Chapter 2: Into Dimension X… Again
Po let out a groan of pain as he slowly opened his eyes, slowly regaining consciousness. From what he could tell, he seemed to be in some sort of cell with the rest of the Five, who were gathered around him with worried expressions.
"Guys…" He let out, still feeling rather groggy as he sat up.
"Oh, Po, you're alive!" Viper exclaimed as she, Crane, Monkey, and Mantis swarmed him with a group hug. Po groggily laughed as he hugged them all back with gusto.
"You had us worried there for a sec." Monkey said.
Viper, Crane, Monkey, and Mantis backed away as Tigress practically tackled Po in the tightest hug out of all of them.
Po wheezed as Tigress practically squeezed the life out of him before she finally released him.
"I'm glad you're okay." Tigress said with a small, relieved smile.
Po smirked. "Well, of course I am, darlin'. I am the Dragon Warrior after all." He said in a rather suave manner, planting a kiss on her cheek before Tigress lightly pushed him away, fondly rolling her eyes with a smile. "So, where are we?"
Tigress stood up from the ground and walked over to the door, placing her paw on the cool metal as she gazed through the tiny pink tinted window into a seemingly endless hall that seemed to stretch on and on.
"I… I don't know." Tigress admitted. "But, the Kraang seem to have locked us in some sort of… prison cell."
"So we're prisoners?" Po asked as he stood up. "But why?"
"No idea," Mantis said, leaping onto the panda's shoulder, "but whatever it is they plan to do to us, it can't be good."
Po then noticed a long straw-like tube dangling from the corner of his mouth attached to a small box that was clipped to his pants.
In fact, looking around, Po quickly noticed that Tigress, Viper, Crane, Monkey, and even Mantis all had one too.
"What are these things?" Po asked, lightly grabbing the tube and giving it a little tug.
"Don't know." Crane said. "But for some reason they let us–" Po then suddenly yanked his tube out of his mouth. "Wait, Po, don't!"
But it was too late, because as soon as Po pulled the tube out of his mouth, he began choking on the air, gasping like a fish and falling to his knees as he struggled to breath.
Immediately, Tigress rushed over and shoved the tube back into Po's mouth, allowing him to breathe again.
"Okay…" Po spoke after taking several breaths. "That was dumb of me."
"Whatever these things are, they're allowing us to breathe here." Viper explained, gesturing to her tube.
"Yeah, man. I tried pulling out mine too at first." Monkey added to the panda as he chuckled. "It did not go well."
Just then a couple of Kraang droids were walking by their cell, coming into view through the pink-tinted window.
"Hey, hey!" Po yelled, trying to get the Kraang droid's attention. "Can you tell us where we are?"
The Kraang droids both took one glance at the panda before silently continuing on down the hallway.
Po sighed as he sat down on the bench of the cell, Tigress sitting down with him while the others gave him looks of concern.
It seemed like any normal night in New York City above. The cool night air was serene and the streets were surprisingly quiet.
And that seemed to be the case as well below in the sewers of the city, particularly the abandoned subway station known as the Lair.
Also known as the home of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Raphael was wailing on the dummy hanging out by the pit and next to the pinball machine as usual while Leonardo, Michelangelo, April O'neil, and Casey Jones sat in the pit watching another horrendous episode of 'Space Heroes: The Next Generation' all while Donatello was doing something unspecified in his lab.
Mikey, April, and even Casey looked practically bored to death while Leo had a giddy, almost childish, look on his face as they watched Captain Ryan blow up the planet of a peaceful but also 'evil' alien race.
"Yes! Best episode yet!" Leo cheered while Mikey, April, and Casey groaned in annoyance.
Mikey shrugged. "Eh, it's still no Crognard." He said dismissively.
"Honestly, I don't know how you can stand this show, Leo." April said, running a hand down her face.
"Yeah, man. This is even lamer than the original Space Heroes!" Casey added, tying some sports tape around the end of his hockey stick.
"Lame?" Leo questioned in disbelief. "It's making my eyeballs melt with joy! I LOVE this cartoon!" He exclaimed as he stared at the screen with a wide grin on his face.
"Yeah, if you constantly like incessant whining, face slapping, and characters who have no regards for others, sure." Raph said, taking a break from pounding on the dummy.
"Oh snap! Burn!" Mikey teased while Leo scowled slightly.
Donnie sat on the chair in his lab, leaning his head on his arms as he quietly snored on his desk. Since he had nothing better to do after patrol, he thought maybe he could go back to his normal tinkering.
However, he had been struggling to find the passion to do it. Because, let's face it, without some crazy weekly threat there just wasn't any point.
So here Donnie was now, the turtle who 'does machines', sleeping the night away on his desk like a lazy bum–
A sudden ringing sound woke Donnie up with a start as his head snapped up from his desk.
Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his hands, Donnie looked over to his left to find what was making the noise…
… only for his eyes to widen in shock as he saw the Kraang communication orb pulsating with purple lights, which could only mean one thing.
"Guys! Guys! Get in here!" Donnie frantically called out to the rest of the Lair as loud as he could.
Almost instantly, the sounds of the television in the living room were instantly silenced and immediately replaced by the shuffling of feet that quickly approached his lab.
"What is it, Donnie?!" Raph exclaimed as he, along with Leo, Mikey, April, and Casey rushed through the doors to the lab.
"It's the Kraang communication orb!" Donnie said, gesturing to the still pulsating orb. "It just started going crazy out of nowhere! And I think we all know what that means…"
"The Kraang are back." Leo growled, clenching his fists.
"How many times do we gotta beat those guys into the ground before they quit?!" Raph said irritably.
"So, are you getting anything?" April asked.
Donnie moved over to his computer, rapidly typing the keys before he looked at the screen with a curious hum.
"Hmm, some sort of encrypted message." Donnie said before he began rapidly typing the keys again. "It's tough to crack, but it seems like the Kraang are planning to transport some kind of cargo."
"But what kind of cargo?" Raph questioned.
"Don't know." Donnie said. "It doesn't specify. But whatever it is, it can't be good."
"So what do we do?" Mikey asked.
"I'll tell ya!" They all turned to see Casey holding up the Kraang portal projector that Turtles had confiscated during the whole 'worm-quake' fiasco.
Casey then pressed the button on the device, activating it and causing the pink portal to open up right in front of them.
"We go to their home turf and find out!" Casey said.
"Yes! Dimension X here we come!" Mikey cheered, about to jump into the portal when Raph grabbed him and pulled him back.
"Are you out of your mind, Casey?!" April questioned.
Donnie rolled his eyes. "No, he's just really stupid."
"Guys, I'm serious!" Casey explained as he put on his gear. "We always wait for the Kraang to come to our doorstep, but if we hit them where they live, we might take 'em down once and for all!"
Leo placed a finger under his chin as he thought. "Actually, you might be onto something, Casey."
This caused Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and April to all look at Leo with surprised expressions.
"Yeah, I never thought I'd say that either." Leo admitted. "But the Kraang do keep coming back no matter how many times we beat them, even with the utrom on our side. If we can hit the Kraang before they're ready with whatever their planning, we might somehow be able to finally cripple their remaining forces and finally stop them."
That actually got the others to consider it as well. "Well, when you put it like that…" Raph said, seeming to get the idea.
"So we're actually storming Dimension X?" April questioned, still not quite comfortable with it, mainly because she had never been to Dimension X.
"You got any better ideas?" Casey asked.
April opened her mouth but then closed it as she realized they were right. "Well, then. Let's get going." She said, much to the surprise of the group.
"You're coming too?" Mikey asked.
"Of course I am." April replied.
"April, are you sure that's a good idea?" Donnie asked in concern. "You are the Kraang's primary target, after all."
"Yeah, but I'm not some helpless damsel in distress, remember?" April said. She then smiled as she gave Donnie a light peck on the cheek. "I'm a fully trained kunoichi now, I'll be fine."
Donnie smiled slightly as he took April's hand. "Well, if you're sure about this." He relented.
"Thanks, Donnie." April smiled.
"We still have our space gear, right?" Leo said, to which Donnie nodded. "Then suit up, because we're storming Dimension X."
Going back to their rooms, the Turtles, April, and Casey managed to gather their space gear, the ones that were given to them by the Fugitoid during their adventures in space, and quickly put them on.
Once they were done getting dressed, they met back up in the lab where the opened the Kraang portal once more.
"Alright, final check." Donnie announced as he put on his helmet. "Oxygen converters? Check. Gravity boosters? Check. Alien language translators? Check. Suits charged? Check. And most importantly, helmets? Check. We're all set."
"Then let's go." Leo said as he and the others put on their space helmets as well before jumping through the portal, Mikey being the last as he shouted, "BOOYAKASHA!"
