Chapter 17: Rock-Hard Warriors
April, Vernon and Pete were surrounded by the marble statue warriors. This was the Shredder's plan with James as Jessie, Bebop and Rocksteady started to struggle. "Break time's over, guys!" urged Leonardo. The Turtles and Trainers disposed of the rock soldiers.
"And just as we cleaned this block of the heavy debris," Raphael sighed. Ash looked to find no sign of those three.
"Well, we'll let the museum pick up the statues," he insisted. "We gotta save April!" They raced off as Pete pushed one of the statues in the face as April swung something around her head like a lasso. Vernon cowered in the back of the van.
"Don't you touch me, you-" she snapped. "You… walking mineral deposits!" As Pete pushed one statue away, another tried to break in.
"When I suggested to you to be original," he grunted. "I meant when you're behind the desk!"
"Just don't let them hurt me!" gasped Vernon. "Please!" The Turtles and Trainers arrived.
"We've got to get to them!" urged Brock. Seeing the statues, Donatello couldn't believe his sights.
"They've got them surrounded!" he pointed the obvious as he defended himself with the Bo.
"This could take a while!" gawked Michelangelo.
"And I can't risk Thunderbolt not hitting the van with them inside!" gritted Ash. While the Turtles and Trainers fought the statues, Jessie, Bebop and Rocksteady hid in an alleyway. Rocksteady picked up the purple device.
"Uh, boss?" he called. "We's kinda got a problem."
"What is it, you blithering idiot?" groaned Shredder.
"Da soldiers got April's van," Bebop voiced. "But da toitles got here too!"
"Blast it!" snapped Shredder before he had an idea. "We'll have to regroup! Attention all soldiers: bring me that news van over here!" On command, some of the warriors hoisted the news van. Watching the battle, the Turtles saw the news van be taken.
"April!" gasped Donatello.
"We're coming!" advised Leonardo. Pikachu worried that he wouldn't do anything to save April. Inside the museum, James was putting the pearl on a device after removing it from the dragon's claws. The device had a pedastal with a tower on each side connected by a coiled wire.
"Start energizing the pearl!" demanded Krang.
"Don't you know how to say 'please'?" moaned James.
"No," Krang mocked. "But I do know how to say, 'NOW'!"
"Close enough," Shredder sighed as he pressed the power button. The device began to whirl as it started to power up.
"Soon, I will begin my reign as ruler-" halted Krang before correcting himself. "No, supreme ruler of Earth… and the end of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!" His laugh echoed. Facing a wall made by the warriors, the Turtles and Trainers struggled to overcome.
"We need to do something about these guys!" urged Michelangelo.
"Well, in order to stop all 95 warriors," Donatello calculated. "It's going to take about another six hours, and that when Pikachu is at full strength."
"By that time," Leonardo grunted. "Krang will carry out any plans he has to us!"
"So right now, we need a plan," Brock brought up.
"I got one that Master Splinter hasn't taught you yet," Leonardo brought up. "'The wise bird does not hop into the tiger's mouth, it flies above it." To Ash, they had to fly.
"Except we don't have wings," he pointed out.
"But we have the mondo Turtle Blimp!" offered Michelangelo. "Come on, you'll enjoy it!" The Turtles ran off while Ash, Brock and Pikachu blinked in confusion.
"They have a blimp?" repeated Ash.
"This… we gotta see," Brock muttered.
("So that we believe,") Pikachu finished. With the Turtles and Trainers retreating, the warriors continued to carry the van as Pete, Vernon and April pondered their next move.
"Now I know what it's like to be carried in a coffin," Pete gulped.
"Don't say that," Vernon whimpered. "I'm too young to die."
"You're not wrong," April agreed in a sense. "But could you be a little more comforting?" Suddenly, a monitor sounded.
"April!" shouted Burne. "Vernon! Come in! What's going on!?"
"We've been kidnapped by the marble statues if you wanted to know!" snapped Pete.
"Oh, Pete?" gulped Burne. "Look, right now… if anything happens to that van, it's coming out of your paychecks!" Those inside gasped at Burne's threat.
"Our lives are in danger because you sent us on this and all you're worried about is the van?" snapped Pete.
"I agree," Vernon sided. "It's not fair!"
"I will hear no backtalk from anyone!" snapped Burne. In the sky, a shell-painted blimp flew over the city. It had "TURTLES" painted on the sides of the blimp. Underneath was a glider with turbines attached. The Turtles and Trainers rode with the Trainers and Pikachu enjoying the ride.
"We had no idea you guys also owned a blimp!" awed Brock.
"No kidding!" agreed Ash. "First with the Turtle Van, and now this!? What's next, do you guys also have a submarine?"
("That would be so cool!") squeaked Pikachu.
"Well, we don't really have a sub, Ash!" denied Raphael.
"But, we do have watercraft equipment like our Turtle Tubes and Sewer Skis!" suggested Leonardo.
"Though a Turtle Sub sounds like a radically awesome idea, dude!" laughed Michelangelo. They flew toward the museum where the warriors carried the van. "Uptown Museum, dead ahead!"
"And there goes April, Vernon and Pete carried in the van!" pointed out Leonardo.
("We gotta hurry!") urged Pikachu.
"We'll need a plan to get inside!" suggested Ash.
"Let's descend onto the roof!" offered Donatello. The blimp descended onto the roof where the group disembarked and found an open window. Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Brock entered first before Ash, but he jumped back and blocked Raphael's path as bats flew out of the belfry.
"Makes sense that the museum would go batty," Raphael whispered. They finally entered with Pikachu being by Leonardo. They crawled among the wooden beams.
"So, what exactly are we scoping out?" wondered Michelangelo.
"We're looking for a power source," Donatello advised. "Listen for the sound of humming."
"And Brock, nothing about Irma on your mind," Ash mulled. "It'll distract from the mission."
"You've been with Misty for too long," Brock retorted. That's when Pikachu detected a sound and pointed to the floor. "You found it?"
("Below us,") Pikachu answered. Donatello heard it as well, plotting their next move.
"Good boy," he praised. "Prepare to descend." The warriors dropped the van, popping the back doors open and April, Vernon and Pete falling out.
"Why, Miss O'Neal!" greeted Shredder. "Mr. Fenwick and… the cameraman from Wisconsin. How… Gouda of you to accept my invitation." He snickered to his own pun while turning to the fourth wall. "And you thought the Turtles were the only ones making witty jokes." Overhearing quite literally, Leonardo became disgusted.
"That was supposed to be my line," he complained. "And besides, that was the cheesiest pun I've heard in my life!" Raphael gave Leonardo glares while Michelangelo giggled and Ash shook his head, both reacting to Leonardo's reaction.
"Anything else that you want to take out of my mouth?" scorned Raphael. Back down with Shredder…
"Do we have any choice?" scowled April.
"Some people just don't know how to be civil," Shredder shrugged as the warriors lifted Pete, April and Vernon.
"Like you're one to talk," Pete mulled. James pilfered Vernon's pockets while Jessie was close to April's face.
"James, don't get too frisky with our hostages," Jessie advised. April irked to the name.
"Wait, Jessie and James?" she named. "As in after the outlaw Jesse James back in the 1800s?" Jessie blinked to the comparison.
"I nearly forgot that you've dabbled as a historian," Shredder awed. "It wouldn't be in the same century as another outlaw: Butch Cassidy, right?" April sighed to the guess while Jessie steamed.
"Any mention of Cassidy will have resounding consequences!" she yelled. James sighed.
"She's Jessie's rival," he muttered. April nodded to knowing Jessie's outrage.
"I'm not exactly worried about history when we're about to be ourselves," Vernon gulped.
"Jeez, the twerps Jessie and I deal with have sturdier backbones than you!" snapped James. "Besides, why did you join and become a hostage like your reporter and Wisconsinable here?" Pete snorted to James's offer of a nickname.
"Now, that's original!" he smiled as James came to Pete. "It's funny that I have a little brother named James."
"Oh, really?" awed James. That's when he and Pete felt the box in the pocket.
"Don't pull it out in front of April," he whispered. James dropped it.
"Anyway, I merely wished to thank you for dropping by to see the control room of my new empire," Shredder gloated as the Turtles and Trainers descended from the ceiling and onto the van.
"Wanna thank us for dropping by as well!?" mocked Raphael. Everyone gasped to the Turtles and Trainers arriving.
"The Turtles!" gawked Shredder.
"And the twerps!" added James. Bebop and Rocksteady stood in front of their hostages, but Brock and Raphael kicked the mutants away while Ash and Leonardo kicked Shredder into Team Rocket. Somehow, the blades didn't cut them. Donatello saw the pearl and the device. The pearl was aglow as it shifted colors.
"Now, let's shut this army down!" he urged as Ash and Pikachu reached the purple-masked Turtle. When Donatello touched the device, it zapped him. He jumped and shook his hand.
"Donatello!" irked Ash. Donatello studied the device closer.
"That must be the catalyst for increasing the marble's power!" he observed.
"Then, let's take that power!" plotted Ash. "Pikachu, do the honors!" Pikachu jumped by the device and placed a tail onto it. The electrical power started to travel to Pikachu and started to shut down the device.
"Oh no!" gasped Shredder. "I put all sorts of protective devices around the pearl!" Donatello used his Bo to remove the pearl when the devices stopped operation. Ash got it, but the heated pearl started burning his hands.
"YEOW!" he yelped as he threw the pearl to Raphael who grabbed it.
"Whoo-hoo!" he jumped as he threw the pearl to Michelangelo. "It's hot! It's hot!" Michelangelo started juggling with the blistering pearl.
"Whoa!" he jumped. "That's one powerful pizza oven Shred-Head used!" He threw the pearl to Brock as Bebop made a lunge for the prize. He missed and fell headlong into the platform to the throne. Brock couldn't get a handle on the pearl.
"This is like holding a Geodude in a volcano!" he compared as he tossed the pearl to Leonardo. He also struggled with the pearl.
"Hot potato!" he yelped. Shredder had enough.
"All units to the throne room immediately!" he ordered. More warriors entered from an adjacent hall. "Get those meddling reptiles and those twerps!" Ash and Pikachu nodded, the Mouse Pokémon radiating with electricity.
"Let's see how they handle this Thunderbolt!" he commanded. Pikachu blasted Thunderbolt, catching every warrior standing. When the electrical storm stopped, the statues were still. Shredder mashed the controls, but there was no reaction.
"What's going on!?" he gawked. "Why aren't the soldiers moving!?" The pearl rolled to April who stopped it with a simple step on it.
"Looks like your dynasty is history, Shredder!" she sneered. Team Rocket gawked to the turn of events as they saw the Turtles surround Ash and Pikachu.
"What now!?" trembled James.
"We've lost the army to a mouse!?" disbelieved Shredder.
"And those shellbacks won't let us get a clear shot at Pikachu!" cried Jessie.
"I dink we's need ta go home," Rocksteady stuttered.
"Might as well," Shredder surrendered as he got the hand-held device. "Krang, open the portal. That darn rat shocked the army to stiffness!"
"That rat?" repeated Krang. "Of course! The devices were sensitive to electrical overloads! Someone must have tipped the Turtles to its Achilles Heel!" Jessie gawked at the information. The portal opened where Team Rocket, Bebop and Rocksteady entered first.
"Until next time, Turtles!" warned Shredder before leaving. The Turtles, Trainers, April and Pete relaxed. Pete looked to a wicker vase tremble.
"Okay, Vernon," he called out. "No more soldiers rampaging." The vase continued to rattle.
"It's not the soldiers!" voiced Vernon. "It's that rodent! What if it shocked me!?" Ash sighed, knowing Pikachu better.
"He's a lost cause," Brock mulled. After cleaning up the museum, the Turtles and Trainers returned to the Lair with some pizza. Splinter saw the pizza as well. "This Mongolian pizza's better than I thought!"
"Yeah, Von Schnitzel can make a pizza as well as us!" agreed Michelangelo.
"Mongolian?" repeated Splinter.
"Yeah, Sensei!" confirmed Michelangelo. "Ox-burgers and yak cheese. Want some?" Splinter politely shook his head.
"To each his own," he refused. Suddenly, a shadow of the soldiers battled before appeared, sword in hand. The Turtles and Trainers took quick action and armed themselves.
"Battle alert!" warned Leonardo. The shadow gradually shrunk.
"Hi guys!" sounded April. When she appeared, she held a tiny statue of an army soldier in her hand. "I brought this little guy as a memento from our day." The others seemed skeptical.
"For… us?" believed Donatello.
"Right!" agreed April. "I thought you Turtles and Pikachu were pretty marble-ous." Pikachu joined April laughing while everyone else groaned to the pun.
"She should get Whitney's badge in Goldenrod City," Ash muttered. "Because that joke was plain as day." What else awaited the Trainers while finding their way back?
TO BE CONTINUED...