CHAPTER TEN
"Alright Don, punch a hole in that wall" commanded Leo, pointing to the Technodrome's outer structure.
"Hasn't he thrown enough fists for one afternoon?" asked Raph.
"He means we'll use one of my plastic explosives dummy" Donatello replied.
"Thanks for plugging a part of the plot I was missing"
Donatello took a small plastic shell from his belt buckle and pelted it at the towering machine, a small fire erupted and a medium sized hole was created.
"Do they have build that thing out of anything stronger than paper Mache?" observed Raphael.
"Let's go Turtles" Leonardo bellowed, leading the charge into the Technodrome. Splinter waited outside.
"You're not going with them Master Splinter?" April asked.
"I do not envision myself a part of this endgame, you should not be here either, but nevertheless, it is by design you should join them...but know if you go this time, it may be your last"
"Where they go, so does the story" replied April. Splinter nodded, acknowledging he understood on a level April could not yet begin to fathom, until it was too late.
April did not heed this advice, and headed off to join the rest of them, taking her camera with her.
"I'm going to see this through to the end, the world's going to get a good look at my hero Turtle in action" she responded.
And with that, she was gone. Splinter stood his ground.
"It has been a journey child, end it with honour, I stand, as always, with you, in spirit" he said. "The end of the game is in motion, regardless of the journey each of us has made; all of this reality hangs on the whims of others. How can you ever truly know what it is you put in motion is truly up to you?"
Splinter, while distanced, somehow managed to be heard by April as she headed towards the scene of conflict.
"April, what are you doing here? Get behind us" Leonardo said as he caught sight of her.
"Behind every great mutant..." April replied, kissing Michelangelo on the cheek and recording the scenes with her camera.
Rocksteady, who had arrived to reinforce the foot soldiers with Bebop, took one glance and suddenly the current of yesteryear swept him off shore.
"April, sugar-lips, it's so swell to meet you"
"Why's he giving you the ol' valentine chops dudette?" Michelangelo asked.
"Oh, must still have the juice of that love potion flowing inside his veins"
"That was years ago"
"You saying love can't linger in all that time? Why have I been putting up with you all these years then?"
"If love lasts this long, how 'bout we take advantage of his lady luck?"
"Smart thinking, oh Rocksteady my horn-dog, come here"
Rocksteady hesitated, but the enticing allure of April's sweet scent and flirtatious mannerisms compelled him to come closer.
"Hey, watch it 'Rock, we've only just been permitted back into the game"
"This ain't a game any longer 'Bop" argued Rocksteady.
April gathered Rocksteady up in her arms and stroked the tip of his horn affectionately, with all the hypnotic suggestions of a Disney era rattlesnake.
"You wouldn't happen to help us secure a direct route to Shredder and Krang's control room could you?"
"Hey, whatever sugar lips wants, sugar lips gets" Rocksteady responded, and led the Turtles and April to the main elevator, which he permitted them to use by handing over his key card.
"What do you make of a fine gesture like this?" Rocksteady asked.
"Like honey to a bee" April said, smiling. She handed the key to Leonardo, who slotted it into the main access port of the controls.
"Going down?" Leonardo asked.
"Shredder and Krang sure are" said Raph.
"This isn't how the games supposed to go" Bebop replied in alarm
"Somehow, I don't think whoever designed this engine wants to keep running it at the same speed" Raphael remarked.
The elevator doors closed.
"Now what do we do?" Bebop asked.
"I say we make sure nobody follows them" Rocksteady said, charging up his laser and aiming it straight at the Foot Soldiers.
"What do you say 'Bop? This is all a game at the end of it, nothing's real; nothing matters, might as well side with the angels before the devils play any further with our lives. Not unless you want to side against me"
"You'll do anything for love, but I won't do that" Bebop remarked, aiming his gun at the soldiers also.
"It's Footsie-trashing time" Rocksteady remarked.
The Turtles reached their desired floor and entered the central control room, where they still had a few soldiers and mousers to contest with.
Along the way, massive boulders were released into the corridor, tumbling towards them.
"Guess we'll have to go through as much of them as we can muster, charge forward Turtles"
And so they did.
Steel blades tore through metal, nun chucks snapped necks, sais slashed through Foot soldier fabric and slashed through the foot soldiers and mousers, who occasionally did get their mits on the heroes in a half shell, electrocuting them with the touch of their very finger tips, and, in the mousers case, special whips that wrapped around them.
"Be weary of your life counters Turtles, the closer we get to this game's source, the clearer I can see them" Leonardo replied.
"You got an instinct for this or something?" Raphael replied, breaking free of a soldier's grip, somersaulting over them and thrusting his Sais deep into its centre, before flipping it over and using it as a battering ram on the others.
"It's like the gaming mechanics are speaking to us, just goes to show how far reaching this source's power is"
The Turtles leapt out of the way of the tumbling boulders as they smashed into the foot soldiers and mousers, they then reached the final electronically barricaded door leading into the room that contained not just the dimensional portal, but the source of the altered state of reality.
But one last obstacle stood before them.
General Tragg, Krang's right hand rock soldier.
"Leave this to me" Donatello said, whipping out his Bo Staff and challenging Tragg to a one on one battle.
Donatello fought with tremendous ferocity, there were instances where he was downed by blasts from Tragg's weapon, rocked into weariness by a few select punches, but nevertheless he pressed on, until Tragg's life gauges were depleted and he departed the game in a violent explosion which also shut down the electronic guard to the entranceway they need.
"Way to rock the boat Don" said Michelangelo in triumph.
"And that's the best line I've heard all day" said Donatello.
"Let's settle this Turtles" said Leonardo.
As they entered, they found the room was strangely vacant.
"Something stinks here, and it's not me after a chilli reaper special" said Michelangelo.
"Look guys that may be the source" Donatello said, pointing to the child tethered to the web at the centre of the portal.
Donatello clambered up and detached her.
"You're safe now" he said.
"No, nothing is safe without sacrifice, something must be lost for the day to be won" the child replied.
Krang, accompanied by Shreeka, suddenly sprang out from the portal; blasting the Turtles with laser blasts from his eyes and cackling wickedly.
"You amphibian adolescents will rue the day you ever crossed paths with the almighty Krang"
"He does know it's been years since we were nineteen right?" Raphael asked.
"Let's make sure he never takes any more years off our lives, Turtles fight with honour" Leonardo cried.
The battle was joined, the Turtles landed hit after hit on Krang and he did in turn, resorting even to high thrust kicks which winded the Turtles as they connected with their stomachs.
For Donatello, the fight proved too exhausting, and he began to fade as his life gauge ran dry.
"Oh no, Don" Leonardo said.
"No, please no" April said.
The child blinked and a giant CONTINUE? Appeared before them, complete with a countdown timer.
"Do something, help him" April urged.
"Something must be lost for the day to be won"
"We can't lose him" Leonardo remarked.
April looked at the portal controls.
"Mikey, if we leave that thing running, there's no telling what else will come out, Krang must have been in Dimension X"
"Good point babe, we either shut it down, or shift it away from his home turf"
The child took note of their intentions, and approved.
"You understand, and now so do I, your actions will have consequence, and they must be given a chance to show their hand. He shall live. Insert"
Her eyes glowed and Donatello ceased being transparent.
"I don't understand" Donatello said.
"Do you understand him?" the child replied, pointing to Michelangelo.
"I do, of course, he's my brother"
"Then be his coat of arms" she said.
Donatello re-joined the fight with the remaining Turtles, and their resolve became much stronger, they formed a different strategy, to take high flying kicks directly to Krang's upper body and temple.
It was an exhausting process, but eventually Krang began to glow a bright flickering orange and red as his systems began overloading, he was physically spent trying to target his laser beams on constantly moving targets.
"No, no I am invincible" he cried, he grabbed his head with both hands and squirmed in sheer agony as his body mechanics froze up and then began to explode all around him.
He triggered the emergency eject button and released himself from the centre of his android body as it flew apart in a massive explosion. Shreeka caught him, they fled through the portal.
It was at this point, before April and Michelangelo could carry out their intent to shut down the portal that the Shredder would strike.
Or rather two of them would.
"You incompetent amphibians, as long as the portal possess the child's power, I control the game, I am part of the programme, and forever part of yours"
"Double trouble" yelled Raphael.
"How...?"asked Leonardo.
"...It all began? As energy, life is energy, all around us, it allows us to evolve, and to devolve, become something more and so much less. I possess what is more, and now I, we, can reduce you to less and back again, just watch"
Shredder let out a ferocious blast which caught Leonardo and Raphael, reducing them to infant, regular Turtles, before they quickly switched back, their life gauges taking a significant drop.
"I cannot retain their evolutionary state without exhausting their life counters, it will be game over for both unless the portal, the source of the Shredder's current power, is extinguished" the child revealed.
"I've got a plan" said Michelangelo.
"That's new" said April.
"Here's one of the scarier things, it might just work"
Michelangelo kissed April on the cheek and turned towards the portal controls, he turned a few knobs and pulled a few levers, the portal began to shimmer
"No, if the portal loses touch with it's present frequency, the power I siphoned off of the source will be depleted, all I've nothing. You won't take the game away from me Turtle" Shredder responded in anger at the thought of losing his advantage over his enemies, and sent his double to take out Michelangelo.
But the other Shredder was intercepted by Raphael; another devolutionary blast hit him, reducing him again to a regular Turtle, his life gauge barely registering as he was turned back.
Leonardo threw a sai at the first Shredder, he ducked, but it pierced the dimensional portal controls, short circuiting it and causing it to overheat and phase in and out of other dimensions
"Your fear of mortal harm has become your undoing tin grin" Leonardo boasted.
"No, no" Shredder screamed.
Leonardo wearily fell to his knees, the last of his life gauge exhausted.
"One more blast will send you straight to the pet shop Turtle" Shredder sneered, aiming the tip of his fingers at Leonardo's temple, ready to strike.
Suddenly, it happened. A valiant sacrifice play from the strongest soul that had ever befriended, even loved, the Turtles.
"Save me a slice for when I get back" April spoke to Michelangelo as she charged Shredder and pushed him towards the portal.
"Are you loco in the motive? You have no idea where you'll end up" Michelangelo responded.
"Pretty sure I know where it is you'll catch me, on the flip side"
"April, what are you doing? Get back" Leonardo said, barely able to speak with how low his energy was.
"Not without my exclusive" said April, grabbing Shredder's right shoulder as Michelangelo held on to the left. Both began pushing him back towards the portal.
Raphael fixated his gaze on the second Shredder as he limped towards the controls.
"Oh no you don't" Raphael bellowed, grabbing Krang's leg and holding on for as long as he could, buying even more vital time for April and Michelangelo to push Shredder into the wildly erratic portal.
The two lovers locked eyes, knowing this could be the final time they could set sights upon one another.
"What a story this is going to make"
"I couldn't make it without you babe" Michelangelo said
"You think this story will pay for our honeymoon?"
"Depends on how expensive it is babe, where do you picture us going?"
"White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise"
"Well, that isn't so bad"
"No. No, it isn't"
They gave each other a last longing and loving look, before turning back to face Shredder.
They both nodded and, with a final push, sent both him and each other straight through the portal and into the unknown
There was a blinding flash, a thunderous explosion, and pillars of fire shot out of the portal and shot upwards across the walls, setting off further tinier explosions which began reducing the entire portal generator room to molten remains.
"What's happening?" asked Leonardo as the Turtles began to high-tail their way out of the Technodrome.
"Shredder was in the process of phasing out when April and Mikey pushed him into the portal, somehow it created a ray phase shift, it's caused a massive feedback into here"
"In other words, the Technodrome is going up in smoke, and it might just take us with it" Leonardo realised.
"Not unless we move real quickly" Donatello insisted.
Fast as their legs could carry them, the Turtles and Splinter made their way back along their trail of destruction that they had carved out upon entering the mobile fortress and exited via the hole they had created for themselves.
Outside, the Turtles watched as the final defeat of the Technodrome, Shredder, Krang, Shreeka and all who followed their lead, became total as a final rapturous and violent explosion ripped it to shreds, reducing it to ruin. All that remained of the mighty machine where a worn out blazing shell and caterpillar tracks.
"It's over" said Donatello.
"It is all over, the skin of this reality must be shed, am I correct in assuming so my child?" Splinter asked.
"You are wise beyond what you perceive to be real" the young woman spoke, her feet leaving the soil as her wings carried her upwards.
The Turtles all looked at their hands, tiny specks of white light surging around them, before gathering in the wind and detaching from their bodies, circling their eyes. They found themselves spinning around in quite a dizzying fashion.
"Are...are we changing?" Leonardo asked
"Everything is...for the better I hope" Splinter replied, the change happening to him the most rapidly, his face switching from rodent to human, from Splinter to Yoshi and back again, never quite settling, perhaps never desiring to.
"All will be as it was...before your skies ever turned red"
"Speaking in riddles again" Leonardo said, sighing.
"Just call her kid conundrum" joked Raphael.
"I have learned many things about the love I found in this reality, it was a love shared, and the love you have. That love is what nourished me through all the abuse, manipulations, and neglect of those that took me into their 'care', the love that came out of me, I realise now, came from the connections you all had with one another. A sense of belonging, and instantaneous acceptance
When you inherit someone else's world and the people in it, they are essentially your adopted children and have just as much of a responsibility to raise them right...this is what I must do, the universe is a child, I am now it's mother, or maybe it's father too. Its multi-faceted sense of identity, its right, it's wrong. I am one with what came before, and will be one with what comes after. I am new, I am old. I am how it will end, and I am how it all began"
"The skies never looked so clear" said Raphael, a tear rolling down his cheek.
Donatello's eyes snapped open, he found he and the Turtles were on the tip of a peer, watching Shedder, Krang, Rocksteady and Bebop clamber into the back of a van and speed off.
"Well guys, they got away again" Michelangelo said.
"Yeah, but without the Technodrome, we won't have to worry about them" said Donatello, before he realised this was something he was so sure he had said before.
"They have Krang's brilliance, Shredder's cunning, and Bebop and Rocksteady's strength, I fear we shall be hearing from them again...soon" cautioned Splinter.
The back of Donatello's head was racing with questions and so very few answers.
Something hadn't just happened to reality, something had happened to time.
This was several years ago. Back when they had just sent the Technodrome into Dimension X for what had to have been the third time.
This was before Channel Six had been destroyed, before their encounters with Dregg and their alternate Earth selves.
He didn't know how to react, does he tell anyone? How much does everyone remember? Was it only him? Was it because he had been the sole Turtle that phased in and out of reality during the fateful final encounter?
Was this reality reset an unwanted, an unneeded second chance for everyone? How unfair would that be to them if they all found out?
What about Irma? Would she ever remember what she meant to him? Or would he have to open up and remind her?
"What a story this'll make" April said, snapping her fingers to summon her news crew.
"I better get on it. See you later tonight?"
"It's a date dudedette" Michelangelo replied.
And that's when Donatello noticed the engagement ring on April's finger.
And he shed a small tear.
He'd been asking the wrong questions.
He needed to know what had changed, and what had stayed the same.
He hoped he'd be as lucky with Irma as Michelangelo had been with April.
"Will you guys excuse me? I gotta go give Irma a call, there's something I need to tell her, and it can't wait 'till next week, or next year" he said.
After all this time, he'd finally figured out how it always truly begins.
With a ring.
With a smile.