Chapter 6: Journey to the center of Mikey's mind
The Ulixies just exited out of hyperspace as it headed towards a large city planet. Passing through the atmosphere, the ship flew alongside traffic of several other ships that flew through the large futuristic city.
"Finally, a little action." Raph stated. "Look at all those ships!"
"Dudes!" Mikey exclaimed, peering out the main window in the bridge of the ship. "Nar Shadda is bumping!" He cheered. "I'll bet their food is..." He then turned to the others with a playful smirk. "out of this world." He finished dramatically.
"That joke is older than the Five Fire Rings of Fornax." Fugitoid dryly stated.
"So, why are going here again?" Leo asked.
"I promised to find a way to break into the Triceraton Mothership, did I not?" Honeycutt reminded, getting everyone's attention. "If you want to steal the first piece of the Black Hole Generator, the first step is to-"
"Distract them with pepperoni! Yes!" Mikey exclaimed, interrupting the Professor as he held up a stick of pepperoni that looked to be nearly three feet long. "Look at the size of this!"
"MIKEY! PAY ATTENTION! THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF!" Raph shouted at his younger brother. He then took a few brief breaths to calm himself. "Continue, Professor." He said, finally regaining his composure before Mikey appeared right next to him and smacked him with the pepperoni stick.
The group then got to watch in some amusement as Raph lost his cool again and angrily chased Mikey around the bridge, with the orange clad turtle laughing all the way.
"The first step is to acquire a schematic of the Mothership from a shady business dealer named Ziro." Honeycutt continued. "Ziro is a member of the infamous Hutt clan, a family of rich and powerful crime lords who control most of the Outer Rim territories."
"So where do we find this guy?" Casey questioned eagerly, leaning on one of the stations.
"In Hutta Town, a place where humans are not generally welcome." Fugitoid replied. "April and Casey will have to stay behind."
April and Casey looked both surprised and angered by that. "Oh, come on!" April exclaimed. "Stay behind?!"
"This is alien racism!" Casey protested before he accidentally slipped off his station.
April rolled her eyes and sighed as she knew there was probably no arguing. "We'll stay here." She reluctantly said as Raph continued to chase Mikey around the bridge.
After going down to the lower levels of the city and wandering the dirty of streets of Hutta Town, the Turtles and the Fugitoid entered a small bar on one of the streets. Upon entering, they noticed the cantina was quite crowded as several aliens of all shapes, sizes, and colors went about their business with eating, drinking, and most of all gambling as the cantina band played a certain cantina theme.
However, the music suddenly stopped and everyone in the cantina turned to see the Leo, Donnie, Raph, Mikey, and Honeycutt enter the cantina, the Professor having a large briefcase in his hands. The large crowd of aliens stared at the group for a brief moment before the music started up again and everyone casually resumed their activities.
"For once, a place we can sit down, blend in, enjoy a meal, and not have people look at us like we're freaks." Raph stated, feeling a great sense of relief.
"Don't get too comfortable with this place, Raph." Leo warned his hot-tempered brother. "Theres a reason why Nar Shadda is called 'The Smugglers Moon'."
"In fact, don't make eye, hand, or tentacle contact with anyone or anything." Fugitoid also warned. "As I said before, these are outlaws and scoundrels. We've nothing to learn from them."
As Fugitoid, Leo, Raph, and Donnie walked off in one direction, an odd whiff suddenly caught Mikey's nose. He smiled brightly as he closed his eyes and blindly followed the smell across the cantina before bumping into the back of a large slug-like alien with purple skin and yellow tattoos, causing the slug-like alien to drop his tray of food.
"My gorgs!" The slug-like alien angrily exclaimed. "You trying to start something, punk?!" He then pulled out a blaster pistol and aimed it at Mikey's face. "Because I got a great ending for ya!"
"Whoa, sorry, dude!" Mikey exclaimed before he began to pick up the spilled food off the ground. "Just picking this... food up for you...?" He smiled apologetically as he held up the spilled food on the tray. "My bad."
Almost immediately, Leo, Raph, and Donnie quickly rushed to Mikey's defense. "We're really sorry, sir." Leo apologized. "Our friend here is... kinda odd most of the time."
The slug-like alien simply growled as it looked like he was about to fire his blaster anyway.
"Wait, stop!" Fugitoid exclaimed, walking up to the slug-like alien.
"Oh, it's you!" The slug-like alien said, calming down. "And these idiots are your muscle, eh? A sorry looking bunch I must say."
"I'm guessing this is that Ziro guy?" Raph whispered to Donnie.
"Apparently." Donnie whispered in reply with a slight shrug.
"Come, grab a seat here, fellas." The alien revealed to be Ziro the Hutt said, slithering into a large booth with everyone else following him.
Leo and Mikey were the last to enter the booth, but not before Leo grabbed Mikey by the shoulder and pulled him back. "Remember, Mikey, this guy's got the plans to the Triceraton Mothership." He reminded his baby brother. "So try not to tick him off again, okay?"
Mikey pouted sourly, crossing his arms and grumbling something under his breath as he and Leo joined the others in the booth. Ziro then began to scarf down his food, much to the group's (except for Mikey's) disgust, despite it being spilled on the floor a few seconds ago.
"Mind if I have a bite?" Mikey asked, reaching for a piece of food on the table. However, Ziro harshly slapped Mikey's hand away as he glared at the orange clad turtle.
"You best keep your grubby paws off my klatooine paddy frogs, boy!" Ziro warned him.
The orange clad turtle frowned and was about to retort when Raph pulled him back. "Mikey, seriously, what is going on in your head right now, man?!"
Mikey smiled as his eyes turned skyward. "I see a land where pizza grows on trees." He said gleefully, smiling like an idiot and causing Raph to face-palm while Leo and Donnie rolled their eyes. Maybe Mikey should have stayed on the ship with April and Casey.
"I brought the agreed upon fee of fifty-thousand credits." Honeycutt stated, placing the briefcase on the table. Ziro quickly brushed away his plates of food and attempted to grab the briefcase, but Honeycutt kept a firm grip on it. "Did you bring the information?"
The Hutt frowned deeply as he yanked the briefcase out of the Fugitoid's hands. "Of course I did!" He retorted. "Do you take me for a fool?" He then opened the briefcase and inspected the contents briefly before shutting the briefcase. "This will do... for a down payment. Another fifty-thousand and you've got yourself a deal."
The group looked in surprise at that amount of money. "What?! But..! You said...! This is all I have! My life savings!" Fugitoid sputtered.
"Yeah, well, see you when you get the other fifty-thousand, losers." Ziro stated before letting a large burp that unleashed a large green cloud of noxious fumes from his mouth. Leo, Donnie, and Raph all coughed and covered their eyes while the fumes blinded Fugitoid as Ziro attempted to slither away with the money.
The only one who was not nauseous from the smell was Mikey, who strangely seemed to enjoy the smell. He then blinked for a moment before he quickly realized what had just happened.
"Hey! Get back here, dude!" He exclaimed, quickly running out of the booth and jumping directly in front of Ziro. In that instant, everyone fled the cantina as they knew there was a showdown coming.
"Give him back his money, Zero!" Mikey challenged, while also giving the Hutt one of his made up nicknames.
Ziro growled at the young turtle. "It's Ziro!" He retorted, pulling out his blaster pistol and firing at Mikey, forcing the orange clad turtle to take cover behind the bar.
"Come out and fight ya chump!" Ziro shouted, firing his blaster at the counter.
Acting quickly, Mikey whipped out his blaster and began firing back. "Yeah boi!" He exclaimed as he shot his blaster.
"Drop your weapon, freak!" Leo ordered as he, Raph, and Donnie recovered from their nausea and pulled out their blasters, pointing them at the Hutt.
"How about I drop you instead?" Ziro rebuffed, knocking over a table and taking cover behind as he fired at the Turtles, who took cover behind the bar and tables themselves.
The Turtles proceeded to lay down a large amount of laser fire, forcing the Hutt to take cover behind the table. Seeing that their opponent wasn't firing, Leo held up his fist, signaling the others to stop. They then moved forward, their blasters ready in case Ziro tried anything.
Sure enough, Ziro came out from his hiding spot, attempting to catch the Turtles by surprise as he fired his blaster at them, forcing the mutant ninjas to flip and dodge out of the way as Ziro slither closer to the exit.
However, Mikey quickly jumped out from behind the bar and fired his blaster in mid-air, blasting Ziro's pistol out of his hands. He then landed with a somersault before he fired his blaster again, blasting the briefcase out of the Hutt's hand.
Ziro quickly turned to leave but found himself face-to-face with Honeycutt as the Fugitoid reared back his robotic fist and with a single hard punch, sent the large Hutt tumbling to the ground.
"You messed up big-time, man!" Mikey stated, kicking Ziro's blaster away.
"Just make good on the deal and we'll forget this happened." Raph added.
"Forget it!" Ziro retorted. "The deals off! You liars! Thieves-!"
"What?! You stole from us!" Donnie exclaimed, picking up Honeycutt's money and handing it back to the Fugitoid.
"Forget this." Leo growled, walking past Ziro. "We're wasting our time with this loser. C'mon, let's go." The group was quick to agree with him as they also left the cantina.
"Yeah! We don't need you, Zero!" Mikey exclaimed, getting in the Hutt's face. "I got way better secrets than you'll ever have! Like blackhole pieces and stuff! Booya-Kasha!"
Ziro scowled as Mikey left with the others. However, his anger quickly faded away, now seemingly intrigued.
"Blackhole pieces, eh?" Ziro mused to himself. "Maybe this Mikey-moron does have some secrets worth getting my hands on." He then lifted his arm, activating his holoprojecter. "Summon the Neutrinos." His holoprojector then activated, projecting a three-dimensional blue hologram of three bulky creatures with armor-like skin and single red visors for eyes. "I got a big payday for you fellas."
Back on the Ulixius, everyone regrouped on the Fugitoid's ship as it left the planet, with the Turtles and the Professor explaining what happened to April and Casey.
"Wow. Sounds like a real class act." April said sarcastically. "I thought you knew this guy, Professor."
"Should've smashed that oversized sea-slug for trying to jack us!" Raph stated, pounding his fist into his palm.
"We may be back where we started, but we'll find a way. Maybe we can ask the Mona Lisa, Sal Commander, or Luke if they have anything." Leo stated. "Let's blow off some steam in the holo-training room." He said, with most of the group following him.
"Sounds fun." April said, following the others. "Mikey, you coming?"
"Nah, I'm gonna chill and scope 'Chris Bradford and his 2 Ruff Crew'." Mikey replied, getting up and heading towards the common room.
However, outside the Ulixius, a very small star-ship flew towards the large vessel. The tiny ship bore the strange appearance of a mix between a centipede and cellular organism. The small ship made it's way to the Ulixius, slipping past it's scanners with little effort before flying into a minor exhaust port in the back of the ship.
Chris Bradford's team all lay in a large pile, completely beaten and battered while Bradford stood his ground. Next to the pile of bodies was a small midget-like man with a high-technological outfit, hopping up and down as he faced off with Bradford.
"You may have defeated Master C, Sumo Glen, and Lil' Rineo," Chris stated, "but you won't get through me, Micro-Chip."
However, Chris was unprepared as the villain identified as Micro-Chip suddenly let out a loud screech before jumping onto Chris Bradford's face, knocking him to the ground. He then proceeded to comically beat down on Bradford's face relentlessly.
A few hours had passed as Mikey lay down on the carpet of the common room, eating some pepperoni pizza.
"Chirs Bradford is so lame." He yawned, closing his eyes and falling asleep. However, as he slept, he failed to notice the very tiny craft, piloted by Neutrinos, fly in and land atop of his shell. The trio of microscopic aliens got off their ship and began to march across Mikey's shell.
Jumping down from his shell and climbing over his head, the Neutrinos climbed down to Mikey's mouth. One neutrino opened the orange clad turtle's mouth slightly, allowing the other Neutrinos and himself to quietly slip inside.
Within a few moments, Mikey woke up with a scream, his eyes blood shot before his pupils shrank and he collapsed to the ground, passed out.
Coming out of the training room, the group was both surprised and a bit alarmed when they saw the unconscious Mikey in the common room.
"Mikey, are you alright?" April questioned, shaking his shell slightly, but nothing. "Mikey? Mikey?!"
"Very funny, Mikey, but the joke's over." Raph stated sarcastically, dropping some popcorn on his younger brother's head. "Get up you bum!"
Donnie knelt down to his younger brother and pried one of Mikey's eyes open with his fingers, only to find Mikey completely dazed. "He's alive. But totally zonked out." He informed. "Could be a delayed reaction to Ziro's noxious burps?"
Casey then knelt down next to Donnie, holding a slice of pizza in his hand. "If this doesn't get him up, nothing will." He stated. He then slid the slice of pizza across Mikey's face, but still no reaction, much to the group's shock and horror. "What?! But that like... defies the laws of physics!"
Honeycutt's optics scanned Mikey's body before coming to a horrible result. "Oh dear." He said. "I'm afraid Michelangelo's mind has been infiltrated by Neutrinos!"
"Neutrinos?" Donnie questioned. "As in sub-atomic particles?"
"No, 'Neutrino' is just a nickname due to their microscopic size." Fugitoid explained, projecting a three-dimensional holographic profile of the aforementioned life-forms. "No one really knows the real name of their species-"
"We don't need their whole backstory!" Raph interrupted. "What the heck do they want with our brother?!"
"In short, his mind." Fugitoid answered. "Everyone has an 'inner self' deep in their consciousness. The Neutrinos track down and remove this 'inner self', stealing all of his knowledge and memories, leaving the victim a mindless husk."
"Isn't Mikey already kinda mindless?" Casey asked jokingly, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "Who'd want to steal his brains?"
"Maybe that Ziro guy?" April suggested. "From what you guys said, he really didn't seem to like Mikey."
"I have a plan to save your brother." Fugitoid stated. "But it's going to require a little psychic help." He told them, referring to April.
"Well if it saves our brother, then let's do it!" Leo stated.
The whole group was later gathered together in the engine room as Leo, Donnie, and Raph all had large tubes attached to their heads, along the unconscious Mikey, that were also connected to a small console the Professor was working at.
"Uh... I don't know about this..." Raph stated, feeling a little unsure about the procedure.
"Well the theory is sound." Fugitoid replied. "April will psychically project you into Michelangelo's mind. You must stop the Neutrinos from taking Michelangelo's inner self, at all costs!"
"But why aren't I going with you?" Casey questioned. "You know I hate sitting on the sidelines."
"Apologies, but I only had enough for just the four of them." Fugitoid said, gesturing to the Turtles.
"Trying to navigate Mikey's brain is gonna be like trying to watch every TV channel at once." Donnie stated.
"Don't worry, I'll do what I can to help guide you through." April assured. "We'll find his inner Mikey."
"Remember, if the Neutrinos destroy you inside his mind, your physical bodies here will be reduced to a vegetative state." Honeycutt told them, much to their shock and horror.
"Wait what?!" Donnie exclaimed in shock. "You never said anything like that before!"
"Hold up, Professor!" Leo said, trying to stop him. "Maybe this is a bad idea!"
"Just wait a second!" Raph also tried, but to no avail as Honeycutt pressed a small button on the console and they all groaned as their eyes went blank and they're bodies went limp.
Suddenly, the group consisting now of Leo, Raph, and Donnie found themselves projected like holograms in what appeared to be the sewers of New York.
"Uh.. did we just teleport?" Leo questioned, unsure of what was even happening.
"Are we... back home?" Donnie also questioned.
"No, you're in Mikey's memories." April communicated with them physically. "Which might not be entirely accurate because... you know... he's Mikey."
"This is so cool, dudes! We're going on an adventure!"
The three brothers' eyes all widened at hearing that familiar voice. "That's Mikey!" Raph exclaimed. They looked down one of the sewer tunnels to see Mikey as well as themselves marching through the sewers wearing their medieval costumes.
"This way!" Donnie said as they ran through the tunnel and approached Mikey.
"Mikey, no time to play!" Raph said, running in front of the orange clad turtle, who strangely didn't seem to hear him or notice him. "We gotta get you someplace safe before the Neutrinos-" He tried to stop Mikey only for his younger brother to walk right through him as though he were a ghost.
"It's just a memory, Raph." April told them as the three brothers watched as the group of larping turtles wandered through the long corridors of the sewers. "He can't hear you or see you."
"Wow. Kinda like holographic movies." Donnie gasped.
"Okay, but where are we supposed to find the one true Mikey?" Leo questioned.
Before anyone could respond however, they heard a loud scream from nearby. A scream which sounded like Mikey's, only younger. The scream had come from ahead of them down one of the sewer tunnels. From there, they could see flashes of red light appear from the tunnel.
"Mikey!" Leo exclaimed as the group ran through the tunnel.
"We're coming, Mikey!" Raph shouted. "Hang on!"
They ran through the tunnels of the sewers as fast as they could before coming into another large corridor. The three turtles immediately came to a halt as they saw the Neutrinos slicing through the memory itself and climbing in.
The Neutrinos themselves were very tall and bulky, much like the Turtles' mutant alligator friend Leatherhead. However, these aliens looked less like aligators and much more like robotic drones if anything.
"The Neutrinos!" Donnie exclaimed. "I thought they'd be a lot smaller!"
One of the Neutrino's arms morphed into what looked like some kind of bio-organic blaster before shooting beams of red lightning from it, forcing the three turtles to quickly jump out of the way.
Leo, Donnie, and Raph quickly drew their weapons before charging at the Neutrinos. Raph jumped up and kicked one Neutrino in the head before landing on the ground and slashing his sais at the creature's chest.
"They're not so tough!" Raph smirked before he jabbed his sai into the Neutrino's chest. However, he was quite surprised when he saw that none of his attacks had even hurt the creature. The Neutrino then raised it's fist before bringing it down on Raph, forcing him to retract his limbs and his head into his shell as the Neutrino relentlessly bashed his shell before tossing him away.
Donnie dodged a punch from another Neutrino before whipping out his naginata blade from his staff. He then thrust his staff froward, attempting to stab the creature, but the blade barely even scratched the Neutrino as it caught the staff in it's hand with very little effort.
"These guys are built like tanks!" Donnie remarked before the Neutrino yanked his staff out of his grip and knocked him into the air with a hard uppercut. As Donnie came down, the Neutrino punched him away before tossing his staff with him.
Leo slashed at another Neutrino relentlessly with his katanas, jumping into the air and slashing it across the face before slicing it in the abdomen. But his katanas hardly even scratched the Neutrino's armor as it easily took Leo's attacks before retaliating with a strong punch, knocking the blue-clad turtle back.
Leo gritted his teeth as he got back up, his brothers also struggling to fight the Neutrinos as they didn't seem to do them any harm.
"They're armor's too strong!" Leo exclaimed before he noticed a ladder leading up to the surface. "Move!"
"Retreat?!" Raph questioned as Leo ran over to the ladder.
"Tactical retreat!" Donnie rebuffed as he quickly followed Leo up the ladder. "We can lose them in the streets!"
Raph scowled deeply as he knew they were right. Reluctantly, he leapt onto the ladder and followed his brothers just as the Neutrinos were about to blast him.
However, they did not enter the surface world of New York as they instead found themselves running out of the basement of the O'neil farmhouse before running into the living room before sliding the doors shut behind them.
After taking a few breaths, the three brothers finally calmed down as they acknowledged their surroundings.
"Wait, this isn't New York." Raph stated in surprise as they looked around the living room. "We're back here again?"
"Memory isn't always logical." April communicated psychically with them again. "I can't control where you guys end up, but I can tell where you are after you get there."
Leo looked around the living room a bit before he smiled. "Man, I miss the farmhouse." He said nostalgically.
"I don't." Donnie stated as the three turtles noticed the memory of the female Big-Foot holding Donnie in her lap and force-feeding him popcorn, to which Leo and Raph couldn't help but chuckle in amusement as Donnie shivered.
However, their relief was short-lived as a Neutrino's arm broke through the door, it's hand morphed into a blade-like appendage, startling the three turtles.
"Neutrinos!" Raph shouted as the Neutrino kicked down the door, shattering it pieces before it stomped into the living room. The three turtles backed into the corner of the living room as the other two Neutrinos used their blades to 'cut' their way through the memory and walk right in before their hands morphed into blasters again. Leo and Raph quickly drew their weapons, ready to fight back even though it was probably useless as Donnie opened the window up in the corner.
"Come on! Everyone out the window!" Donnie shouted, jumping through the window.
Deciding not to argue (and knowing that they probably had no choice), Leo and Raph quickly sheathed their weapons as they dived through the window, just narrowly avoiding getting blasted by the Neutrinos.
The three turtles screamed as they fell down a bit before landing in a small pile on a black-and-white tiled floor with entire area surrounded by red curtains.
"Sorry about the hard drop." April apologized. "I had to get you guys out of there fast."
The three turtles quickly recovered from their fall as they looked around at their new surroundings. "What the heck?!" Raph exclaimed.
"Okay... Mikey must have had some whacky adventures without us because I do not remember this place." Donnie said, standing up.
"It's not a memory." April told them. "It's his subconscious. I lost track of him when he slipped-" April's voice suddenly began to grow more distant to the point where they could no longer hear it.
"April? April, we can't hear you!" Leo tried to call out, but no response.
"Did the only person who knows where we're going just vanish?!" Raph questioned. "Because if she did, we are totally-"
"Hey! There he is!" Donnie exclaimed, pointing in one direction to where they saw Mikey actually walking backwards towards them.
And he wasn't just walking backwards either, he was also talking backwards to. He came to a stop right in front of Leo before turning his head a full three-sixty before assuming his backwards walking and talking, leaving the three turtles utterly confused.
"Is he... speaking some other language?" Leo asked in confusion.
"Well, this is... a thousand times weirder than usual." Donnie said, only for a giant sixty foot tall Mikey to stomp behind them angrily.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING WEIRD?!" The tall Mikey shouted.
"Dude, calm down! It's us, your brothers!" Raph exclaimed, trying to calm him.
"HA! LIKE YOUR EVER CALM!"
Despite himself, Raph couldn't restrain an impressed smirk. "Now this angry version I like." However, he quickly regretted saying that as he soon found himself being chased around by Angry Mikey.
Suddenly, the sound of eating was heard as Leo turned to see a very fat Mikey on the floor surrounded by empty pizza boxes and soda cans as the fat Mikey scarfed down several slices of pizza.
"Feed me!" The fat Mikey exclaimed, grabbing Leo's arm and begging like a dog. "Feed me!"
"Any guess which of these is Mikey's inner self?" Leo questioned as he gently shoved the fat Mikey off of him.
"Well, I'm pretty sure we all heard April say we were in Mikey's subconscious." Donnie theorized. "Angry dude, glutton, and weirdo. These must all be aspects of his personality."
"Got that right! Buzz, buzz!" A fourth Mikey exclaimed, this one being about the size of a small bird and flying around in his Tur-Flytle costume before landing on Donnie's shoulder.
Raph, seeing this, stopped running for a moment. "Heh, this must be his annoying side." He remarked with a small smirk before he was stomped on by Angry Mikey.
"No way! I'm the funny guy! Buzz, buzz!" The fourth Mikey exclaimed, floating off of Donnie's shoulder.
"Well, can you tell us where to find Mikey's own inner self?" Leo asked. "Seriously, this is too much to take in."
"Nope." Funny-Mikey answered. "But I can rap for ya!"
"For the love of my life, no!" Donnie exclaimed, trying to stop him.
"Uh, that's okay!" Leo said, also trying to stop him.
Raph immediately shot up from the ground. "Mikey, do not do that!"
But it was too late as Funny-Mikey flew down to a small radio and pressed a button as a catchy beat began to play. The beat caught the attention of the other Mikeys as they began to dance to the beat as well.
"Yo, listen up, cuz!" Funny-Mikey began to rap first. "You gotta find the real Michelangelo, before his mind gets wiped by a Neutrino! Now here's a primer on our line-up, so you can save before my time's up!"
Raph quickly covered his ear-slits, trying to drown out the rap. Donnie slapped his hands onto his face, shaking his head. Leo, on the other hand, looked incredibly weirdered out.
"I'M AC CHILLED, BUT I DO GET MAD!" Angry-Mikey yelled as he did his part. "WHICH MAKES ME ILL, SO I TRY TO STAY RAD!"
Glutton-Mikey sprayed a large amount of whip cream into his mouth. "I'm the hungry dude in the mood for food! If you think that's rude, you've got a bad attitude!" He rapped before he tossed away the cans and began to break-dance.
"Teenage. Mutant. Astronaut. Pick apart my astrothoughts!" Weird-Mikey rapped as he danced and twirled in mid-air. "Discover the center of my psyche to uncover the one true Mikey!"
"This is excruciating." Raph grumbled, still covering his ear slits while Leo still looked ultra confused. Donnie, however, seemed to notice something about the lyrics in the rap as he put a hand on his chin.
"I think they might be trying to tell us something." Donnie spoke up as the Mikeys finished their rap.
"Don't tell me you actually understood that." Raph groaned, uncovering his ear slits. "They didn't tell us anything!"
"No, they did just tell us!" Leo exclaimed. "Remember what that last Mikey said? 'The center of my psyche'."
Donnie and Raph seemed to ponder this for a moment. "Do you think he means..." Donnie began, but then it suddenly clicked.
"His imagination!" Leo, Raph, and Donnie all exclaimed at the same time.
As if in direct response, a large flurry of fireworks and confetti lit up the ceiling with cheers being heard from everywhere, indicating that they had guessed right. The red curtains then cleared away to reveal a small, crooked door with a neon sign that read 'Mikey's Imagination' at the top.
"Well, that makes sense." Raph pointed out as they walked over to the small door. "Whenever things get bad, he jumps into his wacky la-la land."
Leo bent down and griped the door knob only to find that the door wouldn't budge. "Locked."
Just then, a small slot slid open as a Mikey asked one simple question. "Password?"
Leo, Donnie, and Raph all looked to each other, knowing it didn't take a genius to figure out what the password was. "Pizza." They all said simultaneously.
With that, the door opened to reveal a bright, blinding white light as the three turtles were sucked into the light before the door slammed behind them.
The bright light soon began to clear as the three turtles opened their eyes. However, as soon as their vision cleared, their eyes widened at what they saw.
"Ho-" Leo began.
"-Ly.." Raph continued,
"Chalupa!" Donnie finished.
When the three brothers were about to enter Mikey's imagination, they honestly didn't know what to expect. Mikey was often very scatterbrained, making it very confusing to tell what he was thinking. A part of them hoped that his imagination would be a little more serious than what he showed on the outside.
However, what the three turtles were not expecting at all was to find themselves standing atop a massive slice of pizza floating down a long rainbow-road apparently made of paper and cardboard. Along the way were several oddities such as video game aliens gliding across air, a giant Dimension-X sea monster flying around while leaving a trail of golden sparkles behind it, a massive cardboard-cut-out of the Mighty Super Robo Mecha Force Five robot, and even living pizza growing on paper trees while also chanting 'pizza' over and over.
They even saw people they were familiar with, such as a giant Ice Cream Kitty playing with a bunch of kittens, some of Mikey's toys like his Chris Bradford action figure and his action-kick unicorn man playing arcade games, cartoon characters such as Crognard and Captain Dash Coolstar watching episodes of Space-Heroes, and even their mutant gecko friend, Mondo Gecko, could be seen skateboarding with a bunch of mutant toads.
The three turtles didn't say anything, completely stunned silent by the wackiness of their little brother's imagination.
"Sooo..." Donnie spoke up, trying to find the right words to say. "This place is all kinds of crazy, but where are we supposed to find Mikey?"
"Probably some place where he feels safe and secure." Leo theorized.
"And just where are we supposed to find that?" Raph questioned. "It's not like we'll just get automatically taken to him."
As if in response, the flying pizza slice they were standing on came to a screeching halt above a card-board-cut-out of what appeared to be a mix of a whale and a snail before it shot water from it's blowhole that propelled them into the clouds.
Once above the clouds, the three turtles got off the giant pizza slice and were surprised to find themselves not standing on clouds, but on a polished wooden floor. After a bit of wandering around, the three brothers soon came across a mountain of empty pizza boxes. And at very the top of the mountain of pizza boxes was Chris Bradford feeding pizza to what appeared to be a toddler version of Mikey sitting on a cardboard throne wearing a make-shift crown and carrying a toy scepter.
"There he is!" Leo said with a smile as they approached the mountain of pizza. "That's got to be the real Mikey!"
Little-Mikey looked down from his throne, and his eyes widened with joy. "Dudes!" Little-Mikey cried, a wide grin on his face as he jumped off his throne and slid down the mountain of pizza boxes to his big brothers.
"Mikey!" Leo exclaimed, pulling the toddler version of his baby brother into a tight embrace, which Little-Mikey happily returned.
"Heh, no wonder he ran away." Raph teased. "He's just a little Mikey." He said in a baby voice, resulting in Little-Mikey pouting almost adorably at him.
"Makes sense, I guess." Donnie said. "He never did mature past six-years-old."
"I knew you guys would come and find me!" Little-Mikey exclaimed. "Those freaky robot monsters were chasing me! So I hid in my imagination! Pretty cool, huh?" He then pointed to his make-shift crown. "Check out my king-hat, yo!"
"Don't worry, Mikey." Leo assured. "You're safe with us." He added emphasis as he placed a hand on his baby brother's shoulder.
"I hope so." Little-Mikey said. "Okay, what's the plan big bros?" He asked.
Suddenly, a Neutrino claw pierced the imaginary wall, just an inch away from Little-Mikey's face, startling everyone present. Leo immediately scooped up Little-Mikey in his arms and backed away from the wall as the Neutrinos cut their way into Mikey's imagination.
"Ah! It's them! DON'T LET 'EM NEAR ME!" Little-Mikey screamed, clinging to Leo like a life-line as the three turtles drew their weapons. However, they knew they were at a disadvantage as the last time they had tried to fight the creatures, it didn't go so well.
The Neutrinos then began firing their blasters at the Turtles, forcing them to retreat up the mountain of pizza boxes as they narrowly avoided being hit the Neutrinos' lasers, one of the hitting and vaporizing the imaginary Chris Bradford.
Reaching the top of the mountain of pizza boxes, a stray Neutrino bolt hit Leo in the back, causing him to drop Little-Mikey as they tumbled down the mountain and onto the hard ground.
"Leo!" Little-Mikey cried, quickly getting up and rushing over to help his brother as Raph and Donnie regrouped with them.
"Donnie, you're the science guy!" Raph stated. "So how do we break through their armor?!"
"It's not just armor." Donnie began to explain. "They're not made entirely of physical matter. They're also partly mental too, like us."
Leo gritted his teeth as Little-Mikey helped him up. "Then we need an inside advantage to level the playing field." The blue clad turtle stated.
Following that statement, the three turtles then shifted their gazes to Little-Mikey. "Why are you guys looking at me?" He asked, confused.
"Mikey, you see the world in a way no one else does because of your-" Leo began.
"-Massive and freakishly wild imagination!" Donnie continued. "In here, you're the king!"
"You don't have to be afraid of them anymore, Mikey." Raph encouraged, kneeling down to Little-Mikey's level and handing him his make-shift crown. "You can help us beat these jerks! Let your mind rip!"
Mikey stared at his make-shift crown for a few seconds before he let out a small giggle as he smiled and placed his crown on his head.
The Neutrinos began vaporizing anything they could find in Mikey's imagination with their blasters. Having lost sight of Mikey's inner self, the Neutrinos had seemingly decided to simply tear the entire place apart to leave nothing left of Mikey's mind.
"Hey Butt-faces!" Little-Mikey called out, getting the Neutrinos attention as he hopped onto his cardboard throne before snapping his fingers.
Suddenly, his older brothers, sporting their Spirit Quest gear, leaped into the battle with Leo riding an imaginary Leatherhead, Raph riding an imaginary Pigeon Pete, and Donnie riding an imaginary Tiger Claw.
"GET 'EM!" Leo shouted.
Leatherhead tackled one Neutrino before the alien creature hit the mutant alligator with a right hook. Leatherhead retaliated by grabbing the Neutrino's head with his webbed claw and slamming the Neutrino onto the ground. The alien quickly got up and grabbed mutant alligator around the waist before throwing him over it's shoulder.
Leatherhead landed on all fours before he charged at the Neutrino again, this time grappling with the Neutrino in a hard struggle and allowing Leo to jump off of mutant alligator's back and attack the Neutrino.
Leo jumped up high, raising his katana above his head as the Neutrino instinctively held out it's arm to block it. Instead, what resulted was Leo actually slicing off the Neutrino's arm.
The blue clad turtle smirked a bit at the Neutrino's seemingly aghast look before charging in again.
Donnie and Tiger Claw circled the second Neutrino before Tiger Claw leapt at it, delivering several hard punches and claw scratches before Donnie ran forward with his stone axe and sliced it across the chest, knocking the Neutrino down.
Pigeon Pete flew around the third Neutrino, relentlessly pecking it with his beak before the alien grabbed him by the leg in mid-air. As the mutant pigeon struggled to get free, Raph charged in, jumping on the Neutrino's face and activating his flame-throwers, burning through the Neutrino's armor like it was made of butter.
Mikey's imagination also joined the fight against the Neutrinos as an imaginary Crognard the Barbarian stabbed a Neutrino with his energy sword before an action figure of Chris Bradford hit another Neutrino with a flying kick.
The third Neutrino was about to fire at the group when it was suddenly knocked to the ground by a paw swipe from the giant Ice Cream Kitty. Once it was down, the mutant frogs led an imaginary Mondo Gecko wasted no time beating the Neutrino with their skateboards.
Before the three Neutrinos could react, they were all slammed by the Party Wagon, knocking them into a small pile. They didn't have the chance to recover as they were immediately punched away by a giant rocket fist from the Mighty Super Robo Mech Force Five robot, launching the Neutrinos off the cloud before they were blown into the air by a large torrent of water from the snail-whale, propelling them high into the sky.
As the Neutrinos continued upwards into the sky, they found themselves facing a gigantic, one-hundred-foot-tall version of the time master Renet walking towards them.
"Party's over, guys!" Little-Mikey called, standing on Renet's shoulder. "You don't have to go home," He began as he extended his toy scepter, turning it into a massive nunchuck, which he pulled back, "but you can't stay here!" As he swung, the hundred-foot-tall Renet swung her head to add more force to the swing, hitting the three Neutrinos head-on and sending them flying out the door to Mikey's mind, which then exploded as soon as the door shut itself.
Everyone in Mikey's imagination army cheered in victory as the massive Renet brought Little-Mikey down to his brothers.
"Yeah, little man!" Leo cheered, scooping up Little-Mikey and hugging him tightly.
"Mikey for the win!" Donnie congratulated, giving Little-Mikey a fist-bump.
"Awesome job, Little-Mikey!" Raph exclaimed, giving Mikey a friendly noogie. "You did it!"
"BOOYAKABUNGA!" Little-Mikey cheered happily as his brothers tossed him up and down in celebration.
Seeing that the Turtles had managed to expel the Neutrino's from Mikey's head, Professor Honeycutt turned off the machine. The four brothers groaned, looking exhausted as they sat up. However, Leo, Donnie, and Raph managed to overcome their grogginess as they saw that their baby brother was alright.
"MIKEY!" The three brothers cried, squeezing Mikey into a tight but loving hug.
"Your okay!" Leo cried, burying his face into Mikey's forehead.
"Thank goodness your alright!" Donnie said, nuzzling Mikey's neck.
"Don't scare us like that again, bro!" Raph exclaimed, nuzzling Mikey's face.
Mikey blinked for several moments, a small blush creeping onto his face before he smiled as he gently patted his brothers' shells.
"I'm okay, bros." Mikey reassured. His expression then shifted to a tired one as he held his head. "But I just had the weirdest dream. I dreamed that you guys went into my head to save me from a bunch of robot-looking aliens."
"It wasn't a dream, dude." Casey told him as Leo, Raph, and Donnie released Mikey from their embrace.
"The Neutrinos are very real. Sent to rob your mind by Ziro." Fugitoid explained.
Mikey blinked again before his expression turned furious. "What?! That was real?!" He exclaimed angrily, ripping the tube attached to his face. "Those.. gross jerk-faces! They were in my head!"
He then spotted Neutrinos themselves trying to escape on their tiny space-craft. Mikey then grabbed the Neutrinos ship between his fingers, shooting the Neutrinos an almost hateful glare. "Why you little..." He growled before he ran off with them, leaving everyone else a little stunned at the young turtle's anger.
"Ah, so that's the little-seen angry Mikey." Raph remarked with a small smirk.
"Take that!" Mikey shouted, crushing the Neutrinos underneath his foot with a loud crunch.
Back on Nar Shada, Ziro the Hutt sat comfortably in his personal booth in the cantina, eating a large pile of food at his table.
"Don't worry, Dregg," Ziro said, speaking to a hologram of Lord Dregg, "any minute now, the Neutrinos will be back with with all kinds of info on that Black-Hole Generator, and whatever else that stupid turtle-"
The Hutt was cut off as Mikey himself slammed his foot on the table, glaring down at Ziro. And it wasn't just him; Leo, Raph, Donnie, and even April and Casey were all present as well, ignoring the no humans rule of the cantina.
"Yeah... I'll call you back." Ziro said before hanging up on his holo-projector. "Oh hey, fellas!" Ziro said, trying to act innocent. "Can I interest you in some vanarian muffins?" He asked, offering one of the alien muffins. "They're still warm."
Mikey never lost his glare as he knelt down in front of Ziro. "There's only one way to make this right, Zero!" Mikey stated. "Give us the plans so we can save the Earth!"
"You idiots are really gonna take on the entire Triceraton Empire?" Ziro questioned, almost looking impressed. "Heh, your lucky I'm such a nice guy." He then reached into a small brief case, pulling out a disk-like drive before handing it to Mikey.
"I'll also take one of those muffins too!" Mikey added, snatching a muffin out of Ziro's hand before stuffing it in his mouth. However, Mikey quickly felt gas building up in his body as soon as he swallowed the muffin, causing him to burp noxious fumes into Ziro face, which knocked the Hutt unconscious.
"Ha! You sure showed him, 'Little-Mikey'! Raph said.
"Serves him right." Donnie commented.
"Nice one." Leo stated, flashing Mikey a thumbs up.
"Thanks, bros. That means a lot to me." Mikey said, standing pridefully over Ziro. "Now let's go bust some Dino-heads!"
"BOOYAKABUNGA!" Mikey shouted with Leo, Raph, Donnie, April, and Casey standing proudly with him.
Phew! Finally done with this chapter.
Not gonna lie, this was pretty hard to write, especially the final fight between Mikey's imagination and the Neutrinos. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will update as soon as I update some of my stories. Bye!