Just a reminder: the arcade game turtles will be referred to as Donatello89, Leonardo89, and so on.
This entire chapter is action, action, action. Enjoy! :D
-1989 arcade dimension-
Donatello89 thrust his bo staff forward, catching the Foot Soldier in the chest. He gritted his teeth with the effort of flipping the robot over his head and crashing it into another Foot Soldier coming up behind him. He stood over the destroyed robots, trying to catch his breath as he gazed at the fire spreading towards him, closing him in. Within a second, Donatello was, out of nowhere, attacked by another Foot Soldier. He held up his bo, his arms shaking as the robot bared down.
Donatello89 backed up and fell down onto his shell, kicking his feet forward and sending the Foot Soldier flying into the wall, where he exploded in a burst of red sparks and gray smoke, leaving a pile of smoldering robot parts and purple cloth on the floor. The purple-masked turtle didn't get back up for a moment, catching his breath. He'd taken a lot of blows already and felt near passing out. The fire surged up the walls all around him and Donatello knew he'd have to get up and run from it soon, but he just lay there, breathing hard.
A few yards away, Leonardo89 struggled as a group of Foot Soldiers pressed him to the wall, some clawing at his face, a few pulling out their guns. Even from so far away, Donatello89 could see the sweat rolling down his brother's face, the unbrearable heat and exhaustion slowing him down. Leonardo held his swords in an X position crossing each other, trying to force the robots back. His face an expression of forced determination.
There was the mechanical, unmistakable, sound of a ray gun firing and the red bolt of light, its color blending and melding to the fire behind it, shot straight towards Leonardo's head. Donatello89 didn't even have time to shout out, but he closed his eyes.
What Donatello89 didn't see was Leonardo89 thrusting his arm upward, groaning with the effort of lifting the many Foot Soldiers gripped tight around his muscles. The red bolt struck the sword and was absorbed into the metal. Raphael89 ran forward out of the blue and sliced the ends of all of the Foot Soldiers' ray blasters, disabling them. He turned around to see only Leonardo89's face visible under the pile of robots trying to smother him, and he and Michelangelo dashed forward and began to help pull the Foot Soldiers away. The flames were so close now that some of the Foot Soldiers' clothes were beginning to catch fire.
Donatello89 stood, feeling sticky with sweat due to the heat. The flames swirled like an insane koleidoscope around him and he coughed on the smoke. "Guys, we have to keep moving! We're here to rescue April!"
Leonardo89 shoved the last Foot Soldier off of himself with help from Raphael, sending it stumbling to the ground. Michelangelo hit it a few times with his nunchucks to make sure it was down before running down the stairs behind his brothers, the flames chasing at his heels. "Dudes, where did these Foot Soldiers come from?"
No one bothered answering Michelangelo, because no one knew the answer. But as all four brothers stumbled onto the next floor, they saw the robots dispersed down the entire hallway.
"We don't have time to fight them all," said Raphael hopelessly.
"We just have to make it past them," Leonardo replied, doing his best to stand tall. He looked into the crowd of robots, and then to the fire that bit at the walls and ran down the floor. He held up his swords, and let all his worries wash away, before running head on down the hallway. "Turtle power!"
Donatello89 just stood there, mouth hanging open. "He's nuts! We're all near defeated. No way we can make it through this!" He gestured at the seemingly endless hall of robots and at Leonardo thrashing with his swords at any who came close, looking almost like he'd regained all of his energy.
"Got any better ideas?" Raphael scoffed, before running into the crowd as Michelangelo shouted "Cowabunga!" at the top of his lungs and followed. Donatello swallowed and then ran into the crowd as well, his vision clouded by smoke and his power near gone, knowing this was a risky thing to be doing.
But they all fought with honor.
Donatello07 stepped out of the portal to find himself on a floor of a burning building. He was shocked, standing stock still, but he saw out of the corner of his eye as Leonardo03 came up next to him. They glanced at eachother, and then at the smoldering drapes dangling on the wall that clattered down to the floor as the fire ate up the fabric. The rest of of the turtles walked out of the portal, jaws dropping. They stood in a tight group in the middle of the room, daring not go near the flames.
Michelangelo96 swore, hands over his head and eyes wide. He turned around and shook Raphael87 by the shoulders. "Dude, why in the world did you pick this dimension to go to? It's on fire!"
Raphael87 pulled Michelangelo96's hands off of his shoulders and held up his hands in a defensive position. "Dude, don't you see?" Raphael87 said,"This dimension looks like an awesome video game! All pixelated! Who wouldn't want to be in a video game? I just didn't know we'd come out of the portal in a burning building! Don't get so hot-headed!"
"Hot-headed!" Donatello07 said, letting loose a nervous chuckle as he watched the flames. His voice was high and frightened. "That's a good one! Got any more jokes?"
"As a matter-of-fact, I do!" Raphael87 retorted, leaning in close to Donatello07's face. "Wanna hear 'em, brainiac?"
"Guys!" Leonardo13 yelled out. "Shut up! You can all fight later. Right now, let's get out!"
"Leonardo is correct," said Splinter C, "We must focus on what is more important." He took the wrists of the two closest turtles, Raphael90 and Donatello87, rushing towards them towards the exit stairs with Leonardo13. Most of the turtles followed, racing down the steps in a mad dash for the exit, hoping whatever floor they were on was close to the lobby. A few started to prop open the window and climb onto the fire escape, but Michelangelo87 just stayed where he was, the portal swirling shut behind him. He stayed as still as a statue.
The orange-masked turtle stared at the flight of stairs that lead to the higher floors, wondering if he was only imagining the voices he heard. None of the other turtles had mentioned hearing desperate shouts and ragged coughs, but Michelangelo87 was sure they were real. He just stood there, in the middle of the hallway, staring up at the stairs. He felt the flames pressed tight against him, closing in.
"MICHELANGELO!" Leonardo87 pleaded, begging his brother to move. "Come on!" He watched as the fire came closer to his brother, causing sweat to dribble down Michelangelo87's face.
Donatello13 rushed forward and tried to pull Michelangelo87 towards the fire escape, but Michelangelo87 shook free of his grasp. "Someone needs our help!" He turned and ran straight up the stairs and out of view.
With all the noise, some of the turtles that had ran down the stairs came up to see what was going on. Leonardo87 explained that Michelangelo87 had run away and was surprised that none of the turtles shouted out "Just leave him behind!", because he knew some of the turtles in this ragtag group didn't like Michelangelo87 much. Leonardo87 guessed to some extent they all cared about each other.
"Well what are we waiting for?" Leonardo96 shouted, almost in disgust. "No turtle left behind!" He ran up the stairs after Michelangelo87, and his brothers followed him almost immediately, like there was no other option. All of the other turtles watched in shock as those they had presumed as the wimpiest turtles risk their lives for someone they had only just met. And almost as if Leonardo96 had grabbed them and forced them up the stairs, they followed. Without a second thought.
"This," Splinter C said between wheezes and coughs as they rushed up the stairs,"Is a team. I only hope we can maintain it."
Michelangelo89 pressed a Foot Soldier against the wall and Raphael89 and Donatello89 helped him hold it there. Leonardo89 shouted out and stabbed his sword through the robot's chest, splitting the circuitry. The Foot Soldier slumped to the ground and the turtles rushed back as flames overcame its body. They turned and Donatello caught another with his bo staff and threw it at the wall.
Michelangelo was weak and Raphael was near unconscious, and Donatello89 and Leonardo89 were carrying the brunt of the battle, even as exhausted and sweltering they were. They had to protect their brothers. The pixelated flames swirled around them.
Leonardo split two more Foot Soldiers apart with his swords, while Donatello89 rushed forward to the next flight of stairs leading downward, with April's shrieks that split the night telling them they were close to wherever she was. As Leonardo89 pushed down the last Foot Soldier, he leaned over and let Raphael89 slump against his shoulder. He half-carried him down the stairs. Michelangelo89 coughed hard on the smoke, leaning against the wall for a break until Donatello forced him to keep moving. The flames raced down the walls behind them, almost as if their only goal was to burn the turtles to the ground and not the building.
"Leonardo," Raphael89 gasped. Leonardo89 turned, seeing Raphael89 smile weakly. Leonardo89 supposed Raphael was about to say some joke to lighten the mood but the red-masked turtle couldn't manage another word and just closed his eyes. His feet stopped moving and Leonardo lifted him up in his arms. He didn't let himself think about whether Raphael was okay, because he first had to focus on surviving this battle.
The floor of April's apartment was left free of Foot Soldiers and the turtles made a mad dash towards her door. Donatello89 thrust it open, running in. There was April, pressed against a table and staring transfixed at the flames.
"April!" Donatello89 said,"Stay calm. We'll get you through this." He approached her, but before he could reach her, the ground shook like an earthquake and everyone but April fell to the ground. She screamed as the drill emerged from her floor, spinning in a blur. What followed the massive drill was a compartment on wheels. A metal door slid open, revealing who was inside.
Rocksteady. He smiled, his gray wrinkly face never so unsightly. He stepped forward, aiming his machine gun and pulling his army hat tighter over his scrawny gray ears. "Say your prayers, toitles." He let loose on his gun and the bullets shot around the room.
Leonardo89 dodged the flying random bullets, rushing forward and striking at Rocksteady. The mutant kicked him back and Leonardo crashed into the wall. Donatello89 shouted out as a bullet soared for his face and sucked his head into his shell, popping it back out when the danger was gone. He turned to see Raphael89 slumped on the floor, his eyes flickering as he fought to stay awake. Michelangelo89 was fighting with all he had left in him, which wasn't much.
"We're in for," Donatello89 said. The fire rose higher, growing stronger.
"At least we'll go down fighting!" Michelangelo89 replied, hitting Rocksteady repeatedly with his nunchucks. The mutant rhino swatted at him.
"You stupid toitle!"
Donatello89 rushed forward towards April to lead her towards safety, but suddenly Rocksteady turned and fired at them. Donatello screamed, not knowing if the bullet would hit him or April. He leapt in front of her, his shell facing the direction of the bullet.
The bullet did not hit Donatello's shell like he had planned it to. Instead it struck the back of his forearm. Donatello89 screamed in agony, gripping his hand tight around the wound, feeling the metal lodged deep into his skin.
"Donatello! No!" Leonardo89 shouted, realizing his brother was hurt. He wished he could reverse time and push Donatello and April out of the bullet's way, or if their wasn't enough time he would take the bullet instead. Anything but see his brother writhing on the ground. Now it was just Leonardo and Michelangelo fighting, and Rocksteady wasn't even hurt.
The rhino sneered as looked at Donatello89, overcome with pain. "Eat lead!" He fired again, but this time Leonardo89 had enough notice to run in front of the bullets and pull Donatello and April to safety. But now he was cornered against the wall by Rocksteady, with Raphael watching helplessly across the room and Michelangelo weakly beating his nunchucks against the rhino.
"You idiot, Rocksteady!" Raphael89 shouted, his voice hoarse. "Is this the best you can do?" He laughed, showing that the stress and pain had finally gotten to him. This was all near a dream to him and he probably thought he had already been knocked out. Probably hoping he was.
Leonardo89 looked straight down the barrel of Rocksteady's gun aimed at him, and then to April and Donatello pinned against the wall with him. "Turtles fight with honor, we die with honor...But hopefully not today."
Donatello89 nodded, gulping, letting April hide behind him. "Everything will be all right," he assured her, wishing with all he had he wasn't lying. He focused on the barrel of that gun, and it helped him take his mind off the pain searing in his arm, like the fire had gotten inside of him and was tearing him apart.
"There!" Michelangelo87 pointing out the only open apartment door to the turtles beside him. They had caught up to him and were just as ready to save whoever needed help as he was.
Donatello07 and all the others screamed out once again, feeling like their arms were on fire like a gunshot had hit them. None of them had actually gotten hurt, so they assumed it was the Donatello of this dimension they hadn't met yet that had gotten injured and they were all feeling his pain. The Raphaels coughed on the smoke, feeling drowsy.
"Cowabunga!" Michelangelo87 yelled, leaping through the doorway. The first thing he made out in the scorched room was Rocksteady, so he flew towards him without a thought, tripping him down. Bullets rattled out of the gun in the rhino's hands, shooting straight towards the ceiling.
"More toitles!" Rocksteady shouted out.
"No, we're giraffes," Raphael96 said sarcastically, he and his dimensional brothers snickered to it like it was an inside joke. Donatello90 looked at them like they were crazy.
"Eat lead, toitles!" the rhino shouted, groping for his gun. Raphael90 kicked him and Casey Jones C hit him rather hard with a hockey stick. Mikey C made faces at Rocksteady and hit him with his nunchucks over and over, being as annoying as he could.
"Take that you mad elephant freak!" Casey Jones swung the hockey stick again.
Donatello87 ran forward and helped Raphael89 to his feet, while Leonardo90 lead Donatello89, Leonardo89, and April89 outside of the apartment room and towards the fire escape, but the two turtles refused to run from the fight, as confused and weak as they were. April sputtered, puzzled by the sudden appearance of so many more turtles.
Donatello87 caught sight of the wound bleeding of Donatello89's arm. "You need help. Let me take care of that injury."
"Later." Donatello89 ran back towards the apartment room with Leonardo89.
Rocksteady kicked an attacking Raphael13 away from him, which finally left him able to stand up. He pushed himself to his feet and readjusted his army hat. "You toitles are going to pay!" He charged through a crowd of turtles, pointing his sharp horn out in front of him. The turtles dodged and Rocksteady finally reached his gun again. But before he could even turn around, Leo C leapt on his back and tried to pry the machine gun away from him.
Rocksteady growled in irritation and slammed his back against the wall so hard that Leo C's shell left a dent in the it. As soon as Rocksteady walked away and Leo C fell to the ground, fire rushed over at spread across the dent, finding its way towards the floor. Leo C had to stand up and run away. The fighting space was getting smaller and smaller, and the room was getting hotter and hotter.
Rocksteady turned to see Donatello89 trying to examine the wound on his arm. "Aww, did I hurt you?" he said,"Here, let me make it better!" He aimed his gun and fired, but not before Raphael87 charged into him, messing up his shot so it hit the wall instead and Rocksteady fell to the floor. Raphael87 came and stood over him. "You bozo, Rocksteady. Shooting him again won't make him better. Geez, who writes your dialogue?" He chuckled to himself but no one else laughed. Rocksteady shoved Raphael87 away and stood up again.
Michelangelo07 leapt and tumbled around Rocksteady, constantly bombarding him with kicks and nunchuck hits, and Michelangelo87 and Michelangelo03 did their best to help. Splinter C was trying to give Donatello89 help with his injured arm, but the turtle was stubbornly refusing, wanting nothing more to get back in the fight.
Finally, Rocksteady growled and aimed his gun at Donatello13 and Michelangelo90, and they didn't have time to dodge or even shout as the bullet soared towards them. They were pressed against the wall, surrounding by fire with no immediate place to run.
At the last second, a blurry form leapt in front of the bullet, shouting "NO!" The bullet hit it and the form slumped to the ground, and Donatello13 and Michelangelo90 looked down to see it was Leonardo87 lying on the floor. He looked dead for a moment, still as a statue, until his eyes fluttered open. "Ugh..now that's what I call shell-shocked."
"Dude, are you okay?" Michelangelo90 said, helping Leonardo87 to his feet.
"Yeah, the bullet just ricocheted off my shell," Leonardo87 replied like it was nothing. He in turned helped Donatello13 and Michelangelo90 escape the flames surrounding them.
"Why'd you do that?" Donatello13 asked. "That bullet could have seriously hurt you if it missed your shell. You hardly even know us but you risked your life to save us."
Leonardo87 smiled knowingly. "Of course I know you. You're my brother Donatello." He then pulled both of his swords back out and ran towards Rocksteady, swinging his swords against the rhino in a skilled and swift movement. Michelangelo90 and Donatello13 shared a glance with each other, not knowing what to think of what Leonardo87 had done. But they were definitely glad he'd done it.
Finally, Donnie C pinned Rocksteady against the floor with Raphael03, and they had just about knocked him out when suddenly the ground shook again, like an earthquake. A shelf toppled over, like a wall of flames, right into the middle of the room. Leo C quickly pulled Michelangelo96 away from the shelf a second before it landed, saving him.
A second drill shoved Rocksteady's module out of the hole it was lodged in and a second module replaced it. The door slipped open and out strode Shredder12. The turtles gasped, looking around for a way to escape. Raphael89, weak and near unconscious, was across the room, head dolled back and eyes barely open.
"Shredder!" shouted a voice, high and feminine. The turtles turned to see April O'Neil standing in the doorway, mouth wide open.
"April!" Leonardo89 shouted, desperate. "Get out of here! Use the fire escape!"
But before April could even move, Shredder leapt forward, soaring over the flames spread across the ground. He grabbed her around the waist and headed back towards the window. Michelangelo03 shouted out in anger and fought the menace away from the window, but Shredder grabbed him with his free arm and chucked him at the flaming wall.
As soon as Michelangelo03 landed, he screamed and scrambled away, feeling the flames press tight against his skin. He hunkered down a few feet away and caught his breath, his mind and heart racing. Leonardo90 quickly pulled off Michelangelo03's mask and stomped out the flames scorching the ends.
Shredder12 pried open the window, April O'Neil slung over his shoulder shouting and punching. "Come towards me again and the woman dies!" he said, pointing out the window to the mind-bending drop of twenty-three stories. Down there were Foot Soldiers guarding the building's entrance, keeping fire fighters and police out. Shredder sneered as the turtles hesitated, staying back to protect April. He turned to look at Donatello89. "Where is the Splinter of this dimension?" He didn't shout but that didn't make him any less scarier.
"You think I'd tell you?" Donatello89 said, clenching his fists tight around his bo staff. He gritted his teeth as he felt blood trickling down his arm.
Suddenly, there was an enormous crash and part of the floor caved in, slamming into the floor below. Rocksteady jumped to safety as the ground crumbled underneath him and Leonardo13 barely made it, clutching the edge and pulling himself up.
Shredder felt fear rise up inside him, staring at the gaping hole in the floor and the flames racing towards him. He didn't show his fear, instead putting on a brave face. "Goodbye, turtles!" He leapt out of the window, grabbing edges on the way down to slow his descent. April screamed, fighting for freedom.
Raphael89 gasped, struggling to his feet like it was the hardest thing he'd ever done. He ran with his brothers and they jumped straight out the window as well, following Shredder. The night was cold, a stark contrast to the oven temperatures of the burning apartment, and it was so dark the crowd on the street didn't see them. The moon was a huge white circle, its light outlining the turtles in white as they skillfully rushed down the side of the building after Shredder.
The rest of the turtles in the apartment followed the 1989 turtles, nothing left for them in the decimated building. They fell for a distance, before gripping an edge of the wall jutting out, holding on only long enough to leap to the next foothold. Shredder was twenty feet below them, and the 1989 turtles were approaching him fast.
"Shredder!" Leonardo89 shouted, "Let April free!" The turtle probably hadn't even noticed that this wasn't the Shredder of his dimension and didn't have time to question the tons of turtles that had been helping him. His only mission was to save April.
"Bad choice of words, Leonardo," Shredder said. He dropped April and she soared towards the ground, her hair whipping at her face as she screamed, splitting the night.
"NO! APRIL!" Donatello13 blurted out. He unfurled his hand from the edge and free-fell towards her, making himself aerodynamic to catch up with her. He fired up his Gravity Gauntlet, and caught a ledge only two floors from the hard concrete. He aimed the Gravity Gauntlet at her quickly. There was a mechanical sound and she suddenly rose, the air tearing and screaming underneath her, protesting this impossiblity of her rising so freely. Escaping the pull of gravity.
Donatello13 turned off the Gravity Gauntlet when she was a few feet above him, letting her catch the ledge he was on. He looked at her and she looked at him, her hair a complete mess and her eyes wide. This may not have been the April that Donatello13 knew so well but he still thought she was beautiful like the April he had a crush on back in his home dimension.
"Thank you, Donatello," April said, arching her eyebrows, still confused about all these new turtles. Donatello13 told her there wasn't time to explain. He helped her to the ground and then rushed up the side of the building again to fight the Shredder with all the others.
"You lost your leverage over us when you let go of April!" Leonardo87 shouted,"There's nothing you can keep us back with now!"
"I'm not afraid of you cretins!" Shredder blasted.
Casey Jones dropped, shouting a muffled battle cry as he flew towards Shredder, swinging his hockey stick. The vigilante missed Shredder and quickly grabbed a ledge again, dangling just a few stories above the ground. Shredder moved along the ledge he was gripping twenty stories up and Casey shouted, "Yeah, you better run!"
Rocksteady finally climbed out of the apartment window, clumsily making his way down the side. He used one hand to hold his machine gun, firing madly. The turtles barely managed to dodge.
Leonardo13 growled, scaling the side of the building in mere seconds. He was right next to Rocksteady, and rhino shrank back from the turtle's bright, angry white eyes. Leonardo13 hung from the windowsill and punched Rocksteady, pulling the machine gun away. Suddenly, Rocksteady shouted "Ooh, you're not beatin' me that easy, toitle!" He pried his machine gun out of Leonardo13's grasp and shot it straight at him. Leonardo13's eyes widened; he flipped backwards off the windowsill, Rocksteady's gunshots barely missing him as he soared through the black sky in a graceful backflip. The turtle caught a ledge, staring up at Donatello90 trying to protect a few turtles as Rocksteady mercilessly shot at them. Leonardo13 felt useless, unable to disarm Rocksteady.
"Fight me, turtles!" Shredder shouted. Leonardo13 watched him, trying to catch his breath, and noticed the way Shredder12 stumbled slightly when he used his left leg. He was injured, weakened.
"If you say so, Shredder!" Michelangelo07 called. He dropped two stories to be next to Shredder. He punched, but Shredder dodged. They couldn't seem to make a hit on each other, one attacking and the other moving away in a blur. But as Shredder was distracted by Michelangelo07, Raphael96 and Donatello89 snuck up from behind. Shredder turned his head just in time to see them, and he suddenly grabbed Michelangelo07 and chucked him straight at Donatello89.
Donatello89 screamed as Michelangelo07 flew straight into him, flinging him off of the ledge he was gripping. They fell for quite a distance, entangled, until Donatello89 finally caught on a windowsill, gritting his teeth from the pain of using his injured arm. He held out his bo staff and Michelangelo07 caught the very end of it, dangling twenty feet above the ground. The crowd below screamed and pointed, finally taking notice of the fight on the side of the burning building. April was filming it all with a video camera, grinning. "What a story!"
Raphael96 was still right next to Shredder. He didn't pull out a weapon, because he didn't have one. He kicked, but Shredder effortlessly grabbed his leg, and then threw his fist right into the metal clasp that went around Raphael96's shoulder, denting the red R initial. Shredder continued to attack Raphael96, until Michelangelo13 and Donnie C leapt in to help. Donnie C pulled his bo staff over Shredder's neck and tried to choke him. Bullets split the night from Rocksteady's machine gun, but Michelangelo96 was up there, doing his best to avert the shots away from any turtles.
As a huge crowd of turtles tried to pry Raphael96 free of Shredder, Leo C, Leonardo03, and Leonardo87 gathered a few yards away on the building's corner. Leonardo03 tried hard not to think about high up he was, as he was a little afraid of heights. Leonardo87 said,"We've got to do something!"
"Good idea, brilliant leader," Leo C retorted. He looked down at the huge mob of turtles fighting Shredder. "I say we attack from below. Ambush Shredder. He won't know what's coming."
"Sounds good," Leonardo03 said, nodding. "Just one question. Which of us Leonardos is the leader? There are seven of us here, you know. I feel we would be doing much better if there was someone directing our fights. I nominate myself, because - "
"We'll deal with that later, all right?" Leo C interrupted, waving the question away. Without another word, he began to crawl down the side of the building that was facing the crowd down below, avoiding the view of Shredder or trigger-happy Rocksteady. The other two Leonardos followed him, silently drawing their swords. They blended into the night like they were shadows themselves.
Shredder shouted out, grabbing Mikey C by the back of the neck and slamming him into the brick building. Mikey C groaned and slumped forward, falling, until Donatello87 caught him. He looked down to see the orange-masked turtle, unconscious in his arms, marked with bruises and cuts all over. Obvious signs that he had fought hard and proudly before he'd been knocked out.
Raphael89 dropped down suddenly, screaming Cowabunga so ferociously that it became something else entirely, something as meaningful as someone's last words. Raphael89 was weak, he'd been barely awake moments ago, but he couldn't stand seeing these turtles hurt, even if he didn't know them or how they got here. So he slammed hard, straight into the metal armor plating Shredder's chest, knocking the metal-covered menace looser and looser from the ledge with each punch and kick.
Shredder now was only holding onto the ledge by one hand. There was a big explosion inside the fiery building, sending flames shooting straight out of a few windows. The building shook. And as Shredder was attacked so recklessly by Raphael89, he didn't notice the three Leonardos sneaking up behind him.
Leonardo03 hacked outwards with his katana, getting the edge of Shredder's foot. The metal-covered menace screamed and kicked Leonardo03. The impact of the kick, straight into Leonardo03's plastron, slammed him down. He fell and Leo C caught him, barely, and pulled him back onto a windowsill. Leonardo03 hung on tight, watching as everything inside that apartment building burn. Splinter C came over and asked if he was okay, and it was obvious the rat truly cared about Leonardo03.
Michelangelo03 had thought his brother Leonardo03 was going to fall straight to the ground, and even after Leo C had caught Leonardo03, Michelangelo03's heart was still beating fast. He looked at Shredder in a new light, and this fight became personal. While Leonardo03 wasn't hurt, there was still that fear. Michelangelo03 had known Leonardo03 his whole life, they were the strongest of brothers, and so Michelangelo03 had finally had enough with this fight. He leapt off the edge he'd been clutching, swinging his nunchucks. "Hey, Shredhead!"
He hit him hard after soaring two stories down the building. As soon as he landed, Michelangelo03 pulled the extremely weakened Raphael89 off of Shredder and the orange-masked turtle began to punch. He didn't stop, and his knuckles began to leave a dent in Shredder's helmet. "This" - he slammed his fist at the armor - "is" - another punch - "for Leo!"
The last punch was strong, with more energy than Michelangelo03 thought he had left in him, and Shredder's hand uncurled from the ledge he had been so strongly gripping. Rocksteady, far above, screamed "Boss, no!" and more gunshots split the night. As Shredder12 fell, almost in slow-motion as the crowd below pointed and April filmed, Raphael90 dragged himself up the side of the building, a bullet grazing his skin, and he chucked Rocksteady's gun as far as he could.
The Foot Soldier robots on the ground, who had been previously occupied with keeping firefighters out of the burning building, ran towards Shredder as he fell, as if they thought they could catch him. A couple of robots ran to a parked module and drove at top-speed down through the hole it'd made upon arrival at the surface, disappearing down the tunnel.
It seemed like it took Shredder forever to fall, and so many things happened during his descent. Raphael89 finally succumbed to the unconsciousness he'd been fighting, and slumped right off of the wall with no one near enough to catch him. There was another explosion inside the burning building, knocking all the turtles, Splinter C, and Casey Jones clinging to the side off balance.
After all of that action, Shredder finally landed. He fell straight down the hole the Foot Soldiers' module had made, shouting out in pain as he tumbled through the tunnel, his screams echoing into the night. And Raphael89 landed right in an open Dumpster, softening his impact. Everyone stared in shock, doing nothing as Rocksteady bumbled down the side of the building and followed Shredder down the tunnel. Nothing happened for several minutes, but April below continued to film. There was a loud noise inside like more floors were collapsing. It was too late for the fire-fighters to go inside, but they did their best to stem the fire from the outside.
Finally, Leonardo13 blinking, coming back into awareness. He looked at all the injured turtles around him, the very building he was on falling apart, Mikey C knocked out, Raphael89 unconscious down below, and the two villains disappeared. "This is horrible!" So many had risked their lives in the fight and barely any progress had been made to stopping Shredder. Everyone began to descend down the building, slipping into the shadows the ally provided them on the ground.
"Yeah," Donatello87 said,"What good came out of a lousy fight like this?" He looked to Donatello89, his arm still bleeding, and they both shared the pain. Everyone felt pain, even if not necessarily everyone had gotten hurt. But they did their best to fight through it. Leonardo90 went over and pulled Raphael89 out of the Dumpster, hoisting him over his shoulder.
"Shredder and Rocksteady both escaped," Donnie C said, "I noticed Shredder fell down the same tunnel the robots used for their odd drill transportation machine. My guess is Shredder and his followers have something hidden down that tunnel. My guess is that whatever is down there has the ability to jump through dimensions, explaining how Shredder is getting around. We could go down the tunnel after them, but who knows if Shredder would even still be there? What if he's already gone to another dimension?" The rest of the Donatellos nodded, agreeing with Donnie C's logic.
"Well, this all may be a horrible turn of events," Raphael87 said, trying to lighten the mood, "But at least it makes for a heck of a cliffhanger!"
-2012 dimension-
Karai watched the progress bar on the monitor inch up to fifty percent. She was almost there, the Kraang had almost analyzed the origin of the 2012 turtles' source DNA. She would find Turtle Prime and decimate it. She could imagine herself now, destroying all turtle life like Shredder had been trying to do for so long now.
She wondered if her father would be proud.
She looked up at the tiny corner of the Kraang's monitor, still displaying video of what Shredder12 was up to even if the Kraang didn't have much use for him anymore. He had just slid out of a deep tunnel, and now was in a cave of some sort, limping towards what looked like a giant golf ball on wheels. A ramp slid out for him to climb and a giant warthog mutant keeping a tight grip on Splinter waved to him happily. This all looked very odd.
My dad has the weirdest job, Karai thought to herself.
I really wanted to fit more of the story into this chapter, but it was pretty full with just this one fight. So some stuff that was going to be in this chapter is going to overflow into the next. This fight is pretty important to the story and I did my best to write it and make it as exciting as possible, so compressing it down to fit more stuff in the chapter wasn't something I wanted to do. Oh, and did you notice this chapter, all the way until they climb out of the building to fight, parallels the first level of the TMNT 1989 arcade game, just with more dimensions of turtles added in. I thought this chapter was fun to write that way. :D
So did you like this chapter? Reviews are very much appreciated. In fact, extremely appreciated. Hint, hint.
Expect a big turn of events next chapter. Something you've all been waiting for!
And now, I will discuss the 1987 TMNT cartoon. It's really an amazing cartoon, and is what TMNT has to thank for its humongous popularity. This cartoon lasted ten years, holding the record for longest running cartoon until the Simpsons beat it in 1998. If that's not a sign of success, I don't know what is. Sure, this cartoon can be really corny and goofy, but in the best episodes I can't stop laughing. While the 2003 show focused mainly on action, and the 2012 cartoon blends humor and amazing fighting, I'd have to say the 1987 cartoon is the funniest of all of the TMNT shows. It definitely has a few problems, but nothing's perfect. And because of the huge influence the first TMNT cartoon had on the franchise, it deserves to be one of the iterations of turtles in this story dedicated to a successful 30 years of TMNT. The original cartoon has influenced my life, and so many other peoples'. Turtle Power!