The turtles, Yuuki, and Mona get into a fighting stance as the Foot ninjas surround them and Splinter tries to call out to Mikey as he lies unconscious. "My son! Can you hear me? Michaelangelo!"
Outside of the chamber, Mortu tries to figure out what is wrong.
"Michaelangelo is going critical!" The Fugitoid said. "You must pull them out of the virtual reality system!"
"I'm trying," Mortu answers as he continues to press buttons "The system is locked up, the controls aren't responding."
"Oh, how can this have gone so horribly wrong?"
Stockman crawls up the walls, undetected as he laughs.
"Steady guys, this is about to get ugly." Leo said.
"This shouldn't be happening!" Donnie replies gravely "This is supposed to be virtual reality!" One of the ninjas charges at him and Donnie moves out of the way while another comes out from behind him. Donnie kicks at them "They're not suppose to be able to see us, let alone attack us!"
One of the ninjas charges at Raph with his sword, he grabs the ninja's hand and jumps behind him. Raph uses him as a shield as the other two ninjas begin to attack him. "Come on, ladies, let's dance!" He manages to disarm them and the ninja that he is holding, tossing him to the other two before kicking them all down. Some of the ninjas throws shurikens at Donnie and he dodges them all. He smirks in victory, but then all the bamboo behind him fall on his head.
"Leonardo," Splinter calls out to him "We must become shadows."
Leo kicks down two ninjas near him "Guys time to disappear! Raph, you and Mona get Mikey and head for the bamboo!" Raph and Mona rushed over to Mikey, they placed his arms over their shoulders, lifting him up then jump into the bamboo.
"Don, Venus and Yuuki, you're with me."
As the three fight against the Foot ninjas, Splinter chops some bamboo and kicks it to them "My children, catch!" They jump and catch it, using the bamboo as weapons. They fight against the Foot and manages to knock them down. More of the ninjas starts to appear from the bamboo as well as the Shredder.
"Uh-oh," Leo gasps "Here comes the Shredder's great-great grand pappy."
Two ninjas stood beside the Shredder and fire arrows at Leo but Yuuki blocks them with her bamboo. Leo quickly pulls her out of the way as he sees more arrows fired at them, dodging them.
"These guys may not be real," Donnie said as he blocks arrows coming at him "But they mean business."
"Let's go!" Leo calls out. He picks Yuuki up, carrying her in his arms, and Donnie and Venus follow after him as they disappear into the trees. The Foot ninjas began to chop down the bamboo to search for them.
"Send some men to watch the road through the forest, they won't get far." The Shredder orders. "You others, come with me, I have important business in the village."
They are unaware that Leo, Donnie, Venus, and Yuuki were up in the trees. They watched as the ninjas split up into groups to search for them.
"Don, you and Venus go find the others, and make sure they're okay." Leo orders. He turns to Yuuki "You too, Yuuki." He hands her over to Donnie as she climbs onto his back.
"I will follow Mr. Personality for a bit, I'll catch up." Leo said.
"Be careful." Yuuki said. Leo leans in and kisses her and she returns it then he jumps out of the trees beginning to follow Shredder.
Outside of the chamber, Mortu still tries to figure out what is wrong with the system.
"Why don't we just shut the system down?" Fugitoid asked.
"Normally, it would be that simple," Mortu said "But the system's been tampered with, the slightest distraction or energy spike could destroy them. We must disconnect their minds from the pods carefully, but it will take time. Let us hope they can survive that long."
Night has fallen, and Leo was still following the Shredder. He watches from the trees as he sees the Shredder at a blacksmith and watch as three men working on something then rush towards the Shredder. They kneel down in front of him. One of the men places a wrapped red cloth on the ground.
"Hai, tono-sama." The man in the middle said as he stands up with the wrapped cloth in his hands. He walks over with it and kneels in front of the Shredder, holding it out to him "I made the blade just as you requested."
"The metal is amazing, I've never seen it's like before."
"Nor will you ever again." The Shredder said as he grabs the blade, pulling out something behind him. "Let's just say that the metal fell from the heavens."
Shredder connects the handle with the blade. The sword begins to spark and light up, frightening the blacksmith workers.
"Just as the ninja said to understand from goblins, behold! The Goblin Sword! The Sword of Tengu!"
Leo gasps from the trees. Shredder aims the sword at the workers "And now for your payment," and shoots it at one of them, knocking them into the others and through the blacksmith shop, destroying it.
"The sword is perfect!" The Shredder boasts "With it, my enemies will not be able to hide. I will find them and destroy them."
Shredder laughs menacingly and Leo jumps away out of the trees unnoticed as he headed back towards the others, worried.
Leo makes it back to the others and jumps down from the trees.
"How's Mikey?" Leo asked.
Yuuki looked down at orange masked ninja cradled in her lap, he was still unconscious.
Splinter sighs "We must be careful, Michaelangelo is not well. And I fear that in this dream world, if we believe we have died, then we will truly die."
"Being careful won't be easy. That guy that looks like the Shredder, he just invented the Sword of Tengu!"
Splinter looks completely shocked "This is not good."
Outside of the TCRI building, the armed forces try to barge in, with no success. The doors and windows were sealed off. "My orders are to get into that building and that's exactly what I'm going to do. All units, open fire!" They fire at the doors with tanks and lasers "Cease fire, cease fire!"
The soldiers ceased fire and looked to see that they didn't even leave a dent on the barricade. "I don't believe it. We're going to need some heavy ordnance. I want to commend you on airborne, now!"
Mortu and the Fugitoid are under the control working on it, trying to figure it out to free the others from the chamber. A holographic screen appears in front of them.
"Mortu-" One of them said. "We-"
"Are under-"
"Attack."
This location-"
"Is no longer-"
"Viable."
"We are-"
"surrounded. We have-"
"No choice-"
"We must-"
"Now use the transmat and-"
"Return home."
"Our preliminary defenses are holding." Mortu explained. "We must save the turtles, Yoshi's daughter, and their master, and the others, they are under our care."
"Are their lives-"
"More important-"
"Than the lives of the Utroms?"
Mortu pauses. He felt a slight anger beginning to boil inside of him. He hated of how low his race had become. Cowards. Calmly, he looks up at the screen to the councilors.
"All life is precious, councilor." He pointed out.
"True."
"But remember, Mortu," They all said at the same time "You have a great responsibility to your fellow Utroms."
"The burden is heavy." Mortu mutters.
"You must bear it."
"I...I understand, council." Mortu replies, hesitantly. The screen disappears.
"You can't abandoned my friends!" Fugitoid pleaded.
"Don't worry professor, we will find a way to save them, and ourselves."
The turtles, Venus ,Mona, and Yuuki stand around Mikey who was now resting on Splinter's lap. Mikey groans and stirs around for a bit "Master Splinter, is it... time to eat?" He calls unconscious again. Suddenly, a girl's scream rang through the forest as they heard it.
"You guys hear that?" Donnie questions.
"A fight in the forest." Splinter said
"Over the hill, to the north." Leo confirms.
"Go, investigate, I will stay and look after your brother."
The six bow to him and they rush off to where the fight was happening. When they arrive they see the Foot ninjas attacking an elderly man, with a little boy, and a young girl who was fending them off with a weapon. The ninjas attack them and the girl defends against them.
"You know, I'm really starting to hate these old school Foot ninjas as much as I hate the modern day versions." Raph said as they watch the girl fight against the Foot. The girl blocks one of the ninjas and manages to knock them down.
"She's good," Donnie said "I like her."
Venus turns to him "Excuse me?" She asks as raises her eye at him.
Donnie eyes widen "I-I just meant that she's a good fighter. Not that you aren't good, either." He stammers. Venus gives him a shocked look.
Donnie immediately goes quiet when he realizes "That's not what I meant! I mean-" His mouth was covered as Yuuki covers it with her hand, stopping him from saying anything else "You'll thank me later." She said.
"What do you say we lend a hand?" Leo asks
The six rush to the fight, but as they got halfway there, they see something moving from the trees above the fight. Two other ninjas jump down from the trees with weapons in their hands and when they land they knock the Foot ninjas down.
"All sorts of bozos are coming to this party." Raph said
"A few too many, look!" Leo calls out and they look to see more Foot ninjas coming.
One of the Foot ninjas knocks down one of the mysterious ninjas leaving the other one outnumbered. The turtles, Yuuki, Venus and Mona soon joined the fight, as well, attacking the Foot. While the girl was defending herself against a Foot ninja, another approached her from behind and threw his chain from his kusarigama at her aiming at the girl's head. She gasps as it comes right at her. Venus uses her bamboo to grab the chain before it could hit the girl.
She pulls on the chain, pulling the ninja towards her and jabs her finger into their chest. They fall to the ground. More ninjas approached, and Venus tries to defend them off from the girl. The turtles, Yuuki and Mona knock the other Foot ninjas to the ground. Raph defends himself but a ninja cuts his bamboo, completely making it useless. Raph throws it away "Looks like I'm doing this the old-fashioned way." He jumps into the cart and hits the ninja as the other end catapulted up, hitting them. He hits another ninja, knocking them down and all of them retreat. The six gave each other high fives and cheered.
"We kick serious ninja butt, even in ancient Japan!" Donnie cheers
But the victory was soon cut short. "Stay away evil goblins!" The old man yells but then look at the other two mysterious ninjas. "Save us! Save us from the green kappa! Goblins! Goblins!"
"Somehow, I don't think we're gonna get the thank you we deserve." Leo said gravely as the two ninjas approached them.
As the two ninjas approach, the little boy, young girl, and old man are making their escape in their cart. But, the girl stops and looks at them. She bows to the turtles, Yuuki, Venus, and Mona and left.
"Look, we're only trying to help." Leo said
"We don't wanna fight you." Donnie replies.
"Although, I like fighting," Raph said as he punches his fist in his hand "What I don't like is being trapped in this stupid Utrom video game." The two ninjas back away in shock and looks at each other.
"The Utrom?" The ninja with brown hair said
"How do these strange creatures and human know of the Utroms?" The one with black hair questions
"That's it!" Leo gasps in realization and points to their necklaces "That's where I've seen that medallion before, on the Guardians. Our friends here must be an early incarnation of the Guardians. You work for the Utrom, right? We'll look, we're on the same side."
"We need to talk to the Utroms, we're stuck here in this place like them, and maybe they can help us." Donnie said "Can you take us to them?"
The two Guardians said nothing.
"Can you at least let them know that we need to see them?" Yuuki asks. The Guardians continue to stay quiet and looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
"We will tell them." One of them spoke as they put their swords away and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Donnie calls out "But how will we find you?"
"If our masters agree to an audience, they will find you." The black haired said as they left.
Stockman crawls from a vent inside of the security room. The guard leaves and he crawls up to the system, shutting it down. His head pops out, "Phase two is complete. Security is down, thanks to my genius." Suddenly, He is shocked and he screams in pain.
"Sorry, sorry, I should know better, master. I have detected an underground passage that should allow you and your men to enter the building unseen," "I'll deactivate the security of that sector and commence with phase three," He shuts the hologram panel down.
Meanwhile, outside of the TCRI building, the army forces were still trying to break in "Area has been cleared, commander. One knock on the front door." The General looks up and sees a helicopter flying above.
"Roger that, hold on to your hats and ear pieces. It's gonna get big." The helicopter fires a missile at the door.
Outside of the chamber, the whole room shakes violently, knocking the Fugitoid and Mortu down to the ground.
"Oh dear!" The robot gasps "That can't be good!"
The explosion manages to destroy the doors "That did it. All units move in!"
The soldiers start to run inside.
A screen pops up, revealing the counselors. "Mortu there's been-"
"A security breach-"
"And internal security control is not responding."
"We must leave at once."
"I understand council," Mortu said and he turns to an Utrom standing at the control panel "Deploy the security bots."
"Yes sir."
Mortu pulls off the rest of his suit, shedding it "Instruct the transmat for immediate evacuation."
"Mortu, you must come with us now." One of the counselor said, still on screen
"Not yet."
"Mortu, you must come with us now." The second counselor answered.
Mortu turns to them, he narrows his eyes "I am NOT abandoning my godchild." He said, firmly. He reaches up to the screen "Mortu, don't you dare hang up on-!" The counselors were cut off.
" You must free my friends!" Fugitoid pleads.
"Of course professor, we will not abandoned them, I promise. If only they can activate the pods internal fail safe, but that's too much to hope for."
The turtles, Yuuki, Venus, and Mona returned to the camp.
"Welcome back bros and dudettes!" Mikey greets them happily as he eats more sushi "Anyone for sushi?"
Raph places him in a head lock and gives Mikey a noogie "Aww, Mikey, you bum. I'm glad you're okay." Raph said as he sits down beside him.
"Mikey, know that not a molecule of that food is real," Donnie pointed out "It's all part of an illusion."
"Yeah, I know. " Mikey said as he continued to eat the sushi "But, right now, its real enough for me."
"That's it!" Splinter said and they turn their attention to him "The answer is-"
"Greetings" The Utrom said as he pulls his robes to reveal himself "I am Mortu." The eight bow to him.
"Mr. Mortu." Leo speaks "You're just the...man we need to see." Mortu looks confused at what he said.
They all sit around and as Leo explains everything. "It was at that point, the pod's story became real." Leo finishes. "So you see, Mr. Mortu, we're trapped in this virtual reality and can't get out."
"I do see," Mortu said. "It is an interesting phenomenon, you have much knowledge in our ways, but your knowledge of the Shredder is incomplete. You should know, the Shredder is one of-" before Mortu could finish, they hear laughter and Foot ninjas jump out of the trees, surrounding them. The Shredder comes out of the forest.
"How fortuitous, that I should find you here Mortu." Shredder said "Now, I can display the true powers of the Sword of Tengu, for your amusement and demise!"
The sword lights up and sparks. Everyone braced themselves for an attack, but Shredder strikes the ground sending a wave of electricity, it hits Mortu's exo-suit, electrocuting him. Mortu falls out of the body and the others jump out of the way as the suit explodes. The two Guardians jump and stand next to Mortu, to protect him. The Shredder laughs and fires again, knocking the two Guardians into the trees.
He strikes the sword again at Leo, Donnie and Splinter as they charge at him, knocking them back. He aims again hitting Splinter, knocking him back again. When Raph tries to attack him, the Shredder fires his sword again, shocking Raph and pulls him to the ground. Leo rushes to help him but Shredder fires at him, sending Leo flying and lands next to Splinter. Mona and Venus charges at the Shredder but they're thrown back as well.
Shredder makes his way towards Mortu and laughs menacingly. But, Yuuki quickly picks Mortu up "You want him! You're going to have to go through me first!" She shouts. Shredder raises the Sword of Tengu and unleashes a blast. Yuuki quickly clings Mortu to her chest and rolls out of the way. Another blast hits her, knocking her down. Quickly, she pulls Mortu close to her chest, protecting him, as she lands hard on her side.
"Yuuki!" Leo shouted , worried. He was about to rush towards her but Splinter grabs his arm stopping him.
Splinter clears his throat and Leo turns to him "Leonardo, listen to me. There is little time. This virtual reality is an illusion in an illusion, an illusion of the mind," Leo gives him a confused look "Control your mind, and you will control the illusion."
"I will try sensei."
The Shredder raises the sword at Mortu, who looks up at him in fear, and Yuuki. "Goodbye, Mortu." Leo shuts his eyes tightly, and concentrates. The Sword of Tengu disappears from the Shredder's hands, confusing him and the Foot. "What?!" Shredder questions as he wildly looks around "Where is the Sword of Tengu?!"
The sword soon appears in Leo's hand "It's right here!"
"Whoa," Mikey gasps while Donnie looks confused "How'd he do that?"
"You want it back?!" Leo roars
The Shredder's eyes widen in fear. Leo raised the sword and struck the ground as hard as he could. A beam of electricity shot out causing an explosion sending the Shredder and the Foot flying. Leo strikes at the Shredder again. He is sent flying through some bamboo and falls off of a cliff and into the rocks below. Leo turns to the Foot ninjas and they retreat. Leo closes his eyes and the sword vanishes.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Neo, I-I mean, Leo." Donnie calls out jokingly.
"Way to go, bro!" Mikey cheers.
Leo help Yuuki up and she smiles "Show off." She teases.
Yuuki hands Mortu back to the two Guardians as they walked up "Your actions demonstrate the veracity of what you say," The other Guardian holds a small black cube in his hand out to them "Take this, it should help you return safely to where you belong."
"But, if we're stuck in a video game, how can you give us anything to affect the real world?" Mikey asked. "I-we-you, urg, my brain hurts!"
"If this world is an virtual projection created from our technology, then we Utroms have encoded an internal fail safe that can be activated using the virtual reset device you now possess." Mortu explained.
"Here we go," Leo said as he was about to press the button "I hope."
"Goodbye and thank you." Splinter said as he waves and bows to them.
"See you in a few hundred years." Raph replies and he gives a thumbs up.
Leo presses the box and it begins to light up brightly, blinding everyone. "Wait!" Leo calls out "What was it you were trying to say about the Shredder before?!"
"The Shredder is an-" But they didn't hear him finish. A bright light engulfs everyone and they opened their eyes, they found themselves back in the real world.
"They've done it!" Mortu exclaimed."They've activated the internal fail safe! But how?!"
Everyone sighs in relief as they stepped out of the pods, stretching out from being in the pods so long.
"Well, you helped us," Leo said "Not you you, but you. It's kind of a long story."
"Well I don't care how you got out," Fugitoid said as he helps Splinter out of the pod "What matters is your safe and sound."
"Still, I can't understand how the oracle pods malfunctioned." Mortu ponders.
"Oh, but I do." A chilling voice calls out. The room went silent.
Everyone turned to see the Shredder standing in the doorway along with Hun and the Foot Elite with him. They are completely shocked to seeing him alive, again.
"No, it can't be!" Leo gasps in confusion "I finished you off myself, you can't be alive!"
"You merely separated my head from my body," Shredder laughs menacingly "A courtesy I will gladly extend to you all, for none of you are leaving here alive!"