Notes from the Underground - Part 2
"Being someone who has a curiosity with science, I spend time with Donnie to fulfil that curiosity."
Alex and Donnie were at the latter's lab, studying the crystals they found in the lair, Donnie looking at one through a microscope.
Then Mikey pressed the crystals together, making them glow and produce a ringing sound.
"But I would never imagine that the crystals we found in our lair would…"
Three monsters appeared underground in the darkness, growling as they were aware of the crystals.
"...awaken creatures from underground…"
Alex and the Turtles climbed down a cliff with rope.
"...lead us down far below the Earth's surface…"
The five looked around the abandoned lab.
"...or have us enter a long abandoned Foot genetics lab, where truly awful things were done under Shredder's command."
The five looked at a monitor, showing the Foot symbol before seeing a man being turned into a monster against his will.
"There are some things man was never meant to tamper with." The lead technician of the lab said, Mikey quoting him.
"That's the one line in a monster movie you don't want to hear!" Mikey told his brothers in a panic.
"And considering what we've encountered in the past few months, it's natural to assume we'd come face to face with monsters."
The blue monster melted a hole through a rock wall, approaching Alex and the Turtles, followed by the red monster and then the grey monster.
The five pulled their weapons out just as the monsters charged at them.
The monsters made the five back up towards the lab, having taken their backpacks off as well.
"Uh, I speak for all of us when I say zoinks!" Mikey squeaked.
They eventually got back in the lab and they threw their bags away while the three monsters came out of the shadows, staring down the five.
The blue one spat green acid from its mouth, hitting the floor in front of Alex and the Turtles, melting a hole right through it.
"Ah!" Alex, Leo and Raph cringed in disgust before they, MIkey and Donnie wielded their weapons.
"That's it!" Raph snarled.
"Okay, you four take the three on the left." Mikey told his brothers.
"There are only three, Mikey." Alex groaned, knowing he was just trying to chicken out of fighting.
"There's one for each of you, and you can help out, Alex, and I'll just be odd turtle out." Mikey replied.
"Get it together and actually fight, Mikey! You're a ninja!" Alex snapped at him.
The red monster threw a table at them with its tail, making them all dive out of the way before it crashed where they once stood. Then four of them jumped back and charged at the monsters while Mikey tip-toed back and stood, staying out of the fighting.
Both Alex and Donnie faced the red monster, swiping at it and dodging its clawed hands before they hit its chest, which hardly phased it.
It then swiped its claws down at the, but the pair jumped back and when it tried grabbing Donnie, Alex slashed his katana at its arm, making it roar at him and try to hit him with its tail, but he flipped over it.
Raph dealt with the grey monster, swinging his sais at it until he kicked its stomach, knocking it back.
Alex jumped over to aid Leo against the blue monster, who made the pair back off until it charged at them and lifted them off their feet before they could react. Alex managed to kick it in the head, making it drop them and allow them to flip away.
Mikey watched as Raph kicked the grey monster past him and the red monster continued trying to swipe at Donnie with its claws.
"Come on!" Alex challenged the blue monster, which started drooling acid. They noticed a metal pole behind them and sliced a part of it and Alex kicked it at the monster, who melted it in midair with its acid.
"Now that's just being overpowered, right there!" Alex groaned.
"Definitely." Leo agreed with him.
Donnie was on the floor as the red monster approached him, which Alex noticed and decided to help him out. So he jumped in between them, Raph included, and they kicked the monster away.
"You okay, Donnie?" Alex asked.
"Yeah." Donnie nodded.
The three then saw the grey monster crawl up the wall and onto the ceiling as though he were Spider-Man before it started eating a hole into the ceiling, which it crawled up in.
"Whoa!" All three exclaimed in shock.
They then watched as it left a trail that headed right for Mikey, who spun his nunchucks as he watched Leo face the blue monster.
"Mikey!" Alex and Raph shouted as a hole started forming directly above their brother and they charged at him and then jumped and kicked the grey monster away before it could reach Mikey and then flipped off it, landing next to him.
"Watch your back, you odd-ball." Raph advised Mikey as Donnie got back to fighting the red monster.
"You just called me odd, didn't you?" Mikey asked, offended when the grey monster rammed into Raph while Alex went back to aid Leo.
"I'm not odd, I'm eccentric." Mikey said as Donnie skidded to a stop next to his feet and he helped him up. "Raph thinks I'm odd.
"You're just being sensitive." Donnie replied, touching his shoulder before getting back to fight the red monster.
"Sensitive?" Mikey repeated, even more offended just as Alex had flipped away from the blue monster and landed next to him. "If there's one thing I hate, it's when people call me sensitive!"
"Then stop being so sensitive, then." Alex replied before he joined Leo's side.
"Will you stop it?" Mikey shouted.
Alex and Leo rode on a couple of lab tables at the blue monster, jumping off them right before they hit it and making it crash into a power box, being electrocuted before falling to the floor.
The pair charged at it but dived at a table when it spat acid at them, melting the table.
Donnie whacked his staff against the red monster's clawed hands before he stepped back when it tried to hit him.
Mikey now found himself face to face with the grey monster, but he ran away whimpering while Raph flipped onto the monster's shoulders and tried to slide down its back, but it grabbed his arms and threw him towards Mikey, who stood spinning one of his nunchucks, and landed on his feet.
"Hey, I know these monsters are vicious abominations, but guys, we are not holding our own out there." Mikey said as he swatted some rocks away with his nunchuck. "Now let's dig deep!"
Raph yelled as he jumped to fight the grey monster again.
Alex and Leo continued dodging the blue monster's acid with their acrobatics, moving past the tank tubes, which the acid struck and they faced each other next to them as they started cracking.
"You will take no more of us." The blue monster spoke in a deep masculine voice, warning the pair, who were surprised by the fact he can talk.
A hole formed in one of the tanks, causing liquid to gush out.
"We're not here to take anybody!" Leo swore.
The tanks then started wobbling and were about to fall on the blue monster.
"Look out!" Leo shouted as he and Alex pushed him away right before the tanks crashed on the floor.
"We haven't done anything to you! So why are you attacking us?" Alex demanded an explanation.
The blue monster looked like they were about to answer, but the red monster sent Alex and Leo flying towards a door, hitting the ceiling above before falling to the floor, landing on top of Mikey, who was trying to catch them.
"You know something, Mikey, they're thinking we're somebody else." Leo told Mikey as Alex rolled off and sat up, holding his head.
"Oh, man, that's just great!" Mikey groaned. "We're getting our shells and butts kicked and it's someone else's fight?"
Raph jumped back from the grey monster when it swung a fist at him and then another that hit the floor, joining the three.
Donnie then struck the red monster in the stomach before gathering back up with his brothers.
"Then I vote we get the shell out of here." He said as Alex, Leo and Mikey got to their feet.
"Run away? That ain't my style." Raph said, not impressed with that idea.
"Then stay and face these three on your own." Alex retorted.
"Or you can call it a tactical retreat." Leo suggested "Let's move!"
"We're leaving." Donnie said as he pressed a button with his staff, making the door behind them open and they all, except Raph, ran out of the lab.
The monsters, except the blue one, growled at him before they charged at him.
"Tactical retreat? I can live with that." Raph confessed, putting his sais away and ran after his brothers, catching up with them as they reached another room, which had another door, but it was closed shut, Donnie being unable to budge the handle.
"It's sealed tight!" He informed his brothers, who all watched as the monsters ran towards them.
"SHUT THE DOOR!" Alex roared as they all rushed to the open door and pushed it with all their combined strength, closing it before the monsters could reach them.
Initially, they thought they were safe, but one of the monsters started banging against the door, making huge dents.
"Somebody gonna answer that?" Mikey asked nervously as they backed away.
Some more dents were made until the door was ripped from its hinges and flew across to the other side of the room.
The red monster then entered and roared at the five.
Then they saw the arm of the grey monster punch up out of the ground behind them, and then the other before it fully popped out, spitting a chunk of rock out of its mouth.
The five brothers all wielded their weapons, ready for another round of fighting as the grey monster roared at them.
But just as the two were about to attack, the blue monster walked in and placed a hand on the red monster's chest.
"No!" He shouted and the two stopped.
Alex and the Turtles turned to face him as he approached them and stopped in front of them, drooling some acid.
"Say the word, bro." Raph said to Leo, who lowered his katanas, as did Alex with his.
"Easy guys, it's okay." Leo assured them.
The blue monster then sniffed both Leo and Alex, who put their weapons away.
"Who are you?" The monster asked.
"Not who you believe we are." Alex replied.
"Then why do you carry those?" The monster asked, pointing at Donnie's duffle bag, making him open it to reveal the crystals, which were currently glowing and ringing, causing the red and grey monsters to growl in reaction.
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Leo said, trying to calm them down. "We found these crystals in a cavern where we're staying, that's all."
"Yeah, and just what business is it of yours, anyway?" Raph demanded, making the blue monster step back.
"Those crystals are the embodiment of evil!" The monster explained. "Why have you come here?"
"'Cause one of you ogres went sniffing around our place, looking for trouble. So we're here to -" Mikey said, but Donnie covered his mouth to make him shut up.
"To just look for some answers. That's all." Donnie finished.
"I'm Leonardo, and these are my brothers, Alexander, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo." Leo introduced himself and his brothers, most of whom put their weapons away, to the monsters.
"We were drawn to your habitat when your crystals were activated." The blue monster explained further.
"Gee, wonder who could've done that?" Donnie said as he and Alex glared at Mikey accusingly.
"Their energy is a sign of danger to us, so we considered you dangerous. Though we usually sense them coming from deeper below." The monster said with a grim tone.
"Below? You mean there are more of these crystals down there?" Donnie questioned as the monster turned to his fellow monsters. "We'd just like to find out where they came from, that's all. And maybe -"
"NO!" The monster snapped at him with fear in his voice. "It is a forbidden place! Something unspeakable dwells there amidst the crystals. There are some things man was never meant to tamper with."
Both Alex and Donnie slapped their hands over Mikey's mouth, knowing he was going to comment about those words, making the monsters look at him.
"He is an odd one." Blue said in agreement about what Raph said earlier.
"That's an understatement." Alex nodded before they all walked back to the lab.
Once there, Alex and Leo walked alongside the blue monster while the rest were in the rear. Mikey looked at the red and grey monsters with wariness.
"I don't trust these guys." He told Raph and Donnie.
"Why?" Raph asked.
"Try the fact that they're monsters." Mikey reminded him.
"Yeah, well, to some people, so are we." Donnie pointed out, making Mikey's point invalid.
"We can't believe Shredder had you genetically altered as diggers, just to search down here for some enemy." Leo said angrily as he, Alex and the blue monster stopped by the tube tanks.
"And it was all pointless, based on what the video logs told us." Alex added.
"Yes, and he did so without remorse!" Blue snarled, clenching his fists. "We were forced against our will to do his bidding!"
"So he just snatched all of you at random? From where?" Alex asked, his disgust towards the Shredder growing even more, considering it was already high.
"The streets, our offices, our homes. Anywhere a shadow could conceal a Foot Soldier. We don't know why we were chosen." Blue replied bitterly.
"What's your name?" Leo then asked.
"I am Quarry of Tunnel Squad Three." The monster introduced himself before pointing at the other two. "The others are Stonebiter and Razorfist."
"He didn't mean the name the Foot gave you. He meant your real name." Alex said, making Quarry think hard.
"S - Sy -" He muttered, clutching his head in pain. "My memory is -" He then groaned and opened his eyes. "The experiments performed on us have stripped us of who we are!"
"Yes. We saw the video log entries." Leo said grimly.
"Well, don't worry about Shredder, he got his due." Raph said as he leaned against a console.
"Yeah, he made the mistake of messing with the Ninja Turtles and Alex. There's a lesson to be learned in that. If you know what I mean." Mikey remarked.
"Just ignore him." Alex groaned to Quarry as he placed his head in his hand, shaking his head.
But then the alarm went off, shocking everyone, especially the monsters. One of the monitors on a console started beeping and Quarry looked, seeing a map of the tunnels, a section being highlighted in red.
"Oh, no! The others! They tripped an alarm in the East Delta Tunnel!" Quarry gasped before turning to the control centre. "Hurry!"
He, Alex and the Turtles ran to the control.
"We must activate the energy shield!" Quarry said just as he reached the control centre and started pressing buttons to activate the force field, but the crystal wasn't powering up. "No! NO!"
"Don't do a no-no! I hate no-no's!" Mikey pleaded.
"Ah, it's no good!" Quarry told Razorfist and Stonebiter. "The shield will not activate. We have no power, no force field and they're headed this way!"
Both Razorfist and Stonebiter looked out the tunnel with fear in their eyes.
"Uh, yeah. We kinda met your force field." Raph said guiltily.
"And it would've made us as flat as pancakes if Raph didn't break it." Alex added, just as guilty.
Everyone then looked out at the tunnel as they heard growling in the distance, while Quarry made his way over to another control panel.
"What is out there?" Leo asked.
"The others." Quarry replied.
"What do you mean 'others'?" Alex asked with fear starting to grow in his voice.
"Test subjects like us. They endlessly prowl the tunnels." Quarry explained.
"But why do you have to keep them out?" Alex asked.
"Because they attack us!" Quarry replied as he ripped a panel off the console and pulled out some wires. "They're violent, uncontrollable. Their minds have deteriorated."
"From the genetic mutation?" Leo guessed.
"Yes." Quarry answered.
"Is that your fate, too?" Alex asked solemnly.
"Yes. Madness looms in our future as well." Quarry said grimly.
Another growl was heard, now much louder, meaning the other monsters were getting closer.
Quarry then connected the wires together, which activated the control centre. He looked over at the crystal, which lit up slightly, but it quickly faded out.
"The crystal is completely burned out! It is hopeless." He said in defeat.
Alex and the Turtles turned to the tunnel when everyone heard another growl. They then pulled their weapons out, ready for a fight.
"Weapons will do no good." Quarry told them, which dampened their hopes "Without the force field, we won't stand a chance against them!"
The growling just kept growing louder and louder, so much so that Razorfist and Stonebiter backed away from the door.
"They'll be on us in minutes!" Quarry exclaimed with worry.
"You know, you're kind of freaking me out here. Are you always such a naysayer?" Mikey asked, turning to him after the brothers had put their weapons away.
Donnie jumped onto the platform that held the crystal and pulled it out of the contact nodes.
"Huh?" He gasped when it shattered into tiny pieces. "Is that what the crystals are? Power sources?"
"Yes." Quarry replied. "But that was our only one. And when we found it in the catacombs, we paid dearly for it."
"Well, what about one of ours?" Leo asked as he pulled one of the crystals out of Donnie's bag.
"They're too small and would not last." Quarry argued just before Donnie grabbed the crystal and put it within the nodes.
"It only has to last until they give up and move on." Donnie said, waiting for it to light up, but it didn't.
"Come on!" He gritted through his teeth as he adjusted it and still nothing happened.
The growling was now much louder and both Razorfist and Stonebiter looked at each other before running to the open doors, along with Raph, and the three closed them up just as the other monsters started approaching the lab.
Quarry worked on a control panel, pressing some buttons while Donnie worked on the crystal, not getting anything in response, making him hiss.
"There is no spark." He told Donnie.
Alex grabbed the other crystal from Donnie's bag and joined him and Leo on the platform, hitting the two crystals together, and nothing happened still.
"Any ideas what's wrong, Donnie?" Alex asked urgently.
"Maybe the connections to these contact nodes were charred." Donnie suggested.
Quarry ripped open another panel and looked inside for any solutions.
"Or maybe you got the thing upside down." Mikey suggested as he got to Donnie's side.
"It's not upside down, Mikey." Donnie sternly told him off.
Right outside the lab, one of the monsters, a large bulking grey creature with one eye, along with a blue one that resembled a bug, slammed against the doors, the latter managing to get its claws through a small gap, scrapping where Raph's head was before he ducked. Stonebiter closed the gap with his strength.
Meanwhile, Donnie finished meddling with one of the contact nodes while Alex held the crystals with Leo and Mikey standing with Quarry.
"Okay, let's try it again." Donnie said as he took one of the crystals from Alex.
The large grey one eyed monster pounded on the doors until its strength was too much for Razorfist, Stonebiter and Raph, all three getting knocked back as the doors fell off their hinges.
Donnie was about to put the crystal in when he and Alex watched as the monsters entered.
First was the one eyed behemoth, followed by the blue bug-like monster, then in came a large spider-like monster with an upside down face and then in came a red monster with long arms that it used for walking, large fanged teeth and a long tail dragging behind it.
"What the shell?" Alex shrugged about Mikey's suggestion and so Donnie turned the crystal upside down and placed it within the nodes, which made it glow and ring.
The console centre came to life as well.
"It's working!" Donnie said with relief.
The crystal then formed an energy field that wrapped around the console centre with everyone inside as the field started expanding, forcing the mindless monsters back out into the tunnel, even with them pounding against the force field.
"Don't think I didn't see that, Donnie, it was upside down." Mikey said smugly.
The one eyed monster kept pounding against the force field, still unable to break through.
"It's overloading!" Quarry noticed as the crystal was starting to run out of juice.
The blue bug-like monster now pounded against the force field, also not denting it while Razorfist and Stonebiter took a step back from the crystal.
The one eyed monster made one last punch before it and the rest of the mindless monsters turned and went away.
"They're leaving." Quarry noticed right before the force field gave out. "But tomorrow they'll be back. They always come back."
The crystal had finally burned out.
"You're gonna need a bigger crystal, then." Alex noted.
"We will not survive another journey into the forbidden zone." Quarry shook his head.
"What makes the place so forbidden?" Mikey questioned.
"The ancient catacombs stretch for miles. We were forced to explore it. Many of us never returned." Quarry explained with sadness in his eyes.
"Uh… maybe they got lost?" Mikey suggested as to why they haven't returned.
"They were taken!" Quarry snapped at him angrily. "By a ghostly entity. There is never any sign of a struggle. They're just… gone."
"Look, you don't want to go back down there, we understand that, but considering the circumstances, you don't really have a choice." Alex argued. "You need to get a new crystal if you want to keep yourselves safe."
"And since we, uh, we're the one who kinda fried your security system, we'll go with you, right, guys?" Raph suggested.
"Absolutely." Leo said without hesitation.
"We're there." Donnie agreed.
"Not even a question." Alex nodded.
They all glared at Mikey, who looked hesitant about the idea.
"Uh…. You know, the corner hardware store has a sale on generators that would really get this force field humming. So I'll just go up top and clip the coupon, then - whoa!" Mikey said before being pulled back by Raph from walking away.
After making plans, everyone started leaving the lab.
Donnie led the way, holding the crystal with Alex, Leo, Raph and Mikey following him in that order, the monsters bringing in the rear.
The monsters stopped for a moment as Quarry noticed the deep fear and worry present in Razorfist and Stonebiter's eyes.
"Be brave." He encouraged, not just them, but also himself as he patted Razorfist's shoulder before they followed Alex and the Turtles.
"Okay, let's keep our wits about us." Leo advised his brothers.
"Don't worry, Mikey, you can share my wits." Raph said, looking over his shoulder as everyone started walking down a spiral path.
"Oh, so now I'm witless?" Mikey asked sarcastically. "Must be why I'm the only one bothered by the fact that we're heading into a place that even monsters are afraid of!"
At some point in their travel through the caverns, Quarry suggested they use a shortcut.
However, it didn't prove to be a good one, as Alex and the Turtles screamed while sliding down a rock slide that was so bumpy that they bounced their way down until they all crashed into a pile on top of one another next to a large bubbling and steaming yellow pool.
"Shortcut?" Mikey spat in annoyance. "In what mutated imagination can that be considered a -?"
"Uh, sorry." Quarry apologised as he, Razorfist and Stonebiter crawled their way down the rock. "We forgot you can't scale rock."
"Let's try to avoid such oversights in the near future, okay?" Alex suggested as he and his brothers got to their feet.
"Whew! Who cut the cheese?" Mikey asked, fanning his face to deal with the stench as the monsters gathered with them.
"You're smelling a sulphur pool, Mikey." Donnie pointed out.
"Coming from a turtle who grew up in a sewer, trust me when I say, this place stinks!" Mikey commented, Razorfist watching him with curiosity.
"We must keep moving." Quarry told everyone as he stepped onto some rocks that lead across to the other side of the pool. "The others wander down here. This is their territory."
With Quarry leading everyone, behind him was Leo, Alex and Donnie, Stonebiter behind him with Raph and Mikey in between him and Razorfist, who was in the rear.
They kept walking until Leo stopped when he saw a bubble float up in front of him.
"Huh?" He muttered before the bubble burst with a small creature coming out of it. It shrieked at him and was about to attack him, but Quarry stuck his tongue out, grabbing it and pulling it in his mouth, chewing it before swallowing.
"Eww." Leo muttered in disgust as Quarry burped.
"We learned to eat and live off the land for it lives off us." He reasoned before he continued walking.
Leo glanced back at Alex and Donnie, who shrugged back.
As they continued travelling through the underground, Razorfist punched a hole through a wall with his claws and scaled on the wall to his left over a small ledge, followed by Quarry and Stonebiter.
Leo then came out of the hole and started moving slowly along the ledge with his shell pressed against the wall until he slipped and nearly fell down into jagged spikes down below next to a large whirlpool.
"You alright, Leo?" Alex asked as he came out of the hole and looked down, cringing at the spikes, especially when he noticed a skeleton amongst them.
"Whoa! That was a little too close for comfort." Leo sighed as Alex joined his side, followed by Donnie, Raph and Mikey. "Watch your footing, guys."
Soon, everyone walked down a thin bridge with Razorfist leading the way. Alex and the Turtles walked down it like they were on a tightrope with their arms out.
Eventually, Razorfist stopped at the very end, where it was directly over another whirlpool.
"This is it." Quarry told Alex and the Turtles.
After getting a nod from Quarry, Razorfist jumped down into the whirlpool, followed by Quarry and Stonebiter.
"Following monsters off a cliff may not be the smartest thing we've ever done." Leo commented.
"At least it ain't one of the dumbest." Alex shrugged.
Leo then jumped down into the whirlpool, followed by Alex, then Donnie and Raph.
"But it's definitely the grossest." Mikey commented as he watched Raph vanish in the whirlpool. "That thing looks like a giant toilet!"
"Which I guess makes me the tidy bowl turtle." Mikey groaned before jumping down in cannonball form. "Cowabun -"
He submerged in the whirlpool and soon found himself falling out of a waterfall.
"Ahh!" He cried out before hitting the water below, where he found himself in a current, which led directly to some spiky crystals. "Oh no!"
He tried swimming away, but the current just proved to be too strong and he kept flowing towards the crystals.
"Current too strong. I'm gonna get turtle skewered!" He freaked out.
But just as he was about to make contact with the crystals, Stonebiter grabbed him by the head with his jaw and lifted him out of the water and sat him down next to him, where he saw the others.
"Let go of his head, Stonebiter." Quarry told his fellow monster off, who did as he was told.
"Whoa!" Mikey exclaimed as he felt his head before frowning up at Stonebiter. "Do that again and I'll give you a real taste of the Turtles, dude!"
"How far away from the crystals are we?" Leo asked Quarry.
"They are here in the catacombs. But from this point on, we must keep very quiet." Quarry replied before walking up a path that led to a hexagonal shaped doorway.
Everyone followed him with Donnie pulling his crystal out for light.
As they walked, they all noticed some pieces of architecture, which had familiar carvings on them.
"Hey, Alex, recognise these carvings?" Donnie asked.
"Yeah, just like in our lair." Alex replied, which made him realise that they must be close to that underground city he saw in that dream, which made him on edge.
"Yeah, same interior decorator." Raph remarked.
All of them soon walked into the doorway, except for Mikey, who stopped when he saw a small rock falling from the ceiling.
Everyone else made it into the catacombs and Quarry spotted a large crystal on a wall.
"Good, this crystal will do. We needn't travel any deeper into this evil place." He said as he placed his hands to pull it out.
Back with Mikey, he looked up at the ceiling, where he saw cracks forming until a hole exploded out with the large spider-like monster popping out.
"Ahh!" Mikey screamed before running into the doorway as the monster landed where he stood. "Wait up! Guys, guys, guys! We got monsters right behind me!"
He continued screaming as he ran past his brothers and the monsters, heading deeper into the catacombs towards a large door.
"GET TO COVER!" Alex shouted as they all followed after Mikey.
"But that way leads to -"
"No choice, let's go!" Leo cut off as they ran to the large door, which was made of metal.
Razorfist tried slashing through it, but he didn't even leave any slash marks. Stonebiter tried, but even with his pure strength, he couldn't even make dents. Quarry then used his claws, nothing, before spitting acid, and that didn't even melt through the door.
"What kind of metal is this door made of?" Alex asked in shock.
Donnie then noticed a panel with a hole that the crystal he held could fit in, realising it must work like a key.
"Stand back!" He told everyone before putting the crystal inside, nothing happening. And so he fiddled with it. "Come on, come on! Oh, nevermind."
"Battle ready boys!" Leo advised his brothers as he heard roaring from behind them. They all pulled their weapons out, except for Donnie, as an idea came to him.
"You know, I wonder…." He muttered before grabbing the crystal, turning it upside down, and put it back in the panel, which made it glow brightly and the door opened up.
"Hey!" He called to everyone as he entered the doorway. "It worked!"
Just then, a bola with a light spun and flew directly at Donnie from deeper in the doorway.
"Huh?" Donnie muttered as the bola wrapped around him.
Then came a flash of light and suddenly, Donnie was gone.
"DONNIE!" Alex cried out.
"DONNIE?" Mikey called.
"NO!" Leo exclaimed.
"DONNIE!" Raph shouted.
"He's gone." Mikey moaned in sadness before they all heard footsteps and growling approaching them, seeing the mindless monsters in sight. "And in a couple of minutes, we'll be goners, too!"
"And here it ends." Quarry said in defeat.
Alex and his remaining brothers were worried, not just for their lives and the monsters', but also because Donnie's gone and they don't know what happened to him.
Be prepared to see Alex in a dark place emotionally for a short while in the next chapter. It'll give you more insight into who he is.