Chapter 6: Relocation

Shredder tried desperately to shake off the mutagen. Meanwhile, the owners of the home he had invaded were too focused on dealing with the Kraang to worry about him. Taking advantage of this, Shredder made his way to the exit, then turned back and surveyed the carnage; his dead henchmen, the countless destroyed FootBots, and the trashed home.

"This isn't over," he muttered before running off, leaving his enemies to their fate.

The turtles, Splinter, and Karai attempted to fight off the droids, but between the worm destroying everything in its path and their fatigue from fighting off the army, they were finding it extremely difficult. As the lair toppled down around them, Splinter realized that they had to escape.

"We cannot stay here any longer!" he exclaimed, motioning towards the exit.

"You kidding me? This is OUR home!" Raph cried out, stabbing through more droids.

"Not much of a home anymore..." Mikey muttered, following Splinter's orders with Leo, Donnie, and Karai.

"The ones who are turtles must not be allowed to escape from the place that is here!" one of the Kraang droids ordered to the others as they started firing at the exit, causing it to start rumbling.

"Raph! Come on!" Leo yelled. Raph hesitated before running with Splinter to the exit. As it began to collapse, Splinter got the feeling that they wouldn't make it. He pushed Raph hard, causing him to sail through it to the rest of the family, as the roof collapsed between them.

"Sensei!" "Father!" "Splinter!"

Voices rang out, but were impossible to hear through the rubble. Splinter had been knocked unconscious, and the Kraang advanced towards him...

Sulking through the sewers, Splinter's family didn't know what to do. Leo felt most responsible, hanging his head at the back of the pack.

"Leo?" Karai started, putting an arm around him.

"I'm fine," he lied.

"No, you're not. None of us are," Karai said.

"Splinter could be alive. We didn't see what happened after the roof collapsed," Donnie suggested. Karai nodded.

"We're all upset, but we have to keep going. We can't wait for something else to happen, or for the Kraang to find us!" she exclaimed, grabbing Leo by the shoulders.

"You're right," he finally said. "We have to reach out and take what we need. Let's find somewhere to stay until further notice."

The others nodded as they began the search.

After a while, they decided to move above ground; with Shredder out of the way, it would be much safer there. When they began climbing up on top of buildings, Leo was unable to follow due to his tail replacing his legs.

"Just go on! I'll catch up!" he insisted.

"Wait... Can't you change between a turtle and a snake?" Raph started.

"I can?" Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's why I called you Snakeshifter!" Mikey said proudly, earning a slap to the back of the head from Raph.

"I guess I could try it," Leo shrugged, figuring he had nothing to lose. He closed his eyes and focused on the body he was used to; his real self, as Karai gripped his hand. Finally, Leo opened his eyes and looked down to see two feet, causing cheers and "high-threes" all around.

"Guess that solves our retromutagen problem," Donnie noted as they all climbed on top of the building.

Jumping along rooftops, Karai finally thought of Shredder's building.

"You know... I know Shredder's place in and out. Plus, Shredder won't be using it for much any time soon," Karai started after getting the turtles' attention.

"Are you seriously suggesting we stay in the home of our sworn enemy?!" Raph exclaimed.

"Well, I've been doing it the past few nights," Karai replied, smirking ever so slightly. After pondering for a moment, Raph finally nodded.

"We better not get ambushed again, though," he said.

When they reached the Shredder's building, there were nothing other than a few FootBots who didn't know what had happened to their master guarding the doors. They were disposed of with relative ease. Finally, Karai led the turtles to the less fortified area of the stronghold-like building.

"Wow... It's actually kind of cozy in here," Mikey noted, laying down across a couch.

"This is the 'living room'. As hard as it is to believe, we didn't spend all of our time plotting to kill you," Karai smirked. "In fact, I spent most of my time here."

"This ain't so bad," Raph finally said, grabbing a soda from the fridge and sitting in a recliner.

"Pretty ironic, if you ask me. The Shredder takes our home, so we just use his," Donnie noted as he lay down on the couch across from Mikey's.

"Better than nothing," Leo murmured, then looked off to the side. His brothers had already fallen asleep. Karai suddenly grabbed Leo and pulled him in for a kiss, which he returned after a moment of shock as they collapsed into each other.

"I never said thank you for saving my life. Twice," Karai finally said as she broke the kiss.

"Well, you never were good about saying 'thank you'," Leo replied, smirking a little.

Since the lounge only had a few chairs left for furniture, Karai had led Leo back to her room so that they could get some rest themselves.

"This is your room?" Leo raised an eyebrow. It was almost empty other than a queen sized bed, a nightstand, and a dresser by a relatively small closet.

"I usually spend most of my time in the lounge or out and about, so it doesn't need to be all that fancy," Karai answered, finally getting rid of her armor plates and lying down. Leo lay down next to her trying not to feel awkward as they cuddled up to each other.

"We need to go look for Splinter once we've rested up," Leo said.

"Right. He's probably either in the sewers, or..." Karai trailed off.

"Or what?" Leo asked, confused.

"The Kraang were also behind that collapsed roof. So Splinter may be with them!" Karai answered.

"TCRI..." Leo muttered. "Alrighty, in the morning, let's get the others, then split up into two groups. One to search the sewers, and one to search... TCRI?" he slowed down as he realized Karai had fallen asleep on him. Shaking his head and smiling a little, he finally relaxed. Splinter could take care of himself, and the Shredder was long gone. At the very least, they were safe. For the first time in days, he fell into a good night's sleep.

However, none of them knew that deep in the sewers, another mutant rat had come about. The Shredder stalked around in his new body. He looked in the water and saw his own reflection, then scowled.

"I've become as hideous as Yoshi..." he trailed off. The Shredder's new mutation had pitch black fur, the metal trident-type design from the Kuro Kabuto on his forehead, long, sharp claws extending from the tops of his wrists, plated armor on his shoulders, torso, and shins, and a tail made of steel.

"They will not stop me... I will still have my vengeance!" he hissed as he continued on, now more filled with hate than ever.

The End?

And so the story concludes? I must apologize, dear readers, but this is the ending of season two as I see it. This is not to say that there won't be a season three, however. I said in the beginning this story would be my vision for the end of season two. In the future, I may write a story to account for the beginning of season three in this alternate universe. Anyways, thank you all VERY much for reading my fanfiction! I sincerely appreciate all of the positive feedback I've gotten, and it's really gotten me to start writing more. In the meantime, I bid you all adieu, and thank you for reading. c: