Return to the Underground
Down in the underground city, which now lacked the crystal moon, which acted as the main source of light for the city and the large cavern it was in, Alex and the Turtles stood in a large circular chamber, one filled with frozen figures.
"Less than a year ago, my brothers and I made a promise to some friends of ours."
Donnie was in the middle of working on something, his brothers were busy trying to keep Quarry contained in a net and prevent her from harming them.
"And, believe it or not, that monster is one of those friends."
Quarry had managed to pick up Raph in her hands and threw him away before ripping the net apart, snarling as she did so.
Donnie then pulled out a gun before glancing at what was going on, which was Mikey firing a net at Quarry, which wrapped around her.
"It's a long story, but to quickly sum it up, our friends got mutated into monsters thanks to Shredder's mad scientists."
Alex, Leo, Raph and Mikey then held the net down to keep Quarry still.
But then Quarry spat acid, which melted the net open and made the four brothers avoid being struck by it.
"They're now forced to live underground in an ancient city that is also powered by a large crystal moon."
Some of the acid hit the wall, eroding a hole through it.
Donnie then pulled out a vial filled with a glowing substance, which he loaded into the gun.
"And Donnie believes that the crystals are the way to cure our friends, and for good."
Donnie turned and watched Quarry struggle under another net with his brothers surrounding her. But then she spat some acid and melted the net, making the four flip away.
"Issue is that our friends are now mindless monsters and are more interested in wanting us for lunch."
Donnie aimed the gun at Quarry, who hissed ferociously.
In the lair, everyone, excluding Splinter and Rebecca, were all doing their own thing.
Leo was in the middle of sword practice, Alex and Tiger Claw were sparring, Alopex was reading Alex's copy of The Hobbit, having found a liking to it, Mikey, Raph and Mona Lisa were busy playing frisbee and Venus de Milo was currently meditating.
Ever since she moved in a week ago, she fit in with ease and got along with everyone, especially Alex, Leo, Mona and Splinter.
To fit in with the Turtles, she now wears a braided cyan headband. And in terms of where she sleeps, she ended up with Alopex and Tiger Claw, which was fine, since the three were practically siblings.
And she now wields a pair of tessens, Japanese war fans. Despite having been trained to fight, she's only willing to fight if it is absolutely necessary, being a peaceful individual.
"Coming at ya!" Mikey called to Mona, throwing the frisbee at her, which she caught with her tail.
"Think fast, Red!" Mona grinned at Raph as she shot the frisbee at him.
He jumped to grab it, but it flew too high.
"Whoops!" He gulped.
The frisbee ended up flying towards Donnie's lab, where the smart turtle was working.
"YO, DONNIE, HEADS UP!" Mikey warned.
But the frisbee ended up throwing paper all over the lab, shocking Donnie.
"HEY, YOU GUYS!" He snapped at everyone, making them all stop with their activities, even Venus stopped meditating, while Donnie grabbed the frisbee. "CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE? I'M SICK OF ALL THESE INTERRUPTIONS! I CAN'T WORK LIKE THIS!"
He then threw the frisbee way, which Alex caught as he flipped in the air to catch it.
"Jeez, calm down, Donnie, they didn't mean for that to happen!" Alex frowned sternly at Donnie.
"Are you okay?" Leo then asked as he put his katanas away and everyone walked over to Donnie's lab.
"I know you ain't slept for days, bro." Raph noted.
"Not to mention the fact that you've been tense and cranky because of that." Tiger Claw added.
"Maybe you're… I don't know… working too much?" Mikey said as Donnie walked away from everyone with a crystal in his hand and started working on a computer.
"What are you even doing, anyway?" Alopex asked.
"Yeah, you've been looking at that crystal non-stop." Mona said as she folded her arms.
"What's so special about it?" Venus asked.
"I'm trying to find a cure for our friends trapped in the underground city." Donnie replied.
This made his brothers all shudder, especially Alex, which made the rest confused.
"That creepy place?" Mikey groaned.
Alex made his way through the ancient underground city on his own, everyone else having been taken by the sole survivor of the civilisation that once lived in the city.
"Well, how do you think they feel? They're like prisoners down there."
Alex and the Turtles stared at their seven friends, all of whom are in human form, who have no choice but to stay in the city.
The sole survivor stood in front of the doorway that leads to the city, spreading his arms out before pulling out his crystal, which he used to open the door as it glowed.
"I still remember that sole survivor and what he said."
The sole survivor stood in front of the five brothers in a chamber with a large fire, some sitting and some standing.
"As we speak, the power of the cavern's crystal moon is infusing your friends with its regenerative energy." The sole survivor explained, pointing up at the crystal moon at the very top of the cavern.
"I remember we had to put that wackbag on ice."
Alex threw a bola at the sole survivor, which wrapped around his chest.
He then reappeared on a platform, where icy walls formed around him.
"NO! NO!" He screamed.
Donnie pointed at the crystal moon as he, his brothers and their human friends stood.
"And when our friends strayed too far from the city's crystal moon, they turned right back into monsters."
The humans all gasped as Alex and the Turtles pushed past them to see that the human who was turned into Stonebiter had his top half of his body, which was out of the crystal's light, back to its monster form.
"We made them a promise, remember, a promise to find a cure, and I know the cure has something to do with these crystals. I just don't know what." Donnie explained, at one point, examining the crystal in his hand, before he started walking back to his lab.
"Hey -"
"Let him go, Raph." Leo advised. "Don's got that 'no matter what it takes' look."
"And speaking from experience, there's really nothing we can do but just let him be." Alex then said before everyone walked off, except for Mikey, who watched Donnie.
And so, for the next few weeks, Donnie worked hard in examining the crystals, trying to find a cure, while everyone else went about.
One day, Donnie tried chipping at a crystal, only for the chisel to snap apart. As he did that, his brothers, Alopex, Tiger Claw, Venus and Mona were being taught some katas by Splinter, Rebecca watching on the side.
On another day, while Mikey was watching a western and eating popcorn, Donnie poured some acid on a crystal, only getting steam.
On another day, as Alex was watching the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy with Alopex, Tiger Claw and Venus, all three having never seen it before, Donnie tried shocking a crystal with jumper cables, only for nothing to happen.
Another day, while Alex, Leo, Mikey, Raph, Alopex, Tiger Claw and Mona were up on a rooftop, Donnie tried drilling a hole through a crystal, with no success.
Then on another day, while Raph was working out with his punching bag, Donnie used a blowtorch on a crystal, but there wasn't even a hairline on it, making him groan in frustration as he took his goggles off.
"I still don't have a clue what these things are made of." He groaned in frustration before yawning. "Much less how they work."
Finding that he was too tired to continue working, Donnie fell asleep on the table just as the two crystals on the table started glowing and emitted a familiar ringing sound.
"Donatello."
Donnie found himself in the underground city as he heard Quarry's voice.
He blinked, finding himself elsewhere in the city, Quarry in human form walking away from him.
"Donatello."
She turned to face him, and when he blinked, she was now back to her monster form.
"Hear the crystal."
Donetello looked up, seeing the crystal moon, which vibrated and shook until it turned into a liquid form.
"Hear the crystal."
The liquid fell down the dark tower and poured all over Quarry. She then lifted out of it, now back in human form.
"Donatello, hear the crystal. Donatello."
Donnie woke up from the dream, seeing the crystals ring and glow, realising what the dream was telling him.
"The crystal! Hear the crystal! That's it!" Donnie gasped as he held the two crystals. "At least I think that's it. I gotta wake my brothers."
He then ran off to wake his brothers up.
Soon after, his brother all joined him in his lab as he was setting up something.
"This better be good, Donnie." Mikey yawned. "A turtle needs his beauty sleep, you know."
"And the fact you didn't wake the others up tells me you're up to something." Alex said as he stretched.
"I've been doing some testing." Donnie said as he turned on a soundwave machine, which sent soundwaves directly at the crystals. "The crystals react to sound, high frequency sonic disruption, to be precise." He then turned up the machine, the crystals now glowing and ringing. "That will cause the crystals to break down into their purest, simplest form."
A forcefield then formed from the crystals until they melted into liquid form.
"They liquefy!" Donnie grinned as he turned the machine off and grabbed a vial and picked up the tray with the liquefied crystals. "And in this liquid form, we can administer a version of it like a serum…" He poured the liquid into the vial. "...a cure. Our friends will be able to leave the underground city forever!"
His brothers were all amazed and impressed.
"Don, I gotta say -"
"Way to go, egghead." Raph gave Donnie a thumbs up.
"I, uh, I'm not so sure I deserve the credit. I kinda got the idea in a dream." Donnie confessed.
"A dream?" Mikey questioned, while Alex frowned curiously.
"Donnie, you've been working too hard." Raph said.
"No. I had a dream similar to what Donnie had when we were underground last time, remember?" Alex reminded them.
"We gotta get back down there, right away!" Leo stated as he picked up the vial.
"I've been working on that, too." Donnie said as he pulled out a blueprint from a drawer, which showed a large drilling machine. "It's a lot shorter if we go straight down."
"I guess we'll have to leave a note for the others, so that they don't freak out when they see we're gone." Alex pointed out.
And so, after leaving a note, the five brothers all entered the garage, Donnie standing next to a large drilling machine/vehicle.
"Gentlemen, and Mikey, I give you the Turtle Tunneler!" Donnie introduced the large vehicle to his brother.
They all strapped in five of the ten seats that were available, Donnie in the driver's seat as he started powering the Tunneler up.
"Tunneler engaged," He told his brothers.
The headlights on the Tunneler turned on and Donnie drove it out of the garage and directly into the sewers.
Eventually, they arrived back at the hole that Quarry made with her acid with her footprints still there, as well.
"From here on in, the ride gets a whole lot bumpier." Donnie warned.
He pushed a knob forward, which made a high-tech drill form on the front of the vehicle, spinning as well, which now started drilling into the wall.
The Tunneler now started drilling a tunnel, soon arriving at the abandoned subway tunnel where they first encountered Stonebiter.
A few hours of drilling later, they found themselves in the familiar tunnels and caves that led to the underground city, with Donnie driving theTunneler down a slope and then onto a rocky path.
"Are we there yet? Heh heh." Mikey complained, resulting in him getting slapped by both Alex and Raph. "Ow!"
"Zip it, goofball!" Raph snarled.
"And if you ask that one more time, I'll whip you with your headband." Alex warned.
Eventually, they came across familiar hexagonal shaped doorways and Donnie drove the Tunneler down the tunnel leading right for the city.
"Next stop, underground city." Donnie told his brothers.
"Already? I barely had time to watch the in-flight movie." Mikey complained, looking at the laptop on his lap.
"Wait a minute. Isn't there supposed to be a light at the end of this tunnel?" Leo asked, seeing that the tunnel was in darkness, excluding the headlights.
"Something's wrong." Alex said gravely.
Upon reaching the other end of the tunnel, they all looked at the monitors to see the underground city, only to find that the crystal moon that was supposed to be at the very top of the large cavern was gone, leaving it all in darkness, excluding the light from the pool of lava below.
"The crystal moon, it's gone!" Donnie exclaimed while his brothers gasped in horror.
"Okay, I know there was a big crystal moon thing up on the ceiling the last time we were here." Raph recalled.
"It can't just be gone." Leo exclaimed.
"It's worse than that. The crystal moon was the only thing keeping our friends from turning back into monsters." Donnie reminded them.
"And considering we don't know how the crystal's been gone, all of them may now be completely mindless, including Quarry." Alex pointed out gravely.
Donnie started driving the Tunneler down a pathway that led to the city, only to stop when the four armed, blue skinned, bug-like monster appeared before them.
"You were saying?" Mikey gulped.
The monster then pounced onto the Tunneler and banged its claws on the sides of the vehicle.
Donnie pulled on a knob, making the Tunneler turn right and drive while the monster still clinged on, banging on the vehicle.
But then Donnie stopped when the large spider-like monster appeared before them, spitting a web-like substance at the Tunneler.
"Ugh!" All the brothers gagged in disgust as Donnie pulled a knob back, which made the front of the Tunneler spin and fling the web-like substance off. This made the monster slam one of its legs right into the side of the Tunneler, making it tip over slightly.
"Hang on!" Donnie told his brothers.
He pushed a lever forward, making the Tunneler speed forward while both monsters clung onto it before it started drilling a hole in the wall, which was able to get the monsters off, since they couldn't cling on anymore.
The Tunneler soon entered another tunnel where both the large grey skinned monster with one eye and the large red monster with the large claws came up on either side of the vehicle and lifted it off the ground, now carrying it.
This made Alex and the Turtles gasp, especially when they approached a crevice with lava down below.
The two monsters then threw the Tunneler down, making all five brothers scream before they made contact with the lava and sank in it.
The monster with one eye growled at this. But then the Tunneler surfaced and rolled towards the edge of the river of lava, now driving on ground.
This left Alex, Leo, Mikey and Raph speechless, while Donnie was smug.
"What? You think I wouldn't have designed this thing to withstand lava? What kind of idiot do you think I am?" Donnie asked.
"The kind that overlooks stuff here and there." Alex replied
"Wait, there are different kinds?" Mikey questioned.
Donnie drove down another tunnel, one that led them all directly into the underground city, which they now made their way through.
The silence and darkness left Alex on edge, knowing the monsters were out there.
"Um, why are we travelling into the city and not to, say, Singapore?" Mikey questioned.
"Because we made a promise to help our friends, Mikey, and we're gonna keep it." Donnie reminded him.
As they continued driving through the city, a monster hid in the shadows up on a walkway above before running along it.
"They're out there." Raph said with a sense of foreboding.
"Yeah, they're stalking us." Leo replied.
Donnie drove the Tunneler across a bridge as two other monsters in the shadows followed after them.
"Why don't they attack, already?" Raph questioned.
"Because they're waiting for us to come out of the Tunneler." Alex frowned with goosebumps crawling up his back.
Upon reaching the black tower, Donnie stopped the Tunneler and turned the headlights off.
"Guys, don't worry." Donnie told his brothers. "I packed us a little something for emergencies."
He pressed a button on his seat before he stood up, the seat on his shell now functioning as a backpack. Upon seeing it, his brothers did the same, though Mikey did it as he was shivering in fear.
"Our seat packs detach to become tech-pack units, high tech weapon and survival gear." Donnie explained as the door ramp opened out on the side of the Tunneler and all five brothers walked out. "And from the look of this place, we're gonna need 'em."
"Excuse me, why are we getting out of the nice, safe, heavily armoured vehicle?" Mikey asked, fear still present within him.
"'Cause I need to find more crystals." Donnie replied, turning on the light on his tech-pack, which his brothers did as well.
"Don't worry, Mikey. It's gonna be a piece of cake." Raph tried to assure Mikey.
But they all heard a growling from the distance, telling them the monsters were closing in.
"Uh, yeah, except we're the cake." Mikey replied as they ran into the tower.
After making their way through for a while, the five found themselves in the chamber where their friends were held until they first changed them back to normal.
And both Alex and Raph approached the sole survivor, who was still frozen solid.
"You still here? Yo, buddy, that bus ain't coming." Raph commented.
"He deserved it after what he tried to do." Alex pointed out, remembering how he insisted they and their friends had to stay, though he remembered his suspicions that he was lying to some degree.
Donnie stood next to Alex and Raph, noticing the crystal on the platform.
"The entity's amulet seems to be the only crystal we've seen." He noted as he picked up the crystal. "It's a start, I guess, but I'll need more."
The crystal started glowing and ringing and a noise drew everyone's attention.
They turned to see a hidden door open up to another room.
"What the shell?" Alex muttered as they all walked towards and entered the other room.
Inside, they saw numerous other beings encased in solid ice, all being the same size and stature as the sole survivor.
"What is this place?" Leo questioned as they looked around.
"Just what we need, more creepy bald guys." Mikey said as he looked at one of the frozen beings.
"Why do I get the feeling Mr. sole survivor didn't exactly tell us the whole story about his extinct race?" Donnie said suspiciously.
"I suspected he wasn't telling the truth. But why would he freeze his own kind like this?" Alex questioned.
Before anyone could answer his question, a loud hissing was heard from the other room.
"Heads up, guys! We got company!" Raph said as they turned and saw a shadow moving in the other room.
"Don, shut the door!" Alex barked, and Donnie held out the crystal, which glowed and rang as the hidden door closed shut before the monster could enter.
The monster then banged on the door, making huge dents, which made the brothers all pull out their weapons.
The door then started to melt away and Quarry pounced into the room, landing in a crouched position before standing up.
"Ah, Quarry!" Mikey said in relief as Quarry started sniffing him. "Am I glad to see you!"
"Get back!" Alex warned him and pulled Mikey back as Quarry spat acid where Mikey stood a moment ago, melting a hole in the floor. "Remember what I said? They're all just mindless monsters now, including Quarry!"
They all backed away as Quarry closed in on them, all with their weapons still out. She then hissed before pouncing.
"Raph, your tech-pack!" Donnie called.
Raph powered up his tech-pack, firing a couple of lasers from the lights, hitting Quarry and sending her back before crashing on the floor.
"Don't worry, she's just stunned." Donnie said, only to be proven wrong when Quarry got back up right away.
"Seems she's highly resistant." Alex gulped before Quarry pounced towards them
"Keep her busy. I'm gonna try the antidote serum on her." Donnie told the others as he took his tech-pack off.
"Guys, tech-packs only." Leo instructed his brothers after they put their weapons away.
Quarry charged at them, hissing as she drooled acid. Mikey shrieked before shooting a net that hit her before she melted it away with her acid.
The brothers all backed away before Mikey fired three more nets at her, which kept her still, but when Mikey pressed a button to fire another net, he found he was empty.
"Nets, I'm all out of nuts! I mean, nuts, I'm all out of nets!" Mikey cried.
"Freaking out isn't gonna help, Mikey!" Alex told him as he fired a couple more nets at Quarry.
"Yeah, goofball, relax!" Raph added before firing more stun blasts at Quarry, making her fall over.
Both Alex and Raph then jumped on top of her to keep her down.
"How long does it take to get that cure ready, Don? HURRY IT UP!" Alex bellowed.
"Come on." Donnie muttered tensely as he pulled out a gun and now started searching for the vial with the cure serum. "Come on."
Despite Alex and Raph being on top of her, Quarry got up and threw them away, Raph crashing against a platform of one of the frozen beings and Alex throwing right and crashing into Leo, the two crashing onto the ground.
Quarry was then able to melt through the nets.
"Aha!" Donnie grinned as he finally found the vial while Quarry hissed as she approached Mikey.
"Quarry, wait! It's me, MIkey! Don't you know me?" Mikey tried to reason with her.
She just stared at him.
"We're your friends. Try to remember!" Mikey continued trying to reason with her.
Quarry grunted before she growled and approached Mikey, who screamed when she picked him up over her head.
"Quarry, stop it!" Donnie cried as he ran up to her and dug the gun into her arm and injected the serum before backing away.
Quarry now started moaning and stumbling before dropping Mikey. Then she collapsed onto her chest, kicking up some dust that obscured her from view as she panted.
Alex and the Turtles gathered together and, when the dust cleared, they saw Quarry was now back to her human self, completely naked.
The cure actually worked.
"You came back." She said in disbelief and joy. "I knew you would."
A few minutes later, the brothers all had their back and shells to Quarry, since she was getting dressed with some clothes she found.
"I can't thank you guys enough." She said as she approached them. They turned to see her now dressed in a skintight suit with a small cape. "You were able to come back with a cure. It's unbelievable."
"Our little Donnie's full of all kinds of ideas." Raph told her.
"Firstly, can you tell us your actual name?" Alex asked her, since Quarry isn't her real name.
"Sydney." She replied.
"Sydney, what happened to the crystal moon?" Donnie then asked.
"The crystal moon…" Sydney said with regret as she turned. "...it's all our fault."
"What are you talking about?" Alex asked.
"We were getting stir crazy trapped down here, so we tried to find a cure ourselves." Sydney explained as she then walked among the brothers. "We used up a lot of crystals, but it was hopeless. We thought perhaps a larger crystal might work…"
Sydney and all the others hovered underneath the crystal moon on hover scooters with geodes in their hands.
"...so we turned to the crystal moon."
Sydney then flew up towards the crystal moon, soon followed by the others.
"With the help of some explosive geodes we discovered in a chamber in the underground city, we had hoped to break off a sizable piece of the moon."
They all threw the geodes at the crystal moon, which exploded on impact.
"But the geodes were more powerful than we realised."
Sydney and the others flew away just as the crystal moon started shaking until it fell from the top of the cavern and into the lava, sinking underneath the surface.
"The entire crystal moon fell from the cavern's ceiling and sank beneath the molten lava. Without the moon's regenerative power, we instantly reverted back into monsters."
All of the humans screamed and moaned in pain as they started changing back into their monstrous forms. Then a couple of them started fighting each other while the rest watched.
"Savage, mindless, fighting amongst ourselves! Lashing out at anything that moved!"
Sydney turned back to face Alex and the Turtles.
"But now that you've cured me, you can cure all of us. We can all go home." She then said with hope.
"Yeah, except for a little problem. I only had enough crystals to make one vial of serum. I never expected to find a shortage of crystals down here." Donnie revealed to her before she knelt down to grab a crystal by her feet.
"With the crystal moon gone, all the crystals are dead." She then revealed.
"We'd have to raise the crystal moon from the lava to bring back the energy source." Donnie deduced.
"What are you talking about?" Mikey questioned. "That thing has to have melted away to nothing in that lava."
"Have you forgotten that the crystals liquefy by sonic vibrations, and not heat?" Alex asked Mikey. "I swear you really do have short term memory loss."
"Exactly, they're almost indestructible." Donnie said as he took the crystal from Sydney.
"Well, if it's down there, let's get it back up so it can do some good." Leo suggested.
"So, any bright ideas, Donnie?" Raph asked, making Donnie turn and think of a plan.
Alex, Leo, Raph and Mikey were all in a cable car with a lot of cable with them.
Leo then fired a grappling hook from his tech-pack, which wrapped around a pillar at a small tower. He then fired another grappling hook, which wrapped around a rock on a ledge.
With this, Leo hoisted himself up with a cable in his hands and grappled towards the ledge. Once there, he lowered the cable down to Donnie and Sydney, who stood next to the Tunneler.
"Well, we could try to use the crystal cable from the underground tram. Secure one end to the tram tower and the other end around a sturdy rock ledge, thus rigging a giant sized variation of the old block and tackle. The ledge should provide us with a good angle for optimum leverage. Then I'll take the Turtle Tunneler down into the lava to hook the cable to the crystal moon."
Everyone entered the chamber that had the explosive geodes and started carrying them out.
"We can use the explosive geodes Sydney discovered to dislodge the tram tower from its foundation and topple it over."
Everyone gathered around Donnie, who made a plan lay out of what he just described.
"We'll be cutting it close, but it just might work." He said, finishing his explanation.
"Just one question. Who came up with this plan, Wackos-R-Us?" Mikey questioned, thinking this was ridiculous.
"It is a little unorthodox, but it'll work, I hope." Donnie replied.
"Oh, how reassuring." Alex retorted sarcastically.
Later, Donnie and Sydney got into the Tunneler, which was attached to a cable, and strapped themselves in, ready to plunge into the lava.
"Sydney, you don't have to do this." Donnie said.
"Yes, I do. I'm the only one who knows where the crystal moon went down." Sydney argued.
"Engaging infrared scanner." Donnie then said as he pressed some buttons. "Let's do this quickly. I don't know how long the heat shields will hold."
He then plunged the Tunneler into the lava, dragging the cable along with it.
Meanwhile, Donnie's brothers, excluding Leo, placed the last of the many exploding geodes around the base of the tram tower, with Raph giving Leo the thumbs up.
"Explosives in place." He informed Donnie through his headset.
"Now all we gotta do is sit back and wait for Donnie's signal." Raph noted.
But then they all heard the growling and roaring of the other monsters. Leo turned on his tech-pack flashlights and saw all the other monsters looking down at the four of them.
"Or we can keep busy by fighting for our lives!" Mikey gulped.
"Like we have any choice." Alex said with concern as the monsters all jumped down and marched up at the four brothers, who all backed away.
"Donnie, we got company!" Leo informed Donnie through the headset as they ended up surrounded.
Donnie continued driving/plunging the Tunneler deeper in the lava to find the crystal moon.
"Stall them, but try not to hurt them." Donnie instructed them.
"Hurt them?" Mikey questioned as Raph fired stun blasts at the one eyed monster and right before he dived out of the way of the red monster with the large claws, who tried hitting him with one of his claws.
Alex flipped away from the spider-like monster and fired stun blasts at them before he ran away.
Leo fired a grappling hook from his tech-pack up at the top of a wall, and hoisted himself up the wall right as the blue insect-like monster and Razorfist charged at him from both sides, the two crashing into each other.
Mikey was now chased by the red monster with large claws and Stonebiter.
"Come on, you big uglies!" He said to them before jumping his way up a wall. "Follow the leader!"
The two monsters growled as they followed after him.
Donnie kept plunging the Tunneler deeper and deeper into the lava until the scanner picked up something ahead.
"There. The crystal moon." Sydney said, so sure that the scanner picked it up.
"Good. Keep an eye on the heat shields. They're starting to go." Donnie replied.
Leo kept hoisting up the wall as Razorfist now started scaling up after him.
Both Alex and Raph fired their stun blasts at the one eyed and spider-like monsters, making them roar as they backed away slightly.
The spider-like monster spat some of its webbing at the pair, who jumped up to avoid being hit.
When they landed on their feet, Alex fired a few more stun blasts at the monster, making it fall into a river of lava as Raph fired at the one eyed monster.
The spider-like monster climbed out of the lava.
Mikey flipped until he found himself trapped against a wall, with Stonebiter and the red monster with the large claws keeping him cornered.
But Leo hoisted himself down next to Mikey.
"Thought you could use a lift, Mikey." He told his brother, grabbing him and hoisting back up just as Stonebiter threw a punch right where Mikey stood a moment ago.
Donnie kept plunging the Tunneler deeper towards the crystal moon, which lay at the bottom of the lava lake. Both he and Sydney now started sweating from the immense heat.
"Heat shields are down to fifty percent." Sydney said concerningly. "Structural breach in two minutes. We have to pick up the pace."
"Almost there." Donnie assured her as he pushed a lever.
Alex and Raph kept backing away as the one eyed monster kept approaching them, firing blasts at it.
Alex flipped away when it reached for him and Raph, grabbing the latter.
"LET HIM GO!" Alex roared as he fired more stun blasts, but they didn't stop the monster from destroying Raph's tech-pack, making him fall onto his shell.
Alex kept firing blasts at it as Mikey jumped onto its back, but got slammed onto a wall, making him moan as he fell to the ground.
"MIKEY!" Alex cried out as he continued firing blasts, which just seemed to only be an annoyance to the monster.
"Donnie, hurry!" Leo said as he ran away from Razorfist and the blue insect-like monster. "I don't know how much longer we can keep this up!"
Leo jumped off and fired a couple of grappling hooks from either side of his tech-pack, swinging on one to swing towards his brothers. "COMING THROUGH!"
He kicked the one eyed monster away, landing on its chest before turning to his brothers.
"Guys, look out!" He cried out as he ran to them.
They turned to see the spider-like monster crawl down the wall behind them and ran from it, only to be encased by the monster's webbing that it spat out, making them fall over.
Leo tried to avoid it, but got encased in webbing as well and fell over as the monster snarled.
The four brothers struggled to spring free, as the webbing was very strong.
Donnie now started driving the Tunneler around the crystal moon repeatedly to wrap the cable around it.
"Crystal moon is nearly secure." He told Sydney.
"Heat shields are almost gone." She replied, wiping some sweat from her forehead. "We've got thirty seconds before we're cooked."
"I just have to lock off the cable!" Donnie hissed through the now unbearable heat, driving the Tunneler towards and past the cable, unable to lock it off. This made him groan and wipe some sweat from his forehead.
His four brothers continued struggling to break free from the webbing that restrained them.
"Him and his big ideas." Mikey complained before he decided to impersonate Donnie. "Come on, guys, let's go to the underground city. We'll have some laughs. We'll get eaten!"
The monsters now started surrounding them.
The Tunneler started steaming up and some of the control panels were sparking as both Donnie and Sydney sweated even more.
"Heat shields are down to ten percent. We're not gonna make it!" Sydney moaned through the heat.
Donnie gritted his teeth as he manoeuvred the Tunneler back to the cable to lock it off.
"Steady… steady…." He hissed.
He moved past the cable, now being able to lock it off and moved the Tunneler away from the crystal moon.
"Yes! Guys, go now!" Donnie told his brothers through his headset.
The four still struggled against the webbing as the monsters closed in on them.
"We're kinda tied up right now." Mikey replied.
"Hold on. I nearly got -" Alex said through gritted teeth, soon being able to grab his katana and slice through the webbing, same for Leo. "Got it!"
They then sliced Mikey and Raph out of their webbing, the latter pulling out his sais.
Alex put away his katana as he and Mikey fired grappling hooks from their tech-packs towards the tram tower.
Then they hoisted themselves up past Razorfist and the one eyed monster and activated their sonic sound displacers from their tech-packs, firing directly at the geodes, which all exploded.
Naturally, the tram tower collapsed and the cable that wrapped around it pulled the crystal moon out of the lava.
The bright light from the crystal moon shined so brightly that Alex and the Turtles all shielded their eyes while the monsters backed away before they all turned back into human form, naked naturally, but they were just glad to return to normal.
"Yeah/Yes!" Alex and the Turtles cheered as they placed their hands together.
"Don, you did it!" Leo said through his headset, but only got static, which made him and his brothers worried. "Don? Sydney? Can you hear me?"
The four then ran to the edge of the lava bank and watched as the Tunneler didn't show up.
"Uh… they didn't - they didn't make it." Mikey said with sorrow.
"No, no, no, no… please don't be dead. Please…." Alex muttered, begging that his turtle brother and Sydney were still alive. They had to be.
As though it was an answer to his words, the lava started bubbling and the four stepped back as the Tunneler came out and made its way onto the ground surface.
The four cheered in utter relief, doing so even more as Donnie and Sydney exited the vehicle.
After the other humans were dressed, Donnie started the process of curing all of them one by one, injecting them with the cure serum. Starting with the human that turned into Razorfist and then the one that turned into Stonebiter, then the one that turned into one eyed monster, Sydney joined Donnie's side with more vials.
After hours of travelling back up to the surface, Alex and the Turtles took all of the humans up through a manhole cover and out into an alleyway as the sun started rising.
"This is it, guys. Daylight again." Donnie told them as they looked up in awe at the sky.
Donnie then noticed that Sydney was crying.
"What's wrong?" He asked her.
"I-I'd forgotten how beautiful it was." She said as she continued looking up at the sky before turning to Donnie. "Thank you from all of us. We owe you our lives." She then seemed shy before she ended up kissing Donnie on the cheek, which made the turtle stunned speechless as Sydney blushed. "I hope you don't mind if we hung out some more."
"Uh… sure. You and I will meet back up again here and we'll see where things go from there." Donnie said, glancing over at his brothers, who all grinned teasingly at him.
"Okay." Sydney nodded before joining back up with the other humans.
"Donnie, you sly turtle." Alex grinned, giving Donnie a playful nudge with his elbow.
"Come on. Let's go home." Leo told his brothers, and all of them, except Donnie, performed some athletic moves to enter the sewers.
Donnie approached the manhole when Mikey popped back out.
"Donnie, you may be a pain in the shell, but I'm proud that you're my bro." Mikey told him before hopping back down.
Donnie then jumped in through the manhole, joining his brothers to head back home in the lair.
Sorry for not uploading sooner. I had to take another break.
And Donnie just got lucky! He's about to start dating Sydney! Lucky turtle.