Chapter 5: FORTunate Help
April was thrown into the vault by the robotics within Fort Charles. She banged her fist on the steel door. "HELP!" she cried out. "GET ME OUTTA HERE!" As she banged on the door, the trainers and Turtles gathered around skateboards with motors attached to them.
"Let's get on the Cheapskates!" ordered Leonardo. "The tunnels can get us to Fort Charles quicker than if we were to surface!" Ash, Brock and Pikachu looked to the motorized skateboards.
"Cheapskates?" wondered Brock.
"We can explain, but we don't have time," Donatello pointed out. "If Shredder did hijack CY-CLOMPS, they could have April sealed in that airtight vault. If so, she's only got an hour before she runs out of air."
"We can't let that happen!" urged Ash. "We need to go, now!"
"Yeah, dude!" agreed Michelangelo. "Hop on!" Accepting, Ash joined Michelangelo while Brock joined Raphael and Pikachu joined Leonardo. The Cheapskates started and they took off.
"HERE WE GO!" cheered Raphael. As the Turtles and trainers skated down the sewers, April tried her luck with the communicator.
"Leonardo, are you there?" she worried. "Leonardo!" She became worried that no one would pick up. She tried to push the door open, but it was too heavy to budge it an inch. "Oh no…" She tried to collect herself. "I can't do anything right now but wait." Outside of the fort, Pete had his camera on a raven-haired scrawny man wearing a pink button-down shirt and gray necktie between a pair of suspenders.
"This is Vernon Fenwick for Channel 6 News reporting from Fort Charles live!" he gasped. Tanks had surrounded the fort and a shootout occurred between them. The fort's defensive systems activated turrets. "The situation around here seems hopeless. The Army's own weapons have turned against them." An explosion came from the fort. Vernon tried to remain steadfast. "Despite the personal danger, Channel 6's coverage of the crisis will continue." Pete saw the laser pointed at them.
"Look out!" he yelped. Vernon leaped, his blue trousers and red street shoes shown. He leaped onto the van's roof.
"…Right after these messages," he cried. The feed cut out at the Technodrome as Jessie and James were using exercise bikes to a generator to power it up. Rocksteady and Bebop stood by while Shredder turned to Krang.
"My plan is working!" gloated Shredder. "Soon, the Turtles will come to Fort Charles and be obliterated! What do you think of my plan now!?"
"Oh, it's not bad… for a pea-brain!" snapped Krang. "How do you intend to get the Trilithium Crystal?"
"That's the distraction as that cat pointed out!" pointed Shredder. "While the Turtles are occupied with Fort Charles, we can hit up another plant and take the energy from there! I recall the Malik Missile Plant has the supplies we need." Suddenly, the two Rockets tired out and stopped peddling.
"I'm… not… sure… we can… keep it up…" huffed James.
"You guys have it easy," Jessie gasped to Rocksteady and Bebop.
"Why?" grunted Rocksteady. "Because we have dese?" He pointed to his sash of bullets.
"Or dese?" snorted Bebop as he flexed his muscles. Jessie and James gawked to the threat.
"You two continue peddling this instant!" yelled Shredder. Jessie stood on the pedals in anger.
"You don't have any rule over me!" she snapped. Shredder flashed the claws near her face.
"I can easily make you the ugliest woman in the world," he warned. Jessie became fearful of Shredder's threat.
"Anything but that…" she gulped.
"I thought she was ugly enough with that attitude," Krang murmured. Jessie heard Krang, ready to lash out at the alien.
"At least I have more admirers than you do, you bloated brainiac!" she yelled. Back at the fort, The Turtles and trainers arrived through the sewers.
"You'd think with a military fort like this," Leonardo scoffed. "They'd make sure the sewers were guarded as well." He helped Ash up from the drain.
"Military intelligence at its finest," Raphael teased.
"I bet it's a way to give us a false sense of security," Brock pondered. Raphael giggled at Brock's comment.
"Height of irony," he joked as Pikachu and Michelangelo climbed out.
"Either way," Ash warned. "We can't let our guard down." Suddenly, lasers beamed at the Turtles and Trainers who bolted behind some pipes.
"And neither will that!" gasped Leonardo. Seeing where the lasers were shooting from, he found a camera behind a cage. "We need to disable that camera to move on. Michelangelo, can you deal with that?" Michelangelo had a grappling hook with the anchor being a turtle shell.
"Leave it to me, bro!" he offered before flinging the grappling hook onto a pipe before he tore it open, releasing smoke.
"Good work, Michelangelo!" praised Donatello.
"Let's get going!" urged Ash. They pushed through the smoke and was met with more robotic resistance. After getting further in, the Turtle Comm was active but barely registering.
"Leonardo," April called out, weakened by the lack of air. Leonardo answered.
"April, don't talk too much," he advised. "We're coming…" Donatello came to a door and opened it, only to find a mobile turret.
"Let's try a different door," he suggested as he tried to close the door. The turret blew the door to pieces with one shot. It rolled in and aimed its laser rifles at the group.
"PREPARE TO BE TERMINATED," it computed.
"What, is the designer of these robots a movie buff?" teased Raphael. Pikachu fired Thunderbolt, striking the turret. It stopped moving and the lights were turned off.
"Nice save, little dude!" praised Michelangelo. Ash had an idea.
"Pikachu, stay with Brock and the Turtles," he planned. "Brock, I'm gonna need Mudkip for this." Brock seemed interested with Ash's plan.
"Why Mudkip?" he wondered.
"A lesson from Johto," Ash plotted. Leonardo sensed Ash knew what to do.
"Okay, let's get you up there!" he agreed. He and Raphael formed their hands before Ash jumped on them. They flung Ash up to the grate before he opened it and entered.
"Folks, do not try that at home," Donatello told the fourth wall. "We're trained professionals."
"Mudkip, go with Ash!" summoned Brock as he threw his Pokéball. Mudkip emerged and joined Ash. "Mudkip, listen to Ash! We need to rescue April!" Mudkip agreed as he and Ash made their way through the vents, Ash on all fours. Small robots followed the two while the Turtles and Brock pressed on. Ash summoned Corphish who used his pincers like hammers, smashing the small robots.
"We might get to April before the others at this rate," he believed. The Turtles found more resistance with the robots.
"Once more with Thunderbolt!" urged Brock. Pikachu charged up but more robots came from behind. They were surrounded and Pikachu didn't emit anything.
"When I say duck," Leonardo plotted.
"We quack?" guessed Michelangelo.
"No, we duck!" shouted Brock as everyone ducked the laser fire. All of the shots struck each other, destroying them. Having the opportunity, Leonardo came over to pick up the pieces of the robot.
"Leonardo, let's use that," offered Donatello.
"Of course!" realized Leonardo. "We can disguise ourselves as the robots!"
"But can it work?" questioned Brock.
"It's the first thing I can think of if we need to trick CY-CLOMPS," Donatello planned. Raphael looked to everyone and sensed an issue.
"I doubt we can trick a sundial," he doubted.
"It's not a choice we have, especially with April's air supply almost gone," Leonardo pointed out. They got moving while Ash arrived at the room that was featured when CY-CLOMPS went rogue. Ash leaped down before catching Corphish and Mudkip.
"Let's see if a little water can cause a lot of mayhem," he whispered. "Use Water Gun at the eyes." He pointed and the Mudfish Pokémon started shooting spurts of water, striking the robots. They stopped and began to short-circuit, buzzing around each robot.
"INTRUDER ALERT!" the CY-CLOMPS sounded. "INTRUDER ALERT!"
"Just as planned," Ash sneered as Brock and the Turtles entered, disguised as the robots.
"Sounds like they're malfunctioning!" guessed Brock.
"But this is perfect!" awed Leonardo. "Donatello can get to the CY-CLOMPS without difficulty!" Donatello reached the keyboard as Ash and Mudkip reached the floor.
"If Shredder can hack into this, so can I!" he determined as he pressed several keys. Suddenly, the robotics within shut down.
"Righteous!" cheered Michelangelo. "They're powering down!" Ash reached the vault.
"Then, this should open!" he prepared. 'I hope we're not too late.' He opened the vault, and a gasp came out. April started to crawl out of the vault, gasping for air.
"Thank you, guys," she weakly praised. Ash gave April a bottle of water.
"Here," he offered. April opened the bottle and guzzled the water.
"I needed that," she coughed.
"Are you okay, April?" asked Leonardo. Brock helped April to her feet.
"Yeah, if only for another minute," April huffed. That's when Pikachu eyed a large diamond.
("Is that the crystal?") asked Pikachu. Ash looked to Pikachu, then to the diamond.
"Is that the Trilithium Crystal?" he guessed.
"Yeah, that's it," April confirmed. To Ash, they no longer needed to stay as they successfully saved April.
"How about we seal the vault and let back to the sewers?" suggested Brock.
"Agreed," Raphael joined. "I mean, how hard can it be to restart the CY-CLOMPS?"
"Not long at all," Donatello studied. "It just needs a reset before the military can get the supercomputer back up again."
"And at least Shred-Head won't be able to get his hands on the crystal," Michelangelo scoffed. Suddenly, a quake. Everyone braced for the worst when a Transport Module emerged from the ground. Raphael suspected their enemy.
"You and your big mouth, Michelangelo!" scolded Raphael. The Module opened and out came Shredder.
"Alright, Turtles!" he shouted. "Stand aside from the Trilithium Crystal."
"That's not going to happen… Oroku Saki," Ash denied. Shredder growled to his first name.
"So, Hamato Yoshi has told you the backstory," he mulled as Jessie emerged.
"I prefer the name of Shredder, anyway," she mentioned. Ash and Brock gasped.
"Jessie!?" snapped Brock. Jessie saw the two boys she despised.
"The twerps!" she snapped. "I knew you'd be helping some freaks with what happened at the power plant!" Shredder wove his arm in front of Jessie.
"It would be easier to hand over the Trilithium Crystal at this point," he suggested. "NOW!" Michelangelo grabbed the crystal.
"One more step, and this crystal is kablooey!" he warned. Shredder didn't believe Michelangelo's threat.
"You're bluffing," he called Michelangelo out. "You wouldn't destroy yourself and everyone just to stop me!" Ash grinned to the idea.
"Then, how about a game of hot potato!?" he teased as Michelangelo tossed the crystal to Ash, who then tossed it to Raphael.
"Could you use a different term than 'Hot'?" he wondered.
"Stop, you fools!" worried Shredder. "All of the passing is destabilizing the crystal's atomic structure!" Brock caught the crystal from Leonardo.
"You don't say!" he teased. "I guess Jessie can hold onto it." He heaved the crystal to Jessie who caught it, but she was sent back to the Module from the momentum. Shredder hurried and retrieved the crystal.
"You can have it, you wretched Turtles!" he snapped as he flung the crystal back. He retreated into the Module before starting it up and leaving. April caught it before she tossed it back to Michelangelo.
"You wanted this hot potato!?" he taunted as he flung it to Donatello who stood over the hole.
"You got it!" he finished as he used his Bo to swat the crystal down. The crystal landed in the engine of the Module.
"Let's get out of here before the Trilithium Crystal blows!" warned April before they left. After departing, the crystal exploded. The Turtles and Pokémon retreated to the sewers while Ash and Brock escorted April outside where Pete and Vernon saw them.
"April, you're okay!" gasped Vernon. "We were so worried about you... and it was children who broke in and bailed you out!?" 'So much for being the sole reporter since April lived that out.' Ash and Brock shrugged to Vernon's point.
"Kind of a shock, huh?" sneered Brock. "We did what we needed to do in order to save her… uh…"
"Right, I still wanted to bring you two to Channel 6 to see everyone," April clarified. "That's Pete, my backup cameraman. That's Vernon Fenwick, another anchorman." Vernon came to and shook Ash's hand.
"Well, I can sigh in relief knowing it was mere children who saved April," he muttered. "Not those pesky Turtles." Brock shook his head to the claim.
"We're adventurers, so this kind of action is nothing new," he teased.
"That's an answer worthy of an interview sometime down the road," Vernon accepted. Medical personnel came to April for an evaluation. An hour later, everyone returned to their places. Ash and Brock were enjoying a bowl of green tea each while sitting on their knees.
"Doesn't this remind you of the sisters back in Johto?" asked Ash.
"It does, but it's not as eventful as say back there with Sakura and the others," Brock replied.
"Yeah, the ones you wanted to go after," Ash scoffed. "Seriously, you've been a mentor to me, I'm surprised that I haven't been like that around someone like April or Roxanne." Brock gulped to the past moments.
"Ash, one must know when peace is in order," Splinter mentioned.
"Sorry…" apologized Ash. The Turtles were watching TV.
"Look at the bright side," Raphael started. "Shred-Head and Krang lost another chance to power up the Technodrome."
"And how our teamwork saved April in time," Ash added. "Though, it does bug me that Jessie was with Shredder and not James or Meowth."
("Why was it only her?") wondered Pikachu. Brock nodded to the thought of Team Rocket joining Shredder, Krang, Rocksteady and Bebop.
"It does level out the playing field if they're teamed up with Oroku Saki while we're here with the Turtles," he pointed out.
"No sweat, dudes!" eased Michelangelo. "You just happened to be part of what we Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles do." Suddenly, April appeared on the TV.
"We interrupt this program for a special bulletin," she voiced. Everyone in the Lair came to see April. "A mutant rhinoceros, a mutant warthog and a talking white cat have stolen missile power units from the Malik Missile Plant." The Turtles and Trainers gawked to the descriptions of the thieves.
"Oh no!" complained Leonardo. Donatello started to puzzle the attack on Fort Charles.
"So that's Shredder's plan all along!" he figured. "The distraction was for Rocksteady and Bebop to steal the power packs while we were busy saving April!" Ash punched the ground, frustrated to the news.
"We've been set up!" he snapped. Brock shook his head.
"We definitely underestimated them if they successfully got those packs!" he mulled. That's when Raphael realized an ordeal.
"Wait a minute…" he started. "If those bozos got the power packs, then… that means the Technodrome is-" Without warning, tremors shook the Lair. To Ash, it wasn't a good feeling.
"Earthquake!?" he guessed.
"It's worse than that!" corrected Donatello. Beneath the surface, the Technodrome was on the move.
"The Technodrome!" yelped Leonardo. "It's powered up again!" With the Technodrome mobile, New York City was in trouble.
TO BE CONTINUED...