A month later Lexi sits next to Splinter watching the turtles and Lana practice. Leo throws a punch at Raph who blocks and tries to counter but Leo steps out of the way. Lexi smiles when she sees Lana jump over Mikey's head and kick his shell.
"Ya Lana!"
Mikey looks at her and Lexi waves at him sheepishly. Donnie sweeps Mikey's feet making him fall on his stomach.
"Michelangelo! Pay attention!"
Lexi instantly looks down and plays with the hem on her shorts. After a quick word from Splinter they all stop and bow to him before starting to warm down. Lexi quickly crawls over to Lana and smiles while looking at her.
"You're so good!"
Lana smiles and shakes her head.
"I'm nowhere near as good as the guys."
Lexi makes a face.
"Give yourself more credit Lana."
"Ya. Dudette is right. You're pretty good Lana."
Lexi smiles at Mikey before nodding.
"See? Mikey agrees."
"Mikey will agree with anything you say."
Mikey shoots Donnie a look making all three of his brothers laugh.
"Dude!"
Lexi laughs and stands up before fist bumping her friend.
"I'll see you out there."
Mikey follows her with Donnie. Lana keeps stretching before slowly standing and groaning at the ache in her muscles.
"You okay?"
"Ya just sore."
"That was a good hit you had back there. Yer getting' stronga."
"Ya it's weird. I wasn't trying to punch that hard."'
"Well ya did. Keep it up. No one's goin' to mess with ya."
Lana looks at Raph and nods before glancing at Leo and walking out. Leo watches her go before shaking his head angrily. Raph watches his older brother and smirks.
"She getting' under yer skin?"
"Never."
Raph snorts and shrugs.
"Whateva' you say fearless."
Raph walks out of the dojo leaving Leo alone to try and ignore his annoyance.
"Leonardo?"
The blue-banded turtle looks over and sees Splinter standing there.
"Sensei?"
"Have you talked to either Raphael or Lana?"
Leo makes a face and Splinter nods.
"You must do that…nothing will get better unless you do…you did notice she has gotten stronger yes?"
"Of course sensei."
"I fear it is not all on her own accord."
Leo looks up.
"What do you mean?"
"…just be wary. Strength is not always a good thing."
Leo sighs and bows to his sensei before walking out of the dojo. He sees Lexi playing video games with Mikey, Donnie drinking coffee, and Raph making himself something to eat. Lana is nowhere to be found and he sighs.
"Hungry Leo?"
Leo nods to Donnie who hits Raph. Raph grunts and waves him off.
Lana walks into Raph's room and starts to change. She quickly digs through the bag Raph got her from her house and pulls out clean clothes. She grabs a towel and heads straight for the bathroom. After taking a shower and putting her shorts and tank top on she walks out still towel drying her hair.
"Finally dude!"
Mikey runs into the bathroom and shuts the door behind her making Lana shake her head.
"Was my shower really that long?"
"Yes."
Donnie laughs as he walks by her and she sticks her tongue out at him. Lana heads straight for the kitchen and digs through the fridge.
"Hungry?"
Lana glances over the edge of the fridge door and smiles at the plate of food Raph is offering her. She grabs it and shuts the door with her foot before sitting down and digging in.
"This is good."
"You sound surprised."
"I am."
Raph rolls his eyes and sits down across from her. He looks at his fingers and fidgets in his seat. Lana watches him as she chews on the sausage and eggs.
"Raph?"
"Hm?"
She stares at him and puts the fork down.
"Are you okay?"
Raph shrugs but she keeps staring at him. He sighs and shakes his head before looking at her square in the eye.
"…have ya talked ta Leo?"
"Have you?"
Raph's face falls and he rolls his eyes.
"I asked ya first."
Lana looks away and goes back to eating.
"Lana-"
"Why do you care? Did Donnie talk to you?"
Raph looks surprised but shakes his head.
"Donnie? What's he-"
"Never mind."
She stands and puts the plate in the sink.
"Thanks."
He watches her go before sighing and slamming his fist onto the table.
"Raphael?"
Splinter walks into the kitchen and looks at his son.
"Everything alright my son?"
"Just preachin' what I don't practice."
"Oh, well, good luck my son."
Raph smirks and chuckles.
"Thanks sensei."
"You are welcome my son."
Raph walks out into the living room and looks up at the door when he hears it opening. April walks in and waves to him before quickly walking down the stairs.
"Hey where's Lana?"
Lana comes out of the lab and smiles at her.
"Hey April."
"I looked up that general for you."
Lana's face goes falls and she nods. The brothers come over to listen to their older friend.
"She's one of the stone generals I found for your dad and apparently she wasn't very nice when she was alive."
Lana looks at the yellowing bruises on her arm and nods.
"I can believe that."
"Can you believe that the story that's connected to your necklace is real?"
Lana nods somberly and touches it.
"Ya I can. She's one stone cold bitch April."
"With very powerful brothers."
Lana sighs and nods.
"…your dad is one of those brothers Lana…"
Lana looks away and crosses her arms.
"I figured. Now how can we defeat them?"
"Well I found something that might help us."
She waves some papers at her and walks over to the table and lays them out.
"Okay look. These are sketches from wall drawings in the temples of South America. These talk about five extraordinary generals that ruled a large expanse of the continent. Each of them was named after a revered animal in the jungle except for one, their leader, Yaotl."
Lana follows her hands and nods as April talks.
"Now this references a star system that only lines up every 3000 years."
April points to a dark sky with stars in a line pointing to an orb that looks like earth.
"Is this Earth?"
"Basically. Now when these stars line up they're said to open a portal to another dimension."
Lana looks at Donnie who studies the maps.
"Every 3000 years April?"
April nods and Donnie walks away to a computer and starts typing.
"Why is this dimension important?"
"Well if these transcripts are accurate then Yaotl, you dad, tried accessing this portal to gain unlimited power, but he didn't know that there was a cost."
April unrolls another scroll and points to four figures painted in horrible positions. Lana grimaces and runs her fingers over the scroll.
"Who're they?"
"The generals…"
Lana's eyes go wide and she looks at April.
"It turned them to stone? I thought that those statues were, you know, statues."
"They were real people but the portal took their lives and power as payment for gaining immortality."
"…my father sacrificed his family to be immortal?"
April shakes her head and takes out another scroll.
"He didn't know. When the portal opened the energy from it gave him eternal life and he thought it would do the same for them, but it didn't. Thirteen monsters also escaped into our world which apparently the generals are hunting."
Lana shakes her head and sits down.
"Wait, okay. So my father didn't do it on purpose?"
"No. He's had to live almost 3000 years with his mistake…"
"Talk about a guilt trip."
April nods to Leo who looks down at Lana in worry. Lexi looks at the charts before walking over to Donnie and pointing to something on his screen.
"That doesn't explain why these generals are huntin' the monstas."
"Well if Winters was the one to wake them up it would make sense why he'd be using them to collect the monsters to reverse the curse."
Lana shakes her head.
"No wouldn't that destroy them?"
Leo nods.
"Ya it would. It would take away their immortality…it might make them human but why would they risk it? They're alive, essentially, and immortal."
Lana nods.
"They must not know…or at least they didn't."
"Ya think that's why they came afta you?"
Lana looks at Raph and shrugs.
"I don't know. Though, I pose no threat to them especially her."
Leo frowns and crosses his arms as he stares into space.
"…what's the story behind your necklace again?"
"Hm?"
"You said she always mentioned your necklace. Why?"
Lana touches it and thinks about it.
"…I think it was hers."
"Would make sense."
"She asked me if I had felt the power and when I told her I worked out she told me it wasn't physical…"
"Do you think it could be another supernatural thing?"
"Maybe? But it's just a necklace…we might just be grasping at straws."
"I don't know…you've been a lot stronger lately."
Lana looks at Raph and Leo.
"…I guess."
"Lana I just think you should take that necklace seriously. It could be dangerous."
"It's just a necklace guys. How much harm could it do?"
Lana touches the stone and feels the cold stone calm her down. April looks at the necklace and thinks about it.
"…I agree with the guys on this one Lana. You should probably take it off-"
"No."
"Lana."
"No!"
They all stare at her as she calms down from her outburst. She sighs and looks at the maps again. Lana stands and runs a hand through her hair as she paces.
"Okay so we know a few things. One. She hates me. Two. She blames my dad who is also her brother. Three. She killed her fiancé to gain some sort of power. And four. She's gonna try and kill my dad."
"Can't kill someone who can't die."
Lana nods to Mikey.
"Right, so that's good, but what happens if they try to harness the power of the portal again? It can't turn them into stone so?"
Donnie and Lexi walk back over and put their print outs down.
"Guys?"
"We have an issue."
Lana nods and looks at them.
"If they bring back their immortal army from the portal then the city will be overrun within days and the world in weeks."
"Overrun?"
"Their army is the least of our worries. The monsters will escape and wreak havoc. We can't stop them. "
Lana sighs and glances at Leo.
"…how much time do we have?"
"A little less than two months…"
"We need to figure out a way to kill them."
"We need to turn them human first."
Lana nods.
"…I bet my dad knows."
"To bad you can't just ask him."
Lana nods.
"Ya. Nothing in our lives is easy."
Lana shakes her head and walks over to the dojo. They watch her go before they look at Leo.
"What?"
"You're the leader…you go talk to her."
He sighs and glances at them before turning.
"You guys are a bunch of babies. She won't bite."
Mikey glances at Lexi before laughing with her.
"You would know."
Leo rolls his eyes and makes his way over there. They watch him go and April looks worried.
"Guys I really think that necklace is bad news. She just yelled at us about nothing."
"I agree, but it's also the only thing she has from her dad down here..."
April nods and looks at the other red head.
"I'm April by the way."
Lexi smiles and shakes her hand.
"Lexi. I'm the friend the statue wanted to kill."
"Oh okay I've heard about you."
Mikey blushes and walks away which Raph notices. He watches his brother go before shaking his head.
"If it ends up being a problem we'll take it from her…"