Angel: You know the voice actor for Groundhog? He sounds like KO from OK KO to me, but I actually found out that she was on that short-lived sketch show from Disney XD, Right Now Kapow. Small world, they do sound similar. Betsy Sordaro DOES voice someone on OK KO, so I knew she was from that show. She was also on the Powerpuff Girls...reboot. Ugh. I feel so bad for her. I hope that show does not get a fourth season. Hopefully they'll release some more episodes before Christmas, but who knows what with happened today? Maybe they'll surprise us again next week with more episodes online. Also, the place that Amy likes, Lopardo's, is a real-life pizza place. I'm a fan of their meatlovers and chicken parm pizza. I was gonna put Domino's since I like that too, but nah.
Also, can I just say how great it was to see both the 87 and the 2012 turtles referenced on Donnie's board? And this is only episode 11b. I give the show props for that, but not for the episode order and continuity issues. That's probably the only thing I dislike right now.
It all started with a scratch. A record scratches on the record player as three band members are gathered around. "This plan is so metal! Getting bitten by those glowing bugs at our show was the best thing that ever happened to this band," a female mutant dog crosses her arms as she's the leader of the band. She wears a white tank top, black vest, a red choker, and a red skirt.
"I can't wait to get my hands dirty!" A mutant groundhog exclaims, a mutant badger laughing.
"Once we hit these tour spots," The leader slams down, knocking down four chess pieces, "Everyone will know the name Digg," She grins as she has wild blonde hair, piercings, and red lipstick. "Fan roll call! Honey Badger." A large female badger plays guitar, having silver hair and a black and blue outfit. "Silent bass enforcer. Groundhog, drummer by day, wild card by night," The last female of the group has wild pink hair and black clothing. "And of course, me, your fearless leader Prairie Dog!"
Groundhog clicks her teeth and the pillar underneath her sinks. "Rock and roll!" Groundhog and Honey Badger look down at her as she's laying on the ground, her guitar laying on her body. Groundhog appears above her as she dug through.
"Sorry, I can't help myself. I just gotta dig!"
"The acoustics in this hole are insane!" Prairie Dog exclaims happily. "Check out my solo!" She starts jamming out, with the people on the surface gathered around for Pizza Week.
The moon was full like a big pie of pizza. And that can only mean one thing. "Pizza Week," Raph sings as he jumps past the moon. Leo, Donnie, and Mikey all sing the line too, but Amy does not, rolling her eyes. They land in front of a building. "Pizza Week!" They all sing in unison and Amy grins as she can't help but clap. Even though the trip could've been better without the singing, they were actually pretty good.
"And scene," Donnie grins as Amy gets off her bike.
"Everybody, set your stomachs to 'I'm not stopping till I explode' mode. It's time we get our pizza on." To the turtles, Pizza Week was the greatest week of the year! For an entire week, pizza is celebrated by the best way possible, eating it.
"Get ready for the delicious flavors and complex emotions of our first stop!" Mikey announces, gesturing to himself. "And my personal favorite, Lou Mike Toney's Pizza!" He points to it...before it disappears entirely. "Nooooooo!" Mikey looks triggered as he starts to cry.
"Where'd it go?" Raph asks in confusion, Amy fidgeting as she's holding a white bag. It was her...gift to Leo. She spent days trying to figure what to make, but after she finally decided on something that he's bound to like, it was finally done. Sure, he might like it, but would he love it? He could be biased in his opinion since it's her.
"Oh I think it closed," Leo comments, Mikey holding his head. He glances at his lady, grinning. "What you got there, pink-a-boo?"
"Um," She scratches her cheek. "Well-"
"My phone says it's open until ten," Donnie states and Amy pouts at the interruption.
"Who would do this? Why, pizza supreme in the sky? Why do you take stuff like this?" No one says anything and he turns to them. "Why are you guys more upset?!" He pouts at them. In reality, that place was only his favorite while to them, it was okay.
"Oh man, it hurts me. I-I'm very sad," Donnie glances away, Raph fake crying.
"Yeah, um, they had...adequate flavors?" Amy asks slowly, as she doesn't really eat their pizza, let alone any pizza unless she's that tempted for her own favorite.
"You didn't like Lou Mike Toney's?!" He demands, Donnie putting an arm around his shoulder.
"I found a bug once and that was really it for me," Donnie explains gently, Mikey crying. "Okay, now that we've all moved on, let's get us some of my favorite, Tony Lou's Pizza!" Yes, the names are similar because all of the turtles' favorite pizzas are from relatives of the franchises. And like with Mikey's, Donnie's favorite pizza place disappears. He opens an eye, also triggered.
"No, no, no, no, no!"
"Nooooo!" Mikey shouts at another place gone.
"I only pretended to care when it happened to Mikey's favorite place, but now that it's happened to me...I hurt!"
Mikey hugs him in comfort. "Both our favorites were sink-holed! This is the worst Pizza Week EVER!"
"Oh come on," Amy waves it off, gesturing to another pizza place across the street. "Lopardo's is where it's at." Lopardo's is a cousin of the relatives. "Ah, I love his Spanish twists on pizza. The Chorizo sausage is my personal favorite, so let's go and eat...at Lopardo's!" Like Donnie and Mikey's, hers disappears too. "What. The. Shell?!" She drops to her knees as she gasps in horror, Mikey and Donnie screaming no with her.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! No me gusta! Screw you, pizza supreme, I thought we had a deal! What gives?!" She points to the sky and Leo pats her shoulder in comfort.
"That was my second best pizza," Leo frowns slightly as he and Amy eat that pizza together when they're playing board games.
"Psh, they're okay," Raph waves it off and she slowly turns to him, now triggered.
"What did you just say?" She growls at him. "How dare you! Lopardo's is-is my soul food! And now it's gone!" Tears fall down her cheeks, Raph backing away slightly as she's all emotional, which he's never seen until now.
"To lose one pizza place is just New York real estate, but to lose three pizza places is...a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top!" Donnie points at a conspiracy board at Lou Mike's Pizza in his Turtle Tank. "What do Lou Mike Toney's, Lopardo's, and Tony Lou's Pizzerias have in common?"
Mikey grips his blanket, looking around as he grits his teeth over his own loss.
"Besides all three being pizza places?" Leo asks, holding out some ice cream for Amy.
"Not even ice cream can redeem my loss..." She pouts sadly and Leo eyes the white plastic bag that she's still holding.
"So what is this?" He points to it.
"It's, ah-"
"Exactly!" Donnie points to Leo, both him and Amy glaring at him now for another interruption. "They are all pizza places, but not just any pizza places, three of our favorite pizza places! Now what's the key thing they have in common?" He points his stick at Raph, who doesn't know.
"Besides having the same name except for Mellie's, but in different order?"
"Do you think that's important?" Donnie scribbles on a notepad.
"No," Leo frowns at him, not getting it.
"Whatever!" Donnie throws away the paper, pointing to four different versions of turtles and Amy, one of them being a full-on blonde. Aside from the different heights and looks, they're all turtles, including the current selves. "We are the link between all these places," Donnie only has three of them marked, for the ones they lost. "Ergo, whoever's behind this, isn't only after pizza, they're after us! And clearly, we all know that it's Pizzasaurus! The evil spawn of the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot! It's taking over Pizza Week!"
Leo grabs him into a hold so that he can calm down. "Pizzasaurus? We've been over this. None of those things are real."
"Calm down," Raph tells them. "Everything's gonna be fine. We just need to eat," Raph crosses his arms. "So let's get to the next place as fast as possible. To the Shell Hogs!" Raph pulls down a lever and releases the repaired Shell Hogs. There's still only two, so two turtles would have to share one. Mikey and Leo rev up the bikes, Amy on her own as they drive down the alley. "Let's get our pizza on!" Raph exclaims as he and Mikey are sharing one, leaving Leo and Donnie with the other. Raph's sitting in the back since he's too tall to be driving it.
They arrive at Leo's favorite pizza place. "If only life were that simple," Raph sighs slowly.
"Take the pizza supreme to the sky! My favorite place, Mike Tony's favorite Lou pizza, is still here," Leo grins, Raph smiling.
"See? Everything's fine." He hears people screaming. Everything was not fine. The people inside all run out as Digg are there for some reason. The chef runs away with everyone.
"This must be the creatures destroying our pizza places!" Donnie deduces and Digg sees them.
"It's the man! Let's blow this joint before it kills our vibe!" Prairie Dog exclaims, thinking that the five are the police.
"Is that the same as dig? I dig digging! Ooo, I'm gonna dig dig dig!" They spin around, creating a hole in front of the pizza place and disappearing.
"Hey!" Raph exclaims and Donnie points.
"After them!" Leo and Mikey drive into the hole, screaming as they fall. Amy rolls her eyes and makes her bike fly, floating down after them.
"Why is this Pizza Week so hard?!" Raph shouts as with the previous weeks in the past years, they've never encountered something like this. The Shell Hogs drive around a hole, Amy following after them as they crash past the rock, shocking the Digg band. Raph sees them, Groundhog blowing a raspberry. "What the-it's them!" Groundhog digs to her right.
"Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig," she keeps repeating it as she disappears, Amy looking annoyed. She already thought this mutant was annoying with the whole digging thing. Raph turns to Leo, Amy, and Donnie behind him.
"You guys take the one on the right, we'll go left." Mikey and Raph follow after Groundhog while the others follow after Honey Badger.
"Cowabunga!" Leo cheers as he and Amy drive up a ramp. "So what's that bag you're carrying, my lady?"
"Not now!" Amy tells him as they had mutants to take care of. No one gets rid of her pizza place and lives to tell the story.
"Dig, dig dig!" Groundhog swipes as she continues digging like a regular groundhog would. Raph and Mikey follow after him, but it was like they were in a PacMan game the way she digs down, up, left, down, left, down, and up again. Mikey revs up the bike as they jump to the right, seeing the smoke from Groundhog. "Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig!" She looks happy to be digging.
Meanwhile, Leo and Amy are driving side by side, Donnie looking around. "Where is she?!"
They hear laughing, looking up ahead. The three look behind them, cringing as Honey Badger is crawling right behind them. They all scream as she looks scary, being the tallest.
"Dig dig!" Groundhog glares at the light approaching, Mikey laughing evilly.
"I'm usually a peaceful turtle, but! You destroyed my favorite thing in the world," Mikey glares at him angrily, as he's taking this especially personally. Not for his favorite place, but for pizza itself being taken away from him. "You will feel pain!"
Groundhog just laughs, spinning around as Leo, Donnie, and Amy pop up out of nowhere, about to crash into each other. They do so, landing below and barely holding onto their rides. Leo sighs in relief that they didn't crash. He looks up to see speakers connected to a pole that's right underneath his favorite pizza place.
"Oh no, Mike Tony's!" They see Prairie Dog standing there hooking everything up.
"She's gonna soundwave through that pillar and take out the whole building! Get me close!" Donnie pulls out his staff as Amy drives faster, pulling out her own weapon. Leo and Amy drive up a rock wall as Prairie Dog plugs in her guitar.
"Rock and roll!" Leo and Amy jump behind her, the girl and Donnie jumping into the air. They prepare to swing at her. "Sound check!" They swing their hammers, but she dodges right past them. "Punk rock!" The music is loud enough to disrupt the ground, breaking the pillar. "So long, loser!" She spins around, disappearing as she digs through the rock. Amy and Donnie fall onto the ground, Mikey and Leo driving up to them.
"Drive!" Raph declares, Donnie and Amy getting on. They drive past all the falling rock, and manage to get out back onto the surface, only for Mike Tony's to be lost forever. They come to a stop, shocked as Leo screams in horror.
"Nooooooooo!" Leo screams, just as triggered as Mikey and Donnie. "Mike Tony's!" Leo sinks to his knees. "Why do they have to tear down everything that's beautiful in the world?"
Truth is, I had no answers. Just ideas. "Mellie, boys, Pizza Week is not just a week. It is a week about family coming together. It's seven days of putting aside what makes us different and coming together as pizza lovers."
"You think we don't know what week is?" Donnie asks him, but he doesn't listen.
I wasn't sure they knew what a week was. "FIVE WEEKDAYS! And a weekend. That culminate in me eating my favorite pizza, in the whole wide crazy world," Raph smiles in glee.
"Oh my god, if you shut up, I'll make you a cherry pie," Amy facepalms and he pumps his fist.
"Yes, it worked!"
She rolls her eyes. "Does he know that those mutants are on their way to sinkhole Mike and Lou, the brothers' Tony Pizza?" Leo asks, Raph's eyes widening.
"Say what now?"
"Didn't you hear those mutants say three down, one to go?" Leo wonders.
"Yeah, but they could be talking about anything," Raph chuckles nervously. "Right, Mellie?"
"Uh..." She stammers, looking away.
"RIGHT?!"
"Why are you asking me?!" She asks as he shakes her.
"Because you pay for our pizzas! Tell me, woman!" One of his eyes is twitching.
"Get off!"
Mike Lou Bro's Pizza is the last place, and they storm in wearing the same outfits they were wearing when they tried to get rid of the oozesquitoes. "This is a random health inspection! Everybody out!" Leo demands, but they continue eating like it's not important, the accordion player continuing to play.
"Health inspection?" Mike, the chef and owner, asks in surprise. His eyes look dismayed as a health inspection means trouble, which also means closure if anything was wrong.
"Sir, we've received reports that, uh..." Raph looks away as he can't break the news to his favorite pizza chef. Mike was a godsend to him, so breaking the news to him was not going to be easy. "I can't do it, guys. It'll ruin him."
"Don't look at me, health inspections are the worst," Amy holds up her hands in defense. But then again, she's gone at least a few years with no trouble, so she just made sure that she had the usual paperwork when people ask why a 14-and-a-half-year-old girl runs a business.
"I got this," Mikey grasps the paper, Raph looking sad. "I'll be Dr. Delicate Touch." Mikey walks up to the owner calmly. There's a small pause before he says something. "...You got bugs!" He points to a fake report and everyone screams. Raph frowns as Leo glances down at his smiling brother, everyone leaving the place.
"Bugs?!" Mike looks at the 'Official Health Report! You have bugs! F minus. Sorry...' health report. Amy rolls her eyes, as she could've used her recent one to pass it off as a fake, but that was a few days, so she still had to keep that up on the window. "This is the first time in 25 years I've ever had any kind of bug-"
"Okay fine, we're all having a bad day, get over it," Leo says quickly, pushing him to the exit.
"I just want to let you know, sir, we'll have your place back open so you can get back to serving high-quality pies in-"
"Enough!" Mikey closes the door shut and Amy sighs, looking down at the white plastic bag. With all these places disappearing, there's no way she'd have time to give to Leo now...she just hoped that he would like it...genuinely. She worked really hard on them, but now she's just sitting around waiting for her chance. Mikey turns to them with a crazed look on his face.
"Let's get back to exterminating!" Mikey laughs evilly, fire behind him. Soon, he would get his revenge!
"Should we be worried about him?" Donnie whispers to Leo and Amy.
"Probably," Leo states, glancing at Amy. "Now will you tell me what's in it?"
"No," She denies, looking away from him as she clutches onto it. It wasn't a good time since they're still trying to stop those punk mutants who have taken four pizza places. Not that she's upset, but...it's just a little frustrating not being able to give it to him with all the interruptions. Leo looks at her in concern before Mikey stands in front of them, looking like a mad scientist as he rubs his hands together.
"They're all gonna pay!" Amy backs away slightly as she thought she'd never see Mikey like that, and she doesn't want to.
Digg has planted the last of the speakers on the final pillar. "Soon, everyone will know our name: Digg! Who should we get to direct our first music video?"
That question goes unanswered as the turtles and Amy have dug through, using Donnie's drill that's been mentioned several times. They land underneath the drill, pulling out their weapons. "Can we fight 'em with the drill?" Raph glances at Donnie.
"Heh, no. It would be far too effective," Donnie makes the drill disappear. "Your personal vendetta against us is over!" He narrows his eyes at the trio.
"What are you idiots talking about? We never met you before today," Prairie Dog denies, as she would've remembered seeing them.
Raph just laughs at her denial. "Suuure."
"Raph, I think she's telling the tr-"
"ATTACK!" Raph interrupts, pointing at them and Amy groans as they all jump towards the band.
"Cowabunga!"
Honey Badger appears in front of her bandmates and they all scream, landing in front of the speaker. They all jump away as she lands where they were standing. They all run around like maniacs as they try to get away from Honey Badger. "Dig," Groundhog repeats as she appears from everywhere around Amy and Mikey. Amy's ax turns into a hammer and she plays whack-a-mole with Groundhog, unfortunately missing.
"Stop saying that!" Mikey exclaims as he's also annoyed with Groundhog.
"If I hear that one more time," Amy threatens before they dig after her.
"Alright," Donnie demands from Prairie Dog as she caught his staff. "Why are you ruining Pizza Week?!"
"Who cares about pizza?" Prairie asks him, as she only cares about the band. It's practically her lifestyle. "We're an underappreciated band."
"That hates pizza!" Donnie finishes and she glances around.
"Why are you so focused on the pizza? We're taking out the pillars," She informs him and he looks confused.
"Pillars?"
"Once we take out this last support pillar, the Kaufman Coliseum will sink down, giving us a captive audience to rock out for!" She plays on her guitar, cheering.
"Time out," Raph calls out, breaking her fantasy. "So you're saying this isn't a multi-level conspiracy, that may or may not involve the mayor or the illuminati, or send us around taking down out our five favorite pizza places?!" Raph asks in disbelief, now triggered like his brothers and Amy.
"No," Prairie shakes her head. "We don't even like pizza, dude."
"Unless pizza's for digging!" Groundhog chuckles and Amy turns her weapon into a laser blaster.
"If you say anything involving digging again, I'll blast your head off!" She grins widely and Groundhog backs away, scared. Leo pushes her arm gently down.
"She-she won't do that," he chuckles nervously. Or at least he thinks she won't.
"So," Mikey appears behind them. "You're saying that not only did you destroy everything I love in the world, BUT YOU DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE COMMON COURTESY TO KNOW YOU'RE DOING IT?!"
Raph holds him back from doing anything else. "You guys just wanna play a gig?" Raph asks and Groundhog nods.
"Yes! And gig rhymes with-" Amy's eyes catch on fire and she keeps her mouth shut. Not only was she gonna say it, but she was irritated that they took their favorite pizza places for their music.
Like I said, Pizza Week is a magical time. It can bring families back together. "For too long, our family has been torn apart by pizza," Mike announces as his brothers, cousin, and sister are standing in front of a new place. "But no more! Today, we come together as famous Lopardo's, Lou, Mike, Toney, Tony's Pizza!" They snip off the ribbon. It can create new beginnings. Since their pizza places couldn't be brought back, they decided to bring them together as one for everyone to enjoy. "Hit it, my costumed friends!"
"One two three four!" Digg plays their long-awaited gig, and they turn out to be not so bad. No one even questioned that they're mutants. After all, if Leo could be in a video, then surely mutants could be playing public gigs. Prairie Dog sings a song called 'Pizza Pit' to celebrate the grand opening. People eat happily as they listen. It could make dreams come true. Raph changes the F minutes to an A plus. "And that's how for one week, or five weekdays and two weekend days, Pizza Week was saved, by me."
"Who are you talking to?" Leo wonders as they're all enjoying a slice in the early morning, sitting on a rooftop together. Raph just winks at the screen, continuing to enjoy their pizza. Leo looks down at the bag that Amy's still holding. "Okay, tell me, tell me."
"Um," Amy looks nervous, holding it out to him. "Here..."
Leo gasps sharply. "It's for me?!"
"Don't make a big deal out of it," She huffs, crossing her arms as the other turtles are staring at them in shock that Amy gave him something. "It's for...you know," She glances at Leo. "Being my friend and helping me out with my mother..."
"What's she talking about?" Mikey whispers, the other two shrugging. Leo opens it and looks in awe at the chocolate brownies.
"Oh snap! Look at this, I got a girl making me brownies!" Leo brags to the others, who drop their pizza slices. Leo takes one and Amy looks away as his brain explodes. "Whoa..."
"Let me just take that back if you don't like it-"
"No way! These are awesome! There's chocolate chips in these!" He scarfs them down and Amy chuckles. Donnie reaches out to grab one, but Leo smacks his hand away. The other turtles pout.
"How come we don't get special treats?" Raph complains, Amy turning to them.
"Maybe if you weren't so rude while trying to boss me around..." She huffs.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," He denies as she rolls her eyes.
"What about us?!" Mikey puts his arm around Donnie.
"Ehh," Amy waves a hand, as Donnie still blamed her for that whole purple jacket thing. And Mikey...actually, she doesn't have a reason for him. Maybe she would bake a cake for him one day. Leo hugs her tightly, spinning her around.
"Thank you, my lady~! I love them!"
"Really?" She asks happily, clearing her throat. "I mean, good. I spent days."
Leo beams that she took so much time to bake something for him. "Hey, give us some," Raph demands, Leo hugging the box as he still has some left.
"No way! These are mine, she baked them for me!"
Amy shakes her head at them before she feels something soft on her cheek. She turns to Leo, who pulls away from her face, grinning. "These are the best pastries I've ever had. Thank you."
"Eh heh...you're welcome," Amy places a hand on her cheek where his lips touched it. Maybe she'll make something for him again one day. As she's smiling, none of them notice the Pizzasaurus walking past them...it's real. It's out there...waiting...
