Author's Notes: Hey there, all! Honestly, I gotta be crazy posting a story chapter in the early stages of a university semester, but there's just enough of a lull for me to do so, so I'm gonna jump on it, mostly because the chapter itself is done and all that is needed are the Author's Notes.
So, update: Been doing a lot of coughing and dealing with a runny nose, working on whatever work is available for school, planning on putting up a review for DJ Rodriguez's Christmas special "Step of Faith", trying to trudge through the last chapter of "The Energy Beast", and getting started on "The Colossus of Atlantis". Then add in the interview-style character bios I wanna do for the OCs of my video and…yeah, that's a lot on my plate.
Oh yeah, almost forgot: I've recently started going a little ga-ga over the artwork of a DeviantArt artist named Kosperry. I don't know if anyone's heard of them, but they've managed to replicate the Don Bluth style so well that it's a bit scary. In a good way, of course! They've also made small animated snippets, a couple of which have been dubbed by other people. As far as I can see, their work is mostly Mario-related and FNAF-related, and while I also like the normal art style of the animated Mario material, I have to say their work on the FNAF characters feels like a fresh facelift for them. I'm not a gameplayer, so I'm not into the games and honestly the only best things about the recent movie for me were the animatronics themselves (created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, who also worked on the 1990 Turtles) and Matthew Lillard—Shaggy himself—once again touching his horror movie-villain roots, but if there ever came a time where those pictures of Kosperry's ever became anything more, like a movie, I would be chomping at the bit to see it. Especially in that classic Don Bluth style! Their artwork plus a commenter's idea for a movie plot and some others' ideas for character voices has even set some gears turning and I already have a solid idea on how Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, and even Marionette and Springtrap, would sound: it would be John Goodman in his Rex ("We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story") voice as Freddy, Patrick Stewart in his Adventure ("The Pagemaster") voice as Foxy, and I while I don't know the actor who would do Bonnie, I'm imagining his voice to be a mix of either Jeremy the Crow ("Secret of NIMH") and Fall-Apart Rabbit ("Bonkers") or Tiger the Cat ("An American Tail") and Fall-Apart Rabbit; either way, a combo of Dom DeLuise and Frank Welker's character voices are going to be involved in how Bonnie sounds. Tim Curry is undeniably the Marionette and Springtrap. As for everyone else, that's up in the air right now.
Ay-yi-yi, I'm getting MAJORLY off-topic! Let's get back on track with the usual disclaimer: I don't own Godzooky; Hanna-Barbera does, or should I say Warner Bros. and Toho do. I don't own the series TMNT 1987 either; the series belongs to Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, Inc. and Viacom, and is based off the TMNT comic book series created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.
Recap: After the Turtles trash April's apartment and are essentially booted out, Zooky and the TMNT begin their search for Baxter Stockman while getting to know a bit more about each other on the way. Once they find the eccentric inventor, and after a little "coaxing", Stockman tells the quintet about the Mousers and where the Shredder is located. Our heroes…borrow Stockman's van and begin heading for Green Street, but soon realize that with more Mousers on the loose, April and Splinter are in grave danger and make turtle tracks back to April's apartment.
Let's see what happens…
Chapter 4
All the way back to the apartment, Zooky drove like he was possessed, which wasn't too far from the truth, since what was possessing him was fear. It was coming through his sixth sense like a tidal wave, and it was taking everything he had to keep his wits about him to follow the thread. Suddenly, just as they were turning the next corner—
"WHOA!" Zooky roared in kaiju-tongue as he sharply turned the wheel and slammed on the brakes, making the van spin before stopping.
"Geez Louise, kid, which one of those Looney Tunes friends of yours taught ya how to drive like that?" Raphael groaned.
Zooky probably would have graced that with a response, but he was too busy being frightened by the scene outside the driver-side window. There was a stream of white, clicking, chomping, red-eyed Mousers going into the building and a trickle of people trying to run out of it, mostly tripping over the little machines and screaming as some of them started biting those passing by.
"Oh no!" Raphael yelled, finally noticing.
"Oh my gosh!" Donatello gasped.
"Whoa, major pandemonium, dudes!" Michelangelo shouted.
"We've gotta help those people!" Leonardo said.
"I'll take care of that; you guys get April and Splinter!" Zooky told them.
Leonardo started saying something about possibly splitting up so that both problems could be tackled at once, but Zooky was already out of the van and smashing Mousers left and right so that a path would be cleared for the people coming out the front door. It got tricky as more people came out and they began to crowd; the juvenile saurian was often left with minimal space to maneuver. He even got a few whacks to the head by passing purses.
That's gratitude for ya, Zooky murmured to himself after a bag walloped him on the snout.
A tremble beneath his feet broke his concentration and he realized that those things were probably munching away at the building supports, and there were probably still some people in there! He tried calling to a passerby, but they were either too panicked by the invasion or they were frightened the minute they got a good look at him.
However, he finally managed to lasso a human male in his 20's using his belt and asked him if anyone else was still inside. All he got was a panicked "I don't know" and a plea not to hurt him.
"I was only trying to ask a question," Zooky muttered to himself as he put his belt back on after dealing a tail swipe to a small swarm of Mousers. "Then again, considering… Anyway—"
His thought process was once again cut off, this time by screaming from overhead. He looked up and then went to the side of the building to see more people trying to clamber down the fire escape, which looked unstable enough if the age of the brick building had been anything to go by without a bunch of human weight on it.
"Man, there's never a ladder when you need one," Zooky quipped; a tactic used by his comic book hero to keep himself grounded.
He had to find a way to ferry people down without making things worse, but there seemed to be only one option to take. Unless…
A nearby construction site! Perfect!
Godzooky ran back to the terrified civilians, grabbed someone who looked authoritative despite his disheveled appearance, quickly ordered them to tell everyone to get out of the way, and dashed off before the guy had time to think.
"Now which of these things would work for carting people down?" Godzooky asked aloud as he looked between different vehicles; the front loader and one of the two cranes were some options, although the dump truck could also work.
Before he could make a choice, though, the following happened in near quick succession: He picked up a presence, a truck engine turned on, and one of the cranes began to move!
"What the heck?!" Godzooky yelped, the last word almost blocked out over the sound of a loud horn.
"Come on! Get up here!" called a very familiar voice from the cab over the engine noises.
Deciding not to waste any time and wanting to find out who was driving this thing, Godzooky obeyed the voice and climbed up to find—
"Donnie?!"
"Who were you expecting, Poindexter?"
"Oh, hilarious; the genius is becoming the comic," Zooky quipped sarcastically. "What are you doing here?"
"We were looking for a way to get into April's apartment using one of these when we spotted you. Leo sent me to lend you a hand," Donatello explained as he maneuvered the crane towards the fire escape; quite well, I might add, for someone who had never operated construction equipment before.
"That's nice and all, but I got two questions," Zooky said. "One, how do you know how to drive this thing?"
"Model building and a lot of studying."
"Well that was a no-brainer," Zooky chuckled.
"What's the second question?"
"If you're here, where's everyone else?"
"Hey, maybe sometime this year, boy genius?!" called a familiar, sarcasm-laced voice from above. "Or before I develop a fear of heights?!"
"They're waiting on the other crane," Donnie answered before finishing setting up the crane he was driving.
"So I heard," Zooky snickered.
"The crane's in position; it's your show now," Donnie told Zooky before departing for the other crane calling, "All right! Don't have a cow, Raphael; I'm coming!"
"I'll join you guys when I can!" Zooky told the departing turtle before dashing up the crane arm to conduct rescue operations.
The instructions were the usual "don't crowd" (though people always did; Zooky had a feeling that the phrase had a reverse psychological effect) and "women and children first", which was accompanied by many "be carefuls" because of how high up they were. Zooky got a lot of frightened and confused looks, but luckily it seemed that the kids got the message and led their parents down while some threw a smile his way.
The fire escape was almost clear when the building began to quake and crumble, making those still left scream in terror.
They must have gotten to the supports! The whole place is gonna come down! Godzooky panicked internally, trying not to let it be seen on his face.
"Help! Somebody! Somebody help!"
Godzooky looked around at the various heads of terrified people trying to see the woman who had yelled.
"Ma'am! Where are you?!" Zooky called.
"Over here!" the woman called again as she pushed through the crowd, almost falling off the crane arm.
"Whoa, careful, ma'am!" Zooky yelped as he grabbed her and helped her find her balance again.
The woman had blonde hair that looked absolutely disheveled and blue eyes that were overflowing with tears.
"You have to help her!" the woman pleaded.
"Help who?" Zooky asked.
"My daughter; she was staying at a friend's apartment when those things came in. We tried to go get her, but—"
"Don't worry, I'll get her. But I need someone to help coordinate everyone here. Can you do that?"
The woman took a few deep breaths and answered, "I'll try."
"Good. What does your daughter look like and what's her name?"
"Her name's Mae. She's about five years old with dark-blond hair."
"What floor?"
"Floor nine, apartment 53."
The same floor April, Splinter, and the Turtles are on! Zooky gasped. "I'll get her, don't worry," he promised before using his grappling hook to swing off the crane and take flight.
I've gotta get in there. Let's see; April's apartment is floor nine, room 57-RJ. If I recall the architecture of apartment buildings, room 53 should be the second window away from April's, Godzooky calculated.
Once he spotted said window, and not wanting to punch the glass out of concern that the little girl was close to it, he used his grappling hook once more and fixed it to the brick above so that he was hanging like a mountain climber. Once he had braced his feet against the wall, Zooky began to open the window. It was locked, of course, but that wasn't a problem for his natural super-strength; it was when he looked inside that he saw a problem. About 50 little ones.
"Where's a can of 'Mouser-Be-Gone' when you need one?" Zooky muttered.
"Help! Somebody, help!"
"Get away, you…you…things!"
"MOMMY! Where are you, Mommy!"
"Hold on, folks! Help's on its way!" Zooky called before swinging in and bashing Mousers left and right.
He found the apartment's occupants—a man, a woman, a 10-year-old boy, and an 8-year-old girl, plus a 5-year-old girl with black hair—standing on top of a table so as to avoid getting bit. They were staring at him with what he figured had to be confusion, awe, and fear.
"Who…who are you?!" the man exclaimed.
"There's no time to explain; we've gotta get outta here before this place comes down!" Zooky said, pointing to the pieces of ceiling raining down on their heads. "Are you Mae?" he then asked the little black-haired girl.
The little girl nodded.
"My name's Zooky. I'm here to get you back to your mom and get your friends outta here."
"Where's Mommy?" Mae asked.
"She's OK; she's helping everyone get to safety. Now we'd better get moving before this place comes down. Stay behind me," Zooky instructed as he helped the young kids down.
"How are you going to get us out of here?" the woman asked as the group began making their way through the Mouser-infested hallway.
That was a seriously good question; the crumbling of the structure was starting to pick up, which meant that there was no time to get to the fire escape. That meant there was only one possible exit.
Zooky led the family and their guest to April's apartment just in time to see the Turtles about ready to vacate the premises with April and Splinter in tow.
"Hi guys!" Zooky greeted, getting their attention.
"Whoa!" the little boy exclaimed, amazed by the walking turtles.
"What the—?!" the man yelped in reaction to the same creatures as well as what appeared to be a giant, humanoid rat.
"Where've you been and what's with the entourage?" Raphael asked the juvenile saurian.
"Never mind that; we've gotta get out of here!" Zooky said as he picked up Mae and the other little girl.
Splinter told Donatello to get the young boy, leaving Raphael holding April, Michelangelo holding the mother, and Leonardo holding the father as they all jumped off the balcony and grabbed the ropes the Turtles had swung in on. And just in the nick of time because a few seconds later, the whole building collapsed!
"Boy, they sure don't build 'em like they used to!" April remarked.
"Looks like a lot of people managed to get out," Zooky observed, seeing the large gathering of people near the construction site; they had wisely moved to get away from the collapsing building.
"What about Mommy?" little Mae asked.
"Don't worry, she got out," Zooky reassured her.
"Uh, not to be rude here, but has anyone thought of how we're gonna get down from here?" Raphael asked.
"And we'd better hurry, dudes; I don't know how much longer I can hold this lady. She's totally out of it!" Michelangelo said.
The orange-masked turtle wasn't kidding; the mother had passed out in his arms some odd seconds ago, which meant she wasn't holding on to him.
"Somebody'll have to get to the crane and operate it," Donatello figured. "I can do it, but with Splinter and this kid holding on it's gonna be slow going."
"But we can't stay hanging around here; we've gotta go find the Shredder!" Raphael exclaimed.
"Who's the Shredder?" the young boy asked.
"Somebody you don't wanna meet in a dark alley, kid," the red-masked turtle answered.
"He's the bad person who sent those little machines," Zooky explained.
"That big meanie!" the boy exclaimed.
"Are you guys gonna catch him?" the boy's sister asked.
"Hopefully, micro-dudette," Michelangelo said.
"But we gotta get down from here first," Donatello added.
Suddenly, there was a loud whirring and the group began to descend.
"Hey! What's goin' on?!" Mikey yelped.
"Somebody must be operating the crane!" Donatello deduced. "But who?"
"We don't have time to figure that out," Leonardo said. "The minute we hit the ground, we have to get to Green Street."
"Is that where Shredder is?" Mae asked.
"Yep," Zooky answered.
"I don't know who or what you all are, but you saved quite a few lives today," the father said.
"Helping people is what we do," Zooky replied.
Soon, the ropes had been lowered to a height so that everyone could jump down without being hurt.
"Thank you all again," the father said as he took his unconscious wife in his arms.
"You are most welcome," Splinter told him. "We only ask that you not tell anyone about us. People greatly fear what they do not understand."
The kids were a bit reluctant, but agreed.
"Give that Shredder a knuckle sandwich!" the young boy told the Turtles.
"You bet we will, dude!" Michelangelo winked.
"Thanks for saving us," Mae said.
"Our pleasure, little lady," Zooky smiled, doing a bow that made Mae and her friend giggle.
"C'mon, Mr. Chivalry, we gotta go," Raphael said.
"Wait!" Mae called to the sai-wielding turtle. "What's your name?"
The question caught Raph off-guard, but Zooky gave him a nod of encouragement.
"I'm Raphael," he said, kneeling to her eye level.
"Are you and Zooky friends?"
Without missing a beat, he answered, "Absolutely! This kid's amazing! You know, he's saved my shell quite a few times!"
"What happened to not keeping score?" Zooky smirked.
Raphael just let out an exaggerated sigh and muttered to a giggling Mae, "What am I gonna do with this guy, huh?"
"We'd better get moving," Zooky reminded Raph.
"Be careful, Raphael. Be careful, Zooky," Mae said.
"We will," Zooky promised before leaving.
He was halfway to the van when he noticed that Raphael wasn't with him. He turned to look for him but found that the red-masked turtle was just joining him, but something was missing.
"Hey, where's your right wristband?" Zooky asked his brother figure…before he caught movement just outside his vision and turned to see Mae waving goodbye, with Raphael's missing wristband on her own wrist.
Well, how do ya like that? Zooky smiled to himself; Raphael had given the band to the little girl as a memento, a little piece of hope for her to hang on to.
"What?" came Raphael's voice as April started the van once everyone had piled in.
"Problem?" the juvenile, winged saurian asked.
"No. Just wondering what you're smiling about."
"She got to you a bit, huh?"
"Who, Mae? Well…yeah; I mean, she was a cute kid."
"You did a pretty nice thing, giving her your wristband like that."
"Why'd you do that, Raphael?" Michelangelo asked.
"I…I don't know," the named turtle shrugged. "It just…well… I mean… I… It just felt right…for some reason."
"It's nothin' to be ashamed of," Zooky said reassuringly. "Besides, I'm sure doing that made you feel pretty good, didn't it?"
"Yeah, it did," Raphael smiled.
"And not only that, but I bet it raised Mae's spirits tremendously. With everything that's happened, she'll need that little bit of hope to help herself and her mother. Who knows; maybe we've inspired her."
"It sounds like you have had much experience giving children such hope," Splinter observed.
"My costars in Hollywood and I have done lots of things for kids, especially those who need that boost of hope and light in their lives. We've even become part of a sort of help hotline for kids to talk to us if they're going through a rough patch."
"That's amazing!" Donatello gasped.
"Man, I wish we could do that," Michelangelo sighed.
"Yeah, me too, but our image ain't exactly too good right now," Raphael pointed out.
"But you have managed to leave the seeds of a better impression of yourselves with that family and the young girl," Splinter added. "The first step towards big change is often a small one."
"You're right, Master Splinter," Leonardo agreed. "And another change we'll be making is taking care of the Shredder before he ruins any more lives."
Zooky gave a determined nod before feeling the van start to pick up speed, a sign that April was just as determined to do this. April O'Neil, the first human the Turtles managed to make a good impression on and became their friend. Without her, they probably wouldn't even be here.
Thanks, April, he smiled.
It took a few hours to get to Green Street, but they soon found the place Baxter had described: An old, dilapidated 3-story mansion that looked like it had originated from a time before New York's famous city skyline came about.
"There's the mansion, just like Stockman said," Donatello said.
"So, what do we do now?" Raphael asked from the front seat, which he was sharing with Leonardo and April, the latter in the driver's seat.
Donatello opened the back door so that Michelangelo, Zooky, Splinter, and himself could get out and continued explaining as he walked around to the front, holding Baxter's remote, "With the equipment in the van, I can make this thing powerful enough to control all the Mousers, but it won't do any good unless we shut down the master control in that old dump. Somebody's gonna have to get in there and put it out of commission."
"Come on, troops, let's do it!" Raphael declared as he, Leo, and April exited the van.
"Hey, easy there, partner; all of us going in at once is gonna attract too much attention, and not the good kind, either," Zooky warned, putting a hand on Raph's shoulder.
"He's right, man; one turtle'd have a better chance than three," Michelangelo agreed.
"Well, have fun! Drop us a line if anything interesting happens!" Raphael exclaimed, giving his brother a slap on the shell…which earned him a look from Zooky that plainly said "Are you serious?"
"You could've tried to talk me out of it, you know," Michelangelo groaned.
"Don't worry, Mike, you're not goin' alone," Zooky said. "I was gonna volunteer, anyway. Besides, two pairs of eyes are better than one."
"Guess ya can't argue with that," Michelangelo said.
"Stay frosty, guys; we'll be back," Zooky said as a parting word.
"Why would you want the guys to be chilly?" Mikey whispered to Zooky as they snuck up to the mansion.
"It's a figure of speech; it means 'stay alert'," Zooky explained.
"Cool. I gotta remember that one," Mikey smiled.
"Now, where's a back door when you need one?" Zooky murmured as he pushed his back against the wall, keeping his eyes, ears, and nose peeled for trouble.
"Hey, would this work?"
Zooky moved to where the dude turtle was and found him in front of a pair of wooden doors set at an angle next to the wall.
"The basement door! Outstanding, Mikey!" Zooky complimented.
The two of them went through the door and crawled through the rather dirty, low-ceiling basement until Mikey found a vent that led up into the mansion itself. Zooky asked the dude turtle if he was going to be all right squeezing through, but Mikey assured him he'd be OK. And he was, with the only difficulty being coming out of the vent.
"Thanks for the push, Zuke," Mikey said as he helped his kaiju companion out.
"No problem-o," Zooky smiled in return. "Now let's find the master control. You look in a room, and I'll watch your back. We'll switch it up for the rooms on the other side of the hall."
With that plan in mind, the two began their search of the first floor. Unfortunately, they hadn't even started searching the first room before—
"Not so fast, turtle-boy," growled a familiar voice.
That pretty much prompted Zooky to yank Mikey backwards, which left him looking down the barrel of a blaster that the Shredder had in his hand.
"Watch out, Zooky!" Mikey cried out in warning from behind.
"I don't know who or what you are or where you've come from, but since you've allied yourself with these turtles and their master, you are now my enemy as well," Shredder said to Zooky, giving him the most hate-filled glare he could muster.
"How can you justify dishonoring your sensei and ruining people's lives for a vendetta of power?" Zooky growled, staying brave despite the blaster aimed at his chest.
"Exactly as you said: I wanted power over the Foot Clan and I got it. But now I want more, and no cost is too great to get it!"
"You don't know who you're dealing with, Shred-head!" Mikey called. "Sock it to 'im, dude!"
And Zooky did, first by executing an upward karate chop to disarm Shredder, then balancing himself on his tail and kicked him, sending the evil ninja flying backwards.
"Let's beat it!" Zooky yelled, dragging Michelangelo away.
"Stop!" Shredder shouted from behind.
Zooky's sixth sense went into overdrive as he sensed incoming projectiles from behind and dodged each one. However, as they came to the first flight of stairs, a lucky shot hit near their feet and Zooky and Mikey fell. It was there that Shredder managed to catch up with them and grabbed the nunchuk-wielding turtle, holding the blaster to the side of his head.
"Don't even think about it, or I'll blow his head off!" Shredder threatened.
"Don't listen to him, Z-man!" Mikey pleaded, only for the end of the barrel to be pressed harder against his head.
Zooky knew he could disarm Shredder easy, but that wasn't worth Mikey getting his brains blown out. He surrendered with a growl in his throat and venomous hatred gleaming in his eyes, barely noticing Mikey's frightened expression in reaction to how he looked at the moment, or Shredder's own expression wavering between frightened and confident.
"This is stupid!" Michelangelo groaned as he strained against the ropes that bound him and Zooky to the chairs sitting back-to-back.
"You're telling me," Zooky agreed. "We should be able to break out of these ropes, no sweat."
"Yeah! Maybe…" Mikey trailed off as he began to struggle a bit more, making the chairs rock.
"Hey, Mikey? Mikey, easy!" Zooky warned the dude turtle. "Careful, you're gonna—WHOA-OOF!"
In the struggle of Mikey trying to free himself and Zooky trying to hold him still, the bound kaiju and Ninja Turtle tipped the chairs to the side, making them hit the floor.
"…Ow," Zooky groaned.
"'Course, I could be wrong," Michelangelo said, a bit embarrassed. "You got any ideas, pal?"
"Yeah; I've been trying to maneuver my hands so that I can use my claws to cut us loose," Zooky said before letting out a yelp. "But I have no desire to get splinters in the process."
"But how are you gonna get us right side up?"
It wasn't going to be easy, and it meant possibly accumulating more splinters than he wanted, but he had to do it.
"Sit tight, Mike," Zooky warned as he maneuvered his left elbow, his legs, and his head to a position to push his side off the floor.
It took a few tries and a lot of effort—especially since Shredder had also bound his tail—but the juvenile saurian finally managed to get himself into a position of having his forehead pressed into the floor while on his knees. Of course, that meant that Michelangelo was up in the air. It took a few more seconds for Zooky to lift his upper body, and then push himself off his knees, making both chairs hit the floor and Mikey yelp.
"You OK there?" Zooky asked once he got his breath back; doing that maneuver with the weight of not just two wooden chairs but also a mutant ninja turtle on your back was an effort in itself.
"Man, what a ride!" Michelangelo exclaimed in awe.
Zooky couldn't help but chuckle at the dude turtle's reaction. "OK, now all we need to do is—"
"Don't move."
"Don't move!" Zooky and Michelangelo exclaimed simultaneously. "Huh?"
"Who said that?" Mikey asked.
Zooky was likewise wondering who was the owner of the voice that sounded like Jell-O talking, but he had more pressing question at the moment.
"I don't know, but—EW! MIKEY!" he screeched, feeling something disturbingly wet, slimy, and muscular touching his hands and wrists.
"It's not me, man!" Michelangelo protested.
"Well, whoever it is, it feels like I'm touching something that's not supposed to be touched! Ew! Get away! Yuck!" Zooky exclaimed, trying to hit whatever was touching him away.
"Ow! Hold still, will you? Groah!" the new voice said with a burping sound at the end of the sentence.
"Dude, whoever you are, you need to see a doctor about that frog in your throat," Zooky started as the ropes finally fell away from his wrists and he turned his head. "Not to mention a shrink about your—WHOA!"
Godzooky Gojo had seen plenty of weird things in his life up to that point, but this one certainly went to the top of his list: Right next to where he and Michelangelo had been bound was what looked like a pink, throbbing, pulsating brain about the size of a human skull that, frankly, looked more like a giant ball of pink chewing gum, with light-purple eyes, a mouth of small, sharp teeth, and two tentacles in lieu of hands. As it had no legs, it was sitting on what looked like a small tripod table on wheels, so it only came up to Michelangelo's knees and just under Zooky's knees.
"Whoa-oh! I've heard of going out of your skull, but you take the cake!" Michelangelo exclaimed.
"Bleah! Listen to me," the brain-like creature spoke. "The room with the master control is one flight up. Go there and destroy it!"
"Now hold on a moment," Zooky began when Mikey interjected:
"Wait a minute! Why should we believe a talking brain?"
"Exactly. We don't even know who or what you are or your motivation for helping us," Zooky pointed out, giving the small being a probing look.
The brain-like creature looked small, but its eyes told of a great intelligence and a raging malice; this was a being not to be trifled with.
"There's no time to argue! Your friends are in danger! Hurry!"
"Well, when he puts it that way…" Michelangelo trailed.
Godzooky sighed. "You're right. Let's get going."
"So, like, what did you pick up from that weird brain dude?" Michelangelo asked as the two began going up the steps. "I mean, is he on our side or what?"
"Just because he helped us get loose—that was helpful, but seriously gross—and he directed us to the location of the master control doesn't mean his alignment is with us," Zooky pointed out seriously.
"So, he's workin' with Shredder?"
"I'm not sure, but it may be possible; his scent was mixed with that of the Technodrome, and he's definitely from out of town, and that's not just from looking at him."
"But if he's a baddie, why'd he help us?"
"That's the part I don't know."
"Bummer."
"Well, we can't worry about that now, we're here," Zooky whispered as he and Michelangelo approached a door.
"Farewell, accursed Hamato Yoshi," Shredder was saying.
"Now or never," Zooky said tensely.
The juvenile saurian then literally crashed through the door, making the metal-masked ninja turn around from a large, bulky machine that could only be the Mouser master control.
"Head's up, Shredder!" Michelangelo called out from behind.
Shredder didn't bother to waste words; he picked up what looked like a rifle and began firing laser bolts at them, which Zooky and Mikey dodged.
"Oh, big man with a gun," Mikey said mockingly as he tossed one of his nunchuks at Shredder; it bounced off his spiked shoulder plate. "Come on, fight like a turtle!"
"Forget it, he doesn't know the first thing about fighting honorably!" Zooky said before dodging another laser blast. "Geez Louise, your aim is as bad as a Stormtrooper's!"
"Ha-ha-ha! Missed me by a mile!" he heard Mikey taunt.
"You impudent idiots!" Shredder yelled as Zooky managed to recover the nunchuk Mikey had thrown.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, like I haven't heard that before," Zooky said sarcastically. He then spotted a screen on the master control and almost gasped out loud; it showed Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, April, and Splinter on top of the van and surrounded by thousands of Mousers.
In a rather spur-of-the-moment decision, Zooky got in front of the machine, whistled loudly, and taunted Shredder while holding himself in a stance that made his wings spread out as a way to make him look bigger, "Come on, Chrome-Dome, hit me with your best shot!"
"You bet I will!" Shredder exclaimed before firing another blast.
Despite managing to once again dodge a laser bullet, Zooky couldn't help but yelp just as he moved; it came awful close to scraping across his back.
"You all right, dude?" Mikey asked as an explosion went off just a couple feet away; the laser had hit the master control, just as Zooky had planned it…well, sort of planned it.
"Whoo, yeah. Little bit of a close shave, but I'm good," Zooky told his terrapin friend. "Oh, here's your nunchuk," he added, handing the item over.
"No-o-o! No-o-o-o!" Oroku Saki yelled in a rage. "You'll pay for that!"
"Will you take an IOU?" Zooky called to the Shredder before taking Mikey's three-fingered hand and telling him, "Let's book!"
"Which way?" Mikey asked as he was dragged along.
"The painful way" was the answer.
Zooky had to run around the room and dodge multiple laser blasts to get up to speed, but he soon ran to one of the walls and crashed through it like a wrecking ball, taking Michelangelo with him.
"Ohh, so that's 'the painful way'," Mikey groaned.
"Yeah, not fun," Zooky agreed as he rubbed his shoulder.
PEW! PEW-PEW! went the laser bullets that went over their heads.
"But no time to recover! Let's get outta here before we get air conditioned the hard way or Donnie sends those metal munchers in!" Zooky cried out, getting Mikey and himself to their feet and running out of the room they had crashed into. "We gotta find the nearest window."
"Why a window?" Mikey asked.
"You really wanna bruise your ankles on those things a third time? Besides, Don needs every one of those buggers to pester Shredder."
"Point taken."
The duo managed to find a window and looked down to find that Donatello had already sent the Mousers and were chewing the building supports.
"Now what?" the dude turtle asked.
Godzooky was about to answer when he picked up a scent; a familiar one of rotten eggs.
"JUMP! NOW!" Zooky yelled.
No sooner had they done so than the building blew up behind them; the Mousers had hit a gas main, destroying the mansion and themselves.
Zooky would have wondered if Saki had gotten caught in that explosion if the shockwaves hadn't concussed him, making him fall to the ground unconscious. However, the impact with Michelangelo's plastron managed to stir him up long enough to notice a piece of wall coming down and brace himself to prop it up. But he was still out of it from the shockwaves and ended up passing out in a kneeling position.
The sound of familiar voices calling his and Michelangelo's names gradually brought the adolescent, winged saurian back to consciousness. That, plus the sudden ache of stiffness and weight pressing on his back.
"Ooh… What the…?" Zooky groaned.
"Hey, you awake there, bro?" came Michelangelo's naturally-enthusiastic voice.
"If I wasn't before, I am now," Zooky remarked as a pang of pain passed through his head. "You OK?"
"Yeah, I am, but what about you, dude?"
Another splitting ache through his skull and the piece of debris suddenly feeling heavier than it should gave him his answer.
"Well, my head hurts and by judging by how my muscles are twitching, I don't think I can hold this thing up much longer."
"Zooky! Where are ya, kiddo?"
Once again, Raphael's voice managed to jumpstart the young, winged saurian's mind.
Raph! And he sounds close! Zooky gasped. He looked around and saw that the piece of debris he was holding was high enough off the ground for someone to stick a limb out. "Mike, stick your foot out!" he ordered.
The dude turtle did so, meaning now all they had to do was wait.
"If anything's happened to those two, I'll…" Zooky heard Raphael's worried voice trail off before exclaiming, "Oh no!"
Attaboy, Raph; we're over here! Zooky smiled.
"Michelangelo, say something! Say something!" Raphael called, now closer than ever.
Soon, Zooky felt someone lifting the weight off his back and helped push it off.
"I just love hide-and-seek, don't you?" Michelangelo asked casually.
However, an out-of-breath Zooky offered this comment as he turned around and straightened up: "Well, you sure took your sweet time finding us." …Which he found a worried Raphael did not take too well. "Ooh, sorry, that was bad," he said while also berating himself, Smooth move, Godzooky; you try to lighten the mood and whaddya do? Open mouth, insert foot!
"You know, I got a feelin' that between the two of you, I'm either gonna get a headache or a heart attack, depending on if you guys keep doing this!" Raphael ranted before taking a deep breath.
"Sorry, dude; we got out as fast as we could," Michelangelo said.
"What happened in there, anyway? What took you so long?" Donatello asked as Leo and April also came over.
"Shredder got the drop on us," Zooky answered.
"He shouldn't have been a problem for you," Raphael told Zooky.
"What would you rather have happen: Let him tie us up or let him blow Mikey's brains out?" Zooky asked bluntly.
He got four shocked faces plus one mixed with apology.
"Anyway, we did manage to get loose and turn that master control to scrap metal, as you probably know; which wasn't easy with Shredder trying to turn us into Swiss cheese," Zooky continued. "I just wasn't expecting those Mousers to hit a gas main just as we were about to evacuate."
"That's what I thought had happened when the place went up," Donatello said.
"Like, how'd you know about the gas?" Mikey asked.
"Just before we went out the window, I smelled rotten eggs."
"I didn't smell that."
"That's because Zooky's sniffer outclasses yours by a mile," Raphael remarked.
"Hey!"
"OK, OK, fellas; easy," Zooky said, stepping between the two before an argument could escalate. "That may be true, Raph, but Mikey's nose is just as good, or did you forget?" he asked, referring to the story the terrapin quartet had told him earlier.
"True," Raph admitted.
"What about Shredder?" Leonardo queried.
"Last we left him, he was going ballistic with a laser rifle because I made him shoot at the master control," Zooky said. "Frankly, that's a question that's been on my mind, too."
"Can you pick his scent up?" Leo asked.
"I'll try, just…brace yourselves in case I pick up something unpleasant," Zooky warned before getting to work.
"Like what?" April asked.
The female reporter's question went unanswered as the juvenile saurian went around the burnt area, sniffing for any trace of Shredder's scent. He eventually got it and it led to a hole in the ground that had two big scents: Rotten eggs…and the Technodrome.
"Hey, guys! Over here!" Zooky called.
Raphael was the first one over and tried looking down the hole only to gag and cough at the smell of the gas. He then held his nose and tried again.
"What did you pick up, Zooky?" Leonardo asked.
Zooky shrugged in response.
"Well, guess what? The Technodrome's long gone!" Raphael announced nasally as he brought his head out of the hole, still holding his nose.
"I'm afraid I can confirm that; the scent is strong, but I'm not picking up its presence in the immediate area."
"That Shredder's getting to be a real pain in the tail," Donatello complained.
"Hoo, tell me about it," Zooky agreed, twitching his own; in all the excitement, he had forgotten the cramp in his tail from it having been tied up.
"We need some way to track him," Leonardo figured.
"That van's full of all sorts of surveillance gear," Donnie said as everyone began walking back to the van. "If we could rig it up somehow…"
"Say, Don, while you're at it, I got another idea for ya," Zooky said. "It might help for future occasions to have some sort of communication device on hand; that way we communicate with each other if we get separated or have to split up."
The brainiac turtle put on his metaphorical thinking cap, and Zooky could tell that he was already starting to see a blueprint for such a device.
"That's a brilliant notion, Zooky. Say, you want to help me with them?"
The juvenile, winged saurian was more than surprised by the offer, considering he wasn't at a genius IQ like Donnie or his Looney Tune friend Wile E, but he figured this could be a learning opportunity and decided to take it.
"But it'll have to be a bit later," Zooky continued, rubbing his temples as another ache zinged through his skull again. "That blast has left me with a bit of a headache."
"Hey, no problem," Donnie smiled.
As Zooky was getting into the back of the van with Master Splinter, Donatello, and Leonardo, Michelangelo, who was up front between April and Raphael, said, "Hey, you know what me and Z-dude saw in that old house? It-It was this humongous brain! And it had a mouth, and eyes, and it talked to us!"
"A talking brain, huh?" Raphael deadpanned as April began driving the vehicle and its passengers away from the scene.
"Yeah! Uh, weird, huh?" Mikey asked.
"Michelangelo, I do believe you've finally had one pizza too many," Raphael told his pizza-loving brother.
"But…?" Zooky trailed, sensing hesitation.
Raphael sighed. "But, since you saw this…talking brain thing, too…" he trailed, asking for confirmation which the young kaiju provided with a nod, "…that's a different story."
"Do you have any idea who or what it is, or even where it came from?" Donatello asked, pretty much voicing the many questions the others had.
Zooky shrugged. "I didn't get a name—we were slightly pressed for time—but I do know that it had the scent of the Technodrome on it and it is a being not to be messed with."
"This is probably gonna be one of my stupidest questions ever, but how could you tell?" Raphael asked.
"For one thing, experience has taught me to never underestimate someone who could be an enemy. For another, the minute I locked eyes with it, I had a feeling it was bad news."
"Is this thing in league with Shredder?" Leonardo queried.
"We don't know, dude," Michelangelo answered this time. "I mean, it did untie us and give us the location of the master control."
"But like I said, we don't know what its motivations were," Zooky interjected.
"Wow! What a story this would make!" April spoke up. "That is, if anybody would believe it."
"Master Splinter, what is your thought on this matter?" Leonardo asked his sensei.
It was at this point that the ache in Zooky's head started getting worse and his eyes tried to close as his body started pushing him towards sleep. He tried to fight it; he wanted to pay attention to what his sensei had to say.
"If a new enemy has appeared, then we must be on our guard more than ever," the rat said wisely. "However, our next course of action should be to get some rest."
As if on cue, Zooky fell asleep and felt himself falling forward until his snout once again collided with a turtle shell and he snapped to attention with a snort.
"Huh? What?" he muttered. "Oh. Gomenasai, Sensei; I think I dropped off for a second."
"I see what you mean," Raphael chuckled.
"We could also use the time to plan our next move," Leonardo added.
"Def…Definitely," Zooky agreed, starting to doze off again. "But I th…think…you guys…might have a…slight…slight…prob…fir…"
Once again, Zooky dropped off, but this time Leo and Donnie caught him before he could hit anything and lowered him to the van floor.
Hey, c'mon, man; wake up! Zooky yelled at himself. You don't want the guys to have to carry you back to the Lair, do ya?! I mean, you're not exactly a bag of marshmallows.
"Hey! I resent that remark!" Zooky shouted out loud, bringing himself back to the waking world.
"I didn't say anything," Raphael said.
"Me neither, dude," Michelangelo added.
"Not me," Leonardo said as Donatello shook his head.
"Well, somebody did," Zooky said as he got up. "And they sure had a major attitude. Either that or my head's going looney on me. Which…might not be too far off," he admitted.
"Think you can walk back to the Lair with us?" Leonardo asked.
"Believe me, I'm gonna make an effort to," Zooky promised.
Thankfully, Zooky didn't pass out once on the way back, even when they had to find an abandoned garage to hide the van. Now that he was home, the next thing to do was find a place to sleep. However, he soon found himself a bit in the dark. Literally.
"Hey, Zooky? You there, bud?" he heard Mikey call.
"Uh, I think he's out of it, guys." That was Donatello.
"Well, now what are we supposed to do?"
"Geez, don't get your sais in a bunch, Raphael; I'm not that far into Dreamland just yet," Zooky said.
Indeed, the young, winged kaiju had closed his eyes, so it looked like he had fallen asleep on his feet, but he was still somewhat awake.
"You need help getting anywhere?" he heard Leonardo offer.
Zooky respectfully declined and began using his other senses to guide him. His sixth sense warned him of any walls or obstructions at his feet and his nose began guiding him to a safe place where he could rest. He soon found himself in an area where the individual scents of the Turtles mixed, so he knew that he was in their sleeping area. Then, just as he was about to collapse, he picked out one scent and followed it into the sleeping area. Once in, he practically flopped on the mattress and curled up. He picked up another presence that entered sometime after, but other than that, another day with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had come to an end.
And done! Well, the chapter itself was already written, it's just these Author's Notes that I have to write up. It takes a while, sure, but I like to update everyone on how I'm doing and talk about what "shiny object" has my attention at the moment (which is Kosperry's art and a collab FNAF story by Arctic Vulpix and CoronaPax and others called "Expect the Unexpected"; 201 chapters so far, absolutely dedicated), as well as do some after-chapter summarizing and analyzing, point out Easter Eggs, and, of course, offer questions, so I'm gonna keep on doing them.
Anyway, we start off from a very different perspective than in the original material. In the original episode, we get the Turtles putting the pedal to the metal before the camera cuts back to the apartment and the focus is on April and Splinter trying to fend off the invading Mousers before the guys arrive on the scene. However, since I've decided to do this in third-person limited (uh, then again, maybe it's omnipresent since I include other character's thoughts), you're essentially getting my take on how the event went down for everyone outside April's apartment, and that means upping the stakes once again. I mean, come on, you had to wonder about the other people in the building when it went tumbling down. Granted, there's only so much time and only so much to show in a cartoon—especially if the focus group is of a certain age range for the latter—but luckily with a written/typed medium we can expand on that a little. And if anyone's wondering "What construction site?", remember in the episode there was a building frame in the background of the area at April's (now former) apartment building.
Of course, speaking of Easter Eggs, that "the genius is becoming the comic" bit? That's something I borrowed from the movie "White Christmas" and modified slightly. If you know the scene from the movie, you're a serious movie buff! If not, here's the short version: Bob Wallace and Phil Davis (played by the late Bing Crosby and David Kaye, respectively) are two Army buddies who have gone into show business. In the scene I borrowed the modified quote from, they're in their dressing room getting changed and, as they do so, Bob argues with Phil about the latter's attempts to get him with a girl—which have been unsuccessful, apparently—which is not just for Bob's sake but for Phil's too, as Bob has been "berserk with work". Bob asks Phil what he wants and the conversation goes on like so:
Phil: "I want you to get married. I want you to have nine children. And if you only spend five minutes a day with each kid, that's forty-five minutes, and I'd at least have time to go out and get a massage or something!"
Bob: "You don't expect me to get serious with the kind of characters you and Rita have been throwing at me, do you?"
Phil: "Well, there've been some nice girls, too, you know."
Bob: "Oh yeah, yeah. Like that nuclear scientist we just met out in the hall."
Phil: (annoyed) "All right, they didn't go to college. They didn't go to Smith."
Bob: (chuckling) "Go to Smith? She couldn't even spell it."
Phil: (sarcastically) "Oh that's very funny. Ho, ho, ho! The crooner is now becoming the comic!"
Oh yeah, you gotta love those classics. And Mr. Kaye; goodness, he was amazing! I wonder who would win in a patter-song competition: Danny Kaye, Yakko Warner, or Rev Runner?
Anyway, getting on to the next Easter Egg, it's a double voice actor/actress cameo. I had to do some looking around at pictures of these two to get certain details, but I think it was worth it. Now, I don't know if the name "Mae" has clued some of you more dedicated fans in as to who the two cameos are, but I'll reel you guys in with some details, starting with these two voice actresses are mother and daughter. They both have roles in two separate iterations of the franchise…and both have been the crush of two different turtles, both voiced by Rob Paulsen. The mom has also been an Italian mouse immigrant, the daughter of Frankenstein's monster, a secretary for a ghostbusting business, and the leader of a tribe of barbarian bears. As for the daughter, she's been a fairy, a waterbender, and even a young girl on an episode of "Godzilla: The Series". You figured it out yet? Yep, it's Pat Musick and her daughter, Mae Whitman! OK, I know it's a bit weird bringing in those two ladies before their characters debut, but I thought I'd do something fun and have Mae and Raphael interact.
Anyway, Godzooky performs quite a daring rescue and leads Mae and the family she was visiting to April's room, where they encounter the Turtles and Splinter and are taken to safety. Of course, for safety reasons, the family can't say a word about their rescuers, but they're definitely not going to forget them, especially little Mae after Raph gave her one of his wristbands. Aw! Don't worry Raph, it's OK to be a little soft. I'm ashamed to say that I know I've heard of some kind of phoning service that various voice actors have participated in to give a morale boost to kids in the hospital, but for the life of me I can't bring the name of it to mind! Maybe one of you know? If you do, please tell me!
With the action at the collapsed building over, the group heads for Green Street and Shredder's hideout. Oy, leave it to Raph to pull a fast one on his brother like that after sounding so ready to go five seconds ago. Raph, I love ya but geez! Thankfully Mike's not going in alone, and probably a good thing, too, because he and Zooky end up facing the Shredder and get captured just as they start their search! They attempt to escape but end up knocking themselves over (ouch) and before either one can try another plan, guess who shows up? And first impressions are DEFINITELY unpleasant. C'mon, I bet many of you were thinking that Mikey had to have been a little grossed out by the "helping hand" he got. But at long last, I have brought Krang into the story! Yeah, apologies about the "giant ball of pink chewing gum" descriptor there, but seriously look at the design or even think back to what you thought Krang looked like before any mention of him being a brain-like creature was brought up if the 1987 cartoon was your introduction to the TMNT franchise.
Anyway, after that little meeting, the scene follows the original material pretty well, except of course Zooky's throwing in is two cents as well (seriously, Shredder and the Stormtroopers are terrible shots, aren't they?). And I'm sure many of you were wondering just what had happened to Michelangelo after he busted through that wall and the camera cut to show Donnie taking control of the Mousers, so this is my take on that, as well.
Soon, the group is reunited and Zooky has an "open mouth, insert foot" moment himself with that little remark of his, which he immediately apologizes for. I hate to say this, Raph, but I'm afraid you're gonna be in for more of both, like 193 episodes worth. Zooky and Michelangelo tell the others about what happened and find that the Technodrome and Shredder are gone again; plans are made and questions are brought up as to who this brain-creature is and what its motives are. However, the first thing that is needed is rest because with the concussion from the shockwave, Zooky is starting to pass out and actually ends up going to sleep standing by the time the group gets back to the Lair! Well, he's sort of asleep on his feet; he doesn't conk out until he wanders into one of the Turtles' sleeping areas. I wonder whose it was?
Ah well, here are the questions:
How would you help the civilians escape the Mouser-infested building?
What would you give to Mae or the other two kids as a memento?
What would your plan of attack be to disable the Mouser master control?
What would your reaction be to Krang's appearance?
Any other ideas as to the next step to take in tracking Shredder down aside from rigging up a tracker and making communication devices?
And there you have it. Next time, it's the start of "Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X". That's right; we're almost at the end of the opening 5 episodes of the 1987 TMNT series! Now, I already have the first chapter for that written up, but there's a couple other things I either want to post or work on, plus school, so that might not be up for a bit.
Either way, I hope you will be there to read it when I do put it up!
As always, please read and review! Thank you! :)