand for Leo to shake. Leo took it.

"I could say the same to you. How did you guys get here?" Leo asked.

"A better question is how did you even find us?" Raph asked.

"Some of your friends told us where we'd probably find you guys." Aerrow responded. "I'll explain everything once we're back at the safehouse. I'll take you there."

They accepted his offer and followed him.

April whispered to Leo. "I read their minds. They're alright." April said, deciding to take a look into their minds to make sure they weren't lying or being controlled.

They continued to traverse the rooftops, out of sight of the guards. Several posters or electronic boards were seen filled with Cyclonian propaganda.

One large billboard said, "Cyclonia needs you! Join the Cyclonian army today!"

Another, with Dark Ace standing proudly in front of a skimmer said, "Become a pilot under the coveted Dark Ace. Learn from the best!"

Other billboards, signs and posters still had their normal promotions or advertisements even before the Cyclonians took over.

Aerrow saw the poster with Dark Ace and looked at it with disgust. People from the outside may be fooled, but Aerrow knows the real personality of the Dark Ace, and it's nothing close to what that poster portrays him as.

"We're almost there." Shinigami said. They're led to a safehouse very close to where the docks were.

They get to a door and Shinigami presses buttons on a keypad. Six buttons were pressed in a sequence that sounded like the 2012 and 1987 TMNT theme, particularly the "Heroes in a Half Shell" segment. The door opened, but it seemed like any other safehouse. Tools, a car, a pretty small box TV, etc.

Leo and Raph looked at each other, wondering where this was headed.

Using her magic, Shinigami revealed an illusion that revealed an elevator. An eye scanner scanned Shinigami's eyes, she used voice recognition and she entered another code, this time it was a code that read: 4tmos 43ver She then entered yet another code where during her pressing 8 buttons it sounded similar to the 2003 turtles theme, particularly the ending "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!" segment.

They all entered the tube, one by one of course.

Once they got there, it was then that the true lair was revealed. There were two boards, one with a map and another with pictures of several people of interest. There were two sofas, a TV and a gaming console. Test tubes and a pile of crystals were also seen. The turtles and the others continued to look around the lair.

"You've got things locked up pretty tight here." Donnie commented.

"Yes. We've learned from our mistakes since the last time we had a hideout." A voice said, walking into the room with three others.

"Kurtzman!" Leo and the others said simultaneously. The others that accompanied him were Leatherhead, Dr Rockwell and Pigeon Pete.

"It's good to see you all again." Kurtzman said.

"Leatherhead!" Mikey said, giving him a fist bump.

"Doctor." Donnie said, greeting the telekinetic doctor.

"Donatello." Dr. Rockwell greeted back as they shook hands.

"Don't look at me. Don't have any bread for ya." Raph said to Pigeon Pete.

"Aww." Pigeon Pete said, slumping in disappointment.

"I've heard of you. Shinigami right?" Renet asked, finally speaking up now that they were in the safehouse.

Shinigami nodded.

"Renet." She said, greeting herself to them all.

"I've heard a few things, but never got to see you in person." Shinigami responded before looking at the scepter.

Renet noticed her staring at it.

"Oh this. It's the time scepter. Obviously, I can travel through time with it, but it also allows me to manipulate reality itself." Renet said.

"If she can travel time, she can fix all of this, right?" Shinigami asked the others.

"Yes. But sadly, I used the last bit of power the scepter had to travel back to this time period. I'll need to get it recharged before I can use it again." Renet explained.

Leo looked around. When he didn't find who he was looking for he asked, "Where's Slash?"

The other members of the Mighty Mutanimals tensed up a little when he asked about this.

"Come on, let's get you seven caught up on what's happening." Kurtzman said. He knew this was going to come eventually. At least it was happening now so he could get it over with. And the turtles picked it up in his voice. Something was wrong. It was as if the atmosphere around them changed the second Leo asked about their leader.

Kurtzman leads them to another room. In it was a board with several pictures of locations, and people on them. With some of them being faces that they recognized.

Baxter Stockman had a question mark sticky note next to his picture, meaning that his whereabouts were unknown. Same with Xever. Tiger Claw was there but there were no notes or markings on his picture. Kirby O'Neil was marked as missing. Karai had an X over her face. Someone with purple hair that they had never seen before also had a question mark next to her picture, but was also interestingly enough, circled. Irma was also labeled as unknown.

There was also a projector screen to the right of the board.

"I can't tell you when it started, because it was like everything happened in an instant. And I really do mean that when I say it." Kurtzman started.

"For the Kraang, we discovered that they had been trying to terraform the Earth for years. This, it felt like there was no warning when it happened. Out of nowhere, aircrafts were in the skies. Leadership positions were toppled. And even the police force was destroyed and rebuilt. As these four know, they called themselves the Cyclonians. Just like the Kraang they control everything from top to bottom. From leadership, to the media. And the rest of the world has yet to catch on." Kurtzman continued. "Why? Cloaking."

"Master Cyclonis used a cloaking crystal to disguise herself as someone else once. And she almost had us fooled. Until Piper figured out her ruse." Aerrow said. "She's doing the same thing here. On a larger scale with the city of course." Kurtzman turns on his projector to show pictures. One of them showed a large building.

"We believe this is their main base of operations. Which is where the crystal is more than likely located. No other place in this city is more guarded than here." Kurtzman explained. He then goes to another screen showing a man in a suit. He looked to be around Kurtzman's age.

"These are their political figureheads." Kurtzman explained as he transitioned through each picture. Another picture showed to be an African American woman in her mid 20s. Another a Caucasian man in his 30s with straight hair. And two other figures. One a bald African American man and another a Caucasian woman who looked to be the oldest out of all of them. Each of the variety of pictures shown were one or more of the figures speaking to the public, shaking hands with Cyclonian officers or guards, and even meeting with other US officials.

Kurtzman continued to talk as he went through the pictures. "And I use the term figurehead cautiously. If anything, they're puppets. I've asked them a few questions myself and they don't have a single thing they disagree with when it comes to what the Cyclonians are doing. Not a single grievance, gripe, or even a suggestion of what they'd do a little different. In all their addresses to the national media, they claim that everything here's better than it's ever been. But we all know that's a bunch of baloney. The entire atmosphere of this city is different. Sure things are still pretty busy, but if you've lived in this city for a long time, you can tell that something's wrong." Kurtzman said.

"If we're going to stop them, we can forget about turning to the government for help." Shinigami said.

"It's like the Kraang invasion all over again. Talk about déjà vu." Mikey commented.

"When we do plan on stopping them, it's going to have to be soon." Dr. Rockwell said.

Kurtzman changed to a picture of Cyclonian troopers gathering crystals.

"The Cyclonians are planning something big." Kurtzman said.

"We believe they are gathering crystals for a weapon. While we don't know the specifics of what it can do, some of the Foot Ninjas have reports of Cyclonian talk about targeting New Jersey. More than likely as a public trial of whatever they're planning." Shinigami said.

Kurtzman turned off the projector. "And that's all I have for you now. Aerrow and the others will get you caught up with the rest of what's happening here." He said.

"What are you going to do?" Leo asked.

"Me? I'm going to get some rest. Something you all should consider once you're done here." Kurtzman said before leaving the room.

Aerrow turned to the others. "It's a lot to digest. I'll go first." He said.

"Don't worry, we've got time." Raph responded.

"It started sometime after you guys left." Aerrow said.

Flashback to Post "Sky Knights in a Half Shell" (Altered timeline)

Atmos

The Condor

The Storm Hawks were currently in the air, flying over Terra Ray. However, the peace that the squadron had with no missions would end after this.

"I'm getting a distress signal!" Stork called out.

"From where?" Aerrow asked, now on high alert.

"Terra Tasty." Stork replied.

Aerrow raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" He asked.

Stork looked back forward for a second and then turned around. "Can confirm."

They headed to Terra Tasty.

"Dude, if we rescue them, they'll give us so much candy!" Finn said, before shaking Stork. "Full speed ahead man!" He said, pointing ahead.

Stork looked at him for a second, frowning before looking back ahead. "I can't go full speed anything if you're shaking me."

"Oh. Sorry." Finn said, releasing him.

Terra Tasty

After finding a spot for them to land, the Storm Hawks all walk out of the carrier.

They were greeted by a small man with suspenders, a cowboy hat, and a gray mustache. A can e was in his hand.

"Storm Hawks! You're here!" The man said.

"You were expecting us?" Aerrow asked.

"Yes! We have heard stories about your legendary squadron around Atmos. We knew you'd come to help us." The man said. "Follow me. And have some candy!" The man said, tossing candy to them.

The Storm Hawks all followed closely behind. Everyone but Finn chose not to eat the candy, but they took it to avoid hurting the man's feelings.

"So what exactly is happening here? This doesn't seem like a place that anyone would be interested in, let alone the Cyclonians." Aerrow asked.

"Agreed. This place is about as peaceful as Terra Tranqua." Piper commented as she looked around. Everything seemed to be peaceful. People were having casual talks. A couple of buildings were under construction. There were vendors that sold different types of candy. From lollipops, to chocolate, to even candy themed desserts.

"Seems like a great place to go if you want all of your teeth gone." Aerrow whispered to Piper.

"Quiet, he'll hear you! Then we'll never get our candy!" Finn said before quickly walking next to the man.

"So who's the bad guys that need to get taken down?" Finn asked. "Raptors? Cyclonians? In fact, you guys don't even need to lift a finger! I'm gonna take em all out myself! One shot each!" Finn said before making his fingers look like guns. "Pow! Pow! Pow!" He said, as he looked in different directions. He then got lost in his fantasy.

In his fantasy, Finn shot down Cyclonians with his crossbow. Even going so far as taking down a couple that were on skimmers. When Ravess tried to confront him, they both shot crystal tipped arrows. But Finn's went right through Ravess', splitting it in half. The arrow hits a shocked Ravess and stuns her.

Just then, lightning showed up. Dark Ace appeared with the lightning behind him.

"Dark Ace." Fantasy Finn said in a serious tone. Out of character for someone like him.

"You've got to be joking. Aerrow decides to send you instead of fighting me himself?" Fantasy Dark Ace said.

"He didn't. I told him to stay home. I can take care of you no problem." Finn said.

"I'll be sure to send you back to Aerrow myself. In pieces." Dark Ace said immediately using his finisher.

Something then came over Finn. Energy surged around him. And he took that energy and put it into one powerful shot with his crossbow. It obliterated Dark Ace's finisher.

"What? Impossible!" Dark Ace said. He groaned in agony as he was hit by the shot.

Fantasy Finn dusted off his hands before putting his fists on his hips in a proud fashion. "Welp. That was easy."

Suddenly everyone from the Terra cheered him on.

Girls began to surround him.

"Well hello there, ladies." Fantasy Finn said with confidence.

"Oh Finn! You are so brave!" One of them said. Oddly enough, she looked like Lark.

"Thanks. I learned from the best. I couldn't do this all on my own if it wasn't for my good friend Aerrow believing in me." Finn started. Before he could say more, another girl showed up to present him something. It was his head, recreated by all candy.

"Oh, wow! You shouldn't have!" Fantasy Finn said. "This is the best day of my life!"

"Finn! Finn! Finn! Finn! Finn!" The crowd chanted.

"Finn! Finn!" Aerrow said, trying to get his attention.

"Huh? What?" Finn said, snapping back into reality.

"We're here." Aerrow responded.

"The mission? Remember?" Piper asked him when Finn looked as if he didn't know what Aerrow was talking about.

"Wait, you mean all of that wasn't real?" Finn asked to no one in particular.

"If what wasn't real?" Piper asked.

"Aw man!" Finn said, bummed out that his dream wasn't a reality.

"Right. Let's head inside." Aerrow said. He wasn't sure what Finn was going on about, but he decided to just ignore it.

They head inside of the building they were in front of. It looked like a factory. Candy was being made all around them in this factory.

As they walked around and headed upstairs, Aerrow was confused.

"So what exactly is the problem here? You still never told us." Aerrow said.

"Everything looks to be okay." Junko said.

"The problem is simple. It's… you." The man said before zapping Aerrow first.

"Aerrow!" Piper said before she was hit from behind by someone else. Turrets took out Radarr and Junko. And then Finn.

"I'm feeling tired. Can someone hand me…" Junk said before falling unconscious.

"May your rest be…." The old man said before changing back into the Dark Ace. "Unpleasant." He said before laughing as he left and closed the door.

A bomb was set to detonate in 30 minutes. This would give the Cyclonian troopers that were there the time they needed to evacuate.

20 minutes Later

Finn was the first one to wake up. "Oh. Guess that was all just a…" Finn started before noticing that everyone was on the ground, unconscious.

"It wasn't a dream! It was real!" Finn said.

"Guys! Wake up!" Finn said, trying to shake them awake.

"Finn?" Aerrow said, holding his head, confused.

"That old dude! That was really just the Dark Ace! It was a trap!" Finn explained.

"If he's behind this, then something tells me we can't stay here for long. Come on, we've got to get out of here. The door!" Aerrow said as the others woke up.

"But how? They took our weapons!" Junko said realizing that his Knuckle Busters were gone. Along with Finn's crossbow, Aerrow's Twin Energy Blades, and Piper's staff. The door was reinforced with enough metal that no ordinary person could just knock down the door. And it was one way when it came to opening it via the keypad that was on the other side. Meaning that for the Storm Hawks, it looked as if there was no way out.

"Junko, you're strong even without those Knuckle Busters man! Don't you remember the talk we had before? And when you beat Snipe without 'em?" Finn asked Junko.

"Junko, we're counting on you. You're the only one that can get us out of here." Aerrow said.

"Okay. I'll do my best." Junko said, still unsure of himself. He goes over to the door and tries to give it a hard punch. But it wouldn't go down, in fact, he actually hurt himself.

"Ow!" Junko said.

"Come on Big J! Hit that door like you mean it!" Finn said, trying to motivate him.

Junko tries again, harder, but it still doesn't go down.

"Owhowhowow!" Junko said.

"You've gotta hit it harder than that!" Finn said.

"I can't. And besides, that second time felt like it hurt more than the first." Junko said, looking at his hands.

"Junko, if you give up now, the Dark Ace wins. Whatever he's planning, we can't allow it to happen." Aerrow said.

"Hey Junko!" Finn said. Junko turned.

"Yeah buddy?" Junko asked.

"You're a gleep!" Finn said.

"Huh?" Junko said, confused as to why Finn would say that.

"A what?" Piper asked, confused.

Finn whispered to Piper, "Just follow my lead."

"You heard me! You're a gleep!" Finn said, out loud to Junko.

"I know what you're trying to do, but it's just not gonna work. I'm just not strong enough."

"Which is why you're such a gleep!" Finn said, before laughing.

Aerrow takes Finn to the back of the room out of earshot from Junko. "Finn, what are you doing?" Aerrow whispered.

"If we're gonna get outta here, this is how we're gonna do it." Finn told him. "If there's one time you guys should trust me, it's now." Finn said.

Aerrow thought for a few seconds before finally making a decision. "Alright. We'll follow your lead."

"Good. Now the first thing you'll going to have to do is laugh." Finn whispered.

"What?" Aerrow said, confused.

"Laugh like I just told you what gleep means and you found it hilarious." Finn explained.

"This doesn't make any sense." Piper said.

"Do you want to get out of here or not?" Finn asked.

Piper sighs before laughing. Aerrow follows with his own laugh right after.

"So that's what that means! That's hilarious Finn!" Aerrow said.

"What's so funny? I wanna laugh too." Junko said.

"I just told them what gleep means." Finn said.

"Yeah, and it's just hilarious. Why didn't you tell us about this earlier Junko?" Aerrow asked.

"What? That's not funny." Junko said.

"Oh but it is." Piper said, before laughing out loud again.

"And it's funny because it describes you perfectly Junko." Finn said before laughing.

"You can't even open a door without knuckle dusters. And you're supposed to be strong." Aerrow taunted, grinning.

"Aren't wallops supposed to be really strong?" Piper asked.

"Well yeah, but-" Junko started but was interrupted.

"Gleep! Gleep! Gleep! Gleep!" Finn, Piper and Aerrow said, pointing at him.

"Stop that!" Junko said, his feelings clearly hurt knowing that his friends were making fun of him.

"To think that you're even a member of the Storm Hawks." Aerrow said.

"What a weakling!" Finn said.

Finn, Piper, Aerrow and Radarr began to laugh at him.

"Stop it! It's not funny!" Junko said.

"Gleep! Gleep! Gleep!" Finn, Piper, and Aerrow repeated.

"I said…. Stop!" Junko said, looking to try to hit them.

They all go in front of the door.

"Bet you can't hit us!" Piper said.

"Raaah!" Junko said, trying to hit them, but accidentally punches the door, busting it open.

"You think that's funny! I'll show you who's a gleep!" Junko said, pointing at them, clearly angry.

"Junko stop!" Aerrow said.

"Oh no! It's too late for that!" Junko said.

"Junko! The door!" Piper said, pointing behind him.

"Yeah, the door I'm too weak to…" Junko said as he turned around and then realized what they were talking about. "Open."

"Hey! I got it open!" Junko said.

"I knew you could do it buddy!" Finn said. "We just get that strength to come out."

"Couldn't you have just done it some other way? That wasn't funny. You guys are supposed to be my friends." Junko said, his feelings still hurt, even after learning of the reason as to why they did it.

"Okay, maybe that wasn't the best way but nothing else was working!" Finn said.

"Look, we can talk about this later. Right now, we need to get out of here!" Aerrow said.

The Storm Hawks run out of the building. Two minutes later, it explodes.

"Good thing you busted that door down huh buddy?" Finn said to Junko.

Junko turned away from Finn.

"He'll forgive me eventually." Finn said to the others.

"Let's get to the Condor and get out of here." Aerrow said.

The Condor

Dark Ace returned to the front of the Condor, clearly frustrated. The source of his frustration being Stork's traps.

"Enough! This ends now!" Dark Ace said huffing angrily after having to return to the Condor three different times, pulling out his crystal blade.

"No more traps! No more games!" He said as he slowly approached Stork. Two Cyclonian guards slowly approached him.

"We're finally here, sir." A guard said, one walking slowly, while the other crawls, trying to get up.

The one that was walking unknowingly steps on the Storm Hawks platform again.

"Oh." The guard said, before being ejected away by Stork, he yells as he is launched off the carrier.

Dark Ace looks upward as the guard flies away. He shakes his head before saying, "You know you can't fight me. Any last words?" Dark Ace said. He wasn't even in a mood to grin in the face of a victory. He was tired, irritated and frustrated. Even more than he'd like to admit out loud.

"Oh I know I can't fight you. But they can." Stork said in a cool manner. A calm expression was on his face.

Dark Ace turns. The Storm Hawks were behind him. Due to Junko's heavy Knuckle Busters requiring equipment to even be able carry as multiple troopers attempted, and miserably failed to carry, the Storm Hawks were able to catch up to the troopers and take back their weapons.

"It's over Dark Ace. You've lost." Aerrow said.

"You may have won the battle, but you haven't won the war." Dark Ace said before escaping. He flies off via his glider. "Until next time, Storm Hawks." He said out loud as he was in the air.

"That was easy." Finn commented.

"Too easy." Aerrow said. "The Dark Ace doesn't give up that easy. Something's wrong."

"Do you think we should follow him?" Piper asked.

"If we follow him, it'll probably be to a trap. But we don't have that many other options." Aerrow said.

Cyclonia

The Condor lands, with oddly no resistance to stop them. They are eventually met by Ravess.

"Ravess. We know this isn't all you've got. What's the endgame?" Piper asked.

"You won't be around to figure it out!" Ravess said, aiming and firing. The Storm Hawks were able to make quick work of the Cyclonian forces.

"It's over. Now where's the Dark Ace?" Aerrow asked.

Ravess only smiled before suddenly disappearing, to the confusion of Aerrow. Some of the other Cyclonian forces began to disappear as well.

"Heh heh." A cyclonian guard said, wielding an orange crystal.

"A warp crystal!" Piper said. Junko knocks out a guard next to him but it falls into Piper's hands. She was the first to be teleported away.

"Piper!" Aerrow said. "Quick, grab those crystals before they all disappear!"

Aerrow was the first to do so. Finn next, but before he could disappear, a guard hit him with a blast from his scepter, causing him to drop it. It began to bounce before going harmlessly on the ground. Before one of them can get it, a guard kicks it on accident, as he was fighting with Radarr for the crystal who was all over his face. The guard bobbles it but it was ultimately taken by Radarr, holding it triumphantly as the guard falls on the ground. The guard gets up after a couple of seconds but before he can grab Radarr he disappears.

Aerrow tosses a crystal to Stork. "Here ca-" Aerrow couldn't even finish before he disappeared, before he wanted to do so.

"Can I at least take the Condor?" Stork says before sighing. Before he knew it, he and the Condor were gone.

Finn and the guard were still fighting over the crystal, but another guard intervened and hit him again, knocking him off a cliff.

"FINNNN!" Junko said, before he becomes angry, socking the guard that knocked Finn off. He also hits the guard that Finn was fighting with over the crystal off the cliff as well along with another before getting a crystal. Before he could run and check on Finn, he was stunned. But Junko was strong enough to hold onto the crystal and disappear.

Earth

New York

Junko appeared.

"Alright, Junko's here. Now we just need to wait for Finn." Aerrow said.

Junko had a sad look on his face, which the others noticed.

"Junko, where's Finn?" Aerrow said, looking worried.

Junko shook his head.

Junko looks around. "Uh guys, where's Piper?"

Radarr shrugged.

They looked around and noticed the buildings with several Cyclonian symbols.

"Where are we?" Aerrow asked.

End Flashback

"Eventually we met these guys. Though it was a bit of a misunderstanding at first. Considering we were wearing Cyclonian uniforms, like we are now." Aerrow said.

"Knowing that we have a common enemy, we've been working to take back New York." Shinigami said.

"And hopefully find Piper. And a way back home." Aerrow said.

"We were out on a scouting mission. Until we saw what was going on when the Cyclonians were after you." He added.

"We were supposed to meet you guys in the sewer. But we were a little late." Junko added.

"I figured the second place you'd go was the Pizza-Rama." Shinigami said. "And I was right."

"And Karai and Slash?" Leo asked.

Shinigami shook her head.

Flashback

Karai was with Shinigami and several other Foot Ninjas, running across the rooftops. They looked to try and stop the rising Cyclonian Empire that had recently taken over New York.

They saw a group of Cyclonians carting over a shipment of crystals. Along with parts of something being moved from trucks on dallies. The dallies were loading the parts onto another truck.

Karai was the first one to strike. She sliced two guards' scepters in half. Foot Ninjas followed her lead and took out the guards with efficiency, knocking away the weapons that the carriers had.

Shinigami then dropped down to finish off the rest.

"6-2." Shinigami said, smiling.

One of the carriers gets up to try to shoot Shinigami. Karai sees this and throws a shuriken, knocking the gun out of his hand. He runs immediately.

"5-3." Karai said, grinning back at her friend.

Just then, several Cyclonian soldiers appeared. It was an ambush. Snipe drops down from above. Mace in hand, he grins, ready to crack some Foot Clan skulls.

Karai transforms into her snake form, back-to-back with Shinigami.

One of the guards, an energy blade in hand, clashes with Karai. She slithers out of the way of the slices, before whacking the guard into a wall with her tail. She morphs back into her human form to block attacks from two guards that were by her. She used their overconfidence to her advantage, as she suddenly drops her swords as if she was about to surrender, transforms her hands into snakes and takes their weapons away. She performs a spinning roundhouse kick, taking them both out.

Shinigami transforms into a cat before leaping onto one of the soldiers using the momentum to leap off of them back onto her feet perfectly. Another attempts to shoot at her but she uses her quickness to dodge the shots. She proved to be too quick for the guard to keep up with as he looked from left to right in desperation, looking for her. Until she appeared right in front of him, which scared him and he immediately began to run away. She laughs a little before pulling him down by the legs with her Kusarigama. She pulls the chained weapon back to her.

A Foot Ninja confronts Snipe. Using his quickness he was able to dodge his wild swings and attempted to attack with quick kicks to the head. The two kicks made their mark. But it only made him angry. After staggering from the kicks, he charges into the advancing Foot Ninja, knocking him down. He then uses his mace to knock down two others, causing one to hit a trash can and another to hit two other unsuspecting Foot Ninjas, who were occupied with Cyclonian soldiers.

Shinigami notices Snipe and attempts to pull away his mace. Which fails. Instead, Shinigami is pulled to him.

"Heh heh." Snipe said, pulling back a fist to punch her but was suddenly in a trance. Shinigami swings the Hypno Stone back and forth.

Snipe puts her down before going to attack the Cyclonian Soldiers.

With his help, they made quick work of the remaining forces.

But Shinigami knocks him out last.

"Alright, now that that's taken care of, we need to-" Karai started, in her snake form before she was hit by an arrow.

"Karai!" Shinigami said before immediately throwing a ninja star in the direction of where another arrow was coming from. The assailant ran off.

"Karai are you alright?" Shinigami said, running to her.

"So…. cold." Karai said. Shinigami took the arrow out. She could feel the coolness of the tip. Whoever did this had done their homework on Karai's snake mutation.

"I'll get you back to- AAAAAHHH!" Shinigami said before being shocked, she was on her knees, trying to stay upright. Some of the Foot Ninjas were hit as well. The two that were remaining looked around to see where the shots were coming from.

"Shini, you have to go." Karai said, weakly.

"No, I'm not-" Shini said.

"You're weak. Go!" Karai said, using as much strength as she could muster to say this. Snipe gets up.

"Look out!" Karai said.

Shinigami turns, but it was too late, she was struck by the mace. She was knocked into several boxes. She transformed into a cat and weakly tried to scamper away. Fortunately for her, Snipe ignored her, with a confused look on his face as to where she went.

"Don't worry about her." A voice said, dropping down. It was Ravess.

"We've already got one. And it's their leader." She said. Both walk to where Karai was and stood over her.

Karai mustered the strength she had to strike Snipe with a snake bite, which made him angry, causing him to knock her into a wall. He took a scepter and shocked her with it, twice out of anger. She reverted back to human form, unconscious.

"That's enough!" Ravess said.

"She bit me!" Snipe said.

"Which means you're probably poisoned. We'll need to take you back to get it checked immediately." Ravess said. That ice arrow was supposed to kill her. But thanks to you, she'll live."

The Cyclonians took her away.

"She bit me!" Snipe said, even angrier in response to try to justify why he did it. Something that he continued to emphasize on their way back to base.

End Flashback

"The Foot Clan have taken a lot of hits since then. Our numbers here have dwindled greatly. More forces have needed to transfer from Japan to here to help." Shinigami said. "We've combined our efforts with the Storm Hawks and the Mutanimals to take back the city."

"Slash. He went out like a warrior." Leatherhead said.

Flashback

The Cyclonians had busted up a supposed rescue operation. The person they were supposed to rescue was one of the captured leaders of the State. But it wasn't really him. The Mutanimals were in for a fight.

But the numbers kept growing. The Cyclonians were determined to put down the Mutanimals no matter how many soldiers it took.

"It's too many! They're starting to surround the place! You need to go!" Slash said.

"No! Either we all go or we all fight! No one gets left behind!" Leatherhead said as he tossed another Cyclonian aside.

In the distance, the Dark Ace appeared.

"It's one of their commanders! It's him!" Pigeon Pete said.

"Get out of here! Now!" Slash said.

"We have to go Leatherhead! I hate it too, but it's his orders!" Dr. Rockwell said.

"Until we meet again, brother." Slash said to Leatherhead who nodded. More Cyclonians flooded the building.

Leatherhead and the others were able to slip through and head underground in the sewers.

"Come on!" Slash said.

Slash was able to hold his own for a while, until the sheer numbers proved to be too much for him. The Dark Ace didn't even need to intervene. They shocked him numerous times until he became unconscious. They took him in.

In the distance, Leatherhead roared on a rooftop.

"I swear to you, brother, we will find you and finish this fight." Leatherhead said, before he and the other Mutanimals followed him.

End Flashback

"When's the earliest we can start?" Raph asked before Leo could do so.

"More than likely, tomorrow night. With Renet here, that changes things." Shinigami said.

"If I can get my scepter charged, then we can go back and fix all of this. None of this would have ever happened." Renet said, figuring that that was where she was going.

"And Slash?" Leatherhead asked.

"He'll be fine too. And so will Karai." Renet said confidently.

"Then it's settled. We rest up for now. Then we'll get started tomorrow." Leo said.

"There's sleeping bags, covers, pillows, whatever you to sleep over there. But please, take a bath first." Shinigami said, still getting a whiff of them all.

It took 2 hours after this for the turtles, April, Casey, Renet and the others to bath/shower, eat and then prepare for bed, resting for the task at hand tomorrow.