The next day, the family got up and trained first. Trying to practice old moves and some new moves with their newfound magic. Then they had breakfast. Mikey was glad to be cooking for his family again. He went through what they had that had to be thrown out and what was still useful.
It was a silent meal. They all still felt the sadness from yesterday, but everyone had slept through the night, as they had all been exhausted from the fight.
After breakfast, Don went to his lab to start a new project. Or two that he had had in mind. He had one in mind that could drive over water real fast, and the other was what he had talked about with Adam.
Raph was still real mad at the thought of losing Joy. He had thought he almost had a girl like him for once as more than a friend. It could have had a chance, maybe. He went on punching his punching bag.
Mikey just wanted to watch TV. He had so much catching up to do. Leo joined him for a little while. He wanted to watch the news to see if there was anything strange going on in the city above. Everything looked normal. At that, Leo went for a walk in the sewers, leaving Mikey to finally enjoy his own programming.
Splinter and the Ancient One spent most of their time in Splinter's room, meditating.
Things remained peaceful for the first few days back in the lair. They would go topside every night to see if things had changed any, and there was nothing.
They wanted some few days to themselves before they would reveal themselves to their closest friends again. They were still grieving their losses.
But one day, a few days later, a week and a half after they had come back, Mikey decided to go check in with Randall. He had missed that lizard so badly.
Randall was just getting up for the day. He suddenly heard a knocking at his door.
"Who is it?" Randall asked. He thought it was just April.
"It's me, Mikey." came the reply.
Randall froze. He looked at the door. That was a voice he hadn't heard in a long time. "Come in." he said.
The door opened and in came the orange banded turtle, for real.
"Michelangelo?" Randall questioned. "When… when did you get back?"
"Over a week ago." Mikey said.
Randall got off the bed and ran and jumped onto Mikey so hard it knocked him down.
"WHOA!" Mikey cried out in surprise.
Mikey had never gotten this response from the lizard before. He could feel Randall's upper arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around him too.
After a few moments, Randall released Mikey, and they both sat up.
"Why didn't you come by sooner?" Randall asked. "We've been out of our minds with worry!"
"I'm sorry, but we didn't exactly have a choice in what happened, Randall." Mikey stated. "And I didn't come by sooner because me and my family were sad over the loss of our new friends. We needed some time for ourselves. We learned much in Japan from these Shishos called the Ninja Tribunal."
Randall also noticed the necklace and amulet that Mikey now wore, and the new weapon in his belt. "What are those for?" he asked curiously. "I suppose you got those from them?"
"Yes. This amulet lets me express my chi. My inner power. It's incredible. I found I have a thing for stealth too after all. I'm sure you would have fit right in, if you had been there." Mikey explained. "And my new weapon is called the Inezuma. All my bros have the same amulets and new weapons."
"And what of Splinter? He got there, didn't he?"
"Yes. He got there days after we did. The Ancient One is back with us too. We were the only ones that survived the heralds of the Shredder in our final battle before we came back here."
"How did you get back?"
"The heralds opened up a portal to come here to New York. Leo held the portal open with the Gunshin, his new sword that belonged to our friend, Faraji." Mikey said.
Randall tilted his head in curiosity. He had to learn more about these new powers and weapons, and their time in Japan.
"I would like to say hi to April too." Mikey said.
"I'm sure she'll be glad you're back, like I am." Randall replied.
The two friends went up to the shop and Randall alerted the woman to his presence. In the back, April saw Mikey. She immediately hugged him desperately.
Mikey went on to explain a few things, as what he told Randall. April called Casey and told him their friends were back from Japan, finally. He was overjoyed to hear it.
Randall went back to the lair with Mikey to see the others firsthand. He had to know how they were doing.
The others all embraced Randall when they saw him. Raph kept his distance, but shook his hand. It was just good to be reunited after so long.
Randall was curious to see what these powers were, as he saw the new weapons and amulets on Leo, Raph, and Don too. It was good to see how Donatello was looking from since the last time Randall had seen him, with the bandage still on that leg from the monster roach man cutting him. The cut looked healed now and nothing more than a minor scar.
"So what are these new weapons?" Randall asked.
"They were given to us by the Ninja Tribunal." Leo began. "They're called the Fangs of the Dragon. Mine is Gunshin. It belonged to my friend, Faraji. He died in our last battle."
"I heard." Randall replied. "But what does it do?"
"It has the flames of the Dragon King." Leo stated.
That sounded like a good weapon for him, as Leonardo was the leader.
"Mine is the Byakko. It unleashes the Cleaving Wind." Don explained his.
"Banrai." Raph said. "It can shatter mountains."
"Mikey's Inezuma commands lightning from the heavens." Don explained Mikey's weapon.
"That's all very… interesting. Can I see a demonstration?" he asked.
"It would be better to wait until tonight and we could show you some things in the park tonight." Leo said.
He had never known his friends to have powers like these. If they had had those powers months ago when they were in his world then, who knows what they could have done. They would have been even more powerful to take down Waternoose and his gang, and destroy the Scream Extractor.
Randall stayed with them the rest of the day. He started helping Don in the lab to build his new inventions. With the two of them, things could get done in half the time.
"My friend, Adam came up with the name for my new Turtle Taxi that I'm going to build." Don said.
"These friends, they were all humans?" Randall asked.
"Yes. The Tribunal, we were told, were immortal, but they too died in the end against the heralds. We don't know when or where they and the Shredder will strike, but we have to keep an eye on things." Don explained. "We were trained for this. We are the city's only hope of taking them on."
"Is there any way that I can help?"
"We will find ways for you to help, along with April and Casey." Don said. "Right now, you're being useful helping me get these inventions done."
Randall was glad to be helping Don again after so long. Engineering was his life, now that the scaring portion of his life was over, as a job that is.
"How did you get along while we were gone?" Don asked him.
"Casey and I kept an eye on things, but if one thing is for sure, I got rid of Yogami while you were gone. I know it was risky doing it alone, but I did. He won't bother you anymore. And I found out that Karai is truly your ally. She said she would begin planning something to also help defend herself from this great evil I was told about. She knew a little about it." Randall explained.
"Thanks, Randall." Don replied. They continued working. Mikey was bummed that he couldn't be in the lab too, but Don was serious that he didn't want anything broken.
Casey came over that night and he and April came over to the lair. There, the family talked about what they had encountered in Japan, their new friends, the Tribunal, their training, and the assault from the heralds trying to get the artifacts.
April and Casey felt bad for the mutant family that they had lost some valuable friends and teachers. Even though some of the explanation of the training had been told to Randall beforehand, he hadn't heard all of it. After the two humans had come down was when he had heard mostly all of it. And it was shocking and amazing to hear all of it, with what the turtles had newly discovered about themselves: their inner powers. And that Leo's inner avatar animal was a Dragon!
"But what of the rest of you? What are your avatars?" Randall asked.
"We don't know. We were all feeling like duds." Mikey said, "Aside from Leo."
"Leo's avatar did save us from the Nezumis." Don reminded them.
"Nezumis?" Casey asked.
"Rats. It's Japanese for rats." Don replied.
"What is the Japanese word for 'lizard,' by the way?" Randall asked curiously.
"Tokage." the Ancient One replied. Randall glanced at the little man.
"That's… interesting. And monster?" Randall asked.
"Monsuta." the reply came from the old man.
Randall knew there could be much he could learn about the Japanese from this guy, since he had lived in Japan all his life. The turtles had lived here in New York all their lives. Splinter knew some of it, but he might not know everything about Japanese culture like the Ancient One did.
April, Casey, and Randall all joined the family for dinner and some catch up movies, after a power demonstration in the park, as promised. Even Splinter and the Ancient One joined them for the movies. The old man hadn't watched much TV in his life, so he was very inadept at turning channels and such.
Randall and the human friends had been impressed by the turtles' new powers and weapons.
By midnight, everyone was tired and ready to turn in.
"You guys haven't seen anything topside, nothing strange going on?" Leo asked.
"Nothing yet, Leo." April replied. "We'll let you know." She and Casey were poised to leave.
"You comin,' Randall?" Casey asked.
"I really want to stay here." Randall said.
"We understand." April said. "Take care."
"Let's make it a few days." Randall stated.
"That's fine too. You missed them." she said. "Let's go, Casey."
"See ya'll later." Casey said on his way out.
Randall really had missed them. He had to make up for lost time. But he would still sleep in his own room down here. They all went to bed shortly after.
…..
Randall stayed down in the lair for next few days, mostly helping Donatello make his inventions, but would cut out at a certain time to play some games with Mikey too. He also did some meditation with Leo, and talked more of what he had learned with the Tribunal.
All the turtles had felt a loss of their human friends, but Raph seemed to feel it the most, having developed feelings for the only woman of the bunch. Of course, they were mainly friends, but Raphael had rarely ever met human women who he really connected with, other than April and Angel.
Mikey had liked hanging out with Torra, but the Chinese man had never understood him. When he had chosen to laugh at him finally, it was at the wrong time.
Don wished Adam could be helping him build these inventions that Randall was now helping him with. Randall might have liked meeting Adam too. Adam had been a pretty open minded guy.
….
Randall knew that he needed to head back to April's soon, to work in her shop again, but he would give it two more days. She had said it was fine. He had been with them for four days now.
On this night, Don and Randall needed some more supplies for the new inventions and Raph wanted to get out of the lair too, so he accompanied them to a junkyard. It was nothing unusual. It was something Don did quite a bit, but tonight was unusual.
There was something watching the two turtles and lizard going through the junk. They took turns keeping on watch and picking out items. The Battle Shell was a little ways away. They were deep in the junkyard.
Right now, it was Randall's turn to keep on watch. He kept on tasting the air every now and again, though he mostly smelled garbage all around him. Don and Raph weren't paying him any attention. But then, Randall suddenly picked up on something.
"Guys." Randall said lowly.
"What?" Raph asked grumpily.
"I can taste something in the air, something that isn't garbage. It has the scent of like bad human body odor." Randall said.
That put the two turtles on edge. Randall vanished for good measure. For the most part, the turtles weren't going to use their chi powers unless they really had to. They would fight like they always had, as normal ninja turtles unless something made them to do it.
They began to look around. "I'm behind you guys." Randall said as the two turtles began to look for any disturbances. He let them get in front.
"It would be nice to at least see you a little bit." Raph said. "You should be leading the way, Mr. Tracker."
"I can make my body just as an outline. But I'm not being completely visible right now." Randall retorted. He let his body become more of an outline.
"We don't know where you're picking up the scent, Randall. Perhaps you should be in front." Don suggested. He also didn't want Raph to get more miffed off than he was.
Randall took the point, and using his tongue, he led them through some piles.
The big figure could see his quarry was coming right to him. He had some other henchmen around too. They just had to wait for the right moment to strike.
After searching and seeing nothing, Raph was ready to call it a night, but Randall walked over a certain spot, followed by them both, and then, a net sprung out from the loose dirt on the ground. It picked both turtles off their feet. Randall spun around to see his friends caught in the net. It made him reappear fully for the moment.
"What the?" Don cried out.
"Get us outta here!" Raph demanded angrily.
Randall looked around. He saw the net was attached to a crane. He was about to go over to it and try his luck when he heard footsteps. It made him vanish.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a man's voice asked sarcastically. It was among six men dressed in yellow jumpsuits with oxygen masks on their faces. They also held staffs with shockers on them, that they used to shock their victims as punishments, or to encourage a move on.
Randall had gotten away, but he wasn't going anywhere.
"I see it is my old prey." another voice came out from behind a junk pile.
Don and Raph couldn't believe who they were seeing. It was the Garbageman!
"The Garbageman?" Don said worriedly.
"Let us outta here, you fat pig!" Raph demanded furiously.
"First thing, I talk, you listen." the Garbageman stated. "And right now, after what happened last time, it is time you paid with your lives, Turtles! Bring them!" the fat, stinky man in a robot ordered.
Randall had heard Don's question. So this was the Garbageman? From the smell of him, yep, he had to be the most toxic human to ever be around. His smell alone was enough to gag someone, hence why his henchmen wore oxygen masks just to breathe.
The net was lowered from the crane, but then, two henchmen came over and electrified the two downed turtles, making them both cry out in pain. It left them winded. It felt like they couldn't breathe.
The net was dragged with them in it. It was taken to a big robotic truck. The Garbageman and his cronies got into it and dragged the two turtles with them. Randall followed. He wasn't letting this idiot get away. He ran to catch up to the truck and he couldn't make it inside. He jumped onto the side and held on with the suckers on his hands and feet.
Raph and Don were in a secured place in the truck, in a cage. The net was secure around them.
"Where are you taking us?" Don demanded to know.
"To our hideout, you reptile scum!" one of the henchmen replied.
"Where's that lizard? He can join ya later."
"None of your business!" Raph snapped.
"We'll find him too."
"You'll never find him!" Don added on.
"Oh, we will."
It was a ride across the docks in a garbage truck and then, Randall saw the truck was heading towards some water. Uh oh! Just as it was going off the dock, he jumped off before it hit the water. Where was it taking them?
Randall watched as a red light illuminated the garbage truck as it crossed the harbor. He saw another land mass out there in the harbor. He knew he should get back to the garbage dump and contact the others, but they could get away by that time. He saw the light disappear once it reached the other side. So it was there.
He sighed and knew he had to stop this. Randall took a deep breath, and reluctantly, he leapt into the water and began swimming across the harbor. He wasn't going to let his friends remain in that filthy man's custody.
…..
Once on the other side, Don and Raph were taken out of the truck and dumped in the net down a garbage chute and once down on the real ground, the net was cut off of them. They were grabbed by their arms and their weapons were confiscated from them. They struggled in the henchman's grips.
"Take these two to the brigg and hold them! I wish to finish them later." the Garbageman said.
The henchman were taking no chances this time. They tied Don and Raph's hands behind their shells. "Move!"
As they were nearing the prison area, Raph tried to act out and set them free, but he got electrocuted again. Don felt bad for him. He knew he had to come up with a way to get them out of here. He had no idea where they were.
The Garbageman had reclaimed the trash junkyard out in the harbor after his underwater empire had been destroyed. But some things were still brought up from the sea too, to make his empire even stronger.
…
When Randall reached the other side, he followed the trail upwards. He saw there were lights everywhere, flashing. It made him vanish. He tried to avoid the grossest things on the walkway. When he got to the top and looked over, he saw that it looked like a junkyard, and bigger.
He also saw some humans working down there that were in chains and moving trash around. The Garbageman appeared and gave a speech.
"I believe that garbage is power! You build my empire!" he stated.
Randall wasn't much for the humans that were in chains, he just wanted to find his friends. Using his invisibility, he went over the wall. He went down that walkway too. Despite the strong smells of garbage around him, he began using his tongue to sniff out the two turtles.
He caught their scent in the air and followed it inside a building. He followed it down to a cell area. Don and Raph were down here somewhere. But then, he heard a sound.
Some henchmen came around the corner, holding Don, Raph, and his own weapons.
Randall growled. He wasn't going to allow this to happen. Using his invisibility, he snuck up on the men in jumpsuits and boy, did they get a surprise.
Randall bodily jumped onto the first two, making them go down. Then he punched one of the other two still standing in the chin. The last one standing tried to strike out at whatever was attacking the others. He heard a growling sound coming from his left, and some eyes and sharp teeth were coming right at him.
"AAAAH!" he screamed in pure terror. He tried to take off, but he didn't get far.
Don and Raph heard a man scream. It had to be Randall. They both smiled. He was a good ninja lizard by now. It was amazing he was here.
Randall had jumped onto him from behind. He had kept up with him when he ran. All four humans were now unconscious. He went and got the turtles' weapons and his tonfas. He followed their scents further down the hall. He also had a keys.
"I see you guys are alright." Randall said.
"About time." Raph admitted.
"I was worried you went back to get help first." Don said. "He might have dissected us by the time you got back. He plans to do that later."
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Randall said. Then he started trying to use the keys on the door. He had to go through many keys, but eventually, found the right one. "And I got your weapons back."
"Thanks, Randall." Don smiled.
"Good going, Ran. You're just as much a ninja as we are." Raph complimented.
"Thanks, now let's get out of here. I also saw some other humans working for the slime ball."
"Not again. He's kidnapping our friends again!" Don stated.
"We have to stop him." Raph added.
Randall just wanted to get out of here. But he would help his friends.
"How'd you find us, anyway?" Raph asked.
"I tracked you once I swam over here. You guys are out in the middle of the harbor, on a garbage dump." Randall explained.
"We've been here before, a long time ago." Don remembered.
"And we knocked him into the river." Raph said.
"And that was where Mikey and I encountered him last time." Don said.
"Only this time, we need to take him out!" Raph growled.
"I'd be willing to help too." Randall said.
"We know. Just follow our lead." Don said.
They made it back outside. There were also chemicals being used too, to try to get ready to put in the city's water supply.
Don told Randall to get to the crane while he and Raph were going to set some humans free and upset the chemicals.
Randall went for the crane that was nearby. Don and Raph went to free the humans, who were grateful when their chains were snapped off. They began a rebellion against the henchmen. The henchmen began running away.
Don and Raph confronted the Garbageman again.
"There's no way we are going to let you dump those chemicals in the city's water supply!" Don yelled.
"You're going to get what you deserve!" Raph added.
"You scum! I'm going to finish you now!" the Garbageman yelled back and he attacked the two turtles.
Don made his chi marks appear and he jumped up. "Cleaving wind!" he cried out and he used the Byakko to knock the Garbageman down to the ground. He cried out loudly.
Raph then made his appear and he turned into a saw on the smelly man's robot arms and legs, sawing through them all.
Randall had made it to the crane invisibly. He had a slight knowing of how to run it, hence he had been helping Don for a long time on inventions like that. The crane was started and the metal detector was moving toward the Garbageman.
The Garbageman looked over at his opponents angrily. "You haven't heard the last of me! I'll make you pay with your lives!" he yelled.
"I don't think so." Randall said. The detector was now over him and it began to pull metal pieces to it, and the Garbageman being one of them.
Don and Raph then went over to start spilling some chemicals too. "You'll never be allowed to ruin the city's water supply!" Raph said angrily.
"NOOO!" the filthy human yelled angrily. He tried getting loose.
One of the henchmen came over to turn off the machine and see who was running the crane. He saw a pair of eyes.
"Hey, you!"
Randall looked up in alarm. His hand fumbled on the control. The human brought his electric weapon up and tried to fry the lizard, but he missed. Randall let go of the controls to get away, but then he vanished all together and he punched the man in the face, and he went down.
As for the crane, the metal detector ended up dropping the Garbageman into a vant of acid from the chemicals that had been spilt.
He cried out in pain as the chemicals began to dissolve his skin and his robot body was being destroyed. It eventually killed him altogether.
The henchmen were all arrested and put in the brigg themselves. They would never be serving the Garbageman again.
The homeless people thanked the turtles and the lizard that now stood by them, fully visible. They were happy to have done some good this night, but they still needed to get back home and finish Don's inventions.
…..
The three friends swam back to the other side once things were settled on the harbor recycling center. It was a long walk back through the sewers and to the junkyard where they had left the Battle Shell. The sun was starting to peak over the horizon.
Raph's phone began to go off. "Yeah?" he answered.
"Raph, why haven't you been picking up? Or Don? Where have you guys been?" Leo demanded on the other end.
"Uh, well," he looked over at Don and Randall. "Don, Randall, and I were kidnapped by the Garbageman. He took us hostage."
"What?!"
"It's okay, Leo. We stopped him, this time, for good. We're on our way back. It was thanks to Randall how we were able to get away, or he woulda finished us both." Raph explained. "We'll be home as soon as we can."
"With the way you keep getting us out of our ordeals, you sure you want to go back to living at April's, Randall?" Don asked.
Randall smiled and laughed. "I don't mind catching up like I've been doing lately, but yes, I still really need my space guys."
"Our new lair has more than enough room for ya to have your own space." Raph said. "I think April and Casey really feel like you're a third wheel. They want their privacy too."
"I don't intrude on them. I stay in the basement or I make sure I'm heard before I come up when I know Casey's there." Randall said. "If April ever says she wants me out, then I'll consider it."
Raph drove the truck home where they were greeted by concerned looks from Leo. Mikey and Splinter had long gone to bed.
"We couldn't help it, Leo." Don stated.
"Why didn't you call for help?" Leo demanded.
"They made us drop our phones in the fighting and we were captured and our weapons were taken away. Randall followed us and who knows what the Garbageman would have been doing to us by noon today. He didn't have time to get help. We're sorry." Don explained.
"What he said is true." Randall said.
"Alright. I'll take you for word. But let's get to bed. How did you finish the Garbageman for sure?" Leo asked.
"Dropped him in a vat of acid." Randall replied with a grin. "I know humans are not toxic, but if there was ever one I consider toxic, for real, it was him."
"I know. We couldn't agree more. He's the sloppiest, most filthy human we've ever seen too." Don said.
"And this is saying something coming from turtles who have lived in a sewer all their lives." Raph added.
"I'm just glad you're all back, but go on, go to bed, guys." Leo urged.
They all couldn't help but yawn. The adrenaline from all the fighting was wearing off and making them tired. They were all just glad they had made it home, safe and sound.
Since the episode of 'Nightmares Recycled' was canceled in the series, I decided to do my own version of it. I looked it up and might have took some ideas from it to make it like it is. All others were my own ideas. But I tried to make this a good chapter.