A Week and Two Days Later; July Fourth*…
…It's time.
…The invasion… Has finally come.
The Kraang's Communication Orb, that April found in the sewers five days ago, started acting up. After some translation, Donatello pulled us all to his lab to hear what Kraang are up to… According to Kraang, in six hours, they'll open up a portal from Dimension X and bring something called the Technodrome to Earth… The final phase of their invasion plan.
…That got me confused, and very on edge. From what we found out on their hard-drive, April is the key to their invasion plan and they don't have her. I feel this could be a trap, a ruse to lure us out and try to locate April to finally get her, but we can't take any chances if they're actually going to start their invasion plan. So, the guys and I must be prepared to go above ground and put a stop to their plan... Though, I feel something isn't right about this.
It's been going on for days, since we rescued Mr. O'Neil from the Kraang's Detention Center... And it's all linked to him.
After Don and I went to find Kraang's secret prison from the secret message that's been sent to April, which I followed my younger-brother in the shadows until he nearly got blasted at a garage shop that Kraang has been using to hide their prison, we found the human completely unharmed… And that should've told us that something was off with the rescue, but neither of us had time to think about it when we were being attacked by Kraang and an alien-salamander that Donnie called "Newtralizer".
But now, ever since reuniting April to her father, I had some misgivings towards Kirby. Like, one moment he'd be talking to April about her schooling or interact with Donatello in his lab, and then the next moment he'd go quiet without warning or would excuse himself for no reason for his departure. April went back to living above the surface world with her father... And me, Karasu, my Instinct and even my Conscience weren't happy to have her leave. Not when the Kraang are still after her... And, that her father insisted on taking her home.
I had Karasu go over to her home to watch over her, keep an eye out for anything suspicious and to warn us if the Kraang came for her. So far, there was no sign of Kraang, but she did tell me to see Mr. O'Neil at times be talking to himself most of the night and when left alone.
…I'm afraid it confirms my suspicious… Kraang did something to him, either by brainwashing or hypnotism. I want to immediately get April back to the Lair and keep her away from her father, but my Conscience informed me that I can't do anything at the moment. I need proof to convince the others that there's something wrong with him. And even if I did have that proof, there's a chance that Kraang made some failsafe should his cover be blown and that's a risk we can't afford to take, if it jeopardizes Kirby's life.
As my brothers and I prepare ourselves to leave for TCRI, I knew the instant we leave, April will be left unprotected the very moment she steps foot out of the Lair. I need to give her some warning to remain in the Lair with Sensei, who'll be the only one to keep her safe in our place.
Raphael went to gear up on weapons and smoke bombs. Donatello and I focused on making Turtle Gliders, while discussing on infiltrating TCRI, update the Omniparticle Disintegrator, the Subspacial Endoparticle Disruptor we stole from Kraang, and using Metalhead as a distraction. Michelangelo… Decides to build up his strength, before we start to head out. Karasu will be joining us, but only to distract the cameras long enough for us to get inside and then is to return to the Lair.
Before we went to prepare ourselves to save the world, Splinter wanted a moment to speak with me… And his words still continues to echo in my head: "With the world at stake, the only thing of importance is that you complete your mission. No matter what you have to sacrifice… Or who."
I know how important this will be, but for him to tell me that I may end up sacrificing my brothers, if it means saving the world-… I know no matter what, none of us would hesitate, not even for a second, to put our lives on the line to save all life on Earth from the Kraang… But, as the eldest turtle of the group and, chosen leader, I must make the decision on who will be offered up as a sacrifice.
…Yet, I could never bring myself to give up any of my brothers; we were able to reconcile some of the damage to our bond, relearning to trust each other and become a team, once more.
…Tang Shen visited me last night, in my dreams. She was quiet, and just held me in her arms before I woken up… I've told her about Karai, on how I finally understand the Kakete iru bubun (Missing part) she wanted me to find and will do what I can bring Miwa back home to her true clan.
…I saw her shed a few tears, and they were not tears of joy or relief… I felt like she was crying… For me.
And, lately, I've been having odd glimpses in my dreams… Images of a faint figure, that I couldn't tell if it was human or not… But each time it appears, I would always try to reach out to it, as if reconnecting with a friend I haven't seen in years or reconnecting with a long-lost family I never knew existed… And each and every time I would barely make the slightest contact with this being, the darkness would embrace me and I would find myself waking up, lost and confused.
Sometimes, in that dream, I would find myself standing in front of a mirror within the darkness… But, there's no reflection. Then, I would turn around to see another mirror and that would show my reflection. However, instead of doing what I'm doing, my reflection would point back to the mirror in front of me and when I do look back… A clawed-hand would come straight out of the mirror, grasp my arm and pull me towards the mirror, shattering it into many pieces.
I didn't tell Master Splinter about this; we had enough worry on our plates to add in "meaningless dreams" to consider it as any importance to dealing with the Foot Clan and Kraang. The visions, they were so surreal. Even meditation and doing some soul searching didn't really help to figure out what it means… Besides that the mysterious figure was important to me.
I just hope that when we all get out of this, I'll finally be able to see this person and figure out the meaning to these visions… And should this be my last entry… Let it be, so that I was able to keep them all safe… And that I, myself, will be the one to be sacrificed for them.
In the Air of New York City…
The citizens of New York all went on with their days as they normally would do… None of them ever taking notice that, just over their heads, four teenaged, humanoid-turtles flying over their heads. All having gliders in shape of bat-wings, and small-fans on the top of the wings to help keep them airborne.
Staring down at the humans below him and his brothers, Leonardo felt out of place. Most likely, that he's been on the ground, and below the ground, that being in the air makes him have some strange feeling of Vertigo.
"It's something strange to adjust, huh?" Karasu, flying beside him, questioned her big brother. While it was only natural for her, as a bird, to feel completely at peace with being in the air, she could understand his sense of unease at being new to flying. After all, when he helped her start to glide, she didn't become a pro at the first attempt to be in the air.
He smiled at her and nodded, before glaring at his brothers for wasting time by doing a midair high-three with each other. However, since there was no guarantee that they'll all get out of this, alive, he allowed them to take this moment to have some joy in each other's company. Besides, having to learn how to fly on fake wings and soaring through the air with Karasu, made this moment for him to enjoy what little peace they may have together.
It wasn't long before they reached TCRI and, when reaching the near highest part of the building, they made their landing on the ledge underneath the roof. They landed beside a small group of pigeons, all eyeing them in curiosity on how they got up and, somehow, flew with fake wings. Donatello silently pointed a finger to a blinking-light, all suspecting it being a security camera. While they could slip past it from underneath, if the camera caught even the slightest hint of movement from underneath, some Kraang would come out and catch them, even with Metalhead distracting their enemy by attacking them in the lobby.
Eyeing back at the pigeons, Leonardo turned to Karasu, who roost herself on his left-shoulder, and pointed a finger to the camera. She immediately went to work. She hovered in front of the camera, laying part of her talons to the slab part of the building to keep herself in place and acted like a curious bird to how many Kraang are watching. Immediately, the four brothers swiftly went around the edge, passing by the four pigeons and raven/crow-hybrid without making a single sound. They continued going to the other-side of the building until the blue-masked turtle signaled them to halt, sensing two Kraang guarding the front of the building on the same ledge they're on.
Immediately, Michelangelo and Donatello took over. As The orange-masked turtle went to distract the two, making taunting faces and 'falling' off the building, drew their attention to look down to the edge they saw him fall from and allowing the purple-masked turtle to charge and shoved the two of them off of TCRI.
After setting their gliders to hang on the edge, should they need make an immediate retreat, pulled out their makeshift grapple guns and, silently, glided down to the second tower across from them. There, they found a ventilation shaft that'll get them into the room where Kraang have their portal device. As they slowly went in, Leonardo waited to go in last and keep an eye out for any more Kraang they could've missed on the rooftop with them.
Karasu let out her signature caw, pulling his attention on her. She seemed very unease, her Onyx-black eyes staring into his Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes.
"Big Brother…" She said, walking over to him. He lowered his arm to her, pulling it up when she took her spot on his limb.
After staring into each other's gaze, Karasu leaned forward and rested her forehead against his. The both of them knew how dire it is for them to succeed on stopping the Kraang… And they both knew what the blue-masked turtle will probably end up doing, which neither of them are thrilled of the thought.
They pulled away, continue to stare back at one another with deep solemn expression on their faces, until Leo broke the silence.
"…Whatever happens, whether we succeed or failed, always know: My love will always be with you, and so proud of the flyer you've become." He whispered to her, pressing a finger to his lips and laying that same finger to her forehead, gently transferring a kiss to her.
In response, she crawled down his arm and nuzzled her head underneath his jaw, making low clicking sounds.
"…I love you, Leonardo… I'll always be grateful for you raising me into your family and saving me from the Kraang." Her voice cracked a little, but was nowhere near to shedding tears of her own. After all, she knows that Death is part of Life and, learned, that those you care about are gone from this world, don't want you to mourn for their passing, but to remember the happy times spent together and experienced.
After hearing Michelangelo crawling through, Leonardo gently pulled her away.
"Return to the Lair, Little Kara." He whispered, raising his arm in the air. "And, no matter what happens, remain underground… Should anything happen, watch over our flock."
The raven/crow-hybrid nodded her head and, spreading her wings, took off into the sky and made an immediate direction to the secret shaft for the Lair… Letting out a loud, strong call into the night's sky.
Leonardo bowed his head before going into the ventilator, her words echoing in his head.
"Kamiyo, watashi no kyōdai-tachi ni chikara o ataete kudasai (God, give power to my brothers)!"
Inside TCRI…
Inside the building was just as they left it, except for a few things: First, the air wasn't polluted with the toxic-like gas that they, mostly, breathe on their planet. And two, that lava-rock monster they've encountered stood guard over the portal, as a few Kraangdroids continued circling the perimeters near by the portal device.
Above in the rafters, the four turtles eyed the device that's underneath them. Staring at the portal below them, brought deep pain to the leader in blue and the orange-masked turtle of a heavy reminder to what happens when active.
'I wish you were still here with us, Rip Jaws.' He thought, pulling out the Omniparticle Disintegrator that was strapped underneath his swords' scabbards. 'This is for you and the sacrifice you've made for Earth, Brother.'
Also, for harm and destruction Enemies caused to All-Life, Natural Balance and Earth, herself.
And, lastly, a little payback to Shredder for allying himself with aliens threatening to ruin our world.
Leo smirked at the two's response, before lining up the shot.
"Okay, guys, this all ends in three -He turned the Omniparticle Disintegrator on.- two -His finger slowly pulling on the trigger, powering up the blast.- One."
The moment he said it, he released the trigger, firing the shot to the center of the portal… Only, instead of a big expansion bubble before it shrinks and pops like a bubble, a shield of light-purple energy covered the portal device, indicating a force field has saved the machine from being disintegrated.
A stunned look appeared on his face, before it got replaced with a scowl.
'Chikushō (Damn it)!' He cursed out. 'We should've suspected they would install a force field to the portal, since our last break in.'
Shouldn't Donnie had come up with some device, in case this certain scenario would occur?
That thought angered Leo more, turning to his Genius brother.
"Don, didn't you checked through their files about them upgrading their portal device with a forcefield?"
Donatello had a dumbfounded look on his face when he saw the blast didn't do anything to the portal, that it shifted to a nervous, embarrassed expression when he heard his brother growl at him.
"…I, uh… Might've forgotten to do that, when I was focusing on upgrading Metalhead's equipments and improving the autopilot to the Shellraiser*..?" Was his answer, before a bunch of Kraang came up to see their hiding spots and start shooting their weapons at them.
"Anyone got a Plan 'B'?" Raphael questioned, glaring down at the Kraang releasing fire at them as they took shelter from the rafters shielding them from the blast, before a low, deep growl from behind caught their attention. They turned and saw that it was the lava-rock monster, who made itself come to their level and ready to deliver a punch to them.
Leonardo was the first to react.
"Scatter!" He yelled at his brothers, before jumping forward the moment the monster landed massive hit to the rafters. He ran up it's arm and jumped off it's shoulder, landing to the ground.
The leader in blue glared down at the Omniparticle Disintegrator in his hands, hearing the few beeps that informed him that it's charging up before it could be used again.
'It's bad enough it needs ten seconds to recharge, but I also have a limit to how many times I can fire a blast before the power dies.'
Behind you!
He looked up, a bit taken by surprise to see the lava-rock monster behind him and relies to his reflexes to dodge from being stepped on by it's foot. It then proceeded on stomping its feet to him, as he backed himself up until he felt his shell lay against the wall.
The beeps went faster, telling him it's almost ready to be used again, as his wide eyes stared up at the lava-rock monster and saw it pull back it's right foot.
'Come on. Come on!' He thought, fear racing when the foot got closer.
*Ping!*
Now!
Not wasting any time, he pulled the trigger and let loose. The blast made contact with it's shin, blowing it's leg right off and forcing it to lose balance. It leaned against the wall and hunched over the turtle, which Leonardo immediately went through it's legs when it opened it's mouth to release lava.
As it charged up, he turned his attention to Donatello, who was shielding his shell with a Kraangdroid.
"Donnie, how's that Plan 'B' coming?" He called out, watching as the creature's leg and parts of it's shin rolled themselves back to their place.
"I'm thinking." The purple-masked turtle replied, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the four Kraangdroids firing at his shell and hunched over by the continuous push of the blasts.
The blue-masked turtle didn't approve his brother's answer, as he was brought back to the rock monster making it's way back to him.
"Think faster." He ordered, charging up the Omniparticle Disintegrator for a third time and blasting it's arm off.
"I can probably hack into the Kraang system if you'd give me enough time!"
Staring at the arm that made it's way back to it's user but not yet reconnected, Leonardo jumped in the air towards the creature, launched himself off it's chest and kicked the arm, with all his strength, towards the direction of his brother and making it land on the four Kraangdroids. He landed back to the ground and, after pulling out Musashi to swipe at two more Kraangdroids, made his way to his brother.
"There, now go. We'll cover you." He told his brother and the two separated, with the Genius turtle heading for the main computer and the leader in blue deciding to distract the creature by keeping it's arm away.
Every time the limb would attempt to roll back to it's user, the humanoid/wolf-turtle would force it away, all the while dodging Kraangdroids and the lava-rock monster attacking him for it's arm back. He made sure to keep visual watch for his brothers, ensuring they were holding their own and to be ready if they're getting overwhelmed.
Pup must focus own fight. Pup fights most threat in area. Keep away from Kins.
Leonardo didn't respond to his Instinct, for he had to keep his attention on the creature that tries to squish him like a bug.
Thanks to Don, for not thinking ahead, that the guys are fighting for their lives. And worse? The Disintegrator is running low on power.
True to his Conscience's claim, the Omniparticle Disintegrator has been making less noise, warning the turtle that It's running out of power and will no longer be of use to destroy the portal, if he keeps using it on the lava-rock monster.
That wasn't all they were running out on. A minute ago, he saw Raphael wasting away his supply of weapons he brought on a single Kraangdroid, while protecting Donatello, who's still working on the force field. From what Leo is seeing, so far, Michelangelo is the only one holding his own in battle.
'Never thought I'd see that day ever come, until now.' He thought, feeling pride for the youngest Hamato brother, before turning back to his opponent and jumped at to dodge a large-fist bashing to where he last stood.
He pulled the trigger, forcing the Omniparticle Disintegrator to activate and to charge up, which was now delaying to respond to it's user's command.
"Come on -The monster slammed it's fist at the turtle, twice, who somersaulted away by the two attacks.- Come on!"
Finally, after over a minute, it finally started to power up and, when getting back on his feet, released the shot to the whole arm. After the blast, Leonardo barely heard it make any beeping sounds, a clear sign that it's nearing the end of being done.
"The disintegrator's running out of power." He informed his brothers, silently telling Donnie to hurry up with the force field.
"Guys, look!" Michelangelo called out, pointing a finger for his big brothers to look at the portal... Which was activating and all three connectors lifting up, readying to shine a light-purple energy to create the portal.
Whatever's going to come out of the portal, is going to be here soon.
Omega-Brother Donatello must hurry!
'We can't pressure him any more than he's already under. All we can do right now, is hold off this creature and keep fighting the Kraang.'
*Thump*
Metal making contact with metal alerted the turtle that a Kraangdroid landed behind him, but it's too focused on the disintegrator that wasn't charging as quickly he wanted it to... Until a heavy stomp, shattered metal and a dying screech from a Kraang pulled his attention to turn to the creatures that, without any hesitation, killed one of it's master.
A few Kraang that aren't in Kraangdroid bodies but, what appears to be ball-shape forms of flyers, came down from the sky towards Leonardo, forcing the turtle to pull out Kamiizumi to cut through the flyers and kick a third Kraang at the lava-rock monster.
*Ping!*
The Omniparticle Disintegrator alerted the turtle it finished charging. So, after launching himself in the air and landing on the creature's chest, planting the blaster the center, for the fourth things, Leo released a blast to his opponent.
Rather than losing a limb... The monster lost all his limbs, his head the only piece of himself remains connected to his chest and midsection. Lava and rock parts scattered on the floor, with the blue-masked turtle pushed back to land beside Michelangelo.
Think that did it?
'Doubtful. Even if we severe it's head from his body, it'll still be alive and his limbs will still react to get back together to become a whole body.'
Just as he speculated, the scattered remains of it's limbs forced themselves to move back to the creature, reconfiguring themselves to become whole.
"I forgot he can do that." Mikey said to keep, started and a bit creeped out when one of it's hands crawled over it's body to go back to it's let-arm.
Leo glanced down at the disintegrator, not hearing any sound that it's charging at all.
"Not good, not good..." He muttered, before turning to Donatello. "Any moment will be great, Donnie."
A few seconds later, he got his wish.
"I got it!" Donatello announced, his invention signaling it finished is purpose, by popping out a bottle headed hula girl.
The forcefield covering the portal lit up and sparked for a few seconds, then immediately powered down.
"Yes! All hail me!" The genius turtle cheered in his success.
...Which immediately got ignore when the three connectors shot a beam of light, creating thick, black cloud over there heads. All the Kraang in the room halt in their attack, awed by their invention sending out it's energy to the two antenna point on top of TCRI... Through the sky, pulling a giant metal-ball like ship to Earth.
"Holy giant floating shippy-ship." It may not be anywhere near a profanity word, but to the youngest turtle, it was cleary to a swear word on how freaked out he was.
The instant they saw the metal-ball from the windows, the Kraang rallied, forcing the turtles to regroup behind the portal for shelter from their blasters.
"Leo, do the zippy-zappy thing now!" The orange-masked turtle cried, huddling himself behind his big brother's shell.
The leader in blue stared down at the disintegrator in his hand, praying for a miracle to have it be able to use one more blast before it dies on them.
"Come on... Come on... Come on...!"
*...Ping!*
It made the sound and, with relief, aimed the charge of blast for the portal.
"This ends now!" He yelled, pulling the trigger.
...Until, instead of a shot... The charge died and a small trail of smoke escaped.
Fear gripped his heart, just as it has its hold on his brothers when they stared down at the no longer functioning Omniparticle Disintegrator.
"What just happened?!" Donatello questioned, not believing what just happened.
"The batteries must've died." Leo growled out, angered at the sudden down turn of luck for them.
Either dead, or overloaded from being used multiple times straight.
"And we'll be joining 'em unless someone thinks of something!" Raphaels stated, taking notice of the Kraang coming in closer and, using an unused Kraangdroid as a sheild to protect them from the blasts.
"What's Plan 'C', Leo?" Donnie asked, fear rising when the lava-rock monster finished putting itself back together and slowly made its way towards them.
The humanoid-wolf/turtle's mind was racing, desperately looking for a Plan C to take out the portal... Then, his Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes caught the power cell on the otherside of the portal.
'Don once said it holds enough power to keep the city going for years. Does that mean...?' "Donnie, what happens if I ruptured the power cell?"
"The whole place would go up, with us in it!" His brother's panicking response to his question, made him make the immediate decision to that as their Plan "C".
You're actually going to through with it? We've talked about pulling suicidal stunts!
'There's no other option; it's either us, or the Earth.' He pulled out Musashi. "Go!" He ordered, taking the disintegrator with him.
His brothers eyed him with disbelief and concern.
"Whoa, Leo. You're not thinking what I think you're thinking!" There was instant regret in his voice for telling his brother about the power cell. The feeling changed to horror when Leo took off in the battle zone. "He's thinking it!" He screamed what was going through Raph and Mikey's head, before making an immediate run for the rafters to escape from where they came from.
Leonardo attacked with blinding speed and raw power, avoiding the blasters as if they were nothing but dodgeballs being thrown at him.
The first three Kraang he took down, didn't had a chance to fire their weapons at him. That drew all of the Kraang's attention on him and making them forget about his brothers escaping. His next two victims, shooting from the upper floor of the room, ended up severely cut by Musashi, resulting in a slow, agonizing death for them.
Finding himself at the exact level needed to position himself for the power cell, he put away his sword to firmly keep his grip on the Omniparticle Disintegrator.
'It may no longer be working, but the batteries should have enough energy to spark up a blast when combined with the power cell.'
Pup understand the consequences... Know Pup can die, in process?
His hands clenched tightly to the disintegrator, time feeling it's gone slow for a moment.
'If it means we stop the invasion, then I don't regret putting my life on the line for the humans... For Earth... For my Pack.'
With no more interruptions and, without any hesitation, he launched himself in the air.
"Huuuurrrraaaahhhh!" He pulled the disintegrator over his head and, when almost touching the ground, slammed the barrel of the weapon through the glass case of the power cell.
Electricity sparked through the weapon. The beam of light dying down the a second after the electricity travelled off the disintegrator.
The portal made a high-wind sound... Then, a gush of wind forced the Kraang and the lava-rock monster backwards. Leonardo having to already take off for the rafters, before the machine exploded in a cloud of think, pinkish-black smoke.
Just as he made it to the ventilator, the force of wind from the explosion pushed him off his feet and towards the windows. He crashed through the glass, a few shards embedding into his arms when he pulled them up to shield his head.
Soon after that, the beam of light came falling back down to TCRI... Creating a larger explosion to cover the whole roof of the building, followed by a thicker cloud of smoke.
The polluted air around him was suffocating, choking when he inhaled the smoke around him and lightheaded. It wasn't until he felt himself falling and being pulled away from the smoke, did he quickly remembered that he's falling towards his death.
His heart pounded in his hearing, air feeling trapped in his lungs that he was able to breathe in and his arms throbbing from the shards digging into his skin… And yet, despite being scared the closer he got to the unforgiving ground… He wasn't afraid that he's going to die.
'…It's okay…' He gently reassured himself, slowly closing his eyes as he curled his arms over his face. 'If saving the Earth cost me my life… I give it, gladly.' A single tear marked his mask. 'Forgive me, you guys.'
He waited for the moment for his fall to break, to feel his plastron and shell crack like an egg when colliding with the hard concrete of the street, wondering if he'll see his entire life flash before his eyes or if his death will be quick and painless… Hoping, in some way, Tang Shen will be the first to welcome him to the Afterlife and present him to the honorable Hamato Clan.
He waited for Death to embrace him, with open arms… However, Fate has intervene.
"Ahhh… Gotcha!" A voice called out and soon, Leonardo found himself in the strong hold of his twin brother, Raphael, and watch himself be pulled up inches from the ground and back in the air.
The blue-masked turtle looked up at his brother, relief to see him all right and having his Turtle Glider on, saving the both of them from falling to their deaths.
"In your face, gravity!" Raph mocked, keeping a firm grip on Leo's arms as they soared through the air.
Leo let out a deep exhale of breath, his heart no longer racing.
"Arigatō, Raph." He sighed out his gratitude.
"Anytime, Buddy." The red-masked turtle replied, soon joining up with Donatello and Michelangelo, both of them, also, in their Turtle Gliders.
"I can't believe it. We saved the world!" Don exclaimed, his mind blown from the thought that they actually saved the entire planet.
"Yeah! That wasn't so hard, was it?" Mikey's statement, though was a harmless question of being proud that they saved the world, made doubt and fear travel through the blue-masked turtle's heart.
'Why does it feel this isn't the end of the invasion?'
Look up… Because, there's your answer.
His Conscience, not sounding the least happy or proud, had Leonardo look up when he notice a large shadow covering part of the city and when he did… His eyes widened in horror.
The giant metal-ball ship that was being pulled in from the portal… It appeared before them.
Immediately, the three turtles forced themselves to get as far away from the ship as possible.
"I think I speak for all of us, when I say… Ahhhh! Ahhhhhh, ahhhhhhhhhh!" Mikey screamed, unable to even try to hide how freaked out he was from the sight of the ship.
While they continued flying away from the ship, Raphael helped his twin get on his shell and have him hold on to the handle-bars to stay airborne with him and the others. Getting a better spot to view the ship, Leonardo glared up at the vessel.
'All our efforts… Has gone to waste, now that the end of all life of Earth is here.' He hated himself for thinking such defeat, but when you're staring at what's to be end of humanity's reign, you can't help but feel such thought to being exact.
No! You mustn't think that! You and your brothers hadn't been well prepared as you thought you guys were!
'And how does that justify on what's happening right now?'
"What the heck is that thing?!" Raph questioned, trying to stay focus on steering his glider and not give in to staring behind him to look at the size of the ship.
"No doubt, the Technodrome the Kraang has been talking about." Leo answered, tightening his grip on the metal-part of the handles.
"Well, maybe it doesn't have any weapons. Does it look like it has weapons?" The red-masked turtle asked the blue-masked turtle, hoping that they won't have to deal with dodging attacks that'll have them blown from the sky.
The humanoid-wolf/turtle noticed parts of the ship, that had antennae-looking designs, slowly moving until the tips were pointing at them… Then, almost instantly before he saw it coming, forced Raphael to jerk to their right when multiple light-pink beams shot down where they just were.
"Does that answer your question?" He replied, before more beams of plasma-blasts rained down at them and the turtles with their gliders made their attempts to get out of the Technodrome's line of vision.
Rapid fire of beams surrounded the four brothers, forcing the three, in their panic, to make an attempt to fly high into the clouds to hide. Donatello and Michelangelo soon learned that was a mistake, while Leonardo, able to time the shots, pulled Raphael back to dodge and make him go down.
Through the commotion and chaos, Mikey tried to follow Donnie's lead and veered himself in the opposite direction of the current. In doing so, the fans on his Turtle Glider were forced to function the other direction and rammed him against the genius turtle.
"Don! Mikey!" Leonardo cried out, watching the two youngest turtles to crash land on one of the rooftops.
"What now?" Raph started drifted down, but the eldest turtle kept him firmly straight in the air.
"We need to land! Get back to the ground!" He answered, forcing his brother to keep moving now that all the blasters from the Technodrome are completely focused on them.
"And how do you suppose we do that, when we got a Kraang-version of the Death Star on our tails?"
The red-masked turtle got his answer: Because the Turtle Gliders aren't well built for maneuverability and specifically made for temporary flying, his glider began jerking when both of the turtles continued dodging the plasma-blasts. And with the help of the windspeed and one of the blast slicing through one of the wings, the twins were pulled down by gravity to the street and slammed their shells against a building's wall, with Raph landing in a dumpster and Leo on a thrown out mattress that belonged to a homeless man, who was running on the street with a cardboard sign held up to show the words: "THE END IS NEAR!"
Leonardo slowly picked himself off the mattress, wincing from his side pulsing with pain and digging his fingers into the mattress.
Must've fractured your ribs from the landing impact.
He groaned from the feeling at his side and the throbbing in his chest, but pushed it aside to help Raphael out of the dumpster, slowly being gentle to not agitate his ribs. Donatello and Michelangelo came out from around the corner, relief to see their big brothers got out from the crossfire.
"Are you guys all right?" Don asked the two, hoping that neither sustained any serious injuries.
"Been better." Raph answered, looking rather nauseous from the landing but apparently not sustaining any repercussion like Leo.
Above them, the four watch saw the Technodrome had ceased firing and, very slowly, heading for the Hudson River.
"What do we do now?" The genius turtle questioned their leader in blue, who was fighting the urge to not grab his left-side as he glared at the giant vessel above him.
'Our attempt to stop them at TCRI, has failed. Now, all of New York is running amok and the Kraang are continuing their next phase of their invasion plan.'
Because of failure, that stops Pup from saving Earth? All Life? Own Pack?
'…No… But, we don't have any idea how to stop their plan, now.'
Head back to the Lair. Father may know how to assist. Also, Donnie could try hacking their system to learn what can be done to stop the Technodrome.
'…Very well.' "We need to talk to Sensei." He answered, jerking his head to instruct them to follow him. "Come on."
Now Back at the Lair…
With the confusion and fear going on around the city, no humans paid the turtles any mind when they ran through the streets to finding a manhole-cover. However, because they were at the north part of the city, it took them sixteen minutes to get back to the Lair on foot. During that time, Donatello had received word from Metalhead that it returned to the Lair, with the Shellraiser, minutes before the Technodrome came through the portal.
While it was good to hear that their vehicle and his invention returned, with little damage, it didn't help the discomfort in Leonardo's stomach when they reached home. He sensed it being almost empty, save for Spike, who greeted Raphael from the couch… Kirby O'Neil, who made an attempt to attack Michelangelo when searching for Splinter in the dojo, and Karasu, who got injured when attacking the human in her attempt to remove a small-metal device attached to the back of his neck and alerting Mikey of his would-be attacker.
They were able to subdue the forty-eight year-old father and remove the device, which Don believes it to being a mind controlling device. While waiting for the human to regain conciseness, which was only for a few minutes, Leo treated Karasu's injury, which was a sprained wing. She wasn't too thrilled to have him wrap her wing to a point she can't open it or move it around much, but understand that this was the only way for her left-wing to heal properly if she wants to still be able to fly.
Once he gathered his thoughts, Kirby informed the turtles with bad news: The Kraang had formed an alliance with Shredder and, thanks to the mind controlling device that the Kraang implanted on him to do their biddings, aided their enemy hand his own daughter over to the Kraang and now in the Technodrome.
On their television, the news was on to inform all viewing audiences of the chaos going on and that the Kraang are now abducting every creature of New York with small, sphere-shaped vessels that look like dark-versions of Pokéballs.
"Kraang must collect human specimen for Kraang."
Everywhere they can see on their TV, they watch how the small-spheres would snap open and snatch men, women, children, even animals before heading back up to the Technodrome. The sight before them, was sickening to the turtles.
Leonardo turned to his brothers.
"We're on our own for this," he informed them. "Sensei left the Lair, most likely fighting with Oroku Saki in an attempt to save April, and all of humanity is being picked off as livestock to be part of Kraang's experimentation… We know what we have to do."
Above the Surface World…
"Ahhhhhh!" A blonde-female screamed, having to fall on her own feet in her attempt to run from the spheres, only to end up getting captured and lifted towards the Technodrome.
The blue-masked turtle wanted to attack the sphere and release her, but reminded himself that he and his brothers must focus on the plan to get into the Technodrome and save April, before the Kraang use her to help them take over Earth. And, in doing so, will save all who've been captured by Kraang.
They hid behind some parked cars, finding eight Kraangdroids standing next to one of the pods. No doubt, they're looking for stragglers who're hiding on the streets or taking shelter in buildings.
Eyeing the eight Kraangdroids, all wearing the normal non-blue skins endoskeleton, informed Leo that they don't have high defense against their weapons like the Kraang in TCRI do. He instantly knew how to get that pod.
He turned to Raph.
"Raph, you have eight new toys to play with… Have fun." He whispered to his twin, who smiled evilly from the news of their being eight Kraang to demolish and, without any hesitation, went out in the open and attacked. Leo turned to Donatello. "Don, once we aboard the pod, try hacking into it's system to gain control over it before we enter the Technodrome."
The moment he finished telling the purple-masked turtle what to do, Raphael finished 'playing' with the Kraang, all the endoskeletons damaged and the Kraang unconscious from being kicked or punched. With nothing standing in their way, the rest of the turtles got on the sphere-pod. Don immediately connected his T-Phone to the pod's mainframe to active it and take them to the Technodrome, without informing the Kraang inside what it's bringing into their ship.
Once they got through the entrance, once inside, they saw other capture pods in front of them, all of which going down a long hallway. Some of the spheres ended up being grabbed from the sides, possibly taking their captive victims to some holding facility before Kraang starts performing their experimentations on them.
"Get ready, guys." He told them, preparing them to get out of their pod. "On three. One… Two… -Raph pulled at the latch, already getting it to open before his brothers were about to jump out.- Three!"
The moment they all jumped out… They found themselves floating in the middle of the air, instead of landing on the ground. This is was something none of them were expecting to happen.
"I think the Kraang forgot to pay their gravity bill." Mikey replied, before he got grabbed by the back of his shell through one of the slots. "Ahhh!"
The three were stunned, worried on where their baby brother is being taken… Only for him to be pushed right back into the hallway through another slot, seemingly rejecting him.
"It appears the Kraang have generated Anti-gravitons." Donatello deducted, slowly turning upside down while in the air.
"You guys, I'm gonna throw up." Mikey warned, his stomach agitated from hanging awkwardly in the middle of the air. "Or down. Or maybe sideways. But whatever the cause, I'm majorly gonna throw."
Without noticing, the pod they came in started moving again, slamming against the orange-masked turtle and pushing him forward.
"We need to keep going." Leo reminded, making a grab for the left-corner of the pod. "Let's go."
Don and Raph, also, grabbed for the pod and continued to move forward. Their journey, seeing a few pods be snatched through the other slots along the way.
Kraang, above you!
Leonardo's ears picked up hovering sounds above them, seeing three Kraang in Kraang-flyers going down the rows of pods that just entered the Technodrome.
'We couldn't had set off an alarm. Why are they here?'
Precautionary measure. Enemies being certain none trespass territory, possibly learned from building.
Leo lightly tapped his knuckle on the pod, gaining his brothers' attention and pointed a finger up, seeing the Kraang coming their way. Before they thought about either attacking them, hide inside the pod or silently move to the bottom, their pod got pulled out from the group and the four immediately let go, laying low to the right-side of the tunnel they're in.
They watch the three Kraang continued on with their observation task, relieved they didn't get caught… At least, to Leo, not yet.
"Yo, zero-g is banging." Mikey whispered, his stomach no longer upset and getting used to floating in the air, hanging upside down. "The Kraang should turn this into a carnival ride."
Leo gave him a sympathetic look.
'I'm glad he has ways to stay calm in situations like this, by coming up with child-like imaginations… Unfortunately, his theory of making open-minded comments, along with his ADHD, makes me wonder if he'll learn to balance his maturity and unruly behavior in serious moments like this.'
At least he has his way to avoid stress taking over his mood… As long as he doesn't over think his thoughts, like that one time when you guys first fought Victor Falco.
'…True…' "Mikey, not sure if they have any intention on doing so, when they're surely interested on using it to destroying the Earth." He gently regarded.
"It could do both." The orange-masked turtle stated, still having some fun on hanging in the air.
"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
A high-pitch sound of a human's scream faintly echoed down the tunnels, all four of the turtles recognizing the sound of the voice.
"It's April!" Donatello exclaimed, concern for the sixteen year-old making him forget to stay quiet or risk alerting the Kraang that they're in the Technodrome.
"Can you say that a little louder?" Raphael whispered, not noticing the snake-like sensors peeking in their hiding spot. "I don't think the entire Technodrome heard you." Behind him, the sound of growling, gurgling, screech sounds caught his attention. There, he and his brothers saw a whole group of Kraang floating in front of the tunnel. He knew he should've seen that coming. "Never mind. They did."
They all pulled out their weapons and, all together, charged into battle.
Leonardo pushed himself to soar straight to the top, shoving five Kraang to the side and cutting through two of their flyers with his swords. He just barely made it to the wall before he started drifting a bit in the air, bending closely to the wall above another tunnel to prepare himself to launch right back into the middle of the room.
You're starting to get the hang of it?
'Not really, but I'll adapt.'
Imagine being like training, with Hatchling-Sister. Incorporate movement in Pup's strikes; gather Pup's self-wind, use environment and work alongside Kins.
Three Kraang floated towards him, each shooting a beam of plasma-energy towards him. None of their attacks were close to the blue-masked turtle and none even got the chance to hit him when he pushed off and sliced all three of their flyers. As he reached the other side of the wall, another Kraang charged up to get him from behind, only for Leo to jump backwards over it's head and landing on top of a fifth Kraang that didn't see him coming when trying to make a grab for Donatello.
He forced the Kraang to turn, jerking it's body to hit the button to shoot… The blasts hit the fourth Kraang, it's flyer landing harshly to the ground. The fifth Kraang didn't have time to response when the blue-masked turtle thrusted Kamiizumi through it from over it's head, jumping off and landing on the ground.
At the same time he made contact with the ground, the ground and the whole room began shaking all around them, like they were going through a storm to imitate an Earthquake. There was also an odd pulsing sound of energy circulating underneath his feet.
'That doesn't feel right.'
Probably isn't right, at all. You and your brothers must finish your fight with them, and go rescue April!
He launched himself up in the air and twisted himself, cutting at two Kraang Flyers from the middle of the two. Donatello was coming down above him and the two shifted themselves to land their feet with each other, thrusting to opposite directions.
Beta-Brother Raphael acquire assistance.
When he landed to the wall, Leo saw his twin floating helplessly in the middle of the air, his body slowly turning him upside down while he tried moving with his legs, as two Kraang open fired on the red-masked turtle.
The blue-masked turtle shot himself straight towards his brother.
"Ya!" He caught him and the two landed on the other side of the hallway, before he jumped back in the air and cut one of the Kraang Flyer's in half, leaving the second Kraang for his twin. Below him, he saw Donatello free Michelangelo from another two Kraang that held him down and rejoined the fight.
With Okinawa, Mikey snagged a Kraang that was opening fire on Raphael with his weapon's chains, swinging it in the air before tossing it to the side of the wall. The last four Kraang came down, all opening fire at the turtles, all jumping and twisting in the air to dodge the attacks. Each of the three younger brothers took a Kraang, leaving the last one for Leonardo to strike from below and slamming the Kraang into the ceiling, crushing it to death when blood glided down from the cracks of the Kraang Flyer.
He floated back down to the ground beside Raphael, feeling a bit better to stop moving in the middle of the air.
'Anybody would think this would be fun to experience, but I'm more comfortable to remain on the ground.'
Natural for Pup to prefer ground over chance for flight; Land-Creatures since birth more attach to Earth than Sky-Soarers.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh~!"
"Haah, ha ha ha ha!"
Both Leonardo and Raphael heard the two voices, the first one, once again, being April but the second being completely unknown coming from beneath them. The red-masked turtle thrusted Kayura into the panel and pulled it up, a rectangular-hole in it's place that's big enough to let them float through.
He put Musashi in his mouth to allow one of his hands to grab on to the edge, to follow behind Raph, before putting away Kamiizumi into it's sheath to use both his hands to grab on to the large wire underneath him. His brothers, while he prefers to use the ground to climb, used the zero-gravity to jump a good portion of the gap of the ventilation shaft, leaving their big brother to follow from behind.
You gotta admit, with no gravity, it makes it easier to move through the vents and not make much sound.
'Perhaps, but it makes it difficult to grab on to anything and, if we're not careful, could have us hitting our shells against the ceiling to give ourselves away.' A slight trickling in his throat got him to let out a few, light coughing from his chest, before he continued forward. 'It's a shame that the pressure point didn't help with keeping me from coughing, from my fractured ribs.'
Let's hope the pressure point to block the pain from your cracked ribs continues to block it, until you guys get back to the Lair and have Don check it out.
"April O'Neil, you mind belongs to Kraang." Being closer to the voice, it made it hard for Leo and his brothers to figure out if the voice belongs to a male or, possibly, a female-version of a Kraang. "Soon, your world will be ours."
The voice was coming from the light ahead of them, where the wires extended down to.
Just as he was about to join his brothers to silently scale down the wires, a pulsing pain stopped Leonardo in his tracks.
"Haaah…!" He grunted, grasping his head with his right and clenching his eyes shut, feeling the pressure traveling throughout his head. Then, his eyes widened… No longer seeing what was before him, but at flashing images that danced before his eyes.
They were running for the pod ahead of them.
The area around them is slanted.
Something big was chasing them from behind, but he couldn't make out what.
"All of you, will die here!"
…The time has come… To U-…
"Leo… Leo…!" Raphael's whispered voice pulled his twin from what he and the others didn't see what the blue-masked turtle just saw. He shook his head, ridding away the slight change of vision and slowly followed his brothers down the wires.
…Below them, strapped on a metal-table, a helmet tightly clenching her head… Two, small mutagen canisters going through two of the tubes and into the helmet, is their human-friend: April O'Neil.
Before her, a very-large face of a Kraang. However, unlike the others, this Kraang has three hexagon metal-pieces embedded into it's head, pulsing and glowing
"Witness the end of your kind!" He cheered, taking satisfaction of the torment the poor girl is going through.
Leonardo didn't wasted a second to give themselves away.
"Not if we can help it!" He purposely yelled, startling the Kraang to look up at their direction.
"The Turtles?!" It cried, completely taken back to not be informed that their enemies are aboard the Technodrome with them, let alone be able to sense their presence in the first place. "Kraang will not be stopped by pathetic Mutants!"
"At least we're not stupid aliens." Mikey replied, silently earning the approval of Leo for the comment towards the obvious leader of the Kraang race.
"Raph!"
By the call of his name by his leader, Raphael jumped down from the wires and thrusted both his feet in the complete middle of Kraang's face.
"OWWWWWWW!" Not completely prepared for Raph's attack, the Kraang had to endure the whole blunt force that coursed through it's head before the excruciating pain forced it to temporary unconsciousness.
At the same time, while Donatello went to release April from the metal-table, Leonardo cut at the wires connected to the helmet she's wearing, stopping it's process from pouring more electricity into her mind.
The rumbling sound of energy that went on, almost immediately, went dead silent. Around them, Leo can feel the feeling of gravity returning, a major relief for him.
The latches that held April to the table finally released her. Donnie gently held her up. She slowly lifted her head up and saw all the turtles around, making a small-smile appear on her face.
"You guys are my heroes." She muttered to them before resting her head on the genius turtle's left-shoulder, still drained from what she had to endure and too weak to move on her own.
The purple-masked turtle giggled nervously, blushing at the girl leaning against him and taking her comment of all of them to heart… Though, mostly for himself than he and his brothers.
"Hey, Chuckles. We gotta get out of here." Raphael pulled his younger-brother from his precious moment he's having with their friend, who was barely capable to stand on her own feet if Don and Leo aren't keeping her steady.
As he helped her get on Donnie's shell, being the tallest and more capable to keep her off the ground to regain some of her strength, Leonardo noticed a slight twitching coming from the large-Kraang's face.
It's starting to come out of it!
"Let's move it!" He ordered, scaling the wires alongside and re-entering the ventilation… Before tremors from beneath them made them fall flat on their shells and metal bending outside and behind them made them realize that the large-Kraang was coming for them.
Not thinking of the chances on running into more Kraang, Leonardo thrusted Musashi above them and sliced open a new exit for them to get out of the ventilator.
As soon as they all got out, the ventilator caved in on itself… Crushed by a large metal-vine curling around it… Then, to their startled fear, got pulled aside to show a large lime-green eye.
"Stop the Turtles, and retrieve April O'Neil, for Kraang." The voice of the large-Kraang called out, knowing it's followers are close by to hear their leader and stop the turtles in their tracks.
Immediately after it finished it's sentence, Michelangelo brought down Lee to slam directly into Kraang's eye, earning a screech of pain.
To their left, four Kraangdroid charged for them, shooting their blasters.
Donatello saw a dark-tunnel to their right, silently hoping to being the way out.
"This way! Hurry!" He called out, leading his brothers down the hallway, trusting his brothers to shield himself and April from getting hit.
Then, just as they reached the end of the tunnel, light shining all around them, two more Kraangdroid opened fired in front of them.
Swiftly, Leonardo came before his younger-brother and, re-pulling Kamiizumi into the battle, cut through the endoskeletons' necks and leaving Raphael and Michelangelo to bring the Kraang down. Above them, five more Kraang in Kraang Flyers came down, firing their own blasters to try and stop them in their tracks.
They immediately scaled the walls, dodging the blasters as they made their decadence to the top of the room. One of the Kraang moved in towards Donnie and April, only for Leo to come in from above and deliver a powerful kick to send it crashing down to the main-computer of the Technodrome.
The damage to the computer was so intense, that before any of the four Kraangdroid or the remaining four Kraang in their flyers could do something with the damage, it exploded right in front of them. The explosion not only took them out, but also disabled it's control to keep the Technodrome steady, resulting for the room to slant and for the walls to become the floor.
While they had to stop for a moment to grab firmly to the wall as the ship took a new angle, a few Kraangdroids up ahead of them proceed to fire. The instant the wall became the ground, Leonardo and Raphael immediately took down before any of them hit their youngest brothers and April.
When he took down the last of them, the blue-masked turtle saw, possible half a mile away, a pod that's being unused.
'We're almost there! We can all make it out of here!' His heart beat with hope and put burst of energy into his legs, ignoring the exhaustion from fighting Kraang all night.
"Uh, Leo? We got company!" Michelangelo called out, drawing the leader in blue's attention to look behind him… And his heart to plummet to worry when he saw the large-Kraang coming up from behind, stopping in his tracks like the rest of the turtles did.
It was in a completely different endoskeleton they normally see other Kraang wear: Instead of resting in the abdomen section, it's face is in the chest-area. The metal-vine they saw earlier that crushed the ventilation, shows to being it's arms, with three clawed-fingers at the end. It's feet has three toes, though they were more rectangular than the clawed-fingers. And since it doesn't desire to have it customize to that of a human, there was no human-head. Only a smooth bump-head, with a three-pointed antenna on the top.
As it stomped it's way towards them, Leonardo and the rest of the turtles finally remembered that they needed to run and put as much distance from the Kraang as they can. The Kraang slammed it's feet hard on the panels that they stood on, hoping to stop them from moving forward. Donatello was ahead of them, not letting the Kraang to induce fear into him to prevent him from getting April out of the Technodrome. Raphael was hot on his trails, with Leonardo coming in from behind. Michelangelo, while still keeping up with his brothers, did lose his footing when a third foot landed nearly at his feet and had to twist himself to skid on his shell onto the next panel before shifting himself back on his feet.
Seeing that attempting to stomp on them like bugs wasn't going to be enough, the large-Kraang decided to use a different method. On top of it's head, the antenna began circulating the light-purple electricity that the Kraang seemed so fond of using to attack with when not having their blasters and, after it made a high-pitch sound, the electricity shot down in a wave of miniature lightning attacks.
None of the turtles got hit, but since it can glide from one panel to the next and if it gets too close, they'll be forced to stop from electricity coursing throughout their bodies.
Donatello, suddenly, saw the pod at the end of the path.
"Everyone, there's one last escape pod up ahead!" He informed, putting more energy into his legs, barely dodging the lightning attack that Kraang frantically sent out to them.
Leonardo's heart was banging in his ears, following a silent pattern in his steps as they neared the escape pod.
'Keep running… Keep running…!'
"Ohhhh!" Michelangelo's cry made the blue-masked turtle stop in his tracks. When he turned, he was stunned to no longer see Mikey anywhere, which immediately turned into completely fear when the large-Kraang leaned over to stare at the gap between the panels, aiming the antenna to attack with it's lightning.
Mikey!
He didn't need take less of a second to know that his baby brother was going to be shish kebab, if he doesn't go save him. He didn't need a single thought for his body to run straight at Kraang and launch himself in the air, Kamiizumi grasped in both of his hands. It was all sheer instinct that pushed him to save the life of the orange-masked turtle.
"Get away from my brother!" He yelled, brining his sword down and slicing the smooth-bump off from the large-Kraang's endoskeleton.
The lightning scattered at the damage area, before it fell from it's post and shattered into scrap-metal when it hit the bottom underneath Michelangelo.
Leonardo put away his sword, reaching a hand out to his brother.
"Mikey, hurry." He urged his brother, who brought out Lee as an extension of his arm for his big brother to help him pull him out and back onto the panel.
The younger-turtle clearly needed a moment to catch his brother, but the blue-masked turtle knew that now wasn't that time or moment to do so. The large-Kraang slowly raised itself off the ground, glaring at the two.
"There's nowhere for you to run, Mutants." It stated, watching the two make a run for the escape pod before it slowly stomped it's way towards the group. A sinister smile spread on it's face, believing it had the upper-hand that the instant they take off, it'll make a grab for the pod and will soon have April O'Neil back in it's grasp, to be re-used to take over the Earth. "All of you will die here!"
The instant it said that last line, Leonardo ceased his running, turning to face the large-Kraang make it's way towards his teammates. His brothers, and human-sister he claimed as his own kin… Those he swore, by a sacred blood-oath, to protect from any harm that dares threatens them.
"Leo! Come on!" Donatello called out, helping Michelangelo into the pod before he and the others turned to their leader in blue, who didn't budge from his spot before the large-Kraang.
'Even if we do make it out, that thing will only follow us out of the Technodrome and continue it's attempt to kill us, and take April back with it…'
Question of task: What Pup shall do?
Leo knew that they can't take down that thing, even when it no longer has it's weapon to produce lightning down at them; they're all completely exhausted, carrying some signs of injuries from TCRI, and they can't put April any more in danger than what she just went through. Even if they stayed behind and sent her to escape on her own, nobody would be around to protect her when she reaches the city, especially when she's unable to protect herself at the moment.
They had no chance of success, of winning in a fight against the Leader of the Kraang.
"With the world at stake, the only thing of importance is that you complete your mission. No matter what you have to sacrifice… Or who."
Master Splinter's voice echoed in his head, reminding him of their last conversation they had before they headed out for TCRI. Something he hoped to never had to do on the mission… But now, it seems there was no other choice.
Is there really no other way…? Must you go through with it?
Leo slowly pulled out Musashi and Kamiizumi from their scabbards, pulling part of his lips back to flash his fangs to the Kraang before him. A loud, snarl producing from his chest, ignoring the throbbing and the urge to cough when he gave away his primal warning sound.
'I must. We're all out of options…'
the large-Kraang brought down both of it's arms down. In that instant, Leonardo launched himself in the air and rammed his entire body against the Kraang's face, forcing the both of them to fall backwards. The moment it went down and his enemy having to go through another pulse of pain traveling through it's body, the blue-masked turtle grabbed for one of it's arms and forced it to move underneath the Kraang's face, twisting it to twine with it's other-arm*.
Behind him, one of it's feet raised it's thick-clawed talons over his head.
"Leo!" Raphael called out, attempting to get out of the pod and go for his brother.
"No!" The eldest turtle called out, already knowing of the large talon-like feet attempting to attack him and, when it came down, stabbed Musashi as hard as he could through the metal. "Get out of here, now!"
His orders stunned the turtles and April, not believing what he's telling them to do.
"What are you talking about?!" What his shorter, but older-twin brother just told them to do, didn't seem to be processing at all in his mind.
"Dude, you can't do this!" Mikey stated, knowing that Leo can't take on the Leader of the Kraang on his own and that they can't just leave him behind.
The clawed-foot he stabbed his blade through raised itself up, pulling Leo with it, and tried snaring him into it's grasp.
"Just do it!" He yelled, locking metal with Kamiizumi to block the three claws from grabbing him.
Behind him, Kraang struggled to get back up, only to find it's arms crossed behind it's back and struggling to redo the twisted knot the turtle did to it's metal-limbs. Frustrated by his resistance, he flung the turtle off it's leg, only for the blue-masked turtle to land on his feet and launched right back onto it's damaged leg, stabbing both his blades through.
He turned his gaze to the others, desperation in his Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes.
"I can't hold it back any longer!" That was his final warning for them to get out of the Technodrome. To flee and save themselves… To make his sacrifice not go in vein, because they chose to waste time convincing him to join them when holding back a four ton Kraang.
The large-Kraang shook the turtle off it's leg and, this time, landed it's damaged leg on top of him, forcing a screech out from the turtle when it slammed against his cracked ribs, which are now, very likely, broken.
"Leo!" Raph reached out for the blue-masked turtle, his twin, his only big brother he has in life, ready to jump out of the pod and go save him.
…Only to have Donatello pull him back from behind to stay in the pod, as Michelangelo closed the lid of the pod to start it up.
"We gotta go now!" The genius turtle told his older-brother, hating himself for going along with their brother's plan to leave him in order to save themselves.
He, too, didn't want to leave behind his big brother. However, unlike his brothers, he knew that this was their only chance to flee and get April to safety, and that their leader was willing to stay behind to allow them that chance.
The large-Kraang, knowing the blue-masked turtle won't be able to break free from it's clutches, turned to the escape and struggled to unwind it's twisted arms that's been bound behind him. Just as it finally got it's arms free and extended one of them out to swipe at the pod, the damaged leg that held Leonardo down sparked and glitch, forcing the Leader of the Kraang to stumble and fall.
Free from the talon-like feet that pinned him down, Leonardo stared at his brothers and human-friend, watching them about to make their escape.
"Leonardo!" Raphael's voice called out, resting both his hands on the glass that prevented him from leaving the pod.
The humanoid-wolf/turtle offered them a solemn, sad smile. Sending them a silent message: I love you, all.
And immediately, the escape shot off like a rocket, taking the three turtles and human-girl out of the Technodrome and back towards the city… Leaving the blue-masked turtle behind.
He didn't regretted the decision to stay behind. Not an ounce of doubt in his heart or mind on his part to stay.
'They're safe, and out of Kraang's clutches.' He thought to himself, slowly getting to his feet as the large-Kraang got back to it's. 'Just as soon as I take care of their leader, this nightmare will be over with.'
The Kraang glared down at the turtle, growling lowly at him.
"You may think you have won, but this isn't the end of Kraang's plan." It said to him, ignoring the strain in it's right-leg. "The Planet called: Earth, will belong to Kraang!"
It whipped out one of it's arms towards him… Until the whole ship shook underneath their feet to force them to fall to their knees.
…Immediately following suit, they saw water rising from below.
Leonardo's eyes widened in fear.
'I need to get out of here, before the whole ship gets submerged in water!' He sheathed both his swords into their scabbard and started climbing for the exit… Only for a three-clawed hand to grab him by his shell and pull him back to face the large-Kraang.
It clenched it's hold on him, forcing out cries of pain when the pressure administered to his ribs worsened.
"If Kraang goes down, then Kraang shall bring one of you Turtles down with Kraang!"
The clawed-hand coiled itself even more, to the point of digging it's nails into the side where parts of his body isn't being protected by his shell and/or plastron.
Leonardo could only scream as the claws dug into his right-thigh and shoulder, along with his ribs being further damaged to possibly being shattered.
'I can't break free!' He thought, as he started coughing up blood. Below them, the water level rose. 'I'm going to either drown, or be crushed to death by the Kraang…! I'm as good as dead!'
…No, Pup…
His eyes widened to his Instinct's words.
'What?'
Death not embrace Pup, until Death comes, itself.
A weird pulsing thumped in his heart. It wasn't pain, nor did it feel like a flutter when his adrenaline would kick him. No, this pulsing was something else. Something foreign. Something that was lost to him... That was meant for him.
It's time, Pup…
'"Time"…? Time for what?'
The time has come… To Unveil the Blood…
The pulsing grew stronger, banging against his chest. He let out a big gasp of air, his eyes growing small as they stare right past the Leader of the Kraang in front of him, who gave him an odd look when he suddenly stopped screaming in pain.
Just as it was about to question him… It was taken back, where one moment it was holding humanoid-turtle in it's grasp, then the next a black-blur went past it… Magenta-purple blood gushing out from three-diagonal lines on it's face.
It screeched in agony before kneeling on it's left-leg, covering it's face with it's left-arm. Through the blood that glided over his eyes, it turned to stare where it saw the black-blur go… Only it to swiftly appear before it's face and grabbed at it's left three-clawed hand, completely breaking it off with just a single, hard, bite.
The large-Kraang's eyes widened in horror on what it just saw, but was more appalled when it finally saw what the black-blur clearly was before it's eyes.
"…What… Are you?" It gasped, forgetting of the blood gliding off it's face, that it just lost an arm, and of the water rising and surrounding it's body.
Because, standing tall before him, still having it's three-clawed hand in it's mouth: A three foot, solid black-wolf, with Cerulean/Sapphire-moon eyes. On it's back, are the two swords the blue-masked turtle wielded. If not for those, the blue-bandana around his neck and the wrappings loosely wrapped over his paws and legs, the Leader of the Kraang wouldn't had figured out that the humanoid-turtle has turned into a wolf, right before it's eyes.
The beast snarled at the Kraang, it's eyes piercing right into the Kraang's eyes with such fearlessness and through the depths of it's soul. It didn't speak a single word, but the words have been delivered to the Leader of the Kraang: I am he, who marked you with my claws. He, who got in your way to destroying Earth. And I shall be the one who'll keep getting in your way, until one of us falls to the other.
The large-Kraang, after receiving the message, soon realized it could no longer hold on and found itself starting to descend underneath the water. It screeched up at the wolf and, foolishly, reached it's arm out towards the canine, before it finally sank into the darkness of the water.
The wolf, Leonardo, after watching the Leader of the Kraang sink into the darkness, turned and immediately started galloping up towards the exit above him. His ribs jostled with each step he made, his swords tapping against his side now that he's much slimmer and doesn't have a shell to keep them in place. The pain was tempting him to curl in on himself to stop the spreading of the pain, but knew he has to keep moving until he made it out of the Technodrome.
He panted with each breath he took through the three-clawed hand he still held in his clenched fangs, his mind racing to keep running… Keep running… Keep running!
When he made it to the hole, he launched himself forward, just as the water followed him out and gushed out towards him. He slammed right into the ocean, the force making him yelp and release his hold on the metal-hand for a moment when his ribs pulse even more with anger from the painful bellyflop he did. The cramping made it hard for him to move his forearms to swim back up to the surface, but pushed past the pain to kick with his hind-legs and make an immediate grab for the metal-hand that started rising up to the surface.
Once he made it to the top, he finally started hacking up coughs that's been building up in his lungs, some small specks of blood mixed with water exiting his mouth as he hunched over the metal that served as his life preserver. He was too focused on catching his breath, that he didn't notice he was drifting away from New York from the current. He didn't even had enough time to register that information, when his mind started blacking out on him.
He tried to fight it, but the exhaustion on being awake for nearly an entire day and fighting an army of Kraang, was finally catching up to him. He had no choice but to give in to sleep, even as he struggled to grip tightly to the metal-arm with his fangs until it finally overtook him to let go and sink into the water, with his swords and broken ribs dragging him down.
Unaware what was going on around him, a blue-whale came out of nowhere and got underneath him, bringing him up towards the surface before it started making it's way north-east from New York.
Taking him where a voice told it to deliver the humanoid-wolf/turtle to... Leaving behind his ninja-mask, that was heading towards the city.
TBC
I bet some of you were expecting this to finally happen… And you're all wondering, just how, he's finally able to do this. All will be explained… Possibly, in the next chapter.
…I did tell you it'll be a two part… I never said it would be a two part to separate the episode like the makers did.
*: I think they mistimed between the two invasions when Casey said: Aren't those the same guys who tried to take over Earth, last year? If it has been a year since the first invasion, it would've been snowing, like it did in "The Invasion" Episode. It felt like the first invasion took place somewhere in Summer, and the second invasion took place in the same year but in-between the last week or two of November and the start of December.
*: You would think Donnie would've suspect the Kraang to put up a force field, since they would be expecting the turtles to break into TCRI and, possibly, destroy it, that he would bring an equipment to see if they put up one and a special EMP to disable it. Having him state 'he didn't know', must've pointed out that he didn't think about that possibility (and he's supposed to be the smartest one in the group [Many of us know, so far, that the smartest Donatello is: TMNT 2K3 Donatello]) or had thought about doing that but was occupied with other matters that was needed for the mission.
*: Yeah, it doesn't make sense on how Leo can move one of Kraang Prime's arm. But hey, the producers decided to have him capable on wrapping Mikey's Kusarigama chain around Kraang Prime (though he didn't exactly wrapped it) and, somehow, have the strength to hold him back… What else that didn't make sense in the episode: How, exactly, was Leo able to escape the Technodrome, unscathed, while stuck with Kraang Prime?
Also, I think having them stop the first invasion on Independence Day (in the story… Though, I wish it was still July to update this story on Independence Day), feels a bit more appropriate. Don't you?
Sorry it took so long. We finished moving about three weeks ago… We didn't have Internet for almost two weeks. But, now we got it, and I can continue on with the story!
R&R