A couple of weeks later, everyone was a lot better, except for Don's allergies. April announced to the guys that there was a special tour going on at the museum that weekend. It was featuring a new dinosaur exhibit.
Don couldn't be more thrilled about it. Leo was more wary about it.
"I can't miss this opportunity, Leo. I feel fine enough to go." Don declared seriously.
"Let's wait until Saturday for sure, Don." Leo advised.
"Sure." Don replied.
Mike and Raph weren't too excited about going, but they would go for their brother.
"You guys don't know what you're missing." Don said.
"Well, I do still like dinosaurs too." Mikey admitted.
Randall had seen a few dinosaur movies since he had been there, a few Godzilla movies. And maybe at least one documentary of them. He knew they were extinct giant lizards. "I'd like to go too."
"It might be harder for you, Randall." Raph said.
"He can camouflage himself and still go." April said.
"Yeah, I can." Randall replied.
"Let's wait until we see how Don is feeling Saturday, and wait till its closer to closing time, so there will be less people gawking at us." Leo advised.
They all agreed. Splinter had been helping to set up the lair too, though he kept to himself a lot more.
…
When Saturday finally came, Don made sure to rest himself most of the day. He always worked so hard, he needed this break to rest so he would feel refreshed and well enough to go to the museum tonight. It would be closer to nine anyway, when they went as the museum would be closing shortly.
When Leo saw how he was feeling tonight, which seemed to be well enough, he said he could go.
"I'm not missing this for the world, Leo." Don said.
"If you are really sick, you should stay home." Leo said in a worried tone.
"I'm fine, Leo. I'll rest some more when we get back. It won't be that long."
"Alright." Leo agreed reluctantly.
They all dressed warmly as they went out, to keep warm and to disguise themselves from the public. Randall went along too. He was wearing his sweater and a coat he had gotten for Christmas just until they got to the museum.
They picked up April on the way, as this had been her announcement. They drove the van to the museum. Soon, they got there. Randall undressed before following his friends out and into the building.
Tonight, even Raph and Mikey were having their doubts about this visit.
"I'm telling ya right now, this a bad idea." Raph admitted. Even Leo agreed with him.
"Raph's right. I got a bad feeling about tonight." Mikey also admitted.
Randall had blended and took to the walls. He had never been in here before and wanted see some more human culture. "I can already see there aren't many humans here." he said lowly.
"Still, it doesn't mean that there isn't going to be trouble." Leo replied.
"What are you talking about? This is going to be great." Don declared. "How can you not be excited about being in a museum?"
Mikey and Raph glanced at one another, and said in unison, "Boring!"
"You won't think that when we get to the main attraction." Don said.
"Is it a snack bar? Now that I could get excited about." Mikey admitted.
"Figures." Randall said to himself. The youngest seemed to only care about food when it wasn't video games or comics.
Don was walking next to April. Raph and Mike were in the middle, and Leo was bringing up the rear, being the protective big brother that he was. He too was uneasy. He looked around, seeing a security guard and a custodian. He turned his head to the right and then he was shocked when he saw a turtle in the exhibit.
Randall saw his reaction from above and went down to see, a little surprised at it too. "Come on, Leo. It's just a fake turtle." he encouraged Leo to move on.
Leo moved on to catch up with his family. Randall did too. It had been just a display of a sea turtle.
"The museum is closing in twenty minutes, so there shouldn't be very many people. But keep a low profile." Leo declared.
Don suddenly stopped. His brothers and April started going around him when he started to feel a sneeze come on. The others glanced at him. Then he let loose a powerful sneeze. It echoed around the museum.
"Gazoontight." Mikey said.
"That's not exactly what I meant by low profile." Leo said.
"Sorry." Don replied, then sniffled. He rubbed his nose.
"You okay, Don?" Leo asked.
"Just a stuffy nose. Nothing serious enough to miss this!" Don explained as they finally found the exhibit. "Dinosaurs!" he exclaimed happily.
Randall was on the ceiling and he saw it too. At least they weren't alive.
"Isn't it fantastic? It's the largest dinosaur exhibit in the country." Don stated.
Mikey just saw dullsville. "Yeah, this is much more exciting than playing video games or reading comic books." he said sarcastically. "Thanks, Don."
"Ya know, it's not too late to ditch this place and go find something to fight. Bishop's monsters are still out there! Fighting them would be less painful than this." Raph complained.
Randall could see how Mike and Raph just didn't have the patience for this because they just weren't into sciencey stuff. It definitely took a special understanding for wanting to go to a museum and look at dead bones and displays.
"Look!" Don pointed. "There's a stegosaurus. And a pteranodon skeleton."
"Look, there's a nerdosaur." Mikey joked.
"And I see a geekosauraus rex." Raph added on to the joke.
Don got what they were joking about. "I've been a dinosaur fanatic as long as I can remember." he admitted. "All the cool fossils. All the different species. The mystery of their extinction. What's not to like?" Then he pointed out a turtle skeleton. "You see that Archalon?"
They all looked at the turtle skeleton. "As turtles, we have ancestors that go all the way back, even before the Cretaceous period. Dinosaurs are like, our ancient cousins." Don explained.
Randall had no idea it was that way. It also made more sense now, especially to Donatello.
Mikey rubbed his head, "Geesh! And I thought Raph was the ugliest relative we had."
"Hardy har, Mikey." Raph scoffed at his little bro.
Then a robotic raptor came out of the bushes and roared. It startled both turtles. "What the-?!" Raph gaped. He and Mike both took out their weapons as if it was a threat. Randall silently panicked too, but stayed where he was.
Leo came over to them, "Mikey, Raph, easy."
Raph and Mikey put their weapons away. Leo had tried to shield their weapons as a museum director was showing some other tourists around. Leo looked at him warily.
The raptor went back into its hiding spot.
"Did I mention the animatronic exhibits? They're state of the art." Don stated proudly.
"Look, Donny. Chickenasauruses." April joked about Don's bros.
Even Randall got her joke, but he too had been startled. The raptor bushled again, and the two turtles walked away from the bushes. Then they all walked up to the biggest skeleton in the room.
"And there's the king! The Tyrannosaurus Rex!" Don said.
"I'd hate to run into that in a dark alley." Mikey admitted.
"Just imagine what it would have been like back then. Herds of dinosaurs grazing peacefully, and then, THUM! THUM! THUM! The T-rex attacks!" Don explained what it could have been like for the plant eating dinos so long ago. Randall knew he wouldn't want to experience it, nor did the others.
Then, behind them, the bones of the T-rex started to glow and growl. It started to come alive!
Randall's eyes lit up. "Uh, Don, is that a robot too?" he asked.
"What?" Don glanced behind him. The others were a little more on edge now as well.
The skeleton was now looking alive! "Uh, no. No, it's not!" Don got scared and started backing away. They all backed away. Randall could only watch from the wall. The T-rex bones roared at them.
The tourists and director behind them panicked and ran off.
The skeleton took a step toward the turtles and April, but then, the bones broke apart and started circling them. There was an evil laugh emitting from them.
"I take it this isn't part of the exhibit?" Leo questioned.
"I think that's a good consumption." Don replied in a scared tone.
Then the bones began to reconfigure. They began to take the shape of a humanoid head with long back flowing downward horns. To the turtles, the head shape looked familiar.
Three of the turtles withdrew their weapons now that the other humans were out of the room.
The head finished coming together and it started talking, "Greetings from the Cretaceous, you miserable reptiles!" It laughed maniacally in their faces.
The turtles all tensed up. The voice and look was definitely familiar! The security alarm started going off. April and Randall had no idea who this was, or what it was about.
The security guard ran to see what the fuss was. He gasped at the sight. "I don't get paid enough for this!" he said and ran out.
The head spoke again after finishing his laughing, "Fitting I should find you freaks here along with the dinosaurs. For soon, you too will be extinct!"
"That's Savanti Romero!" Don remembered.
"Savanti Romero?" April asked. "Didn't you guys tell me he was banished millions of years in the past?"
Randall had heard the story about him by now too. He was creepy alright. He wouldn't get him or his friends without a fight.
"That's what we thought." Leo answered.
"There's nowhere you can hide from my magic. Even from the distant past, I can find you and send this message of your impending and inevitable doom!" Savanti exclaimed.
"A message of doom. Well, you can be sure he sent the very best." Mikey remarked.
"You never should have interfered in my plans to capture the time scepter." The head moved toward them, making them back up more. "Now, you will pay! Mark my words, Turtles. Everything you know, everything you care about, I will erase! From the past, I will destroy your futures! I will deal with Lord Simultaneous and his apprentice soon enough. But wiping your entire timeline will be a good start to my revenge!"
"Enough of this noise! Bring it now, Bonehead!" Raph demanded angrily.
The voice went on, not really answering Raph's challenge, "Should you try and wish to stop me, I'll be waiting in the Ring of Fire!" he laughed some more.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Raph said again and he jumped to attack. That was when the bones collapsed into a heap on the floor.
Randall was shocked this had been able to happen at all. So were his friends.
"I can't take you guys anywhere." April complained.
"Why is it these bad guys don't stay down when we put a beatin' on 'em?" Raph asked, putting his sais away.
Randall came down off the wall now that the room was clear of other humans. He appeared next to them.
"Did you notice how he didn't respond to Raph?" Don asked. "It was weird, like a recording, or a time capsule. Like he knew we would be here tonight, and enchanted those bones from the past."
"Do you think he could make good on all those threats?" Mikey asked.
"I don't know. Magic's not really my thing." Don replied. He walked over to a map. "Look! This is the Ring of Fire he mentioned." The others came over to examine it too. "It's a string of volcanos that line the whole of the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Alaska."
"Well, that narrows it down." Leo replied.
"But what does this have to do with the Ring of Fire?" Randall asked.
"It doesn't make sense. He challenged us to stop him, but he must know we don't have any way to get to him in the past. We'd need a time machine." Don explained.
Then a greenish spiraling light blinded them, making them cover their eyes and back away for safety measures. It was a portal! It appeared right on the map, and out stepped a girl wearing clocks all over her blue clothes, and on her head. "Hi, guys." she greeted. "It is like, so great to see you guys again!" She ran over and hugged Leo. He had an arm around her.
Leo was still in shock, "Uh, Renet?"
"I can't believe it's been so long. Well, it seems like a long time, but in Null Time, you never know." Renet replied.
Randall looked at this strange girl in the room with a questioning look.
"This can't be a coincidence." Don stepped up. "Renet, what are you doing here?" he asked her.
"I'm graduating! Or at least I will if I pass my final exam. Lord Simultaneous said this crono crisis is my final, so I'm like, totally stressed. And yet, if, no, when I pass, I'll go from Apprentice Timestress to Temperal Infraction Escaplicator First Grade!" she explained.
Her explanation was rather shocking to hear. They had never heard of such a job title, or school grade before. Not even Randall.
"So, that's Renet?" April turned to Raph.
"Yeah, she's kinda a lot to take in." Raph replied.
"Renet, if Lord Simultaneous know this is happening, why doesn't he just fix it? He's the all Master of Time, right?" Mikey asked.
"Well, I have to do it. It's my final exam. And I came here to see if you guys wanna help?" she requested.
They all stared at her, shocked that she would ask that of them. But then, they knew they had to do something about the previous threats. This was their only chance.
Leo looked at the others, "Guys, huddle up." His bros went over to him. Randall and April didn't move. This was the turtles' decision.
"Look, I know Savanti's setting a trap. You know he is too. But, we can't really leave this to Renet, can we?" Leo asked.
"Especially because if Savanti can somehow destroy us from the past, it should have happened already." Don exclaimed.
"Meaning?" Mikey asked.
"Meaning Little Miss Tick-Tock over there might be the one that goes back in time and messes things up for all of us. And I mean, all of us." Raph finished, putting his hands on his hips.
They broke away as a group and Leo came up to her, "Alright, Renet. We'll go along and help in any way we can." he said.
Renet smiled. "YES! Trust me, this is going to be a breeze. I've gotten like really good with the time sceptor. Here we go!" She held the sceptor up and it started to glow, but April spoke up.
"Whoa! I mean as in hold on. Renet, right? I'm April." April introduced herself.
Renet stopped her spell. "Of course, I know you, April. I know you too, Randall. Remember when I showed you… Wait, no, that hasn't happened yet." Renet stopped herself from revealing something in the future. "Oops. Sorry. I always do that."
Randall was amazed this girl knew his name without him or the others telling her about him. Was he really up for this adventure too?
"What? Can you just drop me off at home? I don't think I'm up for a trip to the Cretaceous today." April asked of her. "What about you, Randall?"
Randall looked at April. It had been a little while since there had been out of this world excitement, other than the old lair getting destroyed. He thrived on challenges. He wanted to see these giant lizards in action! To go back to a world of reptilian beings being alive would be amazing!
"I think I'll go with them." Randall replied. Renet was pleased.
"Oh, no problem. Home, it is." Renet raised the sceptor and everyone tensed as April disappeared from the room.
April appeared in the lair's living room. Splinter was in there when his candles went out and he sensed something else at work.
April looked around and saw she was not at home. "Ah! I meant my home." She cringed in annoyance. Then she started to talk to Splinter. "Master Splinter, you're not gonna believe this…"
He held up a hand. "Stop, please. It is probably better that I do not know." Then he went back to meditation.
…
Renet held up the sceptor again and she and the five reptiles went back to the Cretaceous period. The landing was pretty soft, except for Raph's, who landed on his back. "I thought you said ya had gotten good with that thing?" he rubbed his head.
"I am." she retorted.
They all looked around at where they were. They definitely weren't in their timeline anymore. It was warmer here. There was a volcano, among many in the background. And dinosaurs.
Randall wondered if monsters even existed during this era? They could have in their own dimension, but there would have been no humans to scare. They all would have been in the beginning of their roots.
"Wow! I actually did it!" Renet was surprised she had done the transfer process just right.
"Should we be worried she sounds so surprised?" Mikey asked.
The guys still all had their human disguises on. Don stepped forward to look at the scenery. He pulled up his sunglasses. "Look at it all! Look! There's an Apatosaurus! A real, living Apatosaurus!" He saw some long necked dinosaurs eating plants from a tree.
Leo looked around and he saw a dead dino close by, with a predator coming to investigate if it was dead and ready to be eaten. It started to tuck in to the meal. Leo looked back to his family, "On your toes, guys. We might look like snacks to some of these guys." he warned the others.
"I ain't afraid of no prehistoric dino-brain!" Raph snarled and pulled out his sais.
"Whoa. We need to be careful while we're here." Don stepped forward away from his scenery watch. "This isn't some other dimension or some alternate universe. This is our world's past. Anything we do here could alter the future; we could unintentionally change our entire timeline. We can't leave anything behind, and we have to-" he began to sneeze again, and it let loose.
"Gazoontight." Randall said.
"So if I leave these clothes here, you think some archeologist in the present would find 'em and freak out?" Raph asked.
"Maybe. Looks like we need to pack everything up." Leo said.
The turtles all packed up their clothes into special packs. While they were doing that, Randall also used some vines nearby to make a belt for his tonfas that had been brought along too. He would carry them himself here. He would save his invisibility for special occasions. Mikey usually held the tonfas when Randall had to hide on walls. He only used two, but he was beginning to think of adding another pair.
Once everything was all packed up, the packs were put on their backs. At least now for the turtles, their stuff was far less of a distraction.
"Let's get moving." Leo said. The rest followed him.
"Now, the first thing we have to do is get a fix on our-Ah choo!" Don sneezed again, really loud this time that it echoed in the air. Even some dinosaurs raised their heads in alarm.
Randall was questioning in his mind if Donatello should have come because of his cold. He would have been better off resting back at home in the past, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. They were here in the Cretaceous and had to make the best of it.
"Sorry." Don apologized, and rubbed his nose. Then there was a strange sound and shaking.
Dust was being stirred a herd of dinosaurs was running toward them!
"Uh, gazoontight?" Mikey said, with a touch of fear in his voice.
"RUN!" Leo ordered. He and the others all began to run. Don had to grab onto Renet to make sure she was keeping up with them. Randall kept up just fine.
The dinosaurs caught up to them, but went around them, or stepped over them.
Raph growled and yelled at Don, "Way to go, Sneezy!"
"I said I was sorry!" Don called over to him.
"Watch it!" Raph pushed Mikey out of the way of a dino. "Whoa!" and had to dodge one himself.
"Renet! Use the scepter! Get us out of here!" Don ordered to Renet.
"Oh, right. Oh, why aren't you working?" Don had let go of Renet, which made her stop. "I thought we had an understanding."
Don stopped and looked back at Renet. He went back for her, "Renet! Wake up!" He picked her up and continued running to keep from being stepped on.
Randall too was worried about being stepped on. He was fast for sure, but these giant lizards would be able to kill him and his friends without even trying if they were stepped on. Then, an idea came to him. There was a dino close to him and he ran and jumped onto it, getting him more out of the danger zone.
Raph saw him do that and decided to do the same. "And to think, April bailed on this!" Mikey said next to him.
"She'd probably love it. Heads up, Mikey!" Raph pushed Mikey away from him just before he could get stepped on. Then he jumped onto the dino, doing the same as Randall. "Hey! Check me out!" Raph shouted down at Mikey.
Mikey laughed and thought of doing the same as well. He did. It was fun riding them. "Yee haw!" he yelled happily, like a cowboy.
"Mikey! Follow me!" Raph ordered.
Leo also jumped onto a dino.
Randall looked over and he saw what his friends were doing when he heard Raphael's order.
Raph took the lead this time and he made a leap for a tall rock overhead. Mikey followed. He landed on the edge, hanging on. Raph helped him up.
Randall took a few leaps over some dinos and got to the rock too. His sucker hands and feet were enough to get him up just fine.
Leo jumped over a few dinos as well and landed on the rock safely. Now they just needed Don and Renet to join them.
Don had stayed on the ground with Renet on his shoulders. He saw where his brothers and Randall had gone and he finally got onto a dino to get better access to the rock.
"Hey, Don! Donny! Over here!" The others were calling and waving to him.
Don jumped to the rock, with his left foot hitting it and slipping off. Renet screamed. Leo was right beside him and he grabbed his left hand first. Raph came over and helped, being the strongest turtle. They both pulled both Don and Renet up to the rock.
"Well, that was fun." Mikey admitted, "In a scary, we almost lost our lives sort of way."
"Yeah, really nice save with the time scepter." Raph said.
Renet looked over at the guys. They all had unhappy and worried looks on their faces. "It's not my fault! The time scepter's not working." She gave a little shrug.
"And let me guess: We're stuck here?" Randall stated.
Renet turned around and sank to her knees. "I don't know what happened." She closed her eyes sadly.
Leo face palmed himself. This girl really had a lot to learn yet.
Don stepped forward and sat down. "Here, let me take a look at it. Maybe something shook loose during the stampede." he offered.
Renet looked back at him, considering it. Raph sat down next to her as well, but then, there was something that bumped him from behind. "Hey!" he snapped.
Raph looked behind himself and there was a dinosaur sniffing his rear. He held still for the moment. He finally moved.
Mikey came over to say hi. "Hi there, big guy. I think he likes you, Raph. You should embrace this. Not many people think you smell good."
Raph grumbled, then took his pack off to see if it was because of something in there. He heard some rustling.
The others were curious as to why this dino was checking them out.
"Lose something?" Raph asked Mikey.
"What?" Mikey asked.
Raph pulled out a bag of chips and held it up. "This."
"Uh, I always keep a spare bag of chips around. You never know when you might need a snack." was Mikey's explanation. Raph threw it in his face angrily and crossed his arms.
Mikey looked back at the dinosaur. "Aw! You're a good dino, aren't ya?"
The Triceratops was licking at the rock, trying to get to the chips. Mikey picked up the bag and opened it. The others just wanted to get moving, and here Mikey was catering to this dino like it was a dog.
Mikey fed the Triceratops some chips. "I'm gonna call you Spike, after one of the Land Before Time dinos." he said.
"Spike was a Stegosaurus, Mikey, and I hate to point out that you might have just changed all of human history by feeding him some potato chips from the future!" Don said, irritated at Mikey. It was like he hadn't heard a word he had said the moment they got there.
Raph whacked Mikey upside the head. "Hey!" Mikey snapped.
"Way to go, doofus." Raph pointed out.
"Renet? Are you sure the scepter isn't working?" Leo asked.
The scepter was always blue when the others saw it, now it was red in her hand. "I think it's overheating! It's not supposed to glow red." Renet stated. The scepter glowed for a moment and stopped.
Spike then looked to his left, growling. He could sense something.
"What's wrong, Spike? Who's a good boy?" Mikey said in baby talk.
Leo and Randall looked out where Spike was looking. Randall tasted the air. "I can smell that there's something out there." Randall said.
"Something's coming." Leo warned the others.
A two-legged predator dino then jumped out of hiding, ready to get its next meal. It roared.
"Dinonocus!" Don cried out, taking out his bo. "One of the most vicious of the carnivores!" A couple more of them jumped out too.
"What was that again, Renet? Refresh my memory. Oh yeah. Trust me, this is gonna be a breeze." Raph flashbacked angrily.
The Dinonocus were getting closer. There were three of them.
"Get ready, everyone. The Dinonocus is one of the smartest of the dinosaurs!" Don warned. "They're fast, with powerful jaws and they have a razor sharp sickle claw on each foot!" he explained.
"You know, being a dino fanatic wasn't so bad when we weren't about to be eaten by a real dinosaur!" Mikey stated in fear.
They all took their weapons out, bracing for a fight.
"Anything else we need to know?" Randall asked.
"Uh, did I mention… they can jump?!" Don cried out. He ran the other way, grabbing Renet on the way off. She voiced her fear of the jump. The others followed him. Raph stayed up for a moment longer.
Leo and Randall landed first, with Mikey right behind them. A Dinonocus saw them and started chasing them. "Nice lizard!" Mikey whined.
One of them faced off against Raph. He tried batting it with his sais and missed. He started to run and it chased him. He eventually kicked it hard in the face, making if fall over backwards.
On the ground, Don had let go of Renet. They ran and one of the Dinonocus got in their way, blocking them from joining the others. He roared at them. He had a strange glow in his eyes.
Renet whimpered. Don got in front of her with his bo raised. "Alright. Renet, just stay behind me." Don said gently. Then he charged at the dino with the bo raised.
The Dinonocus caught the end of the bo and snapped the end off of it viciously. Then it pinned Don down to the ground. Then, Don sneezed again.
It made the dino back off and leave. "Saved by a sneeze. Now that's embarrassing." Don said. He got up and chased after the dino, picking up his bo in the process. He jumped onto the shoulders and tried to hold on.
The dino bucked his head hard and Don got thrown off, onto his own head and onto his plastron. The Dinonocus saw that the turtle was down and was a good chance to get a meal. He advanced toward it.
"Don! Get up!" Renet cried out. She got in front of him to protect him.
"Get away from him, you smelly thing!" she shouted at the dino.
"Renet, no!" Don called to her. He knew she was trying to protect him, but she was no ninja.
The Dinonocus ran and started to jump at her, but then, Spike attacked and struck the predator, knocking it away from them. He got in front of Don and Renet. Don got up, "Alright, Spike!" Don cheered.
The light in the predator's eyes suddenly vanished, revealing slit eyes. It backed off and ran off.
A fourth one came out of hiding and was dealing with Randall and Leo. It came at Leo first and he dodged it many times. Then it came at Randall. Randall threw his tonfas down and he vanished, making the dino stop and question what happened to itself. Then it went for Leo again.
Leo knew Randall was not a top heavy fighter. He would deal with this the best he could. Then Leo heard a shout, "Leo! Lure him towards the tree!"
Leo did just that. "Throw me a sword!" Randall ordered.
The blue masked turtle threw one of his katanas up to Randall. He caught it and he sliced through a thick branch, which came down on the dinosaur's head, knocking it down, unconscious, or possibly dead.
Randall came down from the tree and regrouped with Leonardo. Then they regrouped with the others. He also picked his tonfas back up.
"Way to go, Spike!" Mikey cheered for his new dino friend. "Good soldier!"
Spike snorted.
"Hey, why'd they leave? You think we scared 'em off?" Raph asked.
Leo and Randall both looked behind Raph. "Nope." Leo said.
"Ya think something else even more horrible is coming?" Raph asked.
"Yep." Randall replied.
There were what sounded like giant footsteps and they shook the ground, like an earthquake starting. Mikey, Raph, Renet, and Don heard it too, and they all braced for it.
"Whatever it is, it's big." Don said.
Trees started collapsing. When the final tree went down, Mikey asked, "You think it's friendly?"
Then, a huge T-rex stepped out from the trees, with a figure on its back. "More like big and hungry." Don replied nervously.
"Savanti Romero!" Leo exclaimed.
The turtles didn't go to space in my story, so I found an alternative name for the Triceratops in the Cretaceous period that Mikey named.