Chapter 5 – So This is what the End Feels Like

Leonardo dodges and rolls to one side to avoid the Kraang's fist from slamming down on him. The young turtle knows he is no match even if the Kraang doesn't have his mech suit on. His speed is his only chance of survival right now.

"There is nowhere to run." The Kraang reminds the turtle. "I will crush you for your interference."

"You mean to stop you from destroying the planet, my home?" Leo threw back.

Like the ninja he is, Leonardo slips around a pillar and ducks under a table and disappears into the shadows. The turtle teen skillfully does this just before the Kraang turns the corner.

The Kraang frowns, believing this was the spot he heard his target.

"Where did you go?" He pondered more to himself.

A shuffling sound attracts the Kraang's attention. The alien turns, expecting to see the young turtle but sees a lonely chair instead. He briefly studies the furniture, wondering if it was there all along. Then, realizing there is something more important to worry about, the Kraang continues his search for Leo.

"Come on out and meet your fate, you exasperating little pest." The Kraang bellows out.

The moment the Kraang turns around the pillar and focuses on parts of the subway cart wreckage, the chair rotates and morphs, showing it has been Leo the whole time. The turtle lets out a sigh of relief. He is grateful that he could use the stealth technique and fool the Kraang.

He quickly moves and slips into another shaded area. Leonardo glances around the corner to see the Kraang continuing to search through parts of the old technodrome. How much longer can he do this, he wondered. This raises another question: How did this Kraang return from the Prison Dimension?

Leonardo moves his foot back but stops once he feels something. Undoubtedly, the last thing he wants to do is make any noise. He carefully adjusts his foot and looks at what he touched.

Suddenly, his second question is answered when he spots the KEY and part of the panel that blue lasers have shot at. However, seeing this raises more questions: How did the KEY end up here? Leo is sure that Donnie has secured it deep in the sewer. So, why didn't the alarm go off if it was here?

Hearing the mech's metallic footsteps brings Leonardo back to the present situation. He needs to move – not that he has many choices on where to proceed.

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"Raph," Mikey hollers as he dodges more black vines. "You think we should call for backup? We could use Dad and Draxum's help right about now."

"Not just that," Casey adds. "We need to get to Leo. He might be in trouble."

"He should have portalled back by now. Something defiantly doesn't feel right." April points out.

April and Casey block attacks from the female Kraang and back up to gain a better footing.

"I think you could be right, April," Donnie mentions. "I saw his sword briefly activated, then stopped."

The smart turtle spins his bow, creating a purple shield between him and the human teens, blocking the Kraang and a few of her minions from their advances.

"Raph," Michelangelo repeats with urgency.

It's these moments that Raphael wishes Leo was here. His younger brother is way better at leading and developing solutions under pressure. In a panic, Raph looks around at the situation and can find no answers. However, one idea comes to mind. He raises his forearm to speak through the transmitter, hoping to connect with his brother.

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"Leo, Leo, are you there? Pick up." Raph's voice raised through the turtle's wrist transmitter.

Leonardo tries to cover the noise, but it is too late. The Kraang defiantly heard it and spotted the location where Leonardo was hiding.

"There you are," the Kraang chuckles.

With a few quick strides, the Kraang lunges at Leo. Leonardo leaps out of the way of the first swing of the Kraang's mech hand, but the second swing lands down on him, knocking him into a pillar. This leaves Leo briefly stunned and allows the Kraang to grab him in his clutches.

"Ah, finally, I got you in my grasp," the Kraang cheers in celebration.

Leo lets out a grunt as the grip gets tighter.

"You've done more to damage my goals than any other being we have encountered. Why is that?" The Kraang asks.

"Lucky, I guess," Leo says, attempting to make light of the situation.

The Kraang adjusted his thumb so the tip pressed against Leo's midsection of his plastron shell. As a result, Leonardo lets out a painful groan.

"No, I wouldn't call it luck, more like an irritation. One that I will rectify right now." The alien monster sneers – tightening his grip.

The intense pressure is so uncomfortable for Leonardo that he cries out in agony. A subtle crunching sound makes the young turtle desperate, and he unsuccessfully squirms to escape Kraang's grasp.

"I will make you suffer for what you did." The Kraang emphasizes while tightening his grip even more.

"I'll watch as you die slowly in my hands," He continues with a toothy grin.

His evil grin grows wider while witnessing Leonardo's discomfort.

A sudden loud SNAP surprises Leonardo. He is so overwhelmed with pain and shock that it isn't till the mech suit's thumb slips out of the impact area and blood begins trickling down his leg that he starts screaming.

This is the moment the Kraang has been waiting for. He pulls the turtle in closer and chuckles.

"Where is your smug grin now?" He muses.

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A loud siren goes off on Donnie's hologram gauntlet. A cartoonish image of Leo's head blinks from blue to red. This indicates that his brother is in serious trouble. In a panic, Donatello looks up at his older brother.

"Raph, we got to get to Leo. He's hurt!" The smart turtle announces.

The female Kraang cackles, seizing her moment. While everyone looks over at Donnie, and since Donnie is not focusing on his mystic shield, the Kraang attacks. The purple shield explodes, knocking everyone back.

April lands, and as she quickly recovers, she spots a familiar vial with glowing blue liquid shimmering in the reflection of her glasses. The young teen reaches for it and inspects it closely.

"I recognize you," she smirks.

Immediately, April stands and turns to the team. When he gets on his feet, Raph uses his mystic power to shield his team from further attacks.

"Raph, I have a plan," April shouts, holding up the vial. "Get the Kraang and her lap dogs back down the hall. I can use this to create a barrier!"

Seeing that April has a solid idea allows Raphael to expand on it.

"Good idea," he starts. Raph turns to his brilliant brother and adds, "Donnie, go focus on getting the door open so we can rescue our brother."

"Right," Donatello replies, and without hesitation, he runs towards to door that has Leo trapped. On the way, he picks up his brother's sword.

"Mikey, I could use your help in pushing these goons back," Raph says, addressing his youngest brother.

"On it," the small turtle responds, leaping into action.

Michelangelo begins to use his mystic power and combine a gold flame, and as a result, the Kraang and her minions step back a few paces.

"Casey, help us coral these bozos," Raph concludes by adding their newest team member.

"Yes sir," the teen boy solutes – instantly reliving his old days in the alternate future.

While the team pushes the Kraang back, Donnie reaches the door and begins tapping on his gauntlet screen.

"Hang on, Leo. We are on our way." He says with a nervous tone.

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Leonardo can't control the tears from falling down his face. He whimpers while still struggling to break free. It does not help that his strength is rapidly fading, however.

The Kraang, feeling quite amused by the turtle's suffering, decides to try something else.

"You know, suddenly, I'm feeling quite generous." The evil alien chimes. "I could always grant you mercy, you know, end this painful suffering you're going through right now."

This starts to anger Leo. He refuses to give this monster the satisfaction of winning like that.

Leonardo glares up at his foe and spits in his face – being that is all he can do now. Leo didn't expect the sight of blood mixed with his saliva. Instantly, he notices a metallic taste in his mouth. This makes him realize his injury is more severe than he cares to admit.

The Kraang reacts, unfazed by Leo's gross action, and chuckles amusingly. Then, to the turtle's disgust, the Kraang extends his sharp tongue and licks blood-infused mucus off his face.

"So be it," the alien smirks.

The Kraang One squeezed tightly, causing the injury he had inflicted to expand.

The crunching and popping sounds echo the chamber as Leonardo feels large cracks spreading from the penetrated area on his plastron up to his breastplate and around his sides. The pain is so great that he lets out a deafening, high-pitched scream. Tears kept streaming down his cheeks, unable to stop.

Finally, the Kraang loosens his grip slightly.

Leonardo lets out a small sob. He can feel the life in him slipping away. Leo is so weak now that he stops struggling. He blinks heavily, knowing there isn't anything that can be done now.

"Don't die too quickly. I want to savour your last breath." The Kraang chuckled.

Leonardo continues to whimper as he accepts that the end is near. Though this was never the end he had imagined. It was always thought he'd go out in a heroic blaze of glory or as an old turtle in his sleep.

The primary thing he regrets is being unable to get his family out safely. At this moment, he feels he has failed them, not just as a leader but as a brother and friend. Leonardo wishes he could apologize to them, but it is too late.

Leonardo's vision starts blacking out as he slumps forward.

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Once the team has Kraang Two and her minions pushed back far enough, April tosses the vial up in the air, and with her bat, she swings it over the shield created by Raph and Mikey.

The second the glass cylinder hits the ceiling, it creates a big enough explosion to bring that part of the building down on the Kraang and her zombie creations.

"Yes," April cheers.

"Great, let's go check up on Donnie now," Raph says, relieved the plan worked.

Mikey is the first to make it around the corner.

"Donnie, got the door open yet?" He shouts.

"Almost got it," the intelligent turtle responds, not looking up from his hologram screen. Donnie's fingers frantically punch the numbers as he approaches, cracking the code. "Almost, almost…"

The door finally makes a loud thump, indicating the lock is released.

"Got it!" Donnie cheers as the door start opening.

The team forces their way through, only to see a shocking sight. Of all the enemies they would expect to encounter, the Kraang they sent to the prison dimension was not on the list.

The Kraang sneers as he turns to glance at his intruders.

"What? How did he get out?" Casey cries out in shock.

As the Kraang turns, the team sees a significantly injured Leo, barely hanging on to life.

"LEO!" They all shout desperately.

"I don't know how you got past my sister, but I assure you, you will not leave here alive." The Kraang growls.

Unceremoniously, the Kraang drops Leonardo off to the side. The fact that the young turtle lands like a ragdoll and has no response other than a small grunt leaves his brothers and friends on edge.

Raphael can only think of one solution to this predicament, and the timing must be perfect.

"Mikey, get to Leo, Donnie, get those PODS ready. The rest of us will hold back the Kraang. No matter what, we are all getting out of here." He orders just as he uses his mystic powers to form a glowing red extension of his arms.

With a simple nod, affirming Raph's orders, the team leaps into action as the Kraang begins the attack. Raphael jumps in front of his team and, using his power, can match the mech suit's size and strength. The two giants enter an arm-wrestling match while Casey and April rush to either side and attempt to attack the knees of the Kraang.

Mikey slips by the fight and makes it to Leo's side.

"Leo!" He hollers in hopes of getting a response.

However, Michelangelo didn't get a response, and this worried him.

"Leo," he says a tad softer.

The second Mikey turns his brother over, he spots a puddle of blood underneath Leonardo. Mikey gasped when he saw the damage on his plastron. Never could he imagine so many large cracks, not to mention so much blood oozing out.

Right away, Mikey activates his mystic hands and creates a gold aura over Leo's plastron. His eyes fill up with tears, but he attempts to remain brave.

"I'm going to try to stop the bleeding, Leo. Just stay with me, please." He assures his unconscious brother.

Michelangelo tries to keep the tears from falling but finds it hard. All he can do is hope that the PODS are launched soon.

Meanwhile, Donatello goes to activate the PODS but gets a message that there isn't enough room to launch them.

"What do you mean there is insufficient room to launch?" He yells at the screen.

Looking around, Donatello realizes his computer is correct. The area is closed, with nowhere for the PODS to escape in one piece. He remembers the last time he had to use the PODS; the room was more open.

"Great," he muttered under his breath.

Without overthinking the situation, Donnie picks up his bow and, using his mystic power, creates a giant purple drill and sends it up through the ceiling. This enables a sizable hole to easily fit all the PODS through and back to the layer.

Donatello jumps out of the way from falling debris, and in doing so, he spots Leonardo's broken sword and warped handle. Instinctively, Donnie reaches for the handle and attaches it to his battle shell with Leo's other sword.

He looks over to see where Mikey is with Leo and realizes that Leo might not be capable of handling a solo ride in the PODS. So, he brings his wrist gauntlet up and taps on the holographic screen.

"Adjust one POD to fit two turtles." He orders his computer.

"Launch!"

One POD shoots out from the back of his battle shell before Donnie prepares the others to do the same.

The first POD flies past the fight between Kraang, Raph, Casey, and April.

Casey and April, using their weapons, manage to inflict damage to the Kraang's knees, and the mech suit buckles down, giving Raph a slight advantage in strength. He uses Earth's gravity as leverage and pushes the Kraang down.

The POD reaches Mikey and Leo, and the youngest turtle recognizes the straps coming down and wrapping him and his brother.

"All right, Leo, here we go. Everything is going to be Okay." He says optimistically.

This time Casey and April start attacking the mech suit's shoulders, disconnecting the Kraang's control and crippling him.

"No!" The Kraang shouts in frustration.

Raph slams his mystic fists down, leaving him slightly dazed as he is about to slip out of his mech suit.

While the Kraang composes himself to wriggle out of the damaged mech, Donnie PODS swoop in and wrap up the humans, and as Raph's POD is closing, the mutant snapping turtle gives a little wink.

"See ya," Raph says mockingly.

All the Kraang can do is watch as the remaining PODS fly up through the hole created by Donnie's drill. Then, in frustration and embarrassment for losing this fight, the Kraang lets out a roar. Not only that, but he is also disappointed he never can savour Leo's last breath.